Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon my Darlings. This week’s Femme Fatale Friday is all about the connection between Morgan le Fay and the Evil Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves! Just like my previous post comparing Morgan le Fay and Maleficent, I cannot help but state that I believe that Morgan le Fay likely inspired not only Maleficent but also the Evil Queen.
Let’s go over some of the connections between Morgan le Fay and the Evil Queen. First of all, there is the fact that the Evil Queen is able to wield magick. Morgan le Fay is a Goddess and legendary figure who is always shown to be magickal! Next, there is the obvious nature of the apple. The Evil Queen chose to use an apple to infect Snow White with the sleeping curse, however, it is interestingly her third attempt to curse the girl, but the one which is successful. Morgan le Fay is the Lady of Avalon who rules over the Holy Isle. Avalon is famously the Isle of Apples, which makes apples her most sacred fruit!
Thirdly, there is the concept of Magick Mirrors, while the Evil Queen has her famed magickal mirror, Morgan le Fay is the Queen of Avalon, who is known for her gift of prophecy. This gift of prophecy means that she is linked with divination of all sorts, including scrying, and one of the most famous forms of scrying is Mirror Scrying. That connects the nature of Magick Mirrors to both Morgan le Fay and the Evil Queen. Lastly, the final connection between Morgan le Fay and the Evil Queen which I want to mention is transformation. Both Morgan le Fay and the Evil Queen are able to shapeshift and transform themselves in order to disguise themselves (and in the case of Morgan le Fay she can also use Glamour to disguise others). Interestingly, they also choose to transform into old women in famous tales. The Evil Queen chose to appear as an old beggar woman selling fruit in order to get Snow White to eat her poisoned apple. In the famous medieval poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Morgan le Fay disguised herself as an old woman to monitor the progress of Gawain in his challenge, and in that tale, she also used Glamour to transform Sir Bertilak into the Green Knight!
As I discussed in my Maleficent and Morgan le Fay post, I want to mention that the cursed sleep of Snow White, just like the cursed sleep of Aurora, is one that brings knowledge. When a young woman is cursed into an enchanted sleep, what she is really going through is a metamorphosis. She is changing to become a more self-actualized version of herself. Morgan le Fay is famous for challenging her devotees, which leads to greater self-knowledge. To me, this links Morgan le Fay and the Evil Queen because both of them worked to challenge young women to become more enlightened, even if that had not been the Evil Queen’s intent all along, it was the end result.
I hope you have enjoyed this short post about Morgan le Fay and the Evil Queen. Do you believe the Evil Queen is based upon Morgan le Fay? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is a lovely image of the Evil Queen. I found the image on https://www.pinterest.com/pin/the-evil-queen–641763015632126149/.
Tarot Note: I have a page offering tarot and oracle readings for those interested in these services! I am very happy to be offering these readings to my treasured readers at White Rose of Avalon! Link to page: https://whiteroseofavalon.life/tarot-and-oracle-readings/
Further Reading
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarves by the Brothers Grimm
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight