A Disney Villains Retrospective Part 3: The Evil Queen (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)

Disney's first theatrical villain really delivered! In this entry, we're talking about Queen Grimhilde, Snow White's wicked stepmother. We'll be tracing her Grimm Brothers origins, looking at her 1937 movie appearance, and beyond!
AMAZON LINK FOR THE RETURN OF SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS BY ROMANO SCARPA:
www.amazon.com/Return-Snow-Wh...
VIDEO CREDITS:
DISNEY'S VILLAINS' REVENGE:
• Video
KINGDOM HEARTS BIRTH BY SLEEP:
• SNOW WHITE | Kingdom H...
SNOW WHITE'S ADVENTURES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD:
• Snow White's Adventure...
• Snow White's Adventure...
• Snow White's Adventure...
• Snow White's Adventure...
SNOW WHITE'S ADVENTURES AT TOKYO DISNEYLAND:
• [4K] Tokyo Disneyland ...
SNOW WHITE'S SCARY ADVENTURES AT DISNEYLAND PARIS:
• [4K] Disneyland Paris ...
SEVEN DWARFS MINE TRAIN:
• Seven Dwarfs Mine Trai...
ONCE UPON A TIME ADVENTURE AT SHANGHAI DISNEYLAND:
• Shanghai Disneyland On...
CAGED WITCH:
• Disneyland Old Witch F...
• Evil Witch Queen from ...
SINGIN' DANCIN' HEIGH-HO:
• Singin' Dancin' Heigh-...
ONE MAN'S DREAM AT TOKYO DISNEYLAND:
• [HD]Tokyo Disneyland -...
FANTASMIC AT DISNEYLAND:
• 2018 Fantasmic 2.0 FUL...
FANTASMIC AT WALT DISNEY WORLD:
• Fantasmic! Complete Sh...
SNOW WHITE AN ENCHANTING MUSICAL:
• SnowWhite
CINDERELLA CASTLE MYSTERY TOUR:
• シンデレラ城ミステリーツアー 東京ディズニー...
• Cinderella Castle Myst...

[@belowaverage6216]

Having the perpetually vain queen's life end as a old beggar woman, never being able to return to the beauty she so craved, is a far better move, thematically, than dancing in hot shoes. Excellent job! One of my favorite Disney baddies done justice!

[@oron61]

I kinda wish that as she was running from the dwarves the disgise would start slowly wearing off until it's almost fully the Queen again, soaked and unruly in hair with makeup washing away as she's trying to lever the boulder onto the dwarves... right until the lightning strikes, mysteriously and instantly turning her back into the hag, just as she falls, her crown being the only thing left untouched.

[@mellemadswoestenburg1296]

@Kandinsky hero ytp and memes they probably will do that. They also said they will keep the previously scrapped "Triton and Ursula are siblings" plotpoint in the live action The Little Mermaid. They will want to flesh out the characters to show how modern and cool they are.

[@BuckarooBanzai84]

@@oron61 Well, that's one way to do it... =)

[@BuckarooBanzai84]

You're not far off; that's how it goes in some of the storybook versions too. That's why, even in the movie version, it's emphasized that the sheer jealousy drove her insane. =)

[@daniellevinson6975]

Psychologists have pointed out symbolic justifications for the torturous execution in thr Grimms Brother's original recording: 1) Feet are used for transportation, so they symbolize people's actions (and thus their motives). Burning iron shoes thus symbolise searing envy taking monstrous control of the Queen. 2) The Queen wanted public acclaim... Since her envy of Snow White stemmed from said craving, the public nature if the Queen's punishment fit her heinous crimes.

[@ciarangrainger2465]

One thing I love about Grimhilde is how stoic and emotionless she is when in her real form, and how wild and manic she is in her witch disguise. It’s sort of a Jekyll and Hyde motif where she lets out her inner emotions in a less regally sophisticated appearance. Hard to believe that both forms share the same actress. Also, I believe George Lucas’ main inspiration for Emperor Palpatine’s physical appearance was based on the Queen’s hag disguise. Talk about an influential villain!

[@benwancier7118]

Who knows, maybe they're the same character

[@92JazzQueen]

If Snow White was the one who started it all, then The Evil Queen was the one who started the great tradition of Disney villains.

[@PhoenixFlamez07]

Everytime I enter the Disney store and start conversation with the employees we always agree that it Snow White who off the princess franchise and The Evil Queen started the villain franchise. A lot of people forget that and they agree The Queen should have more recognition for her contribution to the evil.

[@christianogden2825]

Too bad that tradition died. What was the last good Disney villain?

[@HatGuyYT]

@@christianogden2825 Tamatoa lol

[@ambriahughes2855]

Of course she did!

[@speed47g]

@@christianogden2825 Dr. Facilier

[@billyweed835]

To be fair to Snow, she is shown to be way more suspicious by the third try, the Queen even being forced to take a bite of the apple herself to prove it's not poison (Unfortunately, old Grimhilde, crafty sort that she is, anticipated that, and so, only poisoned ONE HALF of the apple, biting into the non-poisonous part, and leaving the rest for Snow).

[@robbiewalker2831]

That’s exactly what happened in the Golden Films version, as the Poison Apple had two visual sides where the rotten part isn’t poisoned, but the shiny part is; she cut the apple in half, eats the rotten half, and gave the shiny half to Snow White. BTW, I realized the design of the “peddler woman” in that version looks a lot like the Sea Hag from Popeye, in addition on their version of Snow White looking more like Ariel with Raven-Hair.

[@mxplixic]

I just assumed she developed an immunity to iocane powder. Sorry, wrong franchise. 😁

[@robbiewalker2831]

@@mxplixic That's Princess Bride.

[@claudefrollono1]

I had the hypothesis that the Queen's exaggerated obsession with her looks and dignity had to do with her supposedly humble (non-royal, or maybe even non-aristocratic) origins. She may have tried to suppress the fact she was of far lower birth than other court women, especially Snow White, so she feigned an overtly haughty monarch, with ridiculously plain symbols of vanity, like the peacock-themed throne and shit. She also exhibited notably coarser, less refined behavior and vocabulary once she got transformed into a hag, meaning the wickedness AND vulgarity may have been her true nature all along. A number of people behaves that way once they suddenly ascend from their humble status to something much higher: they masquerade as highborn in an exaggerated, as if self-satirical way, often having much stronger disdain for the lower classes than the actual highborn people do.

