Okay take number seventeen or whatever it is, I have written, re-written this part over and over again and frankly I’m fed up with it! Why must I over complicate everything? Anyway this is The DisneyVerse, a series where I try to connect every single Disney Animated Classic together using in-universe connections, Easter eggs and theories both popular and my own. Without further ado let’s start.
This entry does contain references to Abuse, Death, Murder, and Necrophilia. Continue at your own discretion.
A Quick Recap
If you haven’t watched Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs now is your chance because I’m about to spoil the plot of this 87 year old masterpiece. You can find it on Disney+.
Snow White is an orphaned princess who is under the protection of her step mother Queen Grimhilde aka The Evil Queen. Grimhilde is self conscious about the fact she’s ageing and becomes jealous of Snow when her magic mirror tells her that she’s prettier than her. Grimhilde hires a huntsman to unalive Snow but he chickens out and she runs off to the woods where she finds a cottage, meets seven dwarfs Doc, Happy, Sleepy, Grumpy, Bashful, Sneezy, and Dopey. They take her in and tell her not to answer the door to strangers so naturally she does and it’s her step mother in disguise who poisons her with an apple. The dwarfs chase her off a cliff and Prince Florian who we briefly meet earlier in the film gives Snow’s corpse a kiss and wakes her up carrying her off to his kingdom.
And that’s the basic plot of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), now for the fun parts.
When and Where is it set?
To help us with forming connections to other films we need to work out the setting of the story. Snow White is generally considered to be a German Princess because her story was written in Germany by German authors The Brothers Grimm. Okay so that’s settled she lives somewhere in Germany.
The when is quite easy too, despite the 1930s inspiration for Snow White’s look it also takes inspiration from 15th/16th Century fashions such as the puffed sleeves. So we can assume Snow White lived in the DisneyVerse equivalent of 15th/16th Century Germany.
Now the Connections
Now we get to the fun part, how does Snow White connect to the overall DisneyVerse?
Make a WISH into the Well…
Disney’s most recent Animated Classic is Wish (2023), it follows Asha as she and her group of friends take down the corrupt King Magnifico. It has the strongest connection to Snow White, with heavy connections between the two villains and heavy references to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs with Asha taking on the role of Snow and her seven friends the supportive role of the dwarfs. Dahlia is Doc, Gabo is Grumpy, Dario is Dopey, Simon is Sleepy and a double crossing jerk. Hal is Happy, Safi is Sneezy and Bazeema is Bashful, and as I’m writing this I just realised all the names start with the same letter as the associated dwarf.
Other than that reference though there is a direct connection between the two films. King Magnifico from Wish becomes the Magic Mirror in Snow White.
As he’s defeated and trapped inside his sceptre you can see his face deteriorating into the face of the Magic Mirror. In my eyes that makes the connection canonical.
Wish takes place in the Kingdom of Rosas on the Iberian Peninsula in the 13th century which gives plenty of time for Magnifico’s prison to be converted into a mirror, travel to The White Kingdom and fall into the hands of Grimhilde.
Magnifico’s spell-book full of dark magic could also possibly be the same one Grimhilde possesses. In many ways she is almost an apprentice to Magnifico and who knows maybe they are even distantly related through Magnifico’s family. Either way I think it’s safe to say these are the first two connections in our grander universe.
Step Mother Knows Best
The next potential connection I want to discuss is Snow White’s connection to the 2010 film Tangled. I’ve seen many theories trying to tie these two films together so let’s discuss the main one that comes to mind.
That being Mother Gothel is Grimhilde. The theory suggests that Grimhilde didn’t pop her clogs after falling off the cliff, being crushed by a boulder, and being eaten by vultures. Nope! She lived! And kept her fear of ageing. Searching for a way to revive her youth, hence finding the golden flower.
Tangled has been heavily suggested to take place in Germany so the location fits. The length of time fits too, Mother Gothel is effectively immortal with the flower’s magic. And Gothel also has the box Grimhilde used to hold Snow’s ‘heart’ though personally I’ve never found any visual evidence of this in my research or whilst watching the film.
Gothel wears mediaeval styled clothing as a reference to her age, and let’s not be mistaken she is very old, but I personally don’t buy into this theory.
I don’t believe Grimhilde could have survived in her weakened state. But that’s not to say Gothel and Grimhilde can’t be connected in any way.
The two share some striking similarities both in appearance and in the way they act, they even both have a ceremonial dagger, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they were related in some way, perhaps Gothel is a sister or cousin to Grimhilde and they learnt witchcraft together. That would be a fun connection, but is there enough evidence for me to confidently say they are connected? Honestly I think so, they say once is a coincidence, and thrice is a pattern and there are too many coincidences between the two villains for them not to be connected in some way. I don’t think they’re the same person, but I do think they are from the same family or perhaps the same coven.
Poison Rush, Poison Rush
Finally I saved the most obvious connection to last, yes Snow White is directly connected to the Wreck-It Ralph franchise. She shows up in Ralph Breaks the Internet, but think about it, is it actually the Snow White from the film?
No!!!
Snow White in Ralph Breaks the Internet is a digital avatar created for the OhMyDisney website, she’s not the same one from the film.
Ralph Breaks the Internet creates so many questions when trying to connect every Disney Classic together, you’d think it would be simple, but no. It leads to so many speculations about how each film exists in the DisneyVerse, are they all films in universe? I don’t think so, instead I think the events of each film have happened in universe, but the in-universe version of Disney has taken these events and made popular films based on them. They adapted Snow White from the book telling her story that we see at the beginning of the film, turned it into a film, and then made Snow White a popular character.
Both Snow White’s exist, but they are not the same. We will get more into the complexities of this all when we eventually get to Ralph Breaks the Internet, but for now we can confirm Snow White and Ralph Breaks the Internet and as an extension Wreck-It Ralph are connected.
So there we have it, our first part and we’ve already connected at least 5 films. Let me know if I’ve missed any connections in the comments. Our next episode will be on Pinocchio (1940), does it connect to Snow White? You’ll just have to wait and see, for now I wish you bore da, prynhawn da, noswaith dda or nos da wherever you are in the word. Peace out.
All rights to these films and characters are copyrighted and protected under the Walt Disney brand. I do not claim to own any of these films or characters. This series is purely for entertainment and speculation. The films mentioned in this part in order of release are.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Directed by David Hand, Walt Disney Productions, 1937.
Pinocchio. Directed by Ben Sharpsteen and Hamilton Luske, Walt Disney Productions, 1940.
Tangled. Directed by Nathan Greno and Byron Howard, Walt Disney Animation Studios, 2010.
Wreck-It Ralph. Directed by Rick Moore, Walt Disney Animation Studios, 2012.
Ralph Breaks the Internet. Directed by Rich Moore and Phil Johnston, Walt Disney Animation Studios, 2018.
Wish. Directed by Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn, Walt Disney Animation Studios, 2023.
Under the Umbrellas with Jayjay 