The Sword in the Stone (film)
Encyclopedia
The Sword in the Stone is a 1963 American animated
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...

 fantasy
Fantasy film
Fantasy films are films with fantastic themes, usually involving magic, supernatural events, make-believe creatures, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered to be distinct from science fiction film and horror film, although the genres do overlap...

 comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

 produced by Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...

 and originally released to theaters on December 25, 1963. The eighteenth animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics, it was the last Disney animated feature released while Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...

 was alive.

It is part of the "English Cycle" of Disney animated films, which include Alice in Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland (1951 film)
Alice in Wonderland is a 1951 American animated feature produced by Walt Disney and based primarily on Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with a few additional elements from Through the Looking-Glass. Thirteenth in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film was released in New...

, Peter Pan
Peter Pan (1953 film)
Peter Pan is a 1953 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up by J. M. Barrie. It is the fourteenth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and was originally released on February 5, 1953 by RKO Pictures...

, One Hundred and One Dalmatians
One Hundred and One Dalmatians
One Hundred and One Dalmatians, often abbreviated as 101 Dalmatians, is a 1961 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith...

, The Jungle Book
The Jungle Book (1967 film)
The Jungle Book is a 1967 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. Released on October 18, 1967, it is the 19th animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. It was inspired by the stories about the feral child Mowgli from the book of the same name by...

, Robin Hood
Robin Hood (1973 film)
Robin Hood is an 1973 American animated film produced by the Walt Disney Productions, first released in the United States on November 8, 1973...

, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is the 22nd full-length animated film produced by Walt Disney Productions and first released on March 11, 1977....

, The Great Mouse Detective
The Great Mouse Detective
The Great Mouse Detective is a 1986 animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, originally released to movie theaters on July 2, 1986 by Walt Disney Pictures...

.

The film is based on the novel of the same name
The Sword in the Stone
The Sword in the Stone is a novel by T. H. White, published in 1939, initially a stand-alone work but now the first part of a tetralogy The Once and Future King. A fantasy of the boyhood of King Arthur, it is a sui generis work which combines elements of legend, history, fantasy and comedy...

, at first published in 1938 as a single novel. It was then later republished in 1958 as the first book of T. H. White’s
T. H. White
Terence Hanbury White was an English author best known for his sequence of Arthurian novels, The Once and Future King, first published together in 1958.-Biography:...

 tetralogy
Tetralogy
A tetralogy is a compound work that is made up of four distinct works, just as a trilogy is made up of three works....

 The Once and Future King
The Once and Future King
The Once and Future King is an Arthurian fantasy novel written by T. H. White. It was first published in 1958 and is mostly a composite of earlier works written in a period between 1938 and 1941....

.

Plot

The film begins in the 6th century in England with the death of the king, Uther Pendragon
Uther Pendragon
Uther Pendragon is a legendary king of sub-Roman Britain and the father of King Arthur.A few minor references to Uther appear in Old Welsh poems, but his biography was first written down by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae , and Geoffrey's account of the character was used in...

. Uther did not leave an heir to his throne, and without a king, "it seemed that the land would be torn by war". Suddenly, the "Sword in the Stone" appears in London, with an inscription proclaiming that "Whoso Pulleth Out This Sword of this Stone and Anvil, is Rightwise King Born of England." None succeed in removing the sword, which is soon forgotten, leaving England to the Dark Ages.

Many years later, the film introduces Arthur (also known as Wart), a 12-year-old orphan training to be a squire. While accompanying his older foster brother Kay
Sir Kay
In Arthurian legend, Sir Kay is Sir Ector's son and King Arthur's foster brother and later seneschal, as well as one of the first Knights of the Round Table. In later literature he is known for his acid tongue and bullying, boorish behavior, but in earlier accounts he was one of Arthur's premier...

 on a hunting trip, Wart accidentally prevents Kay from shooting a deer. He goes to retrieve the arrow, and falls into Merlin's cottage. Merlin declares himself Wart's tutor and the two return to Wart's home, a castle run by Sir Ector
Sir Ector
Sir Ector is the father of Sir Kay and the foster father of King Arthur in the Arthurian legend. Sometimes a king instead of merely a lord, he has an estate in the country as well as properties in London. In The Once and Future King T. H...

