maleficent

Maleficent
Maleficent as she appears in Disney's Sleeping Beauty with her pet Diablo on her shoulder
First appearance	Sleeping Beauty (1959)
Created by	Marc Davis
Voiced by	Eleanor Audley (Sleeping Beauty) Lois Nettleton (House of Mouse) Susan Blakeslee (Kingdom Hearts series, Platinum Edition Trailer)

Maleficent is a fictional character and the main antagonist in Walt Disney's 1959 adaptation of Sleeping Beauty. She is the self-proclaimed "Mistress of All Evil" who, after not being invited to the baby's christening, curses the infant Princess Aurora to "prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die" before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday. The character is Disney's adaptation of the evil fairy godmother from the original fairy tale.

Maleficent is often viewed as the most powerful and sinister of the Disney Villains, frequently acting as their leader in many crossovers, and her scenes in the climax of the film are among the darkest and most intense produced by Disney.^[1] In Ultimate Disney's top 30 Disney Villains countdown, Maleficent ranked #1.^[2]

Profile

Appearence

Maleficent appears in the form of a tall, slender, beautiful pale green skinned woman with a narrow face and a prominent chin. She also has yellow eyes and a horned headdress, which is symbolic of her dark magic. She carries a long staff with a green orb at the tip, is clad in a black and purple robe with bat wing-like edges, and wears a gold ring with a large circular black stone in it.

Personality

She is not at all comical or goofy like some of the other Disney villains, although she does at times display something of a dark sense of humor. She's also sadistic, proud and petty as evident by the way how she taunts Prince Phillip after she kidnapped him, and the fact that she literally curses Aurora to die simply because her parents didn't invite her to celebrate Aurora's birth. Her minions are a legion of goblins and troll-like creatures who serve her out of fear rather than loyalty or respect, which is evident from the way she treats them out after their failure to find Aurora.^[3] She is also frequently accompanied by her pet raven, called Diablo, who seems to be the only creature that she displays any kind of respect and care for. This is clear when she claims that only he could do a decent work after her minions failed miserably to find Aurora, and later, after Merryweather turns him into stone, Maleficent openly expresses shock and horror for her pet's fate.

Powers and Abilities

Maleficent is an evil fairy (though she is often mistaken for a witch), unlike the other three fairy godmothers in the movie, and her evil enables her to perform powerful magical spells without regard for the others' feelings and safety. Her powers include an ability to teleport herself, or send bolts of lightning at enemies. She is also capable of shape shifting at will into numerous forms, including a floating hypnotic light resembling a will-o'-the-wisp and a massive, monstrous black and purple dragon. In her dragon form, she proved to be durable enough to withstand a large magic sword in her snout with moderate discomfort and no injury (the sword only injured her after the good fairies further strengthened it with their magic,) and she breathed a supernatural green fire strong enough to shatter a stone bridge with a single blast.

Development

The character was animated by Marc Davis . The wicked witch was aptly named "Maleficent" (which means "Evil-doer"). In determining Maleficent's design, standard depictions of witches and hags were dismissed as Davis opted for a more elegant look centered around the appearance of flames, ultimately crowning the villain with "the horns of the devil." According to Davis, Maleficent "was designed like a giant vampire bat to create a feeling of menace."^[4] In the end the individual character of the three good fairies and the elegant villain proved to be among the film's strongest points.

She was voiced by Eleanor Audley, who had previously performed Lady Tremaine, the wicked stepmother in Cinderella. Audley also provided some live-action recording for both of these characters, to inspire the animators. Dancer Jane Fowler also performed some live-action reference for Maleficent.^[3] Animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas, in their book The Disney Villain, describe animating Audley's voice as "a difficult assignment but a thrilling one, working to that voice track with so much innuendo mixed in with the fierce power."^[5]

Maleficent's dragon form was animated by Eric Cleworth, who said that the dragon was modeled on a rattlesnake, with "powerful muscles moving a bulky body over the rocky terrain."^[4] Sound effects man Jim Macdonald searched for the sound of a dragon's fiery breath by asking the U.S. Army to send him some training films on flame throwing. These films provided just the right sound for him.^[3]

Sleeping Beauty

Maleficent's dragon form as it appears in the climax of the film.

