Editing Maleficent

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{{youmay|the character|[[Episode 18: Maleficent|the chapter in the ''Kingdom Hearts'' manga]]}}

'''Maleficent''' is a major antagonist in the ''{{c|Kingdom Hearts|series}}'' series. She is an evil fairy who made her first appearance in Disney's ''{{w|Sleeping Beauty (1959 film)|Sleeping Beauty}}''. First introduced in ''{{c|Kingdom Hearts|game}}'', Maleficent seeks to gain control over all the [[world]]s and spread [[darkness]] throughout them. While other Disney antagonists rarely have any significance outside of their original worlds, Maleficent's influence almost always extends throughout the worlds.

In her home world of [[Enchanted Dominion]], Maleficent curses [[Aurora]] and places the kingdom under an eternal sleep. Following her initial defeat, she expands her schemes to other worlds, becoming the ruler of [[Hollow Bastion]] and leading a band of [[Villains]] in an effort to conquer [[Kingdom Hearts]] and thus rule all worlds. Together with her loyal, if sometimes incompetent henchman [[Pete]], Maleficent continuously antagonizes [[Sora]] and the residents of [[Disney Castle]].

 

Maleficent is also among the few individuals who have traveled through time, having traveled back to the "age of fairy tales" following her first defeat at Sora's hands. Maleficent's current plot has her seeking the [[Book of Prophecies]] and a mysterious [[Black Box]] which she believes contains it, hoping to exploit the [[Master of Masters]]'s foreknowledge to further her conquest of the worlds.

On the sixteenth anniversary of cursing [[Aurora]], Maleficent is informed by her [[Maleficent's Raven|raven]] about seeing the magic of [[Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather]] coming from a cottage in the Glen. Elated, Maleficent works to ensure her curse comes to pass. After the fairies leave a heartbroken Aurora in her room, Maleficent hypnotizes her into following a sphere of fire to a hidden tower room. When Player and the fairies arrive to save Aurora, Maleficent summons the [[Thorned Snake]] to keep them occupied. Maleficent summons a spinning wheel and compels Aurora to prick her finger on it, allowing her curse to put her to sleep. She taunts the fairies for their failure before leaving to capture [[Prince Phillip]]. She locks him in the dungeon of her castle, revealing she will let him out in a century, so he may wake Aurora, but never have a life with her. Player and the fairies free Phillip, allowing him to escape the castle. Maleficent creates a forest of thorns around King Stefan's castle, slowing the prince down. Confronting Phillip on the bridge outside the castle, Maleficent transforms into a giant dragon to kill him. However, Phillip manages to briefly knock her out with Player's help. Maleficent awakens, disarming Player, forcing the fairies to bless Phillip's blade; he tosses into Maleficent's heart, causing her to evaporate into darkness.

===Between ''Kingdom Hearts Union χ'' and ''Birth by Sleep''===

[[File:Darkness Within 02 KHBBS.png|thumb|Maleficent offers Terra to join her.]]

Over the next several years, the [[Heartless]] appear in the [[Realm of Light]], and Maleficent decides to use her dark powers to command the creatures. She captures Aurora and causes her own world to fall into darkness, eventually leading Maleficent to [[Radiant Garden]]. Maleficent leads an attack on the city to claim the castle of [[Ansem the Wise]] for herself. While many fell victim to her Heartless, a quartet of survivors ([[Cid]], [[Leon]], [[Aerith]] and [[Yuffie]]) was known to have escaped to [[Traverse Town]]. With the city destroyed, Maleficent moved into the now-abandoned [[Hollow Bastion]], redecorating it to suit her tastes. Maleficent found the Castle Chapel to her liking, holding meetings in it.

