(A version of this article was shared with Laughing Place and published on October 16, 2024.)
The spooky season is upon us once again, when our collective minds drift to visions of witches, skeletons, black cats, and feelings of fright and villainy. Of course, it’s all in good, messy fun. This scary season, let’s celebrate the greatest witches in Disney film and television history. Some are scary and some are sweet. A few are straight up funny, while others are downright frightening. But one thing they all have in common – they are quite memorable. Let’s count down the top thirteen witches in the Disney catalog.
13 – Queen Narissa – Enchanted
The first entrant on this list is a composite character constructed as an homage to the great Disney animated witches of all time (all of whom will appear later in this list). Played by the legendary Susan Sarandon, the deliciously evil Queen Narissa is beautiful, selfish, cruel, spiteful, manipulative, cunning, powerful, ruthless, and full of black magic – all time-tested traits of classic witchcraft.
In 2007’s animated/live-action hybrid film Enchanted, Narissa seeks to protect her place as Queen of Andalasia by preventing her oblivious son Prince Edward from marrying his designated true love Giselle. But love endures, and after a few romantic twists and turns, Edward finds love in another direction, while Narissa flames out to her demise.
12 – Witch Hazel
Witch Hazel sports the classic animated witch-on-a-broom look, but with a more humorous and less scary personality. First appearing in the 1952 Disney animated short film Trick or Treat, Witch Hazel happens upon a classic feud between Donald Duck and his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie. She decides to help the nephews in their quest to get candy from Uncle Donald, and using her magic, creates havoc throughout the house of the ill-tempered duck. This is classic Disney animation fun, wrapped up in a seven-minute package.
Witch Hazel has made occasional other appearances since 1952, including 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, the 2002 made-for-TV film Mickey’s House of Villains, and the Disney Parks attraction Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, among others.
11 – Morgan Elsbeth – Ahsoka, The Mandalorian, and Tales of the Empire
The lone entry from the Star Wars Galaxy comes in the form of Morgan Elsbeth, one of the most notable members of the Nightsister clan. The Nightsisters have long been a large coven of Force-sensitive witches living on Dathomir, a planet bathed in dark energies. These dark side users were able to perform their arcane “magicks” by tapping into the magical ichor (green mist) that flowed from the depths of their planet.
Morgan made a name for herself plundering worlds during the reign of the Galactic Empire. In the time of the New Republic (the era following the fall of the Empire in Episode VI: Return of the Jedi) she plotted the long-sought route to find Imperial leader Grand Admiral Thrawn and bring him back to power. Ultimately, Morgan gave her life to secure Thrawn’s return to power in the 2023 series Ahsoka.
10 – Jadis the White Witch – Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Another scary beautiful witch, Jadis, angles for control over the land of Narnia, plunging the kingdom into a century-long winter (without a single Christmas!). Chillingly played by Tilda Swinton, Jadis is known throughout Narnia as the White Witch. She laid claim to the throne of Narnia by falsely posing as human, while scouring the landscape looking for intruding human descendants from Adam and Eve who may threaten her totalitarian rule.
Jadis has many threatening powers, including the ability to turn living beings into stone, the ability to instantly kill others by uttering the “Deplorable Word,” and immortality, among others. With powers like this, it is no wonder Jadis is feared throughout Narnia.
9 – Splendora Agatha “Aggie” Cromwell – Halloweentown
Aggie Cromwell is the eldest of three generations of witches in the 1998 Disney Channel original film Halloweentown. While Aggie has long enjoyed a happy relationship with her magic in the distant Halloweentown, her daughter Gwen has resisted the wiccan heritage for her entire adult life. But a common foe brings the pair to a common ground, and Gwen’s children (Aggie’s grandchildren) learn the craft in order to contend with the evil Mayor of Halloweentown.
The legendary Debbie Reynolds plays Aggie brilliantly, giving the good witch a healthy dose of love, a lock of charm, and just a pinch of humor, making Aggie one of very few good witches on this list.
8 – Madam Mim – The Sword in the Stone
Also known as “Mad” Madam Mim, this evil yet oddly humorous witch possesses powers greater than anyone in England, with the exception of Merlin the wizard. Mim is cunning, dishonest, traitorous, calculating, and evil – all features she proudly displays in her battle against Merlin. In addition to being terribly dishonest, Mim is also arrogant, displaying an overconfidence that leaves her defenses down, allowing Merlin to outsmart his evil foe.
Being a witch, Mim enjoys several magical powers – the biggest of which is her ability to shapeshift. In perhaps the funniest scene of the film, Mim and Merlin engage in a “Wizards’ Duel,” whereby Mim turns into a cat, a crocodile, a dragon, and nearly every animal in between – all while still radiating her signature purple and pink colors. She was ultimately outwitted by Merlin when the wizard simply made her sick. Boo hoo, Madame Mim.
7 – Miss Eglantine Price – Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Every other witch on this list is established in her craft. But Miss Eglantine Price is a witch-in-training, learning the tools of her trade so she can help her native England survive during World War II. And though she is training for a war effort, she is every bit as kind-hearted as you’d ever wish to meet.
Miss Price cares for three orphaned children during the war, and takes them on a tour of several exotic locations, courtesy of her enchanted flying bed. Over a short course of time, Miss Price grows to care deeply for the children, and eventually adopts them, but not before putting her magic to work chasing away Nazi soldiers using enchanted soldier armor. Eglantine Price – played with charm by Disney Legend Angela Lansbury – is the perfect mix of strong and sweet.
6 – The Sanderson Sisters – Hocus Pocus
“Come, we fly!”
Winifred Sanderson and her sisters Mary and Sarah have been dead for 300 years; hanged at the Salem witch trials. But on the night they perished, they cast a curse that would bring them back, claiming “on All Hallow’s Eve when the moon is round, a virgin will summon us from under the ground.” Fast forwarding to 1993, they got their wish, and returned for one glorious Halloween night, hunting for the life force of a young child.
