Not every Disney movie has a Big Bad Evil Guy. I recently skipped Bolt (unless you count the pretend villain… or the lawyer) and I went right past Cars (that one car is a bit mean?). Of the movies that do have villains, not all of them are going to make good inspiration for the Big Bad in your Table Top RPG.
Lady Tremaine is not going to win this imagined contest. She might win last place though. She’s not taking on any adventurers with any amount of success. Even in a game where you play the talking mice…
Presence – 2 out of 5
She’s got a good villain voice, has an air of menace even when she’s chilling in bed, and she gives the impression of being a threat.
It’s just an impression though. She acts like she’s in charge but she’s really not. When the prince and his guards turn up at the house, she’s a poor negotiator and grovelling, mean old lady at most.
Atmosphere – 1 out of 5
Nice house, which isn’t hers. You’d hardly know if she was there most of the time. Animals scurry from her, but only Cinderella reacts to her approach, and even though out of politeness more than fear.
Omniscience – .5 out of 5
The Lady doesn’t know about the Fairy Godmother’s existence, or that Cinderella actually left when ordered not to. She doesn’t know about the sentient mice in her house.
She doesn’t even consider for a moment that there might be a second slipper in the pair.
Henchmen – 1 out of 5
If we’re assuming Cinderella is the basis of a human-sized adventure, the Ugly Stepsisters would make for the worst supporting cast. They may be ugly on the inside, but that are barley two-dimensional and offer no threat to anything except maybe a string of pearls.
If we’re assuming that the mice are the hero Player Characters (which would be a much more interesting adventure), then the only hench-animal is the cat. The mice are smarter-than-your-average, but this angry fluffball offers so little danger. He’s 70% cream at this point.
Threat Level – .5 out of 5
If your not a meek and trusting princess, your not being pushed around or locked up by this lady. Disney has a good line of ‘powerful old ladies’, and this is not one of them.
Finale – 1 out of 5
When you boil it down, the stakes at the end of this movie/adventure of very low. Girl needs to escape a room and prove a shoe fits. Not only is that very straightforward (unless your rolling for the mice trying to save her), it also means very little if you lose. Both slippers smashed? Cinderella can just walk up to the Prince and look at him and say “hey, it’s me”. Can’t escape the tower? Eventually Lady Tremaine will let her out to do chores, and Cinderella can just go back to the castle.
Final Score = 1
I feel generous giving Lady Tremaine an attack in any sense, but she looks like she could at least give someone a good slam.
Not the worst inspiration for a BBEG. She pushes Edgar out of the way to take 10th place. I don’t think she’ll be there for long.
| Disney Villain | Score |
| Jafar | 3.83 👑 |
| Lyle Tiberius Rourke | 3.66 |
| Hopper | 3.16 |
| Robert Callaghan | 3.00 |
| The Horned King | 3.00 |
| Gaston LeGume | 2.66 |
| Cruella de Vil | 2.00 |
| Mor’du | 1.83 |
| Queen of Hearts | 1.33 |
| Lady Tremaine | 1.00 |
Thank You For Reading
The other Disney BBEG contenders are right here.
Gamer Peak 