Ravenna (Snow White and the Huntsman)

**Ravenna** is a female character that features in the movie Snow White and the Huntsman.

## Biography

Ravenna was the name of a blond haired woman who inhabited the world. In her youth, her mother helped cast the "fairest blood" spell that made it her power and protection as she saw beauty as the only thing that could save her. At some point in her past, she had married a king who replaced his old wife where the new queen remained as the ruler of a realm. Her mother begged her to avenge them before the king's men killed her parents though her brother also survived. However, she came to realize that she would be replaced eventually by her husband and thus murdered him. She made use of magic to keep herself ever young but needed to be the *"Fairest One of All"* and thus consumed the hearts of those that were destined to surpass her in beauty. Thus, she conquered kingdom after kingdom as part of her glorious reign. She claimed that she had lived too many lives and had ravaged entire kingdoms. For the kingdom of Magnus, she employed trickery where she created a phantom army and disguised herself as a captive slave. The army was easily defeated and she was rescued by King Magnus where she used her beauty to bewitch him. At this point, the king's wife had died and the sight of Ravenna made him forget her loss. Within a day, so enchanted was he with her beauty that he decided to marry her. On her wedding night, she poisoned Magnus and killed him in bed by stabbing his heart with a dagger. She later opened the gates allowing her army to ravage the castle and take the kingdom for herself. Many of the inhabitants were killed or fled with Princess Snow White being captured by Ravenna's forces. After taking control of the throne, Ravenna had Snow White confined to the dungeon and her poisonous power began to infect the land causing the people to turn against one another with trees withering under the new queen's reign. Her rule remained relatively unchallenged for countless years except for the forces of Duke Hammond whilst the captive Princess Snow grew to adulthood with her only worry being from various bands of resistance. By this point, she began to experience aging and a waning in her abilities. Consulting her magical mirror, she learnt that she had been surpassed as *"Fairest of them All"* by Snow White. Whilst angry, the mirror told her that Princess Snow was in fact the Queen's salvation as by consuming her heart, Ravenna would be able to remain young forever thus achieving true immortality. She dispatched her brother to retrieve the girl only for Snow White to escape from her prison cell. This left Ravenna enraged when she learnt that Snow had fled into the Dark Forest and despaired as she had no power there. However, he offered to bring her a huntsman to go into the Dark Forest and bring back Snow White in exchange for bringing back Eric's dead wife.

When her brother was killed by the Huntsman, Ravenna felt his death and was in agony as he called for his sister to heal him. As he died, the queen begged her brother to forgive her as he died within the forest. Afterwards, she used her magic to summon a flock of crows to surround herself within her castle in order to cast a spell to disguise herself as the resistance fighter William, a friend of Snow White. In this guise, Snow White kissed Ravenna and the queen offered an apple which was actually poisoned. The princess ate the apple only to suffer from its poisonous effects. Despite this being the case, the Huntsman William's kiss managed to restore Snow White whilst the queen drained the life of numerous slaves in order to restore her own youth. Her advisors informed her that an army was being assembled under the banner of the slain King Magnus which was being led by Princess Snow White. The tyrannical queen did not fear the arrival of the army and waited for them as she desired her prize in the form of the princess. At this point, the rebel army assaulted the castle and entered within it where Princess Snow confronted Ravenna. In the battle, the queen summoned soldiers of black glass that dealt with the rebels whilst Ravenna overpowered the princess. Before she could deal the deathblow, Snow stabbed Ravenna with a dagger into her chest leading to the death of the queen and the end of her reign. Following her death, Snow White was declared the queen of the new kingdom.

## Overview

### Personality and attributes

The tyrannical queen claimed that once upon a time she was ruined by a king who had married her and replaced his old wife. The experience made her hate men as a result and she believed that all men simply used women. Thus, she felt that once a woman had satisfied a man, then she was simply tossed aside to 'dogs' like scraps. As such, she claimed that long ago she would have fallen for a handsome man but came to believe that such individuals would only break her heart. She felt that love always betrayed and hurt everyone. As a result, she became fixated on herself and her power as she believed that if a woman stayed young forever than the world was hers. Thus, she felt nothing but horror and fear at the thought of growing old. She stated that she would never stop in her actions to conquer the world as she intended to give the wretched land the queen it deserved.

Whilst cruel to others, Ravenna was shown to hold some form of attachment and affection towards her brother. She helped maintain his youth and cried for him when he died where she begged for his forgiveness.

She was not above lying to achieve her goals such as promising to bring back the dead.

### Powers and abilities

Ravenna claimed that she had powers that could not be fathomed by ordinary mortals. During her life, she had harnessed the power of dark magic to help her which she also used to maintain her youth. This was achieved through the "fairest blood" spell that meant she needed to be the fairest of them all. However, such magic had a lofty price and its expense grew over the years as over time her power began to fade. This meant that she needed to consume the life of victims in order to maintain her youthful appearance and powers. She accomplished this through getting young victims and absorbing their life energy by sucking it through her mouth. The act left the victim old and decrepit leading to their eventual death. Thus, her youth was only temporary and she lived a vampiric existence to maintain her power. To achieve true immortality, she needed to consume the heart of one who succeeded her in being the *"Fairest of All"* with this act meaning she never aged or weakened. She was able to extend the youth of others such as her brother but was linked with such individuals and experienced their pain when they died.

She was able to conjure a magical phantom army that shattered from simple blows. These were used to distract her foes and were part of her plan to make herself appear as a captive of enemies. She was also able to stop the heart of any victim by placing her hand on their chest. Ravenna was also able to survive the stabbing of a dagger in her abdomen though she experienced some pain from the act. As such, it was claimed that she could not be killed by normal means. Despite her great magic, she was unable to function in the Dark Forest as her powers were unable to be used in the area. She was, however, able to transform into a flock of crows and the power to assume any shape like those of a persons loved one. When wounded, it took some effort for Ravenna to reconstitute her body from its various pieces with a black fluid streaming from her form as she sought to restore herself.

In her arsenal, she was able to give poisonous apples to others that appeared healthy but a single bite was venomous that killed the person who ate them. Only the kiss of a true love was able to restore those who had taken a bite from the poison apple. Her magic was able to turn shards of black glass into humanoid monsters that had the power to regenerate as well as reform limbs into blades and used as soldiers against her enemies. With her possession was also a disc shaped magical golden mirror which she was able to consult. Through it, she was able to determine if she was the *"Fairest of All"* whereupon a golden figure emerged from the mirror from a liquid form that emerged from its surface. As such, it served as her adviser and told her how to maintain her power as well as how to gain true immortality.

## Notes

* Queen Ravenna was played by actress Charlize Theron in the feature film.