In 1937, Walt Disney and his studio made the jump from animated shorts to full-length features with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, a sweet musical fantasy about a princess hiding out in the woods with a group of dwarves while her jealous stepmother plots her murder. As optimistic and lighthearted as the Disney version of the film is, the real story of Snow White is anything but. Written by the Brothers Grimm, the original Snow White is a tale of witchcraft, cannibalism, and some seriously awful iron shoes. This is nothing like the kids' movie you grew up with — these are the messed up origins of Disney's Snow White.
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00:00The 1937 Disney movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was a massive hit and broke box office
00:05records upon its release. But it was inspired by a seriously dark story, courtesy of the Brothers
00:11Grimm. So if you want the grisly details, here are the messed-up origins of the classic Disney film.
00:17In the Disney film, there's no explanation for where Snow White gets her name,
00:20other than her being, well, white. But it turns out that the Brothers Grimm's
00:24original version of the tale actually gives her name an origin story.
00:28Originally, Snow White's mother is sewing in the castle as snow is falling outside.
00:32She accidentally pricks herself with her needle, and the drops of blood land on the fresh snow.
00:36Apparently, the window was open, which seems uncomfortable if it's cold enough to snow.
00:41But on seeing the blood, her mother exclaims,
00:43"'If only I had a child as white as snow, lips as red as blood,
00:47and hair as black as the wood in this frame.'"
00:49That's a pretty creepy thing to say out of nowhere, but hey, fairy tale parents are weird.
00:54The scene doesn't appear in the Disney version at all, but they do refer to it.
00:57The magic mirror, when first describing Snow White, says,
01:01"'Lips red as the rose, hair black as ebony, skin white as snow.'"
01:09As you might have noticed, they skipped over the whole red-as-blood part,
01:12making it much tamer with the whole flower analogy.
01:16Disney's version completely leaves out any mention whatsoever of Snow White's biological family.
01:21She has her evil stepmother, the Queen, sometimes known as Queen Grimhilda, and that's it.
01:26If there's a queen, who's the king? And just who is Snow White's mother,
01:29since she definitely has one in the fairy tale? Well, in the Brothers Grimm story,
01:33Snow White's mother is the original queen, meaning Snow White is a princess by birth.
01:38Unfortunately, the mom dies during childbirth, and the king remarries a year later.
01:43"'This is true love. Think this happens every day?'
01:49The king is mentioned exactly once in the Grimm's fairy tale when he marries the evil queen,
01:54but doesn't come up again. He isn't even in the Disney version at all.
01:57Some versions imply or even accuse the queen of having killed the king.
02:01Snow White and the Huntsman, with Chris Hemsworth, is one such version.
02:05While Disney's evil queen performs magic and even turns herself into an old crone,
02:09this is just supposed to be your typical fairy tale evil magic. The only character who ever
02:14refers to her as a witch is Grumpy, but he literally calls all women witches on a line
02:19just before that, so it seems that's Grumpy's issue. Let's just say they call him Grumpy for
02:24a reason. In the Grimm Brothers story, however, the queen is explicitly described as a witch who
02:29practices witchcraft, which is how she creates the poison apple. Coming from a time and place
02:33where the fear of witches was a pretty real thing, it makes sense that the Brothers Grimm didn't pull
02:38any punches. In fact, unlike Disney's villain, the fairy tale queen doesn't need to turn herself
02:42into a witch because, well, she already is one. Instead, she just wears ordinary disguises when
02:48she approaches Snow White. In the animated film, the queen orders the Huntsman to take Snow White
02:53into the woods and kill her. But before he can begin his task, the Huntsman decides his conscience
02:58won't allow him to kill an innocent princess. So he lets her go, telling her to run away into the
03:03woods. What a kind fellow. In the Grimm's fairy tale, things play out much the same. The queen
03:08orders the Huntsman to take Snow White into the woods and kill her, but that's where the
03:12similarities end. In the fairy tale, the Huntsman draws his knife and holds it over Snow White's
03:16heart, ready to kill her. She sobs and begs him to spare her life. That's a whole lot darker.
