Why Disney villains all die the same way

But their penchant for scheming usually only gets them ahead for a brief 15 minute period, three-quarters of the way through the story before they are ultimately defeated by a valiant prince — or more recently a feisty female lead.

But this good triumphing over evil often follows the same formula, each of the Disney villains takes some sort of tumble at the peak of their defeat, reports The Sun.

No one can forget the heart-pounding moment Gaston is thrown from the top of the Beast’s castle plummeting to his death.

Or Maleficent — having morphed herself into a dragon — falls into a deep valley from the precarious rock she was battling Prince Philip on.

Or what about when in Return to Never Land when Captain Hook falls from the mast of his ship?

You’re starting to see the pattern now right?

These aren’t even the only examples, what about Lucifer the cat from Cinderella, Scar from Lion King and Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame? The list goes on ...

You’ve never seen a Disney baddie get gruesomely decapitated or hideously blown into small pieces.

That’s because the magical kingdom has strict rules about how their characters meet their demise.

Plenty of people have picked up on the trend — there’s even a YouTube edit of all the terrifying tumbles.

There are two theories behind the formulaic deaths: the first is that it saves the tiny tots who love the films from having to sit through any gory deaths.

Disney villains falling

This means the bad guy falls away and the actual death can happen off screen — again saving any nasty images staining the upbeat theme of the movies.

The second is that the hero of the story is not actually responsible for their sticky end and won’t face murder charges and lengthy court cases that would inevitably mar the storyline of the sequel.

We recently also revealed the real reason cartoon characters are only ever drawn with three fingers on each hand.

Love Disney? Let us introduce you to the real people who voiced your favourite Disney princesses … from Snow White to Cinderella.

This article was first published in The Sun.