[@nothoughtsheadempty.]

Snow White: *Is the fairest of them all* The Queen: _S o y o u h a v e c h o s e n d e a t h . . ._

[@Wyrmington]

Mother nature: Im about to do what’s called a pro gamer move

[@oron61]

The sentence: *BURIED ALIVE!*

[@Thenumber1yoshi]

Gruntilda from Banjo-Kazooie taking a more smart and practical approach and just deciding to steal said fairest in the land’s beauty for herself while transferring her own ugliness to them, unfortunately she never seems to catch on that using a beauty transferring machine at full power before the bear and bird intruding in her lair lose all their lives or choose the save and quit option would be a smarter thing to do!

[@professormultipurpose5244]

I’m sorry, but the line of the evil queen essentially forcing the dwarves to retire as dwarves gave me the mental image of them just throwing their hands up and rudely declaring that they’ll just somehow grow three feet bigger and I couldn’t help but laugh and the sheer ridiculousness

[@SarcasticAriel]

I am a huge Cinderella fan and I strongly disagree with Cinderella lacking a personality especially compared to snow white. I can agree that Aurora lacks a personality but not Cinderella. Cinderella is kind to those who deserve her kindness but here are scenes in the film where she stands up to her stepmother and stepsisters. She doesn't like her current living situation and activity tries to get away from it even if it's only for one night. Her kindness to her animal friends ( shown in the beginning of the film when she saves Gus from a mouse trap ) She also keeps them fed. helps pave her way to freedom. The animals help her by making a dress for her and following instructions given to them from Cinderella when she is locked in her room by the evil stepmother. Cinderella is smart because she is the one who came up with the plan to escape her room and she instructs her animal friends to help her. She is also a hard worker and a fast one too. She is able to finish all of the chores her stepfamily gave to her in a matter of hours. She is resourceful by keeping the extra glass slipper from the ball which she later presents to the prince's butler when the other one is broken.

[@disneyrules7808]

This video has nothing to do with Cinderella.

[@SarcasticAriel]

@@disneyrules7808 He mentioned it in the video which is why I brought it up

[@disneyrules7808]

@@SarcasticAriel Okay.

[@jamestyler7697]

Agreed - Walt himself acknowledged at least once that Cinderella was a more developed and realized character than Snow White was. I do think that Snow is sold short very often (although very cheery she does show a wide range of emotions and personality traits). But to say that Cinderella didn't have a personality would be just flat out incorrect lol

[@disneyrules7808]

@@jamestyler7697 Fun Fact: Snow White and Cinderella are the only two Disney Princesses to be orphans.

[@wickedfeylady]

My fave villain EVER, elegant and classy. Although I wish she had a song; her personality is mostly serious but she does have a morbid sense of humor for sure. I think it would be interesting to give her a song about how she kinda likes disguising herself as an old witch because it gives her a chance to let loose and not be concerned with being perfect all the time.

[@ColinLooksBack]

I think that would be great as well, especially in the couple stage adaptations we got. The closest thing we have to an actual song was in the Disneyland stage show from the 80's where she had sort of a rock-type song? It was weird. Pre-Little Mermaid Disney movies didn't have the Broadway feel in general. Even the Sherman Borthers songs, although great, weren't always that theatrical. Often, there was one big "showstopper" number in the movies (but not always), and the rest of the songs were just sort of weaved in and out.

[@daniellevinson6975]

I wish Disney had written the Queen to seem less erudite... She seems like a poorly cast actress; she obviously would be more convincing as Jadis, or Evanora, than as herself.

[@sammyt7981]

I wish Disney made a direct to video sequel to Snow White, and who knows if they got a good script and good writers, the film would’ve been actually pretty good if that happened

[@robbiewalker2831]

@@ColinLooksBack if you ever do another villain retrospective cleanup, I’d like to see ol’ Grimhilde get some attention for Mother’s Day. Why? Well, there’s been some fanart over a what-if idea of the Queen being nice to Snow White. Although Nice is not exactly good, her being a nice person wouldn’t be as ungrateful as the pettiness of Hal from Megamind. Anyways, besides meet and greets that people took footage of (as the depiction varies from m&g actor to m&g actor) there was a book where Snow White and the Queen tell their two sides of the story, with Snow White telling the movie narrative from her point of view, and the Queen telling a sort of AU narrative, where the Queen turns out to be a Health Nut that wanted what's best for Snow White; later on in the Queen’s narrative, the whole Apple thing was hand-waved as gossip, and that the Queen didn't use a potion to turn into an ugly woman, but that she wished to see Snow White again, have a friendly conversation with her, and was giving the Apple to teach Snow White to eat healthy, which was barely touched upon in Snow White’s narration with chores and cake, but nothing much about health was ever brought up afterwards, while the Queen’s narrative goes into great detail about it. You can find these particular scans at FanPop, as that is where I found out about Disney making an official product catering to the audience that wanted a Snow White/Grimhilde dynamic; you can even read what was written in those narratives, as it's more elaborate than I would be. It is one of the rarest examples of Snow White and the Queen actually having some sort of social connection that was never part of the movie's narrative (outside of the “Mizerabel” disguise; and yes, I said Mizerabel, because the disguise was given a name in “Castle of Illusion”, and the remake made it look more like the original movie Hag design). Honestly, given the multitude of remakes that change narrative (much like fairy tales of old, given the Queen was meant to be Snow White’s birth mother originally, but later changed to stepmother in editions prior to the Disney film), sometimes a change can be a good thing, if given the right elements to compliment the new direction; while it would be hard to find a new villain to stand in for this type of change, we can still think of something of a better future in storytelling. Besides, the “My Side of the Story” depiction of Grimhilde makes Mei Lee’s relationship with her mom look toxic. Sidenote 1: In the aforementioned Snow White children's book, the Queen gave herself a spa treatment, which reminds me of a scene from "Mirror Mirror", a non-Disney adapted Snow White movie, which features Nathan Lane, the voice of Timon who played a Servant of the Queen. Sidenote 2: Remember the Huntsman who was named Humbert in the promotional material? Well the "My Side of the Story" Queen narrative gave him the generic name "Brad". So it's "Bradley Humbert" I guess. Also, unlike the Movie Queen, this AU Queen is more forgiving of old Humbert here... guess even in this AU, Humbert is still unpunished.

