Each time an appropriate scholar or teacher was discovered, that soul was added to the collection housed in the shell, so that the young princes might learn from many sources at once. If the "teacher" was cooperative, he or she could sometimes beg improvements to the shell to make it more comfortable. Agreeing on what those improvements should be proved more and more difficult with each added soul, and soon the tutor, when it was not working, actually appeared quite mad.

Occasionally, arguments would break out between the souls concerning the truth of this or the validity of that, with the less than acceptable result that the prince being tutored might be given several conflicting lessons. Since all of the occupants of the shell were punished for confusing the young demon (rather than only the argumentative ones), they learned rather swiftly that they must come to an agreement on what the prince would be told, at the very least. At times this resulted in complete misinformation, but in most cases, they were able to come to a concensus that in fact resembled the reality very closely. In this way, they all learned from one another and discovered information none had had before. Accordingly, the tutor's performance became somewhat smoother and more reliable, with fewer contradictions, but this did little to resolve the personality conflicts that were a near constant problem.

Jareth as he is now is in large part the result of one captive scholar, who, upon finding himself in such a position, chose to make the best of it rather than fight his fate. In return, he was granted many freedoms unknown to the shell's prior occupants. Although they were not happy that he had usurped their position and standing in Hell, they had to admit that conditions were much improved with his arrival. With his quiet, mostly gentle guidance and the resulting lack of general unpleasantness under his leadership, the others gradually came to accept and eventually even to grow quiet. Internal battles are few and short now.

Through the centuries, Jareth came to find that there were many things he could do without drawing much attention to himself. As he became more daring in his creations and thefts, he began building a house. With the aid of several of his shell-mates, he built a tesseract - a tiny cottage that housed eventually more than a hundred rooms. To protect himself from unwanted company, he constructed the Maze, which changes at his whim. The Maze can move, or attach itself to a particular location. In many ways, it has become a sort of battery for the magic that created and maintains it, but at the same time, it has become a prison as well, for the magic that maintains the Maze also keeps Jareth's shell from deteriorating to the last "approved" appearance.

Just after completing thc changes to the shell that made him seem human almost, Jareth met Tayana. Their romance was swift and surprising, especially to Jareth who had become convinced that he had no soul, and was incapable of actually loving someone. The relationship was intense, violent at times, and all-consuming. At last he decided that he would in fact stay with her, regardless what Hell might have to say on the matter. He proposed, she accepted, it looked like a fairy tale wedding was in the works.

But of course, Hell did have something to say. He was returned rather suddenly and forcefully to Hell, where another "tutor" was forced into the shell. This time Jareth rebelled. The newcomer was female, demon, haughtier than he was, and not interested in letting him run things. For months they wrestled for control of the shell, pausing only long enough to teach the young prince so that they would not be destroyed. Finally after eight months, Jareth managed to subdue the newcomer, tangling her in a spell long enough that he could take control and whisk them away from Hell and back to his ladylove.

Hell wasn't willing to let go easily, and he again found himself on a nightmare journey of being hunted and attacked at every turn. Slowly he began to lose conscious awareness of where he was going, knowing only that there was somewhere he had to be. At last, battered, starving and ill, he gave up, and fell unconscious and near disintegration, in her garden.