We’re talking Disney animated feature films only, here. No Pixar, no Marvel, no Magica De Spell, no Hocus Pocus. We can argue about what constitutes a witch later. For now, in honor of the live-action Maleficent, here’s an up-to-date ranking of the ladies I’ve determined to be animated Disney witches.
10. The Enchantress
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
She sets the events of the movie in motion, but only appears in the stained-glass prologue. Stained glass will never haunt your nightmares.
9. Orddu, Orgoch, and Orwen
The Black Cauldron (1985)
Only my sister and I have fond memories of this movie, which our grandma snuck us into after a showing of Flight of the Navigator. Even then, I only remember Gurgi, and nothing of these witches.
8. The Fates
Hercules (1997)
Another trio, though not very haunting—all they do is give Hades a prophecy. Contrary to the O-witches from The Black Cauldron, at least these ladies look suitably creepy.
7. Mama Odie
The Princess and the Frog (2009)
What’s the point of voodoo powers if you only use them for good?
6. Elsa
Frozen (2013)
The best witches revel in their witchery; they don’t try to suppress it. Maybe if Elsa goes back to using her snow to entertain her little sister, she can move up higher on the list.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eD2UpdhbwA
5. Mother Gothel
Tangled (2010)
She might not be the most terrifying witch, but she does get the most horrifying ending.
4. Madam Mim
The Sword in the Stone (1963)
I’m always a fan of the dotty-old-lady-type witch. They seem harmless until they get cranky and turn into dragons.
3. The Evil Queen
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
She might be the fairest queen of them all, but she sure makes for the ugliest hag. In the world of witch rankings, that’s a good thing. 
2. Ursula
The Little Mermaid (1989)
She’s brassy. She gets one of the best villain songs this side of “Be Prepared”. And she doesn’t underestimate the importance of body language.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyFVG4VfPmg
1. Maleficent
Sleeping Beauty (1959)
I have to hand it to Disney here—they picked the best witch to plot a feature around. She’s legitimately scary, and has one of the best witch character designs in the Disney canon. I only hope that seeing her backstory doesn’t soften her up too much. She’s fabulous the way she is.
Think you can do better than an awesome purple dragon? Let me know all the witches I forgot about in the comments. (No, Grandmother Willow doesn’t count.)
Also, she is totally not a dude!
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::swoops into chair next to you guys with cafeteria tray in hand::
I hear you guys are talking about Disney witches.
I agree with most of this list, except that I would put Mother Goethel head of Madam Mim. Mother Goethel is terrifying precisely because she is the most realistic. She’s awful even without the magic. That scares me.
Maleficent is kind of like Miranda Priestly with powers. Which succinctly explains her awesomeness.
Now that I’m thinking about this, I’m realizing that with a few exceptions, the female Disney villains all have magical powers, and the male Disney villains are just straight-up sociopaths. Don’t know where to go with that observation, but I’m sure there’s something there.
I realized when I was writing this that I was probably alone in my love for Madam Mim. I feel like my love of The Sword and the Stone in general is higher than most. But I like that Madam Mim is a different take on a witch–just kind of annoying and not really terrifying, unless she needs to turn into a crocodile and try and eat you.
There were some Disney villains that made me wonder if I should include men on the list–the villain in The Princess and the Frog is a dude who turns them into frogs, and Jafar gets Ultimate Cosmic Powers at least for a little bit–but, yes, sorcery tends to be an evil lady’s club.
Cinderella is an unusual case in the that villain (Lady Tremaine) has no powers, and the women who do have powers only use them for good.
There are a other few lady sociopaths–Cruella De Vil, Yzma from the Emperor’s New Groove–but THIRST FOR NON-MAGIC POWER tends to be a guy thing. (“Be Prepared!”)
Yzma is kind of a witch, actually! She doesn’t have powers, per se, but she definitely uses bizarre magic potions to get her way. I guess she’s more like the early incarnation of Willow on Buffy: practicing magic but not POSSESSING magic.
D’oh. I should probably have included her on the list, then. But maybe it’s science and not magic?
“Just kind of annoying and not really terrifying…”
Maybe Mim is more realistic than I gave her credit for. Sounds like a lot of people I know.