With Pete's assistance, Maleficent recruits [[Hades]], [[Jafar]], [[Ursula]], [[Oogie Boogie]], and [[Captain Hook]] to her cause, and they use the Heartless to further their own ambitions while searching for their worlds' [[Keyhole]]s and the [[Princesses of Heart]]. She manages to gather most of the pages of [[Ansem's Report]], which she and her allies would use to better understand the nature of the Heartless. In the meantime, Maleficent dispatches Pete to assemble an army of powerful Heartless for her. From Pete, Maleficent learned about another Keyblade Master who would be opposing her: [[Mickey Mouse|King Mickey]]. With Pete's knowledge of the King and his vassals, Maleficent prepares to deal with them should they interfere.{{storylink|Kingdom Hearts (game)|Kingdom Hearts}}

As Sora and the Beast enter Hollow Bastion, Maleficent uses the power of the gathered Princesses of Heart to reveal the [[Final Keyhole]] in the Grand Hall. Maleficent is joined soon after by Riku, who is now possessed by [[Ansem, Seeker of Darkness]] and armed with the [[Keyblade of heart]]. Ansem tells her that the Heartless will overrun Hollow Bastion if the keyhole is unlocked, but Maleficent only cares about using the ensuing darkness to conquer the remaining worlds. However, to her shock, the Keyhole and Keyblade are both incomplete due to the absence of Kairi's heart.  

 

Maleficent flees to the Chapel's tower with the protagonists in pursuit. The Ansem-possessed Riku arrives, and impales her with his Keyblade, unlocking the darkness in her heart. Overwhelmed by the dark power, Maleficent transforms into a dragon and attacks Sora again, only to be defeated. Unknown to Sora, when "Riku" stabbed her, he unlocked the darkness in her heart, thus unlocking her ability to time travel.

 

[[File:Maleficent's Designs 01 KHREC.png|thumb|Maleficent about to destroy Data-Sora's Keyblade.]]

When the datascape begins to collapse, Jiminy remembers that Maleficent and Pete are still inside and are in danger of being deleted. Data-Sora goes after them, and he finds them in battle against the source of the bugs, [[Sora's Heartless]]. Its attack casts them into a rift in the data, but they are rescued by Data-Riku, who escorts them from the datascape.

{{Q|Light and darkness are fated to clash. A [[Keyblade War]] is upon us. We need only wait for that destined moment. No matter the victors, the box will be revealed.|Maleficent discusses her plans with Pete.}}

[[File:Return of the Titans 01 KHIII.png|thumb|Maleficent and Pete ask Hades about the location of the Black Box.]]

Maleficent and Pete travel to [[Mount Olympus]] to meet with Hades, who is planning his conquest of that world along with the Titans. Maleficent assures him that she is not going to interfere with his plans and asks Hades if there is a distinctive Black Box on Mount Olympus, and where it might be found. Hades then thinks they might be searching for the box [[Zeus]] hid in the ground, and reveals its location to them. Later, while Sora, Donald, and Goofy are fighting the Heartless in Thebes, Maleficent and Pete appears in front of them, prompting Sora to accuse them for being responsible for the Heartless, which Maleficent denies. Pete notices Sora seems weaker than the last time they faced him and suggests destroying him, but Maleficent tells him to leave Sora as he is inconsequential to them and that they have a more important affair to attend to, but not before telling them they will meet again. Maleficent and Pete later find Pandora's Box in the ground of Thebes, but Maleficent orders to Pete to throw it away since it is not the box they are searching for. They then leave that world, unaware that [[Xigbar]] is observing them from far.

|[[File:Maleficent's Castle 04 KHVC.png|thumb|120px|Maleficent fights Sora in ''Kingdom Hearts V CAST''.]]

Maleficent appears in the non-canonical ''[[Kingdom Hearts V CAST]]'' as the main antagonist. She curses Sora with a deadly poison, forcing him to search the worlds for an antidote, and also conjures [[Sora's shadow]] to disrupt his efforts. When Sora finally makes it to her lair, [[Maleficent's Castle]], Maleficent steals his Keyblade and tricks Sora into activating a machine that will spread darkness throughout the worlds. Ultimately, Sora defeats Maleficent in her dragon form, deactivates the machine, and concocts the antidote, once again foiling Maleficent's evil scheme.

==Design==

Maleficent is a scheming, manipulative, and devious sorceress who seems utterly determined to take over the dominion of Kingdom Hearts. She is mostly seen in a calm, calculated manner, easily manipulating Riku into assisting her aims, claiming she views him like a long lost son, while she pretends to care about helping him find [[Kairi]]. Maleficent is a very melodramatic villain, often yelling at the heroes about the power of darkness and making abnormal speeches.

 

In ''Kingdom Hearts II'', she is determined to avenge her previous defeat at Sora's hand. She does not tolerate failure, as shown when she criticizes Pete for his attempt to take over Kingdom Hearts without her.

