The Sorceress (Cursed)

The unnamed Sorceress is the protagonist villain of the animated silent short film ''Cursed. ''She is a wielder of black magic who uses her powers to terrorize the area and hurt innocent people, but upon seeing a dashing young adventurer, falls in love with him.

history
The Sorceress is first shown trying to kill a young blonde. Having tied her to a stake, the Sorceress then uses her fire magic to light a fire beneath the girl, essentially intending to burn her at the stake. However, the Sorceress' plan goes awry when a dashing young hero shows up to save the girl. At first frustrated by the failure of her plan, the Sorceress sees the young adventurer's exposed chest and becomes enamored with him.

Teleporting back to her lair, the Sorceress finds herself frustrated, frightened, and confused with her feelings. Becoming angry, she lashes out at a bat, hitting it with her magic, only to have it be turned into butterflies instead of destroyed. To her horror, the Sorceress realizes that, with so much love now in her heart, her magic can only create beautiful and pretty things rather than cause destruction.

Surrendering to her feelings, the Sorceress begins watching the young adventurer, becoming more and more enamored with him. Finally, she gets herself dolled up with various cosmetics and goes to a nearby tavern to see him. Unfortunately, it is then that she discovers that the adventurer is a lady's man, being surrounded by attractive young women (including the blonde he'd tried to save earlier). Hurt and enraged by the revelation that the man is a lady's man who sees her as no more special than any other woman, the Sorceress goes berserk and unleashes a burst of red magic that turns the man (and presumably all of the women into skeletons). The Sorceress then helps herself to a drink, at first reverting to her cruel and sadistic personality (even going as far as to laugh evilly), before remembering what she has lost (and also never really had to begin with), and becomes despondent.

trivia

 * Her use of green fire magic brings to mind Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty, another sinister female magic user in a fairy tale setting who delights in cruelty for cruelty's sake. Both also torment a young blonde in a pink dress and try to visit harm upon her.
 * Ironically, the scene where birds help her beautify herself is reminiscent of similar scenes involving Snow White and Aurora receiving help from various woodland animals in Snow White and Sleeping Beauty.
 * In unused drafts for the story, the Sorceress' story ended differently: in the first draft, she accidentally turns the young adventurer into a cat, but then contents herself with having him as a loyal pet. In the second draft, she kills the young adventurer and the girl the adventurer was with dies of starvation, being shown in an epilogue as a skeleton, and in the third draft (the one closest to the final), she behaves much as she does in the finished product's ending.