Lady Hephaestia, also known as the Cat Lady, is a minor character in the Disney Park attraction, The Haunted Mansion, which appears in Disneyland in California, Walt Disney World in Florida, and Tokyo Disneyland, as well as its alternate version Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris. When the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland opened in the 1960s, Disney World opened in the 1970s, Tokyo Disneyland opened in the 1980s and Disneyland Paris opened in the 1990s, the first portrait in line in the Portrait Hallway was that of a young English woman dressed in white holding a rose laying on a couch. When lightning would flash, the painting would rapidly change in sync with the lightning. Lady Hephaestia's upper half would change into a black panther. When the effect changed into the slow morph (only for Paris), the black panther transformation was kept the same. In 2005 the Portrait Corridor's effect was changed from a slow morph to a ghostly image being cast on to the painting by the outside lightning. Due to the way the effect is achieved, the original image now had to be darker and the scary image had to be lighter. The clothing on Hephaestia was changed to black and instead of a black panther, she now changes into a snarling white tiger. While doing nothing evil in the attraction, she is a villain in the Marvel Comics series based on it. In the comics, Lady Hephaestia transforms into a black panther and chases Danny around the Mansion, as she is with the Captain. In the game Disney Crossy Road, Hephaestia is one of the secret unlockable characters you can play with, along with other characters such as Melanie Cooper-Calibre.
Gallery[]
