The Queen

The Queen, also known as The Old Peddler Woman, The Witch, or the Hag is an antagonist in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts χ. She originally appeared in the animated film . She is the queen of Dwarf Woodlands as well as Snow White's jealous stepmother, and she eventually becomes the source of the Wretched Witch Heartless.

Kingdom Hearts χ
The Queen consults the Magic Mirror concerning the identity of the fairest one of all, learning that Snow White has surpassed her beauty despite the Queen's attempts to quell it. From her window, the Queen spies Snow White's romantic encounter with The Prince and grows exceedingly jealous. The Queen attempts to have Snow White killed, but fails.

In an attempt to prove herself to be the fairest one of all, the Queen presents what she believes to be Snow White's heart to the Magic Mirror, who reveals the truth to the Queen. Furious, the Queen takes it upon herself to carry out the deed, disguising herself as an old peddler woman in order to deliver a poisoned apple to Snow White.

Finding Snow White alone, the Queen approaches and is allowed inside the Dwarfs' Cottage, where she convinces Snow White that by taking a bite of the poisoned apple, any wish made by Snow White would come true. After taking her bite of the apple, Snow White falls into the sleeping death. Before the Queen can relish in her victory and escape, the Player and the Dwarfs arrive and pursue the Queen into the mountains. The Queen summons the Wretched Witch to cover her escape, though the powerful Heartless is ultimately defeated by Player. In a last ditch attempt, the Queen attempts to jostle a large boulder free to crush the Dwarfs, only for lightning to strike the cliff she had been standing on, sending the Queen falling to her death.

Despite initially succeeding in her attempt against Snow White's life, the Queen's plan is thwarted when the Prince is drawn to Snow White through the connection of their hearts and wakes Snow White from her slumber with true love's kiss.

Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep
Terra spies on the Queen in her mirror chamber as she consults the Magic Mirror, who describes Snow White's great beauty and heart of pure light. The Queen notices Terra's presence, and she agrees to let him ask the Mirror about the whereabouts of Master Xehanort in exchange for him killing Snow White and bringing back her heart. When Terra returns empty-handed, she commands the Spirit of the Magic Mirror to attack Terra. When the Spirit replies that it cannot, she smashes a potion into it, transforming it into an Unversed. After Terra defeats the Spirit, the Queen reluctantly orders the mirror to give Terra the answers he seeks, after which he tersely thanks her and leaves.

After Ventus defeats the Mad Treant, he arrives at the Flower Glade looking for Terra; however, all he sees is the Queen in her disguise as an old crone. He returns to her a red apple that falls out of her basket, unaware that it is a poisoned apple she intends to use to kill Snow White, and asks her about Terra when she recognizes the Keyblade. She tells Ventus that Terra threatened her for information about Master Xehanort, and walks off into the woods, leaving Ventus confused and worried.

Some time after Ventus leaves the Dwarf Woodlands, the Queen succeeds in tricking Snow White into eating the poisoned apple. When Aqua later arrives at the Cottage Clearing, the Seven Dwarfs tell her they drove the Queen off after discovering what she had done. The Spirit of the Magic Mirror, upon its defeat, declares its service to be finished now that the Queen is gone, and it disappears.

Kingdom Hearts
The Old Peddler Woman's visage appears as part of Snow White's Station in Sora's Dive to the Heart.

Design
The Queen is a pale-skinned woman with blue eyes, red lipstick, and seemingly penciled-on eyebrows. She wears a gold crown with five spikes on the front and a jewel on the tip of the middle and tallest spike. She also wears what seems to be a black balaclava that covers her ears, neck, and hair and only leaves her face exposed. She wears a close-fitting, han blue dress with enormous hanging sleeves with white cuffs. The Queen's dress has a high collar that is white on the inside and she wears a red cape, much like Snow White and The Prince. She also wears a gold pendant around her neck with a ruby set in it, as well as a long, rope belt tied around her waist.

In her hag form, the Queen dons a black, hooded robe that retains the hanging sleeves of her dress and grey slippers. Her physical appearance changes from that of a youthful queen to that of an ugly, old witch with long, tangled white hair. She has thick, black eyebrows, green eyes, and dark rings around her eyes. Her nose becomes long and crooked and gains a large wart and she only has one visible tooth on her bottom jaw. Her hands are gnarled and have pointed, dirty fingernails. In this form, the Queen is also often seen with a basket filled with poison apples.

Personality
The Queen is depicted as a vain and jealous individual. She is quite cruel, willing to kill Snow White out of her own jealousy, and shows no kindness to anyone, including her own servants. She also has zero tolerance for failure, punishing anyone who defies or fails her; an example of this is when she turns the Magic Mirror into an Unversed when he refused to attack Terra.

Abilities
The Queen is known to be an evil witch, who specializes in the dark arts. She has control over the Magic Mirror and can make it act according to her bidding.

In the Disney film, she is shown to be able to brew potions and to cast a spell to activate the potion that would turn her into an old hag.

Origin
The Queen, officially known as Queen Grimhilde, made her debut in Disney's first ever animated film, . Stepmother of Snow White, she longed to kill the girl out of jealousy of her beauty. Consulting her Magic Mirror, she hired a huntsman to do the job. The man let Snow White escape, however, much to the Queen's displeasure.

She eventually found the girl in a cottage owned by the Seven Dwarfs, and transformed herself into an old hag; her intention was to look like a kindly grandmother, yet this was not the case. She convinced Snow White to bite from a poisoned apple that would kill her unless she received Love's First Kiss. The Dwarfs went after the Queen, however, and cornered her at the edge of a cliff. In one last attempt to save herself, she grabbed a long stick and began to push a heavy boulder to crush them, but a bolt of lightning struck the ground, sending the Queen falling into the abyss with the boulder following suit, crushing her.