Little Mermaid

Little Mermaid is one of the five Demonic Princesses featured in Black Souls I, as a minor antagonist. She rules over her section of the Lost Empire, Atlantica, and because of her role, blocks entry into the Inner Lost Empire. Her name is derived from the character of the same name in a fairytale written by Hans Christian Andersen, "The Little Mermaid." Her death or the formation of a covenant with her is required to confront Cinderella. 
==Appearance==
Little Mermaid adopts the appearance of a humanoid, with dark blue eyes, fair skin, and pale blue hair that reaches down to her bottom. Her bangs stop right above her eyes, and her ears are jagged, colored a dark blue, sticking past her hair. A few inches below her pelvis, her legs transition into a blue fish tail, testament to her status as a mermaid. Her clothing is composed of a black tube top and a frilly pink miniskirt, alongside a tied red ribbon resting on the base of her neck.
In her true form, she's instead presented as an almost incomprehensible green mass, with countless tentacles sprouting from her body and a single orifice opening up in an O-shape, lined with pink. 
==Personality==
Little Mermaid is one of the relatively kinder and more composed Demonic Princesses, finding it no trouble to help others if it would convenience them. She's rather patient and empathetic, able to easily find why a decision may be hard to another, especially if love is involved as the subject. She finds herself as someone more mature than the majority, as she refers to herself as "elder sister" and Grimm as "boy." She also appears to be indifferent to her position of power or finds it important to keep a hobby, as she is never found sitting on her throne, rather at the piano situated behind it, playing the same tune in repetition. 
However, she's obsessive when it comes to the topic of love, justifying every action, violent or otherwise, in the name of it. At the discussion of her own defeat, she's unperturbed by the idea, only seeing her demise as a way to procure more love within a relatively more peaceful world.Little Mermaid Battle (Jeanne Summon) - Jeanne: "Demonic princess, we'll defeat you and bring peace to the world!" // Little Mermaid: "Peace...... Love born in peace is even more wonderful...♡ Do your best to defeat elder sister♡" Even nearing her deathbed, she exclaims that the damage being done to her does hurt, but she's desperately searching for love within it despite the inherent hostility in attacking another.Little Mermaid Battle (Half-Health) - Little Mermaid: "Hurts, hurts......blood, won't stop......ufufu. Still, this is love......" The Hotel Poseidon, namely its "love or kill" mechanism provides more insight into her viewpoint of love, believing murder to aggregate and spread love rather than stifle it.
She hides her loneliness beneath her own mannerisms, and she treasures her past relationships; she periodically reflects on the "olden days" when she and the other Demonic Princesses were able to come together and talk to one another without conflict, and with spare time on their hands. Ultimately, she's not opposed to new bonds, as she states that her loneliness is nonexistent with a husband by her side.Little Mermaid (Post-Cinderella) - Little Mermaid: "Elder sister has four dear friends...♡ We're very close, like sisters, you see? We got separated now, so it's a bit lonely... But elder sister is always thinking about everyone...♡ It would be nice to chat like in the olden days, to talk about love...♡ It will be truly wonderful to meet again, someday, somewhere...♡ [...] Because elder sister has you now... It's not lonely anymore♡"
==Biography==
=== Black Souls I ===
As she's based off of the fairytale, her history prior to the game's events are likely similar, albeit with some changes. In the past, she fell in love with a prince from an unnamed country, but that love was not reciprocated, and thus that country was shortly destroyed by a tsunami. It's implied that she became scornful of this rejection, however scorn is better shown by the other Demonic Princesses, and is not something that she herself particularly exhibits. Additionally, she does have at least one family member in the form of a parental figure,This can be implied by the room below Little Mermaid's home, "For My Dear Girl," containing an apple ring. but her relationship with this figure, as well as whether or not her obsessive want for love stemmed from this event is uncertain.
At some point, Little Mermaid created the Hotel Poseidon, a love hotel, hiring Pinocchio as its receptionist. Her obsession with love likely resulted in the creation of this structure; her twisted sense of affection bleeds through it, putting in a mechanism that locks a pair of people in a room until they make love with one another or one of them dies. 
The remainder of Little Mermaid's story is influenced by Grimm's actions, or lack thereof.
As it is the only way to access Atlantica and therefore progress, Grimm first picks up her invitation located in Snow White's castle, before shortly finding her playing piano in the westernmost part of the underwater city. At first, Little Mermaid will wonder if he wants anything and if he meant to end up in her home at all. Grimm can immediately choose to kill her, which will initiate a fight, or leave, which will prompt her to then ask if he wants to be transported to the entrance of her home. Killing her from this point on is always an option, even if Grimm is in a covenant with her, and this will retain progression towards entering the Inner Lost Empire.
Should Grimm ask for the latter, she will be delighted with the request before pondering as to what the conditions would be; asking for this is evidently not something that happens very often. Before long, she decides that he must sacrifice the woman that he "treasures the most." Declining at any point during the deal will elicit a small laugh from her, before she acknowledges how difficult that offer must be. If Grimm accepts the idea of sacrificing one of his companions, Little Mermaid will be satisfied and keep her part of the deal, binding her and Grimm to a covenant and thus progressing his eventual fight with Cinderella. 
If Cinderella has been defeated, and Little Mermaid is still alive, Grimm can go back to her home and talk to her, prompting her to say that she wishes to monologue for a bit. She goes on to say that she has four other dear friends, in reference to the other Demonic Princesses, seeing them as sisters. They've never left her mind for a moment, and she hopes that one day they'll be able to talk again. She chuckles before telling Grimm that she's finished, and that it's not so lonely with him there by her side. 
