The Huntsman

The Huntsman is a servant of the Evil Queen and a minor character in Disney's 1937 animated feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
After being told by the Magic Mirror that Snow White is the fairest of all, the Evil Queen summons the Huntsman to her castle and orders him to take the princess to a secluded area deep in the forest, and kill her. The Huntsman objects but says he will obey when the Queen silences the Huntsman and reminds him of the penalty for failure. He is given a box in which to put Snow White's heart, as proof to the Queen that her stepdaughter is dead.

The Huntsman takes the princess to a secluded glade in the forest, where she picks wildflowers. As she notices a baby bird and helps it to find its parents, the huntsman, after checking to see that the two are alone, begins to quietly advance on her, wielding his dagger. Just as the baby bird has flown away, Snow White sees a shadow on the rock in front of her and, turning around to see the advancing, dagger-wielding huntsman, shrieks in terror. The Huntsman hesitates, however, and finally drops the dagger from his trembling hand, realizing he cannot murder someone as pure as Snow White. Kneeling before the princess (and awkwardly wiping his tears of shame on her dress), he warns her of the Queen's jealousy and urges her to run away and never come back, to which she flees into a deeper part of the forest, eventually coming to the residence of the seven dwarfs.

The Queen is later seen with the heart box returned. She once again consults the Magic Mirror, who informs her that Snow White still lives and that the heart in the box in the Queen's hands is that of a pig. Realizing the Huntsman tricked her, the Queen furiously descends into her laboratory and resolves to do away with her stepdaughter herself. It can be assumed that the penalty for the Huntsman's evident failure to complete his task would have been death; however, the Queen was so fixated on destroying Snow White that she never ordered (or carried out) his execution. It can also be assumed that the Huntsman fled before the execution could be carried out.

Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen
It's revealed that the huntsman is the Good King's great-uncle's servant. He later appears to tell the Evil Queen that Snow White almost killed herself since she was riding his horse. It's also revealed that, when the Magic Mirror told the Queen the pig-heart trick, the Queen killed him with her belt while he was leading his horse out of the stable.

Trivia

 * In the Disney edition of Trivial Pursuit, one question centers on the Huntsman:
 * Q: "Whose heart instead of Snow White's did the Huntsman place in the Queen's box in order to fool her?"
 * A: "A wild boar's."


 * In the French dub, it is a deer's heart that the Huntsman brings back instead of a pig's.
 * In the original Snow White fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, the Queen ate the heart given to her by the Huntsman.
 * In My Side of the Story: Snow White/The Queen, the Huntsman is named Brad.