Maleficent


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"But, 'beast' is so harsh. I prefer Maleficent."
 * This article focuses on the character, Maleficent. For Maleficent's animal form and Storybrooke counterpart, see Maleficent's Dragon Form.
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- Maleficent to Prince Charming

Maleficent is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. She makes her debut in the second episode of the first season. She is portrayed by Kristin Bauer van Straten, and her Storybrooke counterpart is a dragon hidden beneath the clock tower.

Maleficent is based on the Wicked Fairy character from the fairytale "Sleeping Beauty".

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

She transforms Prince Phillip into a beast known as the Yaoguai, and banishes him to a far away land, Mulan's kingdom, so that he is incapable of reaching Aurora. 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, but before the casting of the dark curse, Prince Charming fights Maleficent as ordered by Rumplestiltskin, who leaves him the dangerous offer in exchange for his mother's ring back. Forced to take Rumplestiltskin's bottle of true love encased within a protective egg, and to hide it in the belly of a great beast, Charming is left little choice to travel to the Forbidden Fortress. There, he finds that the beast turns out to be Maleficent transformed into a fire-breathing dragon. Barely managing escape from the evil sorceress, Charming eventually is able to succeed with his task, and jumps out the window of Maleficent's castle to safety. Later, after Maleficent is defeated, she retires and lives with her unicorn, until the day the Evil Queen comes 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 the curse belongs to her 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 the fireball at Maleficent, who uses her staff to protrude a magic shield and block the fire. The Queen then collects all the weapons from the room and sets them to Maleficent, but changes them and directs them at the unicorn. Maleficent jumps in front to intervene, blocks 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. For events occurring after the casting of the Dark Curse, see Maleficent's Dragon Form.

Trivia

 * The character as she appears in Once Upon A Time is based primarily on character from the Disney film Sleeping Beauty:
 * The name "Maleficent" is an invention of the writers; she is identified only as an evil fairy in the original tales.
 * The staff she uses resembles the staff Maleficent uses in the Disney film, and her costume is primarily inspired by the one in the same film.
 * In the Disney adaptation of Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent had a pet raven named Diablo. In this series, she has an as of yet unnamed unicorn instead.
 * Maleficent's outfit and hairstyle from "The Thing You Love Most" was featured in the Facebook game Sorority Life during the Fairytale Adventure travel abroad series.
 * Emma Swan slays the dragon Maleficent with an overhead sword throw, mirroring a moment in the first episode where Prince Charming attempts to kill the Evil Queen in the same manner with the same sword. Both instances are homages to Prince Phillip slaying Maleficent in Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty.
 * The Evil Queen's claims Maleficent as her "only friend". In spite of assertion, the incident in The Thing You Love most is the only time they have been seen together thus far.

Appearances
Maléfique Maleficent Maléfica Maleficent Malefica