Maleficent first appears in the film Sleeping Beauty in King Stefan's castle by means of supernatural teleportation during the christening of Stefan's daughter, Aurora. Her appearance is preceded by a gust of wind and accompanied by a streak of lightning and her signature green flames. She is outwardly courteous but implies she is offended that she did not receive an invitation to the ceremony like the other fairies, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather. When she asks the king and queen why she was not invited, Merryweather speaks up and tells Maleficent that she was "not wanted". Shocked (or more likely, pretending to be shocked), she turns to leave this "awkward situation", giving the king and queen one last chance to make up for not inviting her, but the queen asks her if she was offended by this, Maleficent denies it, and offers to give a "gift" to Aurora to prove she "bears no ill will". Maleficent then says that Aurora will grow in grace and beauty and be "beloved by all who know her" as well, but to punish the king and queen for their insolence, places a curse on Aurora, so that before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday, Aurora will "prick her finger on a spindle of a spinning wheel and die!" Merryweather, who still has a gift she can use, weakens the curse so that Aurora will fall into a deep sleep instead, with only a kiss from her true love to awaken her.

The three fairies hide Aurora until her sixteenth birthday passes while an angry Maleficent realizes her instructions to her goblin minions were wasted for most of the sixteen years as the goblins focused on searching for a baby the whole time. Maleficent then blasts lightning at them in her fury and then instructs her raven familiar Diablo to hunt down the now adolescent Aurora. Once he succeeds, Maleficent visits Aurora on the evening of her sixteenth birthday in a form of a will-o-the-wisp, hypnotizing Aurora before luring her to a remote tower and transforming into a spinning wheel where she pricks her finger to fulfill the curse.

To ensure Aurora would not be immediately awakened, Maleficent and her goons trap Prince Phillip, Aurora's true love, and take him to Maleficent's castle in the Forbidden Mountains. She taunts Phillip before she retreats to her own tower, explaining that she intends to leave him in her dungeon for 100 years, and then free him (if he is still alive then) on his way to awaken his true love after he has aged and she has not. She leaves satisfied, saying, "For the first time in sixteen years, I shall sleep well." After Maleficent leaves, the fairies then free Prince Phillip of his chains and they manage to escape the dungeon, fending off repeated attacks from Maleficent's minions; although all of them thwarted by the fairies' magic. Maleficent soon discovers that the Prince has escaped from her dungeon and ascends to the top of her highest tower of the castle. She summons lightning bolts and spells at Phillip to hinder him, including a "forest of thorns", which Phillip is able to overcome, before personally dealing with him by transporting herself in front of King Stephan’s' castle, blocking his entry. She then tells him that he shall have to fight her, and "all the powers of Hell" and transforms into a huge dark dragon. Though she overwhelms him, and it looks like Phillip is about to meet his death, the three fairies transfer some of their power to Phillip's sword as he throws the weapon into her heart, fatally wounding her. As she falls forward, she attempts to devour him, but misses, and her heavy weight collapses a cliff beneath her, and she falls to her death. All that's left is her shredded robe, with the sword still speared in it as it blackens.

Kingdom Hearts

Maleficent (マレフィセント, Marefisento^?) appears as a major character and antagonist in the Kingdom Hearts video game series. She is voiced by Susan Blakeslee in the English versions and Toshiko Sawada in the Japanese versions. She has appeared in every game in the series except for Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, and will return in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance.

Kingdom Hearts

By the start of the original Kingdom Hearts, Maleficent has gained control of the Heartless, creatures born from hearts taken by the darkness, and used them to bring about the destruction of countless worlds, including her own world. Leading a group of other Disney villains and using the ruins of Hollow Bastion as a base of operations, Maleficent seeks out the seven Princesses of Heart to open the door to Kingdom Hearts, having already captured Princess Aurora.

