Jafar is tall and thin, and almost always depicted in flowing robes of black, dark red and other moody colors. Jafar has a pet parrot named Iago, who switched sides in The Return of Jafar. Jafar carries a cobra-head staff, which he uses for his sorcery. He tries to use Genie's powers to take over Agrabah, first wishing to become the sultan, and then the most powerful sorcerer in the world. Jafar had transformed himself into a giant cobra to kill Aladdin, but just as Jafar was squeezing him to death, Aladdin tricked Jafar into using his third and final wish to become an all-powerful genie himself. Jafar was red in hue, possibly to represent his more "evil" nature contrasting with Genie's blue tone. In Western culture, genies are almost always portrayed as being confined to small oil lamps until they are released to do a human's bidding; Jafar was therefore trapped by his own selfish wish for power. Jafar is usually shown to be somewhat comedic, even in his times of evil and cunning (proclaiming "ewww" when contemplating beheading, or constantly mispronouncing Aladdin's alias' name). His unique characteristics compared to most Disney villains are probably the reason that he lived at the end of his movie, at the same time arguing with Iago ("Get your blasted beak out of my face!" "Oh, shut up, you moron!" "Don't tell ME to shut up!"). In Return of Jafar he was considerably more fiendish, and was killed at the end of the movie.
In The Return of Jafar, the now-genie Jafar was released by Abis Mal, and, after cunningly making Abis-Mal waste his first 2 wishes, threatens Abis into helping him. His plan included kidnapping (and in some instances, replacing) the royal family and framing Aladdin for the Sultan's "death," (It happened when Jafar cuts down the Sultan's hat to think that Aladdin killed him.) which would have caused him to be beheaded, but (with help from a reformed Iago) the heroes managed to escape. When Jafar discovered this, he opened up a fissure into the earth, and was destroyed when his lamp (which had a distinctive black color) was kicked into the pit by Iago and melted in the pit of lava he had created (ironically he was on the verge of getting Abis Mal to wish him free, which would have made him almost invincible, although his powers would have been reduced).
Jafar later made one more attempt at revenge in an episode ("Hercules and the Arabian Night") of Disney's Hercules TV-show spinoff, where he was temporarily revived by Hercules' arch-enemy, Hades. The two villains teamed up to get rid of Aladdin and Hercules by having them fight against each other, but their plan failed and Jafar ended up dead again, and has not at this point made any reappearances in the official Aladdin continuity.
However, despite his death, Jafar has also had a recurring role on Disney's House of Mouse. He was even the central villain of the direct-to-video film Mickey's House of Villains. Jafar even went on a date with Maleficent in one episode and many fans agreed that they did make an excellent couple. The two are often compared as both have regal bearing, bird side-kicks, are exceedingy tall, and their robes seem to confine their movements.
As far as Jafar's family goes, he has a fraternal twin sister named Nasira who tried bringing her brother back to life in the game, Nasira's Revenge. Jafar's sister is very similar both in appearance and actions as Maleficent. She respects Jafar and the sibling bond between them is very strong.