Lady Tremaine
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| Lady Tremaine | |
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| First appearance | Cinderella (1950) |
| Created by | Charles Perrault |
| Voiced by | Eleanor Audley (original) Susan Blakeslee (sequels) |
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| Notable aliases | The Wicked Stepmother |
Lady Tremaine (also known as Stepmother to Cinderella) is a fictional character from Disney's film version of Charles Perrault's fairy tale, Cinderella. Her voice actor, Eleanor Audley, would later be the voice actress for the evil witch Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty, which was released nine years later - there can be many likenesses drawn from the art styles of Maleficent and Lady Tremaine.
Lady Tremaine is first introduced when Cinderella's father, a wealthy widower, felt that she needed a mother figure, so he married the widowed Lady Tremaine. She was described as a woman of good family who had two preteen daughters the same age as Cinderella: Drizella (the older step-sister) and Anastasia (the younger step-sister), who were both rather plain and socially awkward. She also owned a very stubborn, malicious cat named Lucifer, who was just like her in terms of personality. Lady Tremaine showed her true colors when Cinderella's father passed away: she was a bitter, cruel, and selfish woman determined to forward her own interests as well as that of her daughters. She was openly jealous of the kind and beautiful Cinderella, who was hampered and abused by her step-family until she had become a maid in her own household.
Cold, ruthless, and calculating, Lady Tremaine's primary role as antagonist is simple: to oppress Cinderella and shatter her dream of a happily ever after. Throughout the film, Lady Tremaine repeatedly tries to keep Cinderella as downtrodden as possible and will stop at nothing to prevent her from being happy.
She also appeared in the direct-to-video sequel Cinderella II: Dreams Come True, this time voiced by Susan Blakeslee.
In Cinderella III: A Twist in Time (once again voiced by Blakeslee) she manages to get a hold of the Fairy Godmother's wand because Anastasia brought it to her. Lady Treamine then uses the wand to reverse time so that the slipper fits Anastasia. The Prince realizes that Anastasia is the wrong girl and Lady Tremaine makes him forget about Cinderella and marry Anastasia. Cinderella tries to steal the wand, but in the end Lady Tremaine catches Cinderella and tries to ship her away. The mice tell the Prince the truth. The prince saves Cinderella from shipping away. Lady Tremaine then uses the wand to turn Anastasia into a clone of Cinderella, and puts Cinderella onto an evil pumpkin carriage with Lucifer as the coachman. In the end Cinderella stops the wedding and Lady Tremaine and Drizella are turned into toads when the wand's magic is reflected off the prince's sword (Lady Tremaine originally used this to turn both Cinderella and Anastasia into toads by suggestion of Drizella). She and Drizella are then turned backed into normal and are punished by wearing Cinderella's work clothes and are forced to work like slaves. It should be noted that her part should appear not dissimilar from The Evil Queen in "Snow White".
