Ariel (Disney)

NOTE: This article is about Ariel from the original 1989 animated film. For the 2023 live-action remake counterpart of Ariel that’s portrayed by Halle Bailey, go here.
Ariel, also known as Princess Ariel, is the titular main protagonist of franchise. She is the first Disney Princess to be of non-human heritage and so far the only Disney Princess to beget a child.
Ariel is the 7th and youngest daughter and mermaid princess of King Triton and Queen Athena, the younger sister of Attina, Alana, Adella, Aquata, Arista, and Andrina, the love interest and later wife of Prince Eric, and the mother of Melody. She is loosely based on the nameless protagonist from the original novel by Hans Christian Andersen.
In all of Ariel's appearances, she is voiced by , who also voiced Asenath, Barbie, P.J. Sparkles, Patsy Smiles, Jane Doe, Helen of Troy, Tula, Lady, Thumbelina, and Ann Darrow in The Mighty Kong.
In Drawn Together series, Ariel is voiced by . In Robot Chicken series, she is voiced by . In MAD series, she is voiced by and . In the video game, she is voiced by Kathryn Haywood.
In ABC's "Live!" verison of Disney's The Little Mermaid in 2019, she is voiced by Auil'i Cravalho who also voiced Moana.
==Physical appearance==
Ariel is a very beautiful mermaid with an hourglass figure, fair skin, and large, deep aqua blue eyes. she wears a lavender seashell bra. As a child, her lips were the same color as her skin and as a teenager, they are bright red. Ariel's most defining feature is her long, flowing, thick, bright red hair. From the waist down, she has a green horizontal fish-like tail with sea-green scales and sea-foam green fins and a matching V-shaped waist-line resembling fish-lips. She most likely has the reproductive organs of a tropical fish. In Little Mermaid's Island, her seashell bra looks more like a strapless top that covers all of her torsi. She is also shown to be fairly tall in human form, being only a few inches shorter than Eric, himself a fairly tall human.
When Ariel becomes a human, the only article of clothing she wore was her seashell bra but wears an old sail from a shipwreck with some rope to keep it closed, fashioned by her friend, Scuttle. Being prepared for dinner, she wears a pink and white gown, silver barrettes in her hair and pearl white earrings. Getting ready for bedtime, she wears a pink nightgown. After being taken in by Prince Eric, she wears a multi-shade-of-blue dress consisting of a powder-blue blouse with long sleeves, a midnight-blue bodice, and a cobalt-blue foot-length skirt, along with black heels. She wears a big royal blue bow in her hair. After she's turned into a human once again, she wears a light blue glittering dress. After she kisses Eric and during their wedding, she wears a white wedding dress with a sparkling golden tiara on her veil. 
During and after her daughter, Melody's christening, she wears a gold and white dress and has her hair a low ponytail decorated with a white bow. She also wears a periwinkle gown with an up-do decorated with a golden tiara with green and white gems on her necklace and earrings during Melody's 12th birthday party with her hair being a bit shorter due to it being adjusted and pulled in a bun. She still wears the same up-do with a green peasant dress when she's on Eric's ship and a blue and white dress with light blue earrings in the song "Here on the Land and Sea" in the second movie. In one of the video games, she wears an aqua-colored gown with a matching flower on the side of her hair.
In Part of Your world, Ariel's color changed: brown skin, blue eyes, long, flowing, thick, dark red hair and lips, purple seashell bra, dark green horizontal fish-like tail with green scales and fins.
==Personality==
Ariel is a bright, free-spirited, beautiful, and vivacious young mermaid princess with a strong passion for adventure and exploration. She is very effervescent, headstrong, stubborn and rebellious. Her tendency to explore the more mysterious depths of the ocean (or more importantly, the world beyond the ocean) can lead to an array of problems for both herself, her friends, and in the confines of her personal life - as seen through her constant confrontations with her overprotective father, King Triton. Nevertheless, Ariel's selflessness, loyalty, compassion and intuitive way of thinking often resolve such problems, as she always takes full responsibility for her actions. 
In addition, regardless of whatever scary and life-threatening danger that she has been involved in, Ariel finds a way to be eternally optimistic and never lets anything evil or traumatic corrupt her. Although she does have her rare negative moments, overall, she is an extremely positive person. However, during her third film, Ariel grew up mostly pessimistic due to her father banning music and fun from Atlantica after her mother's death, making life around the kingdom boring and miserable for her, and despite her trying to lighten the mood around the kingdom now and again, her father becomes extremely furious and forces her to stop and obey his rules.
