- “You poor, simple fools. Thinking you could defeat me. ME! The mistress of all evil!”
- ―Maleficent to Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather[src]
Maleficent is the main antagonist of Disney's 1959 animated feature film Sleeping Beauty. A malevolent fairy, she is an incarnation of pure evil and is responsible for all the misfortune in King Stefan's kingdom. Taking offense at not being invited to the christening of Princess Aurora by Stefan and his wife, Queen Leah, Maleficent curses the princess to die by pricking her finger on a spinning wheel's spindle before the sun sets on her 16th birthday. She also appears to particularly have a hatred of Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, her benevolent rivals. She is frequently accompanied by her pet raven, Diablo.
With her dark, elegant design, dramatic and flamboyant animation, and an unlimited arsenal of magic powers at her command, Maleficent is one of the most popular and recognizable Disney Villains, in addition to being one of the primary members of the official franchise.
Quick Answers
What is the origin of Maleficent's curse on Princess Aurora?
What is the significance of the spinning wheel in Maleficent's curse?
How does Maleficent's character contribute to the plot of Sleeping Beauty?
Why does Maleficent have a hatred for King Stefan and Queen Leah?
What is the transformation of Maleficent into a dragon signify in the story?
Background[]
Development[]
The style for Sleeping Beauty was based on the art of Eyvind Earle, who claimed to have a 'Pre-Renaissance' style, with strong vertical lines and gothic elegance. Earle was involved with the design of all the characters and designed and painted most of the backgrounds in the film. Though early sketches depict a hag-like witch, it was decided that Maleficent's final, elegant design suited Earle's backgrounds. Marc Davis' decision to make Maleficent a powerful witch rather than an old crone may also have been influenced by Eleanor Audley's voice, which he recalled suggested a very powerful character.
The design for Maleficent's clothes occurred to Davis when he was looking through a book on Medieval art; one of the manuscript images featured a religious figure with long robes, the ends of which resembled flames. Davis incorporated this into Maleficent's final design. He based the sides of her headdress on bat wings and the top of her headdress on the horns of the devil.
Animation[]
After Eleanor Audley's vocal and live-action performances for Lady Tremaine in Cinderella, Walt Disney personally suggested that she be considered for the voice and live-action reference for Maleficent. Davis praised Eleanor Audley's live-action performance for the character, claiming that she created many of Maleficent's expressions and mannerisms that were ultimately used in the animation. The animators were more limited to how their characters could move against the detailed backgrounds. The manner in which Maleficent moved, perhaps limited by her costume, later inspired Andreas Deja to take a similar route when animating Jafar for Aladdin.
Personality[]
Maleficent represents pure evil. She is ruthless, dark, devious, and will do whatever it takes to achieve her evil goals. Additionally, she is very sinister, which is shown when she taunts Prince Phillip after she captures him. Her most famous quote ("You poor simple fools. Thinking you could defeat me. ME! The mistress of all evil!") indicates that she thinks herself above everyone, even calling her closest allies "her pets" in a pseudo-affectionate manner. Other than herself, the only entity for which that she seems to have a genuine care is her pet raven, Diablo. This is especially evident in her horror at seeing the aftermath of Diablo getting turned to stone, as well as her being shows petting him. Maleficent also seems to have some emotional instability. This is especially evident in her reaction to the discovery that her goons spent the previous 16 years looking for a baby, where she pitched a nearly truly evil laughing fit before reacting violently towards her goons. She is also shown to be very sadistic, which is especially evident when she proceeded to psychologically torture Prince Phillip simply for her own amusement late in the film.
On top of her deviousness, Maleficent is very misleading in her personality. But underneath the mask of stoicism, she unleashes the full brunt of her wrath with a smile, which shows how she relishes in the pain of others. This is displayed during her first appearance during Aurora's birthday ceremony. When Merryweather states bluntly, "You weren't wanted," Maleficent pretends to be shocked and hurt, remarking, "In that event, I'd best be on my way." But then she turned around and cast a curse upon Aurora, cackling while taking in the sweet revenge she had attained. Owing to her misleading personality, she also expresses sarcasm, which is especially evident during her psychological torture of Prince Phillip, where Maleficent states that when he leaves, he will be "up on his noble steed, straight and tall" despite the vision making very obvious that he and his steed were barely even able to leave due to being near-death.
Maleficent is soft-spoken, proper, and elegant and has two possible motivations for her crimes, either out of pride, considering she curses Aurora because Stefan didn't invite her to the christening, or she is simply a monster who enjoys being evil. The latter is further suggested by her admitting that she's not offended by them not inviting her before cursing Aurora.
Fauna indicated that Maleficent has no knowledge of love, or kindness, or joy that comes from helping others. However, her later capture of Prince Phillip, taunts toward Phillip regarding his role in undoing the curse, and later her attempts at preventing Phillip from reaching the castle implied that she knew enough about love to realize it was a massive threat to her curse on Aurora.
Physical appearance[]
Maleficent is a tall, slender, pale green-skinned (although some appearances of her depict her with gray skin) woman with a narrow face and a prominent chin. She is also darkly beautiful and icily elegant. Her tall demeanor is such that she dwarfs the entire cast, as evidenced by her debut scene, with King Stefan only being able to stand eye-to-eye with her while atop the throne steps. She also has yellow eyes and black horns (it is unknown if those are her horns or a headdress), symbolic of her dark magic. She is clad in a black-and-purple robe with bat wing-like edges; underneath her robe, she wears a dress with the same color pallet but with some red instead of purple and wears a gold ring with a large mysterious circular black stone in it. Both the horned headdress and bat wing-like robe represent and foreshadow her dragon form. She carries a staff with a glowing green orb at the tip through which she casts her spells.