[@viviennemorgan7217]

true but in later years, villains in other movies did get their own songs.

[@cherriegetison6093]

The cruel thing about the Evil Queen dying offscreen in Birth By Sleep is that you're playing the story three times as three different player characters who are all doing different things in the Disney stories. When you hear the queen died when playing as one character, you assume that one of the other two player characters is going to battle her, and only when you play through all three do you realize that it really was offscreen.

[@BookwormBelle1191]

It was a wasted opportunity, Terra could have fought both the Queen and the Mirror, Ven helps the Prince escape from some Unversed after bumping into the Queen in her disguise and Aqua help the Dwarfs to catch the Queen and help them against her attacks

[@corydrummond67]

The way the witch’s eyes look when she first interacts with Snow White standing in the window is sooooooo creepy

[@OpticalSorcerer]

I'll always regret that Snow White's screentime was reduced due to the dwarves, as well as the prince not being able to have large role due to difficulty in animation. The queen and mirror also deserved more screentime.

[@asharmstrong248]

"Magic Mirror on the wall!" "Ayyyyyyyyy Queenieeeeeeeee"

[@melissaheaney5777]

I would like to add that, last year, she was mentioned as an important person in the 2020 Japanese rhythm game, Twisted Wonderland, created by Disney and Aniplex. She is called "The Beautiful Queen" and is considered a figurehead at Night Raven College alongside six other iconic Disney villains: the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, Scar from the Lion King, Ursula from the Little Mermaid, Jafar from Aladdin, Hades from Hercules and Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty. The dormitory based off of her is called Pomefiore, founded upon her unrelenting efforts. Students in that dorm tend to excel in potions and sorcery, and are often skilled in making poisons. To qualify as the dorm leader, one must be able to make the deadliest poison out of all their peers. If you want to get deeper on the references, the dorm leader, Vil Schoenheit is meant to be based on the Evil Queen. His Vice Dorm Leader, Rook Hunt, is based on the Huntsman that served the Queen and Epel Felmier is supposed to be the poison apple that kills Snow White (though I don't understand why). I hope to add info on the other villains and their dorms in Twisted Wonderland when they are discussed.

[@mpvf0]

Ayyyy, another TWST fan!

[@patchedupegg9563]

Nice! A Twisted Wonderland mention! Keep up the great work! I was slightly looking forward to seeing it be talked about in the video, but this comment well made up for it.

[@hickorydaisy4117]

Yeah I was gonna mention this too!

[@firemiracle]

It's kinda a disappointment that the prince subplot was scrapped. Like it would've been awesome in seeing the animals freeing the prince and battle the guards together

[@tonyparra8459]

That would of been awesome.

[@robbiewalker2831]

@@tonyparra8459 Admittedly, that’s one change I’d like to see for Snow White, since they changed the outcome for Sleeping Beauty with the Maleficent Movies.

[@disneyboy3030]

@@robbiewalker2831 someone should write a letter to them about it. Also people do have different interpretations of things.

[@disneyboy3030]

Someone should asks someone to make a recreation of the scene.

[@lilischwan-rosenwald1570]

Slide and wonderokykkjksrmalakkmskakskkskdmslaosjjalkss

[@jenniferschillig3768]

A couple of fun facts regarding the Grimm version of the story: -The only time Snow's age is mentioned, it's said that "when she was seven years old she was as beautiful as the dawn." One must hope that more time passed between then and the mirror's proclamation and her time with the dwarfs...or we'd have a seven-year-old getting married to an adult prince. (I mean, I doubt she aged during the time she was supposedly dead in the glass coffin...) -In the first version of the story the Grimms recorded, the evil queen was Snow's actual MOTHER...which means she was jealous enough of her own daughter's beauty to have her killed. It was only in the revised version that Snow's mother died in childbirth and the King (who vanishes for the rest of the story AND the movie--there's no mention of what happened to him) marrying again.

[@strongrex2615]

One great improvement Disney’s version has over the original story is Snow White’s age. Her being 7 years old makes no sense. No one would ever compare a child’s beauty to a grown woman’s - it’s like apples and oranges. A little girl is beautiful in a cute, innocent, little-girl way, whereas a grown woman is beautiful in a mature, desirable, sexy way. You would never put a 7-year-old girl and an adult woman in the SAME beauty pageant, for example. It’s just such a weird comparison. That’s why I think it makes much more sense for Snow White to be older, a girl just at the point of entering womanhood (in my mind, she’s 16 or 17 not 14). I think THAT’S when her beauty would become an actual threat to the Queen, something to be jealous of, because that’s the age when her beauty would start to attract the attention of men. It just makes more sense to me.

[@javierjuarez9761]

@@strongrex2615 I think that the Evil Queen saw Snow White would be more beautiful that her by Snow White's description by the Magic mirror Black hair as Ebony Lips red as a rose And Skin white as Snow With only 14 years old imagine how beautiful would be her as 18 years old Also she was cute,charming,hardworking, resiliant and maternal so everyone would be by her side instead of the Evil Queen

[@strongrex2615]

@@javierjuarez9761 Right. Snow White has always had that description. But my point still stands that no one would compare her beauty to her stepmother's until she was of marriageable age, where she would attract the attention of men.

[@robbiewalker2831]

@@strongrex2615 Actually, about Snow White trying to get men’s attention at a younger age rather than an adult age? the Queen’s reason to kill her is so despicable, the KZbin Censors won’t allow me to explain the full truth. Although it can’t be as bad as an old king impregnating a princess while she’s in a coma.

[@oida10000]

Yeah the Grims changed quiet a few evil mothers to evil step mothers because a bad mother was a concept that really didn't set well with them.

[@keshiaanders6452]

"Her wicked brother that wanted to avenge her death" I think someone from Filmation heard about this, and stole the idea to use for their Snow White sequel "Happily Ever After".

[@Nova7o9]

Keshia Anders Yeah, the drawing even kind of looked like him. XD

[@SarahJareth]

I was just thinking about that

[@ColinLooksBack]

Perhaps, but the Disney version was not blessed with a rapping owl.

