Queen Narissa

Queen Narissa is the main antagonist of Walt Disney Pictures' hit Enchanted (2007). She was portrayed/voiced by actress Susan Sarandon and animated by Disney veteran Andreas Deja.

Narissa finds her position as Queen of the animated realm, Andalasia in grave danger when her stepson Prince Edward falls in love with the innocently stunning Giselle. The cruel Queen banishes Giselle to the very real world of New York City to keep her from wedding Edward and stealing her crown.

Narissa is a comical yet refined villainess whose mannerisms, characteristics, and aesthetic features are inspired by such classical Disney villainesses as The Evil Queen, Maleficent, and Yzma.

Her name may have been inspired by the evil sorceress Nerissa of the comic and animated series W.I.T.C.H.

Andalasia
Narissa apparently became Queen of Andalasia only after marrying into the royal family. However, now that the King has expired Narissa's rule as Queen is hanging by a single thread. This 'thread' is kept in place by her affectionate connection to her man-servant Nathaniel, whom she instilled with the hope of being her King if he kept Prince Edward from chasing princesses and busy hunting trolls. For if Edward were to wed, Narissa would be stripped of her throne and replaced by the Prince's more than unworthy bride. Yet now that the Prince's wedding day has arrived, the Queen, in a desperate act to save her crown, transforms her beautiful visage into that of an old hag. With this disguise, Narissa lures Giselle, the princess-to-be, to a magical portal which she promptly casts her into, banishing her from Andalasia to a land "where there are no happily ever afters", namely the Big Apple itself, New York City.

New York City
In the castle gardens, Narissa watches as Giselle and Prince Edward frantically try to locate each other in the packed overpopulated streets of New York City. Frustrated by the couple's optimism, the insidious Queen convinces Nathaniel, her ever self-deprecating pawn, to hunt down Giselle and murder her so Edward can never find her. To fulfil her villainous task, Narissa grants Nathaniel three poisoned apples which, if consumed, would put Giselle in an irreversible coma until the clock strikes twelve, in which case she would perish forever.

Keeping an eye on Nathaniel's every move, Narissa grows increasingly furious as his devious efforts fail to succeed. After spoiling two of the deadly ruby apples, the evil Queen exclaims that she will "kill the little wretch myself!" using the last of her batch.

"Narissa Arrives" to New York City, an event marked by a spectacular and frightening display of her destructive powers; demolishing a massive electronic advertisement in Times Square, and burning the engines of passing automobiles. With Nathaniel, the Queen finds a fountain, and speaks an incantation into the waters to scry for Giselle (Reperio lemma mihi), who was attending the King's and Queen's Ball within the Woolworth Building.

At the Ball, Narissa confronts Giselle once again as the old hag. Understanding now that Giselle has fallen in love with Robert Philips, the Queen offers Giselle the poison apple claiming that it will clear her of the horrible memories of New York. Giselle, who believes her love towards Robert can never come to fruition, accepts the apple and takes the fatal bite. In the elevator, attempting to escape with Giselle's body, Narissa speaks a Latin incantation (Speciosus formosus praeclarus) and reverts to her true form, when Prince Edward halts her escape and discovers the lifeless body strewn across the floor. The Queen merely shrugs it off, stating that Giselle had spontaneously fainted; however, Nathaniel, through with his maltreatment, divulges Narissa's nefarious plot to the ball-goers. Edward states he will dethrone Narissa forever, at which point she begins a spell (Latereo vox iam procer...), but she is cut off in the middle of the incantation by Nathaniel. Robert, remembering Giselle's previous statement that True Love's Kiss is the most powerful force in the world, kisses her and breaks Narissa's deadly enchantment.

Enraged, Narissa swiftly disarms Nathaniel and points the sword at the others, mockingly saying “The most powerful thing in the world? You have no idea who you’re dealing with” implying that she considers herself the most powerful thing in the world. Screaming a Latin incantation (Speciosus formosus praeclarus), Narissa transforms into a towering, monstrous, shimmeringly iridescent dragon. She seizes Robert and busts out of the ball room climbing to the top of the Woolworth Building. In a rush of heroism, Giselle and Pip run outside and climb to the top of the spire to meet Narissa in one final confrontation. Narissa dryly notes that Giselle is the rescuer while Robert is the damsel in distress. Shrieking victoriously, the vicious queen throws Robert but Giselle saves him with the sword. Pip dislodges the spire, toppling the Dragon from the side of the tower. On impact with the ground, Narissa was reduced to thousands of sparkling glittery particles.

Powers and abilities
Narissa proves herself a formidable sorceress on numerous occasions, on a par with Maleficent, the evil faerie from '. She exhibits the ability to discharge eldritch energy through her fingers and is also capable of summoning fire whenever she is angry or excited. She has the capacity to shape shift without need of potions unlike the Evil Queen from ‘’Snow White’’. Narissa is also capable of using spells to communicate with people such as her subordinate, Nathaniel through reflective surfaces even when they are in separate worlds and is able to teleport herself and other objects such as poisonous apples with relative ease.

Narissa is shown to be very intelligent as shown by her inventive plans over the course of the film and also appears somewhat more socially gifted than Giselle and Edward in dealing with the normal humans from our world, evidenced by her calmly soothing the crowd after Giselle’s “swoon.” She is a gifted liar and is highly manipulative. She also seems to possess great charisma and is quite a gifted actress.

Personality
Narissa is portrayed as a psychopathic character as shown in her superficial charm toward Giselle when she lures her to the Wishing Well only to push her in and again later in the film when she tricks her into eating a poisoned apple. She also convinces Nathaniel and almost Edward into thinking that she is a well-meaning person. She is also shown to be quite narcissistic as shown by her having Nathaniel trim hedges into her likeness at one point.

Like many clinically diagnosed psychopaths Narissa is highly Machiavellian as evidenced by her manipulative and fickle behaviour toward Nathaniel. She exhibits absolutely no remorse for her actions and ultimately cares for no-one but herself. The narrator at the beginning of the film refers to her as “selfish” as does Nathaniel at the movie’s climax.

As is the case with most fictional villains and clinical psychopaths, Narissa exhibits a megalomaniacal obsession with power as all of her actions in the film are for the purpose of securing her hold on the throne and her dominion of Andalasia.

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