, Arthur's foster father. Although Merlin convinces him that magic exists (through a "wizard blizzard"), Ector will not allow him to tutor Wart, so Merlin magically disappears, which persuades Ector to let Merlin stay. Ector's friend, Sir Pellinore, arrives with news about the annual jousting tournament to be held on New Year's Day in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, with the new development that the winner will become king. Ector decides to put Kay through serious training for the tournament and makes Wart his squire.

Merlin transforms Wart and himself into fish and they swim in the castle moat. Wart is attacked by a pike and saved by Archimedes, Merlin's owl. Wart is sent to the kitchen as punishment after he tries relating his lesson to a disbelieving Ector. Merlin enchants the dishes to wash themselves, then takes Wart for another lesson and turns them into squirrels
Tree squirrel
Tree squirrels include over a hundred species that are found on all continents except Antarctica, and are the members of the squirrel family most commonly referred to as "squirrels"...

 to learn about gravity. Wart is almost eaten by a wolf
Gray Wolf
The gray wolf , also known as the wolf, is the largest extant wild member of the Canidae family...

, but is saved by a female squirrel who falls in love with him. After they have returned to human form, Ector accuses Merlin of using black magic on the dishes. Wart defends Merlin but Ector will not listen, punishing Wart for "popping off" by giving Kay a different squire, Hobbs.

For his third lesson, after apologizing to Wart and resolving to redeem him, Merlin transforms him into a sparrow
Sparrow
The sparrows are a family of small passerine birds, Passeridae. They are also known as true sparrows, or Old World sparrows, names also used for a genus of the family, Passer...

 and Archimedes teaches Wart how to fly. Wart is attacked by a hawk and flies down the witch Madam Mim's chimney. Mim's magic uses trickery
Trickster
In mythology, and in the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a god, goddess, spirit, man, woman, or anthropomorphic animal who plays tricks or otherwise disobeys normal rules and conventional behavior. It is suggested by Hansen that the term "Trickster" was probably first used in this...

, as opposed to Merlin's scientific skill. Merlin arrives after she nearly kills Arthur and challenges Mim to a Wizards' Duel, in which the combatants change themselves into various non-imaginary animals to destroy one another. Mim breaks the rules first by disappearing, then eventually transforming into a dragon. Merlin transforms himself into a germ
Microorganism
A microorganism or microbe is a microscopic organism that comprises either a single cell , cell clusters, or no cell at all...

 called "Maligolintomontorosis" and infects Mim, effectively defeating her.

At Christmas Eve, Kay is knighted but Hobbs comes down with the mumps
Mumps
Mumps is a viral disease of the human species, caused by the mumps virus. Before the development of vaccination and the introduction of a vaccine, it was a common childhood disease worldwide...

; Ector reinstates Wart as Kay's squire. Merlin is disappointed that Wart still prefers war games to academics. Wart tries to explain that, as an orphan, nobility is forbidden and a squire is the best position he can attain. This aggravates Merlin, who transports himself to 20th-century Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

 in anger.

Ector, Kay, Pellinore, Wart and Archimedes travel to London for the tournament. Wart realises he has left Kay's sword at a nearby inn, which is closed because of the tournament. Archimedes notices a sword in a stone in a nearby churchyard. Wart pulls the sword from the stone, unwittingly fulfilling the prophecy. When Arthur returns with the sword, Ector and Sir Bart recognize it as the Sword in the Stone and the tournament is stopped. Demanding that Arthur prove he pulled it, Ector replaces the sword in its anvil. None of the other men can remove it as before, but Wart pulls it out again. This time the sky grows brighter and miracles appear in England. The knights all proclaim, "Hail, King Arthur! Long live the King!" as the crowd kneels down before him, the first being Ector, who apologises to Wart for his previous harsh treatment.

Arthur, crowned king, sits in the throne room with Archimedes, yet feels unprepared to take the responsibility of royalty. Overwhelmed by the cheering crowd outside, Arthur calls out to Merlin for help, who arrives from Bermuda and is elated to find that Arthur is the King that he saw in the future. Merlin tells the boy that he will lead the Knights of the Round Table, becoming one of the most famous figures in literature and even in motion pictures.

