Maleficent (Once Upon a Time)

"But, 'beast' is so harsh. I prefer Maleficent."

- Maleficent

Maleficent is a recurring villain in the ABC show Once Upon a Time. She was the tertiary antagonist of Season 1 and will be the main antagonist for the second half of Season 4, along with Cruella, Ursula and Mr. Gold.

She is played by Kristin Bauer van Straten.

History
Many years ago, Maleficent was bested by Sleeping Beauty. Years later, Maleficent inflicts Sleeping Beauty's daughter, Aurora, with the Sleeping Curse, putting both the princess and her kingdom into a thorn-adorned ruin. The reason and circumstances for this currently remain unknown.

She transforms Prince Phillip into a beast and banishes him to a far away land, Mulan's kingdom, so that he is incapable of reaching Aurora. Some time either before or after that, a man, Will Scarlet joins the Merry Men, he convinces Robin Hood and the rest of the band of thieves to steal from Maleficent's Forbidden Fortress, as rumors say there is a mass amount of gold stored there. Robin, at first, is reluctant, as he knows that Maleficent is a powerful sorceress, but Will has it on good authority that the witch shall be vacant from the palace, and Robin eventually concedes. The Merry Men later break into Maleficent's castle and steal the gold, however, whilst there, Will also steals a Looking Glass. When the men are later celebrating around a fire, Maleficent uses her magic to project her voice and make strong winds overcome them; she tells them to keep the gold, if they must, as it is useless, but to return the other treasure they stole, for although its power is alluring, it shall only bring them misery. Will, despite having stolen this other treasure, doesn't fess up, and later uses the Looking Glass to transport himself and his true love Anastasia to Wonderland.

In order to punish Snow White, the Evil Queen trades Maleficent the Dark Curse, which has been created by Rumplestiltskin, in exchange for Maleficent's Sleeping Curse. Some time after, Prince Charming makes a deal with Rumplestiltskin in order to retrieve his mother's ring. He must conceal a bottle of true love encased in a protective egg inside a great beast. Maleficent enjoys a quiet moment in her home sitting on a throne in the middle of a great hall when Prince Charming suddenly appears with his sword to Maleficent's throat. Maleficent thrusts Charming back with a magical blast and reveals that she is “the beast.” She then magically blows out all of the candles in the room. Shrouded in darkness, Charming tells the witch to show herself, and slowly she reveals herself as a monstrous, fire-breathing dragon. A battle ensues, with Prince Charming finally forcing the egg down Maleficent's throat. His work done, Charming leaps through a stained glass window, diving into the waters far below. Later, after Maleficent is defeated, she retires and lives with a black unicorn, until the day the Evil Queen comes back to her. Frustrated at the failure of the Sleeping Curse, which was broken by true love's kiss, the Queen desires the dark curse once more, but Maleficent refuses, proclaiming that they made a deal and that the curse's recipe is her own now. She keeps the curse held in the orb of her staff, and when she refuses to willingly hand it over, the Queen challenges her to a magic spar. The Queen draws fire from the fireplace, and Maleficent jumps away. Regina throws a fireball at Maleficent, who uses her staff to protrude a magic shield and block the scorching flames. The Queen then collects all the weapons from the room and sets them in Maleficent's direction, but in hearing a neigh from the unicorn, changes them and directs them at the pet instead. Maleficent jumps in front to intervene, blocking the weapons, but the Queen drops the overhanging chandelier above Maleficent, who then is tied up with the metal of it and then thrown into the wall. She believes she will be killed, but the Queen states she would never do that since Maleficent is her only friend. Free to get the curse's recipe from her friendly-rival's clutches, the Queen is warned of the curse's dangers and of how it would leave a void in her, but she takes this all in stride and leaves.

When the Evil Queen casts the curse, the inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest, including Maleficent, are engulfed and transported to a world without magic. After the Dark Curse takes effect, Maleficent becomes trapped in her dragon form and is imprisoned in a cave under the clock tower in the town of Storybrooke. The cave has magical properties that allow Maleficent to regenerate even after she has been killed due to Regina implanting a "fail-safe" that can be used to destroy all of Storybrooke, which Maleficent is supposed to guard from intruders.

After the Savior's son, Henry, falls under a Sleeping Curse, Emma Swan and Henry's adoptive mother, Regina Mills seek a way to break the curse. They go to Mr. Gold for an answer, and he states long ago he hid a potion inside a beast's body. The potion will revive Henry, but he requests Emma must be the one to retrieve it by defeating the beast. In order to retrieve the same bottle of true love implanted inside of her by Prince Charming, Emma must face Maleficent. Quickly realizing she's not much good with a sword, she drops her father's weapon and draws her gun. She fires at the dragon, but the bullets seem unable to penetrate the beast's scaly hide. Emma runs, ducking behind a large pillar of rock. The dragon circles around, landing on a nearby outcropping to get a better angle of attack. But the outcropping crumbles and the dragon plummets into the darkness. Emma peers over the edge, but sees no sign of Maleficent. Suddenly, the dragon flies upward, the gust from its great wings knocking her back as it spots her. She fires her gun again, desperately, but all it seems to do is make the beast angrier. The dragon turns on her when she hurls the sword into its throat. The sword starts a chain reaction and an explosion engulfs the dragon, destroying it. As cinders blow around the cavern and smoke wafts amongst a giant pile of ash, Emma spots the golden egg containing the love potion, and gets her hands on it, at last. After the Dark Curse is lifted and so is the protection spell cast by Cora over a corner of the fairytale land, that froze all of its inhabitants in time, Prince Phillip and his valiant aid, Mulan, are able to resume their quest to find Princess Aurora, who, much like her mother, has been put under a sleeping curse by the dreaded Maleficent. Phillip awakens her with a kiss, and Aurora wakes up to find the land ravaged. Phillip tells her of a safe haven they must get to, and Aurora asks if the haven is to keep them safe from Maleficent, to which he replies they no longer have to worry about her. When Regina has plans to enact the curse's fail-safe and wipe out Storybrooke along with its inhabitants, she invokes the help of Captain Hook who accompanies her down the library's elevator where they enter the caves beneath. Hook begins to wonder what Regina meant when she said the place is guarded, and Regina reveals that an old friend, meaning Maleficent, is doing so, explaining that a spell put in place around the caves sustains her in whatever state she's in. Hook then wonders why it's a two man job to receive the trigger, and Regina reveals that she needs him as a distraction, before bushing him off a cliff. Hook lands with his life as atoms begin to form together to create a skeletal creature and a discrepant nightgown that bellows spine-chilling shrieks: Maleficent. She attempts to attack Hook who tries to engage in small talk with the creature, not being sure how to fight back, as Regina retrieves her fail-safe trigger. Eventually, Hook is rescued by Greg and Tamara, however, it is unknown how they defeated Maleficent or what her current state is.

Maleficent is set to appear in the second half of Season 4 for a major arc.