| NOTE: This article is about the original Queen Grimhilde from the 1937 movie. The 2025 remake version can be found here. |
| “ | Magic Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all? | „ |
| ~ Queen Grimhilde's most famous quote. |
| “ | When she breaks the tender peel to taste the apple in my hand, her breath will still, her blood congeal, then I'LL be fairest in the land! (cackles) | „ |
| ~ Queen Grimhilde's plans to poison her stepdaughter Snow White. |
| “ | Thirsty?! Heeheheh! Have a drink! (cackles) | „ |
| ~ Queen Grimhilde disguised as a hag taunting the corpse of one of her past victims. |
Queen Grimhilde, or commonly known as the Evil Queen, is the main antagonist of Disney's 1st full-length animated feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, based on the Brothers Grimm's 1812 German fairytale Snow White.
She is the wicked stepmother of Princess Snow White and the tyrannical and egotistical ruler of her kingdom. Every day, Queen Grimhilde comes to her Magic Mirror and asks him about who is the fairest woman of all, leading the Mirror to always answer that she is, but one day, the Mirror says that her stepdaughter is actually the fairest of all, making the jealous Queen concoct a devious scheme to retake her position from Snow White once and for all.
She was voiced by the late Lucille La Verne.
What Makes Her Pure Evil?[]
- She ruled her kingdom with an iron fist, having imprisoned dozens of people in her dungeons before having them slashed, starved, hanged, or decapitated, with it being shown that there are lots of skeletons and skulls in her laboratory, with the Seven Dwarves being scared of her due to the rumors that she practices black magic, afraid that she will wreak vengeance on them if they disobey her.
- Upon finding the skeleton of a prisoner who she had starved by placing a jug of water near their cell in a way the prisoner was unable to reach it and died of dehydration, she sarcastically asked if they're still thirsty before kicking the empty water jug at it and shattering the body, which proves that the bones are indeed real.
- She made Princess Snow White, her stepdaughter and the legitimate heir to the throne, wear rags and serve as a scullery maid and servant in her own castle after her father passed away, just because she felt threatened by her beauty, always asking her Magic Mirror who is the fairest of them all.
- When the Magic Mirror informed her that Snow White is now the fairest of them all, she ordered Humbert the Huntsman to take Snow White to a field away from the town for flowers, stab her to death, and then bring her heart in a box as a proof, threatening to punish him severely if he didn’t succeed.
- After the Magic Mirror told her that Humbert tricked her with a pig's heart and that Snow White is living with the Seven Dwarfs, she decided to kill Snow White herself, disguising herself as an old hag and preparing a poisoned apple that would put Snow White in an eternal coma, and when she learned that Snow White can be awakened by a love's first kiss, she enthusiastically cackled over the perspective that the dwarves will mistake her for dead and bury her alive.
- In addition, she goated her pet raven into biting the apple just to scare him off for her own amusement.
- She tricked Snow White into letting her inside the Seven Dwarves' cottage and eating her "wishing" apple that will grant her desire for true love, making her feel numb and collapse.
- When the Seven Dwarfs learned what was going on and fiercely pursued and cornered her, she tried to push down a perched boulder on a rocky cliff on the dwarves to crush them to death, maniacally laughing as the horrified dwarves tried to escape.
Trivia[]
- There were plans for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs spin-offs that could have affected Queen Grimhilde's status as a Pure Evil villain.
- An early outline of the film written by Richard Creedon had Queen Grimhilde commit even more deplorable actions, but the outline itself had the original story treatment's more humorous atmosphere: among them was trying to kill Snow White with a poisoned comb and capturing Prince Florian, taking him to her dungeon and have her skeletons come to life to dance with him before trying to make her marry her, trying to leave him to drown in a subterranean chamber filling with water when he refuses as she leaves to kill Snow White with her poisoned apple.
- DisneyToon Studios once planned to make a spin-off franchise centered on the Seven Dwarfs based on The Lord of the Rings, with the first planned film The Seven Dwarfs having Grimhilde, now called Narcissa, help the Seven Dwarfs against an evil wizard, earning their affection, but throughout the film, she would commit wrong decisions despite the Dwarfs feeling she has a good heart only to reveal at the climax that she was the wizard's daughter, who is after the Olden Dwarf's ancient magic, but Narcissa would double-cross her father at the end and encase him into the Magic Mirror as her slave, then trying to kill the Seven Dwarfs and forcing them into hiding after failing to do so while she takes the throne of Snow White's father, who would have been the dehydrated skeleton seen in the original film, and starts her reign as the queen.
- In the novel Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen she is shown to have still cared for her late husband, have been emotionally abused by her father (who is the face in the mirror), some love for Snow White, begins to feel remorse for her actions, and The Queen appears to Snow White and tells her that she loves her.
- She along with Cruella de Vil, Scar and Dr. Facilier are the only Disney Pure Evils to be part of the Disney Villain Councils.
- She is the only one of these villains whose film doesn't come with a Pure Good Hero.
- On top of that, she is the only Disney Animated Features Cannon Straight Pure Evil other than Professor Ratigan whose film doesn't come with a Pure Good Hero.
- She is the only Pure Evil in a film that was released during Walt Disney's lifetime to die.
- Her old hag appareance along with her outfit might have been an inspiration for another iconic Pure Evil villain, Emperor Palpatine.
External Links[]
- Queen Grimhilde on the Villains Wiki
- Queen Grimhilde on the Disney Wiki
- Queen Grimhilde on the Entertainingly Detestable Wiki
- Queen Grimhilde on the Ultimate Evil Wiki
- Queen Grimhilde on the Main Light Horse Wiki
- Queen Grimhilde on the Wikipedia
