Queen Grimhilde, often simply referred to as the Evil Queen, is a powerful and malevolent sorceress best known as the primary antagonist of the classic fairy tale Snow White and its various adaptations, serving as the main antagonist of Disney's 1st full-lenght animated feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Her obsession with beauty, immortality, and power places her among the most iconic monstrous villains in fantasy lore.
A vain and ruthless monarch obsessed with being the “fairest of them all,” Grimhilde uses dark magic and sorcery to maintain her beauty and eliminate threats to her vanity—particularly her stepdaughter, Snow White.
Appearance[]
Queen Grimhilde has a commanding and regal appearance. As a queen, she wearsa long black and purple gown with wide sleeves along with a high white collar that frames her face, a golden crown and a red pendant on a rope necklace and black cowl that covers her head, adding to her severe and menacing look.
In her hag form (after transforming via dark magic), she takes on a decrepit, hunched appearance. She has a wrinkled, pale skin with a hooked nose and white, stringy hair, tattered black robes, beady eyes and a toothy, sinister grin. She carries a basket of apples, one of which is the infamous poisoned apple.
Personality[]
Queen Grimhilde is cold, arrogant, sinister, ruthless and deeply narcissistic. She harbors a deadly obsession with beauty and will stop at nothing to remain the most beautiful woman in the land. Her defining trait is envy, which becomes the driving force behind her descent into evil.
Story[]
Queen Grimhilde, the wicked stepmother of Snow White, ruled her kingdom with elegance and icy pride, but her heart was consumed by vanity. Obsessed with being the most beautiful woman in the land, she consulted her Magic Mirror daily to affirm her status as the "fairest of them all." However, when the Mirror declared that her stepdaughter Snow White had surpassed her in beauty, the Queen was driven into a jealous rage. Determined to eliminate the threat, she ordered her Huntsman to take Snow White deep into the forest and kill her, demanding the girl’s heart as proof. When the Huntsman failed, overcome by pity, Queen Grimhilde discovered the betrayal and devised a more devious plan. Using her knowledge of dark magic, she descended into her dungeon laboratory and transformed herself into an old hag with a potion called the “Peddler’s Disguise.” Crafting a poisoned apple that would place its victim into the “Sleeping Death,” she set out to find Snow White, who was living safely with seven dwarfs in the forest.
Queen Grimhilde transformed as a hag
Disguised and cunning, she tricked Snow White into taking a bite of the cursed fruit, causing the girl to fall into a deep, death-like sleep. As the dwarfs gave chase, the Queen fled into the mountains during a raging storm. Attempting to crush them with a boulder from a cliff, she was struck by lightning, which caused the ledge beneath her to collapse. She fell to her death, buried by the very boulder she had intended to use as a weapon. Her reign of fear and vanity ended, leaving behind a dark legacy fueled by envy, magic, and obsession.