Maleficent is capable of shapeshifting at will into numerous forms, including a floating hypnotic light resembling a will-o'-the-wisp and a massive, monstrous black-and-purple dragon. Her menacing dragon form had Prince Phillip and the three fairies wear fearful expressions, but they still engaged the beast. As a dragon, Maleficent can stand upright and is largely black, with her underbelly starting from just below her jaw up to the tip of her tail being purple-colored and ribbed. She has webbed fins underneath her horns and her eyes are a pupilless green or yellow, while her tongue and the interior of her mouth is colored yellow. Her claws and sharp teeth are also colored black, and she possesses spines across her back and her long neck, some of which form a three-pronged tip at her tail, bearing a faint similarity to the Chauve-souris. Her wings are fairly small especially compared to her overall size, although they still seem to allow her to fly to some degree.
Powers and abilities[]
- “Now shall you deal with me, O Prince, and all the powers of hell!”
- ―Maleficent to Phillip[src]
Maleficent as a dragon.
Maleficent is one of the most powerful villains in Disney history. She describes her own skills as "all the powers of hell". Her powers are magic-based, and it is also implied during the christening ceremony that her magic was far more powerful than even that of the Three Good Fairies, at least individually, as they admitted they could not outright remove Maleficent's curse but rather alter it. Using her staff, she can conjure up her spells, for example, lightning projection, divination, and teleportation. Merryweather also implied that she was capable of controlling the weather such as frost storms. She can even cast powerful dark magic spells like her forest of thorns. She was capable of hypnosis, as she demonstrated on Aurora to make her prick her finger. She also conjured the spinning wheel and spindle, which she used to prick Aurora's finger, which shows she is capable of conjuration.
She also implied that the sleeping curse's effects, even when not at full power, were sufficient to effectively halt aging so long as the curse was in effect. Maleficent was also capable of flying by conjuring energy from her staff, similar to a galaxy or a helicopter rotor. This was presumably used as an act of desperation, given the events that had her use it. She is also shown to be particularly skilled at pyrokinetic-related spells, as her teleportation sometimes has flames being involved, such as during the christening ceremony and just before confronting Prince Phillip for the final time. Her flames, which are always emerald green colored, are extremely hotter like a sun, strong enough to melt the castle's bridge made of durable stone bricks.
One of her most powerful abilities is to transform herself into a massive fire breathing dragon, with the flame blasts being strong enough to effortlessly knock away Phillip's Shield of Virtue, and her hide in this form was apparently strong enough to even withstand the Sword of Truth barring significant enchantments on the Three Good Fairies part. In addition, her fangs in this form were shown to be venomous in Maleficent Returns, but she lacks immunity to this poison, which ironically also led to her second defeat.
She also possessed some degree of divination and telepathy, as demonstrated when she was taunting Prince Phillip near the end of the film with the revelation that Briar Rose and Princess Aurora were one and the same. In the storybook sequel, she also was capable of petrifying people, which she demonstrated on the people of Aurora's kingdom, including Phillip after her revival, and also attempted to do so on Aurora at the latter's request to save the kingdom, although her protection charm by the Three Good Fairies prevented this from happening.
Appearances[]
Sleeping Beauty[]
Maleficent with her pet bird, Diablo in Sleeping Beauty.
At the christening of the newly born Princess Aurora, announced by the herald, the Three Good Fairies come to the castle and bestow three gifts on the child. Before Merryweather has a chance to give the child a final gift, Maleficent appears with Diablo perched on her. She then sarcastically addresses the horrified attendees and explains she must have not gotten an invitation until Merryweather bluntly told her she wasn't invited in the first place. While being hurt by the remark, Maleficent decided to leave. Queen Leah asked if Maleficent was offended, with Maleficent claiming she wasn't, and then adding that in fact she intended to bear a gift of her own to Aurora. She then promptly curses the child, decreeing that before the sun sets on Aurora's sixteenth birthday, she shall die by pricking her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel.
A horrified Leah rushes to hold her baby in fright and an enraged King Stefan orders his guards to immediately seize Maleficent. But before the guards can get to her, she disappears, laughing wickedly, leaving everyone in despair and filled with worry. Though unable to undo the entire curse herself, Merryweather softens it so that Aurora will not die, but will merely enter a deep sleep that will only last until true love's kiss. During the intervening sixteen years, she also issued a manhunt order to her goons to search the forests, mountains, and settlements for Aurora, also causing lightning to strike down around her home every time they failed to find even a trace of her, giving Stefan's kingdom hope. As Aurora's sixteenth birthday draws near, over at her domain in the Forbidden Mountain, Maleficent punishes her goons after finding out that they have been stupidly searching for nothing but a baby for sixteen years. After angrily calling the goons idiots and imbeciles and intimidating them into running away by conjuring dark lightning bolts with her staff, she sends Diablo to search for the princess. After managing to find the hiding location of Aurora and the fairies, Diablo flies back to Maleficent to inform her of Aurora's whereabouts. With this new knowledge, Maleficent plans her next move.
Maleficent unveiling the sleeping Aurora to the Three Good Fairies.
