Plot

A vengeful fairy is driven to curse an infant princess, only to discover that the child could be the one person who can restore peace to their troubled land.

A beautiful, pure-hearted young woman, Maleficent has an idyllic life growing up in a peaceable forest kingdom, until the day an invading army threatens the harmony of the land. Maleficent rises to be the land's fiercest protector, but she ultimately suffers a ruthless betrayal--an act that turns her pure heart to stone. Bent on revenge, Maleficent faces a battle with the invading king's successor; as a result she places a curse upon his newborn daughter Aurora. As the child grows, Maleficent realizes that Aurora holds the key to peace in the kingdom--and perhaps to Maleficent's true happiness as well.—Walt Disney Pictures

Reared in the enchanted forests of the Moors--the magical realm on the outskirts of a rival human kingdom--Maleficent, the magnificent winged fairy of pure heart, experiences for the first time the intoxicating effect of a youthful romance. But, soon, the frail age of innocence will come to an end--and as a despicable act of betrayal blemishes forever the young sprite's sensitive soul--an all-powerful dark Maleficent emerges; the mighty defender of the Moors. Now, bitterness, anger, and a rabid desire for retribution fill the void in Maleficent's heart--no one is safe from harm; especially the king's newborn daughter, Aurora, who must suffer for the sins of her father. Once, a cherished one used the healing force of noble feelings against Maleficent. Could now true love stop the Mistress of All Evil?—Nick Riganas

Maleficent once ruled the moors with a kind heart, but everything changes for her when she befriends Stefan. Their friendship becomes an inseparable one, but everything changes for Maleficent when Stefan betrays her by cutting her wings off and Henry crowns Stefan as his successor to the throne and he is married to Leila, who becomes his queen. When Maleficent learns about what Stefan did to her through Diaval, she becomes angry and she vows revenge on her former friend. Maleficent soon learns that Stefan and Leila's newborn daughter, Aurora, is being christened. During the ceremony, Maleficent curses Aurora in order to make Stefan suffer, but the curse will be lifted by true love. Stefan tasks Knotgrass, Flittle, and Thistlewit to take care of Aurora. It becomes apparent that the pixies cannot take care of the young princess, Maleficent and Divial start to take care of Aurora in secret without the pixies noticing. By the time Aurora grows up, she begins to view Maleficent as her godmother, causing the dark fey to develop a change of heart. Maleficent will soon realize that Aurora is the only person who can bring peace and harmony to the moors and the kingdom.—dawsonpersi

A middle-aged female fairy who has experienced trauma puts a curse on a young female princess and watches her grow up and helps her in life. Along the way, as past threats return, she must choose which side she is really on and helps for the future of the kingdom and world.—RECB3

An elderly narrator tells the story of Maleficent (Angelina Jolie) a very strong and powerful fairy living in the Moors.

Long ago, two rival kingdoms sat side by side, which are the human kingdom, ruled by a vain and power-hungry king, and the Moors, a peaceful place inhabited by many gentle supernatural creatures. One resident of the Moors is Maleficent (Isobelle Molloy), a young fairy girl with enormous wings, who acts as a guardian for the other magical beings.

Young Maleficent is alerted by three small fairies, Knotgrass (Imelda Staunton), Flittle (Lesley Manville), and Thistlewit (Juno Temple), that a thief has been apprehended by the forest guards at the Moors' border. The thief, a human boy called Stefan, returns the jewel he had taken and explains that he is an orphan with no real home. Maleficent forgives him and the two strike up a friendship that lasts for several years. On Maleficent's sixteenth birthday, Stefan gives her "true love's kiss," but then abandons her to pursue his thirst for power in the King's inner circle. Meanwhile, Maleficent (Angelina Jolie), now grown, becomes protector of the Moors. As they grow older, Stefan stops seeing Maleficent.

When King Henry (Kenneth Cranham), the human kingdom's ruler, attempts to conquer the Moors, Maleficent mortally wounds him, forcing his retreat. Henry makes known his hatred for the winged woman who defends the Moors. On his deathbed, Henry declares that whoever brings proof Maleficent's death will be king and marry his daughter Leila. Stefan (Sharlto Copley) overhears this, goes to see Maleficent.

Stefan returns to the Moors at night and reconnects with Maleficent, who is happy and not at all suspicious to see her friend again. Stefan deceives her into thinking that he has come to warn her of the king's plot. He drugs her and attempts to kill her but cannot bring himself to do so. Instead, he cuts off her wings using iron (as iron burns fairies) and presents them to the king as proof of her death.

While still processing the betrayal, Maleficent saves Diaval (Sam Riley), a trapped raven, from being killed by a farmer by turning him into a human. She recruits this raven-man, Diaval (Sam Riley) to serve as her "wings" in exchange for having saved his life. Diaval reports to her that Stefan has been crowned king & has been married to the ex-king's daughter Princess Leila (Hannah New).

The realization that Stefan betrayed her to gain the throne devastates Maleficent and in retaliation, she declares herself queen of the Moors, forming a dark oppressive kingdom with Diaval as her one companion and confidant. Maleficent, and the Moors she protects, become dark and bitter. Maleficent infuses her surroundings with dark magic and pitting herself once and for all against Stefan, ruler of the human kingdom.

