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- "A forest of thorns shall be his tomb! Borne through the skies on a fog of doom! Now go with the curse, and serve me well! 'Round Stefan's castle, CAST MY SPELL!!!!"
- ―Maleficent casting her spell to stop Prince Phillip[src]
Maleficent is a sorceress and the main antagonist in Disney's 1959 film Sleeping Beauty. She takes offense at not being invited to the christening of Princess Aurora, and attempts revenge on King Stefan and the Queen by cursing Aurora. Like Chernabog, Maleficent is an incarnation of pure evil, responsible for all misfortune in King Stefan's kingdom. She appears to be particularly unfond of the three good fairies Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, her polar opposites, who do all in their power to keep Maleficent's overwhelming evil magic at bay. Maleficent is also famous for her role as one of the primary antagonists of the Kingdom Hearts series. With her Gothic, elegant design, dramatic and flamboyant animation and unlimited arsenal of magic powers, Maleficent is currently one of the most recognizable and most popular Disney Villains in addition to being one of the franchise's official members.
Background
Personality
Simply put, Maleficent represents pure, deliberate, evil. She is ruthless and devious, and will do whatever it takes to achieve her (evil) goals. Additionally, she is very sinister, which is shown by taunting 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 is somewhat narcissistic. She thinks herself above everyone, even calling her closest allies "her pets". Other than herself, the only entity that she seems to have genuine care for is her pet raven, Diablo. This is especially evident in her horror at Diablo being turned to stone. Maleficent also seems to have some emotional instability. This is especially evident in her reaction to the discovery that her goons spent the previous sixteen years looking for a baby, where she pitched a nearly uncontrollable laughing fit before reacting volatilely towards her goons.
Powers
Maleficent is one of the most powerful Disney villains. Her powers are magic based. Using her staff she can conjure up her spells, like lightning projection, divination, and teleportation. Merryweather also implied that she was capable of summong frost storms. She can even cast powerful dark magic spells like her forest of thorns. She was also capable of flying by conjuring energy from her staff in a similar manner to a galaxy or a helicopter rotor. This was presumably used as an act of desperation, given the events that had her use it. One of her most powerful abilities is to transform into a massive black dragon that breathes fire .
Design
Maleficent appears in the form of a tall, slender, beautiful, pale green skinned (although some appearances of her depict her with gray skin) woman with a narrow face and a prominent chin. She also has yellow eyes and a horned headdress (though potentially those may be her horns, or simply a hair style), which is symbolic of her dark magic. She is clad in a black and purple robe with bat wing-like edges, and wears a gold ring with a large mysterious circular black stone in it. Maleficent is an evil fairy, unlike the other three fairy godmothers in the movie, and her evil enables her to perform many magical and powerful spells. She carries a staff with a glowing green orb at the tip through which she casts her spells, which 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. 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. Her minions are a legion of goblins and troll-like creatures. She is also frequently accompanied by her pet raven called Diablo. She seems to have a minor quirk in regards to holding light objects, as she seems to extend her pinkie when holding a torch in the forward direction, as evidenced during her capture of Prince Phillip.
Appearances
Sleeping Beauty
At the christening of the newly born Princess Aurora, the Three Good Fairies come to bestow three gifts on the child: Flora’s gift is Beauty, and Fauna’s is Song. Before Merryweather has a chance to give the child a gift, Maleficent appears with Diablo, perched on her staff. Angry at not receiving an invitation, she curses the child, decreeing that, before the sun sets on Aurora’s 16th birthday, the child shall die by pricking her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel. She then disappears, cackling. Merryweather, unable to undo the entire curse herself, is able to alter it such that Aurora will not die, but merely enter a deep sleep that can only be broken with true love’s kiss.
