Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen is a novel written by Serena Valentino, and the first installment in the Villains series. It is based on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and serves as a prequel to the film, telling the story of how the Queen became evil, with the Magic Mirror having been a strong negative influence on her. In 2023, the book was adapted into a comic-styled graphic novel Fairest of All: A Villains Graphic Novel, illustrated by Fiona Marchbank, lettered by Chris Dickey and published by Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Description[]
For anyone who's seen Walt Disney's Snow White, you'll know that the Wicked Queen is one evil woman! After all, it's not everyone who wants to cut out their teenage step-daughter's heart and have it delivered back in a locked keepsake box. (And even if this sort of thing is a common urge, we don't know many people who have acted upon it.)
Now, for the first time, we'll examine the life of the Wicked Queen and find out just what it is that makes her so nasty. Here's a hint: the creepy-looking man in the magic mirror is not just some random spooky visage and he just might have something to do with the Queen's wicked ways!
Synopsis[]
The story begins at the wedding of Snow White's father, The King, to the protagonist, known only in the book as the Queen (though named in later installments as Grimhilde). She thinks of her happiness with her groom, new stepdaughter Snow White, and her lady-in-waiting Verona. As she prepares for her wedding, the Queen thinks back to meeting the King as he came to purchase a mirror at her father's famous mirror shop, and met her by the well outside, remarking on her beauty. The humble girl refused to acknowledge such beauty within herself, but came to love the king, and after her father's death, accepted his proposal. The king then had the well at which they met moved to his castle. On their wedding night, he gifts her with an ornate mirror. The king then travels off to war. While alone in her room, the Queen sees a face in the mirror and hears it say "Good evening my queen" to her, and, shocked, she swats the mirror off the wall, breaking it.
The King returns home, but enemies attack the castle, forcing him to return to the battlefront. Before he leaves, he presents the Queen with the repaired mirror, revealing that it was her father who created it. Dismayed, she tells him of what she heard, but he dismisses it as brought about by stress, before going off to war again. The queen has the mirror covered to waylay her continued anxiety.
The queen is visited by three bizarre distant cousins of the king, Lucinda, Ruby, and Martha. Soon after they arrive, the queen receives word that the king will be arriving home again, just in time for the winter solstice. When he does return home, at the festivity, Snow tells her mother the sisters were terrorizing her, threatening her with the same sort of speech, in the woods. The sisters arrive claiming Snow tricked them into falling down a hole. Although the king believes the sisters, the Queen believes Snow White, and angrily insists the sisters be thrown out of the castle. Later, the queen tells the king that her own father was an abusive man who hated her and called her ugly her whole life. That night, the mirror once again speaks to her, revealing itself to be both her slave and the spirit of her dead father. She screams, and the king rushes in and comforts his wife, smashing the mirror. Soon afterward, he once again goes off to war.
Some time after, the queen receives a package from an anonymous source, which turns out to be the mirror, rebuilt. The man in the mirror informs the queen that her husband has died in battle, which Verona soon confirms. At the king's funeral, the sisters appear and reveal to the queen that it was they who sent her the mirror. Soon after, she summons the mirror and they tell her of its origins. The Queen's mother had wanted a child, and, unable to bear seeing her unhappy, her husband made a deal with the sisters, selling his soul in return for a child. After his own death, his soul was bound to the magic mirror. The man in the mirror can see all in the lands, but has proven unwilling to cooperate with the Queen. The Queen asks them how to get the mirror to do her bidding. They warn her that she may be ruined by the things he says. When she insists, they perform an incantation, stating that the man will cooperate from now on. The Queen asks the mirror who is fairest in all the lands. He also tries to warn her away from inquiring such of him, but when she persists, he tells her "You are, my queen."
The queen becomes obsessed with hearing this from the mirror every day, but one day he instead tells her that she has been overcome in beauty by her own best friend, Verona. Some time later, the Queen sends Verona on a diplomatic assignment outside the kingdom. She later receives a note from the sisters asking her how she is fairing with their gifts, and is reminded of the items they sent her before. She discovers several spell books, and over the next few years, becomes obsessed with learning magic with the books in her dungeon.
One day she sees a young man ride through the kingdom and notice Snow, now a young woman, apparently being taken with her. The Queen then decides that Snow should take on more responsibilities in the castle, and dress in rag wear to perform her new chores. One day she receives word that Snow has fallen from the well. She arrives to find her retrieved and being tended to by the young man, who she now recognizes as a prince from a nearby castle. She notes that the two are attracted to each other, before whisking Snow away. After The Prince comes to call several more times, the Queen tells him that Snow does not love him, and intends to tell Snow that the Prince does not love her. She tells herself she is doing this to help Snow avoid heartbreak like her own, but deep down knows it is out of jealousy.
One day, Verona returns to the kingdom for a visit. The Queen thinks to herself how much she has missed her friend and how cold she has become with out her. When she consults the mirror that night, it states that it cannot distinguish between their beauty. The Queen is tempted to banish Verona, even kill her, but instead wraps the mirror in drapes, calls the castle's Huntsman, and has him bury it in the woods. However, only a short time later, she has an apparent dream where the sisters direct her to find the mirror and she digs it up. She awakens to find herself covered in dirt and the mirror in front of her. When she asks it who is fairest of all, it replies Verona, and she decides Verona must once again leave. The next morning, Snow White reveals she has seen the Prince again, and she knows the Queen lied to them. The Queen slaps Snow, and when Verona chastises her, she banishes Verona from the kingdom.
The Queen is plagued by a series of nightmares depicting visions and her personal fears. She stays confined in her quarters for days, frequently consulting the mirror and wakes up one day to finding her feet mysteriously filthy and bleeding. She refuses the help of the maidservant Tilley. The mirror tells The Queen that she must kill Snow White to save herself and retain her beauty. As she refuses, the mirror reveals that even in death, her father still hates her. Not only is his soul bound to the mirror, but the Queen's too. The sister's also hint that they took her mother's life. Then Snow White, who is worried about her stepmother, comes to offer aid. The Queen requests food and in her sleep, she has visions of events yet to come.
Then comes the fateful day when the mirror declares Snow White fairer than The Queen. The Three Sisters prompt her to kill her step-daughter. Seeing that she needs further prompting, the sisters give her an elixir that will help ease her conscience, essentially completing her transformation to evil. The queen immediately drinks it. Still not wanting Snow White's blood on her hands, The Queen orders the Huntsman to kill the girl and return her heart in the Heart Box. Several hours later, she asks the same question to the mirror and comes to realize that the Huntsman has not done the deed and has brought a pig's heart as a substitute. Enraged, she stabs the Huntsman. Inspired by the color of the blood, she goes to be laboratory to transform herself into a hag and prepare a poisoned apple for Snow White to give her the Sleeping Death.
The Queen goes on the path of no return, once again prompted by the Three Sisters. Shrugging off her last shred of conscience, she performs the deed and has Snow White in a death-like sleep. The Three Sisters tell her that there is no way to reverse her transformation. She comes to the sudden realization that she is now like her cruel father, and begins to feel remorse for her actions. While on the run from the seven dwarves, she is given the option to shelter in the forest, but stubbornly takes the path up the cliff, leading to her inevitable demise.
Snow White is revived and weds The Prince. However Snow White pities her dead parents. She cannot bring herself to hate the woman who had been a guardian angel until the day her father died. After the wedding, Snow White receives many gifts including her stepmother's mirror. As she looks into it, The Queen appears to her and tells her she loves her.
Characters[]
- The Evil Queen
- Snow White
- Magic Mirror
- Verona
- The First King
- Lucinda, Ruby, and Martha
- Nanny
- Uncle Marcus
- The Huntsman
- Aunt Vivian
- Tilley
- The Evil Queen's father
- The Prince
Gallery[]
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