Prince Eric/Relationships

The relationships of Prince Eric.
==Romance==
===Ariel===
Ariel is Eric's wife. In the prequel television series, Ariel first met Eric in the episode "Thingamajigger", but they did not have any direct interaction with each other or see each other. Ariel was initially scared of humans, believing in the stories that merpeople tell about humans being bad. However, when she witnesses Eric saving a dolphin that was caught in a net, she realizes that those stories are wrong.
In the episode "Scuttle", a second ship appears, Sebastian not only informs Ariel that it is the Royal Galleon and there's a prince on board but also that the pirates plan to take that said prince hostage. She then asks to Scuttle to fly back to the docks and get her a battle axe, which she uses to cut the ropes of the ship's tale rudder, foil the pirate's plans and prevent the prince from being taken hostage. She is unaware at this point that it is the same human that she saw saving a dolphin. During the skirmish, she is seen by Eric, albeit he does not see her face. He only sees her red hair and green tail, but it is enough for him to believe she is beautiful. The two future lovers would not officially meet each other until a year later.
In the original film, Eric is pressured by Grimsby to get married, but he wishes to find the right girl to fall in love with. This is overheard by Ariel, who was watching Eric's birthday party on board the ship and had fallen in love with him at first sight. When a storm suddenly sinks the ship and Eric is knocked overboard unconscious, he is saved by Ariel from drowning. She carries him to the shore and, to her relief, he starts to regain consciousness. Ariel sings to him about her longing to be with him in his world. Eric is able to catch a brief glimpse of Ariel as she sings, but then she disappears. Though Eric didn't see Ariel, he is able to remember her voice, describing it to be beautiful. He falls in love with his mysterious rescuer, becoming determined to find and marry her.
Eric searches for Ariel throughout his kingdom but fails as he doesn't know she is a mermaid. He even plays Ariel's song to him on his flute, feeling enchanted with her voice. Later, at the beach, Eric finds Ariel, who was turned into a human due to making a deal with the sea witch Ursula. He gets a feeling that she is familiar and asks her if they've met before, which she replies yes by shaking her head up and down. Thinking that she is the girl who saved him, he asks her what her name is, but Ariel can't speak because of her deal with Ursula: losing her voice in exchange for becoming human. After discovering that she cannot speak, Eric believes that she cannot be the same girl who rescued him from drowning. Ariel becomes frustrated by Eric's cluelessnes. She then tries using sign language to speak to Eric to show him that he is mistaken, but this fails because Eric doesn't understand her. Despite this, he still invites her to stay with him.
After Ariel takes a bath and gets dressed for dinner, she joins Eric in the dining room and he is amazed of how beautiful she is. He complements her on her beauty, much to Ariel's joy. He initially becomes weirded out by her when she uses a fork to comb her hair. However, this is short-lived when Ariel accidentally blows the ashes into Grimsby's face from his pipe, much to Eric's amusement, making him laugh for the first time in weeks. Ariel also becomes happy that she made her love laugh.
That night, as Eric is playing with Max, he suddenly notices Ariel gazing at him from a balcony, much to his delight. He happily waves at her, which initially causes her to become shy, but she then happily waves back at him before going back into her guest bedroom to sleep. Despite not knowing that she is in fact the same girl who saved him, Eric is romantically attracted Ariel.
After some encouragement from his servants, Eric is compelled to spend time with Ariel and the two spend the next two days bonding. Eric eventually takes Ariel sightseeing in a lagoon and starts to fall in love with Ariel but is reluctant to kiss her as he still hopes to marry the one who rescued him. With the help of Sebastian orchestrating a romantic stimulation, Eric and Ariel are finally about to kiss before Flotsam and Jetsam ruin the moment.
Later that night, Eric is conflicted over his determination to find the mysterious girl and his love for Ariel as he plays her song over her flute. After some advice from Grimsby, Eric realizes that he is truly in love with Ariel and decides to give up on his pursuits of the mystery girl, throwing his flute into the sea. However, before Eric can declare his love to Ariel, he is hypnotized by Ursula, who uses Ariel's voice in her seashell necklace. Ursula makes him forget about Ariel and believe she is the girl who saved his life. This was a way for Ursula to sabotage Eric's relationship with Ariel so she can overthrow Ariel's father, King Triton, and take over his underwater kingdom of Atlantica.
Later, Ariel learns about Ursula's deception and frees Eric from Ursula's spell. Eric comes out of the spell, noticing a glowing ball of golden light surrounding Ariel and recognizing the voice coming from it as the voice of the girl who saved him. He calls out to Ariel. Having regained her voice, Ariel speaks his name, much to his joy. Eric then excitingly runs towards her, realizing that she is the girl he has been looking for the entire time. Before Eric can kiss Ariel, the sun completely sets and she then changes back into her mermaid form right in front of him. However, he is only slightly surprised to discover the girl he is in love with is a mermaid.