After the fairies return the princess to the castle and leave her alone for a while, Maleficent uses a hypnotic apparition resembling a will-o-the-wisp to lure Aurora to a spinning wheel conjured by Maleficent. Though Aurora is momentarily snapped out of the trance by the fairies' loud voices (who call after her to not touch anything), Maleficent orders Aurora to touch the spindle while they try to stop Aurora from touching the spindle with her finger. But before the fairies can reach Aurora, she pricks her finger in the process and subsequently falls to the floor, motionless, having fulfilled Maleficent's curse bestowed on her when she was a baby. When the fairies arrive too late to save Aurora, they were horrified to see Maleficent, who briefly mocks her arch enemies of their efforts of trying to defeat her by uncovering the fallen princess before their eyes and vanishes, cackling maniacally, leaving the fairies to weep over Aurora’s fate and cast a sleeping spell on everyone in the kingdom. Following this, Maleficent, anticipating that the man Aurora met earlier is her true love thanks to Diablo's intel, summons her goons to head over to Aurora's cottage to set up an ambush, and they capture Aurora's true love—who turns out to be Prince Phillip, rather than a peasant.
On Maleficent's orders, Phillip is taken to her domain in the Forbidden Mountain. When the fairies arrive at the cottage in search of Phillip, all they find is the prince's hat, allowing them to deduce that Maleficent has captured him. At the Forbidden Mountain, Maleficent presides over a bonfire with her minions celebrating their victory (the bonfire itself is implied to have been lit by Maleficent herself due to it using green flames) before deciding to visit the imprisoned Phillip in the dungeon to "cheer Phillip up." She taunts him with the knowledge that Briar Rose is actually Princess Aurora and ridicules the notion that "true love conquers all". She then reveals her intent to keep Philip imprisoned until he grows elderly, then let him go to seek out Aurora, who won't have aged a day since.
Maleficent conjuring a forest of thorns.
Maleficent then leaves the dungeon to sleep, saying she shall sleep well for the first time in sixteen years. With Maleficent out of the way, the Three Good Fairies infiltrate Phillip's cell, unshackle him, and arm him with the Shield of Virtue and the Sword of Truth. As they make their escape, they run into Diablo, who fetches the goons. As the prince and fairies dodge the goons and make their escape, Diablo flies to warn Maleficent of Phillip's escape, with Merryweather in pursuit. Diablo reaches outside Maleficent's tower, where Merryweather finally turns the raven into a stone statue with a satisfied scowl before rejoining Phillip, Flora, and Fauna. Awakened by Diablo's constant cawing, Maleficent emerges from her tower, where she finds Diablo's petrified form. Shocked by Diablo's state and enraged at the sight of Phillip escaping to reach the kingdom, Maleficent attempts to strike him down with lightning.
As he makes his way to Stefan's castle, she summons a forest of thorns to surround the castle as a blockade. With help from the Good Fairies, however, Phillip manages to hack through the thorns and towards the castle. Infuriated again, Maleficent angrily decided to stop him personally and transports herself to Stefan's castle to block Phillip's path. As a final attempt to kill the prince in order to prevent him from breaking her curse on Aurora and saving the whole kingdom, Maleficent summons all the power of Hell to transform herself into an enormous dragon.
Maleficent defeated, stabbed in the heart by the Sword of Truth by Prince Phillip.
Although Phillip is frozen with fear after seeing the transformed Maleficent, the prince charges at the beast, who drives him backward with her powerful blasts of flame and snapping jaws. The dragon follows Philip up onto a high cliff and they fight until she corners him at the ledge. With another powerful flame blast, she blows his shield off. As she bursts out laughing and prepares to finish off the now defenseless Phillip, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather magically empower the Sword of Truth, and Phillip immediately throws the sword at the dragon's heart. Maleficent screams in pain and collapses onto the ledge, attempting to devour Phillip for the last time, but he dodges. Upon impact, her enormous weight causes the ledge to crumble, sending her tumbling down into her own dragon flames and dissolves into a purple coloring dark smoke, completing her demise. Phillip looks down to see what remains of Maleficent, to see nothing more than her shredded cloak on the ground, plus the Sword of Truth—still embedded in the cloak—turning black as its enchantment wears off. With Maleficent gone for good, her forest of thorns fades away and Phillip is finally able to enter Stefan's castle. Upon arriving where Aurora is sleeping, Phillip kisses the her, breaking Maleficent's curse and thus waking Aurora, her parents, King Hubert, and the entire kingdom from their enchanted slumber.
House of Mouse[]
Maleficent in House of Mouse.
Maleficent made frequent cameos as one of the guests on House of Mouse. Notably in one episode, "Halloween With Hades", centered on Hades trying to woo her. Maleficent initially rejects Hades, so Mickey tries to help him by teaching Hades how to be good. The technique fails and Hades becomes so mad he tries to kill the mouse. Maleficent likes the evil in Hades and agrees to go out with him. Later in the episode, they're seen dining together. However, her later appearances suggest that she broke up with him some time afterward.
In "Mickey and Minnie's Big Vacation", Maleficent in her dragon form, alongside Mushu, Madam Mim, Elliott, and the Reluctant Dragon, cause a fire in the club, with Mushu accusing her of this.
Maleficent has been approached by other villains who have tried to win her over, and in return, she rejects them by zapping them with a wave of her staff. Captain Hook tried to charm her, only to be zapped away leaving behind his hook. Jafar also tried to woo her while they sat together, only to end up being literally burnt.
Maleficent also appears alongside the villains as part of their song in Mickey's House of Villains.
Other appearances[]
A dragon resembling Maleficent's dragon form made a brief cameo in the Timon & Pumbaa episode "Guatemala Malarkey" in a pit of fire as one of the cursed temple's booby traps.
Maleficent appears in her dragon form as a minor antagonist in LEGO Disney Princess: The Castle Quest. During the climax, she is summoned by Gaston to kill the Disney princesses to prevent them from thwarting his plot to rule over all kingdoms. Snow White manages to tame the dragon, who then turns on Gaston and burns the hunter alive.
