Queen Cackle is the queen of the witches and one of the main antagonists in the Kingdom of Fantasy series.
Appearance[]
Cackle is depicted as having very fair skin, flaming red hair, long and sharp fingernails, and green-and-brown heterochromatic eyes. Her outfit consists of an orange long-sleeved dress (supposedly of the same texture as snake scales) with a high mandarin collar and yellow sleeve cuffs, scarlet shoes with curled toes, and a tall gold crown encrusted with red stones.
Background and History[]
Background
Cackle resides in the Fortress of Fear and she was proclaimed Queen Never-named (but she does prefer being called "Cackle", and therefore that's how she is addressed throughout the series). Cackle was the most ambitious of her six witch sisters, Eclipse the smartest, Frigid the most hardhearted, Vendetta the most vindictive, Stench the stinkiest, Eerie the darkest and Shadow the most mysterious (and queen of the Land of Ghosts).
At some unknown point in time, Cackle came into possession of the Stone Mask of Nema the Faceless Witch, a cursed artifact that corrupts the wearer, and used it to conquer and transform the Kingdom of Dreams into the Land of Nightmares. Her conquest of the Kingdom of Dreams corrupted and twisted its inhabitants into horrifying creatures, and by tricking the king Grim (her half-brother) into wearing the mask, the conquest was completed and the Land of Nightmares was created.
Around that same time, Cackle had acquired one of the Rings of Light, a series of precious magic rings that were the result of every kingdom's combined efforts during the Time of Night and could be used as weapons. After learning to wield its powers, Cackle began using her ring for war instead of peace like it was intended for.
Another time, Cackle sent Slivertooth, the king of basilisks and one of her henchmen, to kidnap the baby son of the two keepers of the Royal Ruby and Sapphire, Delia and Azul. Her plan was to ransom the baby with the two precious gems so she could harness their power. Slivertooth failed to kidnap the boy, but he was able to inflict Delia with his corrupting venom. The venom transformed the fairy into a horrible witch, who later took the name of Scorcher and the title of Empress of the Witches.
At some unknown point in time, Cackle faced off and cast a spell on King Thunderhorn of the Elves, cursing into the form of a golden horned, pure-white deer.
At some point in time, Cackle desired Mel the Magnificent to become her husband, wanting to unite the witches and the Bright Empire wizards in power; but Mel wasn't interested in power or Cackle, so she sought revenge on the Bright Empire, attacking the Empire with a vast army of witches and dark creatures and almost succeeded in overpowering Mel, the Clever Chameleon and the Lady of Dreams with her witch army; but then Blossom and her dragon Jess came in at the last minute and forced her to retreat. It was this action that forged the Secret Alliance between the four beings.
Cackle would later send a poisonous Scarlet Skull Butterfly to sting Blossom's twin sister, Wither. The butterfly's venomous sting corrupted the infant princess and, with the desire to become a witch swelling in her heart, Wither fled the Crystal Castle to the Kingdom of the Witches, where she begged Cackle to take her in as her protégé. Cackle would later provide Wither with the resources she needed to execute one of Cackle's many schemes to conquer the Kingdom of Fantasy.
The Kingdom of Fantasy
Queen Cackle is first introduced when Geronimo and Scribblehopper set foot in the castle of the Queen of the Witches. The friends come across the queen herself. Geronimo asks if he can cross through the Kingdom of the Witches. Cackle tells him he can do so, but sit down with her council. A basilisk gives Cackle a list of the monsters who serve her wicked army. Afterwards, Cackle asks Geronimo to have a meal, but Scribblehopper has warned him that if he does, he'll be trapped in the kingdom forever. Geronimo refuses. Enraged, Queen Cackle prepares to fry them both but Geronimo pulls a mandrake out of a box he found in his attic. The queen takes the plant and lets the friends go.
Just as Geronimo and his friends make it to Queen Blossom's castle, Queen Cackle creates a green fog after poisoning the queen with a flower. The heroic group run into monstrous trolls and Boils, the traitor in the group, alerts them. The trolls capture Geronimo and his friends and Cackle arrives with her evil henchmen. Geronimo stalls the menacing sorceress as the sun rises. Boils convinces her to reward him for giving her the poisoned flower, but instead she throws him away. Cackle's army retreats at the sight of the rising sun, and as she flees with her army, Cackle vows to exact revenge on Geronimo on day.
The Quest for Paradise
Cackle tricks Geronimo into acquiring a certain treasure and successfully captures him, but Geronimo is able to escape with the help of some old and new friends. Upon seeing him again, Cackle demeans him for his happiness and, threatening to feed him to her dragon, seizes him and almost succeeds in dropping him to his death. A unicorn saves him from utter doom at the last second, however, and Cackle retreats, defeated and vowing to get Geronimo next time.
The Amazing Voyage
In her next scheme, Cackle kidnaps Queen Blossom and imprisons her in The Palace of the King of Nightmares. She also rallies her army and Grim, King of Nightmares, to assist her in her attempted conquest of the Kingdom of Fantasy. When Geronimo and his friends sneak into the Land of Nightmares, Geronimo finds Blossom held captive in the palace and is almost caught by Cackle in his attempt to free the Queen of Fairies. Grim orders Queen Blossom to dance for him, and her performance seems to touch him somehow; because when Grim faces Cackle, he turns his back on her plan and refuses to assist her in her conquest or do as she says. Enraged, Cackle fights Grim and comes out on top in the end, incapacitating Grim and taking Blossom with her.
Later, she wages a similar battle with Geronimo, both on dragon and on land, and loses. She is carried away by her bats as she mutters inaudible garble, perhaps vows to get Geronimo another day.
The Dragon Prophecy
Cackle makes a deal with the power-hungry dragon king Firebreath III, the two agreeing to conquer the Kingdom of Fantasy together. Later on, Cackle faces Geronimo on her dragon (actually the dragon's twin, because the strike Geronimo inflicted on the previous dragon purified its soul and made it disinclined to help Cackle) and challenges him to another battle. King Thunderhorn steps in front of Geronimo to protect him just as she's about to shoot him with a lightning bolt from her pinky, gravely injuring himself in the process. Geronimo gives Thunderhorn a potion given to him by nymphs and saves him, breaking the curse inflicted on him and turning him back into an elf like he used to be. With her powers nullified for twenty-four hours, Cackle flies off, vowing revenge once more.
The Dragon of Fortune
Wither steals the Winged Ring from Geronimo (which multiplies her powers by 1000%), the witches gathered in a meeting and voted Wither as the new Queen of the witches. Cackle storms out the castle in a wave of fury. It is unknown where Cackle currently resides, but it's implied to be either with one of her sisters or with one of her remaining allies.
Later, Blossom tells Geronimo the story of the Secret Alliance.