=== Black Souls II DLC 1 ===
Grimm can find a hidden room in the Ship Graveyard that leads to an area called "The Terrible Tragic Hotel," a structure almost identical to Hotel Poseidon in interior. If he enters a few more steps inside while his SEN is at 100 or more, a sound effect will trigger, the screen will adopt a pink tint, and Pinocchio will be behind the counter in his "usual" place. Grimm will be unable to leave the room, and if he attempts to explore more, a cutscene will play of the undead killing each of the previous companions, minus Red Hood, Miranda, Victoria, and Leaf, in reference to Ending C. Little Mermaid will be amongst those that died, telling him not to "forget elder sister" as one of his victims.
Grimm's SEN will be reduced to 0, and Red Hood will be there to investigate his status. Telling her that he killed everyone there will prompt Red Hood to say that none of it ever actually happened; after this conversation, if he talks to her again, she'll express her distaste for the hotel, and say that she's glad that he never used it to begin with. This renders Ending C's events only as part of the loop, and not the actual intended ending of Black Souls I, leaving Little Mermaid's fate alongside the other Demonic Princesses ambiguous.
==Relationships==
===Demonic Princesses===
On the topic of the other Demonic Princesses, she seems to hold them dear, referring to them as friends, which could be a resultant of her obsession with love, platonic or romantic. Snow White's attempts at assassinating her and the other princesses by hiring the Black Trial are misinterpreted as a "hate-filled love" rather than blatant hate (much to the confusion of Miranda), and so is also included.Little Mermaid Battle (Miranda Summon) - Little Mermaid: "My dear Snow White......♡ Again you throw your hate-filled love at elder sister...♡" // Miranda: "?" // Little Mermaid: "But I'll accept all of it...♡ Properly, with my body...♡" // Miranda: "Is she insane......?" She notably sends invitations to the other princesses as a way to reach out, but they either go unanswered or, in the case of Snow White, unnoticed entirely. Her desire to want to communicate properly again with the others is mirrored by Rapunzel,Rapunzel (Post-Cinderella) - Rapunzel: "The other princesses... how are they now...? I'm always here, at the top of the tower, what were they doing......? [...] I want to meet everyone...... I already hate to be alone......" with Princess Frog and Snow White both being implied to have at least subconsciously thought the same.
Despite her attempts at catching up with the others, the other princesses seem to be preoccupied with their own obsessions, all of which do not involve contacting the Little Mermaid or their peers.
===Grimm===
Upon first meeting Grimm, she exhibits curiosity and perhaps even concern towards him, calling him "boy" and asking him if he was lost and if he meant to come to her home. She's unconditionally hospitable towards him, and her behavior towards the undead remains friendly even without knowing him for very long. Even if Grimm attempts to kill her, she appears undisturbed by the prospect, even asking him if he'll "tear elder sister apart" while in a covenant with him.
Should Grimm win the battle with her while in a covenant with the mermaid, she'll present a rare moment of hurt from her end, remarking how lonely it is that he no longer needs her.
==Enemy==
<tabber>
|-|Little Mermaid (Disguised)=
* Parries all attacks and reflects all magic.
* Immune to all states and stat debuffs
* Has no attacks, will laugh for two turns before removing her disguise
|-|Little Mermaid (True Form)=
</tabber>
==Trivia==
* As she's based off of her story counterpart, she shares similarities to the original fairytale:
** She fell in love with a prince, but her love remained unrequited by the prince.
** She has a parental figure, or at least an allusion to them.
*** However, her other sisters, if they exist at all, are not mentioned in-game. Additionally, she is the "eldest sister" according to her.
**Her attacks include silencing, a reference to how the original counterpart's voice was stolen.
**Her weakness of bleeding is a reference to the drawback of obtaining legs according to the Sea Witch in the original story's counterpart: constant bleeding, and the feeling of walking on sharp knives.
***There is, however, no reference to a Sea Witch or anything related in-game.
* Talking to Little Mermaid will silence the piano in the background for as long as Grimm is in a conversation with her.
** Conversely, killing her will silence the piano permanently.
* Sacrificing a companion to Little Mermaid will render that companion permanently unavailable for the rest of the loop, and Grimm will gain 1 sin. 
** The only exception is Leaf, due to being a fairy. She lightly berates Grimm if she's sacrificed, and will only lose 98 levels instead of permanently dying.
* She is the only Demonic Princess that can only be fought if Grimm explicitly wants to kill her: her peers will initiate a fight if their request is "failed," or if they take offense to Grimm's actions; however, Little Mermaid will allow Grimm to think before sacrificing one of his companions for her covenant, and no actions taken in-game can offend her at all.
* Summoning Victoria in the fight with Little Mermaid will prompt a comment from the latter, speaking of the "love inside [her]," a reference to Victoria's condition as a succubus. Her words ring empty, as Victoria has no clue as to what she's referring to.Little Mermaid Battle (Victoria Summon) - Little Mermaid: "The love inside you is much like the one inside elder sister, I feel...♡ Do cherish and nourish that love, alright...?" // Victoria: "What...... what are you talking about......?"
==Gallery==
File:Little Mermaid in game.png|Little Mermaid sprite, as seen in-game
File:Little Mermaid Main.png|Cropped in-game art.
Category:Demonic Princesses
== References ==
==Navigation==
Category:Black Souls I Characters