In the end, however, she manages to change her father's ways of life and bring music and fun back to Atlantica and Ariel becomes much more optimistic and hopeful, and so does her father, her sisters, and all of her friends. Her enthusiastic nature tends to have a rather great effect on many of the people around her, including very few villains, most notably Evil Manta' son and eventually, Evil Manta himself. Her best friend is a fish named Flounder, and she develops a close relationship with a crab named Sebastian, the court composer. 
She is also quite spontaneous and impulsive, as evidenced by her exploring whilst forgetting about the concert. However, her impulsive nature does not impact her conscience, being portrayed as being extremely suspicious, reluctant, and hesitant to do something she knows or at least suspects is morally wrong to get what she wants, as evidenced by her reluctantly going to Ursula in the film as well as her reluctance to steal her father King Triton's trident as part of a dare in the third issue of the Marvel Comics.
Ariel is also shown to be extremely compassionate and loving; more so platonically than romantically. This is most notably seen through her friendship with her closest companion, Flounder, and even her father's court composer, Sebastian who, despite being against Ariel's recklessness and overly adventurous nature, is given a considerably large amount of love and respect from the princess, which is often reciprocated. With Flounder, she is comforting and patient, as well as protective, with the tendency to risk her own life for the guppies on various occasions. 
Before she met Eric, she was very rarely interested in romantic relationships, not even with any of the merman princes that Triton tried to force her to marry. The only known exception was Prince Waverly of the Pacifica Kingdom, with whom she was infatuated. After meeting Eric, however, Ariel is revealed to be a romantic (a hopeless romantic to be exact), willing to make daring sacrifices for the sake of true love. Her love for him is validated by Eric's returned selflessness and sacrificial actions for the sake of love; notably seen during the climax of the film.
She can risk everything for her love for Eric and her dreams, even if this might hurt her. She is also protective of her friends, saving them even when in doing so she endangers herself in the process, this is especially evident when she saved Flounder (who had been knocked out hard enough to render his swim bladder temporarily inoperable and sink to the ocean floor) from Glut the Shark when nearly home free from him, getting herself eaten in the process (the only thing preventing him from eating them being an anchor in its way that trapped him), as well as saving Sebastian from potentially being Grimsby's meal and attempting to tell Eric to leave her behind and save himself just before Ursula emerged as a giant. 
She is also shown to be very forgiving and defended even people who were unable to do so themselves or were considered bad, as evidenced by her protecting Urchin despite the latter stealing from Triton as well as her defending a bad luck creature from both her friends and enemies for its reputation and her saving Hans Christian Andersen.
Another example of her forgiving side is in the fourth issue of Disney Comics where she decided, against Sebastian's statements, to save a human whose submersible was trapped, despite knowing full well that he tried to harm her beforehand. Ariel has also shown to be usually honest, outspoken, and persuasive, but lies when she feels that she has to, whether it's to keep herself from getting into trouble with her father, to protect someone she cares about, or to fool an enemy. So when Ariel is being dishonest, fraudulent, and untrustworthy, it is normally out of selflessness.
However, if she absolutely has to or if it is to protect someone she cares about from an enemy, she will not hesitate to resort to violence and she shows herself to be a fairly impressive warrior princess, almost as good and heroic as her father. But in most circumstances, she prefers to use words, logic and peaceful solutions rather than violence, unless a situation is seriously out of the question. Although spirited, even she has had some degree of self-doubts about herself, as she actually at one point considered her father might have been correct and that she may have been a freak for having any fascination for humanity. She also had a degree of seeing good in things, as she also doubted that humanity could have been pure evil from their tools and artworks. Despite her usual naivety and impulsiveness, Ariel has shown on many occasions to be serious, careful, and very intelligent and intuitive, capable of learning from her mistakes and making up for any damage that she causes.
She loves singing and music, hates violence and evil, and is also a hopeless romantic who is fond of girly dresses. However, she is also very energetic, active, brave, and is unafraid to speak her mind. She stands up for equal rights more abrasively, she likes playing or at least watching sports, and she is not afraid to get dirty. Also, she is rarely into fashion, jewelry or matriarchy like her sisters are and really only pretties herself up on important occasions, and she can hold her own against a shark, even a great white shark.