Until the appearance of Xehanort's Heartless, "Ansem", she is built up to be the main antagonist, recruiting Riku to her side by offering him the means to save Kairi after she lost her heart while also manipulating him into believing that, since gaining the Keyblade, Sora stopped caring for him and Kairi and replaced them with Donald Duck and Goofy. After Maleficent is defeated by Sora, Donald, Goofy and the Beast, Riku, possessed by "Ansem", unlocks the darkness in Maleficent's heart with the Keyblade of People's Hearts. This gives her more power, and she turns into her dragon form. Despite her increase in power, however, Maleficent is defeated again and fades to darkness, leaving nothing but her robe, with "Ansem" commenting at how she ironically failed to notice the darkness eating away at her own heart.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories

Despite her death, Maleficent reappears in the midquel Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories as a figment of the memories of Sora and Riku in Castle Oblivion, appearing before the two of them in their own storylines. In Sora's story, Maleficent kidnaps Belle and uses her as bait for the Beast, hoping their romance will let Belle's pure heart flourish so that she may use it for her own evil purposes, though her plans are foiled by Sora and she is destroyed. In Riku's story, she serves as a token of the darkness in his heart and goads him into succumbing to the darkness again, but Riku also destroys her in his attempt to rid himself of the darkness.

Kingdom Hearts II

Maleficent is resurrected a year later in Kingdom Hearts II when her raven, Diablo, takes the remains of her robe to Yen Sid's Mysterious Tower to use the memories of Flora, Fauna and Merryweather. She is later reunited with her lackey, Pete, who was absent from the first game due to his traveling worlds in order to create a powerful Heartless army for her. Putting her plans to obtain Kingdom Hearts on hold, Maleficent seeks a new base of operations so she can resume her intent, along with getting her revenge on Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Her plans in the game include attempting to take over the Disney Castle of the past, bribing the YRP fairies into spying on Leon's group, and sending Pete to different worlds so he could recruit old and new allies. Eventually, she reluctantly joins forces with Sora so they can stop Organization XIII before they can get Kingdom Hearts' power instead of her, saving Sora from Saïx by teleporting him to the Gummi Ship. She is last seen in the Organization's castle together with Pete, holding the Heartless at bay for Sora so he may defeat the Organization's leader Xemnas, intending to take the Organization's castle as payment, although the castle is destroyed before they can claim it.

Kingdom Hearts coded

In Kingdom Hearts coded, Maleficent, following the destruction of the Castle that Never Was and the disappearance of the Heartless, is left without a base of operations or army. Still scheming, she sends Pete to Disney Castle to spy on King Mickey and hopefully help her take the castle over, but Pete is sent to the datascape along with Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Jiminy Cricket, Chip and Dale. Intrigued by the selection of worlds and presence of Heartless inside the datascape, Pete summons Maleficent, unaware that the datascape is actually an artificial realm created from the digitized contents of Jiminy Cricket's journal. Maleficent begins scheming to take it over, fighting the journal's incarnation of Sora called "Data-Sora". She first appears in the data Agrabah where she destroys Data-Sora's Keyblade and kidnaps Data-Riku, having Pete infect him with bugs.

After fixing Data-Riku, Data-Sora confronts her in the data Hollow Bastion in her dragon form and drives her away. She later battles the digitized incarnation of Sora's Heartless before she and Pete are seemingly erased as Data-Sora tries to save them, but following the battle, they are rescued through a "rift in the data" by Data-Riku and safely escorted back to the real world.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep

In the series prequel, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, taking place years before the main series storyline, Maleficent encounters Terra, Aqua and Ventus when they come to her home world, Enchanted Dominion.^[6] Much like in the film, Maleficent cursed Aurora when she was infant and works to bring it to fruition.

The first one to encounter Maleficent is Terra, whom she hypnotizes into extracting Aurora's heart from her body with his Keyblade, an act that would haunt Terra for the rest of the game. Maleficent also sets up an ambush for Aurora's love, Prince Phillip, to ensure that Aurora never awaken. Guided by the three fairies, Ventus breaks into Maleficent's lair and releases the heart, sending it back to Aurora's body. Maleficent catches Ventus and the two fight, with Ventus only barely winning as Aqua arrives. Maleficent informs them that Terra was the one who stole the heart while offering them to join her cause, but they flatly refuse as Ventus immediately leaves to track Terra down while Aqua ends up in Maleficent's dungeon where she finds Phillip. Aqua and Phillip break out of the dungeon and rush back to Aurora's castle to awaken her. Maleficent gives chase and assumes her dragon form to battle the two until Phillip throws his sword straight into Maleficent's chest, severely weakening her and reverting her to her normal form. As Phillip awakens Aurora, Maleficent decides to leave her world to start her own scheme to find the Princesses of Heart. To that end, Maleficent makes a detour to Disney Town to free Pete and take him as the first of her followers.

