We’ve covered a lot of ground concerning the more innocent of Disney royalty,
focusing on the princesses. But what about the Disney queens? Who wears their crown with the
intent to the best she can for her people... And who is only in it for her own selfish gain?
In Disney’s universe, is it true that power corrupts? Let’s find out.
I’m Brad with WickedBinge and this is Disney Queens: Good to Evil.
As usual, let’s iron out some rules. First, while we are going to try and keep this to queens
not introduced as sequels as we typically do for our Disney lists... We may include one or two that
we felt were worthy of being mentioned. This is mainly because there are some queens that are
worth noting that don’t appear until a story is developed more or a backstory is revealed.
Additionally, they must be in an animated feature since that’s what Disney began as.
And the film must be a part of a franchise that hit in terms of success. So let’s get to it!
As usual, we'll be starting with the most pure and noble character and working our way down.
These women of royalty do well by their people and they fall squarely in The Good category.
Kida was featured on our Princess list, but since she does take the role of queen at the
end of her film, we felt we had to also include her here… And really, it’s well
deserved given the fact that she demonstrates excellent leadership skills when it comes to
her society. She was one of the most powerful and selfless rulers in the Disney universe,
having sacrificed herself just as her mother had in order to save her city. She took the
crystal heart into her body, knowing full well it could have consumed her. She went through a
lot to try and preserve her people’s way of life, even before she took her father’s place as ruler.
She took Milo around her city to re-learn how to read her language and run their machines.
She’s a proud woman who stayed true to her roots and her people. Given her fierce leadership and
self sacrifice, she definitely earns the Gold Crown when it comes to Disney royalty.
Elinor, Merida’s mother from Brave, receives the Silver Crown on our list of Disney queens.
She was a strong leader, upholding tradition and making sure to spend almost all of her time
teaching her daughter Merida how to follow in her footsteps. We've tackled her on our Brave list,
but we once again want to call attention to how her confrontation with Mor'du was
a legendary moment. It's easy to see how commanding a room comes so naturally to her,
able to get even the most stubborn lords to listen to her every word.
She may have butt heads heads with her daughter and was perhaps a bit too hard on her when it
came to forcing her ways… But contextually, this made a lot of sense, since forging alliances and
traditional behavior is what kept kingdoms safe in the long run. Elinor was a queen who was willing
to do what had to be done for her people and her family, and for that reason, she gets the Silver.
Sirabi was Simba's mother and the first queen of pride rock we see. She always came off as regal,
level-headed and not easily intimidated. Even when being bossed around by Scar after Mufasa's death,
Sirabi refused to let herself be seen as a victim. She spoke to the maddened lion with the same cool
tone that one would use to destroy a person's psyche. And seeing her not even flinch or look to
acknowledge the hyenas as they snapped their teeth at her? Definitely a big power move. When her son
returned, she quickly accepted him back. Even when Scar tried to paint her son as the villain,
Sirabi never jumped to conclusions, only waking up to Simba and pleading for the
truth. When Simba fought back against Scar, Sirabi led her fellow lionesses to join in,
taking down any hyenas that were in the way. When the truth was revealed, that was all she
needed to overthrow Scar and his minions so the rightful ruler could take the thrown.
We are going to place Athena next. Ariel’s mother, she is revealed to have died when her daughters
were fairly young, having been killed by humans. When Sebastian tells Ariel about her mother,
he tells her that Athena was beloved by the people, and when she passed
the whole kingdom had mourned. Her passing led to Tritan being so heartbroken he insisted on
banning music and became extremely protective of the idea of his daughters going to the surface
since that was how the former queen had passed. But we give her a higher rank since not only was
she an approachable and loved ruler of the sea, but in her final moments, she made sure
to get everyone else to safety, including her daughters and husband. Given her reputation by
her kingdom and the few actions we saw of her, she’s definitely proven to be a great leader.
Sina is next. Moana’s mother, she’s protective but also patient. Whereas her husband demands
Moana not be near the sea, Sina is shown to actually sit and explain to her daughter why
he has such a great fear of it. She helps to teach Moana how to be an effective leader, showing her
all the ways the island provided food and shelter to the people, instilling a pride for their
culture into her daughter. When the island began to lose resources, she was seen trying to maintain
peace and calm among the island, helping her people adjust and trying to find solutions
to the changing environment. We give her high praise because though she shared her husband’s
fear of letting Moana go sail the sea, she also didn’t stop the young woman when she found Moana
packing, knowing how important this voyage was for saving their people. She was the first to see
Moana return, immediately running to embrace the daughter she had feared she would lose forever.