Also, many of her friends are male that she grew up with since her mother died when she was just an infant. Also, before she met Eric, she was hardly interested in romantic relationships, not even with any of the merman princes that her father King Triton tried to get her to marry (similar to how Princess Jasmine did with the Sultan). In The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, Ariel greatly matures after becoming a mother. Due to the threat of Morgana, Ursula's sister, she becomes very protective of Melody, in the same manner, she was treated by Triton in the first film. She is shown to long for the sea, but keeps her secret hidden from Melody for the latter's own safety; even though it would've been easier if she had explained everything to her, she even points this out in a later scene and at the film's climax. However, her most notable trait was her deep love and fascination for humans, having desired to become human during the events of the first film, even before meeting her future husband, Eric.
However, she did not always have this trait; until she was 15 years of age, she expressed a deep fear of humans similar to Triton's prejudiced of humans, although her witnessing some humans saving a beached dolphin changed her views on the matter. Ironically, one of the people responsible for saving the dolphin was Eric, although she never knew it. Regardless of her few flaws, Ariel is very much selfless, imaginative, sweet-natured, and inspirational. She tends to make many people (even very few enemies) smile and happy when she is present, both for her outer beauty and inner beauty. Though Ariel's love for Eric was indeed strong, pursuing him was not her main priority before encountering him, as she initially wanted to simply live among humans and be among them.
==Film appearances==
===The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning===
The prologue of The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning shows Ariel as a 5-year-old mermaid, living happily with her father, King Triton, her mother, Queen Athena, and her six older sisters. As Ariel, her family, and many other merpeople relax, playing music in a cove to celebrate Triton and Athena's anniversary, a pirate ship approaches and everyone flees except Athena, who returns to recover a music box Triton had given her and is crushed to death by the pirate's ship. Afterwards, a devastated King Triton bans all music from Atlantica and throws the music box deep into the ocean. Ariel and her sisters grow up forgetting music and living under their father's strict rules, enforced by Marina Del Rey, their governess. Ariel hated the strict rules which caused an argument with Triton. One day, Ariel meets Flounder and follows him to a secret underground club where Sebastian and his band play music. There, she sings the song "I Remember", which reminds her of her distant past surrounded by love and music, and of her mother. Ariel introduces her sisters to the club, but eventually, they are caught thanks to Marina, who had followed them. Sebastian and his band are imprisoned and the club is closed under Triton's orders. 
Triton confines all of his daughters to the palace. Ariel bitterly says that Triton should have just locked her and her sisters in jail. Triton retorts that Ariel will be confined to the palace until she understands what she has done, to which Ariel asks why he forbade music. However, Triton refuses to answer and angrily screams that he will not have music in his kingdom. Realizing her father is beyond talking, an enraged Ariel says Athena would have never wanted him to do this. She then goes to her room and cries, and becomes even more heartbroken and devastated when all her sisters told her that no one is happy.
Deciding that she can't live a life without music anymore, Ariel breaks the band out of prison and escapes with them. With Sebastian's assistance, Ariel finds her mother's music box and they decide to return it to Triton. On their way back to Atlantica, they encounter Marina, and a struggle ensues in which Ariel is injured, witnessed by Triton. Ariel makes a full recovery, and a remorseful Triton allows music to come back to Atlantica.
===The Little Mermaid: The Series===
The series set an unspecified time before the first film, depicts Ariel's adventures as a mermaid living under the sea with her father, Sebastian and Flounder. Ariel's mother is absent, having already died before the events of the series. Several episodes highlight her relationship with her friends and family, expanding upon their roles in the film. Many involve Ariel foiling the attempts of various enemies intent on harming her or her kingdom. In one episode Ariel comes across Hans Christian Andersen, author of "The Little Mermaid". In the fictionalized encounter she saves Anderson's life, inspiring him to write the story.
