Moana Waialiki

Moana Waialiki, also known as Little Minnow, is the titular main protagonist from the Moana series.
== Charactah Account ==
The 16-year old daughter of a South Pacific chief. As the next chieftain of her village she is at odds with her responsibility to her people and her desire to explore the sea. As a child, she was chosen by the Ocean to return the Heart of Te Fiti, and when her island starts being overcome by darkness, she undertakes this quest to save the lives of her people, learning about herself and her heritage along the way.
Moana, as Gramma Tala describes, "stands out from the crowd". She is sea-loving, headstrong, strong-willed, practically fearless, and physically capable. Though she has moments of self-doubt, she has great pride in who she is, and is generally too stubborn to back away from new challenges. Moana approaches new experiences and tasks with the utmost seriousness and will stand her ground to fight for what she values even when all seems lost. She can present herself as an imposing force despite her size and has bested the most fearsome beasts and impossible obstacles across the seas of Oceania while relying almost solely on her own intelligence.
For all her strengths, Moana suffers from major identity crises. Surrounded by a loving family and a supportive community of neighbors, Moana cares a great deal for her people, and the village in which she was born and raised. However, she also has a passionate love for the ocean and the idea of voyaging beyond her home island's barrier reef. At the start of the film, voyaging had been prohibited as a means to keep the people of Motunui safe, but even so, Moana's spirited and tenacious attitude kept her dreams of experiencing life beyond her island alive. At the same time, Moana was happily devoted to her village during her time as chief-in-training. An intelligent and resourceful leader, Moana was quick to remedy any problems her village faced and was masterful in keeping herself composed and optimistic during times of a crisis. Moana's loyalty towards her family and people actually played a part in her crippling identity crisis. As she cared for them immensely, she occasionally felt extreme guilt for being drawn to the sea, as lamented in her song "How Far I'll Go"; she believed that if she were to pursue the ocean, she would ultimately disappoint the people she loved. Simultaneously, she felt an obligation towards her ancestors, wanting to reinvigorate their ways of wayfinding as a means to honor them and the legacy they left for her people. These conflicted emotions would ultimately act as Moana's greatest challenge throughout the film.
== Appearance ==
=== Cartoons ===
* At Home With Olaf
* Chibi Tiny Tales
* Moana
=== Movies ===
* Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers
* Moana
* Ralph Breaks the Internet
=== Video Games ===
* Disney Crossy Road
* Disney Getaway Blast
* Disney Heroes: Battle Mode
* Disney Dreamlight Valley
* Disney Emoji Blitz
* Disney Magic Kingdoms
* Disney Melee Mania
* Disney Sorcerer's Arena
* Disney Tsum Tsum
* Disney Wonderful Worlds
* Moana: Island Life
* Moana: Rhythm Run
* PAC-MAN: Ralph Breaks the Maze
== Trivia ==
* The relationship between her and her father is very similar to Ariel's relationship with King Triton.
* Her name means "ocean" in many Polynesian languages, including Hawaiian and Maori.
* Moana is the second Disney Princess to be part of a tribal civilization, with the first being Pocahontas. Despite both being the daughters of a chief, unlike Pocahontas, Moana wasn't considered a princess by other people, including herself (except for Maui, but it was in a joking manner). The real counterpart of Pocahontas was addressed as a princess in history; she was also called a princess in her respective sequel.
** Moana, Pocahontas, and Raya are also the only Disney Princesses who did not appear in the Sofia the First series nor the live-action series Once Upon a Time. The reason why Moana did not appear on the former was that show ended its run before the character was officially inducted; Sofia the First ended on September 8, 2018, while Moana did not become an official member of the Disney Princess line until 2019.
* Animators put a considerable amount of effort into ensuring Moana's hair added to her performance. They did so by developing new software to give the hair a realistic look. They also changed her hairstyle in different scenes, depending on her current action (such as tying her hair in a bun as she sails).
* In one version of the story, Moana had nine older brothers that left the island. Their sister would eventually journey to rescue them.
* Musician Dinah Jane Hansen auditioned for the role of Moana, but the role eventually went to Auliʻi Cravalho.