Next is Arianna, Rapunzel’s mother. She isn't given dialogue in the first movie,
but she clearly expresses not only love for her kingdom but her family. Her loss was the people's
loss as they adored her. They hunted far and wide for the magical flower and searched again
when Rapunzel was taken. She comforted her husband before the ceremony, being the one
to encourage him to keep having faith. When Eugene brought Rapunzel back to the castle,
Arianna was the first to instantly recognize the young woman as her daughter. Not to mention
her immediate acceptance of Eugene for bringing their lost daughter home to them.
Iduna is Elsa and Anna’s mother. While she and her husband get grief from the fanbase,
we can't say we see her as a bad person. It was no doubt strange to have a daughter gifted with
magic, but they didn't discourage her from using it. When Anna was struck in the head,
they didn't scream at Elsa for being reckless, knowing their oldest daughter would never have
intentionally hurt her sister. After their encounter with the trolls,
she and her husband did what they could to try and help Elsa control her strength. She
met a sad end, but protected her people and family how she thought was best during her rule.
Anna, having been appointed Queen after Elsa stayed in the forest, is next. Now Anna can be
clumsy and sometimes way too focused on a single task. But she clearly cares for her people.
We do dock her some points since her love and loyalty towards her sister seems to be a constant
distraction from her royal responsibilities. In the first film, she hands things off to Hans
without knowing anything about him. In the second, she lets herself become so swamped,
the man she fell for is put on the back burner as she struggled to balance her time managing
Arendelle and her time managing her sister. While we do cut Anna some slack, it's easy to see how
her desperation for people to like her and be around her may conflict with her job as Queen.
Nala was Simba's partner by the end of the film and so was worth mentioning here on
our list of queens. She wasn't shown ruling much in the first film, but she made her skills as a
hunter and leader clear. She's stubborn, unwilling to bow to anyone that doesn't deserve it. She went
to look for help knowing that the mass of hyenas would be too much to face with just the lionesses.
When she found Simba, she was the one to talk some sense into him, telling him not to be a coward and
to take his place as the rightful king. She fought among Simba and the other lionesses to take Scar
and his hyena henchmen down, showing her skills as a warrior and loyal subject to the one true king.
With that said, we've arrived at the neutral
territory. These Disney Queens fall in the more neutral territory. Many
are a mix between good intentions and some considerable problems… This is The Grey Area.
First up in our grey area, Clarion was the ruler in the Tinkerbell films. While they aren't
typically what people think of when listing Disney movies, we had to include her. Clarion embodies
many of the admirable qualities in a queen: she's patient, she's merciful, she's insightful and
she's wise. While not always sure of Tinkerbell or her ideas, she becomes more and more willing
to hear the young Tinker fairy out. She works hard to maintain balance, making sure to not only keep
to years of tradition but helping keep the balance of nature itself. She has a lot on her shoulders,
having to keep in mind not only what's best for her people but of all fairy kind and all
the lives their work effects. But unlike a lot of leaders she resembled, she never spoke in riddles,
always trying to give clear answers when questioned. She always gave credit where
credit was due and made an effort to learn from her people. She saw them not as subjects, but
as more of an extended family and tried to keep them from making mistakes she herself once made.
Going back to an old school classic film, Leah, Aurora’s mother is next. She isn't
seen for long in the film, but she is a queen who cared for her people, wanting them to be a
part of her daughter's birth. She's a support to her husband and a protective mother. When
Maleficent cursed the young child, Leah's first reaction was to grab her daughter from her crib
and cradle her to her chest, as if it would protect Aurora from the dark fairie's intent.
She made the difficult choice to not only hand over her daughter but to order all the
spinning wheels to be destroyed, informing her people of the curse that was set upon her child.
Ariel was given the title of queen after her marriage to Eric, but we don't see her influence
her people much until after her daughter Melody is born. After her daughter is threatened by Morgana,
Ursula's sister, Ariel becomes paranoid. She bans anything to do with the ocean around the palace,
putting up a wall to keep her daughter from exploring the sea. She tries to help her daughter
fit in with the other royal youths, throwing her a party to help her be presented as a young woman.
While it doesn't really showcase her ability to rule, it does show that she easily had a knack
for associating with others of nobility, which is no surprise from a daughter of Triton. She did
eventually get over her paranoia, opening up the town to the sea and the bond with the merpeople
once Morgana was defeated. But, we still don’t really get to see her rule a whole lot after that,
so it’s hard to really tell the level of quality her royal leadership would eventually be.