===The Little Mermaid===
Ariel first appears in The Little Mermaid as a 16-year-old and she is shown as being adventurous and curious about the world of humans, a fascination which angers her father King Triton, as merfolk are forbidden from making contact with the human world. She and Flounder go in search of human objects, which they take to a seagull named Scuttle for appraisal. Ariel sings "Part of Your World" in her grotto and sees a shadow approaching over it. She goes to the surface and falls in love with a human prince named Eric after saving him from drowning after his ship is destroyed by a storm, and visits the sea witch, Ursula, who agrees to turn her into a human in exchange for her voice. Ariel must make Prince Eric fall in love with her and kiss her within three days, otherwise, she turn back into a mermaid and would belong to Ursula forever. Unknown to Ariel, this agreement is part of Ursula's bigger plan to trap Ariel's father, King Triton, and steal his magical trident. After being transformed, she is soon found by Eric and is taken back to his castle. Ariel almost manages to obtain the "kiss of true love", but is stopped by Ursula's underhanded tactics. On the third day, Ursula transforms herself into a human woman named Vanessa and bewitches Eric to make him marry her using Ariel's voice in the process. After learning from Scuttle that Vanessa is Ursula in disguise, Ariel disrupts the wedding and regains her voice, but the sun sets as Ariel and Prince Eric are about to kiss, transforming Ariel back into a mermaid. Ursula takes Ariel back into the ocean, where she is met by King Triton and Sebastian. Triton trades himself for Ariel so she won't face the fate of being turned into a polyp and trapped in Ursula's garden forever, enabling Ursula to claim his trident. In the battle that follows, Ariel is trapped at the bottom of a whirlpool. Before Ursula can kill her, Eric kills Ursula by ramming a derelict ship's splintered prow through her enlarged torso. At the end of the film, Ariel is transformed into a human by King Triton's magical trident and she leaves to live with Eric. Everyone in Prince Eric's kingdom is glad to see him with Princess Ariel.
===The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea===
In The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, Ariel appears as the princess consort of Eric's kingdom and has given birth to a daughter named Melody. When Melody's safety is threatened by Ursula's sister Morgana seeking vengeance for Ursula's death, Ariel and Eric decide they must keep Melody from the sea, and build a large wall to separate it from the castle. Unknown to them, Melody has been secretly sneaking out to the sea to swim.
On her daughter's 12th birthday, Ariel becomes homesick as she looks at the water, and secretly puts her feet on it, recalling her memories with her family and sea friends. However, she quickly decides to go up when Melody noticed her. She then helps her daughter get prepared for her birthday party. Melody tells her mother she does not want to go to the party because her peers think she is "weird", to which Ariel comforts her by telling her she used to be like her when she was her age. Melody goes out to the balcony and was about to tell her mother that what she really wants is to be a mermaid and swim in the sea freely, but was interrupted by her father, Eric. Ariel tells Melody that they will continue the conversation after the party.
Though the party seemed to go well, Sebastian (who followed Melody and she accidentally tied him up in her dress) accidentally bites Melody's partner, causing the partner to send Sebastian up in the air, crashing into Melody's birthday cake. When Melody asks Sebastian if he is okay, she gets laughed at by the guests, causing her to be heartbroken and run to her room. Ariel follows her and comforts her, until she realizes Melody found her locket that she gave back to Triton to break Melody's connections to the sea, causing her to realize that she was secretly going to the sea even though she knew she was not supposed to. Melody confronts Ariel and asks why she wasn't allowed in the sea and about the locket, since she was suspicious of her for hiding something. However, Ariel, instead of revealing the truth to her daughter, she angrily punishes her for her disobedience, and tells her to never go to the sea again since it was "dangerous". Melody angrily claims that Ariel doesn't know anything about the sea since she's never been in it, before she snatches back the locket and runs away from home in tears. Ariel feels guilty as she realizes she has just made the situation worse. Eric comes inside the room and tells Ariel that they should tell their daughter the truth since she was now old enough, to which Ariel agrees to do.
However, Ariel learns from Sebastian that Melody has gone out to the sea to visit Morgana. King Triton uses his trident to transform Ariel back into her own mermaid form to find and rescue Melody. After having searched everywhere, Ariel mistook a little flounder as Flounder, before it screams for his dad. A large came in where Ariel tries to apologize for the misunderstanding, but the father recognized Ariel, who return realizes it is Flounder all grown up and already has five children. The two best friends reunited and Ariel amired his new look. Flounder offered to help Ariel find Melody, already aware of the unfortunate situation. Little did anyone know, Morgana tricked Melody into taking part in a plot to steal her grandfather's, King Triton's trident. Together with Tip the Penguin and Dash the Walrus she goes to Atlantica and succeeds in acquiring the trident. Ariel arrives after following Cloak & Dagger to their hideout, as they return with it to Morgana, and tries to persuade Melody to give back the trident. However, Melody refused since she felt heartbroken and betrayed at her mother for lying to her all these years. After Melody gives the trident to Morgana, Morgana reveals her true colors and and told what Ariel has really been doing all these years out of love for Melody by actually trying to protect her from Morgana all along. Then she seals Melody behind a block wall with Flounder, Morgana then heads up to the surface with a bound and gagged Ariel as her hostage. 
