Dark Story Details That Understandably Didn’t Make It Into Disney Movies

1. The Queen gets VERY jealous of Sleeping Beauty

Image Source/ The SunThe original Sleeping Beauty story contains some VERY questionable themes. A passing King finds Aurora led there, asleep and naked, so sleeps with her and she gives birth to twins. I mean, what!? His Queen finds out about this and is so jealous that she gets the twins and attempts to cook them and eat them!

2. Bambi stumbles across a dead body

Image Source/ PinterestI mean, the movie version of Bambi is bad enough already. He literally watches his mom get shot and killed. Anyone who can watch this film with a dry eye is not human. As if he hadn't had enough trauma, in the original story, Bambi finds the charred human remains of the hunter who shot his mum after he was burnt in a forest fire.

3. The Princess tries to kill her frog!

Image Source/ YoutubeThere is no romantic kiss in the original version of The Princess and The Frog. In the first version, the frog can only be transformed into a Prince by something that should have killed him. So, the Princess throws the frog as hard as she can against a wall to turn him into a human! Twisted much?

4. Aladdin was a MURDERER

Image Source/ National GeographicIf you read the original Arabian Nights, then it tells us that Aladdin actually tried to poison the great sorcerer because he was trying to move the kingdom to Africa. There's a fine line between being a thief that means well and a murderer apparently!

5. Belle's sisters didn't make the cut

Image Source/ ImdbThere is no real mention of Belle's sisters in the Disney movie version, they never even make an appearance. It turns out that Disney left them out for a reason! In the original story, Beast gets very angry at both sisters and turns them both into statues!

6. Pocahontas was YOUNG

Image Source/ DisneyDid you know Pocahontas was actually based on a true story? It's not actually a fairytale, but it would be better if it was. No one mentioned how old Pocahontas is because she was actually just ten years old when she met John Smith. So that story just became a whole lot creepier.

7. Pinocchio as a donkey doesn't end well...

Image Source/ DeciderIt was already weird enough when Pinocchio was turned into a donkey. But if you actually look back at the original version of how this scene was supposed to go, it took a very dark turn. Donkey Pinocchio was thrown in to the sea and left to die! No wonder Disney left that bit out...

8. Rapunzel's Prince was actually blind

Image Source/ PinterestIn the original Rapunzel, by Brothers Grimm, the fate of the Prince wasn't quite as kind. After climbing up the tower to see Rapunzel, the Prince actually fell back into some thorns which caused him to go blind! Although they did give him a happy ending of ending up with Rapunzel.

9. Someone chops a toe off in Cinderella

Image Source/ YoutubeEveryone knows the story of Cinderella. She is the only person who's foot the glass slipper will fit on. The Disney movie is full of humour with people trying to fit their fat feet in the shoe with no success. Brothers Grimm's version is a little darker. One of Cinderella's step sisters actually cuts off her own toes she wants to fit in the shoe that badly.

10. Ariel had a rough ride

Image Source/ Smithsonian MagazineAnother Disney classic with a happy ending. Ariel triumphs and gets what she wants, with the evil witch Ursula being put in her place. The original story didn't end quite as well for Ariel though, as she was banished to land and forced to become a servant.

11. The original Snow Queen

Image Source/ RedditThe Snow Queen was a fairytale written by Hans Christian Anderson and is supposed to be the inspiration behind Frozen. In the dark original story, an evil mirror shatters and a young boy gets a shard of icy glass in his eye and in his heart. The Snow Queen kidnaps the boy until he is eventually rescued by her sister.

12. Snow White danced until she died

Image Source/ PinterestThe original Snow White is possibly one of the darkest stories Brother Grimm wrote. It starts with cannibalism, with the evil Stepmother eating organs she thought belonged to Snow White (luckily, they did not). She then tried three more times to kill her. She finally succeeds when she forces Snow White to dance in a pair of red-hot shoes until she falls down in agony and dies.

13. Hercules murders his own family!

Image Source/ Vanity FairHercules is the hero of his own story. No one knows any different. Unless you look at his origin story... Hercules actually murdered his own children. Disney kindly left this out to spare us all the heartbreak. But it does make you wonder what else they are hiding!?

14. Mowgli gets his revenge

Image Source/ MediumThe original 'The Jungle Book', by Rudyard Kipling, portrays Mowgli quite differently to the Disney movie version. In the book, Mowgli gets revenge on the village folk that banished him by sending his new animal friends in to destroy the village and everyone in it.

15. Mulan actually killed herself

Image Source/ TwitterIf you didn't know, Mulan is based off a play - 'The Ballad of Mulan'. In this play, she is being ordered to join a harem, which Mulan doesn't want to do. She actually kills herself instead. Now this is another traumatic event that Disney left out of their movie version, to everyone's relief.

16. Rapunzel is pregnant and banished!?

Image Source/ Arub UnwrittenIt turns out that the reason the Prince fell out of Rapunzel's tower and was blinded by some thorns is because he was shocked that she was pregnant!? Their secret rendezvous now had consequences and when the evil sorcerer finds out about Rapunzel's pregnancy she cuts off her hair and banishes her into the woods to give birth.