Cast and characters

  • Rickie Sorenson, Richard Reitherman and Robert Reitherman as Arthur/Wart. He is Disney's adaptation of legendary British leader King Arthur
    King Arthur
    King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...

    . Arthur was voiced by three different actors, leading to noticeable changes in voice between scenes of the film. Also, the three voices all have a Brooklyn-esque accent, in sharp contrast with the English setting and pseudo-English accent sported by all other characters in the film.
  • Karl Swenson
    Karl Swenson
    Karl Swenson was an American theatre, radio, film, and television actor.-Biography:Born in Brooklyn, New York of Swedish parentage, Swenson made several appearances with Pierre-Luc Michaud on Broadway in the 1930s and 40s, including the title role in Arthur Miller's first production, The Man Who...

     as Merlin
    Merlin
    Merlin is a legendary figure best known as the wizard featured in the Arthurian legend. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c. 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures...

    , the legendary wizard who aides and educates King Arthur about various things. He was animated by several of Disney's Nine Old Men, including Milt Kahl
    Milt Kahl
    Milton Erwin Kahl was an animator for the Disney studio, and one of Disney's Nine Old Men....

    , Frank Thomas
    Frank Thomas (animator)
    Franklin M. "Frank" Thomas was an American animator. He was one of Walt Disney's team of animators known as the Nine Old Men....

    , Ollie Johnston
    Ollie Johnston
    Oliver Martin Johnston, Jr. was an American motion picture animator. He was one of Disney's Nine Old Men, and the last surviving at the time of his death. He was recognized by The Walt Disney Company with its Disney Legend Award in 1989...

    , and John Lounsbery
    John Lounsbery
    John Lounsbery was an American animator who worked for The Walt Disney Company. He is best known as one of Disney's Nine Old Men....

    . Kahl also designed the character, refining the storyboard
    Storyboard
    Storyboards are graphic organizers in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence....

     sketches of Bill Peet
    Bill Peet
    Bill Peet , was an American children's book illustrator and a story writer for Disney Studios...

    . Merlin can be recognized by his massive beard, which always gets caught in most of his machines, and a pair of glasses he wears to see, and is also the world's most powerful magician.
  • Martha Wentworth
    Martha Wentworth
    Martha Wentworth was an American actress.Originally a radio actress, she became a film actress in the 1940s, starring in several Red Ryder Western films...

     as Madam Mim. Mim was animated by two of Disney's legendary Nine Old Men
    Disney's Nine Old Men
    Disney's Nine Old Men were the core animators at The Walt Disney Company who created some of Disney's most famous works, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs onward to The Rescuers. Walt Disney jokingly called this group of animators his "Nine Old Men," referring to Robert S...

    , Milt Kahl
    Milt Kahl
    Milton Erwin Kahl was an animator for the Disney studio, and one of Disney's Nine Old Men....

     (who also designed the character, refining storyboard
    Storyboard
    Storyboards are graphic organizers in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence....

     sketches from Bill Peet
    Bill Peet
    Bill Peet , was an American children's book illustrator and a story writer for Disney Studios...

    ), and Frank Thomas
    Frank Thomas (animator)
    Franklin M. "Frank" Thomas was an American animator. He was one of Walt Disney's team of animators known as the Nine Old Men....

    . Kahl animated her initial interaction with Arthur, while Thomas oversaw her famous "Wizards' Duel" with Merlin. Wenworth also voiced the Granny Squirrel.
  • Junius Matthews
    Junius Matthews
    -Career:He was a private in World War I before becoming an actor, and determined to become a popular radio and television actor, his career began on stage where he got his first role in a silent film called The Silent Witness . He later played the role of the Tin Woodsman on a radio version of The...

     as Archimedes', Merlin's pet owl who has the ability of speaking and the comic relief
    Comic relief
    Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension.-Definition:...

     of the film. Archimedes accompanies Wart during his training, and is the one who alerts Merlin after Madam Mim kidnaps Arthur. The owl stays with Wart when Merlin travels to the 20th century.
  • Sebastian Cabot
    Sebastian Cabot (actor)
    Charles Sebastian Thomas Cabot was an English film and television actor, best remembered as the gentleman's gentleman, "Giles French," opposite Brian Keith's character, in the 1960s sitcom Family Affair. He was also known for playing Dr...

     as Sir Ector
    Sir Ector
    Sir Ector is the father of Sir Kay and the foster father of King Arthur in the Arthurian legend. Sometimes a king instead of merely a lord, he has an estate in the country as well as properties in London. In The Once and Future King T. H...

