Disney villains are just princesses whose wishes didn't come true... I love everything about the Evil Queen's perspective. It's very true to her nature, yet it gives her a layer of humanity you can feel for. Brilliant! 🖤
Thank you so much!! I thought this would be an interesting perspective to explore. I wanted to make sure she was still evil but also make her more sympathetic and understandable. There are lot of underlying assumptions in the Grimm fairytale that I thought were worth challenging.
I like a lot the idea of telling the story from the perspective of an evil queen who has her own reasons for being evil. Her inner torment and the war she waged within herself—a war she ultimately lost. While everyone praises positive heroes, I am always grateful to writers who try to understand the reasons behind negative characters.
Thank you!! When I saw the prompt for this assignment, I knew pretty much right away who’s perspective I wanted to write about. It was really fun to explore why and how she became the evil queen. I also want to make sure that my villain’s actions are never excusable, but that their reasoning is at least understandable, or sympathetic even. Thank you for reading!!🖤
I absolutely enjoyed it. Of course, it's not about justifying the bad deeds of the character, but going into her personality and understanding what made her to do that. That's really precious to me.
I love that this kept the fairytale vibe whilst also turning it completely on its head. I liked the idea that the king didnt really love Snow White anymore than he loves Grimhilde. With him seeing her as the spitting image of her mother, he will never truly love her for her. Perhaps an idea for a sequel 🤔.....
Either way, this was brilliant. I think you might like Fractured Fables by Alix E. Harrow. Its two novellas retelling Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, but it kinda Marvel mutliverses it, it's brilliant. The second story retells the Evil Queen from Snow White, with a sneaky sapphic twist along the way ....
Thank you so much!! I’m really glad that it kept the fairytale vibe but also turned it on its head, that was for sure the goal!!
I was really inspired by Cersei Lannister and her relationship with Robert Baratheon as he keeps pining for Lyanna after she dies. The idea of someone being with a man who is in love with another woman breaks my heart. And yes, I would love to expand on this story at some point, for sure!!
I’ll have to check out these novellas, they sound really awesome. Thanks so much for reading and for the recommendation!!
This really captures the queen's feelings and her motives perfectly. I'm always fascinated by this phenomena where women sometimes few little girls as competitors for the love of the men in their shared lives. Fantastic!
Thank you so much!! It is very real phenomenon, and I was so disturbed by the fact that is Snow White was only 7 years old when she replaced the queen as the fairest of them all. I wanted to give her reasons why she would project everything she’s at risk of losing onto a young girl.
It’s not right, but given her story, I think you can understand it. The patriarchy unfortunately places women in a ranking to compete for the men in their lives and many have internalized that. Thank you so much for reading!!🖤
A note I often got from producers on my screenplays was, “you’re making the villain too sympathetic!” I always disagreed. I’m fascinated by the villain’s perspective, their psychology and backstory. In this piece, I particularly liked the detail that the queen’s father was a merchant not an aristocrat. That means that her only claim to her position and her only source of power is her own beauty… and the king’s attention. I can’t help feeling sympathy for her.
Whaaat? But villains are often the most sympathetic!! I really enjoy writing villains that are thoroughly evil but also understandable.
I’m really glad you enjoyed that detail because it felt important. It’s an element I would love to explore further if/when I expand on this for a collection!! Thank you so much for reading🖤
Thank you so much!! Her perspective was such an interesting one to explore and I enjoyed adding layers of humanity to her beyond the fact that she is narcissistic and jealous.
I took a lot of inspiration from Cersei Lannister and her relationship with Robert Baratheon as well. Evil is indeed, a process. A lot of times, like in Grimhilde’s place, it begins from an emotional wound.
I love fairy tales revisited on different slants (probably why I loved Disney's "Maleficent" so much, and Gregory Maguire's "Wicked"). For the Lunar Awards I did a short story where we had to put a classic fairy tale through a science fiction lens. :D
I really enjoyed this retelling of Snow White from the Evil Queen's perspective. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Thank you so much!! It was really fun to do this and explore her point of view. Honestly, I took a lot of inspiration from Cersei Lannister from Game of Thrones and her relationship with Robert Baratheon.
There is something about Robert always pining after Lyanna even after her death despite being married to Cersei that really made me feel for her…
Also, I absolutely love the idea of a classic fairy tale told through a science fiction lens!! I be you had a lot of fun with that!!
