The Evolution of the Evil Queen

A look at the many perspectives of Snow White’s mother in Film and TV

Mirror Mirror on the wall, what makes me the fairest of them all?

In every retelling of Snow White, we get more backstory into the Evil Queen. Why is she known as the evil queen anyways? According to one of my favorite Evil Queen’s Regina from Once Upon a time told Snow White that it was her that put the Evil towards her name. Regina from Storybrooke was one of my favorite Evil Queen’s that have come out of the world of film and TV. Of course, there have been many others over the years but since 2012 we have been given three completely different Queens to compare.

Mirror Mirror

One of my favorite things about this movie is the fact that the Evil Queen is played by the great Julia Roberts. Who also narrates the film. She is hugely sarcastic in both the narration and as the Evil Queen. Which made the film even more humorous.

“Snow would have to do what snow does best. Snow would have to fall.” — Evil Queen, Mirror Mirror

Like every snow white that has come before this Evil Queen had the same idea in place, to get rid of Snow White so the Queen would be the most powerful of them all. Another thing that makes this evil Queen stand out from the rest is the fact that the Queen actually walks into the mirror to a completely different land. A mirror land so to speak, where she talks to her mirror that is just a reflection of herself. Surprisingly a more sedate version of the queen.

Uniquely this Queen has her eyes set on Snow White’s prince and is less than pleased when Snow White is able to capture him. Even the dwarves are slightly different in this story as instead of working the mines they are thieves. With some reluctance, Snow White is able to convince the dwarves to steal for the benefit of the kingdom instead of against it. The Dwarves in return teach Snow White their thieving ways and in some ways are able to give her enough strength to face the Queen and her evil beast.

Snow White and the Huntsman

This Snow White story is much darker. Telling a tale of war and dark magic. Queen Ravenna is an evil sorceress that depends on devouring women for their beauty to survive. Her magic is waning as Snow White grows stronger and more beautiful. The Mirror that she has tells her that she needs to eat Snow White’s heart in order to survive.

“By Fairest Blood it is done. And Only by fairest blood is it undone.” — Snow White and the Huntsman

In this tale in order for Queen Ravenna to have lived for so long, she was cursed with life by fairest blood. The fairest blood of them all ended up being Snow White which is why in the movie as Snow White grew stronger, the Queen started to deteriorate. Ravenna in both the first movie and the Sequel film Winter’s War has shown that she desires power above all else. Having sacrificed both a brother in the first movie, and it turns out her younger more powerful sister in the last movie. This tale gave us a deeper look into the powers the evil Queen has in a way we have not seen before. It had a way of staying true to the essence of the original tale while giving us something new to think about.

ONCE: Evil Queen V. Regina Mills

One of the best things that came out of the TV series Once Upon a Time, was the way they portrayed the villains. In the tales, they said that no villains ever get happy endings. This is shown over and over again, throughout the series as the multiple villains have over and over again had to sacrifice their love in order to save everyone else. Regina might have faced this more than anyone else with her losing her son over to his birth mom through the series until they were finally able to trust each other, to losing her one true love Robin, first to his wife coming back to life, and then to death.

“I was always the Queen it was you that put Evil in my name.” — Regina Mills

Regina worked hard to show both her son and his birth mother Emma that she was someone deserving of a second chance. Throughout the series, as she was the originator of the curse, the people of the town kept going to her to help them solve the next crisis. She learned through losing her son and losing robin what was most important. Even giving her most evil side a chance for the true happiness that was lost to her. Regina is given some of the best lines in the show, often showing up in other fairy tales as the villain unexpectedly.

Villains have always been given the role of evil, but now in this day and age, we have been rewriting their stories to show the world that it isn’t always black and white. Sometimes Evil is forced upon you, no matter what you choose to do.