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The [[Wicked Stepmother]], the woman hostile to her stepchildren, is a perennial trope. [[Older Than Feudalism]], she appears constantly in legends and folklore around the world. She seldom appears played straight in modern works, except when they are retelling [[Fairy Tale|Fairy Tales]], but the number of retold fairy tales (especially "[[Cinderella (Literature)|Cinderella]]", "[[Snow White (Literature)|Snow White]]", and "[[Hansel and Gretel (Literature)|Hansel and Gretel]]") gives her a number of straight appearances. Many psychologists hypothesize that she is an [[Archetypal Character]], devised by children to contain all they hate in their mothers so they can continue to regard Mother as perfect. Sadly enough, [[Truth in Television]]; children are vastly more likely to abused by stepparents (and people cohabiting with the parent are even worse). For any or all of these reasons, even decades (centuries?) of [[Subverted Trope|subversion]] have not tranformed her even into a [[Discredited Trope]]; she can still be played straight or subverted. [[Shout Out|Shout Outs]] are commonplace whenever dealing with a stepfamily.
 
She generally favors her own children -- whether from a previous marriage or this one -- over her stepchildren. Sometimes her [[Greed|economic motives]] are made clear: there is only so much to go around, and she wants it for herself or her own children. An equivalent male figure is the [[Evil Uncle]] -- because inheritance is generally through the male line, the uncle can inherit his brother's children's estate. [[Green -Eyed Monster|Envy]] is another common cause; the [[Wicked Stepmother]] either wants to be [[Fairest of Them All]] or to have her daughters be so.
 
On the other hand, the stepsiblings or halfsiblings can but need not be hostile to the hero(ine). If they are hostile, [[Youngest Child Wins]] is trumped by the older child's stepchild status.
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The [[Disappeared Dad|father]] is seldom a factor. If not [[Widow Woman|dead]] (which is common), he will nevertheless never intervene on his child's behalf.
 
Her tactics vary widely. She may simply [[Cinderella Circumstances|oppress the heroine, keeping her in rags and slaving at household work]] -- sometimes going as far as assigning the [[Impossible Task]]. As a [[Wicked Witch]], she may [[Baleful Polymorph|transform]] the child(ren) [[Animorphism|into animals]]. She may drive or send them off. She may act [[Family -Unfriendly Violence|violently]] toward them and even [[Family -Unfriendly Death|kill]] them (and perhaps cap that by [[Due to The Dead|cooking them up and serving them to their father]].)
 
The stepchild(ren) may succeed in defeating her through help from their [[Unfinished Business|real though dead mother]] -- the Grimms' version of "Cinderella", "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/cinderella/stories/german.html Aschenputtel]", has Aschenputtel get her gowns from the tree planted on her mother's grave. [[Talking Animal|Talking Animals]] may also feature, as can a [[Fairy Godmother]]. These figures can do everything from performing the [[Impossible Task]] on behalf of the child to ensuring that [[She Cleans Up Nicely]] despite the dirt and rags she is reduced to.
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On the other hand, writers sometimes [[Bowdlerise]] fairy tales by transforming a [[Evil Matriarch|cruel mother]] into a wicked stepmother. Grimms' original tales of "Snow White" and "[[Hansel and Gretel (Literature)|Hansel and Gretel]]" both featured a cruel mother.
 
Her chances of surviving the ending are not good. The [[Happily Ever After]] ending of most fairy tales often dwells with more detail on how the [[Wicked Stepmother]] and/or her children were [[Family -Unfriendly Violence|punished]] than on the hero and happiness. On the other hand, stepmothers who are not disposed of often return; when she is not [[Family -Unfriendly Death|executed at the wedding]], she may, for instance, try to kill the heroine when she gives birth and replace her with her own daughter; so the [[Fairy Tale]] doesn't end (happily or not) until she's dead.
 
Sometimes preceded by a [[Guess Who I'm Marrying]] scenario. Can involve a [[Missing Mom]]; older stories usually do, often caused by [[Death By Childbirth]].
 
A common subversion is the [[Green -Eyed Monster|jealous]] [[DaddysDaddy's Girl]] regarding any stepmother as a [[Wicked Stepmother]].
 
The [[Redheaded Stepchild]] is a particular victim.
 
