Most people know classic Disney for its magic and happily ever afters, but the original versions of these tales were much darker. Stories like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Tangled existed long before the Walt Disney Company. Most are older than Walt Disney himself as well. Looking at the original fairy tales reveals just how much classic stories were changed before they graced our eyes through the big screen.
Content Warning: Some of these stories contain violence, sexual assault, suicide, and death. Click out of this article if you are uncomfortable.
Frozen
The original Frozen was titled The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen.
Frozen came out in 2013, but Walt Disney had been trying to make something out of the 1844 classic since 1937.
The original story follows best friends Gerda and Kay, whose childhood is shattered when a mirror breaks in a distant land.
This mirror was enchanted by evil trolls. The trolls in this version aren’t lovable creatures with healing powers- they are the Devil.
They enchanted the mirror so that when it’s shattered, splinters get into the eyes and hearts of people around the world, distorting their view of beauty in the world.
Years later, some of the shattered mirrors pierce Kay’s eye and heart, making him only see the worst in things and turning his heart to ice.
When he is kidnapped by the Snow Queen, Gerda goes on an adventure to rescue him.
The Little Mermaid
This 1837 original was also written by Hans Christian Andersen with the same name as its Disney counterpart.
Except in this version, when Ariel goes to visit the Sea Witch, her tongue is cut out and she gets legs that feel like she is stepping on glass every step she takes.
The Sea Witch tells her that if she doesn’t win the heart of the prince, she’ll die of a broken heart and become sea foam.
However, the prince never saw Ariel’s face when he was rescued, so he marries someone else.
The Sea Witch tells Ariel she can become a mermaid again if she kills the prince.
When she can’t do that, she throws herself into the ocean and dissolves into sea foam.
The Jungle Book
Another story keeping its original title, Rudyard Kipling wrote its original tale in 1894.
Most of the story is kept the same. Mowgli was raised by wolves; he gets captured by monkeys and Shere Khan still wants to eat him.
Some differences include Baloo. Instead of a carefree joke-cracking sloth-bear that he is in the 1967 musical. Instead he is a mentor to Mowgli who makes him stay strong, sometimes through violence.
Kaa, the snake, saves Mowgli’s life many times in the novel, and is one of his greatest friends.
King Louie doesn’t exist.
Mowgli is a fearless hunter, who can catch any prey, including the species of his friends
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
In the original version written by the Brothers Grimm, Snow White is seven years old, and yes, she still gets married at the end.
The biggest difference is when the prince punishes the evil queen for attempted murder at the end. He forces her to dance at their wedding in a pair of red-hot iron slippers until she drops dead.
Pinocchio
Carlo Collodi wrote the original story for Pinocchio. He wanted to show kids in Italy at the time the consequences for being bad.
Pinocchio was a mischievous kid who was mean and evil.
His Jiminy Cricket was referred to as “Talking Cricket,” until he tried to give Pinocchio advice, and Pinocchio killed him using a mallet.
Throughout the story, Pinocchio is tortured for his bad behavior.
The original ending was Pinocchio dying by hanging, but after fans rioted over this ending, Collodi rewrote it to give Pinocchio even worse punishments from then on.
Sleeping Beauty
There are many “original” versions of this story, but the one I am using is by Italian author Giambattista Basile.
In his tale, the princess, named Talia, pricked her finger on a spindle, going into a deep sleep. This was pretty similar to the Disney version of the story.
The insanely dark part of this story is that her “prince” isn’t a prince at all, but a king. This king doesn’t kiss Talia awake, or kiss her at all. He sexually assaults her while she sleeps.
Nine months later, she gives birth to twins. Thankfully, one of the babies sucks the splinter from her finger which wakes her up.
Talia and the king fall in love.
His queen orders the twins to be kidnapped, cooked, and fed to the king, but thankfully she fails.
Cinderella
In this version, also by the Brothers Grimm, the evil stepsisters cut off chunks of their feet to try to fit into the glass slipper.
A flight of doves swoop in and lead the prince to the blood so he will not be fooled.
At the end of the story, while the stepsisters are at the royal wedding, those same doves come and peck out their eyes.
Mulan
This story is loosely based off of a poem called “The Ballad of Mulan” by an anonymous poet.
When Mulan takes her father’s place in his army, she meets the emperor’s daughter, who is also a warrior.
They become best friends and when the emperor is defeated, they sacrifice themselves to be put to death in his place.
When they are spared, and Mulan returns home, she finds out that her father died, and her mother remarried.
When she is revealed to be a woman, she is ordered to be a concubine, so she commits suicide rather than allow this to be her fate.
Tangled
The original story by the Brothers Grimm was titled Rapunzel.
The difference in these stories began when a prince sees an old lady climbing up hair into this giant tower. Curious, after the old lady leaves again, he shouts, “Rapunzel, let down your hair!” When she does, he climbs up and begins to visit her nightly.
When the old lady, a witch, finds out, she cuts off Rapunzel’s hair and casts her out into the wilderness. When the prince visits that night, the witch tricks him into climbing the tower once more using Rapunzel’s cut-off hair.
When he gets close enough to her, she pushes him off the tower, blinding him in his fall.
After wandering the wilderness, he reunites with Rapunzel and their twin children after following her singing voice.
The tears of happiness Rapunzel sheds bring the prince’s sight back, and they lived happily ever after.
The End
The original versions of many fairy tales didn’t always have happy endings. Some ended in tragedy, while others ended well. Over time, however, The Walt Disney Company has changed many of these stories into the versions people know and cherish today. Even though the versions are very different, they show how stories can be told in all different ways.
Works Cited
Allen, Rachel. “The dark original stories behind Disney films.” Pan Macmillan, 31 October 2024, https://www.panmacmillan.com/blogs/general/original-disney-stories-films.
“The books that inspired Disney’s most famous movies.” Penguin Co, 7 April 2020, https://www.penguin.co.uk/discover/articles/classic-stories-behind-disney-movies.
Kuroski, John. “The Disturbing Stories Behind 7 Beloved Disney Movies That Are Much Darker Than Their Cartoon Adaptations.” Allthatsinteresting, 27 November 2017, https://allthatsinteresting.com/dark-disney-stories.
Thatcher, Chelsea. “8 of the Most Shockingly Dark Stories Behind Beloved Disney Movies.” Mental Floss, 16 December 2025, https://www.mentalfloss.com/entertainment/disney/dark-stories-behind-disney-movies.
Young, Sarah. “The Truth Behind 5 Disney Movies That Are Based On Real Histories.” Ancient Origins, 11 April 2019, https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/disney-stories-0011730.