17. Cinderella gets her own revenge

Image Source/ PinterestAfter all the bizarre events of one of her sister's cutting off a toe to fit in the glass slipper, and rumours of another one cutting off her heel!? Cinderella and her Prince eventually get their happy ending and marry. Although, it wouldn't be a Brothers Grimm fairytale without some underlying horror. At the wedding, Cinderella has her pigeon friends pluck out her stepsister's eyeballs...

18. Ariel gets dumped

Image Source/ PinterestThe twisted and dark original Little Mermaid story tells of how the evil sea witch grants Ariel's wish of having legs. She grows two very painful legs, made from splitting her tail in half, and she bleeds constantly as it's like walking on two very sharp knives. She does all of this because she is in love with Prince Eric. However, this story has no happy ending as the Price falls in love with someone else and dumps Ariel.

19. Sleeping Beauty actually caused a lot of deaths

Image Source/ Disney PrincessSleeping Beauty was hard to get to, as we all know. It wouldn't make a good film if it was easy. Although, the original story took it one step further. She was so hard to reach, and although hundreds of princes from all over the country were trying, a lot of them died horrific deaths like getting stuck in thorns and bleeding to death.

20. Quasimodo is a necrophiliac

Image Source/ Disney WikiAll Disney characters get a happy ending. It's literally the reason we watch the films. In the original version of The Hunchback of Notre Dam, Quasimodo doesn't quite get his happy ending. He climbs into Esmerelda's grave to cuddle her, but ends up lying with her until he dies of starvation.

21. Woody was NOT cool

Image Source/ Cardiff Student MediaTom Hanks is the reason Woody is everyone's favourite character. He makes him fun and charming and generally a good guy. The original idea for Woody was quite the opposite though. The early drafts portray Woody as a sarcastic and abusive guy who rules the other toys with an iron fist.

22. Muntz went insane

Image Source/ Youtube'Up' is one of the most heartwarming Disney films going. But only after some tweaks were made to the early drafts. One of the first pitches of the movie involved a villain called 'Muntz' who wandered around and around a maze until he went insane and died.

23. Jane actually runs off with the villain

Image Source/ PinterestObviously any classic Disney film ends with the hero getting the girl. Tarzan is no exception. Although, the original story doesn't quite have the same ending. In the original novel, Jane runs off with Clayton, the villain, at the end! Leaving Tarzan without his girl...

24. Peter Pan murders people

Image Source/ Trending NewsPeter Pan has lots of sweet undertones throughout the film. These were all done on purpose, probably because the original is not so sweet at all. The original story tells of how some of the Lost Boys grow up, and when they do, Peter Pan murders them!

25. A spoonful of spite

Image Source/ Disney WikiEveryone wishes they had a nanny like Mary Poppins after watching that film! The Disney writers really put a twist on this one though as the original story by P.L Travers portrayed Mary Poppins as a very mean nanny who is absolutely awful to the children she is in charge of.

26. Evil sisters trying to get revenge

Image Source/ Vocal MediaIn the original Beauty and The Beast story, the Beast permits Belle to visit her family once a week. Her sisters are very jealous of her new life and all her extravagant clothes. They are so jealous that they hatch a plan to try and get her to stay a little longer in the hope that the Beast will be so angry that he kills her.

27. Ariel sacrifices herself for the sake of the Prince

Image Source/ PinterestIn the original Little Mermaid story, Ariel sadly does not get her Prince. He actually ditches her for a younger Princess. She is devastated after all the pain she has been through so the sea witch offers her a dagger. She can use this dagger to kill Prince Eric and she will get her tail back to return to the sea. Despite her heartbreak, Ariel cannot kill the Prince so she eventually turns into seafoam and dies.

28. Gepetto ARRESTED!?

Image Source/ Scottish Daily ExpressIn the original Pinocchio story, when he is carved by Gepetto he doesn't look anything like the Pinocchio we all know and love. He is not a nice person at all - he takes a hammer to a cricket in the original story and also lies to everyone and gets Gepetto wrongly arrested for child abuse.

29. The inspiration behind the Lion King is not what you think...

Image Source/ Lion King WikiPossibly one of the most successful Disney stories is The Lion King, it has ended up as a huge, sell out stage show. The writers behind it actually based the story on Shakespeare's Hamlet in which Prince Hamlet's father was murdered by his own brother, Claudius, meaning the prince seeks his own revenge on Claudius and takes the throne for himself.

30. Nudity in Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Image Source/ Comic Book.comApparently, the original 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' had to be toned down as it was too sexual to show. Anyone who's seen it probably finds this hard to believe, given the Jessica Rabbit character that's in it. But apparently much more nudity was original planned...

31. Pocahontas was kidnapped

Image source/ blogspot.comPocahontas was kidnapped by the colonisers from Jamestown. She was forced to come back to England against her will to marry John Smith. In the Disney movie the whole thing was totally romanticised that they fell in love, when the reality was actually really tragic!

32. Esmerelda is hanged in The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Image source/ PinterestIt doesn't get much darker than this...in the real book of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Esmerelda is actually hanged to death. Of course, the movie may still be one of the darkest in terms of Disney movies, but it was definitely not THAT dark - this would not have been family friendly.