After Ariel is kidnapped by Ursula, Eric goes and rescues her, as he does not care if she is a mermaid or not. During the battle with Ursula, Ariel shows concern for Eric's safety and tells him to get away but he refuses to leave her. At the climax of the battle, just as Ursula is about to kill Ariel, Eric saves her by plunging the ship's splintered bowsprit through Ursula's belly, saving her.
The next morning, as Eric regains consciousness, he is happily reunited with Ariel. After Triton uses his magic trident to turn Ariel back into a human permanently, they embrace each other and they share their first kiss.
A few days later, Ariel and Eric get married. After they wave goodbye to her father, her sisters and her friends, the husband and wife have one last kiss at the climax of their wedding.
In The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, even after two years have passed, Eric and Ariel are still happily married, though their relationship has become significantly more mature largely due to becoming parents.
After Ariel and Eric's newborn daughter, Melody was threatened by Morgana, Ariel decides that Melody should not be allowed in the ocean or know about her mermaid heritage (for her own safety) until the sea witch has been dealt with. Although Eric reluctantly agrees, he believes they should tell their daughter the truth regarding why she is not allowed in the sea instead of keeping her in the dark about it.
Twelve years later, after Ariel had scolded her out for going into the ocean, which makes things worse than it were before Ariel feels really bad and Eric talks with his wife on what just happened. He points out that they knew that the day would come when they would have to tell their daughter the truth about her mermaid heritage and Ariel realizes that Eric is right, that it is time to trust Melody with the truth. After Morgana's defeat, Ariel and Eric share a kiss as people from the land and sea continue to coexist in peace together.
==Family==
===Melody===
Melody is Eric's daughter. Unlike Ariel, Eric believes that Melody is old enough to deserve an explanation and that withholding all the answers to her questions has done more harm than good. Eric convinces Ariel that she knows the sea and their daughter and Ariel realizes that she is making the same mistake as Triton once did with her, which makes her decide to tell Melody the truth. After Morgana's defeat, Eric carries his daughter and says to her that he was very afraid they almost had lost her.
===King Triton===
Eric overhears sailors talking about King Triton, ruler of the merpeople, which makes him curious. Due to his strong hatred and mistrust toward humans, King Triton thought very little of Eric, considering him to be no different than a "savage, harpoon fish eater" and showed no concern for his safety or well-being after learning how Ariel saved him from drowning. When Ariel confessed her love for Eric, Triton was engulfed with rage to the point, he furiously destroyed Ariel's grotto, including her beloved statue of Eric. Eventually, after Eric saves Ariel from Ursula and thus saving Atlantica and those under her spell, including himself, King Triton realized that not all humans were bad and finally gave his blessings for Eric and Ariel's love by willingly transforming Ariel into a human permanently, allowing her to start a new life with Eric. After Eric marries Ariel, Triton and Eric take a moment and acknowledge each other during the reception, with Eric showing his respect and bowing to his new father-in-law and King Triton accepting Eric as his son-in-law.
==Friends and Allies==
===Grimsby===
Grimsby is Eric's caretaker and most closest friend who sometimes acts a father figure to the young prince. Though Grimsby does not like go sailing out into the sea due to getting seasick, he only goes because he knows how much Eric loves the sea. Grimsby also pressures Eric to settle down and get married, but Eric wants to wait and find the right girl to fall in love with.
During Eric's birthday party, Grimsby gives Eric a large statue as a present and Eric, despite not liking the statue, thanks Grimsby for the gift, not wanting to hurt his feelings. When their ship got caught in a storm, Eric helped Grimsby get into a rowboat before he went back into the burning ship to rescue his dog, Max as Grimsby watched in fear as he was concerned for Eric's safety. After Eric was rescued by Ariel, he was reunited with Grimsby who was relieved to see him alive and helps him return back to the castle.
When Eric became determined to find and marry the girl who saved him, Grimsby did not believe Eric, saying that a nice young woman would not show up in the ocean rescuing people then disappear. However, after Eric found Ariel who had become human due making a bargain with Ursula, Grimsby insisted Eric to spend time with Ariel by suggesting he should give Ariel a tour of the kingdom, which Eric agrees to. As time goes on, Grimsby notices that Eric is falling for Ariel and supports the two starting a relationship together. When Eric was found by Grimsby thinking about his dream girl, he is advised by his friend to accept Ariel and not waste his time searching for the girl who rescued him as they did not know Ariel was the one who rescued him. Realizing Grimsby was right, Eric throws his flute into the ocean and decided to confess his love to Ariel before he is hypnotized by Ursula to prevent Ariel's end of the bargain from being fulfilled.
After Ursula's death, Grimsby attends Eric and Ariel's wedding, looking happy to see that the young prince he looked after his whole life has finally settled and married the girl he has fallen in love with.