Okay I loved this!! You captured the classic Disney vibe so well! And I love that you brought up the inherent creepiness of fixating on a girl's 'beauty' when she's only 7... plus juxtaposing that with the terror of aging AND the dead queen having eternal life/beauty in death was really smart. I also need to shout out the mirror's mask "consuming her image entirely" = AMAZING symbolism.
The only criticism I have is I was a little unclear what the relationship between the King, Grimhilde, and Queen Katherine was- for some reason I started thinking the King was cheating on Grimhilde with other women, instead of just worshipping his dead wife over her? That might be me having a hard time picturing family trees in general, though. Other than that, I really loved it!
Thank you so much!! I really enjoyed being able to do a retelling of this fairytale, because when I read it I had so many things going through my head. I’m also really glad you picked up on the disturbing nature of Snow White being considered the most fair at age 7.
I always thought that was very strange…that plus her being encased in a glass coffin when she dies always came off as so strange to me. But again, really illustrating how much feminine youth was prized above all else. The magic mirror “consuming her image entirely” was also something I wanted to include to show how the male gaze overtakes our self-image as women. I’m glad you saw that!!
I could definitely make the relationship between the King, Grimhilde, and Queen Katherine more clear. But essentially, Queen Katherine is the late queen who is Snow White’s biological mother, like the women in the beginning of the original fairytale story who wishes for a daughter white as snow, red and blood, and black as ebony. Will definitely keep this in mind if/when I go back to expand on this story!! Thanks for reading🖤
Disney villains are just princesses whose wishes didn't come true... I love everything about the Evil Queen's perspective. It's very true to her nature, yet it gives her a layer of humanity you can feel for. Brilliant! 🖤
Thank you so much!! I thought this would be an interesting perspective to explore. I wanted to make sure she was still evil but also make her more sympathetic and understandable. There are lot of underlying assumptions in the Grimm fairytale that I thought were worth challenging.
I like a lot the idea of telling the story from the perspective of an evil queen who has her own reasons for being evil. Her inner torment and the war she waged within herself—a war she ultimately lost. While everyone praises positive heroes, I am always grateful to writers who try to understand the reasons behind negative characters.
Thank you!! When I saw the prompt for this assignment, I knew pretty much right away who’s perspective I wanted to write about. It was really fun to explore why and how she became the evil queen. I also want to make sure that my villain’s actions are never excusable, but that their reasoning is at least understandable, or sympathetic even. Thank you for reading!!🖤
I absolutely enjoyed it. Of course, it's not about justifying the bad deeds of the character, but going into her personality and understanding what made her to do that. That's really precious to me.
I love that this kept the fairytale vibe whilst also turning it completely on its head. I liked the idea that the king didnt really love Snow White anymore than he loves Grimhilde. With him seeing her as the spitting image of her mother, he will never truly love her for her. Perhaps an idea for a sequel 🤔.....
Either way, this was brilliant. I think you might like Fractured Fables by Alix E. Harrow. Its two novellas retelling Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, but it kinda Marvel mutliverses it, it's brilliant. The second story retells the Evil Queen from Snow White, with a sneaky sapphic twist along the way ....
Thank you so much!! I’m really glad that it kept the fairytale vibe but also turned it on its head, that was for sure the goal!!
I was really inspired by Cersei Lannister and her relationship with Robert Baratheon as he keeps pining for Lyanna after she dies. The idea of someone being with a man who is in love with another woman breaks my heart. And yes, I would love to expand on this story at some point, for sure!!
I’ll have to check out these novellas, they sound really awesome. Thanks so much for reading and for the recommendation!!
obsessed
Thank you so much Caroline!!😭🖤
wow this is epic!
Thank you so much!! I had a lot of fun with this one. I love a good monstrous woman😈🖤
I finally made time to read this, and I'm glad I did. Such a fun retelling.
Thank you so much!! I am really glad you enjoyed reading this!! It was fun to write, even with the stressful time limit😅
This is marvelous!
Thank you so much!!🖤
I enjoyed writing this one a lot.
Always love a good dark retelling! And what a WICKED ending!