[@SarahJareth]

@@ColinLooksBack ugh that was rough I loved this retrospective though! I can't wait till you do Chernabog and Lady Tremaine and her daughters

[@robbiewalker2831]

@@ColinLooksBack 4:33 - 4:38: And Mizerabel (Castle of Illusion), don't forget that: static.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/3/36/Screenshot_2014-09-25-13-37-59.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20141218173310

[@g.b569]

My grandfather was very young when Snow White came out and he remembers being scared by the witch/Evil Queen

[@greninjastorm6734]

Suzanne Blakeslee seems to be the go-to person to take over as Disney villain voices. She was Lady Tremaine, Cruella De Vil, and Maleficent in their sequel/Kingdom Hearts appearances, and now I learn she was Queen Grimhilde

[@natwalsh2710]

YAAS! She’s the best voices for them today! For live action, I enjoy the OUAT Evil Queen aka Regina way better than the Descendants one. I like Kathy Najimy, I just don’t like her portrayal as Evil Queen in the Descendants franchise. I wish the actress that played Evil Queen from OUAT would play her in the franchise. Or Susan Blakeslee herself could maybe.

[@maurycyoseka1057]

Here's how i would see the villainesses' casts: Queen Grimhilda - Louise Seamus Lady Tremaine - Suzanne Blakeslee Maleficant - Louise Melton Cruella - April Winchell

[@The_13th_Voyager]

Fun fact. In the Japanese release of Birth by Sleep, the queen doesn't use a potion, but rather the darkness of her anger and jealousy corrupted the mirror to attack Terra and Aqua.

[@KTChamberlain]

Watching this retrospective reminds me of when my parents took me and older brother to a Disney On Ice show of Snow White when I was 6. When it got to the part where Snow White asks the audience should she eat the apple, naturally every kid said "no", I, however, surprisingly said, "Yes, do it." because at that time I had already seen the movie a good number of times and studied it. At the age of 6, I was basically saying, "Be authentic!"

[@berry-duke9635]

7:42 I'm not so sure that Snow White has as strong or distinct a personality as Cinderella. At best, their personalities and origins have things in common, but Cinderella has more depth that reasonably explains why she is the kind of person she grew up to be. Not only do we see the impact of her losing her father (even if it's only a still image), but you also get a really good look at her daily life. She is held back because she doesn't want to stir up any conflict with her step family, because doing so puts more strain and work on her hands. Despite this, she still has a little more bite than Snow White, who despite her similar situation with her stepmother, is still a princess. She wants her Prince to come and sweep her off her feet, and that's it. She has a heart, she's young, naïve, and she has a little motherliness to her, but other than that, her personality is static. Cinderella fights back from her mother in the end when she is locked in her room, and she is someone who has probably never truly left her house from the night her dad died to the day she went to the ball, and that sorta shows too. The point is because she has more screen time than Snow White, as well as more context behind her situation, I feel her actual personality is more defined, which her defining traits from what I've seen is she is very un-confrontational, she's an escapist who is driven by her hopes and dreams, and she uses these to cope with the trauma and the crap her step family puts her through. Maybe I didn't need to send a wall of text to make my point across, but yeah. That's just what I've seen and what I feel XD

[@matheus5230]

Walt Disney himself said that he considered Cinderella's character an improved version of Snow White.

[@lisaadams693]

I enjoy Snow White's character as a first attempt at a full length princess character. Cinderella is definitely an improvement character wise. To me both of them are enjoyable in their own way. Now princess Aurora on other hand was pretty bland and forgettable. Pretty much rinse and repeat of the previous two. It could be because the movie's main focus was the three fairies

[@robbiewalker2831]

@@lisaadams693 Or that the Sleeping Beauty thing was adapting from Charles Perrault’s take on the story, since one of the older takes involve a king impregnating a princess while she’s still in a coma. In Snow White’s case, I’d argue Snow White is indeed a fun character to hang out with, since she is optimistic about her situation. She’s like “Oh, I’m cleaning the castle? No problem, hard work is it’s own reward.” True, she was scared when going through the forest, but I’d like to imagine that the truth about the Queen wanting to kill her has overwhelmed her emotions to the point of seeing trees as monsters, and then later cry when it was too much for her to handle.

[@chassiebazz92]

I see a lot in snow white, she's sassy and has humour, assertive in the best way, takes initiative and is brave. Even in the forest scene, she's scared but faces her fears and pushed on, finding out her fears were not what they seemed, which can speak for life, not all of life situations, but say a person needing to step out of their comfort zone in order to mature and grow. But even so, snow isn't a perfect person, her flaws have her being ignorant and uninformed which makes sense in how she grew up. Her flaws cause her to nearly die, but her Kindness, bravery and ability to take initiative is what keeps her alive and more safe. There may be many characters who have more personality than snow, but so many people undermine how much character she does have and how brave she really is. Bravery comes in many forms, not just being a hero in action or standing up to people above you, or preaching. Snow was brave with her ability to face her fears and smile while doing it, to live her life as if there was no danger when her assumed stepmum wanted to off her. She danced through life not knowing her fate, just enjoyed living the moment. To me, THAT'S brave

[@WinterWonder99]

TBH both Snow White and Cinderella are much better characters than people want to give them credit for.

[@Rubberman202]

I always thought it was an interesting detail that the Queen seemed to have undergone a personality change when she transforms into "the Witch". She was always so reserved and refined, whereas she's more bombastic and giddy in her Hag form. The more I think about it, though, the more I feel like it's not so much a personality change, but rather the effects of the potion she drank; both the Queen and the Witch are sadistic and cruel, the Witch just feels more inclined to act out more and be giddy about it.

[@nicholassims9837]

Perhaps in her Queen form she feels she needs to be proper .

[@Rubberman202]

@@nicholassims9837 I actually like the explanation Colin gave, how she feels the need to be reserved and act regal in her Queen form, but in her hag form, she can be free to let lose and really act out on her evil impulses.

[@BadGuyRants]

I think it’s funny how younger generations find the Queen too simplistic and yet she’s arguably the most interesting of all the bad guys.