In Once Upon a Studio, Maleficent is seen from her horns in the lobby of the Walt Disney Animation Studio with the characters who were waiting in line on the stairs. Later Maleficent joins in on singing "When You Wish Upon a Star" with all the Disney characters as the group photo is successfully taken for Disney's 100th anniversary.
In Wish, Maleficent was among the Disney animated characters that appeared during the credits.
Billy Kaplan dresses up as Maleficent for the next trial on the Witches Road in the seventh episode of Agatha All Along.
Printed media[]
Comics[]
In 1991 Italian comic crossover Paperino in: La storia (in)finita (parody of the 1984 movie The Neverending Story), published in the Italian magazine Topolino, Maleficent appears as the leader of the Disney Villains and she is the equivalent of the wolf Gmork in the original movie and book.
When a mysterious malevolent force known as the Nothing is slowly destroying the magic world of Fantasiland (parody of the original world of Fantastica). Maleficent is first seen in Madame Medusa's steamboat, where the villains are assembled. She arrives there to warn the other villains that Mickey Mouse (who plays of Atreju) has been tasked with fighting the Nothing and save the life of the Empress (played by Daisy Duck). She then explains that it is in the villains' interest to let the Nothing destroy the world; she claims that once the world is destroyed, they, with their black magic, will be able to remake it to their liking. She decides to take care of him herself and leaves for the forest of Broceliande (where Mickey Mouse is seeking advice from Merlin). Maleficent puts a curse on the forest to put everyone in it to sleep; although Mickey is able to get some advice from Archimedes, the spell soon affects him.
Later, Maleficent reappears at the climax of the story, on the now derelict Pleasure Island (which is slowly being eaten away by the Nothing), where she confronts Mickey Mouse. She brags about how she is going to kill him so that the Nothing may not be stopped. Mickey asks for her motivation, and she explains that at last, Good will be defeated, this time. Mickey answers that Evil cannot win if she and the other villains are going to be killed by the Nothing too; Maleficent admits that she lied to the other villains, controlling them so that they help her to kill him, and that she is ready to sacrifice her own life for the purpose of seeing the agents of good destroyed. She turns into her dragon form, but is sucked up by the Nothing before she can kill Mickey; Mickey makes a timely escape on the back of Dumbo.
Maleficent's Revenge[]
An illustration of Maleficent ascending in Maleficent's Revenge.
Maleficent also acted as the eponymous antagonist in Maleficent's Revenge, a short story included in Disney's Scary Storybook Collection.
Two years after the film's events, Aurora and Prince Phillip have married, and the couple, as well as the entire kingdom, prepared to celebrate their anniversary. As the Three Good Fairies began work on decorations, they notice their powers have been drained away. This was due to the solar eclipse. When such an event occurs, fairies lose their magic and their spells are undone, much to Merryweather's discomfort.
Meanwhile, Merryweather's spell over Diablo is broken at the Forbidden Mountains, and the raven is revived from his petrification. Immediately, he begins searching for Maleficent and eventually founded her cloak, with her staff nearby. Diablo manages to use the evil fairy's magic to revive his mistress, and together, the villainous duo makes way for the kingdom, plotting to break Aurora and Phillip apart and dominate the land.
On the day of the celebration, Maleficent storms in and places a curse upon the castle, turning every soul into stone, except Aurora. Tortured and desperate, Aurora pleads for mercy upon Phillip and her people, going as far as to asking the wicked fairy to turn her into stone, as well. Maleficent refuses, as she's unable to place a curse on the princess due to Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather's protection spell, but she is able to grant a wish, resulting in Aurora sacrificing her life in exchange for her loved ones and people.
With Aurora once again put into a sleep-like death, the kingdom citizens are freed, including Phillip, who rushes to the Forbidden Mountains to save his bride. There, a battle between Dragon Maleficent and the prince takes place. The evil dragon attempts to bite Phillip with her venomous fangs, but she accidentally strikes her own tail, killing herself. When Maleficent is destroyed once and for all, Phillip once again wakes Aurora with a kiss of true love and the fairies and the other royals in the kingdom turn back to normal.
Kilala Princess[]
In the manga series, Maleficent returns disguised as "Lady Malecent" and attempts to curse Aurora at the princess' seventeenth birthday using magic rose thorns. However, the story's heroine, Kilala Reno, shields Aurora and falls under the curse. When Prince Rei delivers a kiss to a sleeping Kilala, Maleficent's evil plot was once again undone by true love's kiss, this time, ending Maleficent's life.
Kingdom Keepers[]
Artwork of Maleficent in the Kingdom Keepers novels.
Maleficent plays a major role in the novel that tells the story of Walt Disney World after dark. Maleficent is one of the Overtakers and believed to be the leader. Still, nearing the end of the first book, when Finn calls her the Overtakers' leader, she denies it and tells there's someone far more powerful than her. In this version, Maleficent will become weakened if in warm places; thus she gives off a cold chill, which cues the Keepers into when she's nearing their location.
Prior to the first story, Maleficent cursed a girl named Jess into becoming her servant, to keep her from giving predictions to the Keepers. She was set free thanks to Finn's DHI powers; Maleficent held a grudge against both of them and tried numerous times to incapacitate them.
Though captured twice, Maleficent manages to escape each and every time; the second time was with her master, Chernabog. She, the Queen, and Cruella look for Disney's notes on Chernabog to find a way to bring him back to full power as the transitions into different forms she's caused him to go through have severely weakened him. Onboard the Dream, Maleficent and the rest of the Overtakers blend in without much of the problem as the crew mistake them for Cast Members in costumes. During the two-week cruise, she plans to toss the Keepers overboard.