Elsa we placed pretty low… In fact, she’s our final Grey Area Queen. In the first film,
she caused a lot of chaos that nearly resulted in not only a war but an eternal winter that could
have lost countless lives. We realize of course that it wasn't intentional, but running away from
your fears to hide in the mountains was likely not the best route to take. In the second film,
she deals with more surges of her power, leading to her pushing off a lot of Arendelle's needs on
her sister. Once again, not a very considerate move. And leaving to spend the rest of her days
in the Enchanted Forest while her nervous and inexperienced younger sister took over the land?
A conflicting choice. At the end of the day, Elsa was definitely dealt a pretty poor hand with a
lot of the problems she had to deal with, but she didn’t really take them on headfirst to the
extent that would have been best. She definitely grows, and we sympathize with her struggles,
but Elsa is likely not one the most effective leaders when it comes to Disney royalty.
Finally, we've reached the dark side... These Disney Queens are really bad leaders…
Their mistakes aren’t really mistakes, as what they do
is intentional. They are simple evil rulers. These Queens are The Evil.
Yzma may not have been queen exactly... but she did take the title of empress after she thought
Kuzco was dead. We rank her lower for how she obtained her power and for how she was seen
treating her people, not caring that peasants were going hungry or that the people were poor.
She was interested in having the title for all the wealth and comfort it gave, not bothered in
the least about the hardships of those under her rule. She also shows to have no issue harassing
the people in a more intimate setting, having no problem trying to intimidate Pacha’s family
when she’s on the hunt for Kuzco. The only time she is shown to be somewhat level-headed is when
she and Kronk are discussing desert or when she excuses a guard for turning into a cow.
But the rest of the type, Yzma comes off as driven to the point where she is psychotic.
We feel we should briefly mention another queen that was in power for a short time: Ursula. Since
she had taken power from Tritan, she just barely qualifies as making it on this list. But she does
get the Bronze Medal of Evil. The only reason we aren’t placing her lower is because while she did
a lot of damage and displayed a lot of magickal power, she had it focused on Ariel in particular.
She caused unknown amounts of collateral damage
since we have no idea who she affected with her spinning of the waters to target the princess,
the raging storms she summoned or the sunken ships that she caused to rise to the surface.
Thankfully we didn’t have to see her cause more trouble as she was soon defeated by Eric,
impaled on one of the many ships she caused to surface. Luckily her reign was brief,
because we can’t imagine that life under her rule would have been pleasant. Good riddance.
Now, let’s follow the White Rabbit to Wonderland… The Queen of Hearts takes the Silver Crown of
Evil. Now we get that in a land of nonsense and basically no law, you have free reign to do an
awful lot. But beheading your guard just because they didn't help you win a game or because they
planted the wrong color roses? This legitimately seems like something Kim Jung Un would do.
The Queen of Hearts is absolutely mad with power and she has an especially sadistic streak.
Not only was she basically running Wonderland like an overgrown child would…
But she was a coward. She pulled away from punishing Alice when the young girl
grew into a giant and then leapt on the chance again once Alice was small again.
Which is really another parallel she has with your standard run of the mill dictator.
At the end of the day, we can only hope the citizens of Wonderland one day get their
revolution so that the tables turn and they can collectively shout “Off with her head!”.
Finally, we get to our Gold Crown of Evil. The Evil Queen is no doubt the worst of the worst.
I mean, she has evil in her title. That’s pretty screwed up. But if you need more persuasion,
let's go down the list. Trying to murder her step daughter because she wanted to
be fairest in the land. Hunting the girl down herself in the disguise of an old beggar woman.
Poisoning the poor girl. And then trying to take out the dwarves seeking revenge. Yep,
all pretty evil. And the craziest part is she exerts all of her energy on this little personal
vendetta against Snow While… I mean, she’s royalty, she shouldn’t even care about this.
This woman had tremendous power, using magick and her allure to get what she wanted. We
don't see her once show any concern for her people, only wanting to be seen as desirable
and forgetting anything else. A truly vain and horrible woman. And a remarkably awful leader.
But what do you think? Who are the most good and evil among the Disney queens? Let us know
in the comment section. Don't forget to hit that notification bell and binge our Good-to-Evil
playlist. Where we break down the morality of the characters in your favorite cartoons,
shows and movies. But most importantly, stay wicked!