[@s.nifrum4580]

@@BadGuyRants I want to argue with you on this one but I don’t for the life of me know whether to categorize myself as one of the older generations or as one of the younger ones Is it wrong to feel old at 22?

[@treehugger2925]

One thing that could be of note in Disney Villains revenge, there was a way to somehow poison the Queen’s potion. There was even a cutscene featuring her choking and throwing the potion on the ground. Doing this would cause a game over however, as the Blue Fairy would say that by poisoning the Queen, their no better than her. Something similar with Captain Hook, if the player tried to attack Hook while he didn’t have his sword, the Blue Fairy would tell the player to give Hook his sword to make it a fair fight.

[@hippiechik95]

Snow White is one of my favorite Disney films, thanks in no small part to the Queen. In my playthrough of Pokémon Sword, I named my Flapple Grimhilde, after her!

[@tayojones9460]

Another excellent video. The Queen is one of the scariest villains from Disney, and her death was very fitting. Curious, will you also cover Pixar villains?

[@ColinLooksBack]

I'm probably going to cover Pixar villains, yes. :)

[@angelodellorto6414]

@@ColinLooksBack quini

[@robbiewalker2831]

@@ColinLooksBack 1:29: Heart, Lungs and Liver... If they were from a Sheep instead of a Wild Pig, the Queen would've added the Sheep's Stomach to make a Haggis.

[@ericthericeman1990]

In a long time.

[@LunarShimmer]

The huntsman moving in to kill Snow was probably the scariest part of the movie for me as a kid. The spooky forest was up there, but I knew the monsters were just trees and stuff. They really got the intent to kill in his eyes, and then his voice was so desperate and urgent telling her to run.

[@BuckarooBanzai84]

My interpretation (from the storybook version) was that her envy, as well as the black magic, drove her completely insane, since she doesn't even seem to care that her looks are gone forever. Sacrificed to her own vanity. (And FYI; it's Kathy "NAY-Jee-Mee", whom you may know from 'Hocus-Pocus', 'Sister-Act', 'Rat Race', and 'King of the Hill'.) =)

[@adeleriksen8544]

I love that you've got almost everything about Queen Grimhilde. But you forgot to mention that she had the lead role in a Halloween Disney movie from 2005 called "once upon a halloween"

[@austinreed7343]

That would be a great film to cover when we get to the Black Cauldron.

[@robbiewalker2831]

After hearing Colin saying OUAT didn’t catch his attention, it’s best we leave him at that. Too much detail and deviation.

[@kellyntaylor8184]

The queen has the best cape/cloak out of all the Disney characters as it flows gracefully

[@thundertits]

I always love getting into the psyche's of these villains like how turning into a peddler woman was actually liberating for the queen since she didn't have to repress her emotions anymore she seemed to love being the peddler witch

[@TCMACK]

26:25 I love the idea that somebody came up with this idea and wrote it as a comic after watching the Queen’s transformation scene in the original film. The plot of this comic seems to contrast with said original scene so much, and I love it.

[@sorcerersapprentice]

Don't forget Twisted Wonderland where the evil queen is an anime pretty boy. (But seriously, it's actually a great game with 3d characters and a fun story. Despite what first impressions might give, it's a battle game with little romance, not an otome game. But it's only in Japanese at the moment, but there are English fansubbed versions on KZbin.)

[@manyteeth9808]

Y'know, I don't actually remember how I stumbled upon your channel, but you're quickly becoming one of my favorites. Thank you for your content. 🙏

[@dull_needs_magic]

What I never figured out clearly is if her turning into the old hag was affecting only her appearance or her psychological and physique as well. I mean she only looked like an old woman or she had the "downsides" of being one. If it's the second case it's really interesting cos' that almost makes her two different characters and also makes her decision to go to the cottage as an overaged woman a quite hard one. Meaning she had to walk a long way at night, in the forest at her most fragile form possible with her only weapons the apple and ironically enough that exact fragility and ,οn the face of it, helplessness. Which, even her cruelty, makes me feel a bit sorry for her tragic death. Many will say she deserved it and I will agree on that, but still what I see is a struggling old woman falling down the cliff and possibly eaten by the vultures ..Imagine if she wasn't completely dead ... DARK. Also ,it's out of characters to the dwarfs to aim to kill her, I want to believe they just wanted to capture her and make her bring back Snow. Anyway , pardon me. I just love to overanalyze characters ..XD

[@babymaharaja7638]

I think it effected her psychologically and her strength. because her behavior and demeanor changed as an old woman, she was no longer reserved and poised she was more unhinged and quirky. also she was able to run up a cliff and almost push a boulder down to the drwaves so I think it effected her strength but not that much, could be since she was in a life or death situation the adrenaline kicked in. the idea of her not being completely dead after the fall could be true give the horror on the dwarves faces as they looked down and it would be an even darker way for her to go if the vultures ate her while she wasn't completely dead yet.

[@jackcarraway4707]

To me the potion didn't "transform" her into a hag; it revealed her true self.

[@BadGuyRants]

Not only do all the Disney villains that followed owe her everything but many of the great villains in film history. She’s such a perfect creation.

[@AnInkStick]

“You’d have to imagine James was straight which would require some brain straining....” Me: someone probably hasn’t heard of rocket shipping XD

[@glassbubbledarling]

Or bisexuality, clearly.

[@jenniferschillig3768]

The Hans Conreid version of the Mirror showed up in a 1977 TV special called Disney's Greatest Villains (and footage of him from this showed up in a couple of Disney Halloween specials, as well). I was four when I saw it--and was so scared by the part where Madame Medusa's machine gun broke the mirror that I had to be assured the mirror wouldn't show up in The Rescuers. (Which I ended up loving.)

[@BrendonPatrickWatts]

Snow White's Scary Adventures was my favorite attraction at Disney. I really hope that not all the parks adapt the mine train (though that is fun). The Queen was the OG Disney character to appear in a full length movie. So give her something.

[@arielortiz5643]

This video is criminally underrated. I can't imagine the amount of time he spent into making this. Thanks for all that hard work, I hope your channel keeps growing and you can keep doing what you like. As we saw on the many many versions of Snow White and other fairy tails, no good deed goes without it's reward, though it may take some time and come in an unexpected way. Take care my friend.

