Maleficent (Disney)

"No, it cannot be! Now, shall you deal with me, O' Prince, and all the powers of Hell!"

- Maleficent's last words before her battle with Phillip - her most famous line. "You poor simple fools. Thinking you could defeat me. ME, the Mistress of All Evil! Well, here's your precious princess. *laughs, then disappears*"

- Maleficent's mocking words to the Three Good Fairies.

Maleficent is the main antagonist of Disney's 16th full-length animated feature film Sleeping Beauty. She is an evil fairy that takes offense at not being invited to the christening of Princess Aurora, and attempts revenge on King Stefan and Queen Leah by cursing their beloved daughter Aurora.

Contrary to popular belief, Maleficent is a fairy, albeit a dark one, 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. With her gothic, elegant design, dramatic and flamboyant animation and unlimited arsenal of magic powers, Maleficent is one of the most popular and well-known Disney villains.

She was voiced by the late Eleanor Audley, who also voiced Lady Tremaine in the 1950 film ''Cinderella. Angelina Jolie portrayed the titular role of the same villainess in Disney's 2014 live action film Maleficent''.

Personality
Maleficent is the ultimate epitome of pure evil in the Disney universe. She is introduced as an impeccably sophisticated and regal creature. Maleficent was highly cynical, shown by how she referred to the Three Good Fairies as 'the rabble', which nearly prompted one of the Fairies to attack her. She admits that she felt distressed at not being invited to the christening of Princess Aurora. Maleficent was openly malicious in cursing Princess Aurora with her eventual death.

Maleficent was an extremely violent person: she flew into an explosive rage frequently when punishing her minions, going so far as to electrocute some of them. Maleficent was also arrogant and narcissistic to a fault, mocking the Three Fairies for their failure to protect Aurora, and for the fact that they thought they could defeat 'the Mistress of All Evil'.

She possessed absolutely no compassion or empathy for any other creature other than her pet crow and familiar, Diablo. She is shown to be affectionately stroking the bird on several occasions, and suffers a Villainous Breakdown. Maleficent is shown to be capable of horror, shown by her reaction to Prince Phillip hacking through her enchantments so easily. This prompts her to enter the fray directly. She is very overconfident, describing her powers as all the powers of hell. She is a sadistic creature, shown to be laughing hysterically when she transformed into a Dragon.

Maleficent was an aggressive animal by nature, never having a certain goal in mind and only wishing to cause chaos in the world, supported by her true form being a dragon.

Powers
Maleficent is an enormously powerful being, since she is the personification of pure evil:
 * Teleportation: Maleficent is capable of transporting herself from one place to another with a wave of her staff.
 * Pyrokinesis: Maleficent is capable of manipulating fire effortlessly, and also uses it as a means of defence and transportation.
 * Divination: She is capable of seeing into the distant future using the orb in her staff.
 * Electrokinesis: she is capable of shooting bolts of electricity from her staff as an offensive barrage on an opponent. She can also create celestial storms at will.
 * Chlorokinesis: Maleficent, at one point, surrounded a castle with a forest of thorn bushes that are abnormally large and strong - only the Sword of Truth can penetrate the branches of these bushes, because it was enchanted.
 * Flight: She can fly in a form of energy similar to a comet, in which shape she can reach superhuman speeds.
 * Zoopathy: she appears to have a symbiotic control over her crow, Diablo.
 * Cursing: she can create a tremendously elaborate curse on a person, as she did with the Princess Aurora.
 * Cryokinesis: she can create and control frost storms
 * Dragon form: in the climax of the film, Maleficent transforms into an enormous dragon,which is possibly her true form, at which point her powers are increased immensely:
 * Pyrogenesis: she is capable of breathing acid-green fire. The fire is incredibly potent, as lightning cracks whenever she breathes fire, and it is capable of knocking an enchanted weapon out of it's owner's grasp.
 * Superhuman strength: As a dragon, Maleficent's physical strength increases tremendously. Her jaws become incredibly powerful, as whenever she snaps them shut they create sonic booms.
 * Invulnerability: Maleficent is immune to fire and conventional weapons as a dragon, but enchanted weapons can penetrate her hide.

Weaknesses
Despite being preternaturally powerful and intelligent, Maleficent is neither omnipotent or omniscient in her abilities and capacities. The effects of her powers, and Maleficent herself, are also not especially immune to enchanted weapons, and her curses - whilst they are elaborate, powerful and nearly unbreakable, they can be worked around in some ways.

Sleeping Beauty
At the christening of the newly born Princess Aurora, the Three Good Fairies come to bestow 3 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 enters with her raven Diablo, perched on her Staff. Mad 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 leaves, cackling. Merryweather, unable to undo the entire curse herself, is able nevertheless to alter it such that Aurora will not die, but merely enter a deep sleep, to be broken with true love’s first kiss.