Same here!! Thought it needed a proper GOTH vibe since it very much called for it. I'm also glad you enjoyed the ending!!🖤
ending for real had me like 😶 t’was awesome 🖤
Yessss, I kinda wish I had more time/space to write her eating Snow White’s heart!!😭 BUT!!! Perhaps I will return to this for expansion😈
That would be SICK! Buuut, I do happen to like ending the story right after the shock of the revelation 🙂↕️ it’s just awesome
This really captures the queen's feelings and her motives perfectly. I'm always fascinated by this phenomena where women sometimes few little girls as competitors for the love of the men in their shared lives. Fantastic!
Thank you so much!! It is very real phenomenon, and I was so disturbed by the fact that is Snow White was only 7 years old when she replaced the queen as the fairest of them all. I wanted to give her reasons why she would project everything she’s at risk of losing onto a young girl.
It’s not right, but given her story, I think you can understand it. The patriarchy unfortunately places women in a ranking to compete for the men in their lives and many have internalized that. Thank you so much for reading!!🖤
A note I often got from producers on my screenplays was, “you’re making the villain too sympathetic!” I always disagreed. I’m fascinated by the villain’s perspective, their psychology and backstory. In this piece, I particularly liked the detail that the queen’s father was a merchant not an aristocrat. That means that her only claim to her position and her only source of power is her own beauty… and the king’s attention. I can’t help feeling sympathy for her.
Whaaat? But villains are often the most sympathetic!! I really enjoy writing villains that are thoroughly evil but also understandable.
I’m really glad you enjoyed that detail because it felt important. It’s an element I would love to explore further if/when I expand on this for a collection!! Thank you so much for reading🖤
Great retelling. I enjoyed getting the queen's perspective. Evil is a process. I liked that you showed how that happened.
Thank you so much!! Her perspective was such an interesting one to explore and I enjoyed adding layers of humanity to her beyond the fact that she is narcissistic and jealous.
I took a lot of inspiration from Cersei Lannister and her relationship with Robert Baratheon as well. Evil is indeed, a process. A lot of times, like in Grimhilde’s place, it begins from an emotional wound.
Thanks so much for reading🖤
Thank you for sharing your work!
I love fairy tales revisited on different slants (probably why I loved Disney's "Maleficent" so much, and Gregory Maguire's "Wicked"). For the Lunar Awards I did a short story where we had to put a classic fairy tale through a science fiction lens. :D
I really enjoyed this retelling of Snow White from the Evil Queen's perspective. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Thank you so much!! It was really fun to do this and explore her point of view. Honestly, I took a lot of inspiration from Cersei Lannister from Game of Thrones and her relationship with Robert Baratheon.
There is something about Robert always pining after Lyanna even after her death despite being married to Cersei that really made me feel for her…
Also, I absolutely love the idea of a classic fairy tale told through a science fiction lens!! I be you had a lot of fun with that!!
Thanks so much for reading🖤
An interesting choice with Cersi :)
Yesss I just feel like she’s such an interesting character!! So evil but complex too
She was the character I "loved to hate" in GoT. :)
Haha same!! A very interesting and complex character in her own right though!!
Very much so.
Okay I loved this!! You captured the classic Disney vibe so well! And I love that you brought up the inherent creepiness of fixating on a girl's 'beauty' when she's only 7... plus juxtaposing that with the terror of aging AND the dead queen having eternal life/beauty in death was really smart. I also need to shout out the mirror's mask "consuming her image entirely" = AMAZING symbolism.
The only criticism I have is I was a little unclear what the relationship between the King, Grimhilde, and Queen Katherine was- for some reason I started thinking the King was cheating on Grimhilde with other women, instead of just worshipping his dead wife over her? That might be me having a hard time picturing family trees in general, though. Other than that, I really loved it!
Thank you so much!! I really enjoyed being able to do a retelling of this fairytale, because when I read it I had so many things going through my head. I’m also really glad you picked up on the disturbing nature of Snow White being considered the most fair at age 7.
I always thought that was very strange…that plus her being encased in a glass coffin when she dies always came off as so strange to me. But again, really illustrating how much feminine youth was prized above all else. The magic mirror “consuming her image entirely” was also something I wanted to include to show how the male gaze overtakes our self-image as women. I’m glad you saw that!!
I could definitely make the relationship between the King, Grimhilde, and Queen Katherine more clear. But essentially, Queen Katherine is the late queen who is Snow White’s biological mother, like the women in the beginning of the original fairytale story who wishes for a daughter white as snow, red and blood, and black as ebony. Will definitely keep this in mind if/when I go back to expand on this story!! Thanks for reading🖤