[@lhadzyan7300]

I think the Raven from the Queen makes some link to inspire Headmaster Dire Crowley from the Twisted Wonderland cell-game on-line of Disney Japan subcompany released last year. as the headmaster of the magical high school private college-academy is mainly a good or neutral guy compared with most of his leading students and staff of the school who are mainly new incarnation from the main villains of Disney, yet less evil and are able to learn and evolve themselves from those egotistical backgrounds - the equivalent of the Queen of Snow White there actually learns some humility lesson after the climax of his storyline arc (- and yes all the characters are male after this is a only-male school, including the versions of the female villainess of Disney which are pretty interesting concept on its own).

[@ravencrow1011]

Grimhilda's evil brother makes appear from other non disney snow white film. Called happily ever after

[@No-Ink]

The Witch absolutely terrified me when I was a child. Its the eyes that do it, bulging white eyes from the sunken dark eye sockets with small pupils giving her a manic look. The reveal shot and when she cackles closing the trap door above her are quite scary with how she moves and such strong focus on her eyes. I applaud the animators making me figuratively shit my pants.

[@TwilightLink77]

The Japanese version of Birth by Sleep shows a alternate scene of the Magic Mirror being corrupted by the Queen’s darkness.

[@timrob12]

It's interesting to look back at the many, many versions that have been made of this classic fairy tale over the years. And the fact that the queen disguises herself (in some media multiple times) to trick Snow White is both creepy (I remember seeing a musical adaptation as a young boy and they did a good job on making the transformation scary, and I should also give a shoutout to the Efteling theme park in the Netherlands. That mirror image is horrifying.) and also a way for writers to be creative. Two interesting versions I love to point out are the old Shelly Duvall Faerie Tale Theatre episode, which has an hilarious sequence where she is seducing the prince while in disguise and the adaptation with Kristin Kreuk and Miranda Richardson where the scene isn't necessarily creepy in what you see, the idea of the queen trying to kill Snow White while in the disguise of her mother (played by Vera Farmiga) is quite scary. In short, it's a tale that's been told many times, and I love it when people get creative with it. The queen is a wonderful character and it was nice to see her being explored in more depth in the series Once Upon a Time.

[@Puppetgirl93]

The original Grimms fairy tale in 1812 actually had Snow White’s biological mother as the evil Queen, it was later changed in 1819 to be her stepmother and her biological mother died in childbirth which in my opinion having the evil Queen as the biological mother is worse because it is the mother trying to kill her own daughter

[@s.nifrum4580]

Worse how? Because biology? In both scenarios the queen is still taking a parental role

[@maxordman4100]

I’m super glad that Snow White still does not have a remake! It’s Disney’s true classic masterpiece and deserves to be treated with respect! The evil queen is a truly fantastic classic villainess too of course!

[@GoldAmple]

Sadly Snow White may be the next Disney classic to get a remake

[@BlackCroft666]

I mean they still are working at one but it already has an armee of red flags on it and therefore will flop. Trashing the story and characters never goes well. Not to mention the whole drama of the casting of all the characters except maybe the queen. It is like taking the bad of life action and turning it on max.

[@maurycyoseka1057]

Queen Grimhilda also appeared in Disney Princess on Gameboy Advance, where the princesses get to stand forward to upose their villains. In The Snow White section, You play as Snow White and you must fight The Wicked Witch that turned Doupey to stone statue and avoid her poison apples. After every avoiding minute Snow White summons Grumpy that will throw diamonds at her three times. It's good to see Snow White stand up to her wicked stepmother for once.

[@forrestdupre9916]

Pinocchio probably has more villains than any other disney movie.

[@Hwilki]

The fact that you used the score for the Disneyland musical as background music in your video made me instantly nostalgic. Immediately subscribed as not enough people remember or talk about the musical which was so important to me growing up!

[@jessicaable5095]

Just come across this video and you've actually got me thinking about the Queen so differently. She's fascinating. The idea that the aloof restrained queen is all an act and that she actually uses her ugly form to let loose and have fun with her villainy is just brilliant. Perhaps, in thd long run, she wouldn't felt happier staying as the crone. See now I'm imagining a whole timeline where she succeeds and survives, turns herself back into the queen, lives her life as she used to and starts missing the freedom she had as the hag 😂

[@davidstone281]

Grimhilde is my absolute favorite disney villain. Especially after reading the novel "Fairest of All" by Serena Valentino.

[@KingGoldMod]

"with the help of the special's host, Dick Van Dyke" Suddenly... warping through time and space... King Bowser appears! same energy

[@TheMellowFilmmaker]

I'm surprised Mickey's Castle of Illusion went unmentioned, though I guess that makes sense because that wasn't the evil Queen, but a new character Mizrabel. Though she was practically the evil queen. Don't know why they didn't just use the evil queen.

[@ColinLooksBack]

I definitely need to figure out a way to mention Mizrabel at some point. I thought about including her here, but I couldn't work her into the video in a way that I liked.

[@robbiewalker2831]

@@ColinLooksBack Mizerabel felt like an alias name for the Queen’s disguised form, since we know the Queen’s name when in her normal form. Although Mizerabel’s beauty form from Castle of Illusion felt like a hybrid between Maleficent and Grimhilda.

[@TheHalloweenSpirit]

I hope the upcoming live-action Disney movie with Gal Gadot in this role have the elegant, serious and scary style of the original animated movie The same queen outfit and the same creepy magic mirror please 🙏

[@El_Omar2203]

The Evil Queen having no real allies or henchmen is portrayed interestingly in the board game Villainous, where you play as the villains trying to achieve their evil plans, usually, you'd be able to play "ally" cards with special effects to help on your quest and "vanquish" hero cards (i.e. Pain and Panic for Hades, the hyenas for Scar, Creeper for The Horned King) but the Queen only has one ally, the Huntsman, that while powerful, cannot be used to defeat heroes as the Queen's board lacks a vanquish action, instead she has to use poison apples.

[@lexh.5225]

My parents took me to Disneyland when I was only 3 years old (late 80s), and I only have three memories of it: the sky buckets, seeing a Mickey's Birthday special with the performers in suits, and the Evil Queen spinning around from her mirror in that ride. I'm almost 40 and I have quite literally never forgotten that.