===Carlotta===
Carlotta is Prince Eric's maid and one of his most loyal friends, who acts like a mother figure to the prince, much like how Grimsby is a father figure to Eric. When Eric found Ariel on the beach, due to becoming human through a bargain with Ursula and had her over for dinner, Eric and Carlotta laughed when Ariel blew the contents in Grimsby's pipe into his face. Carlotta then noted it was the first time she heard Eric laugh in weeks as he frantically searched for the mysterious girl who rescued him from drowning during a storm when he was out in the sea.
Like Grimsby, Carlotta notices Eric falling in love with Ariel and supported the idea of him starting a relationship where she waves good-bye to them the next day when Eric went to give Ariel a tour of his kingdom. After Ursula's death, Carlotta attends Eric and Ariel's wedding where she cries tears of joy to see the two young lovers get married.
===Max===
Max is Eric's pet sheepdog, whom Eric shares a special bond with and considers his dog to be his best friend. Whenever Eric goes whether it be traveling by land or sea, he takes Max along with him. During Eric's birthday party, they both did not like the statue Grimsby presented as a birthday present. When a storm hits and sets Eric's ship ablaze, Eric hears Max's barks and realizes in horror that his sheepdog is still on the burning ship. Eric climbs back onto to the ship to save his beloved sheepdog, risking his own life in the process. He manages to save Max and get him off the ship before it explodes.
When Ariel rescues Eric and brings him back to shore, Eric is reunited with Max who happily licks face. Later, Max helps Eric look for his mysterious rescuer and when he catches Ariel's scent on the beach after she became human due bargaining with Ursula, he leads Eric to Ariel so his master can reunite with his savior. However, when Eric does not recognize Ariel due to having her voice taken, Max gets frustrated by Eric's cluelessnes, but he becomes glad when his owner decides to take Ariel to his castle.
When Eric is hypnotized by Ursula into marrying her, Max senses the danger his master is in and angrily growls at the disguised sea witch, only to be kicked in the face by her so he can be quiet. However, when Scuttle leads a bunch of sea animals to attack Ursula and stop the wedding, Max breaks free from his leash and bites the sea witch in her bottom to not only get revenge, but to also free Eric from Ursula's spell. At Eric and Ariel's wedding, Max gives an affectionate lick to both Eric and Ariel, happy that the two finally got married.
==Enemies==
===Ursula===
When Ursula realized that Ariel was getting close to kissing and fulfilling her end of their bargain, Ursula angrily decides to sabotage Eric's relationship with Ariel so she enact her plan to take over the kingdom of Atlantica by overthrowing Ariel's father, King Triton. Disguised as a human woman named "Vanessa," Ursula uses Ariel's voice in her magic seashell necklace to hypnotize Eric into believing she is the girl who saved his life and have him marry her. When Ursula saw Ariel run off heartbroken, upon seeing her with Eric, Ursula evilly smirked to her success in sabotaging Eric's relationship with Ariel.
During Ursula's wedding with Eric, she believed she had won where she waited for the sun to set so her bargain with Ariel and go on to the next phase of her plan in taking over Atlantica. As Ursula gleefully waited for the wedding vows to be completed, Scuttle and a band of sea animals arrived at the wedding boat to attack the sea witch, in order to save Eric. When Ursula's necklace was shattered, Eric is freed from Ursula's spell and embraces Ariel when he realizes she is the girl who saved him when Ariel gets her voice back. However, Eric and Ariel fail to kiss when the sun sets, turning Ariel back into a mermaid, much to Ursula's sinister joy as the sea witch turns back into her true form and taunts Eric before she takes Ariel hostage.
Not wanting to lose Ariel again, Eric pursues Ariel and Ursula until he manages to find their location. When Ursula threatens Ariel with King Triton's magic trident, Eric throws a harpoon at Ursula, giving her a scratch on the shoulder. This angers Ursula where she instructs her pet eels to strangle Eric before she attempts to kill him with the trident, but Ariel intervenes by causing her to destroy her eels instead. When Ursula magically grew into a massive size, Eric became terrified at Ursula's new form. Ursula manages to separate Eric from Ariel where she traps the mermaid princess in the bottom of a whirlpool Ursula created. However, Eric climbs onto to one of the sunken ships that have surfaced as a result of the whirlpool, takes control of the ship and steers it toward Ursula who is about to destroy Ariel with the trident. Eric then saves Ariel by killing Ursula by plunging the ship's splintered bowsprit, destroying her for good. As a result of Eric's heroic actions, King Triton and all the merpeople in Ursula's garden get freed from the polyp curse and Atlantica is saved from Ursula's reign of terror. After Ursula's death, Eric's heroic actions also caused Triton to realize how wrong he was about humans and upon seeing how much Ariel loves Eric, he turns her back into a human where Eric reunites with and marries Ariel.
===Morgana===
Morgana is Eric's second enemy.
Category:Relationships
Category:The Little Mermaid relationships