Maleficent ( or ) is a fictional character who first appears in Disney Animation's 1959 film, Sleeping Beauty. Maleficent is the self-proclaimed "Mistress of All Evil" based on the wicked fairy character in Charles Perrault's fairy tale Sleeping Beauty, as well as the villainess who appears in the Brothers Grimm's retelling of the story, Little Briar Rose. Maleficent was originally animated by Marc Davis.
In the 1959 film, Maleficent was originally voiced by Eleanor Audley, who earlier voiced Lady Tremaine, Cinderella's evil stepmother, in Disney Animation's 1950 film Cinderella. Maleficent is represented as an evil fairy and the self-proclaimed "Mistress of All Evil" who, after not being invited to a christening, curses the infant Princess Aurora to "prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die" before the sun sets on Aurora's sixteenth birthday.
A revision of the character appeared as the titular protagonist in the 2014 live-action film Maleficent, portrayed by Angelina Jolie, who reprised the role in the 2019 sequel Maleficent: Mistress of Evil. This version of Maleficent is portrayed as a sympathetic character, who is misunderstood in trying to protect herself and her domain from humans.
Development
Maleficent was animated by Marc Davis, who also animated Aurora in the film. She was aptly named "Maleficent" (an adjective derived from the Latin maleficentia, which means "doing evil or harm"), and may have been based on earlier French and European myths and legends about the fairy Mélusine, especially in the 2014 live-action film of the same name. French historian Jean Markale suggested that the name "Mélusine" may have derived from the earlier Latin name Mala Lucina, with "Lucina" being an epithet of Juno, the Roman goddess of marriage and childbirth. In determining Maleficent's design, standard depictions of witches and hags were dismissed, as Davis had opted for an elegant, sinister, green-skinned beauty, depicted as "vain femme fatale, utilizing a classic archetype of a bad woman". According to Davis, Maleficent "was designed like a giant vampire bat to create a feeling of menace".
Maleficent was voiced by Eleanor Audley, who had previously performed Lady Tremaine, Cinderella's evil stepmother, in Disney's Cinderella (1950). Audley also provided some live-action recording for both of these characters to inspire the animators. In addition, dancer Jane Fowler performed some live-action reference for Maleficent. 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".
It was long rumored that Maleficent's likeness was inspired by actress Maila Nurmi, best known for her character Vampira, a camp icon that was created in 1953, and inspired by Morticia Addams from The Addams Family comic strip by Charles Addams for The New Yorker; the Dragon Lady from the comic strip Terry and the Pirates; and the Evil Queen from Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). In 2014, entries were discovered in Nurmi's journals describing sessions for Walt Disney in November 1956, and the Walt Disney Company was subsequently able to find archival documents corroborating Nurmi's participation as a "live-action reference" model for the character. Maleficent's likeness in the eponymous 2014 film, as portrayed by actress Angelina Jolie, was inspired by Lady Gaga's appearance in her music video "Born This Way" (2011).
For the scene when Maleficent transforms into a dragon in the original film, she 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". including Maleficent's daughter Mal. She is the main antagonist of the film, as well as the leader of the villains who have been imprisoned on the Isle of the Lost. In the prequel novel for the film, The Isle of the Lost, it is mentioned that she and the Evil Queen argued over being the ruler of the place. In the film, she longs to get the Fairy Godmother's magic wand, and combine it with her scepter in order to rule good and evil as she pleases, for which she entrusts her daughter with the task of stealing it. When she accidentally breaches the barrier surrounding the island, she and Maleficent escape from her and obtain the wand, freezing the inhabitants of Auradon on the spot. Mal confronts her mother with the help of her friends to recover the wand, with Maleficent having to transform into a dragon in the confrontation. However, the power that Mal possesses of her thanks to the friendship of her friends, helps her defeat her mother, transforming her into a lizard, and immediately afterwards being locked in a glass cabinet.
In the sequel Descendants 2 (2017), Maleficent continues in her lizard form, and is taken back by Mal to the Isle of the Lost, where she accidentally falls and ends up on the streets of the place. Although she does not appear in Descendants 3 (2019), it is revealed that Mal's father, and Maleficent's former mate, is Hades.
She appears in the animated television special Descendants: The Royal Wedding (2021), still turned into a lizard, where she attends Mal and Ben's wedding.
A teenage Maleficent appears in the spin-off film Descendants: The Rise of Red (2024), played by actress Marissa Kruep.
Television series
House of Mouse
Maleficent is a recurring character in the animated series House of Mouse, voiced by Lois Nettleton. She often has cameo appearances, having only a major role in the episode "Halloween with Hades", where Hades falls in love with her and tries to win her over. She also appeared as one of the villains in the series' direct-to-video film Mickey's House of Villains, where she takes part in the "It's Our House Now" musical number along with the other villains.
Once Upon a Time
An alternate version of Maleficent appears in the ABC television series Once Upon a Time, played by Kristin Bauer van Straten.
She debuts in a flashback of the first season episode "The Thing You Love Most", where Regina (the Evil Queen) goes in search of her help, being Maleficent shown as a woman with curly blonde hair and wearing a pink dress. She was slain by Emma Swan in dragon form in the first season finale, "A Land Without Magic".
She later returns in an undead form in the second season episode "The Evil Queen", where Hook confronts her.
