Queen Grimhilde

"Magic Mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?"

- Queen Grimhilde to the Magic Mirror. "The heart of a pig! The blundering fool. I'll go myself to the dwarves cottage in a disguise so complete no one would ever suspect. Now: A formula to transform my beauty into ugliness, change my queenly raiment to a peddler's cloak! Mummy Dust to make me old. To shroud my clothes: the black of night. To age my voice: an old hag's cackle. To whiten my hair: a scream of fright. A blast of wind to fan my hate! A thunderbolt to mix it well. Now: begin thy magic spell. Look, my hands! *raspy voice* My voice! *sighs* My voice! *cackles evilly* A perfect disguise! And now, a special sort of death for one so fair. What should it be? AH! A poisoned apple! Sleeping death. One taste of the poisoned apple and the victim's eyes will close forever in the sleeping death!"

- Queen Grimhilde during her transformation. Queen Grimhilde, more commonly known across popular media as The Evil Queen, is the main antagonist of Disney's 1st full-length animated feature film, Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs. Her most famous incarnation is in the Disney film, but the origin of the story goes as far back as folklore itself - being a popular fairy tale. Disney's film had a tremendous impact on how people see the Evil Queen as a villain and introduced the concept of her Magic Mirror and her ultimate transformation from a vain and heartless yet young, attractive and regally beautiful woman to a hideous old hag. She was voiced by the late Lucille La Verne in the film, Louise Chamis is Disney Villains' Revenge and Susanne Blakeslee in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep.

History
The Evil Queen was a mysterious and icily beautiful woman who had exchanged her body and soul to the evil spirits of the Harz mountains for the power to work Black Magic. She used her knowledge of the Dark Arts to enhance her looks, hoping to become the most beautiful woman in the land. She became queen by marrying an unnamed King who died, giving her control of the kingdom which she ruled with an iron fist, becoming feared among her subjects (the many skeletons in her dungeon suggest this). The vain & cruel Queen owned a magical mirror which she used to communicate with her demon familiar (which took on the appearance of a haunted, smoke-like face). She despised her step-daughter - Snow White - because of her beauty and forced her to dress in rags while treating her as a servant rather than a daughter: throughout the story it was made clear the Evil Queen's motive was her vanity, she simply could never stand the idea of someone being more beautiful than herself and was cruel enough to take drastic steps to ensure this could never happen. This was shown when, upon asking her Magic Mirror who was the fairest in the land, the Evil Queen was informed that it was Snow White - she grew angered and ordered her faithful Huntsman to take Snow White to a field and kill her: wishing to have proof of the deed she gave the Huntsman a jeweled box and ordered him to bring back Snow White's heart once his task was complete. However the Evil Queen did not count on the fact her Huntsman was more merciful than herself and he spared Snow White's life, telling her to flee and never return - he then killed a pig from the forest and gave its heart to the Evil Queen: tricking her into believing Snow White was dead. In time, the Evil Queen became aware of Snow White's existence when her Magic Mirror once again informed her that Snow White was the fairest in the land and that she was alive and being taken care of by a group of 7 dwarves in the forest. Driven mad with rage and after discovering that she has beened tricked by the Huntsman, the Evil Queen utilized her knowledge of the dark arts to mix a potion and drink it in order to transform into a grotesque and frightening hag - she then created a poisoned apple and made her way to the dwarves' cottage. The Evil Queen waited until the dwarves had gone to the mines to work until she arrived, pretending to be a harmless old woman and offered Snow White the poisoned apple - Snow White innocently took the apple and collapsed to the ground as the Evil Queen cackled madly and left the scene. However the woodland animals were quick to inform the dwarves of what transpired and they raced into action - the dwarves pursued the Evil Queen up onto a mountain where she attempted to roll a boulder down to crush her pursuers but a lightning bolt struck the edge of the cliff in the process, causing her to fall to her death screaming as the boulder fell onto her (off-screen). A little later, the dwarves returned to the cottage and believed Snow White was dead yet couldn't find it in their broken hearts to bury her so encased her in a glass coffin - she would later be awoken from the Evil Queen's curse by the kiss of her one true love: the Prince, and the two would proceed to live "Happily Ever After".

Kingdom Keepers
The Evil Queen appears in one of the novels, and she is one of the Overtakers-the others Maleficent, Frollo, Chernabog, Ursula and Cruella and some others- who attempts to take over all the Disney parks, and destroy Finn Whitman and his other Kingdom Keeper kids. She is one of the scariest, most dangerous villains, and she is just as scary and dangerous as Maleficent.

Kilala Princess Manga
In the manga, Evil Queen Grimhilde was the first Disney villain to show up. The scenes took place after the movie. Grimhilde's birds noticed that Kilala and Rei intruded the castle where the Queen and Snow White first lived, and where the Magic Mirror resides. The Queen was very interested in the tiara that Kilala and Rei had, since it attracts both good and evil, so she threatened them to give it to her. She also threatened to force Kilala to eat the poisoned apple that will turn her into an ugly girl, unless she hands over the magical tiara.

Video Game appearance
There was a villainess named Mizrabel in the 1990 videogame Castle of Illusion (Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse) whose own appearance is based on the Evil Queen and her elderly Witch form.

In Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, the Evil Queen served as a minor villain. After the mirror tells her that Snow White is the fairest in the land, she discovers that Terra has been eavesdropping on her conversation with the mirror. Instead of the huntsmen, she sends Terra to kill Snow White and bring back her heart in exchange for asking the mirror for the whereabouts of Master Xehanort. When Terra returns and says he refused to do the job, the queen orders the mirror to consume Terra. The mirror replies by saying it cannot. Enraged, the queen throws a potion at the mirror, allowing it to attack Terra and pull him inside. When Terra defeats the mirror, the Queen, frustrated by her defeat asks the mirror for Xehanort's whereabouts. After Terra leaves, the Queen disguises herself as an old hag, makes the poisoned apple and travels to the dwarves cottage with the intention to trick Snow White into taking a bite. She accidentally drops it and it's returned to her by Ventus, who has been fooled by her disguise. They have a brief conversation where Ven learns Terra was present in that world. Afterwords the queen successfully tricks Snow White into taking a bite. She is not seen again after that. The mirror simply says she is gone, hinting that she probably suffered the same fate as in the movie.

Movie Appearance
Queen Grimhilde (the Evil Queen) appears only in a portrait painting of herself alongside a statue of herself at her castle in the Filmation movie Happily Ever After (also called Snow White: Happily Ever After). It is also revealed that she has a brother named Lord Maliss who sworn to avenge his sister's death.

Television Appearance
A variation of the Evil Queen is portrayed by Lana Parrilla in the television series "Once Upon a Time". She seeks revenge on Snow White by trapping all the well-known fairy tale characters in the "real world" town of Storybrooke. In the real world her name is Regina Mills and she is the mayor of Storybrooke.