As Aurora's 16th birthday draws near, Maleficent punishes her Goons, who have stupidly been searching for a baby for 16 years to find the princess. After calling the goons idiots and imbeciles and intimidating them into running away by conjuring dark lightning bolts with her staff, she then sends her raven 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. When the three fairies return the princess to the castle late that afternoon and leaves her alone for a while, Maleficent finds Aurora and, as a hypnotic apparition resembling a will-o-the-wisp, lures her up a secret stairway in the castle atop a high tower to a spinning wheel conjured by Maleficent. Maleficent orders Aurora to touch the spindle; she does, pricking her finger in the process, and subsequently falls to the floor, motionless. The fairies, who have been frantically trying to stop Aurora, arrive to find Maleficent, who briefly mocks them of their efforts to stop her. She then uncovers the fallen princess before their eyes and vanishes. She then recruits her goons, and they go to the cottage to wait for Prince Phillip, who have previously arranged to meet Aurora (whom he only knew to be as a peasant girl). Upon his arrival, they immediately capture him and take him to Maleficent's domain, the Forbidden Mountain. Only the prince's hat has been left behind at the cottage when the fairies arrive, allowing them to deduce that Maleficent has captured Phillip and imprisoned him at the Forbidden Mountain.
At the Forbidden Mountain, Maleficent visits the imprisoned Phillip in the dungeon. She taunts him with the knowledge that Briar Rose is actually Princess Aurora, who is currently in ageless sleep in the topmost tower of King Stephen's castle, and how Phillip will be free to exit Maleficent's domain a hundred years later to wake Aurora with love's first kiss, making Phillip struggle against his chains. She then leaves Phillip locked in the dungeon and states to herself that she will sleep well for the first time in sixteen years as she heads up to her tower to sleep. Flora, Fauna and Merryweather melt the dungeon lock, cuts the chains that are restraining Phillip and arm him with the Shield of Virtue and the Sword of Truth. As they make their escape, they are confronted by 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 statue. Awakened by Diablo's constant cawing, Maleficent emerges from her tower and, enraged at the sight of Diablo now a statue and that of Phillip escaping, she attempts to strike him down with lightning. As he continues, she summons a forest of thorns to surround Stefan’s castle. When she sees that Phillip, with help from the Good Fairies, has managed to hack through the thorns, she appears before him, blocks his entry and transforms into an enormous dragon.
Phillip charges at the dragon, who drives him backwards with her blasts of flame. As Phillip retreats, Maleficent chases him up onto a high cliff and corners him at the ledge. With another powerful flame blast, she blows his shield off. As she is about to finish the now defenseless Phillip off, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather magically empower the Sword of Truth, and Phillip immediately fires the sword at the dragon's chest. Maleficent screams in pain and collapses onto the ledge, attempting to devour Phillip for the last time, but he dodges. Her enormous weight, upon impact, causes the ledge to crumble, sending Maleficent tumbling down from to her demise below. 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.
Timon and Pumbaa
Maleficent (as a dragon) makes a brief cameo in the episode Guatemala Malarkey in a pit of fire as one of the cursed temples booby traps.
House of Mouse
Maleficent in House of Mouse.
Maleficent made frequent cameos as one of the guests on House of Mouse. Notably, one episode, "Halloween For 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 he 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. Maleficent also appears alongside the villains as part of their song in Mickey's House of Villains. In "Mickey and Minnie's Big Vacation", Maleficent, alongside Mushu, Madam Mim, Elliott and The Reluctant Dragon, cause a fire in the club.
Kingdom Keepers
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.
Once Upon a Time
Maleficent in Once Upon a Time.
Maleficent plays a role in the ABC 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 first 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, it was revealed before Maleficent allficted Princess Aurora with the sleeping curse, she went after Aurora's mother with the same curse. After she cursed Aurora, Maleficent moved on with her life and she spends her days in a remote castle with a small black unicorn pony rather than her trademark black raven 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 despi
Maleficent's Dragon Form
te 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.
Maleficent returns in "A Land Without Magic" during which Charming fights her after Rumplestiltskin forces him to make a deal. In exchange for his mother's ring back, Charming has to take Rumplestiltskin's bottle of true love encased within a protective egg and hide it in a great beast. The beast turns out to be Maleficent transformed into a fire breathing dragon. After he succeeds with his task, he jumps out the window of Maleficent's castle to safety.
She was kept in dragon form in Storybrooke and lived in a cave that could be accessed via an elevator in the boarded up closed library/clock tower. Emma, using her father's sword, kills her in order to retrieve the protective egg containing True Love Potion.
Maleficent returns in "The Evil Queen" when Captain Hook stumbles upon her remains. Her ashes revive her as a zombie-like creature that attacks Hook, making incoherent noises like a ghost. As Hook fights her, she grows in size and swats him aside. Hook escapes her, but what becomes of her afterwards is unknown.
Maleficent (Feature Film)
Maleficent in her upcoming 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.[1]In January 2010, it was rumored that Tim Burton was to direct the film. 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 fillms. Linda Woolverton, who previously collaborated with Tim Burton on Alice in Wonderland, is writing the script for the movie. Angelina Jolie said in an interview that she is definitely interested in the role. Don Hahn, a producer of the movie, confirmed that Disney is developing a film about Maleficent and that it is in active development. On January 6, 2012 Disney announced that Robert Stromberg the production designer for Avatar and Alice in Wonderland will direct the film. The film will also feature 18-year-old actress India Elisey as the Young Maleficent with Angelina Jolie playing the Older Maleficent.[2]
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).
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.
Kingdom Hearts series
Majority of information taken from The Keyhole: Maleficent.
Maleficent appears as a major antagonist in the Kingdom Hearts series. She was first seen in Kingdom Hearts in Hollow Bastion. Unlike the other Disney villains (with the exception of Pete), she plays a large part in the overall story rather than just in the world she came from. Despite the appearance of other major villains, Maleficent still remains a powerful antagonist to the Keyblade Masters.
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
- "Imagine with me, the most glorious of futures... Seven of the purest hearts, each overflowing with light.
When brought together, they grant the power to rule all worlds." - —Maleficent to Terra
Maleficent appears in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, her role downgraded to that of a minor antagonist, only appearing in her home world of Enchanted Dominion. At some point in time, Master Xehanort made contact with her and enlisted her help in luring Terra to darkness and told her about Kingdom Hearts and the seven Princesses of Heart.
From this point on, Maleficent became even more power hungry and lusted to gain complete control over all worlds, not knowing she is simply being used by Master Xehanort as part of a much bigger plot that would unfold in the following decade.
At her home world, Enchanted Dominion, she mostly plays out the same role as in the original movie, only this time manipulating the darkness in Terra's heart to force him into stealing Aurora's heart in return for helping him locate Master Xehanort. She offers Terra the opportunity to join her in her quest to rule the worlds, but he flatly refuses. Later, Ventus visits the world and frees Aurora's heart, inciting Maleficent's fury. In the ensuing fight, Ventus defeats Maleficent, who reveals that it was Terra who stole Aurora's heart.
Aqua arrives and staunchly denies it, as does Ventus, although he seems unsure as what to believe. After Aqua refuses Maleficent's offer to join her in Terra's place, Maleficent throws her into the castle dungeon with Prince Phillip, whom Maleficent had captured earlier to stop him from awakening Aurora. Aqua and Phillip break out of the dungeon with help from Flora, Fauna and Merryweather and make their way towards King Stefan's castle to wake Aurora. Maleficent gives chase and confronts them on the bridge to the castle, transforming into a dragon to battle them directly, but is defeated. Before she can be finished off, Maleficent flees the scene and begins her plans to capture all the seven princesses. Later on in the game, she crosses paths with the imprisoned Pete, and frees him, setting the scene for their alliance.
Between Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts
Sometime after the events of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and prior to Kingdom Hearts, the Heartless appear and Maleficent decides to use her immense power of darkness to control the creatures and build up a destructive force to aid her in her plans to conquer all worlds. Over time though, her darkness goes beyond her control and the Heartless soon use it to manipulate her for their own ends. She first captures Aurora and destroys her own world, going off to the now abandoned Hollow Bastion to make it her new base of operations.
Kingdom Hearts
- "The Keyblade has chosen him. Will it be he who conquers the darkness, or will the darkness swallow him? Either way, he could prove quite useful."
- —Maleficent about Sora.
With Pete's help, Maleficent soon becomes the mastermind behind a council of Disney villains, composed of Hades, Jafar, Ursula, Oogie Boogie, and Captain Hook, assembled by Pete, who is off building an army of Heartless for Maleficent to increase their forces. Acting as a guide, Maleficent warns each of her followers that they should be wary of the darkness, ironic as she herself was perhaps the biggest victim to the darkness. She leads this group in pursuit of ultimate power by controlling the Heartless and unlocking the Keyhole that leads to Kingdom Hearts, the heart of all worlds.
She uses Hollow Bastion, the former home of Ansem the Wise and Xehanort, as a base of operations where she directs the affairs of the group. She uses Ansem's Report to help her understand and gain further control of the Heartless and recruits Riku, Terra's successor and Sora's best friend, to her side. Once she sees that Riku can wield a Keyblade, she uses the Darkness in Riku's heart to corrupt him and turn him against his friends.
Maleficent eventually tells Riku her plans to find Kingdom Hearts, involving the Princesses of Heart. Maleficent persuads Riku to go after Kairi, as she is also a Princess. Maleficent lies to Riku and tells him that she will help Kairi regain her heart once she has control of Kingdom Hearts. In the meantime, she convinces Riku to commit sinister actions, such as abducting several of the Princess of Heart, giving him the power to control the Heartless, and even orders him to attempt to murder those who interfere in her plans. Riku, blinded by his jealously of Sora and lust for power, does as he is told and becomes more and more corrupt as his heart begins to sink slowly to the darkness.
While Maleficent's plan seems to be working, her allies fall to Sora. Eventually, she faces Sora personally when he arrives at Hollow Bastion, and loses. However, she is approached by Riku, possessed by Ansem, Seeker of Darkness (actually Xehanort's Heartless), who proceeds to use his own Keyblade to unlock the darkness in her heart, restoring her power and enabling her to transform into her dragon form. Despite becoming a much more powerful and formidable foe, Maleficent again loses to Sora and is destroyed.
According to Jiminy Cricket, Maleficent is personally responsible for the destruction of her world and for the capture of Aurora.
By defeating Maleficent, Sora obtains the fifth page of Ansem's Report, and Donald learns the Cheer ability. Defeating Dragon Maleficent rewards Sora with the Fireglow Gem, which unlocks the ability to summon Mushu if taken to the Fairy Godmother.
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
Maleficent appears to Riku as a memory-based illusion in Castle Oblivion. She is one of only two characters, along with Aerith in Sora's story, to realize that she is not real. She mocks her old student, and how he once clung to her and the darkness, before he stands up to her and destroys her.
Also, in Sora's story, she is the boss of Hollow Bastion and is revealed to need to steal hearts in order to practice her magic and attempts to use the love found in Belle and Beast's hearts to make herself invincible. When Sora and company attempt to stop her, she turns herself into a dragon and attacks, shooting flames from her mouth, causing earthquakes by stomping, and trying to bite Sora, but she fails and is defeated. Zexion later makes note of this to Lexaeus.
Kingdom Hearts II
Maleficent is revived in Kingdom Hearts II, in which she poses as a secondary villain but still plots against Sora and the others. Her raven, Diablo, brings her empty robe to Yen Sid's tower, and the memories of Flora, Fauna and Merryweather accidentally bring her back to life.
In Kingdom Hearts Another Report, it is hinted that Organization XIII is inadvertently responsible for her return. Xemnas once sent Axel and Roxas to Hollow Bastion to wipe out Heartless and release a raven from a cage suspended from the ceiling. It is heavily suggested that this raven is Diablo and was released to revive Maleficent. The Organization may have planned to use her to create more Heartless for their plans. Like in Kingdom Hearts, she attempts to control the Heartless to locate Kingdom Hearts. However, she now competes with Organization XIII for supreme power and considers the group and Nobodies in general as vastly inferior to her and her Heartless, even as far as calling them "white husks".
Maleficent, with the help of her only loyal follower remaining, Pete, goes from world to world reviving her other followers and building an army of Heartless. Although only Oogie Boogie is witnessed being revived, it may be guessed that she is also responsible for the return of Ursula and for Barbossa, Scar, Hades, and Jafar using Heartless. Indeed, when she first meets up with Pete again, she asks about "the others", suggesting she was supposed to be holding a meeting with "them" like she did in the original game. Pete, however claims that "they must have had something better to do", perhaps meaning he was busy with his own endeavors. This infuriated her, and she demanded from Pete what could be more important than her return.
