The 12 Zodiac Signs As Disney Villains

Only an Aries villain would be so obsessed with the color red that she orders her team to curate a complete crimson experience for her by painting over the white roses. The Queen of Hearts is pure ram energy incarnate. She’s got the short temper, impulsive decision-making (“Off with their heads!”) and highly reactive, combative disposition. As the zodiac’s babies, Aries are humming with youthful vitality. In a villain like the Queen of Hearts, that translates to unpredictable tantrums. Also, the body part ruled by Aries is the head—you know, the thing you’re likely to lose when you're around her.

Of course this queen is a Taurus—her sole motivation is to be the fairest of them all. The zodiac’s bulls are ruled by Venus, the planet of beauty and jealousy, so they demand superlatives for being gorgeous. Is that asking for the moon and the stars? This queen didn’t think so, until someone younger and suppler came along to threaten her vanity. And naturally, because Taurus rules over the throat, it’s fitting that her means of attack is a poison apple. Even while donning a less attractive visage in the name of revenge, Snow White’s queen is a Taurus to her core. (Yes, a pun on apples…)

Although he’s not the god of communication, Hades is such a Gemini man. He’s fast-talking, witty and totally out of touch with his own feelings. Gemini is an air sign, which means they tend toward cerebral tactics for dealing with intense emotions—cracking jokes, rationalizing, scheming. And like the sign of the twins, Hades doesn’t work alone, relying on intelligence reports from his sidekicks and enlisting the ingenue as his double agent. A Gemini with access to secrets is dangerous, and Hades is able to sow chaos the more he talks. And like a Gemini, he never stops.

Cancer is the sign of maternal energy, and there is no darker mother figure in all of Disney than Cinderella’s stepmother. She’s protective of her natural born daughters, doting on their every move and working tirelessly to advance their prospects. That’s because underneath their hard shells, crabs are truly among the most sensitive and nurturing people in the zodiac. But if you’re on the outside, like Cinderella, you may be perceived as a threat, and they will construct thick emotional walls to shut you out. Cancers are all about preserving the home, which is their safe space, and Wicked Stepmother’s cruelty toward Cinderella takes the form of grueling domestic chores. Though she may be wicked, she’s still such a mom.

Like all Leos, King Candy is hungry for attention and love. Leo energy is very explicit—they need not bother with subtlety or subterfuge. Leos are shameless in their love for themselves, and King Candy is a natural performer who can work a crowd. Even when he’s concealing his true self, he craves the spotlight and genuinely wants the people in his company to have a good time. Even villainous Leos still see themselves as benevolent kings! Unfortunately, he fails to develop a healthy ego and reinvents his identity—rather than his character—to maintain relevance. If he can’t be the lead, then no one gets to play. That’s the evil Leo’s ethos.

This may be a surprise pick, but Ursula is the Virgo of Disney villains. She's meticulous with potions (basically an underwater chemist), precise (be careful to read over her contracts!) and highly articulate. Virgo, like Gemini, is ruled by Mercury, planet of communication, and Ursula spouts some of the pithiest lines in the Disney canon. But unlike Geminis, she doesn’t waste words, cutting right to the point in her negotiations with Ariel. She’s motivated by something more than her own power—she sees herself as deposing an unjust king. Whether by land or by sea, there’s always an ethical undercurrent to everything a Virgo does, even a Virgo villain.

Vanity, thy name is Libra, and Gaston, thou art such a Libra. Unlike Taurus, the other Venus-ruled aesthetic sign, Libras need to be beautiful and well-liked. As the sign of the scales, they like to have buy-in from everyone and can’t help competing in the Popularity Olympics. That means they’ll ignore 100 fans but work overtime to impress the one person who is not feeling them. Gaston is beloved in his little village, but he hems and haws over how to get Belle on his side. An evolved Libra is open to the love that surrounds them, but a villain like Gaston can only experience eternal unrequited frustration.

The scariest of all villains is reserved for Scorpio, the darkest, most transformative sign in the zodiac. Scorpios embody themes of death and rebirth, and the myth of the phoenix rising from the ashes belongs to them. Maleficent literally becomes a fire-breathing dragon in a physical manifestation of her deep rage and resentment. Scorpios can nurse a grudge for life, so when the dark fairy found herself uninvited to a party, it was game over for the whole kingdom. A Scorpio’s anger burns patiently, and Maleficent constructed her revenge on a 16-year time delay. They remember everything, and their impact is unforgettable.

An evil Sagittarius is basically a Santa Claus gone wrong, which is exactly the vibe of Oogie Boogie from The Nightmare Before Christmas. He’s jolly, laughs easily and wants to play games—with your life, of course. He’s charming and gregarious, dominating the conversation as only a Sagittarius does. Even more so than Gemini, the zodiac’s centaur loves to gab at length. And inevitably, when they toss off a blunt and hurtful comment (or five), they won’t apologize so much as double down with an, “I’m joking, I’m joking!” That’s a direct Oogie Boogie quote and a classic Sagittarius tactic for villainy.

Capricorns often toe the line between business-savvy and exploitative, and Governor Ratcliffe is full-on economic villain. The telos of a Capricorn is to extract value out of raw materials and usually that manifests as inspiring leadership, efficient habits and prudence with money. For Ratcliffe, it means seizing land he doesn’t own and digging it up for gold, without care or consideration for the people already there. He’s single-minded in his pursuit of resources, and like a Capricorn on a bad day, the ends justify the means.

Aquarians are the zodiac’s provocateurs, but sometimes they go too far, like Yzma in The Emperor’s New Groove. She doesn’t just rebel against her boss, she turns him into a llama and plots to overthrow him. Aquarians are bold and anti-authoritarian, preferring to carry out their revolution in plain sight with dramatic flair. Yzma is tall, glamorous and eccentric, embodying the alienating qualities that can define an Aquarian nemesis. As they work to build a world that can accommodate them, they can rack up a significant body —or llama—count along the way.

Pisces love to care for those more vulnerable than they are, like Judge Frollo, who adopts and raises Quasimodo as his own. However, a villainous Pisces, like Judge Frollo, secretly harbors resentment and plays the victim at every turn. For a Pisces, self-sacrifice can devolve into self-pity, and they’ll eschew all accountability for their own pain. He even blames Esmeralda for his own crush on her! But Pisces are brilliant at seeing worlds beyond our own, and for a villain, it’s a convenient way to escape the real one they inhabit.

Kiki O'Keeffe is an astrology writer in Brooklyn. You can sign up for her newsletter, I don't believe in astrology, or follow her Twitter @alexkiki.