Morgana rises to the roof of her own lair on top of her new cliff. Prince Eric, his crew, and Scuttle arrive to battle the now-powerful sea witch. However, Morgana destroys Prince Eric's boat. Prince Eric and his crew are forced to stand on the ice, and they survive. King Triton, his guards, and Sebastian arrive to battle the now-powerful sea witch as well. Morgana dares King Triton to hurt her, mocking his threats and then cackles. After Undertow taunts Triton, Sebastian chases Undertow, angrily but Morgana transforms Undertow into a gigantic shark, and Sebastian manages to flee. Prince Eric takes his sword out and asks angrily where's Melody and what she has done with her. Morgana replies, "Oh, you wanna join your daughter? Well, I think that can be arranged" She commands Cloak and Dagger to take Prince Eric to Melody underwater to drown. Scuttle distracts Morgana and Ariel and Sebastian rescue Prince Eric, while Tip and Dash defeat Undertow and rescue Melody and Flounder. Sebastian defeats Cloak and Dagger. Morgana then uses the trident's magic to force everyone to bow before her. Melody manages to grab the trident and returns it to King Triton, who then sends Morgana to the bottom of the ocean frozen in a block of ice. 
After Morgana's death, Melody apologizes to her mother for what she had done, including misjudging her, but Ariel tells her that she and Eric should be the one apologizing, since they did not tell Melody the truth earlier. She then tells Melody that she doesn't matter if she is a human or mermaid, since she and Eric loved her for who she was. Triton returns Ariel to human form, the wall separating Eric's castle from the sea is torn down, and contact between humans and merfolk is restored.
===Sofia the First===
Ariel appeared in the special "The Floating Palace". She was the first princess to be seen twice in an episode, and the fourth princess to appear in the series, overall.
Not long before, the Sequel, She is summoned to help her new friend Sofia with her trouble of saving her mermaid friend and her family's ship in danger and sings "The Love We Share" in a best friends duet to encourage Sofia to enlist Cora to help her save Oona. She is later seen at the end of the special by the floating palace jumping into the water. 
===Ralph Breaks the Internet===
In Ralph Breaks the Internet, Ariel appears as a netizen resident of Oh My Disney. She and the other Disney princesses work as cast members that meet-and-greet net users. When Vanellope von Schweetz is confronted by First Order Stormtroopers, she glitches into the princesses' backstage room; Ariel is seen combing her hair with a dinglehopper at her vanity. The princesses mistake Vanellope for a threat, either sent by one of their respective Disney Villains, or a user who committed the cardinal violation of being in a "Cast Members Only" restricted area without authorization, and charge at her with various weapons at hand to subdue her and turn her over to the proper authorities; Ariel wields a dinglehopper. Vanellope explains that she's actually a princess, but the girls are hesitant to believe her, prompting Pocahontas to ask what kind of princess she is. Ariel questions if Vanellope made a deal with an underwater sea witch in exchange for human legs, but to Ariel's relief, Vanellope denies it. When Jasmine asks if Vanellope has "daddy issues", she notes that she doesn't even have a mom, to which Ariel relates. Once Vanellope confirms to Rapunzel that she's had a big, strong man around to save her all the time, the girls are finally convinced Vanellope is a princess and stand down, welcoming her into their group.
Shortly after, Ariel and Cinderella take a liking to Vanellope's casual modern attire. Cinderella asks her mice to craft comfy modern outfits for each of the princesses. Ariel dons green shorts and a violet shirt which references the colors of her mermaid form and is seen lounging between Jasmine and Belle. Ariel is overwhelmingly delighted to finally have a shirt and expresses through song that she's always dreamed of someday wearing one before Vanellope cuts her off. Vanellope questions Ariel's singing, but the other princesses explain that they've all had songs that help them express their desires. They encourage Vanellope to find her song, but the results are not very impressive. Pocahontas advises Vanellope to find some water and stare at it. Though Vanellope isn't convinced, Ariel reaffirms that it's not just water, but "important water".