During the Sixth book, Dark Passage, Maleficent is killed by Finn (who had become blinded by rage at being tricked into killing his best friend for them), who ripped a hole in her using his DHI powers. In the Seventh book, The Insider, Tia Dalma retrieved some of Maleficent's bones and enacted a ritual to resurrect her. Upon meeting Ursula, Finn wondered if Maleficent was a double-agent secretly working for the sea witch.
In The Return trilogy, Maleficent is brought back as a Frankenstein-like misshapen being with stronger powers by Tia Dalma. She attempts to attack Amanda and Jess.
Poor Unfortunate Soul: A Tale of the Sea Witch[]
Maleficent is mentioned numerous times in the novel by Serena Valentino. It is explained that she and Ursula have a heated rivalry. When Maleficent hears of The Odd Sisters' deal with Ursula, she sends her raven to give them a warning to break ties with the Sea Witch, because the Dark Fairy knows how far Ursula will go to get what she truly wants, even if it means to betray the sisters.
Mistress of All Evil: A Tale of the Dark Fairy[]
Maleficent is the central character of the novel. Similar to Maleficent, she was given a tragic backstory, where she had been abandoned while she was still young and taken in by ravens until she was formally adopted by a fairy named Nanny, and even enrolled in a fairy academy. However, she was rendered an outcast by both Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather as well as her adopted aunt, the Fairy Godmother, the latter of whom even viewed her as evil. She ultimately fell under the influence of both Lucinda, Ruby, and Martha and Nanny into becoming a dark witch, and learned a significant amount of dark magic, although she intended to become a wish-granting fairy. However, after Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather had accused her of sabotaging their exams (when in reality Maleficent had been framed), she became furious and transformed into her dragon form, and knocked out Nanny in the process. Filled with grief under the belief that Nanny was killed by her by accident, she then frequently attacked various places before resuming her original form and becoming a recluse in the Forbidden Mountain (which had formerly belonged to Hades).
Maleficent, at the behest of the Odd Sisters, decided to cast a spell to create a daughter with all of Maleficent's best aspects. Unfortunately for her, it came at the cost of eliminating all of Maleficent's good aspects, thus forcing her to be pure evil. She then had Aurora adopted by King Stefan and Queen Leah, knowing she cannot love her daughter and would only be a danger to her. Sometime later, she cursed Aurora, partly in order to ensure Aurora doesn't turn evil like Maleficent did on her own sixteenth birthday, and after successfully enacting the curse, attempted to get the Odd Sisters to ensure she can never be awakened. She was eventually killed in a final battle with Phillip.
Other books[]
In the Disney Villains: Top Secret Files, Maleficent is featured in her own section. According to the pieces of information provided, Maleficent's last name is Faery. She attended a magic school in her youth, where she (already) showed remarkable interests in dragons. In her younger years, she tended to accidentally transform into her dragon form (only learning to control it much later); this happened at a birthday party where she was invited. The resulting disaster is why she was traditionally never invited to parties. On the other hand, it turns out she was actually invited to Aurora's birth ceremony and that the invitation simply never got to her castle because she burnt the postman to death (believing him to be a trespasser) before he could deliver it.
In Disney Villains: My Side of the Story, Maleficent claimed her actions in the film were portrayed incorrectly, and that her efforts were merely meant for Aurora and Phillip's best interests.
Video games[]
Mickey Mousecapade[]
Maleficent appears as the final boss of the North American version of the Nintendo game Mickey Mousecapade (in the original Japanese version, the final boss is the Queen of Hearts).
Kingdom Hearts series[]
Maleficent appears as one of the main antagonists in the Kingdom Hearts series. As opposed to other Disney villains featured in the game (except Pete), Maleficent plays a major role throughout the overall storyline of the series, unlike the villains who are only antagonists to the world they originate from. Her story begins in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, in her homeworld, Enchanted Domain, where she meets the dark Keyblade master Xehanort. Their contact leaves Maleficent with the knowledge of the existence of other worlds, the seven princesses of light, thus beginning her journey to gather all the princesses and unleash darkness upon the worlds, claiming them as her own, leading into the events of Kingdom Hearts. In order to do so, Maleficent enlists the assistance of several Disney villains: Pete, Jafar, Ursula, Captain Hook, Oogie Boogie, and Hades. Together, they wreak havoc upon their worlds and collect the princesses through the control over mysterious creatures known as the Heartless, with Maleficent managing to capture Aurora before having Enchanted Domain consumed in darkness. However, one boy stands in their way, that boy being Sora, the Keyblade's chosen one. With the help of Donald Duck and Goofy, Sora manages to travel across the worlds, defeating each villain, and eventually finding himself in Hollow Bastion, where Maleficent has built her home base. A battle follows, and eventually, Maleficent is killed after facing Sora in her dragon form after Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, possessing Riku, awakens her inner darkness in her heart with his own Keyblade. It was later revealed that Maleficent was actually nothing more than a pawn in Xehanort's hands, to collect the seven pure hearts for him and complete the first step of his greater plan.
It was revealed in Kingdom Hearts Union χ, that Maleficent did not actually die during the events of the first game. As when Ansem opened her heart with his dark Keyblade, he unwillingly allowed the evil fairy to transcend the rules of time travel. In this way, while Maleficent's body perished after her defeat against Sora, her heart travelled back in centuries and finding herself into a data-replica of her past homeworld. Unable to change the past events she is reached by a mysterious entity called "Darkness", who explains she was trapped here as part of the Master of Masters plans, and offers to guide her to the only way to return to her right temporal line.
Together they travel to Auropoli, and reach a time travel machine. Maleficent is confronted by Lauriam, who tries to eliminate her, although the witch wins the fight and manages to use the capsule to go back to the future.
