Un Paladín en el Infierno: Learning from cinema: Maleficent

This is a translation of a post originally published in 2013.

I could have named this post "Learning from cinema: Sleeping beauty" but who am I gonna fool? This is going to be about Maleficent. Why? Because being a Villan is easy, but doing so with as much style as her is really hard. Intelligent readers would probably have guessed already that this post is going to be pretty mucha mix of image dump and love letter, but I will try to extract as much RPG juice as possible.

First let's take a look at our main guest:

Technically she is a fallen fairy, probably because she decided that giving gifts to little princesses and helping those in need didn't rock as much as being a friggin Satanic witch that brings whole kingdoms to their knees. And I don't blame her.

Let's take a look at her gear: black robes that doesn't reveal much and silly hat. Those are two have room for improvement, but from there it only goes up: raven familiar, pretty intelligent and probably more evil than her, classics never die. Scepter with eery-looking radioactive green sphere--much better than the wands used by other fairies, which could probably mean that she got it from somewhere else. Deals with the Devil? In that case, can other people use it? Will they be charged a price they didn't expect? Why don't know anything about the ring, but given that she is not inclined to ostentation, one could think that it must be enchanted somehow. Put it on at your own peril!

But the point where all of Maleficent's potential concentrates is her lair, the Forbidden Mountain¹:

And that is just the fortress on the summit, surrounded by rocky and inhospitable terrain. Probably more than one dangerous being has made these land its home. And that is just one reason to be careful whild approaching the fortress--the main reason is, of course, not to alert the inhabitants and especially Maleficent.

There we can see her on what is probably the highest tower in the fortress, casting a spell to fill a castle with briars which seems to be to at a remarkable distance. Any adventurer with the guts to get close in the open would probably be a really easy target for the Witches spells.

Although she will probably not even bother with that, given that the fortress itself is already very hard to attack. Going back to the picture we can see a narrown and winding flight of stairs that is probably the only way to get to the summit and, once up there, you have to cross the bridge:

Judging by the picture, it must be at least fifteen meters long (50 feet). And that while the sky falls on your head, as the servants of the witch wouldn't have much problem shooting you from there. Although in the movie Maleficent gets too cocky and there is only one guard patroling. But it is true that it doesn't matter that much because, once you cross the bridge, you have to go through these gates:

... where three portculises and a a lot of guardas will do their best to make sure that you don't take a single step on the friggni fortress. By the way, I love the place's arquitecture and the artwork of this movie. Had I not watched it, if someone told me that picture was an old-school metal album cover, I would have believed it.

Going back to our hypothetic incursion to the Forbiden Mountain, once again, crossing the gates means nothing, as the place must be a true labyrinth, full of places where they can drop hell on your head. While the prince runs away they throw everything unto him: arrows (and other weapons, not necessarily the throwing kind), oil and even rocks:

A bit ahead we find this:

Gardoyles, gardoyles everywhere! It's a shame that there is no monster named like that that could pass by a harmless statue to ambush unsuspecting invaders and attack them from behind... It would be great if it existed, as it would probably be made of rock and magic, and Maleficent would have much problem making them. Wait a sec...

Speaking of rocks, the place seems to be mostly in ruins, wich makes me think that it wasn't originally build by Maleficent and she just took it over. That raises some questions: was it already inhabited when she came? Was there anyone before? Was it the fortress of their current servants and she just got there and became their leader? Where the minions the ones that conquered the fortress? Or is it maybe very ancient? In any case, we know that it has as throne room:

Look at that architecture, those columns rock. But, as I was saying, the throne room includes a horde of minions with their banners and all. As good minions, they have power in numbers rather than smarts.

But the important question is what the hack are they. They are not very tall, what might point to goblins. But many of them have pig-like traits that might point to orcs. Also, if you look closely, many of them have traits of other animals, like that one in the center that is part bird. Some others even look like rats or crocodiles. By the way, check out the tallest guy that has a snake on the shield--the snake is also featured in one of the banners up there. It would certainly be a fitting symbol for Maleficent.

The other thing we can find in the throne room is a throne. And what a throne!

We could think that, either Maleficent ordered it to be made or it was already in the fortress meaning that their old owners were not very good people. Anyway, it is really cool.

There are a couple more thing in the fortress that I want to show you. First a detail of the dungeons:

That's how you do it, god dammit! The axe and the stump on the cell itself. No evil speeches, no tour around the fortress, no nonsense that gives the friends of the hero time to save him--execution as soon as a prisoner is captured.

Although in the movie Maleficent makes the mistake of enjoying too much having captured the prince, unlike Scar (this may be the only chance to have a reason to say that). He doesn't stop to tell Mufasa about his genious plan to take over his kingom, he just says "long live to the king" and down you go. Such elegance...

Well, I'm getting sidetracked. The other cool thing are Maleficent chambers:

There is where the witch spends her hours and probably where the most valuable loot can be found. All that is needed is a brave soul that dares to go across that inocent flight of stairs and cross that friendly door with no evil intent at all. Wait, you have killed the witch, right? And you have made sure that she is dead, haven't you? Please notice that she can teleport at will and exactly and that can become a nasty surprise.

Anf if everything fails...