The mirror in the Brothers Grimm version is a man. The idea of a man speaking back to the step-mother and telling her "she is the fairest of all" helps the step-mother suppress her fear of aging (Gilbert & Gubar, CLT 293). However, the step-mother is never able to get over her fear and rather her triumphing as one of the main characters, the audience sees Snow White triumph instead. .
The fear of aging does not end at Snow White. In Sleeping Beauty fairy tales such as Sun, Moon, and Talia by Giambaltista Basile, the queen fears she is being replaced by a more desirable, young lady. Talia is young, beautiful, and in her baby bearing years. She gives the king two children, in which he is thrilled to have. The queen however is not so thrilled. She is fueled by anger and ready to set revenge both on Talia and her husband. The queen tries to have Sun, Moon, and Talia all killed in order to solve her fear of being replaced because she is at an age that is not desired (FFT 68). Rather than fulfilling her goal, the queen instead is ordered to be killed and she is not able to triumph over her fear (Basile, FFT 70). However, not all fairy tales end with the "monster woman" dying. In the Sleeping Beauty version Maleficent produced by Joe Roth, the audience anticipates Maleficent to be the evil, old fairy in traditional fairy tales. On the contrary, viewers develop a tender heart toward Maleficent. Maleficent starts to believe the idea that 'true love' does not exist as she ages do to personal experiences. Unconsciously, she begins to develop a mother like love toward Aurora, in which she tries to suppress. Instead of letting her feelings develop, Maleficent keeps her distance from Aurora and focuses on the reason she put a spell on the child in the first place. Maleficent fears the idea of 'true love'. However, she is able to triumph over this fear when she can't bear the thought of living without Aurora.