After an evening full of fish-out-of-water hijinks, it looked as if the Sanderson sisters might get their desired life force out of young Dani Dennison. But Dani’s older brother Max, along with his newly forged girlfriend Allison, outsmart the witches, outlasting them until daylight dawns and explodes the bumbling villains. The Sanderson sisters have made Hocus Pocus an annual must-watch film for many Halloween fans.
5 – Agatha Harkness – WandaVision and Agatha All Along
Classic witches are known for their vile deception, and Agatha Harkness just may be the most cunning of them all. With patience being (in this case) quite a vice, Agatha slipped her way into Wanda’s twisted version of Westview, New Jersey, posing as one of Wanda’s many enslaved citizens. Agatha flew (figuratively speaking) under the radar, sidling up to Wanda under the guide of being a friendly neighbor. But when the time was right, Agatha turned Marvel fans on their collective heads when she revealed the real villain was “Agatha All Along,” and nearly stole Wanda’s powers before the scarlet witch outsmarted her at her own game.
In the followup 2024 series to WandaVision, appropriately titled Agatha All Along, the titular witch escapes Wanda’s curse, looking to reclaim her power and glory. If ever there was a villain that everyone loves to love, it just might be Agatha (all along).
4 – Wanda – WandaVision (and several films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe)
Is she good or is she bad? The answer is not so clear when it comes to Wanda Maximoff. A Sokovian native born with the mythical ability to harness Chaos Magic, Wanda has endured more hardship during wartime than any little girl should ever have to bear. She comes out of her youth with a twisted yet powerful soul, initially using it to fight against the Avengers. With some soft-hand convincing by the underrated Avenger Clint Barton, Wanda joins the good guys, and for years fights alongside them in their quest to defeat Thanos and save half the galaxy.
But tragedy struck when she lost Vision, her true love. With her heart ripped to shreds, Wanda’s heartache twisted her magic, turning the little town of Westview into her personal cursed kingdom. Nearly defeated by Agatha, Wanda escaped Westview after freeing the town’s residents from her spell. From there, she continued to dabble with dark magic, ultimately meeting her demise (we think) at the hands of Doctor Strange. Will we see Wanda again? It’s unlikely, but only time will tell.
3 – Maleficent – Sleeping Beauty
The first of Disney’s “Big Three” animated witches suffers from the hard feelings of being scorned by society. Maleficent is portrayed as the ultimate personification of pure evil in the 1959 animated film Sleeping Beauty. She reigns chaos and destruction on the adjacent kingdom for sport, having been left off the invite list for Princess Aurora’s christening. Maleficent has a fiery temper, a vindictive lust for revenge, and a pride that suffers dearly from her excommunication from civil society. And she can transform into a fire-breathing dragon, so watch out!
Maleficent has a more sympathetic origin story told in the 2014 live-action film Maleficent, turning her into more of an antihero than a straight up villain. While this deeper depiction leaves many with a better taste in their mouth, the OG Maleficent is much more iconic.
2 – Ursula – The Little Mermaid
“Poor unfortunate souls!”
Ursula the sea witch has one goal; to steal King Triton’s power and control the whole undersea kingdom. And she knows just how to do it; manipulate the king’s naive, lovestruck daughter Ariel. Half humanoid and half octopus, Ursula’s crass mannerisms embody her contemptuous spirit, yet she is somehow still able to convince Ariel that she can be trusted.
Wielding the power to imprison those who fail to satisfy her contractual demands, Ursula has collected quite a menagerie of seaweed citizens. But Ariel’s love for Eric proves stronger than Ursula’s attempts to interfere. The sea witch decides to really flex her muscles, growing to a gigantic size in a failed attempt to seize control of the undersea kingdom for good. Ursula may have been unsuccessful at controlling the ocean, but she was 100% successful at becoming one of the most popular Disney Villains of all time.
1 – Evil Queen Grimhilde – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
How can the number one spot on this list go to anyone else? The original Disney witch Grimhilde – known more commonly as the Evil Queen – embodies everything we think of in a classic witch. She walks with a hunched gait, has white hair, an unsightly wart on her nose, frumpy black witch hood and robe, and a disarming crackly voice. Of course, Queen Grimhilde doesn’t always look that way; in her day job, she clings to the title of “fairest of them all,” despite the obvious choice being Snow White. Her name “Grimhilde” was never used in the film, but it was stated in some old publicity material and comics. The Walt Disney Company rarely acknowledges her name.
The Evil Queen is widely regarded as one of the top villains in cinematic history, even being voted number ten on the American Film Institute’s list of the greatest movie villains. When you can have your wicked way simply by offering a single shiny apple, how can you argue with those results?
Honorable Mention – Mama Odie – The Princess and the Frog
If we “dig a little deeper” we can add one more entry to this list. Mama Odie is technically not a witch – she’s a voodoo priestess. But sometimes those lines get a little blurry, and hey, it’s all magic! Positivity and inspiration is Mama Odie’s game. While she is feared throughout the Louisiana bayou by those who don’t know her, the priestess has a heart of gold and the sensibility of a zany grandmother.
In the 2009 animated film The Princess and the Frog, Mama Odie does indeed help Tiana and Naveen in their quest to break the Shadowman’s curse, but she doesn’t do it using her own magic. She encourages the pair to dig deeper within their hearts and souls, to find the true meaning of their actions and ambitions. After 197 years of life in the bayou, Mama Odie has definitely learned a thing or two about life.
Are you still here, or did these Disney witches scare you off? Is your favorite witch well represented in this list? Share your thoughts with Facts and Figment and join the conversation on social: Instagram Facebook X
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