* Moana was designed to have a body that is considerably more realistic than the thinly stylized proportions of previous Disney animated heroines.
* The junior novelization gives her age as 16. This makes her the only Disney princess to be voiced by an actress younger than the character, as her film was released on Auli'i Cravalho's 16th birthday.
* Like Merida, Snow White, Tiana, Raya, and Aurora, Moana is one of the few Disney Princesses without a sequel to her film.
* Moana was, at one point, a secondary character as the film was initially centered around Maui. Moana's story involved going on a mission to save her love interest.
* The red in Moana's clothing represents her royal heritage as the daughter of a chief.
* Over 40 designs were proposed for Moana's necklace. The final appearance was chosen to represent Moana's ties to both the land and sea. The stars on the necklace represent Moana's identity as a navigator.
* She is the second protagonist of Polynesian descent in a Disney animated feature, the first being Lilo from Lilo & Stitch.
** During the credits of that movie, one of the photos showed Stitch holding a giant leaf over a sea turtle and its baby the same way Moana did.
* In some foreign versions of the film (mainly in some countries in Europe), she is renamed Vaiana due to copyright reasons.
* Moana was originally going to be a playable character in the third installment of Disney Infinity, but after the series was confirmed to have been discontinued in May 2016, it was implied that Moana was canceled.
* At one point, Moana says "You lying, slimy son of a b...!" to Maui while she was stuck in the cave, saying a curse word in the process, but the scene switches to Maui, cutting her off.
* In keeping with the tradition of other Disney Princesses, Moana does not have a last name. There are some reports of the last name "Waialiki" having been heard at the original D23 announcement or seen in early promotional material, but no examples have been found to confirm this.
** Writer Jared Bush reported that past iterations of the film had her last name be Waialiki, while others have Motunui, though he wasn't sure on what was ultimately canon.
* In the reprise of the deleted ballad "More", Moana mentions that Gramma Tala was the one who named her.
* Moana's oar is most likely a Culacula: a warclub originating from Fiji that could be used both as an oar and a weapon.
* Some of Ariel's meet-and-greets have Ariel sing "How Far I'll Go" to the people that meet her, and she does never know the rest of the song, and she only hears Moana sing it from "above", and that she sings it every time she sails.
* Moana is the fifth non-white Disney Princess, after Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan, and Tiana.
** Moana, Mulan, and Raya are also the only Princesses not to have celebrities pose as them for the Disney Dream Portrait Series.
* Unlike her most recent predecessors, Moana was not inducted into the Disney Princess franchise with a coronation event. Instead, the character was slowly integrated into official Disney Princess merchandise such as books and toy lines, as well as social media posts following the release of her film, before being added to the franchise's official website as a member in 2019.
** Also, unlike her most recent predecessors (who were inducted in the line-up after almost one year of their film's release), Moana took almost three years since her film's release before being inducted into the line-up.
* Moana is a taupou, who later became a Matai in the Fa'amatai government system due to her being a daughter of a chief, and because she became a successor to her father, who was a Matai before her.
* Moana is the second Disney Princess to be an original character and not based on a preexisting character, the first being Merida from Brave.
* Moana appeared in Ralph Breaks The Internet despite not being an official member yet of the Disney Princess franchise at the time of the film's release.
** Moana only got officially inducted into the franchise a few months after the premiere of Ralph Breaks The Internet.
* Considering her ethnicity, Moana is the first CGI Disney Princess to not have freckles.
* Moana is one of the few Disney Princesses whose signature outfit has more than one color, after Snow White, Ariel (in her mermaid form), and Mulan.
* Moana is the first Disney Princess to have her name in her film's title since Mulan.
* Moana is the first Disney Princess to directly reject the title of "princess".
== Gallery ==
File:Moana Waialiki Render 01.png
File:Moana Waialiki 01.png
File:Moana Waialiki 02.png
File:Moana Waialiki 03.png
File:Moana Waialiki 04.png
File:Moana Waialiki 05.png
File:Moana Waialiki Fan Art 01.png
== External Links ==
* Moana at Disney Wiki
Category:Characters
Category:Females
Category:Moana