[@vnom84]

The last time my family was at WDW (January of 2019) we went to a Snow White themed dinner with a few of the characters there. The cast member playing the Queen completely stole the show. I'll always remember there was a little girl (who was very clearly undergoing cancer treatment) there decked out head to toe in Evil Queen merch.The Queen was incredible through the whole interaction; she managed to be very nice to the kid while not breaking character and it was one of the most heartwarming things I've ever seen in my life. Just wanted to share an oddly wholesome memory I have about the character.

[@aconsultingfangirl1258]

awwwww... that's so sweet of her...

[@drswag0076]

according to Mat Pat from the film theorists. the poison used for the apple was deadly nightshade, he even ruled out the obvious choice of cyanide and tetrodotoxin because the queen lived in a time where she counted extract cyanide from apple seeds or apply pufferfish from the tropics which has the toxin. plus Deadly Nightshade is very common in Germany.

[@fernandogamez7463]

Wow, interesting...

[@drswag0076]

@@fernandogamez7463 it's the honest truth. go watch it on his film theorists channel.

[@wickedfeylady]

Also known as "Belladonna" or beautiful woman in Italian, a very fitting name

[@drswag0076]

@@wickedfeylady Atropa Belladonna is the scientific name of deadly nightshade. which it's effects are negated if the juices were mixed with activated carbon such as in the case of snow white, coal dust from the dwarves' diamond mine diamonds are a more concentrated form of carbon.

[@ChibiProwl]

Where’d you get that information?🤔Please tell me😎👍🥺

[@snakes3425]

Maybe it's just me but I've always felt the Witch isn't a disguise despite what the Queen says, the Witch is her true form

[@sammyt7981]

3:17 The Evil Queen 20:30 The Magic Mirror 24:52 The Huntsman 25:44 The Unnamed Pet Raven

[@theabsentdeity]

These villain retrospectives are so good. Please keep going with this! Leave no stone unturned. LOVING IT!!!!

[@dariuso8931]

"Oh this is such a cool series, I should be almost done" - me before I see we are on episode 10💀 These are really good videos and I love that each one is around 30 minutes. Great job!

[@MonroeSmile]

This was fascinating - the concept art for the Prince imprisonment is incredible. And how much research must have gone into this my word? All the images and video footage from the theme park rides. Thank you for your hard work. I enjoyed this very much.

[@philipkippel3615]

Another fact missing from this video is that the Queen/Witch was voiced by June Foray in the Disney on Parade shows.

[@MrHydesAlterEgo]

Fantastic research! I love your deep-dive approach to the adaptations over the years. Looking forward to more villains, especially Professor Ratigan!

[@robbiewalker2831]

Who, in the original book was actually a mouse, given a justifiable reason to not be called a rat because of his name; compared to the Disney version, who is indeed a rat, and hate it when others like Bartholomew and Basil say it out of spite.

[@distressedcondiments3113]

0:51 “...And the queen uses this godlike ability to- boost her self esteem.” Same tho

[@matthewdrummond1340]

When the videos are this amazing they're worth the wait.

[@maurycyoseka1057]

13:12 Jiminy Cricket: "Sweet mother of goose, Queen!" The Queen: "Oh well. You know what they say. "You can't make a pie without a dozen men to lose. (cuckles)" Jiminy Cricket: "Oh! OHHH! This is just horrible! It is more then horrible. YOU'RE HORRIBLE! YOU ARE AN IRREDEEMABLE MONSTER!" The Queen: "Oh! Oh! What took you so long, idiot?"

[@lunarcrystalstudios]

I'm surprised nothing here on Twisted Wonderland, which used several Disney Villains and has their statues in game

[@Lezard_Valeth]

I love how detailed this is. Thank you very much for your work :)

[@deangartshore5796]

One thing I always wondered was what became of the Kingdom after the Queen's death since she did technically sneak out of the castle without telling anyone where she was going and since was the ruler of the land so I think it's safe to assume her absence would not go unnoticed

[@stormRed]

I'm just in love with this series, just from the title, I didn't expect it to be so exhaustive and detailed! And all that without sounding dry, which is my favorite kind of content.

[@noahdanielg]

Maybe the first video of this kind ever to be dedicated to the Evil Queen, thank you! This character has always meant a lot to me.

[@gorillazfan_vt]

It’s also worth noting that although the Mirror Spirit doesn’t appear in KH Fragmentary Passage, there’s a section of the game based on the outer motif of the mirror chamber where Aqua can go through several mirrors to fight enemies and advance the story. The post-game also utilizes the often ignored zodiac symbols outside the mirror as you can collect all 12 of them to unlock a mini tournament, with a difficult version of Phantom Aqua as the last round.

[@jacobthecork1606]

the magic mirror also appeared in the first shrek movie and answered the questions of lord farquad instead of maleficent.

[@kylecampbell565]

11:58 James has shown interest in Woman multiple times in the past so he's at least bi

[@mbcmechachu]

He was also married to and had a kid with Jessie and one of the manga.

[@andrewgilbertson5672]

Definitely love these videos! Great work- and well worth the wait!

[@ginogatash4030]

there's a fun fact about the huntsman's fate in the Italian dubs of Snow White, there's the original 1938 dub and the 1972 redub the latter being the more polished version of the 2, and it's also the one wich most people grew up with since its release, due to the original being kinda partially lost tho it has been mostly recovered albeit not in the best quality. in the 72 version, the Queen has a brief added line of dialogue where she states she'll make the huntsman pay for his treachery, and while she doesn't specify how, I always thought the skeleton she kicks and cackles at when she turns into a witch was meant to be the huntsman. that plot point was actually confirmed and made much more explicit in the original 1938 dub where the Queen states that he'll make him die of thirst, as we see the skeleton reaching for a bowl of water just that little bit out of his reach, guess it doesn't make much sense for him to be a skeleton in such a short amount of time, but it was pretty cool to see her actually get a kill in the film and ut added to her villany. to clarify the rest of the scripts for the movie dubs are not as liberal with the source material save for very few instances like this one, in fact the scripts were pretty much word for word except for specific character names, instances of wordplay, and songs of course, but they did a similar thing in Cinderella where they made clear that Cinderella was a cruel nickname given to her by her step sisters, in the original 50's dub that line replaces the author mentioning Cinderella's sisters' jealousy but in the 1967 version the author keeps both the added line and the original one, Cinderella is also the first redub of any Disney classic to my knowledge, coming out only 16 years after the original, it's not super clear why they did it, but the redub is an improvement overall, with better translations especially for songs, and a more refined casting, especially for the main character which critics found to sound awkward in 50's dub, and from what I've seen they made the right call recasting her, and i found the replacement for lady Tremain to also be an improvement, tho unfortunately the original dub got partially lost as a result with only some clips surving at least for now. another fun fact is that in the original dub Tremain is voiced by Tina Lattanzi, who also voices the Queen in the old dub of the Snow White, the Queen of hearts, Peggy, and Maleficent. the original dub of cinderella is more partially lost than the old dub of snow white, and the character Peggy was renamed Gilda reference to Lattanzi's performance in the film Gilda as the titular character played by Rita Hayworth in live action. that was quite a lot of rumbling on foreign shit that's barely related to the topic, but I hope it was interesting st least to some.