03:22The Huntsman does grant her mercy, but he only does it because she's so beautiful. As she runs
03:26away, he thinks to himself that the wild animals of the forest will kill and eat her soon. Not so
03:31kind now, is he? The Grimm's do say that he feels relief, like a stone falling off his heart for
03:37not killing her. Still, this version of the Huntsman is pretty cold-blooded compared to
03:41his animated counterpart. In Disney's film, the Evil Queen asks the Huntsman for proof
03:46of Snow White's death.
03:48"...bring back her heart in this."
03:54Compared to later Disney movies, this is pretty gruesome. But the Huntsman slaughters a pig and
03:59brings the heart to the queen, which is enough to fool her into believing Snow White is dead.
04:03That is, until the magic mirror tells her otherwise. At least the movie is tame enough
04:07that it never actually shows what's in the box. But the fairy tale version is way grosser. It's
04:12not Snow White's heart that the queen demands, it's her lungs and liver. That's pretty stomach
04:17turning and way more graphic than the movie. And yeah, the Huntsman does bring the queen a
04:21pair of lungs and a liver, but these are from a wild boar that he killed. Since he killed a pig
04:26in the movie, this part at least does match up in both stories. In both versions, the Huntsman
04:31gets away with his deception. Considering how powerful the queen is, that's pretty lucky.
04:36Well, not so lucky for the pig.
04:38In this Disney version, the queen asks for Snow White's heart, but it's only for proof of Snow
04:43White's death. After the magic mirror calls it out as a fake, though, it never comes up again.
04:47However, the Grimm Brothers' queen wants Snow White's lungs and liver for a far more disturbing
04:52reason. She intends to cook them and eat them. Yes, really. The queen wants to kill Snow White,
04:58then cannibalize her remains, which is pretty monstrous even for the Brothers' Grimm.
05:03Huntsman delivers the lungs and liver, and the queen has the castle cook boil them with salt.
05:08Then she eats them. Yeah, the queen eats an innocent girl's entrails just because
05:12she was prettier than her. That is next-level messed up.
05:17The Disney queen makes two attempts on Snow White's life. She orders the Huntsman to kill
05:21her, and when that fails, she tries to poison her. That's more than enough to make the queen
05:25a hardened criminal. But the original fairy tale queen is even more cold-blooded. She tries to kill
05:30Snow White twice as many times as the Disney queen. After the queen discovers the lungs and
05:35liver are fake, she dresses as a peddler and visits Snow White at the dwarves' cottage selling
05:39bodices. Snow White agrees to try one on, at which point the queen laces it up so tightly
05:44that Snow White can't breathe. The queen then flees, and the dwarves rescue Snow White shortly
05:49after by cutting the lacing. For her second plan, the queen makes a poisoned comb, disguises
05:54herself, and brings it to Snow White. The queen convinces Snow White to let her comb her hair,
05:58and the poisoned comb paralyzes her. Fortunately, the dwarves rescue her once again by removing the
06:03comb before it can kill her. It's only at this point that the queen decides to try the poisoned
06:08apple, also proving that Snow White is a very slow learner.
06:12The film version of the story has Snow White singing while doing chores, which the prince
06:16joins in on. The prince moves on after that song, but later, after Snow White is put into a magical
06:21sleep by the poisoned apple, the prince comes across her coffin in the woods. He recognizes
06:26her, gets all kissy, and breaks the curse. It's like a meet-cute that pays off at the end of the
06:30movie and gives things some closure. The Brothers Grimm version doesn't have Snow White and the
06:35prince interacting before he comes across the dwarves' house. When he does, though,
06:38the dwarves tell him Snow White's story. What's more, it's not even all that soon after the
06:43queen's poisoning. The fairy tale says that it's a, quote,
06:46"...long, long time before the prince stumbles across her."
06:49Even weirder is that the prince, seeing the undecayed corpse of this stranger for the first
06:53time, somehow convinces the dwarves to let him take her. Apparently, he can't live without looking
06:58upon her beauty. That's a creepy thing to request. The dwarves agree, for whatever reason,
07:03and the prince has his servants pick up the coffin and carry it behind him. Weirdo.
07:08In the typical romantic style that would soon come to define Disney's animated films,
07:12the cinematic Snow White can only be awakened by true love's kiss.
