Appearances[edit]
Sleeping Beauty[edit]
Maleficent arrives at King Stefan and Queen Leah's castle during the christening of Stefan's daughter, Aurora. Seeing that all the kingdom was invited except her, she stresses about not receiving an invitation, to which the good fairy Merryweather replies that she was "not wanted". After saying that she hoped that it was just due to some oversight, she prepares to leave this "awkward situation". When the queen asks her if she was not offended, Maleficent says "Why, no, your majesty," and offers to bestow a "gift" on Aurora to prove she "bears no ill will". Maleficent confirms that Aurora will grow in grace and beauty and will be "beloved by all who know her" as well, but places a curse on her so that before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday, she will "prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die!" Laughing, she leaves. Merryweather, who still has a gift she can use, weakens the curse so that Aurora will fall into a deep sleep instead, with only a kiss from her true love needed to awaken her.
Later, at a castle in the Forbidden Mountains, a frustrated Maleficent questions her dim-witted monster minions why they have been unable to find Aurora (who has been hidden by the three good fairies), and learns that her minions have focused on searching for a baby although years went by. Maleficent blasts lightning at them in her fury, and then tells her pet raven Diablo to find Aurora. The bird manages to succeed due to a magical quarrel between two of the three good fairies, which exposed their location.
On the evening of Aurora's sixteenth birthday,after the three fairies had momentarily left the depressed princess alone, Maleficent visits Aurora as a hypnotic sphere of light, luring the princess to a room and transforming herself into a spinning wheel. Aurora pricks her finger on the spindle, fulfilling the curse.
Maleficent's dragon form at the film's climax.
Later on, Maleficent and her servants capture Prince Phillip, Aurora's true love, and imprison him. Maleficent then rests well, thinking she has triumphed.
Maleficent later wakes up and discovers that the fairies had freed Philip from her dungeon, and is equally furious to see Diablo's fate (he had been turned to stone by Merryweather). She climbs to the top of one of her castle's towers and proceeds to hurl lightning bolts at Phillip to hinder him; the bolts are unsuccessful due to the good fairies' counter-spells. She eventually summons a forest of thorns (which Phillip is able to overcome), before personally dealing with him by transporting herself in front of King Stefan's castle, blocking his entry. She proclaims "Now shall you deal with me, O Prince, and all the powers of Hell!" and transforms into a huge dark dragon. She overwhelms Philip and is eventually able to blast his magical shield away, but the three fairies cast an enhancing enchantment on Phillip's Sword of Truth as he throws the weapon into Maleficent's heart, fatally wounding her. As she falls forward, she attempts to devour him, but misses and falls off the crumbling cliff as the Sword of Truth destroys her body. All that is left of her is her shredded robe, with the sword still embedded in it as it blackens.