Sometime later, Diaval informs Maleficent that King Stefan is hosting a christening for his newborn daughter, Aurora (Elle Fanning). Bent on revenge, Maleficent arrives uninvited and curses the newborn princess that before the sun sets on Aurora's sixteenth birthday, Aurora will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and fall into a death-like sleep. After Stefan is forced by Maleficent to beg for his daughter, Maleficent mocks Stefan's plea for mercy. But she offers a caveat that the curse can be broken by true love's kiss, which she and Stefan both believe is nonexistent.

Terrified of Maleficent' s vengeance, Stefan sends Aurora to live with three fairies (Knotgrass, Flittle, and Thistlewit) until the day after her sixteenth birthday, while he destroys all the spinning wheels in the kingdom and hides them in the deepest dungeon in the castle. He sends out his armies to find and kill Maleficent, but she surrounds the Moors with an impenetrable wall of thorns. Over the years, Stefan begins mass-manufacturing iron weapons, which are lethal to fairies.

Despite her initial dislike for Princess Aurora, Maleficent begins to care about the girl when the careless pixies fall short in watching over her. The princess is kept safe by Maleficent's curse, which rules that she must stay alive until her sixteenth birthday.

After a brief meeting with the young Aurora, Maleficent watches over her from afar. Maleficent now sees that Aurora is a good, innocent person undeserving of such a harsh fate. When Aurora is 15, Maleficent puts a temporary sleeping spell on the girl and transports her into the Moors. When Aurora wakes, she is enchanted by the beautiful fairy kingdom and shows no fear when Maleficent makes her presence known. Aurora meets Maleficent for the first time and calls her "fairy godmother", as she recalled being watched over by her all her life. Aurora bonds with her and starts regularly visiting the Moors. Aurora grows into a pretty teenager, with no inkling of her royal roots or Maleficent's curse.

As Aurora's sixteenth birthday nears, Stefan falls deeper into paranoia. The Queen is dying, and he knows Maleficent will return on the day the curse is set to culminate. He keeps her severed wings in a glass cabinet in an isolated wing of the palace. He becomes more and more detached from reality, having long rambling "conversations" with the wings and is deaf to any subject other than Maleficent. He sends his men to hunt her down before Aurora's birthday.

Realizing she has grown fond of the princess, Maleficent attempts to revoke the curse, but cannot as she herself had declared that "no power on Earth can change it". Diaval reminds her that true love's kiss can still break the spell, but Maleficent admits she added it as a false hope because she believed it did not exist.

Aurora later meets Prince Phillip (Brenton Thwaites), and the two are smitten with each other, but have little opportunity to build a relationship. On the day before Aurora's 16th birthday, Maleficent, hoping to avoid the curse, allows the girl to move to the Moors, far away from any spindles. When she attempts to inform the pixies of this the next day, they reveal the truth about Aurora's lineage and curse. Heartbroken, Aurora rides off to her father's castle.

Instead of welcoming her and still intent on killing Maleficent, Stefan locks her in a room for her safety. But she is suddenly drawn by the curse to the dungeon, where the curse magically assembles a spinning wheel from the broken parts. Aurora pricks her finger and falls asleep. Intent on saving her, Maleficent abducts Phillip, casts a sleeping charm on the rather confused prince, and whisks him away through the forest, hoping to get to Aurora before the curse unfolds.

Aurora is carried back to her chambers and laid on the bed. Stefan is enraged, blaming the three fairies for failing to protect his daughter. Maleficent infiltrates Stefan's castle to have him kiss Aurora and break the curse. However, Phillip's romantic kiss has no effect, as the two are not yet truly in love. Maleficent apologizes to Aurora and swears no harm will come to her, kissing her forehead.

This breaks the curse and causes Aurora to awaken, as Maleficent's motherly concern for Aurora constitutes "true love." Aurora realizes how much Maleficent cares for her and begins to trust her again. Aurora forgives her and they attempt to flee the castle, but Maleficent is trapped in an iron net and attacked by Stefan and his guards. Maleficent transforms Diaval into a dragon and he lifts the net off her but is driven back by the soldiers.

Stefan beats Maleficent and taunts her, but before he can kill her, her wings, freed from his chamber by Aurora, fly back to her and reattach themselves. With her wings back, Maleficent overpowers Stefan and carries him onto a tower, but cannot bring herself to kill him, instead declaring their feud over. But Stefan tackles her from behind, dragging them both off the tower; she saves herself with her wings, while he loses hold and falls to his death.

Maleficent soon undoes the dark magic in the Moors, restoring its former light and beauty. The Moors and the human kingdom are now united, and Aurora is crowned Queen of both kingdoms. Prince Phillip and Aurora continue their romance, and Maleficent, now free from the chains of her vengeful thoughts, lives happily among the peaceful creatures of the Moors, and flies happily through the skies with Diaval.

The narrator then reveals her own identity as an older Princess Aurora.