Maleficent reveals herself to Sora and his friends at Disney Castle when she tries to fill the Hall of the Cornerstone with Darkness in order to take over the Castle and make her new base of operations, worrying Queen Minnie. Maleficent is defeated however by Sora when he and his friends go back in time and stop Pete from destroying the Cornerstone of Light. Maleficent appears in Halloween Town and tries to destroy Christmas town by resurrecting Oogie Boogie but his memory loss causes him to drive her away and Sora defeats Oogie Boogie. She then appears in Hollow Bastion during its invasion by Heartless.
The Gullwings apparently once were followers of Maleficent, until she did not show up to see them like she said she would.
This is the turning point in the game, where she and the Disney villains finally lose control of the Heartless to Organization XIII. At the climax of the battle she holds off the Nobodies so that Sora may escape and devise a way to defeat Organization XIII. Although she hated Sora, she realized that she couldn't defeat them herself, since they easily defeated her Heartless, and even took control of them from her. She flees a battle against Saïx, escaping with her life, bringing Sora to the Realm of Darkness.
She last appears in The World That Never Was in one more attempt to acquire a suitable headquarters, aiding Sora once more by fending off an immense wave of Heartless with the help of Pete while Sora defeats Xemnas, though she claims that she will take the castle for her own afterwards. The outcome of this is unknown.
Kingdom Hearts coded
- "Drag all that you see into deepest darkness!"
- —Maleficent to the Shadows attacking Data-Sora
In Kingdom Hearts Re:/Coded, Maleficent is the tertiary antagonist. Having apparently survived the destruction of The Castle that Never Was, Maleficent was at a loss with her plans with the Heartless gone, her control over the darkness weakened, all her allies save for Pete defeated, and still without a base of operations. Desperate to make yet another comeback, the sorceress sends Pete to Disney Castle to spy on the king and bring her up to date on events. Pete eventually enters the journal world when Mickey turned the journal into a Data World to find answers to unsolved questions. Maleficent is summoned into the data world by Pete when he is sent there.
Together they decide that they could use the data world to forward Maleficent's original plans to find Kingdom Hearts and fill the worlds with darkness. The pair plan to build up a huge army of Heartless under their complete control by using the Journal's data on the creatures and then send them into the real world to conquer Disney Castle and the rest of the worlds. Maleficent planned to either destroy Mickey or simply leave him trapped in the Journal's data world.
She reappears inperson in the data version of Agrabah. At the entrance to the Cave of Wonders, she strikes down the data version of Sora and destroys his data Keyblade. After, she gloats and summons Shadows. Data-Sora later fights and defeats her in her Dragon form. Later, when the debugging of the journal is complete and the Data World is being deleted, Jiminy Cricket remembers that Pete and Maleficent never left the Data World. Data-Sora rushes back to the Data Hollow Bastion to save them, and finds them fighting the corrupted version of Sora's Heartless, who is completely immune to their attacks. The Data-Sora attempts to save them, but they are both deleted before he can do anything.
However, after the battle, Data-Sora and King Mickey walk outside to find them alive, standing next to Data-Riku, who explains that there was a "rift in the data" where he was able to rescue them. Maleficent points out that this makes them even, referring to when she helped them in Kingdom Hearts II. Data-Riku then escorts Pete and Maleficent out of the Data World. A digital version of both later appear when Data-Sora goes to Castle Oblivion and attack him before leaving.
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
While Mickey, Donald, and Goofy are overseeing Sora and Riku's Mark of Mastery exam with Yen Sid, Maleficent and Pete invade Disney Castle and take Minnie hostage. Maleficent has her raven deliver a letter and Minnie's crown to Mickey at the Mysterious Tower, and he returns to the castle with Donald and Goofy to stop her. Yen Sid surmises that Maleficent's actions are prompted by the growing darkness throughout the worlds and considers it a sign of Master Xehanort's impending return.
At the castle, Maleficent reveals to Mickey about her meeting Master Xehanort years before and how he told her of other worlds outside of her own and the seven hearts pure light that would enable her to conquer all worlds. She then states her intentions to conquer the worlds her own way and demands the world data that comprises the datascape. When Mickey doesn't comply, she launches an attack, but it is blocked by Lea's chakrams, which emerge from a Corridor of Darkness. Minnie escapes from Pete in the confusion, and Maleficent retreats with him, stating that she will return, now that she know where to find what she wants.