Other appearances

Maleficent is the final boss on the North American version of the video game Mickey Mousecapade created in 1987 for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Maleficent's theme (Pas de caractère – Le Chat botté et la Chatte blanche) is heard during the intro of World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. At the end of the intro, the villainous cloaked sorcerer is shown.

Disney's House of Mouse

Maleficent is a recurring character on the TV series House of Mouse. In "Max's Embarrassing Date" (Episode 21), Maleficent sits across from Jafar in human form, and it was stated by Mickey that the two villains were on a date, after which Maleficent zapped Jafar. In "Halloween with Hades" (Episode 54) Mickey had to help Hades win Maleficent's heart after she turns him down. She also appeared in the spin-off movie, Mickey's House of Villains where she was constantly shown hanging around with Chernabog in her dragon form, hinting another possible relationship. During the Villain's song, "Our House Now", Chernabog wrapped an arm around her dragon form and remarked clearly, "Love your work!"

Fantasmic!

In the night time show Fantasmic!, performed at the Disneyland and Disney's Hollywood Studios theme parks, Maleficent is one of the Disney Villains portrayed in the shows. In the shows, the Evil Queen decides it is time to finish off Mickey Mouse once and for all, and invokes Disney villains to help her. They strike Mickey through his dreams and imagination, and Maleficent is the final villain to attack Mickey - the battle between Maleficent's European dragon incarnation and Mickey serves as the climax to the show. It is to be noted that Maleficent cries out before becoming the dragon: "Now you will deal with me, and all the powers of my imagination!", whereas, in the original film, she proclaimed "Now shall you deal with me, O Prince, and all the powers of Hell!"

Kingdom Keepers

In the book series by Ridley Pearson, Kingdom Keepers, Maleficent appears as one of the first Overtakers the protagonists encounter as she intends to leave the confines of Disney World to take over the world. She recruits Jez with a spell due to the girl's abilities as a fairlie (almost like a fairy) could reveal her plans. She breaks the seal to revive Chernabog as they escape in an ice truck to Disney's Hollywood Studios. It is said that the temperature goes down when she is around. Later, in the forth book, she and Chernabog are captured and put in a hidden prison in Animal Kingdom, and during a blackout, the Evil Queen and Cruella DeVil make DHI's and rescue them.

Dream Along With Mickey

In the Dream Along With Mickey stage show at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, Maleficent is one of the villains who appear onstage to threaten Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy. Maleficent states that since people no longer believe in dreams, it is the perfect time for her to return to power and make the Magic Kingdom "The Place Where Nightmares Come True" - a play on the Disney parks' slogan of "The Place Where Dreams Come True." But Mickey leads the crowd in a chant of "Dreams Come True!" and scares away Maleficent's minions, Captain Hook and Smee, as well as defeating Maleficent herself.

Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party

Maleficent also makes appearances during Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at the Walt Disney World Resort. She makes an appearance through her voice in HalloWishes, a Halloween-themed fireworks show along with Ursula, Jafar, and Oogie Boogie. Susan Blakeslee provides Maleficent's voice in those cases.

During the Disney Villains Mix and Mingle Halloween Dance Party at that same event, Maleficent hosts the party and summons up all the villains that attend, including her co-host Captain Hook and other villains, such as Cruella De Vil, The Queen of Hearts, Jafar, and the Evil Queen.

Walt Disney's World on Ice

Maleficent appears in the new version of the show Disneyland Adventure (replacing The Incredibles villain Syndrome). When she terrorizes the resort, she puts the entire kingdom to sleep, and puts Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck into Sleeping Beauty Syndrome. She later took over It's a Small World and Pirates of the Caribbean, but The Incredibles managed to defeat her, though she vowed for revenge.

