The Evil Queen, a title I was given by the subjects of my kingdom long ago, but how does one gain the title of being evil? For me to gain the title it was simply me finally looking out for myself and being selfish with my decisions. For others like me it was by carrying out evil deeds which I could see how some people could view what I do as that, but I wasn’t always this way. I used to be good – so good it nearly killed me. The Evil Queen is who I used to be. I am not her anymore; I changed my ways, changed my appearance, and identity all in order to start over and escape my past. I never wanted to turn into the monster I became, but I did, and now all I want is to make it right. Some things seem impossible when you weren’t the only reason you became a monster and have been the way you are for so long as a defense mechanism. I feel as though to tell this story right I should go back to the beginning where it all started.
Growing up I always felt out of place in my home. It was only ever me, my mother, and my father. My parents were the Lady and Lord of the kingdom we lived in. My mother was a nasty, cruel, and vain woman – she would control every aspect of my life, even the food I ate and the amounts. If anything ever happened that she didn’t like or wanted to happen she would turn into a ball of flames and let all the anger out on anyone around her, usually me. Looking back at it all I don’t remember my mother ever even saying “I love you” to me or my father. She took everything away that would make me happy and was even worse towards my father. She would scream, throw things, make threats, break things, and even lay her hands on us if we weren’t doing what she wanted or she was just having one of those days.
I never told anyone, but I was madly in love with the stable boy, Wesley. He was the most amazing man I had ever met and so incredibly perfect in every way. We shared a love from the time when I was fourteen years old until I was seventeen. He was the one for me. He was my one true love, and my mother took him away from me. When I was seventeen my mother arranged for me to marry a King, Henry. She never even asked me about the topic, just went ahead and made the arrangements herself. So when I refused to marry him and told her about Wesley she threw her usual tantrum as always. Next thing I knew, she was locking me in my bedroom. I had to watch as she beat Wesley then threw him to the curb. I never saw or heard from him again. A few weeks later I was marrying the King and with it I gained a step-daughter, Snow White. Hair black as ebony, skin as white as snow, and cheeks as red as blood. She was by far the most beautiful child I had ever seen. I never thought it was possible to envy a child so much, but Snow had everything I ever wanted minus the dead mother part. Somewhere along the line I grew to hate the child because of how much I envied her. When her father died the hate only increased by a hundred. This is because she was the one who was getting all the attention from everybody after he died and not me, his wife.
After Henry died I was given a magical mirror with a talking man inside of it from a distant relative of his. The only thing I cared about then was my beauty. As time passed, Snow White grew more beautiful each day, which made me furious. I became obsessed with being more beautiful than the girl. Everyday, three times a day, I would look into the mirror and ask, “Mirror Mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all.”
The answer of course was always, “You my Queen are the fairest in the land.” Until one day I asked and the response changed instead of the usual and correct answer of it being me the mirror said it was Snow who was the fairest in the land. This enraged me so much to the point where I devised a plan to get rid of the brat once and for all. So I did the only reasonable thing possible and called my Huntsman in for a meeting.
“Huntsman I need you to do something for me and you may not ever tell a single soul what you do.” I told him.
“What do you need me to do my Queen, anything for you.” he responded.
“I need you to take Snow White into the woods and kill her. Do what you must with the body but make sure she will never be found. Understand?”
“Yes, I understand. Your wish is my command, your majesty.”
“One more thing, bring me her heart when you are finished.” and with that he bowed his head and left to fetch the girl.
The next morning I met with him again to ask how the task played out. He gave me a box which was said to hold her heart and left. To my surprise when I opened the box it didn’t take long to realize the heart wasn’t a human heart at all but rather a pig’s heart. Shortly after the betrayal I had the Huntsman beheaded and decided if I wanted this done right I would have to kill Snow White myself. I tracked her down to a small cabin deep in the woods, she had taken shelter with seven dwarfs. I first disguised myself as a small child selling homemade hair clips that I had poisoned but the dwarfs saved her by removing the clip. I then tried again as a woman selling corsets with a poisoned ribbon but the dwarfs saved her again. My last and final attempt worked. I had disguised myself as an old hag selling apples, which were poisoned. To my surprise it worked, they couldn’t save her and she fell into a sleeplike death.
A few weeks later I decided to ask the mirror about Snow’s condition. I was mortified she had been awoken by a kiss from a Prince. They had been married the following day and now they were on their way here so she could have her revenge on me and take the kingdom back. The only option I had was to flee but it was too late they were already at the gates. I packed a small bag and disguised myself as an old beggar lady. I made a run for it but those sneaky dwarfs were onto me. They chased me to the cliffs and I jumped from them. They believed that I jumped to my death but I didn’t. I was perfectly safe and headed toward a new kingdom to start over.
When I left, I stayed in the old hag disguise because I believed that Snow White would think since she saw me like that she wouldn’t look for me in that form, which I was correct about. I ran and ran for miles until reaching a dock. I knew beggars and even criminals took over eons ago, I knew someone like me would be safe there and would be able to escape. The next thing was to disguise my identity. I disguised myself as an older lady and chose the name Mother Gothel as my alias. When I arrived in the new kingdom a lady told me about an old abandoned tower that would make the perfect hideout for me. She also spoke of a legend of a flower by the edge of a cliff near the tower. She said when you sing to the flower it grants you the gift of youth, healing, and beauty so naturally I found it. After finding it I hid it away so that only I would be able to use it.