    , the ruler of King Uther Pendragon's castle. He does not believe in magic until Merlin casts a blizzard in front of him, thus letting the wizard educate Arthur in the castle.
  • Norman Alden
    Norman Alden
    Norman Alden is an American character actor who has performed in television programs and motion pictures since first appearing on The 20th Century Fox Hour in 1957. He provided the voice of Kay in The Sword in the Stone film in 1963 and received Oscar buzz for his role in I Never Promised You a...

     as Sir Kay
    Sir Kay
    In Arthurian legend, Sir Kay is Sir Ector's son and King Arthur's foster brother and later seneschal, as well as one of the first Knights of the Round Table. In later literature he is known for his acid tongue and bullying, boorish behavior, but in earlier accounts he was one of Arthur's premier...

    , the older foster brother of Wart. He is inept at the art of jousting and sword fighting.
  • Alan Napier
    Alan Napier
    Alan William Napier-Clavering was an English actor, best known for portraying Alfred Pennyworth in the 1960s live-action Batman television series.-Early life and career:...

     as Sir Pellinore, a friend of Sir Ector who announces the tournament in which Arthur is revealed as king.
  • Thurl Ravenscroft
    Thurl Ravenscroft
    Thurl Arthur Ravenscroft was an American voice actor and singer best known as the deep voice behind Tony the Tiger's "They're grrreat!" in Frosted Flakes television commercials for more than five decades. Ravenscroft was also known, however uncredited, as the vocalist for the song "You're a Mean...

     as Black Bart, a.k.a. the Black Knight, one of the first to recognize the sword pulled by Arthur from the stone.
  • James MacDonald
    Jimmy MacDonald (sound effects artist)
    John James "Jimmy" MacDonald was a Scottish voice actor and the original head of the Disney sound effects department, and the voice of Mickey Mouse from 1946 to 1977.-Career and sound effects:...

     as The Wolf, an unnamed wolf who wants to eat Wart. He was defeated in and not seen again after the squirrel scene.
  • Ginny Tyler
    Ginny Tyler
    Ginny Tyler is a Native American voice actress who appeared in dozens of cartoons and animated films from 1957 to 1992. In 2006, she was inducted into the Disney Legends program.-Life and work:...

     as The Little Girl Squirrel, a young, female squirrel that Wart come across and immediately develops an attraction to him. After she saves him from the wolf and Wart returns to human form, she breaks down into tears and runs away. She is last seen watching Wart and Merlin leave the forest, heartbroken, and crying one last time before the screen fades to black.

Soundtrack

  • "The Sword in the Stone" (Sung by Fred Darian)
  • "Higitus Figitus" (Sung by Merlin)
  • "That's What Makes the World Go Round" (Sung mainly by Merlin)
  • "A Most Befuddling Thing" (Sung by Merlin)
  • "Mad Madame Mim" (Sung by Mim)
  • "Blue Oak Tree" (Deleted Song)
  • "The Magic Key" (Deleted Song)

Theatricial releases

The film was originally released on December 25, 1963. It was then followed with re-issues in the United States on December 22, 1972 and March 25, 1983 with Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore
Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore
Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore is a Disney Winnie the Pooh animated featurette, based on two chapters from the books Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner, originally released theatrically on March 11, 1983, before the 1983 re-issue of The Sword in the Stone...

.

Reception

The film was a financial success at the box office and was the sixth highest grossing film of 1963. It was better received by British critics than American critics, who thought it had too much humor and a "thin narrative." As of 2009, Rotten Tomatoes reported that 73% of critics gave positive reviews based on 22 reviews with an average score of 6/10. In his book The Best of Disney, Neil Sinyard states that, despite being not well known, the film has excellent animation, a complex structure, and is actually more philosophical than other Disney features. Sinyard suggests that Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...

 may have seen something of himself in Merlin, and that Mim, who "hates wholesome sunshine", may have represented critics.