[@rachelmckitterick]

These are so so interesting. I absolutely love these videos. Just subscribed.

[@Norbyyyyy18]

Actually she's not conversing with the mirror itself, she's conversing with the entity summoned in the mirror, she says: "Slave, in the magic mirror..." and proceeds to summon the entity that "come from the farthest space", which makes the scene even creepier

[@kaiceeholloway8830]

Definitely feeling like I saw the extended version of Snow White in a modern movie back in the 90s.

[@sketchtheparadigmyork1217]

I love the use of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep music. Very nice touch.

[@DaddyOfTheSugarVariety]

Your videos always brighten my day!

[@alishahird897]

I remember a movie from 1987, that was a musical...it showed a little more in depth look into the queen played by Diana Rigg. The comb thing went like this....the queen pretends to be a woman from Asia, selling dress combs (poisoned) . She slides it In Snows hair and the posion comes in contact with her skin, putting her in a coma. She was hoping the dwarfs would think snow dead, therefore she'd be buried alive. This was my favorite movie as a kid, I still have the songs memorized.

[@jenniferschillig3768]

Ah yes, the Cannon Movie Tales. Have you ever seen Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre? It was a made-for-cable series in the 1980s--each episode was an hour-long retelling of a famous fairy tale. I can't remember who played the Queen in that one, but the mirror was played by Vincent Price. :-)

[@alishahird897]

@@jenniferschillig3768 sounds awesome, I just looked it up and it's on youtube. I will be watching it.

[@virgoboi24]

@@jenniferschillig3768 Vanessa Redgraves

[@austinreed7343]

The Grimhilde animatronic in a cage was actually put in the Disney Archives and was on display at one point. It no longer moves.

[@NicholasRSims]

Here's another staple villains have evil birds , The raven , Diablo , Iago ( Before he became good ) and the Falcon from Mulan ( Did it have a name ?) Ironically despite being pirates who often has a bird mostly parrots Hook wasn't shown with said bird .

[@michaelbandada9887]

The falcon of Shan Yu from Mulan is called Hayabusa

[@Terestrasz]

I can never imagine Snow White without thinking about that time we performed it in Elementary School. We had Snow White bite into an actual apple. Unfortunately in the dress rehearsal, we used a red delicious apple. So she spat it out because it was gross and mealy. Then on opening night, we had her bite into a Granny Smith. Somehow, Snow White got to be about like, 7-8 years old without ever having a Granny Smith so she was surprised at how it tasted. She puckered before "Dying"

[@DU_hockeygirl40]

Great series. Keep up the good work! :)

[@sesamefan4049]

Splendid!

[@felixleidig8307]

I think they hole capture the Prince plot would have made this movie soo much better

[@brycenelson9]

Very interesting information about snow White

[@christopherwall2121]

Apparently that weird animated Witch figure got found recently and is on display at some history of the parks exhibit, no word on whether it will return to any store windows soon.

[@michaelharrington4503]

Apparently, the reason for Snow White's initial absence in the dark rides was that you, the guest, were actually supposed to be Snow White and that everything that happened in the ride was from her perspective. The same thing happened with the Peter Pan and Mr. Toad rides nearby; you did not see Peter Pan or Mr. Toad at all, but instead were seeing everything from their perspective. However, no one really got the idea, and Snow White and the other protagonists were finally included in their rides when Fantasyland was overhauled in 1983. It was a lesson learned, as it not only features a Pinocchio ride with Pinocchio appearing prominently, but all later movie-based dark rides, like those based on Roger Rabbit, Winnie the Pooh and The Little Mermaid, all had their respective protagonists (Roger, Pooh, Ariel) appearing prominently.

[@ScarlettChuo]

I'm reading a book about a male historical figure who're made fun of among history geeks nowadays that he was like an evil queen trying to get rid of all 'handsome men' who could overthrow his throne. The same logic makes sense on Snow White's plot too since Snow White was the real heir to the thrown and that Evil Queen was a power-hungry person who didn't want to give the position to anyone. I believe that the real intention for Evil Queen to kill Snow is likely to secure her power as the head of state, but the plot wouldn't sound so charming to the audiences, so the writer changed the reason from 'power' to 'beauty'. There are also numerous instances in history that beautiful women rose to power due to their good looks. Some ancient female leaders would assassinate pretty women who had the potential to take the power from them.

[@NicholasRSims]

In the 7D show is Snow White ever referenced in anyway ? Like a Baby Snow White being born ?

[@justinmillman3127]

Happy 85th Anniversary, Snow White.👸🍎🤓😡😀😴😳🤧😜

[@brookestarr7571]

I really enjoy you’re videos so much! And I been wondering if you can do a video like this about cruella de vil! As she is one of my most favorite Disney villains.

[@tracyndiyob162]

11:53 so pretty much the end of the pokemon yellow manga where jessie & james get married showing her pregnant with their kid.(really love the new cgi animation of the disney parks.:3) also find interesting the evil queen had a brother seeking revenge before the filmation sequel(actually like it and would honestly love it being added with disney's seeing the dwarves interact.) for the comb it would be the poison seeping through snow whites hair into her skin.

[@RainbowMilk1996]

11:55 A man of culture, I see