Disney Divas

Maleficent is part of the "Disney Divas" line-up, a sub-franchise of the main Disney Villains franchise. Maleficent is the last "diva" to appear in the event at Disneyland, just as the Evil Queen and Cruella de Vil are complaining on Madam Mim's behavior. Next, Maleficent sings "That Old Black Magic" alone and later "We're Divas" along with the whole cast of the show.^[7]

Live-action film

On May 12, 2009, it was revealed that Brad Bird was developing a live-action motion picture based on Sleeping Beauty, retold from the point of view of Maleficent with Angelina Jolie starring as Maleficent.^[8] In January 2010, it was rumored that Tim Burton was to direct the film.^[9] Reports surfaced online in May 2011 stating that Burton had left the project to focus on his other upcoming projects; Disney began to look for a replacement director, with David Yates being cited as a potential candidate due to his experience with the fantasy genre, having directed the final four Harry Potter films.^[10][11] Linda Woolverton, who previously collaborated with Tim Burton on Alice in Wonderland, is writing the script for the movie.^{[12][not in citation given]} Angelina Jolie said in an interview that she is definitely interested in the role.^[13] Don Hahn, a producer of the movie, confirmed that Disney is developing a film about Maleficent and that it is in active development.^[14] On January 6th 2012 Disney announced that Robert Stromberg the production designer for Avatar and Alice in Wonderland will direct the film.^[15]

Once Upon a Time

Kristin Bauer as Maleficent in Once Upon a Time.

Maleficent plays a central role in the storylines for the 2011 American fantasy drama series Once Upon a Time, in which she is a sinister rival of the series' primary nemesis, The Evil Queen from Snow White. Maleficent is played by Kristin Bauer.

She appears in episode 2 of the first season, "The Thing You Love the Most". She is visited by the Wicked Queen who seeks to retrieve the Dark Curse that she gave to Maleficent in exchange for the Sleeping Curse she inflicted on Snow White. In this continuity, Maleficent has moved on from the incident with Princess Aurora and spends her days in a remote castle with a small black unicorn pony rather than her trademark black crow from the Disney film. She wears purple in varying tones and still carries her trademark staff. The two women battle but the Queen wins, breaks the staff open, and takes the Dark Curse despite a warning from Maleficent that the curse will leave a hole in her soul. When Maleficent challenges the Queen to kill her, the Queen states she won't because Maleficent is her only friend.

Reception

Guillermo del Toro has stated that along with Vermithrax in Dragonslayer, Maleficent is his favorite cinematic dragon.^[16] In Ultimate Disney's top 30 Disney Villains countdown, Maleficent ranked #1, with some of the reviewers describing her as "Disney's reigning villainess" or "a true Disney villain".^[2] Voice actress Eleanor Audley and animator Marc Davis were also praised for their work on the character.

In popular culture

Maleficent has been mentioned in the lyrics of several heavy metal songs. The Nightwish song "FantasMic" from their 2000 album Wishmaster says Maleficent's fury / The spindle so luring, and British extreme metal band Cradle of Filth makes many allusions to Maleficent, namely in the song their 1998 album, Cruelty and the Beast "Maleficent in dusky rose..." Furthermore, a British industrial metal band is named Maleficent.^[17]

In a DC Comics storyline, the villain the Queen of Fables turns into a Maleficent-esque dragon during a confrontation with Wonder Woman, with Wonder Woman herself noting the similarity between them.

References

External links

• Maleficent at the Internet Movie Database
• Disney Archives - Maleficent
• The movie Walt Disney World Resort - Dream-Along With Mickey

v d e Sleeping Beauty Adaptations La belle au bois dormant (opera) · The Sleeping Beauty (ballet) · Sleeping Beauty (Faerie Tale Theatre) Variants Sun, Moon, and Talia · The Young Slave · The Glass Coffin Retellings The Light Princess · Little Daylight · The Ordinary Princess · The Sleeping Beauty Trilogy · Enchantment · Spindle's End · The Gates of Sleep Films Disney's Sleeping Beauty (1959) · Some Call It Loving (1973) · Sleeping Beauty (1987) · Sleeping Beauty (1995) · Keys to the Kingdom (2007) · Sleeping Betty (2008) Disney attractions Sleeping Beauty Castle · Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant Characters Wicked fairy godmother · Disney's Sleeping Beauty characters (Princess Aurora · Maleficent)