Awards

The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Score—Adaptation or Treatment
Academy Award for Original Music Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...

 in 1963, but lost against Irma La Douce
Irma la Douce
Irma la Douce/Irma la Dolce is a 1963 romantic comedy starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine, directed by Billy Wilder.It is based on the 1956 French musical Irma La Douce by Marguerite Monnot and Alexandre Breffort.-Plot:...

.

The American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...

 nominated The Sword in the Stone for its Top 10 Animated Films list.

Other media

Several characters from the film made frequent appearances in the Disney's House of Mouse
Disney's House of Mouse
Disney's House of Mouse is an American animated television series, produced by Walt Disney Television, that originally aired from 2001 to 2003-Premise:...

television series. Merlin was voiced by the late Hamilton Camp
Hamilton Camp
Hamilton Camp was an English-American singer, songwriter, actor and voice actor.-Early life:Camp was born in London, England, and was evacuated during World War II to the United States as a child with his mother and sister. He became a child actor in films and onstage...

. One of his notable appearances in the series was in the episode: "Rent Day", in which he tells Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...

 that he will give him the 50 ups only if he gives Arthur a sword. Madam Mim appears as one of the villains in the spin-off film Mickey's House of Villains
Mickey's House of Villains
Mickey's House of Villains is a direct-to-video film produced by The Walt Disney Company. It is a film adaptation of the Disney Channel animated television series Disney's House of Mouse, starring Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Daisy Duck and Disney Villains that have appeared in...

. Merlin frequents the Disney Parks, the only character from Sword in the Stone appearing for meet-and-greets at Disneyland Resort
Disneyland Resort
The Disneyland Resort is a recreational resort in Anaheim, California. The resort is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks and Resorts division and is home to two theme parks, three hotels and a shopping, dining, and entertainment area known as Downtown Disney.The area now...

 and Walt Disney World Resort
Walt Disney World Resort
Walt Disney World Resort , is the world's most-visited entertaimental resort. Located in Lake Buena Vista, Florida ; approximately southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States, the resort covers an area of and includes four theme parks, two water parks, 23 on-site themed resort hotels Walt...

. He appears as part of the opening unit of Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams
Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams
Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams premiered on May 5, 2005 as part of the Happiest Homecoming on Earth, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Disneyland in California...

 at Disneyland Park
Disneyland Park (Anaheim)
Disneyland Park is a theme park located in Anaheim, California, owned and operated by the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts division of the Walt Disney Company. Known as Disneyland when it opened on July 18, 1955, and still almost universally referred to by that name, it is the only theme park to be...

. He also hosts the Sword in the Stone ceremony in the King Arthur Carrousel
King Arthur Carrousel
King Arthur Carrousel is the carousel in Fantasyland at Disneyland which was featured in the telecast of Disneyland's 1955 opening day.-History:...

 attraction in Fantasyland
Fantasyland
Fantasyland is one of the "themed lands" at the many Magic Kingdom-style parks run by The Walt Disney Company around the world. Each Fantasyland has a castle as well as several gentle rides themed after Disney movies...

 at Disneyland.

Comics

Madam Mim was adopted into the Duck universe where she sometimes teams up with Magica De Spell
Magica De Spell
Magica De Spell is a fictional character of the Scrooge McDuck universe, a sorceress created by Carl Barks. She constantly steals or attempts to steal Scrooge McDuck's Number One Dime, which she believes will play a vital role in magically obtaining the same fabulous wealth of its...

 and/or the Beagle Boys
Beagle Boys
The Beagle Boys are a group of fictional characters from the Scrooge McDuck universe. Created by Carl Barks, they are a gang of criminals who constantly try to rob Scrooge McDuck. Their introduction and first appearance was in Terror of the Beagle Boys, in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #134,...