33. Oliver and Company's racial stereotypes

Image source/ PinterestOliver and Company is based on the novel by Charles Dickens, the classic Oliver Twist. Yet, the novel was and is highly problematic. It had clearly antisemitic views which at the time of the novel being published, were met with criticisms from readers.

34. Lots of animals are killed in The Fox and the Hound

Image source/ ifitsshipitshereIn the real Fox and Hound novel, animals of all kinds are killed left right and centre. And brutally too! In the original book, Copper has two lots of cubs with a vixen. Each set of little fox cubs are born, and each lot of the babies get gassed to death.

35. Tarzan's racism

Image course/ MetroTarzan may be one of the most light-hearted Disney movies. But, not in reality. In the original novel most of the characters are white, that is, if they are good, whereas black people in the book are described as 'bestial' or savages. The racism is clear!

36. Pinocchio is tortured

Image course/ PinterestTorture isn't exactly the kind of thing we expect to see in a Disney movie, which is why they never included this dark detail in the movie. But Pinocchio was actually tortured in several different ways in the original. Which, is not something that children could witness!

37. Pocahontas died at 21

Image source/ Indian country lifeAs we now know, the real tragic story of Pocahontas did not end in her being married happily ever after to a ripe old age with the love of her life John Smith. No. She died, at the age of 21 years old. Of course, the Disney story is unrecognisable in comparison.

38. Quasimodo pushes Frollo off the roof

Image source/ YouTubeFrollo is the villain, but even villains don't get this kind of ending in Disney movies - no matter how evil they may be. Quasimodo pushes Frollo off the roof of the Cathedral - a holy place and kills him. It's safe to say that this was no shown in the kid's version!

39. Elsa was initially the evil Queen

Image source/ Business Insider AustraliaWho'd have thought that Elsa, one of the greatest modern Disney heroes, was initially supposed to be the evil queen. Now we know we can kind of see how it would have happened. However, when Let It Go was written it was so popular that the whole story was changed.

40. Tarzan is Clayton's cousin

Image source/ rotoscopersIn the Disney movie it neither includes nor purposefully doesn't include the fact that Tarzan is Clayton's cousin, as is the case in the original. However, we do not learn enough about Clayton to realise that he is cousin of Tarzan. Now that's seriously more than some light-hearted family rivalry!

41. Snow White is VERY young

Image source/ PinterestIt really changes things when we realise that Snow White was just 14 years old in the original novel. And of course, in the movie, we never discover her real age. But what we definitely don't assume is that she's just 14 years old about to fall in love with a prince...

42. Ursula was inspired by drag

Image source/ fanpopDrag Queens offer modern society a lot of inspiration. But it turns out not just now. The character of Ursula in Snow White was also based off of a famous drag queen. Although since Ursula is actually evil...we're not so sure that this is a good thing!

43. Hunter kills Copper in The Fox and the Hound

Image source/ DeviantartThe Fox and the Hound is already a really sad Disney movie that gets us all welling up with tears. In actual fact it seems that we got off lightly when you compare it to the original book. Hunter moves into a nursing home, and he shoots Copper dead! How could he!?

44. Mowgli is banished from the village

Image source/blogspotMowgli in The Jungle Book is far from welcomed at the village in the original book. This is because they accuse him of sorcery and witchcraft and so they banish him from the village, threatening that if he did not, they would kill his animal family. It's much darker than we thought...

45. When Mulan returns, her father is dead

Image source/ PinterestMulan goes to fight because her father is too old, yet her brother is still too young. But when she returns after her 12 years of fighting to her family home, she finds out that her father died some time ago and her mother had remarried to another man.

46.  Captain Hook And George Darling

Image source/ PinterestYou may have noticed - or probably not unless you have a very keen eye and ear - the strange similarities between Captain Hook and George Darling. This was not a part of the original book. But Disney likes to make connections between stories and characters.

47. Frollo was a Catholic priest

Image source/ realtimeflicksIn The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Frollo was a Catholic priest. But of course, Disney did not want to offend the religion by having the villain as a Catholic priest. And, vilifying a priest in Disney would never we considered right, so this was changed.

48. Princess Jasmine forced herself to kiss Jafar

Image source/ PinterestNo really, rather than being heroic it is actually pretty disturbing that even in the Disney movie, Princess Jasmine made herself kiss Jafar even though she did not want to. Now if we really think about it, this is a comment on problematic gender relationships and power relationships

49. All of the Disney princesses were young

Image source/ PinterestAnyone else find it really dark and creepy that all of the original novel portrayals of the Disney princesses had them at 14-17 years old? Because these are just children! Not fully grown women. In the movies their ages are not specified. But if you think about it, many of them are still under the 'care' of evil mothers.

50. Pocahontas was destroyed by colonialism

Image source/ theoldimageshowPocahontas was destroyed by colonialism, forced into an arranged marriage and kidnapped. It doesn't get ANY darker than that. This is totally not what we get from the Disney movie at all. The reality is disturbing. She was flaunted and paraded when she was brought back to Europe to show use her as an example