This way, in Kingdom Hearts II, she revives from her death. The only villain still in contact with her being Pete, thanks to Diablo taking her cloak to Master Yen Sid's tower, where the memories of her from Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather resurrect her, gaining back her body, and sets up her new base back in Hollow Bastion at Villain's Vale when she discovered she could no longer use the castle as her headquarters like before. Together, they continue their quest for power, by merely invading worlds and attacking with Heartless, along with allying with fellow Disney villains, both new and old, such as Oogie Boogie and Hector Barbossa, but a new threat is known as the Organization XIII gets in the way of Maleficent's quest for power. Maleficent and Pete appear to sacrifice themselves in order to hold off a horde of Heartless so that Sora, Riku, and their allies can defeat Organization XIII's leader, Xemnas at the summit of the Castle That Never Was.
Maleficent also appears in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Kingdom Hearts coded, and Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, where she appears as a considerably minor character, looking to consolidate power and antagonize both Sora and King Mickey.
Maleficent returns in Kingdom Hearts III. She and Pete searched through the worlds in order to find the Black Box, a mysterious box given by the Master of Masters to his apprentice Luxu. Believing the box might contain the powerful Book of Prophecies, written by the Master himself, Maleficent decides to search for it, in order to use the book as a means to conquer all the worlds.
At the end of the game, after Xehanort's defeat in the Second Keyblade War, Luxu brings the box in the Keyblade Graveyard, followed by the Foretellers, called back from the past. Maleficent and Pete observe them from a distance, apparently deciding that was better to wait for the right moment to take the box for themselves.
Epic Mickey[]
Maleficent appears in her dragon form in the Sleeping Beauty transition level in addition to several background cameos. In Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion, she serves as the basis of Mizrabel's redesign and final form along with her dragon form in the Final boss level against Mickey Mouse.
Disney Heroes: Battle Mode[]
Maleficent appears in the game as one of the playable characters that are unlocked with 80 chips. Maleficent is Mid-Line Control Role hero. Her ability to become a dragon is the same as it happened in the movie, it is also worth mentioning that the invocation of the forest of thorns is the same but only to stun enemies, she also has a friendship campaigns with Scar and Ursula.
Fortnite[]
Maleficent appears in the game as one of the featured Outfits of Fortnitemares 2024. She can be purchased in the Item Shop along with her cosmetics with the Disney Villains Bundle (which also include Captain Hook and Cruella De Vil and their respective) for 3800 V-Bucks or separately along with her cosmetics with the Melificent Bundle for 1800 V-Bucks. Unlike her other incarnations, Fortnite's Maleficent appears with an outfit much more suitable for combat.
Disney Dreamlight Valley[]
Maleficent is an upcoming character in "The Storybook Vale" expansion pass. She will arrive in Act 2 as a full character, after appearing briefly in Act 1, involved in some missions with Hades and the player, as a minor character. She held a grudge with Hades for the control of the vale, but at the end of Act 1 they reconciled to save the vale from tearing apart.
She lives in the castle located in The Beanstalk Marshes biome, in the Storybook Vale world. Separate rooms of her castle can be explored in Fairy Tale Trials scattered in the Everafter biomes, where the player needs to cross a portal in order to start the trial, which normally involves solving puzzles of all kind.
It is heavily implied that she has something to do with Aurora's disappearing, and she was the one behind Flynn's curse, making him believe he was a wolf and act under her control to find Aurora. Though she fails in this, since Flynn actually helped Aurora to hide from Maleficent.
It is also implied that Aurora and her will appear as full characters in Act 2 of the expansion pass.
After reconciling with Hades, she mysteriously disappears.
Disney Parks[]
A portrait photo of Maleficent released by the Disney Parks.
Disneyland Resort[]
In the 2015 rendition of World of Color, Maleficent appears during the montage celebrating villains.
Maleficent is one of the villains that appear during Halloween Screams as part of Mickey's Halloween Party.
Maleficent appears in the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough.
Walt Disney World[]
In Disney Villains Mix and Mingle, until 2011, Maleficent was the lead villain and celebrates Halloween with her fellow villains. Dr. Facilier took over in 2011 as the main villain. After she joins in a meet and greet...if one is not too scared of her, of course.
Maleficent also plays a role in Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. One of the villains in Fantasyland, Maleficent is brought back from the dead by Hades to steal the crystal of the Magic Kingdom, though, like Ursula, Maleficent plans to double-cross Hades and instead use the crystal for her own gain rather than let him have it. The guests have to help Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather defeat her and retrieve the crystal.
Maleficent's dragon-form makes a cameo in the Skipper Canteen of the Magic Kingdom's Adventureland. In the S.E.A. room is a map by Jason Chandler and Captain Brieux of, "Legendary flying creatures" which shows a bronze scaled version of Maleficent's dragon form.
In Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular, Maleficent is the third villain to help the Sanderson Sisters with their Halloween celebration by conjuring various Disney Villains the sisters call "frightful friends". Maleficent and the other villains can be seen singing "I Put a Spell on You" with them during the finale of the show.
In Dream Along With Mickey, the former live castle stage show in the Magic Kingdom, Maleficent attempts to take over the Magic Kingdom. However, Mickey uses the power of dreams to defeat Maleficent. Maleficent decides to leave but reminds Mickey they have not seen the last of her.
She currently appears in her Dragon form battling Prince Phillip, in the Festival of Fantasy Parade, and in the nighttime fireworks show Happily Ever After, where she transforms into a dragon to battle Phillip; her defeat ends the segment centered on adversity.
The scene where she fought Philip as a dragon was also included in the Action montage in Wonderful World of Animation.
