This article is about the 2017 live-action character. For For the 1991 animated character, see Enchantress.
- “But she warned him to not be deceived by appearances. For beauty is found within.”
- ―Agathe[src]
Agathe, better known as the Enchantress, is the deuteragonist from Disney's 2017 live-action adaptation film Beauty and the Beast.
Background
Powers and abilities
Agathe possesses tremendous magical powers:
- Shapeshifting/Glamouring: Agathe has the power to either change her physical form or shape into another or to change her appearance to look like another person, as seen by how she concealed her true, bitter form with the disguise of a frail old woman.
- Empathy: Agathe has the power to feel and understand other people's feelings, emotions, and desires. Through this, she sensed that the Prince had a cold heart devoid of love and true beauty.
- Spell Casting/Cursing: Agathe has the ability to cast magical spells or powerful curses designed to cause negative effects to occur - she transformed the Prince into a beast to match his cold, unloving heart, his servants into objects, his entire castle into a bleak fortress, and even the forest surrounding the castle into a foreboding place filled with wolves, bats, and other vicious creatures so only very few would dare to enter.
- Enchanting: Agathe has the ability to bestow magical powers or attributes onto an object - the rose she offered was enchanted to bloom and serve as a reminder to the Beast of how much time he had to break the spell as well as what got him into his predicament to begin with.
Appearances
Beauty and the Beast (2017)
In the live-action musical remake of the first film, the Enchantress was played by Hattie Morahan, who also narrated the opening sequence. Her role in this film was expanded, unlike in the original film where she only appears in the beginning of it.
Like the original film, one night, the Enchantress visited the Prince disguised as a hag and offered a rose for shelter from the storm brewing outside. When the Prince laughed at her offering and turned her away, she revealed her true form as a beautiful, magical woman, but cursed the Prince for his arrogance, instead of for his selfish, unkind and spoiled nature; she transformed him into a hideous beast and his servants into household objects.
Her spell was so powerful that all memory of the Prince and his staff was erased from the neighboring village as well. She also left behind three magical artifacts; the Enchanted Rose that she had initially offered him, a mirror that allowed its user to see anything he or she wished to see, and a book that could transport its reader to anywhere he or she wished to go. If the Beast did not learn to love another and earn her love in return by the time the last petal of the Enchanted Rose falls, then the spell would become permanent - the Prince would remain a Beast for all time, and the servants would lose their humanity. It was also shown that, with each petal that fell from the Enchanted Rose, a part of the castle would crumble, and the servants would develop more characteristics of the household objects they were transformed into.
Later on, it was revealed that the Enchantress lived in the village, but in the guise of a beggar woman named Agathe, and was once mocked by Gaston for her misfortune. Though the book she had left the Beast with was once dismissed by him as just another cruel taunt (there was nowhere in the world he could go where he would not be shunned for his appearance), it was through the book that Belle learned the truth of her mother's tragic death, and the Beast realized how he had misjudged Maurice. When Gaston abandoned Maurice to be devoured by wolves, Agathe rescued him and returned him to the village where he told everyone of Gaston's vileness, but she was unable to defend Maurice when Gaston convinced the villagers that she was untrustworthy.
The Enchantress then traveled to the Beast's castle, arriving just in time to see Belle admit her love for the Beast despite him being dead and that the last petal had fallen. With that, the Enchantress restores the rose, and the curse is lifted - the Beast and his servants are transformed back into human beings, the crumbling castle repairs itself back to its former majestic and imposing state, and the village regained its memories of the Prince and his staff. In the end, the Enchantress gives a fleeting smile as she watches the Prince's staff reunite with their loved ones from the village.
Gallery
Trivia
- A deleted scene for the remake had LeFou encountering Agathe in person, and also asking her whether it was even worth cursing the inhabitants with her giving a reply to LeFou.
