Growing up as an orphan in the Moors, Maleficent believed herself to be the last of her kind. As she grew into adulthood, she became the de facto protector of the Moors. One day, Maleficent suffers a ruthless betrayal and deceit that turns her pure heart to stone.
Maleficent is based on the evil fairy godmother from Charles Perrault's fairy tale Sleeping Beauty. In Perrault's version, she's an evil, old fairy who was left out of the princess' christening because she hadn't left her tower in years, and most of the kingdom thought she was dead.
Later, Stefan betrays Maleficent and steals her wings so he could claim that he killed her and become king. After the painful loss of her wings, Maleficent becomes enraged over his treachery, and as her heart of gold turns to stone, she becomes the evilest magical being in the land.
Stefan takes his time killing Maleficent by brutally torturing her. Then, after pulling out his sword, he prepares to finish her off but just before he can impale her, Maleficent's wings return to her after Aurora frees them.
There is an entire different race of people called Dark Fey, though they do not have her powers. Maleficent's powers come from a phoenix. The Dark Fey are living in imposed exile thanks to their conflict with humans.
Maleficent's Family Backstory Explained! | What Is Maleficent?: Discovering Disney
What is Maleficent's curse?
She is represented as an evil fairy and the self-proclaimed "Mistress of All Evil" who, after not being invited to a christening, curses the infant Princess Aurora to "prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die" before the sun sets on Aurora's sixteenth birthday.
Maleficent is a powerful fairy living in the Moors, a magical forest realm bordering a human kingdom. As a child, she meets a human peasant boy named Stefan, and they fall in love with each other.
Her iconic horns (which Disney artist Marc Davis, who designed Maleficent, says were inspired by the traditional look of the devil, to “frighten everybody half to death”) are present even before Stefan's betrayal.
But once she is betrayed, “her heart begins to turn to stone and she becomes a more malevolent Maleficent, she hides her hair and horns under wraps,” designed and made by members of Team Maleficent from leather and other materials meant to look like snake and animal skins.
All in all, despite her power, Maleficent only has one weakness: Iron: The slightest contact could burn her skin, and prolonged exposure could weaken her dramatically.
With Maleficent distracted, the Queen fires her crossbow. Maleficent saves Aurora, but is struck by the arrow, dissolving into ashes. Devastated, Aurora mourns over Maleficent's death. However, as Aurora's tears fall on the ashes, Maleficent is reborn as a Phoenix.
Angelina Jolie has revealed the reason why her daughter Vivienne, 5, was cast in her new film Maleficent. The 38-year-old admitted she didn't set out for Vivienne to be an actor.
Aurora is officially Queen of the Moors and rules the tranquil kingdom kindly and fairly. But when Prince Phillip (Harris Dickinson) asks Aurora to marry him, all of Maleficent's fears of losing her adopted daughter come to the surface.
In the original Sleeping Beauty (1959), Maleficent is a horned witch-monster who can fly, apparate out of nowhere, shape-shift into a dragon, command the thunderous sky to do her bidding, and, of course, issue death curses at an infant christening she wasn't invited to.
In the first Maleficent movie, Stefan becomes Maleficent's first love, but after she fights against the King's Army the king orders for someone to kill her in order to become the heir to the throne.
Emma immediately does some research and uncovers the truth that the woman, Lilith "Lily" Page, is not only Maleficent's daughter, but was once the childhood friend of Emma, who also discovers that fate has controlled her life down to the finest detail, which includes influencing the one friend she ever had.
Maleficent is a character in Descendants and a minor character in Descendants 2. She is currently a lizard after being shrunk by Mal due to shrinking down by the size in her heart, meaning there is a chance Maleficent will learn to love and probably grow back to her original size.
Weapons and implements made from cold iron are often granted special efficacy against creatures such as fairies and spirits. In the Disney film Maleficent, the title character reveals early on that iron is lethal to fairies, and that the metal burns them on contact.
This means the earliest likely release date for Maleficent 3 would be 2026 or 2027. This comes down to the franchise's rather ambitious production scope. The second film came with all the thrills of an epic fantasy, and it's likely that Disney would want to top this—and that takes time to achieve.
Maleficent and Aurora have a close relationship, like a mother-daughter relationship. Even after learning Maleficent's identity and going away from her, after realizing that her father, Stefan, does not show any love or genuine care for her, Aurora sees Maleficent as her fairy godmother.