Subtrope of [[Evil Matriarch]]. Note that the [[Magical Nanny]] often becomes a stepmother, but never a wicked one. [[Department of Child Disservices]] is a modern organized variation.
{{examples|Examples:}}
 
== Anime and Manga ==
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* In "[[East of the Sun West of The Moon (Literature)|East of the Sun West of The Moon]]", the stepmother enchanted her stepson into a bear form out of revenge because he would not marry her daughter.
* In "[http://www.classicreader.com/book/995/28/ The Boys with Golden Stars]" the stepmother tried to kill her stepson's children -- again because he had chosen a bride other than her daughter.
* In "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/sixswans/stories/twelvewilducks.html The Twelve Wild Ducks]", the stepmother is [[Green -Eyed Monster|jealous]] of her stepson's bride's beauty and tries to have her killed.
* In "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/13threemenforest.html The Three Little Men In the Wood]", the stepmother sends her stepdaughter into the woods on an impossible task to kill her. When she returns having won magical rewards with her good manners, she sends her daughter after and is furious when her ill-tempered daughter is justly punished. When the stepdaughter marries the king, she tries to murder her and replace her with her own daughter.
* In "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/135whiteblackbride.html The White Bride and The Black One]", after a similar distribution of curses, the stepmother tries to murder the stepdaughter en route to her wedding and replace her with her own daughter.
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* In "[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/116.htm The Black Thief and the Knight of the Glen]", the stepmother plays a game of cards with her stepsons so she can force them on an impossible quest. The youngest wins against her but decides to go with his brothers.
* In "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/jacobs/moreceltic/ridere.html The Ridere of Riddles]", the stepmother tries to poison her stepson. Her son, however, loves his brother, warns him, and then flees with him.
* In "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/twelvedancing/stories/katiecrackernuts.html Katie Crackernuts]", the [[Green -Eyed Monster|envious]] stepmother has her stepdaughter Anne's head turned into a sheep's head. Subverted in that the Katie of the title is ''her own daughter'', who sees what she's done and sets out with her stepsister Anne to escape and solve the problem; normally the stepdaughter is the heroine.
* Subverted in "[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/227.htm The Horse Gullfaxi and the Sword Gunnfoder]", the only fairy tale I know of with a good stepmother.
** Another example is "The Tale of Hildur, the Good Stepmother". However, she doesn't become a stepmother until the end.
* In "[[Snow White (Literature)|Snow White]]", the queen is jealous of her stepdaughter because she wants to be the [[Fairest of Them All]].
* Story 25 of "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio", seen [http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/7207/GilesB.htm here]; as a summation doesn't do this story justice, just read the whole thing. Note, however, that the Stepmother is the only one denied a [[Happily Ever After]].
* In "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/armlessmaiden/stories/biancabella.html Biancabella and the Snake]", the hero Ferrinando's [[Wicked Stepmother]] orders her men to kill [[The Ojou|Biancabella]] after she marries her stepson; they don't, but they [[Family -Unfriendly Violence|gouge out her eyes and cut off her hands]] as evidence that they have. Biancabella has to go through a [[Break the Cutie]] process to get her place in the family back.
* In "[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/015.htm The Witch]", the [[Wicked Stepmother]] intentionally sends her children to a [[Wicked Witch]].
* Some version of "[[Hansel and Gretel (Literature)|Hansel and Gretel]]" have the father only sending the kids out after the stepmother convinces him.
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== Film ==
* Lady Rodmilla de Ghent of ''[[Ever After (Film)|Ever After]]''.
* Subverted in ''[[Labyrinth (Film)|Labyrinth]]'', where the stepmother complains that Sarah treats her like this figure. Sarah's [[Character Development]] in the movie reveals the real problem is Sarah's [[Green -Eyed Monster|jealousy]] toward her stepmother and new half-brother.
** [[Your Mileage May Vary|That depends.]] Although Sarah does clearly have jealousy issues with her father's new wife and their baby, her stepmother isn't exactly a saint, either; she spends her one scene being snappish and insensitive, implying it's acceptable to take Sarah for granted because, being a loner and a bit of a geek, she doesn't date.
** The manga sequel "Return to the labyrinth" shows that Irene (that's her name) behaves like that even with her own biological child, Toby. She even goes as far as not even showing to his play and go out to his father instead (but I thought her and Sarah's dad barely went out!). and Sarah even has to make him dinner! So, yeah, [[Your Mileage May Vary]] HARD on how much a subversion she is.
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* The evil aunts Spiker and Sponge in ''[[James and The Giant Peach]]''.