During the climax of the film, Ariel and the rest of the Disney Princesses spot Wreck-It Ralph falling to his doom. They rally together to rescue him. Moana summons the ocean, which Ariel dives into. She then swims upward, creating a spiral with the water. When Ariel emerges, she lands on Jasmine's magic carpet, from where Elsa freezes the water while in its spiral formation, creating a slide for Ralph to safely descend. Ariel's gown is used with Belle's, Cinderella's, and Tiana's, to serve as parachutes to slow Ralph's fall. After Ralph is safe, the princesses formally introduce themselves as friends of Vanellope as they befriend him as well.
==House of Mouse==
Ariel appears as a regular guest in the animated television series House of Mouse and its specials, usually sitting with Sebastian and Scuttle. Her appearance alternates irregularly between her human form and mermaid form, depending on what the situation requires. Daisy Duck seems to be a big fan of her and her films, as shown in "Daisy's Debut" and "House of Genius". In the show's Rockin' at the House of Mouse, she is seen combing her hair with a fork, like in the original film.
In the episode "Jiminy Cricket", while Jiminy Cricket is sharing his wisdom, he states, "Never sell your voice to a giant sea witch just because you have a crush on some guy, it's just not worth it." Ariel sits there looking embarrassed and ashamed, and upon hearing this, she snatches the necklace containing her voice away from Ursula, much to her anger.
Also in "Everybody Loves Mickey", Ariel wishes that Mickey could live under the sea with her.
In "House of Scrooge", she was one of many Disney characters shoved at one table as Scrooge was trying to save money.
In "Mickey and Minnie's Big Vacation", she is seen in the crowd when the Pink Elephants invade the house.
In "Salute to Sports", she is sitting next to Triton when he creates a literal wave after Mickey told the crowd to do the "wave".
In "The Mouse Who Came to Dinner", she is sitting next to Sebastian before Goofy takes him to cook for Mortimer, who was pretending to be a critic. She is later seen laughing with the rest of the audience after the crew calls him out and insults him.
In "Pluto vs. Figaro", she tried to sing on stage, although the set ended up falling on top of her due to Pluto and Figaro's antics.
In "Suddenly Hades", Pete attempted to flood the club to run out the customers, as he could shut down the club if there were no guests. Though he succeeded in flooding the club and running off Hades, he was stopped from closing the club as Ariel was still present, as she had returned due to the club now being to her liking with being underwater.
In "Music Day", when she saw Huey, Dewey, and Louie reuniting, she waved her hands as she cheered.
Ariel was also briefly seen in "Pete's House of Villains" where she held up a sign that read "Somebody stole my voice again" since she lost her voice.
In "Ask Von Drake", Ariel is seen in Professor Von Drake's song, sitting next to a giant seashell where Ursula is hiding.
Ariel also appears in Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse. In the film, Ariel, along with Eric and other characters, are snowed in and trapped inside the club. Ariel is the first to openly have faith in Mickey Mouse, who she believes will have a plan.
==Other appearances==
Ariel made cameos in many movies and television episodes.
"Ariel" made a cameo during in The Return of Jafar. Genie makes himself look like Ariel and appears on the top of the treasure ship of Coeur du Mer to take Jafar's Lamp and hide it from Abis Mal and Jafar.
In A Goofy Movie, Ariel is seen twice: once as a prop in Max's school auditorium and also a lamp in Goofy and Max's hotel room with her iconic colors.
In the Aladdin (TV series), Saleen at one point gave Jasmine a hairstyle resembling that of Ariel's, although she then complained that it makes Jasmine looked like "every other Princess under the sea." In the same episode, Saleen also indirectly alludes to Ariel's goal with her line "Legs? Who needs them?"
In Aladdin and the King of Thieves, Ariel made a cameo on a poster (before Jessica Rabbit and Minnie Mouse) when the Genie tried to make Jasmine happy because she was sad from Aladdin's absence.
In the 101 Dalmatians: The Series episode "Home is Where the Bark Is", Ariel's silhouette can be seen as one of the passengers of a subway train the Dalmatians ride on.
Ariel appears on the cover of a Little Mermaid book in the village scene in Tangled.