07:16The queen assumes the dwarves will bury her alive, ensuring no one will ever kiss her.
07:21However, the dwarves leave her in an above-ground glass coffin, where the prince finds her and
07:25kisses her. True love's kiss doesn't factor into Grimm's fairy tales at all. The queen never
07:30mentions a cure for the poisoned apple, so it seems that, as far as the queen is concerned,
07:34nothing can break the spell. However, one of the prince's servants tasked with carrying the coffin
07:39trips and drops it, which dislodges a chunk of the poisoned apple that was stuck in Snow White's
07:43throat. She reawakens, meets the prince, and agrees to marry a creepy guy she just met.
07:49Stranger Still is the first edition of the story that the Grimms published.
07:53This earlier version features a much different curse-breaking. One of the prince's servants
07:57actually hits the unconscious Snow White because he's so angry at being forced to carry her coffin.
08:02This causes Snow White to spit out a chunk of the poisoned apple.
08:06After the Disney queen poisons Snow White with the apple, she's spotted by the seven dwarves.
08:11They give chase, eventually leading up a mountainside, where the queen tries to push a
08:14boulder on the dwarves. But as though nature itself is tired of her nonsense, lightning
08:19strikes the edge of a precipice, sending the queen down a sheer drop, with the boulder and
08:23two vultures following after her. Thus begins the long tradition of violent yet bloodless Disney
08:28villain deaths. So how much of that is in the fairy tale? Well, uh, none of it. The queen runs
08:34away after feeding Snow White the poisoned apple, and that's it. But then she does get an invitation
08:40to the prince's wedding. She only goes because the magic mirror tells her that the prince's
08:43new bride is now the fairest in the land. Still not able to handle being the second fairest,
08:48the queen reluctantly shows up, and that's when she discovers that the prince's bride
08:52is none other than Snow White. Then things take an extremely dark turn. The prince sees the queen,
08:58and, realizing who she is, orders his guards to arrest her. Then he has a pair of iron shoes,
09:03heated until they're red-hot, puts them on the queen with tongs, and finally makes her dance
09:07until she's dead. Maybe it's better we didn't get that in the film.
09:12In Walt Disney's version of the story, Snow White looks to be a young adult,
09:15perhaps on the cusp of becoming a queen herself. As a royal, the queen's reign can only last so
09:20long, and eventually she becomes old and begins to lose power. If she gets rid of Snow White,
09:24however, she can preserve the illusion that she'll always be young and beautiful.
09:29Immortality.
09:31The fairy tale is different in a major way. It explicitly says that Snow White is a mere
09:36seven years old. Let that sink in. The queen is jealous of the beauty of a seven-year-old.
09:42The huntsman nearly kills a child. The seven dwarves are trying to protect a kid from her
09:46evil stepmother who wants to eat her. But then you get to the prince. The story says she doesn't
09:51decay in the coffin, so that kind of implies she doesn't age, either. He basically wants to wander
09:57off with a seven-year-old's corpse. Yuck. And then when she wakes up, he marries her.
10:03After the brothers Grimm recorded and published all the fairy tales they could, they just couldn't
10:07rest on their laurels. They actually edited and revised the stories several times, publishing
10:11multiple editions throughout their lives. The stories have a reputation for being violent and
10:16way too intense for kids. But the brothers actually did perform one bit of self-censorship
10:21after the first edition. In both the Disney film and the fairy tale, the queen is always Snow White's
10:26stepmother. But in the 1812 first edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales, the queen was actually
10:31Snow White's biological mother. It wasn't until the 1819 edition that the Grimms added the parts
10:36about her mother dying in childbirth and the king remarrying. This is something they're believed to
10:41have changed to make the story less frightening for children. This puts the entire story in a
10:46different light. Snow White's mother wishes for a beautiful child, gets her, and then hates her for
10:51her beauty. Then she tries to have her seven-year-old child killed, openly desires to cannibalize her,
10:56and finally tries to kill her when the huntsman fails. It makes things way darker.
11:00According to The Guardian, the Grimms eventually changed it because they held motherhood sacred.
11:05Well, at least the Grimms had that going for them.