Later, when Master Xehanort is revived as part of the true Organization XIII, he reveals that he manipulated her to get her to gather the seven hearts of pure light while he set about gathering thirteen of darkness, as part of his plan to create the χ-blade.
Behind the Scenes
Development
Concept art of Maleficent
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. Eearle 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. Davis' decision to make Maleficent a powerful fairy 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 the wings of a bat, 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, 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 with 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.
Deviations form 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 afterwards.
Disney Parks
Maleficent at one of the Disney Parks.
Maleficent appears in various shows and parades. She does not appear as a meetable character very often at the parks, although she has recently been released into the meet-and-greet mix at Walt Disney World's annual event, Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.
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 the HalloWishes fireworks show. Maleficent can be seen in One Man's Dream II: The Magic Lives On!, Mickey and his Magic Halloween Night and formally Celebrate A Dreams Come True Parade just to name a few.
Maleficent is one of the villain suspects in Midship Detective Agency on the Disney Fantasy cruise ship. Maleficent also appears in Disney Dreams! where she is summoned by Captain Hook to torment the living shadow of Peter Pan.
Fantasmic!
In the live nighttime spectacular Fantasmic!, Maleficent is called forth by The Queen, who plans to kill Mickey Mouse once and for all. In order to battle Mickey, Maleficent 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.
Disney Villains Mix and Mingle
Maleficent is the lead villain in the show and celebrates Halloween with her fellows villains. After, she joins in a meet and greet.
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.
Dream Along with Mickey
In the live castle stage show in the Magic Kingdom park in Walt Disney World, 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.
Starlight Dreams
Maleficent was the leader of the villains in the show as she and some others come together to fight against Mickey and Friends.
Trivia
- Maleficent was nominated for a place in 'AFI’s 50 Greatest Villains list', along with the 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).
- 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 catalogue she chose her costume from, and an invitation to Aurora's christening arriving 17 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.
- The noise Maleficent makes when she strikes her scepter on the floor is the same than when she snaps her jaw as a dragon.
- The exact same sound effect was used for Tick Tock the Crocodile's biting sound.
- The scream that Maleficent lets out when Prince Phillip hurls the Sword of Truth into her heart was already used from the Witch's scream when she falls down the cliff from her failed attack on the Dwarves.
- Since the death of Eleanor Audley, Maleficent's original voice actress, Susan Blakeslee has taken on that role in, the Kingdom Hearts video game franchise and the "Happy Hallowishes" fireworks show held at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom during Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party among others. Blakeslee also replaced Audley as the voice for Lady Tremaine in Cinderella (1950 film). She was voiced by Lois Nettleton in both the TV series 'House of Mouse' and the movie 'Mickey's House of Villains'. In the stage show 'Fantasmic' she is voiced by Linda Gary.
- The Nostalgia Critic listed Maleficent as Number 2 on his "Top 11 Disney Villians" list while his female counterpart, The Nostalgia Chick, listed her as Number 1 on her "Top 11 Nostalgic Villainesses" list.
- After the launch of Maleficent, Maleficent will be the first Disney Villain to have the starring role in a film.
- 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?".
- The sound of Maleficent's dragon fire was created properly, with the use of a flame-thrower. The sound of the dragon's teeth snapping, however, was recorded using castanets.
- In the original French story, the wicked fairy had not been invited, because for many years ( in many versions, fifty) 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.
- Maleficent will soon be in the Disney Villains Designer Collection.
- Maleficent might be based on a 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz's" the Wicked Witch of the West, as both have green skin, a black hat and coat, and a stick (Maleficent's staff and the Witch's broom).
- According to the book Disney Villains: The Secret Files, Maleficent's last name is actually Faery.
- She is considered the most popular Disney villain.
- She is one of the few Disney characters to say the word "hell".
- Maleficent is Disney's best representation of pure, deliberate, evil, acting towards an evil goal without mercy or compromise, all over the percieved insult of being excluded from a celebration.
