Animation
Maleficent
Sleeping Beauty · 1959
The most elegant design in the history of animated villainy
Threat index 85
Sorcerer · Film
The Wicked Witch of the West
The template every animated villain has been copying since
Attribute scores
Power72
Intellect66
Menace70
Fear factor82
Cultural impact94
Charisma76
Editorial estimates on a 0–100 scale, calibrated against every other character in the index. Not official canon.
Who they are
Green skin, pointed hat, cackle, flying monkeys, a crystal ball and a hostage countdown written in the sky. Practically the entire visual grammar of the wicked witch was standardized by one performance in one film, and it has never been meaningfully replaced. She is also unusually motivated for 1939: she wants her sister's shoes back, and the heroine is wearing them.
Defining traits
Elemental magicFlying monkey armyScryingVindictive persistenceInstantly recognizable design
What makes them dangerous
She can strike anywhere in Oz by air and has the ruler of the land afraid to intervene directly.
And what undoes them
Water. Notoriously, absurdly, water.
Things you might not know
- Hamilton was seriously burned during a disappearance effect and spent six weeks recovering.
- The copper-based green makeup was toxic enough that she could not eat while wearing it.
- Her fate is decided by a bucket of water, one of cinema's most famous arbitrary weaknesses.
Why number 20 in Most Iconic
Green skin, pointed hat, flying monkeys. Practically every visual convention of the wicked witch was fixed by one 1939 performance.