Tokyo Disney Resort[]
In Starlight Dreams, Maleficent was the leader of the villains in the show as she and some other Disney Villains come together, to fight against Mickey Mouse.
Maleficent can also be seen in One Man's Dream II: The Magic Lives On!
During the Halloween season, she is prominently featured alongside other Disney villains and makes a live appearance in Tokyo DisneySea's harbor show, The Villains World.
Disneyland Paris[]
In France, Maleficent also appears in Disney Dreams! where she is summoned by Captain Hook and turns into her Dragon form, to torment the living shadow of Peter Pan.
Maleficent was also seen in Mickey and his Magic Halloween Night and Disney's Maleficious Halloween Party.
Hong Kong Disneyland[]
At Hong Kong Disneyland, she hosted the 2010 Halloween festivities, with an animatronic dragon Maleficent being placed in the hub and hosting a variation of HalloWishes.
In Villains Night Out!, Maleficent joins the festivities of Jafar and the Evil Queen by inviting a cast of Disney villains to the castle.
She also makes an appearance during the final scene of The Nightmare Experiment, seen turning into a dragon.
Shanghai Disneyland[]
As part of the park's Halloween celebration, Maleficent joins Dr. Facilier and Hades in the Villain's Cavalcade night show.
Disney Cruise Line[]
Maleficent is one of the villain suspects in the Midship Detective Agency interactive attraction on the Disney Cruise Line ships and sometimes the culprit.
Fantasmic![]
- “Now you will deal with me, and all the powers of…MY IMAGINATION!”
- ―Maleficent to Mickey Mouse[src]
In the live nighttime spectacular, Maleficent is the final villain to be called forth by the Evil Queen, who plans to kill Mickey Mouse once and for all. In order to battle Mickey, Maleficent fires a fireball from her staff at him before the pinnacle she stands on rises as she transforms into her dragon form and burns the area with her fire-breathing abilities but is killed along with the other villains by Mickey when he uses the Sword in the Stone. The depiction of Maleficent's dragon form differs between parks: at Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea, Maleficent is a 45-foot-tall Audio-Animatronic, the largest ever built. Disneyland's dragon is codenamed "Snaps McGee", and frequently referred to as "Murphy" by fans (referring to the dragon's constant technical difficulties leading up to its debut in the Summer of 2009; it did not debut until September 1, 2009), while the Tokyo dragon's nickname is unknown. At Disney Hollywood Studios (and the original Disneyland version), the dragon is a 40-foot mechanical puppet on a JLG cherry picker. California's original dragon was codenamed "Dymo" (often misreported as "Bucky"), while Florida's dragon is codenamed "Vivian". In the event that the dragon is unavailable due to technical or weather issues, Maleficent will battle Mickey in her regular form on her pinnacle, which will lower back down to the ground upon her defeat (although her dragon form still appears on the water screens).
Differences from the source material[]
In the Sleeping Beauty ballet, the evil fairy was named Carabosse. In some versions of the fairy tale, she only appeared to curse the child at the beginning and did not appear elsewhere in the story; in these versions, the spinning wheel the princess pricks her finger on is not magical but simply a normal spinning wheel. One version of the story shows the fairy who curses the princess as old and grumpy, but not necessarily evil; this version of the character lived (most of the time sleeping) in a tower at the top of the castle, and, after cursing the princess, goes back to sleep, not appearing afterward. Also, the original story did not feature a battle with the prince, and Carabosse doesn't die. In addition, the reason she wasn't invited in the original tale was due to the populace believing that she either was cursed to not be able to come or dead, while in the Disney version, it is heavily implied that her evil nature was what made Stefan decide ultimately not to invite her.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Her name means "to do evil or harm; harmfully malicious". It can also be seen as a portmanteau of the words "malevolent" and "magnificent" and "magnify" and "magnification". The first part of the name also is derived from Malefica, which is latin for witch.
- Maleficent was nominated for a place in 'AFI's 50 Greatest Villains list', along with the Evil Queen, Stromboli, Man, Lady Tremaine, Cruella De Vil, and Ursula. The Disney Villains to make the final list were the Queen (10), Man (20), and Cruella De Vil (39).
- Eleanor Audley, the original voice actress and performance model for Maleficent, also voiced Lady Tremaine in Cinderella. In fact, they specifically chose Audley to voice Maleficent because of her having earlier brought Lady Tremaine to chilling vocal life, as they needed a powerful voice for someone as evil as Maleficent.
- Maleficent is one of the ten villains featured in the tongue-in-cheek Disney's Villains' Lair. Maleficent's section of the book includes the catalog she chose her costume from, and an invitation to Aurora's christening arriving 16 years late (with a small 'oops!' scrawled in the corner). Maleficent is ranked as the second greatest Disney Villain at the end of the book.
- In the original French story, the wicked fairy had not been invited, because for more than fifty years she had never left a certain tower and was thought to be dead or enchanted.
- Unlike most Disney Villains who speak to their respective heroines, Maleficent does not have any direct contact with Aurora (aside from luring her to the spindle) in the animated film. She does, however, have direct contact with Aurora in the storybook sequel Maleficent's Revenge.
- Sleeping Beauty's sound effects designer Jim MacDonald used castanets for the sound of Maleficent's jaws snapping as the dragon. He got the sound of her fiery breath by asking the U.S. Army to send him some training films on using flame throwers. The snapping sound of the dragon was also heard when she bangs the ground with her staff to announce her curse and later to silence the goons. The exact same sound effect was used for Tick-Tock the Crocodile's snapping sound in Peter Pan. In addition, her growl when Prince Phillip briefly tries to slice her snout was taken from a lamp chimney.
