Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-13475854-20140330141810/@comment-24674051-20140908152025

Also, in "The Evil Queen", I don't remember if they said her name, but the appearance of the wraith/spectre/whatever was definitly intended to be Maleficent, as you can see the trademark "horns". And I think they made a point of indicating that the guardian was essentially unkillable. You could defeat the current form, but they would come back. And we know from Land without Magic that it is Maleficent under the library/clock tower. Of course, that all changed when Regina undid the original curse, so Maleficient is probably back in her normal form, just waiting for the right time to exact her revenge.

As for Hook (or anyone else for that matter) knowing her, she probably has the same issue as Rumple and Regina. Her reputation preceeds her. Even people that don't know her would immediately recognize her (and run for cover). Though I think in Hook's case, he probably did have an encounter with her in the past.