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.
She hated infant Aurora, and she called her "Beastie," and tried to scare her, but Aurora just smiled at her in response. Since watching Aurora over her childhood years, Maleficent soon grew a maternal love for her.
The irony is that Aurora was taken from her mother to protect her from Maleficent, but, to Aurora, Leila is simply the woman who gave birth to her while she refers to Maleficent as her Fairy Godmother.
What is the connection between Maleficent and Sleeping Beauty?
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.
Princess (later Queen) Aurora (simply known as Aurora) is the deuteragonist of the 2014 live action Disney film Maleficent and its 2019 sequel Maleficent: Mistress of Evil. She is the daughter of King Stefan and Queen Leila, the granddaughter of King Henry and the goddaughter/adoptive daughter of Maleficent.
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 curses Aurora so that before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday, she will prick her finger on a spinning wheel's spindle and die.
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.
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.
Meet Mal and Evie: Mal (left) is played by Dove Cameron (Disney Channel's Liv and Maddie) and is the daughter of Maleficent, played by Kristin Chenoweth (Glee, Broadway's Wicked).
Fortunately, the baby found an adoptive family in the real world, and it's revealed that the child has a star birthmark on her wrist, just like the one young Lily and Emma bonded over as children.
Shortly after Stefan is done with his chat with Maleficent's wings, Queen Leila dies of an illness, and she never gets the chance to meet her daughter, who on the other hand is unaware of her identity and was not given the chance to learn about her mother due to Stefan's obsession causing him to neglect her as well.
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.
Determined to prevent this, three good fairies raise Aurora as a peasant in order to protect her, patiently awaiting her sixteenth birthday — the day the spell can only be broken by a kiss from her true love, Prince Phillip.
The pixies encourage the reluctant Phillip to kiss Aurora, but this does not wake her. After they leave, Maleficent tearfully apologizes to Aurora and kisses her on the forehead. This unexpectedly wakes Aurora, as Maleficent truly feels maternal love for her.
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.
Young Maleficent is alerted by three small fairies, Knotgrass (Imelda Staunton), Flittle (Lesley Manville), and Thistlewit (Juno Temple), that a thief has been apprehended by the forest guards at the Moors' border.
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.
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.
Even though Maleficent is a heroine, she is still presented as a satanic figure. 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.
She resents that Briar Rose fell in love with a hansom man, instead of with her. And then later Maleficent hates Aurora, as a reminder of Briar Rose's rejection.
