Maleficent

Maleficent as she appears in the original film

In the animated film, where she is voiced by Eleanor Audley, Maleficent arrives at King Stefan and Queen Leah's castle during the christening of their newborn daughter, the Princess Aurora. She expresses displeasure about not receiving an invitation, to which one of the good fairies named Merryweather replies that she was unwanted. Angered, she prepares to leave. Queen Leah asks her if she is offended, causing Maleficent to deny her rage, and subsequently offers to bestow a "gift" on Aurora to show that she "bears no ill will". Maleficent confirms that Aurora will grow in grace and beauty, "beloved by all who know her", but as revenge for not being invited by the kingdom, she places a curse on Aurora so that before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday, she will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die. Before the Royal Guards can seize her, Maleficent leaves, laughing. Though Merryweather still has her gift to bestow, she cannot dispel Maleficent's power, but she can only weaken the curse so that Aurora will fall into a deep sleep instead, which requires a kiss from her true love to awaken her.

Later, at her castle in the Forbidden Mountains, a frustrated Maleficent asks her bestial army why they have been unable to find Aurora, who had been hidden and brought up by the three good fairies. Maleficent learns that they have focused on searching for a baby the entire time, even though years have passed. She flies into a destructive rage, and soon desperately instructs her pet raven, Diablo, to find Aurora. The bird manages to succeed due to a magical quarrel between Merryweather and Flora, which exposes their location.

On the evening of Aurora's sixteenth birthday, after the three fairies have momentarily left the depressed princess alone, Maleficent visits Aurora in the form of a will-o-the-wisp, luring the princess to a room where Maleficent transforms into a spinning wheel, forcing the fairies to prevent Aurora from touching the spindle. Unfortunately for them, Aurora pricks her finger on the spindle, fulfilling the curse. When Flora, Merryweather, and Fauna arrive too late, Maleficent appears and taunts three of her arch rivals into defeating her. The evil fairy reveals Aurora’s innocent form lying in the cold floor, shocking the fairies as Maleficent disappears, cackling, leaving the fairies heartbroken of what happened.

Maleficent transforms into a dragon at the film's climax.

Later on, Maleficent and her goons capture Prince Phillip, Aurora's true love, and imprison him. Maleficent then rests well, thinking she has triumphed.

Maleficent later wakes up and by seeing that Diablo has been turned to stone, she discovers that the fairies have freed Philip from her dungeon. She climbs to the top of one of her castle's towers and proceeds to blast Philip with lightning, and after the good fairies foil these attempts, she summons a forest of thorns, through which Philip slices his way out. Enraged, she blows away and confronts him in front of King Stefan's castle, and transforms into a huge dark dragon. The three fairies cast an enhancing enchantment on Phillip's Sword of Truth, which he throws into Maleficent's heart, mortally wounding her before she falls off the crumbling cliff to her death.

Angelina Jolie as Maleficent in the 2014 live action re-imagining film of the character

The 2014 live action reimagining presents Maleficent as a good-hearted but tragic fairy who protects the Moors, a realm of supernatural beings, from the neighboring human kingdom. She is played by Angelina Jolie.

Prior to sporting her iconic black attire, Maleficent had a pair of feathery fairy wings, wore a brown dress, and was always barefoot with an anklet on her left ankle. After healing a tree, Maleficent befriends and falls in love with a young peasant boy named Stefan, upon being alerted to his presence by Knotgrass, Thistletwit and Flittle, a trio of pixies.

As an adult, Maleficent grows apart from and is betrayed by Stefan, who uses iron to burn off her wings so that he can ascend the throne of the human kingdom, as per a bounty declared by the dying King Henry, who bore a grudge against her. Taking a raven named Diaval as a servant, a now hate-filled Maleficent names herself ruler of the Moors and her outfit changes to a darker one. When she learns that Stefan is now king and has had a newborn daughter named Aurora (Elle Fanning) with his wife Queen Leila, Maleficent acts on the notion that true love is nonexistent by casting her curse on the newborn Aurora, which she makes to only be broken by the kiss of true love, as revenge on Stefan. Because the three pixies that were assigned to look after Aurora proved to be incompetent, however, Maleficent cares for and saves the child from afar in order to ensure that her curse is completed, only to eventually develop a maternal affection for her. That love proves essential for a repentant Maleficent to undo her own curse when she kisses Aurora on the forehead. After waking from her sleep, Aurora helps restore Maleficent's wings to her when Stefan attempts to kill Maleficent, allowing her to defeat Stefan.

Soon after Stefan's death and Aurora's ascension, Maleficent crowns Aurora as the ruler of the Moors to unite their kingdoms forever under one throne.

Jolie reprised the role in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, in which Maleficent's relationship with Aurora was tested. Other fairies of her species appeared, led by Connal (Chiwetel Ejiofor). In the course of the film, Prince Philip's mother attempts to provoke a war between the humans and the fairies by creating the impression that Maleficent has cast another curse on the king, forcing Maleficent to flee the kingdom only to be rescued by others of her kind. During this time, Maleficent's species is identified as 'Dark Fey', although Maleficent's powers are unique to her due to her being the latest incarnation of the powerful Phoenix. The queen nearly destroys the fairies after devising a cloud of dust that will turn all fairies exposed to it into plants and luring them into a church for Aurora's wedding, but during the Dark Fey's attack on the kingdom, Aurora learns the truth and is able to convince both sides to stand down, Philip appealing to his own soldiers while Aurora confronts Maleficent. After asserting that she still regards Maleficent as her mother, Aurora is knocked off a tower by the queen, but Maleficent is able to save Aurora, ending the conflict when she breaks the curse on the King and turns the Queen into a goat. With peace restored, Maleficent walks Aurora down the aisle for her wedding to Philip, and later assures Aurora that she will return when their first child is born.

Maleficent appears in the Disney theme park attraction Fantasmic!, voiced by Linda Gary.

Maleficent is the protagonist in Serena Valentino's Disney Villains book franchise.[11]

Maleficent was featured in the book sequel to Sleeping Beauty called Maleficent's Revenge.

Maleficent appears as a major antagonist in the Kingdom Hearts video game series, voiced by Susanne Blakeslee in the English versions and Toshiko Sawada in the Japanese versions. She seeks to take control of the many worlds and engulf them in darkness, with Pete acting as her second-in-command. She has appeared in every game in the series except for Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days.

Maleficent is a recurring character in the animated series Disney's House of Mouse, voiced by Lois Nettleton. In the episode "Halloween With Hades", Hades falls in love with her. She also appeared as a villain in the film Mickey's House of Villains where, in one scene, she is seemingly ship teased with Chernabog.

In the book series by Ridley Pearson, Kingdom Keepers, Maleficent appears as one of the first Overtakers encountered as she intends to leave the confines of Disney World to take over the world.

Maleficent is the final boss in the North American version of the video game Mickey Mousecapade created in 1987 for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

A version of Maleficent plays a role in the storylines for the 2011 American fantasy drama TV series Once Upon a Time, played by Kristin Bauer van Straten as a witch.

Kristin Chenoweth signed on to play Maleficent in Disney's original Disney Channel film Descendants, which follows the teenage children of Disney's iconic heroes and villains.[12]

Maleficent is a playable character in the Disney Infinity video games series, voiced by Rajia Baroudi and sporting her modified appearance from the live-action Angelina Jolie film.[13] As with the other playable characters in the game, a tie-in figure for Maleficent was also released.