Uma (Descendants)

Uma is a major antagonist in the Descendants franchise, serving as the main antagonist in both Descendants 2 and its prequel novel Rise of the Isle of the Lost, the secondary antagonist of the novel Escape from the Isle of the Lost, and major character of Descendants 3. She is the daughter of Ursula and the former archenemy of Mal who used to want to outdo her ever since they became childhood enemies due to Mal pulling a prank on her as well as trying to get the Fairy Godmother's wand, which she would try to do by either trying to take the trident to enter Auradon or get the Fairy Godmother's wand by means of threatening Ben's life, though she eventually gives up her grudge against Mal upon teaming up with her to defeat Audrey in the final film, which also leads to Mal getting rid of the barrier between Auradon and the Isle of the Lost so that both people can live better lives.

She was portrayed by China Anne McClain.

What Makes Her Magnificent?[]

She has a tragic and sympathetic background with her having been raised and groomed by her mother Ursula to be evil to live up to her standards as a daughter (just like every other VK) and being cruelly humiliated by Mal when she was a kid and when she was her friend at the time by means of getting a huge bucket of baby shrimps dumped all over her head, getting her the nickname of Shrimpy and humiliated as retribution for simply unintentionally laughing when Mal slipped up on one of her own pranks, with this causing her to develop an enmity with Mal and seeking to outdo her.
She has a noble objective, wanting to destroy the Isle's Barrier to free the Villain Kids and help them get better lives.
She manages to win the race hosted by Captain Hook for a ship by throwing a rope onto a cleat attached to a small motorboat that was started off by it while keeping the rope moored to the deck of her raft, getting the goblins driving the boat off by means of yanking them off using her rope, managing to successfully get onto the boat from her raft in spite of the screw on the cleat being close to flying off by jumping onto it at the right time, tearing free the ropes holding the wheel in place, and jamming the throttle into gear to speed it up enough to beat the three boats ahead of her.
She honors her deal with her friend Harry Hook, giving him his hook back once she won the race while making him her first mate of the ship they had won.
She manages to deduce that Ursula's necklace is how she'll find the trident lost in the Isle of the Lost from information she got in a conversation with Cook and figures out that she'll use it to find the trident.
She forms a solid squad and becomes a fearsome threat with them being ready to cut up anyone standing in their way.
She manages to figure out that Yen Sid had brought an apprentice with him from a small detail on a file mentioning "The Sorcerer's Intern", manages to get her to her Fish and Chips Shoppe using Gil, and gets information about the location of the necklace from her by means of getting her the hat she needed and demanded for Yen Sid, which Uma deduced she had amongst the hats Gil bought from the store.
Arriving on the Isle of the Doomed that contains the necklace, she deduces that the sun and moon markings on it were the markings of a trail and manages to find the spot where the necklace is buried after digging up the wrong spot nearby the sign that said "X Marks The Spot" backwards by realizing that a couple of trees that were together formed an x where they dig to the point of where they find a cave that Harry fell in and Uma and the others came in afterwards to find a treasure chest that contained the necklace.
She manages to lead an attack on the skeletons that were attacking them with her crew and defeats them by rallying them at her back and fighting them, eventually realizing with the help of Harry that they were attached to strings which they cut off them to bring them down before escaping the other traps set up in the cave and then the cave itself.
She manages to put the pieces of the necklace together by using the sludge they had on the ship and figures out, with the help of Gil, that the missing piece was in her locket, the piece being a sliver of gold.
With the necklace complete, she uses it to find the location of the trident and comes close to getting it if not for Mal and her friends' interference.
She puts on some pretty fun and catchy songs like "What's My Name?" to rally her crew and "It's Goin' Down" where she tries to get the wand from Mal through a negotiation for Ben while performing good singing and dancing with her crew also contributing to the stunts.
When notified of Ben and Mal's friends being on the Isle of the Lost to search for Mal, she has her crew successfully ambush Ben and capture him to use him to lure Mal over to her.
She tricks Mal into making a deal with her by telling her she'll set Ben free if she beets her in an arm wrestling match and while doing it, Uma catches Mal off guard by telling her she has to give her the Fairy Godmother's wand if Uma wins, allowing her to win and raise the stakes for Mal.
She honors her deal with Mal, letting Ben go when she initially thought Mal gave her the wand.
She shows care for her crew, helping Harry out of the water when he calls for her help instead of pursuing Mal during the fight and saving their lives at various other points like in the skeleton fight scene in a cave in the tie-in novels.
She sets up a pretty smart plan involving her having spelled Ben using Mal's spellbook that she left on the isle and having him announce her to be his lady on the cruise during the celebration as well as destroy the barrier as her lover, which almost works and gets pulled off had it not been for Mal's interference by using true love's kiss to break the spell.
In Escape from the Isle of the Lost, she creates an alliance with Hades by lying to him about the gods on Olympus not remembering him anymore and that Zeus is having a ball up there and throws down his lightning bolts every once in a while to remind everyone who's in charge, telling him to help her to show them who's boss in her plan of taking down the barrier and escaping from the Isle of the Lost.
She manages to convince Hades to try to take out Mal by getting him to spark up the ember and cause it to glow a bit, knowing that the magic barrier was weaker down there in his underwater lair.
She successfully lures Mal into the sea using magic and illusions to trick her to come in and encounters her on the ship at the bottom of the sea where she toys with her by transforming back into her human form while lurching away from her and changing from a squid to an octopus to a girl, darting into coral reefs and then transforming back into a humongous sea creature and appearing back on the deck of the pirate ship in human form before battling her in a sword duel and disappearing to confuse her. She then spells her and sets up a door in front of her that, once opened, will allow Uma the opportunity to take the key to Auradon from Mal and this almost works if not for Mal's friends' interference.
After Harry Hook and Gil ambush Mal, Jay, Carlos, and Evie and cause Mal to drop the ember, Uma catches it and when hearing of Audrey having cast a spell on the island of Auradon that involves their lives at risk, she engages in a deal with Mal that she'll give the ember if she promises to let anyone from the Isle of the Lost leave to Auradon before teaming up with them due to thinking that Mal couldn't do it on her own and that it is a job for pirates.
She helps the others fight off the knights that Audrey used her magic to bring to life, strategically fighting off the knights while giving strategic instructions to her crew and working with Mal to stop them before they put an end to the spell with Mal using her magic while the others make movements for the knights to dance to.
She genuinely begins bonding with Mal during their teamups, recalling their past in the Isle of the Lost and appreciating the others' work on stopping some of Audrey's stunts.
After a change of heart, she helps Mal defeat Audrey by using her necklace's magic to combine it with Mal's magic, giving her enough power to take down Audrey and save Celia along with Auradon.
She offers to go to Hades to get him to use the ember to save Audrey when she was unconscious.
She joins everyone else in the celebration of the isle barrier being broken, showing satisfaction in that the people of the Isle of the Lost can live better lives then and showing even more that she's reformed, singing along with everyone else as well.