* Played with in [[A Song of Ice and Fire]], with two of the protagonists [[Yamato Nadeshiko|Catelyn]] and [[Heroic Bastard|Jon Snow]]. While Catelyn was never exactly abusive towards Jon, she made it quite clear he's not part of the family and even has a [[You Should Have Died Instead]] moment with him regarding one of his half-brothers. Then again, there's [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WMG/ASongOfIceAndFire a lot of speculation as to whether he's really her husband's son]...
** Sadly, when your normally loving and faithful husband comes home with an infant he claims as his bastard son, insists on openly raising said bastard at home in defiance of all custom, and not only refuses to discuss the matter but actually ''frightens'' you when you try to ask who the mother is, it's gonna be pretty hard to bear in mind that it's really not the kid's fault. [[What an Idiot!|Nice going, Ned.]]
*** [[Honor Before Reason|He promised.]]
** Hinted also with [[I Have Your Wife|Theon Greyjoy]]. In a Catelyn chapter in the second book it is mentioned that she never liked him.
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*** With Annabeth, it seems like mostly a case of fear on her step-mom's part (which she eventually tried to get over), utter lack of parenting ability on her father's part, and a little kid's perspective plus several years of built-up bitterness on Annabeth's part. Once all parties were actually willing to work at being a stable family, they started getting along.
* Enforced in the [[Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms]]; because the world runs on narrative causality, even stepmothers who don't start out evil become evil, unless [[Genre Savvy]] people can subvert it. Played with to hell and back in ''The Sleeping Beauty'', where no less than three evil sorceresses try to enchant the king while he is still mourning his beloved wife; the local Fairy Godmother beats them to it and marries the king herself in disguise as the [[Obviously Evil]] [[Wicked Stepmother]].
* Averted in ''Bonjou tristesse'', where [[The Ojou|Anne]] is a good person if quite severe sometimes, and tries to put some order in the very hedonistic lives of [[DaddysDaddy's Girl|Cécile]] and [[The Hedonist|Raymond]]. Cécile likes her at first, but soon is so scared about the changes that she'll bring into her life (specially when Anne attempts playing [[Team Mom]]), that {{spoiler|she manipulates the people around her (Raymond, his old mistress Elsa, and her own [[Dogged Nice Guy]] Cyril) into making Anne's life hard so she'll leave.}} Little does Cécile know that {{spoiler|Anne will end up so broken that she'll be [[Spurned Into Suicide]] instead.}}
* In [[CS Lewis (Creator)|CS Lewis]]'s ''[[Till We Have Faces]]'', the nurse Batta tells the princesses that their new stepmother will be evil, just like in the stories she's told them. It turns out to be a subversion, as their stepmother is a frail, gentle young woman who is relatively kind to the girls until she dies in childbirth.
* Averted in Doris Gates' ''Blue Willow'', in which the stepmother is a good woman with an excellent relationship with the protagonist, Janey.
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* [[God Save Us From the Queen|Queen Protea]] of ''[[Radiant Historia (Video Game)|Radiant Historia]].''
* ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro Ni]]'' plays with this. Battler gets along with his stepmother, Kyrie and his half-sister Ange despite leaving home for six years due to his father remarrying [[Too Soon]] after his mother's death. Then later arcs reveal that Kyrie ''hated'' his mother, Asumu. [[Yandere|A lot]]. To the point where {{spoiler|she flat out states that if Asumu hadn't died on her own, she would have killed her. Then the penultimate arc reveals that she's a [[Complete Monster]] who doesn't even care for her own daughter. Oh, and it turns out that Kyrie is actually Battler's ''real'' mother.}} How much of this is true is... [[Mind Screw|Debatable]].
* The main character's stepfather in ''[[Spellcasting 101]]'' is abusive to the point that the kid runs away to join a wizarding school ([[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]). Bonus points for {{spoiler|being revealed to be the game's [[Big Bad]] [[Evil Sorcerer]]}}.
* In ''Rise of the Snow Queen'', the third installment of the [[Dark Parables]] games, an in-game storytelling device talks about how [[Snow White (Literature)|Snow White]]'s father was riddled with guilt over having been unable to protect her from her evil stepmother. Said stepmother is a [[Posthumous Character]] during the game itself.
 
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