As Aurora's 16th birthday draws near, Maleficent punishes her Goons, who have stupidly been searching for a baby for 16 years. She then sends Diablo, her Raven, to find the princess. Diablo discovers that Aurora, as "Briar Rose", is living with the Three Good Fairies (who are posing as mortals) in a cottage in the woods. When the princess and the fairies return to the castle late that afternoon, Maleficent finds Aurora alone and, as a will-o the wisp-like apparition, lures her to a spinning wheel. She pricks her finger and falls to the floor. The fairies arrive in time for Maleficent to scoff at them; she then disappears. She and the Goons go to the cottage, where they wait for Prince Phillip, who had arranged to meet Aurora (whom he only knew to be 'Briar Rose,' a peasant girl). When he arrives, they capture him and take him to her castle at the Forbidden Mountain.

Flora, Fauna and Merryweather rescue Phillip and gives him the Shield of Virtue and the Sword of Truth; this is noticed by Diablo, who fetches the Goons. The prince and fairies are still able to escape, and Merryweather turns Diablo to stone. However, Maleficent emerges, sees Phillip escaping and attempts to strike him down with lightning. As he continues, she summons thorns to surround King Stefan’s castle. When she sees that Phillip, with help from the Good Fairies, is able to hack through the thorns, she appears before him, and transforms into an enormous dragon.

The two battle in an intense, climactic duel, but the three fairies enchant Phillip's weapon with the spell, "now sword of truth fly swift and sure that evil die and good endure." This was obvious that Maleficent was too dangerous to be left alive. Phillip eventually kills Maleficent with his sword. She falls from a great height, and Phillip looks down to see that she has become her cape; the Sword of Truth, still embedded in the cape, turns black. Phillip then awakens Aurora with a kiss.

Maleficent (film)
The 2014 movie Maleficent presents an alternate take on the character, casting her in a more sympathetic light.

Kingdom Hearts
Maleficent is the most prominent Disney Villain in Kingdom Hearts.

Birth by Sleep
Maleficent appears as one of the main antagonists in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. When Terra arrived at the Enchanted Dominion, he eventually came across Maleficent. Almost immediately, Maleficent could tell that Terra was never from around from those parts, seeing how he was never asleep. Terra ask her if she has seen Xehanort, to which she answered no. However, she did see a mysterious man as she was leaving the castle, so Maleficent took to where she think she saw the mysterious man. Eventually they came across a sleeping Princess Aurora. Maleficent told Terra if he want any information about Xehanort, all he had too do was steal the princess' heart.

At first Terra refused, but the darkness inside his heart eventually took over, causing him to steal Aurora's heart. When Terra comes to his senses, Maleficent states that the Keyblade is necessary to retrieve the remaining hearts and asks Terra to join her. Terra refused Maleficent's offer and attempted to attack her. However, an Unversed caused an explosion, causing Terra to be distracted. Before Maleficent left, she warned Terra that the darkness inside his heart can never be suppressed by force.

Eventually, Maleficent encounters Ventus while he was searching for both Terra and Aurora's heart. As soon as Ventus saw Maleficent, he attempted to strike her down while holding her responsible for the theft of Aurora's heart. As soon as Maleficent saw Ventus' Keyblade, she could immediately knew who he was. She explained to Ventus that she knew about the power of the Keyblade thanks to a demonstration by Terra. She even told Ventus that Terra was the one who stole Aurora's Heart. Ventus thought that she was lying, and that Terra would never do such a thing. Even though Maleficent was asked not to harm Ventus, she was left with one choice but to fight him. With the help of the Three Good Fairies, Ventus was able to fend off Maleficent. Ventus still refused to believe that Terra would perform such an evil deed.

Just then, Aqua showed up, telling Ventus not to believe in Maleficent's lies. Shortly after, Ventus ran off to find Terra. Before Aqua could chase after Ventus, Maleficent stopped her after noticing that Aqua was a Keyblade Wielder. Much like Ventus, Maleficent told Aqua that Terra demonstrated the powers of the Keyblade. Aqua began to believe that Terra really did help Maleficent steal Aurora's heart, but he refused to help Maleficent when she offered Aqua to join her. Maleficent then revealed to Aqua that she knew Master Xehanort, and that he thought the Aqua was a stubborn girl. Maleficent then send Aqua to the dungeon to have time to think of Maleficent's offer.