What Makes Her a Baddie?[]

She would engage in cruel mischief with Mal when they were young and friends, rampaging up and down the island, terrorizing step-granddaughters and traumatizing even the most stalwart goons with no one daring to even voice a peep of annoyance out of fear of their mothers, Maleficent and Ursula. One of their pranks would include them making ticking noises to scare the pirate captain Hook himself and getting on Smee's nerves and the pirates in the crew tripping one after another on the slippery wooden planks which they had covered with nearly invisible slime. They even attempted to prank Cruella De Vil, though this ended with Mal tripping and falling upon their own slippery puddle and almost falling into the sea and Uma getting a huge bucket of smelly and disgusting baby shrimps all over her head, which gave Uma the nickname of Shrimpy.
She forces customers of the Fish and Chips Shoppe she worked at to give tips, threatening them when they don't.
Upon discovering Yen Sid's apprentice was on the isle, she has Gil invite her to the Fish and Chips Shoppe to blackmail her and threatens her with the help of Harry, with it being implied that she was willing to let Harry harm her should it come down to it, managing to get the location of the necklace she wanted from her by getting the hat she wanted out of the hats Gil bought, with said hat also being something she threatened to throw in the fireplace if she didn't get it.
She attempted to steal the trident to negotiate with Auradon to let her and everyone on the Isle of the Lost in.
In Escape from the Isle of the Lost, she lured Mal underwater where she spelled her and tried to get her to open a door where she would try to take the key from her.
When this doesn't work due to Evie's interference, she tries to drag her down herself to get her out of the way, though Evie gets pulled out by the rest of Mal's friends there.
She has her crew capture and kidnap Ben to lure Mal over.
She threatens to harm Ben if Mal doesn't get her the wand.
She repeatedly threatens to kill Ben in front of Mal during their negotiation, emphasizing the threat by declaring that he'll be killed by the sharks in the water if she doesn't hand over the wand.
She has her crew attack Mal and her friends upon realizing that the wand she gave her during the negotiation was fake.
She spells Ben to try to use him as her lover to bring down the barrier so that her crew can ride with the tide.
She goads Mal into a fight by briefly attacking the ship's crew while in her octopus form in the ocean and prepares to engage in said fight with her before Ben came in between them and promises to make a difference for her isle by convincing her to give her shell to him.
Upon catching the ember Mal gave to her, knowing that it will be ineffective if wet, she threatens to drop it in the water if Mal doesn't accept her terms to give it back, which involves letting anyone on the Isle of the Lost to escape.
She initially abandons Mal and takes her crew with her for lying to them about setting everyone on the Isle of the Lost free on behalf of saving everyone on Auradon.

Trivia[]

She is the only character from the Descendants franchise to qualify as a Magnificent Baddie.