The term "maleficent" is employed in literature to evoke a sense of harmful, often supernatural influence that can permeate both animate and inanimate realms. Authors use it to characterize not only malicious beings or devious magic—such as a witch whose power casts a dark enchantment over nature [1] or a spell that traps a person under a sinister curse [2]—but also abstract forces like fate or human vices that grow ever more malign [3, 4]. In contrasting beneficent with maleficent qualities, writers create moral oppositions and highlight dualities inherent in both nature and society—whether it be the benign actions of deities juxtaposed against evil forces [5, 6, 7], or the critical portrayal of despotic power imbued with a toxic influence [8]. This versatile adjective thus enriches literary landscapes by suggesting that the source of harm can be as mysterious and multifaceted as the forces of good, making the boundary between the beneficent and the maleficent fluid and compelling [9, 10].