With the help of Prince Phillip, and the Three Good Fairies, Aqua was able to escape, the Forbidden Mountain. However, Maleficent casted a spell to place a forest of thorns to prevent them from escaping. She then teleported in front of Aqua and Prince Phillip. Aqua demanded Maleficent on what Master Xehanort told her. Instead, Maleficent said was that Aqua did not have Terra's gift for obedience, and that he easily embraced the darkness within his heart. But Aqua still believed that Maleficent was lying. Knowing that this was going nowhere, Maleficent transformed into a enormous dragon, and confronted Aqua and Prince Phillip. During the fight, Maleficent managed to push back Aqua, but with the help of the fairies, Prince Phillip tossed his sword into Maleficent's chest.

Despite this, and her curse had ended, Maleficent managed to survive and was reverted back into her original form. Aqua informed a weaken Maleficent that love was the reason why she lost. But Maleficent refused to have something as insignificant as love defeated her. Aqua also informed her that she can defeat someone with a heart of light, to which Maleficent replied; "As long there is light, there will be darkness." Maleficent then retreated while coming up with plans to gain control of the darkness within the hearts of others.

While this was going on, Maleficent traveled through various worlds using the Corridors of Darkness. And by doing so, she created a team of various Disney villains. The first one she recruited was Pete after he was imprisoned in a dark realm. Other villains who joined Maleficent were Jafar, who became her second-in-command, Hades, Ursula, Captain Hook, and Oogie Boogie. She also managed to capture 4 of the seven Princesses of Heart; Aurora, Snow White, Cinderella, and Belle.

Kingdom Hearts
Maleficent is the secondary main antagonist in the video game series Kingdom Hearts as well, and the game's most prominent Disney villain. She first appears after the hero defeats the Sneak Stealth in the "Deep Jungle", watching his victory from her perch in Hollow Bastion. She, along with her team (which includes popular Disney villains Captain Hook, Ursula, Jafar, and Oogie Boogie), watched Sora stride away from the battle victoriously. She and her allies muse on the nature of darkness and the Heartless, and Maleficent declares that "he could be quite useful" before bringing out the kidnapped Alice (or Snow White, if Sora sealed Deep Jungle's Keyhole before sealing Wonderland's).

After locking the Deep Jungle keyhole, Jafar asks what made the Heartless come to that world. Maleficent then replies "The hunter lured them there" because of the darkness in his own heart.

However, her willingness to submit to darkness proves to be her downfall, as Xehanort's Heartless (in Riku's body) releases her inner power, turning her into a massive dragon. She fights Sora, but he is too much for her, and she is eventually defeated, dissolving in a blaze of emerald fire. All that is left behind is her cloak, which "Riku" steps on and it disappears. He declares her fate "a fitting end for such a fool" as the Heartless were using her since the beginning.

Kingdom Hearts II
She returns in the sequel, Kingdom Hearts II, having used what remained of her evil power to resurrect. She immediately returns to her evil ways, but when her plans are thwarted by Organization XIII, she actually helps Sora and his friends, leading them to conclude that help can come from unexpected places.

Kingdom Hearts: coded
Maleficent is the secondary antagonist in Kingdom Hearts coded, where she once again enacts a plot to conquer Disney Castle.

Data-Sora first encounters the villainess after debugging Agrabah. Though he looks identical to the real Sora during the latter's first adventure, she believes that Data-Sora is the genuine Sora. Maleficent and Pete corner Data-Sora, but Mickey and Jiminy's Journal itself (personified as Riku) confront the villains.

Pete explains that he was sent to the castle on Maleficent's orders to spy on Mickey and his friends. However, he too was sent into the Datascape (which she mispronounces "date escape") when they were sucked into it. He came to in a strange place that looked like a terminal for other worlds and summoned Maleficent, who realized the potential of the world as a way to conquer all worlds.

After Pete explains the situation, Maleficent destroys Data-Sora's Keyblade, much to Mickey's horror, and abducts the Journal, explaining that "Riku" is destined to remain in the darkness. The villains then take their leave, the Journal in tow.

Data-Sora breaks into the Datascape's Hollow Bastion with the aid of Donald and Goofy and regains the Keyblade. After managing to dispose of Pete and the corrupted Journal, Data-Sora confronts Maleficent in her dragon form and defeats her. Sometime later, Maleficent and Pete are forced to fight Sora's Heartless, but Data-Sora rescues them at the last minute before defeating the gargantuan beast. During the fight, the Journal transports the villains back to the real world.

While wandering in Betwixt and Between, Maleficent realizes that the Datascape is similar to the Book of Prophecies, a book capable of transcribing and creating events and worlds from the future. She and Pete then concoct a plan to steal the Journal and the Datascape, hoping to find a connection.

Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance
With this new plan in mind, Maleficent and Pete arrived in King Mickey's castle and held Queen Minnie hostage, sending Mickey a letter via Diablo. Maleficent threaten to kill Minnie if she did not have control over the Mysterious Tower, saying that she preferred it in a more darker, more ominous permutation. However, Mickey began to question Maleficent's goals as she would go this far just to take over one world.

Maleficent then explained to Mickey how Master Xehanort told her how to travel to different worlds, how to win the hearts into darkness, and about the Seven Hearts of Pure Light, the hearts that would allow her to take over all worlds. She also admit that she miscalculated during her last attempt. She then revealed that she seeks the Datascape, but did not reveal why.

Mickey refused to give the Data, so Maleficent retaliated by attacking Mickey, Donald and Goofy. However, one of Lea's chakrams appeared through the Corridor of Darkness, and blocked Maleficent's magic. With that distraction, Minnie was able to escape from Pete. Mickey and his friends were about to confront Maleficent, but Pete recommended that they retreated. Before she retreated, Maleficent proclaimed that what she seeks lies within the walls of the Mysterious Tower. She then threaten that she will eliminate Mickey and his friends in good time. Maleficent and Pete processed into a Corridor of Darkness.

House of Mouse
Maleficent is one of many villains who take over the House of Mouse, under the leadership of her male counterpart, Jafar. During the villains' song, Maleficent turns into her dragon form, and Chernabog seems to fall in love with her.

Kingdom Keepers
In the novel series, Maleficent appears as one of the 2 foremost antagonists (the other being Chernabog) and leads a group of villains called the Overtakers (a bunch of certain Disney villains made by Walt Disney and his company). The Overtakers serve as the main antagonists of the series. At first, the reader would think she is the leader, but she is actually second in command. Chernabog is the leader. The evil fairy at first tried to scare Finn Whitman and his friends in the first book, but seeing the kids as a threat to the evil plan, she tried to kill them-mostly Finn. He almost died because of her.

The Disney Universe
Thanks to her given power and popularity, Maleficent is often depicted as a really prominent Disney villain; she is often seen leading other bad guys from various movies in Disney parks.

Similar Villains

 * Queen Grimhilde (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)
 * Lady Tremaine (Cinderella)
 * J​afar (Aladdin)
 * ​Bowser (Super Mario Bros.)
 * Ganondorf (Legend of Zelda)
 * Lord Voldemort (Harry Potter)

Trivia

 * Maleficent is often tied with, or else comes close to either above or below, Jafar as the most popular Disney villain. They also share many similarities, as they are both evil sorcerers who wield a magic sceptre, have a pet bird, and transform into a reptilian monster. These similarities are parodied in one episode of House of Mouse.
 * Maleficent shares similarities with Jafar's twin sister Nasira for both are evil sorceresses, wielding a magic staff, and desire absolute power over all.
 * Maleficent acted as the main antagonist in the first Kingdom Hearts game, but was merely a pawn of the game's true main villain.
 * Maleficent's dying cry when she gets stabbed sounds remarkably similar to that of the Evil Queen when she falls over a cliff.
 * Maleficent's introduction to King Stefan and the court is similar to Queen Nehelenia introducing herself to Queen Serenity and the Silver Millenium in the Sailor Moon manga. They both are uninvited guests who crash a celebration of the birth of the Kingdom's princess and before vanishing (Maleficent departed while Nehelenia was sealed away), they bestow a death curse on the infant princess.
 * Maleficent is one of the three of the earlier Disney villains to say "hell", the other two being Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Forte from Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas.
 * Maleficent and Lady Tremaine are both voiced at first by Eleanor Audley and currently by Susan Blakeslee.
 * Malchior from Teen Titans has some resemblance to Maleficent's Dragon Form.
 * My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic villains seem to be inspired by her; Nightmare Moon, who speaks in a similar voice, says "Stand back you foals" (much like Maleficent says "Stand back you fools"), and Queen Chrysalis has a similar transformation sequence and green fire magic.
 * Airachnid, a female Decepticon from Transformers Prime has a similar head structure to her.
 * Maleficent is regarded as one of the most evil Disney villains along with Shan Yu, Percival C. McLeach, The Coachman, Judge Claude Frollo and Judge Doom, but is far less evil than all five in terms of crimes. She is however, one of the darkest pre-Disney Renaissance villains, alongside The Horned King and Bill Sykes.
 * Maleficent has been mentioned by Miss Nettle in her villain song, which says "I'll be as famous as Maleficent" so maybe, she thinks that Maleficent is the most famous fairy of the Disney world.
 * Maleficent may be the first Disney villain to appear in an adaptation told from her perspective.
 * She was most likely the inspiration for the Dragonlord's design from Dragon Quest.