Despite this, she seems to tolerate the amateurish Pete as her helper. She is not without scruples, however, and has aided Sora on some occasions, yet, for her own wicked reasons. She also did not lie when she told Aqua that Terra was being affected by the darkness. By the time of ''Kingdom Hearts coded'', she appears to have reverted to her wicked nature and is attempting to destroy Sora one more time, albeit a digital version of him. However, after she is saved by Data-Riku, she stops her attempts to eliminate him (at least for the time being), telling Sora that they are "now even". In ''Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance'', even though she does not encounter Sora, Maleficent appears with malicious intentions and tries to take over the datascape again.

 

While ignorant of advanced technology, Maleficent can see the potential it may have for her plans, but only if she can compare it to something she is familiar with.

Another important aspect of Maleficent's character is her superiority complex, which, while shared by many Disney Villains, she takes to the extreme. This is readily apparent in nearly every instance in ''Kingdom Hearts II'' whenever the subject of [[Nobodies]] and [[Organization XIII]] is brought up and when she faces them personally. Maleficent's narcissism extends to any Heartless she commands, despite the all-too-obvious difference in power and capabilities of Nobodies in general over the Heartless.

However, her superiority complex is not entirely unfounded as she is easily one of the most powerful characters in the series, her magic rivaled only by Master Xehanort's. Thus, her views of the Organization as insignificant could be, to her, quite true. Ironically, the Organization seems to view her the same way that she views them: as a relatively insignificant threat, shown when [[Saïx]] calmly summons some Nobodies to destroy Maleficent's Heartless and smugly calls her a fool. In contrast to Pete, she possesses extreme and completely legitimate confidence, while her minion is a weakling and doubts their chances of success. Despite Ansem's claim that the Heartless were using Maleficent, Maleficent believes she has full command over them.

Regardless, Maleficent can show caution and restraint. She never takes direct action against her enemies unless it’s absolutely necessary; instead, she leaves it to allies and minions. Maleficent never challenges a worthy foe unless she has the upper hand, like a hostage to use as a shield. Again, Maleficent shows caution by using an astral projection to check on the progress of her takeover of [[Disney Castle]], as the [[Cornerstone of Light]] is risky to her.

[[File:Maleficent (Dragon) KHBBS.png|thumb|Maleficent in her dragon form.]]

Although she is the most powerful of the Disney Villains, Maleficent prefers using sorcery or employing minions to fighting directly. However, her great rage and lust for power allows her to take on the form of a monstrous dragon when necessary. If she is dealt enough damage, Maleficent will revert to her original form.

In terms of combat prowess, Maleficent is a fearsome opponent when in her dragon form. While she has proven her ability to defeat agents of light, killing four of [[Odin]]'s apprentices, she has been bested numerous times by other wielders of the Keyblade.

 

Maleficent is able to quickly travel between worlds using [[Corridors of Darkness]], and her heart is strong enough to resist being consumed by the darkness therein. She also has knowledge of how to travel through time, both forward and backwards, when her heart is separated from her body.

{{Q|Now shall you deal with me, O Prince, and all the powers of Hell.|Maleficent before the final battle with Prince Phillip in ''Sleeping Beauty''}}

Maleficent made her film debut in Disney's 1959 animated feature film ''Sleeping Beauty'', voiced by Eleanor Audley. Appearing unexpectedly at Princess Aurora's birth ceremony, she was very disapppointed upon not receiving an invitation to the occasion. Hiding this behind a calm demeanor, she proceeds to give the infant a "gift" in the form of a curse afterwards, saying that she will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday and die. King Stefan attempted to have his guards seize her at that moment, but she escapes through her mastery over dark magic. Fearful for his daughter's life despite the fact that Merryweather's gift for the child will cause Aurora not to die but sleep should she prick her finger, King Stefan then issues a decree that all spinning wheels in the kingdom are to be burned. In a last attempt to delay Maleficent's curse and prevent Aurora from pricking her finger, the Three Good Fairies decide to take her into the woods to live and be raised as a peasant in an abandoned cottage once belonging to a woodcutter until after the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday. The fairies succeed in keeping the girl's location and identity a secret, and an enraged Maleficent sends her loyal raven Diablo to search for the girl, after her minions fail her.