She acts as one of the main antagonists in the second half of the fourth season, where she is resurrected by Mr. Gold (Rumplestiltskin), appearing with a look more inspired by the animated version of Disney, and is part of a group known as the Queens of Darkness, along with Ursula and Cruella De Vil, and temporarily the Evil Queen. In dragon form, she mothered Lilith, and ends up making a deal with the protagonists to find her. In the series finale, it is mentioned in dialogue that Lilith's father was Zorro, whom no one knew could become a dragon.
In the spin-off series Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, Robin Hood and his Merry Men infiltrate Maleficent's castle in the episode "Forget Me Not". Although she does not make a physical appearance, and only her dragon roar is heard when she discovers that there are intruders.
Video games
Kingdom Hearts
Maleficent appears as one of the main antagonists in the Kingdom Hearts video game series, voiced by Susanne Blakeslee in the English versions and Toshiko Sawada in the Japanese versions. She seeks to take control of the many worlds and engulf them in darkness, with Pete acting as her second-in-command. She has appeared in nearly every game in the series.
She appears in the first Kingdom Hearts game (2002), as the leader of a group of villains who seek to dominate the worlds thanks to the darkness using the Heartless. She has her base of operations in the Hollow Bastion castle, where she faces the protagonist, Sora, who manages to defeat her.
In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (2004), Maleficent fills the same role as in the first game as a fragment of Sora's memories.
Maleficent is resurrected in Kingdom Hearts II (2005), where with Pete's help she tries to find a new base of operations and assemble a new group of villains.
- Maleficent appears as the main antagonist in Disney Magic Kingdoms (2016), where she invokes the curse that plunges the titular Kingdom into darkness.
- The mobile game Disney Twisted-Wonderland (2020) is focused on Night Raven College, an academy whose students live in seven different dormitories based on different Disney Villains known as "The Big Seven", one of them being the Diasomnia dormitory, founded in honor of Maleficent.
- An alternate universe version of Maleficent appears as a playable character in Disney Mirrorverse (2022).
- Maleficent appears as a purchasable outfit in Fortnite Battle Royale (2024).
- Maleficent appears in the DLC "The Storybook Vale" (2024) of the video game Disney Dreamlight Valley as one of the villagers of the titular valley.
Theme parks
thumb|250px|Maleficent along with [[Queen of Hearts (Disney)|Queen of Hearts (left) and Captain Hook (right) during Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.]]
Maleficent sometimes appears in Disney Parks as a meet-and-greet character. She also appears in attractions and live shows, commonly involved with other Disney Villains, like Fantasmic! (voiced by Linda Gary), Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, or Dream Along with Mickey. At Disneyland Paris an animatronic version of Maleficent's dragon form La Tanière du Dragon is located in the lower-level dungeon underneath Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant (Sleeping Beauty Castle).
Printed media
In the book series by Ridley Pearson, Kingdom Keepers, Maleficent appears as one of the first Overtakers encountered as she intends to leave the confines of Disney World to take over the world.
Maleficent was featured in the book sequel to Sleeping Beauty called Maleficent's Revenge.
Maleficent also appears as one of the villains in the 2005 Disney manga series Kilala Princess by Rika Tanaka and Nao Kodaka.
Maleficent is the protagonist in Serena Valentino's Disney Villains franchise book Mistress of All Evil: A Tale of the Dark Fairy.
The Simpsons shorts
In The Simpsons short Plusaversary (2021), Maleficent (voiced by Tress MacNeille) runs the check-in table to enter at the party in Moe's Tavern, denying access to Homer due to not being listed as part of the guests.
In another The Simpsons short, Welcome to the Club (2022), Maleficent appears along with other Disney Villains trying to convince Lisa Simpson how fun it is to be a villain.
Other appearances
- Maleficent appears in her dragon form as a minor antagonist in the Lego animated special Lego Disney Princess: The Castle Quest (2023), being a sidekick of Gaston, but after the princesses notice that her wing is damaged and help restore it, this leads to Maleficent siding with the princesses, and she defeats Gaston to help them.
- Maleficent has a cameo appearance in the short film Once Upon a Studio (2023), as part of the Walt Disney Animation Studios characters who gather to take a group photo.
- The DuckDuckGo search engine has a logo variant featuring the duck mascot in a Maleficent costume when searching for Maleficent.
Reception
The original version of Maleficent has been called as "most menacing villains in the Disney canon". She is generally described as an "evil, cold hearted fairy who can curse an innocent baby just because she is not invited to the christening ceremony." Guillermo del Toro has stated that along with Vermithrax in Dragonslayer, Maleficent is his favorite cinematic dragon. Voice actress Eleanor Audley and supervising animator Marc Davis were also praised for their work on the character. In 2016, The Frisky described Maleficent and the Evil Queen as "two of the best-realized female villains in movie history."
Maleficent's live-action version from the film series of the same name has received critical attention, different from its original, animated counterpart. Benjamin Justice describes this version of Maleficent as "a full person, good and evil, powerful and vulnerable, vengeful and loving" and notes that, while she and Aurora value heterosexual relationships and love, neither of them "let the idea of [one true love] define the arc of the personal or public lives." When analyzing Maleficent's disability after she loses her wings due to Stephan's betrayal, Colleen Elaine Donnelly compares her role to that of Elphaba in Wicked, explaining that in both cases, the story "intends to reform the stereotype of the evil witch by providing a backstory."