- It is noted in the original 1959 animated film that Maleficent had not been sleeping well (or not at all) for the last 16 years since the day she cursed Aurora. It is clearly seen through her eye bags in the latter parts of the movie set after sixteen years, giving her a more fearsome look.
- In some tie-in storybooks based on the 1959 film and on the stained-glass portrait in the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland Paris, Maleficent appears next to Aurora when she urged the princess to touch the spindle on the spinning wheel, despite the fact that she herself is the spinning wheel in the actual film.
- The scream that Maleficent lets out when Prince Phillip hurls the Sword of Truth into her heart is the same scream made by the Evil Queen, who fell off the cliff from her failed attack on the Seven Dwarfs.
- Maleficent was listed #7 in Empire Magazine's The 50 Best Animated Movie Characters. Stating her stroke of genius as "She turns into a frickin' dragon; what more do you need?".
- She is one of the few Disney characters to say the word "hell". Another Disney Villain to use the word "hell" would be Judge Claude Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, during his song "Hellfire".
- Maleficent is mentioned in a song sung by Miss Nettle from Sofia the First.
- She is often referenced as both a witch/sorceress, and a dark fairy. Both of these are different types of supernatural beings. These phrases may be labels rather than true to what she is, as she has been confirmed to be an evil witch.
- Despite being an evil fairy, she is still viewed as a witch by other entries. One theatrical trailer for the 1993 scrapped re-release of the film, as shown on the 1992 Walt Disney Classics VHS of Beauty and the Beast, even referred to her as an evil witch.
- In Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, Xehanort refers to Maleficent as "The Dark Fairy."
- Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts III likewise do so.
- Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II do not. She is referred to as a witch and sorceress.
- Maleficent's defeat was the goriest of the Disney villains' defeats during Walt Disney's lifetime and, to this day, is seen one of Disney's most graphic deaths ever; when she was stabbed in the heart by Prince Phillip, blood was clearly visible oozing out from under the sword on the area of her chest that was stabbed.
- On that note, she is also the only Disney villain to be deliberately and directly killed by one of the heroes within Walt Disney's lifetime. Most other villains, if they were killed off, usually were victims of their own actions with the heroes not playing any role in their demise.
- She is also the first Disney villain in history whose manner of death is shown rather graphically alongside The Horned King, Ursula, Jafar, Scar, and Clayton. In fact, Disney wouldn't do such a graphic villain death in the Disney Animated Canon again until at least when The Black Cauldron came out in 1985.
- The only time Maleficent is heard singing in animation is during the song "It's Our House Now" in the film Mickey's House of Villains. However, she only sang one line here.
- Maleficent briefly alludes to Aurora's 100-year sleep in the original tale nearing the end of the film. When taunting Prince Phillip inside his cell, Maleficent tells him "The years roll by, but a hundred years to a steadfast heart are 'bout a day."
- Maleficent and the other good fairies appear to hold noble titles or a high form of status in the kingdom, as they are addressed at Aurora's christening with the term "excellency". It is used by the herald when he announces the arrival of Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather by calling each of them "Mistress", as well as when Queen Leah asks Maleficent if she was upset about not being invited, "...and you're not offended, Your Excellency?"
- Maleficent is the only member of the Disney Villains franchise to be a playable character in the Disney Infinity games.
- Despite the fact that her original incarnation cursed a baby to death, all live-action versions of Maleficent are maternal figures (In Once Upon a Time: Maleficent and Lily; in the 2014 movie: Maleficent and Aurora, and in Descendants: Maleficent and Mal).
- Ironically, her forbidding and eerie leitmotif in the film that is lifted from the ballet, is actually a comedic pas de deux between Puss in Boots and the White Cat.
- Maleficent's name is used in the name for a level in Disney Heroes: Battle Mode, entitled Maleficent Market.
- Maleficent is briefly mentioned in the Sofia the First episode "Make Way for Miss Nettle", when Miss Nettle plots to become the most powerful fairy of them all, and openly wishes to become as famous as Maleficent, though she claims she'll be more magnificent.
- Maleficent makes an appearance as a figment of Kenny's imagination in the ABC show, The Real O'Neals.
- The 1997 VHS cover plot summary for Sleeping Beauty claimed that the reason Maleficent cursed Aurora was due to jealousy of the latter's beauty, even though the film itself never indicated anything about Maleficent having any personal negativity towards Aurora herself. This was presumably due to the one who wrote the summary mixing Maleficent up with the Evil Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
- Interestingly, this similar confusion between the characterizations of both The Evil Queen and Maleficent is also referenced in the House of Mouse episode "Jiminy Cricket", as evident when Jiminy Cricket shares his wisdom, he states, "Savior your youth and beauty, because wicked queens, mean stepsisters, and evil witches will try to steal it from you every time", with the "evil witches" Jiminy Cricket is referring to being Maleficent.
- It is possible to generate green flames similar to Maleficent's in real life, namely if a flame is exposed to Copper or Barium.
- A Maleficent version of Mr. Burns appears in The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror XXXI", during the segment "Into the Homer-Verse", as one of the alternate versions of Mr. Burns from different realities.
- In 2022, a hadrosaur dinosaur was found in Texas and was named Malefica. After the Bruja Canyon where it was found (Bruja being Spanish for witch and deprived from the Latin word for witch Malefica). This is an allusion to Maleficent herself despite the fact that it wasn’t named after the Disney villain.
See also[]
External links[]
Maleficent on Wikipedia- Maleficent on Kingdom Hearts Wiki
Maleficent (Disney) on Villains Wiki
- Disney Japan page on Maleficent (Japanese 日本)
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