If there’s one thing Disney is known for, its magic.
While sometimes Disney films’ magic will inhabit an object or land, other times a human, fairy, or witch will have all the power. We’re here to look at all the animated Disney ladies and rank each by their magical abilities.
In this line-up, we will only be looking at characters created by Walt Disney Animation Studios that appeared in an original theatrically released film (not just the sequel). This means characters like Mary Poppins, Morgana from The Little Mermaid II, and the live-action version of Maleficent will not be considered.
That being said, we still have tons of heroines and villains to consider. It’s time to dive into the magic of Disney’s best female characters.
Yzma
Yzma is the evil sorceress of The Emperor’s New Groove. Though she wasn’t born with magical abilities, she knows how to use potions and even has a secret lab. Pull the lever, Kronk!
That being said, it appears she has limited quantities of each of her potions. After being turned into a cat, she plans on using the human potion to transform herself back into her true form. Kuzco ultimately drinks this potion, and the end of the film shows that she is still in her feline form.
While Yzma is a human at the start of the Emperor’s New School TV series, how she got here is not explained.
Tinkerbelle
Tinkerbelle isn’t as sinister as Yzma and ranks higher thanks to her natural powers. Tink creates pixie dust, which she can share with others. This means that not only she can fly but so can her friends.
Unfortunately for Tink, she quickly fades if people stop believing in her. In Return to Never Land, it is revealed that Tink will die unless she can get Jane to have faith in fairies.
Fairy Godmother
Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother has the power to make people’s dreams come true with the magic words “bibbidi-bobbidi-boo.” However, she can only do this with her wand as seen in Cinderella III: A Twist in Time. After losing her wand, she becomes powerless and is actually turned to stone after Anastasia picks it up and loses control of it.
Even with the wand though, her magic powers have their limitations. After dressing Cinderella up for the ball, the Fairy Godmother informs her that at the stroke of midnight, everything will go back to normal.
The Evil Queen
Like Yzma, the Evil Queen doesn’t appear to have natural powers. That being said, she’s dabbled in dark magic. She has a Magic Mirror, combines a potion with a spell that changes herself into an ugly hag, and knows how to mix up a terrifying brew that creates a deadly apple.
The Evil Queen’s downfall is mortality. When lightning strikes the rock that she stands on, she ends up falling hundreds of feet and getting crushed under the weight of the ground she once stood on.
Rapunzel
While many people believe Rapunzel has healing, aging, and even life-resurrecting powers, it appears what she really has is the ability to manipulate time. The song she sings to activate her powers has the phrase “make the clock reverse” in it. When she sings to Mother Gothel, she gets younger. When she wraps her hair around Flynn’s wounded hand, it is restored to an uninjured state at an earlier time. When Flynn dies, her tears take him back to a time when he was still alive. If that’s not the craziest power, we don’t know what is.
While Rapunzel still has the magic inside of her post-haircut, it appears that it is now more difficult to access.
Elsa
Elsa has ice powers, and once she gets control of them, she’s able to do a lot. Sure, she can’t reverse time like Rapunzel, but she can bring inanimate objects to life. Yes, you heard that right.
Olaf didn’t come from nowhere. He came from Elsa’s ice powers, and even though she didn’t intentionally recreate him as part of her eternal winter, she does intentionally bring the giant snow monster Marshmallow to life.
Ursula
This magic sea witch has all sorts of powers even before she gets ahold of the Trident. She can create all sorts of spells including ones that alter people’s forms (as seen when she makes Ariel a human and turns herself into Vanessa).
She becomes even more powerful after she gets ahold of King Triton’s prize position, doubling in size and creating a storm. While she may be terrifying, she is mortal and ends up dying after Prince Eric steers a ship into her.
Flora, Fauna, And Merryweather
The Three Good Fairies from Sleeping Beauty may only be able to perform magic with their wands, but they’re still much more powerful than Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother, especially when working together. They are able to bestow blessings on people and can even alter the curse Maleficent casts on Aurora to make her fall asleep rather than die.
They can also alter enchant inanimate objects to work for them, move items with their minds, manipulate colors, conjure objects out of thin air, disappear, put people to sleep, create fire, transform things into other things, and change their sizes. That’s a whole lot.
Maleficent
The most powerful of the Disney Villains is this evil fairy from Sleeping Beauty. She literally describes her magic to Prince Phillip as using all the powers of hell. That’s intense.
These powers include the ability to cast curses, hypnosis, flying, object conjuration, and the ability transforming into a massive fire-breathing dragon. That being said, Maleficent isn’t all-powerful and ends up dying once Phillip stabs her dragon belly with the Sword of Truth.
Blue Fairy
The Blue Fairy from Pinocchio isn’t a vastly explored character. While we don’t know how much magic she has, we do know it’s a lot, being that is able to put life into an inanimate object and eventually turn Pinocchio into a real, living human being.
She is also seen turning Pinocchio’s ever-growing nose back to its original size, freeing Pinocchio from a cage, and taking the form of a dove. If she has weaknesses, we don’t know about them.