. She has also appeared in the Mickey Mouse universe
Mickey Mouse universe
The Mickey Mouse universe is a fictional universe where some cartoon characters created by the The Walt Disney Company live, the most famous of which is Mickey Mouse. It is coexistent with the Duck universe, a spin-off of the Mickey Mouse universe which centers around Mickey's friend Donald Duck...

 where she teamed up with Black Pete on occasion and even with the Phantom Blot
Phantom Blot
The Phantom Blot is a fictional character featured in various media by The Walt Disney Company. He is an enemy of Mickey Mouse. He first appeared in the Mickey Mouse comic strip adventure Mickey Mouse Outwits The Phantom Blot by Floyd Gottfredson, which was published in the form of daily strips...

 at one point. She was in love with Captain Hook in several stories; in others, with Phantom Blot
Phantom Blot
The Phantom Blot is a fictional character featured in various media by The Walt Disney Company. He is an enemy of Mickey Mouse. He first appeared in the Mickey Mouse comic strip adventure Mickey Mouse Outwits The Phantom Blot by Floyd Gottfredson, which was published in the form of daily strips...

. In many European Disney comics, she has lost her truly evil
Evil
Evil is the violation of, or intent to violate, some moral code. Evil is usually seen as the dualistic opposite of good. Definitions of evil vary along with analysis of its root motive causes, however general actions commonly considered evil include: conscious and deliberate wrongdoing,...

 streak, and appears both morbid yet still relatively polite.

Mim has appeared in numerous comics produced in the USA by the so-called Studio program in the 1960s and 1970s, often as a sidekick of Magica. Most of these stories were published in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

. Among the artists are Jim Fletcher, Tony Strobl
Tony Strobl
Anthony Joseph Strobl was an American comics artist and animator. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio and attended Cleveland School of Art from 1933–37, with Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who actually got some help from Strobl creating Superman...

, Wolfgang and Katja Schäfer. Several new characters were introduced in these stories, including Samson Hex, an apprentice of Mim and Magica.

Video games

Madam Mim appears in the video game World of Illusion as the fourth boss of that game.

Merlin is a supporting character in the Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts
is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square in 2002 for the PlayStation 2 video game console. The first game in the Kingdom Hearts series, it is the result of a collaboration between Square Enix and The Walt Disney Company. The game combines characters and settings from Disney...

series, now voiced by Jeff Bennett
Jeff Bennett
Jeffrey Glenn "Jeff" Bennett is an American voice actor and musician, listed "among the top names in the voice-over field", best known as the voice of Johnny Bravo in the series of the same name...

 in Kingdom Hearts II
Kingdom Hearts II
is an action role-playing game developed by Square Enix and published by Buena Vista Games and Square Enix in 2005 for the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console...

. In Kingdom Hearts, Merlin lives in an abandoned shack in Traverse Town with Cinderella
Cinderella (Disney character)
Cinderella is a fictional character and is the main protagonist from Disney's twelfth animated film Cinderella and its two sequels. In the original film she is voiced by the late Ilene Woods...

's Fairy Godmother, sent by King Mickey
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...

 to aid Sora, Donald and Goofy in the art of magic. He also owns an old book which features the world of The Hundred Acre Wood, home of Winnie the Pooh. The book's pages, however, have been torn out and scattered across the universe, and Merlin asks Sora to retrieve them for him. He reprises the same role in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, as a figment of Sora's memories. In Kingdom Hearts II, Merlin moved to Hollow Bastion to aid the live with Leon's group as part of the town's Restoration Committee, though he is at odds with Cid who prefers his own computer expertise rather than Merlin's magic. Merlin again instructs Sora, Donald and Goofy in the art of magic, and once again requests that they retrieve the stolen parts of the Pooh storybook. At one point in the game, he is summoned to Disney Castle by Queen Minnie
Minnie Mouse
Minerva "Minnie" Mouse is an animated character created by Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney. The comic strip story "The Gleam" by Merrill De Maris and Floyd Gottfredson first gave her full name as Minerva Mouse. Minnie has since been a recurring alias for her. Minnie is currently voiced by actress Russi...

 to counter the threat of Maleficent
Maleficent
Maleficent is a fictional character and the main antagonist in Walt Disney's 1959 adaptation of Sleeping Beauty. She is the self-proclaimed "Mistress of All Evil" who, after not being invited to the baby's christening, curses the infant Princess Aurora to "prick her finger on the spindle of a...

, and he constructs a door leading to Disney Castle's past (Timeless River) for the trio to explore and stop Maleficent and Pete's plans. In the prequel, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Merlin encounters Terra, Aqua and Ventus, and grants them each access to the Hundred Acre Wood. The prequel also reveals that it was Terra who gave him the book in the first place after finding it somewhere in Radiant Garden.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK