Yzma

Yzma is the main antagonist in Disney's 2000 feature film The Emperor's New Groove, its sequel, and its television series.

She was voiced by Eartha Kitt (just before her death).

Personality
As the main villain of the Emperor's New Groove franchise, Yzma is malicious and power hungry. However, early in the first movie, it seems that she raised Emperor Kuzco, rather than his parents, and has been an advisor to his family for many years. It's only when Emperor Kuzco abruptly and callously fires her that she turns on him, deciding to kill him, then fill the power vacuum left in his wake and become empress.

At the same time, Yzma is rather comically eccentric. She sees herself as the most beautiful person in the land, despite her obvious age and others often compare her to an ugly dinosaur. In her youth, she appeared quite attractive, as shown when she turned into a teenager using the fountain of youth, but her age has since reduced that. When making plans to harm Emperor Kuzco, she often tries to create overly complicated plans, before settling on a simpler version. However, she usually fails to pay attention to minor details, which results in her plans being thwarted.

Her catchphrases are "It's brilliant, brilliant, brrrrilliant!", "To the Secret Lab!", "Pull the lever, Kronk!", and "Wrong lever!" (when Kronk pulls the wrong lever and results in her getting injured).

Yzma's Scheme
Introduced as the Emperor's advisor, Yzma is first seen in the movie sitting in Emperor Kuzco's throne and making decisions for him behind his back. Kuzco discovers that she has been meddling in his affairs, sees her doing it again, and without thinking, he fires Yzma as a result.

Later on, she vents her rage by smashing busts of Kuzco (whom she has now turned on and who she claims to have raised {thus being his adoptive mother}) with a giant hammer (with Kronk, her right-hand man, putting out more and more busts for her to destroy). However, a careless comment by Kronk gives her the idea to kill Kuzco; with Kuzco out of the way and no heir to the throne, Yzma would automatically take over the position and rule the empire. She and Kronk go to Yzma's laboratory known as the Secret Lab using a roller coaster, where Yzma decides to poison Kuzco with a flea poison to save on postage (mainly because she accidentally knocked over one of the potions onto a flowerpot, and then it melted right away), and arranges to have dinner with the Emperor.

That evening, Yzma and Kronk get everything ready for dinner (including the potion used to kill Kuzco). Suddenly, Kuzco slams the door open, and Yzma tells Kronk to get the Emperor a drink. Even though Kronk's more interested in cooking dinner than carrying out Yzma's orders, he tells her that the poison's ready. Kronk poisons Kuzco's drink, but he forgets whose drink is whose, so he mixes all three drinks together. And he and Yzma stealthily throw away their drinks as Kuzco downs his. Even though it may look like the Emperor was killed at first, he suddenly perked back up and started turning into a llama. So Yzma orders Kronk to knock out Kuzco with the bowlful of broccolis, take him out of town, and finish the job. However, when Kronk asks for dessert and coffee, Yzma replies with, "All right. A quick cup of coffee. THEN TAKE HIM OUT OF TOWN AND FINISH THE JOB!!!"

Taking the llama's unconscious body to the edge of the city in a big red bag, Kronk throws Kuzco into the river, but after talking to his conscience, Kronk has a change of heart at the last minute and rushes to save Emperor Kuzco before he falls to his apparent death, and succeeds. Walking down the stairs and asking himself what he should do with the body, Kronk accidentally steps on a cat's tail (thus waking it up) and lets go of the bag, which falls down the stairs and onto the cart of a fat peasant named Pacha, just as he's leaving the city with his pet llama Misty.

Searching For Kuzco
As everyone, including Yzma, believes that Kuzco is dead, Yzma becomes empress and redecorates the palace (cut from singing her own version of "Perfect World").

When Kronk reveals that he never killed Kuzco and that he's still alive, the two of them set off to find him, with Kronk carrying Yzma on his back in a specially built miniature tent.

They search every village surrounding the palace (with no success), and Yzma loses her temper when they reach the jungle. So Kronk uses his Junior Chipmunk skills to ask Bucky the squirrel which way the talking llama went, and Bucky points left and chitters.

Shortly after, Yzma and Kronk arrive at Mudka's Meat Hut, a small roadside diner where Pacha and Kuzco have coincidentally stopped to eat when their blood sugar's getting low, and disguised themselves as a married couple after seeing that there are no llamas allowed. When Pacha overhears Yzma and Kronk talking about their plans to kill Kuzco, he tries to warn Kuzco and get him out of the diner. Kuzco and Yzma both go to the kitchen to request special orders to Kronk (who is replacing the previous chef who quit). When Yzma enters again, Pacha stops short and imitates the picture of the diner's icon behind him. However, Kuzco and Yzma narrowly avoid seeing each other. Ultimately, Pacha distracts Yzma by telling the diner staff that it's her birthday, and he takes Kuzco out just as Yzma is receiving her birthday greetings.

When Pacha tells Kuzco that Yzma and Kronk are trying to kill him, Kuzco, convinced that Yzma is loyal, doesn't believe Pacha and falls out with him, believing Pacha's claim to be a plan to save his hilltop from destruction, and then orders Pacha to go. When Kuzco goes back to Yzma, he overhears the villains discussing their plans to track him down and kill him. Kuzco finally realizes Pacha was right and searches frantically for him, but Pacha has already left.

Having lost all hope of ever returning to the palace and regaining his human form, Kuzco resigns himself to the fate of an ordinary llama.

That night, Kronk suddenly remembers Pacha's face and links him to Kuzco.

The next morning, Kuzco finds Pacha in the llama herd and makes up with him, and then they both go to Pacha's house. They find that Yzma and Kronk are there searching for Kuzco (and claiming that they are distant relatives of Pacha). Chicha, Pacha's wife and the kids keep Yzma and Kronk at bay (first, by locking them in the closet, then by turning Yzma into a piñata). This gives Kuzco and Pacha a headstart, but Yzma sees them disappearing over the horizon, and a frantic race between Kuzco, Pacha, Yzma, and Kronk ensues, such that Yzma and Kuzco are almost within eyeshot. Kuzco and Pacha use a rope to cross a gorge, and then Kuzco cuts it with his mouth in an attempt to keep the villains at bay. However, Yzma's transport tent sprouts wings, and she and Kronk begin to sail over the gorge. They seem to have succeeded, but before they get to the other side, they are struck by lightning, and then fall into a chasm.

Final Battle
Kuzco and Pacha reach the palace, only to find that their pursuers somehow got there first (by a method which, humorously, not even they know). Yzma then orders Kronk to kill the duo after throwing a knife at him, but her henchman once again has a change of heart, and cuts the rope to a chandelier, but it falls around Yzma instead of on her, and then she sends Kronk down a trapdoor, along with his Shoulder Angel and Devil. After a brief struggle for the vial, Yzma knocks over the potions cabinet so that Kuzco and Pacha cannot tell which is the antidote, and calls the palace guards to kill the peasant and the talking llama. Pacha throws the potions onto the guards, turning them into various animals. After the guard who has turned into a cow is excused, the chase continues as Kuzco tries every potion, transforming into various creatures before transforming back into a llama.

They outwit the guards, but Yzma continues to persue them until they reach the palace roof, and only 2 potions remain for Kuzco to try. Yzma snatches one of them, but it is the wrong potion, and she turns into a cat. When Kuzco takes the potion, she attacks him. When Pacha tries to help, she scratches him, causing him to fall. Kuzco hits Yzma on the wall, knocking her out. Once Yzma recovers, she quickly snatches the potion away from Kuzco, declaring that she'll turn herself back into a human and kill Emperor Kuzco. She finds that she can't open the vial, and her frustration makes her fall from the roof; while Kuzco is saving Pacha, the vial also falls. However, both Yzma and the vial return to the roof, with the help of a giant trampoline. Yzma reaches the vial before Kuzco and Pacha, and seems to have won, until she is knocked out by Kronk, who has just emerged from the other end of the trapdoor.

Kuzco turns back into a human and sets out to redeem himself, building Kuzcotopia on the hill next to Pacha's home.

Meanwhile, outdoorsman Kronk becomes a scout leader with the help of Bucky, and Yzma, now a cat, is sentenced to the tortue of being taught squirrel language by Kronk as a Junior Chipmunk.

Kronk's New Groove
In Kronk's New Groove, she has returned to human form but still has the tail of a cat. During the first half of the film, she sells sewer sludge to the old people, telling them that it is a youth potion, but once Kronk finds out her potion is a fake, the old people chase her down, where she uses a potion to transform herself into a rabbit, to prevent them from attacking her. She is then snatched and carried away by a falcon. At the end of the movie, in a nest outside the restaurant, she is scared by the falcon's chicks right after they hatch.

House of Mouse
Yzma appeared in Pluto vs. Figaro.

The Emperor's New School
In the spinoff, The Emperor's New School, Yzma once again plots to take the throne from Kuzco. The show's premise is that Kuzco must attend school and pass all of his classes in order to remain Emperor. If he fails even one class, he will not be able to retake the throne. In order to make Kuzco fail, Yzma poses as Principal Amzy, the principal of Kuzco Academy. With the assistance of Kronk, she comes up with various schemes (most involve potions that transform Kuzco into an animal, similarly to the film) in order to make Kuzco fail one of his classes. Several episodes reveal members of Yzma's family, including her mother Amza who, according to Yzma, nags her incessantly, forcing Yzma to carry out her plots. Yzma also apparently has siblings, as she has two nephews: Zim and Zam.

Behind the Scenes
Yzma was voiced by Eartha Kitt and animated by Dale Baer.

Design and Animation
Shades of purple in The Emperor's New Groove are almost excusively reserved for Yzma and her world (her Secret Lab, and the Palace when she is briefly Empress). These colours were chosen because they are generally considered the colours of madness. Yzma's angular shape is intended to suggest her evil nature; early designs depick an even more jagged, pointed figure. Yzma's design is also inspired by that of Cruella De Vil, who boasts similarly angular hips and shoulders. Dale Baer commented that Eartha Kitt's actions when voicing Yzma inspired many of the character's physical mannerisms. Yzma was also based on singer Yma Sumac, the "Inca princess of Hollywood"; Sumac may have inspired Yzma's extravagant and varied wardrobe.

Abandoned Concepts
Originally, The Emperor's new Groove was Kingdom Of The Sun, a film of a more serious nature, similar in scale to The Lion King. Yzma was still voiced by Eartha Kitt, but at this point, was animated by Andreas Deja. Her role in Kingdom of the Sun was similar in some ways; she was still the villainess, and was a member of the royal court, but was a sorceress (rather than a mad scientist). Kingdom of the Sun's story was similar to that of Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper; the Emperor (here, called Manco) switched places with Pacha (at this point, voiced by Owen Wilson), who, in this version, was physically identical to Manco. Once famed for her beauty, the very old Yzma blamed her now hideous appearance on the sun, and planned to plunge the kingdom into eternal darkness (illustrated in the song, Snuff Out The Light, which can be found on the The Emperor's New Groove soundtrack), involving Pacha in her plan through blackmail (she witnessed the 'switch' of Manco and Pacha). Kronk was not in the story; instead, Yzma's sidekick was a talking talisman named Hucua (voiced by Harvey Fierstein and animated by Nik Ranieri). The climax involved Yzma summoning Supai, a dark force, to engulf the kingdom, but being killed by the sun itself, which Pacha lassooed and pulled down to Earth. When Kingdom of the Sun eventually became The Emperor's New Groove, Yzma became a more comical character, and her motivation changed from vanity to lust for power. Reputedly, animator Andreas Deja was furious at this change, thinking the idea for the new version of the film to be a step backward, and left not only the project but Burbank entirely, moving to Florida to animate Lilo for Lilo and Stitch. Dale Baer took over animation duties for Yzma.

Unused Songs
Aside from Snuff out the Light, Eartha Kitt also sang a reprise of opening number Perfect World; this would have been performed by Yzma when she became Empress, and was intended to show that she had not only stolen Kuzco's Empire and Palace, but also his theme song. "Perfect World (Yzma's Reprise)" was ultimately cut from the film, as it was believed to slow down the story.

Trivia

 * Yzma, along with Hades and Captain Hook, has been considered one of Disney's funniest villains.
 * In one episode of The Emperor's New School, it was revealed that Yzma has a wheelchair-using mother named Amza, who is way older than her and can barely talk.
 * She was alluded to in the Nostalgia Critic's review of The Exorcist: The Heretic, where he stated that Pazuzu sounded like Eartha Kitt in The Emperor's New Groove.