In a special trailer promoting the film Lilo & Stitch, Ariel was seen performing the reprise of "Part of Your World", when Stitch surfs a giant wave towards her, ruining the song. In anger, Ariel throws a starfish at Stitch, exclaiming "I was singing here!". Jodi Benson reprises her role in this teaser and some new animation is used.
==Live-action appearances==
===Once Upon a Time===
===The Little Mermaid (2023)===
===Other roles===
Live versions of Ariel also appear in Sebastian's Caribbean Jamboree, Sebastian's Party Gras, Beach Party at Walt Disney World (played by Jodi Benson), and Let's Go to Disneyland Paris.
==Printed material==
===The Little Mermaid Disney Comics serial===
Ariel was the main character in a few of the comic stories in the four-issue serial. The timeframe takes place at least a year before the film, due to Ariel being referred to as 15. The first and second issues had her disposing of a creature called the Serpentine in a failed negotiation with the Moray people. She also ended up abducted by a metallic fish in the final issue.
===The Little Mermaid Marvel serial comics===
She was the main character in the 12-issue Marvel serial comics that, like the TV series, took place before the events of the first film. One of the issues also had her acting as a knight. She also saved Flounder from petrification in the penultimate issue. In the final issue, after a fight with Triton, she managed to learn the history of Atlantica and Atlantis from a wizard fish. She eventually told Triton this, but when she tried to find the wizard fish, he disappeared, although not before leaving a note.
Besides the main storyline, Ariel was also featured in the 12th Issue of the anthology series Disney Comic Hits!, which had been a previously unpublished story.
==Video games==
===The Little Mermaid (NES)===
Taking place either after Eric skewered Ursula or sometime after Ariel signed her contract in an alternate version of the original story, Ariel and Eric are planning to wed, but the sea-witch Ursula (perhaps somehow resurrected) has taken control of the ocean. So Ariel becomes a mermaid once more and sets off to rescue the sea.
The game takes place from a side view and Ariel (swimming most of the time, but hopping around on the land occasionally) can shoot bubbles to trap her foes and can then throw them at each other or into nooks and crannies (to potentially find treasure). She can also dig through sand to find treasure and pick up seashells with which to break open chests. Some of her old foes, such as the shark Glut and moray eels Flotsam and Jetsam, have returned as stage bosses, while other bosses are new.
After Ursula is defeated for good, Ariel attempts to return to the surface and become human, but she cannot return to being a human. Much like in the ending of the original film, Triton then attempts to help Ariel out by transforming her back into a human, and their wedding continues as planned.
Although this game is not canon, this exact situation where Ariel had to be turned back into a mermaid would be duplicated in The Little Mermaid II where she leaves a much larger boat (Eric's lead fleet ship) rather than his rowboat as in the NES game. In addition, her bubble attack is later referenced as a spell card in Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom.
===Ariel: The Little Mermaid (Sega Genesis game)===
The Genesis game features Ariel, (or Triton) on a quest to save the transformed Atlanteans, (and either Triton or Ariel, depending on whom the player chooses to play as) from Ursula's spell. This game most likely takes place before Ariel saved Eric from the shipwreck.
The gameplay allows the player to move in 8 directions, with the goal being to locate and transform Ursula's polyps back into Merfolk. The player is given a "normal attack" and "special attack". During the gameplay, the player can collect treasure, which after finding his icon, can trade with Skuttle for health, special characters, (Like Flounder and Sebastian) and special powers to aid them on their quest. After saving all the Atlanticans in a stage, the player must then face a boss, the final encounter being Ursula herself, and the transformed Triton, (or Ariel if the player chose to play as Triton), being the final polyp that must be rescued.
===Kingdom Hearts===
Ariel makes her series debut in Kingdom Hearts, where she encounters Sora, Donald, and Goofy for the first time during her latest phase. The young mermaid expresses her desire to see the mysterious worlds beyond the sea, though her father forbids it. Even so, she's soon manipulated by Ursula into revealing the legendary keyhole of her world in exchange for her dream come true. Fortunately, enough, Sora and friends can defeat the sea witch with Ariel's help, restoring peace and unveiling the keyhole, which Sora must lock.
===Kingdom Hearts II===
In the sequel Kingdom Hearts II, Ariel's dreams of traveling the worlds were put aside for the simpler dream of living upon the surface. A dream that was only pushed further upon discovering the handsome Prince Eric. With Sora, Donald, Goody, Sebastian, and Flounder by her side, Ariel challenges her struggles and makes her dream a reality, with King Triton eventually giving his blessing, like in the film, after seeing Eric risk his life for Ariel's safety at the hands of a revived Ursula. Before leaving upon opening the keyhole, however, Sora and Ariel vow that they'll see each other again.
===Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories===
Ariel would also appear in the title Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, but as a fragment of Sora's memories and with a much smaller role.
===Kingdom Hearts III===
Ariel appears in Kingdom Hearts III as a Link summon. She has an ability called Lagoon Showtime, involving her summoned through a current of water where Sora will swing her overhead when she enters. Her initial attacks allow Sora to dive through platforms like water, while her final attack consists of Ariel and Sora entering an encore dance as water spouts from the ground akin to waterworks.
===Disney Dreamlight Valley===
Ariel is already included in this game at its early release, but has been transported to an island far away from the Valley to protect her after Eric sacrificed himself to Ursula to keep Ariel safe from The Forgetting. After the player character locates the busted raft and Mysterious Oar near Skull Rock on Dazzle Beach, Goofy can help fix it once the player collects the necessary resources to mend it. Once repaired, the player can travel to where Ariel is located, and offer to provide her a home back in the Valley to allow her to come back. Once her house, based on her father's underwater palace, is placed and built by Scrooge McDuck's construction firm after paying him the necessary building costs in Star Coins, Ariel returns safely to the Valley.
However, she is worried about Eric, and asks the player to speak to some of the other residents of the Valley to see if they know anything about his whereabouts. After finding several pieces of the statue of Eric from Kristoff, Donald, and Scrooge, and putting them back together with some superglue that Ariel gives them, the player places the statue down on Dazzle Beach, and while it doesn't help much, Ariel is just glad to know that Eric is alive and the other residents had seen him recently to their best knowledge.
Once the player is in good terms with Ursula, she reveals what became of Eric, handing him over in his polyp form that he became after sacrificing himself to protect Ariel. With help from Ariel and rebuilding Eric's castle with Scrooge's help, Ariel uses True Love's Kiss to break the curse and restore Eric to his human form. Once restored, his first task is to grant Ariel her human form to keep her safe from any future plots Ursula might have planned down the line. With help from the player, Remy, and Maui, Eric soon crafts a nautilus necklace blessed with a shapeshifting potion that he has the player give to Ariel, granting her her human form, which is her appearance from the "Kiss The Girl" segment from the original film. However, the player can still switch Ariel back and forth between her human and mermaid forms as the preferred Dream Style that they want for her.
== Powers and Abilities==
===Powers===
*Mermaid Physiology: Ariel has several superhuman attributes.
**Aquapathy: Ariel is capable of speaking with aquatic fauna and still retains this ability in her human form.
**Superhuman Strength: As a mermaid, Ariel has strength much greater than normal humans and even certain aquatic creatures.
**Superhuman Durability: As a mermaid, Ariel is able to withstand immense underwater pressures. She does not retain this ability while she is in her human form.
**Superhuman Speed: As a mermaid, Ariel can move amazingly fast in the water. She is the fastest mermaid in all of Atlantica according to Sebastian. She was able to get to Atlantica from Prince Eric's kingdom in less than a day, as well as getting from Atlantica to Norway in a similar time. She does not retain this ability while she is in her human form.
**Underwater Breathing: As a mermaid, Ariel is able to metabolize oxygen from the water which negates the need to surface, although she is certainly more than capable of breathing on land. She does not retain this ability while she is in her human form.
**Thermoendurance: As a mermaid, Ariel is highly resistant to extremely warm/cold temperatures and environments. This was demonstrated when she went to the arctic with minimal ill effects other than feeling a bit cold, as well as when she traveled to Morgana's lair (which was located inside an iceberg) and when visiting Ursula's (which was located in a volcanic region). She does not retain this ability while she is in her human form.
===Abilities===
*Adaptability: Ariel is capable of mastering new skills or gaining knowledge very quickly. After becoming a human via Ursula's magic, she was able to learn how to stand up and move in a few minutes and quickly figured out how to run as well. Ariel was also able to learn human customs at a very fast pace and acquire some skills that would take normal humans months or even years to learn, including dancing, horse riding, etc.
*Singing: Ariel is an excellent singer, which is a talent shared by all merpeople. She has the most beautiful voice in all of Atlantica according to Sebastian. Her voice is so beautiful that Eric fell in love with her after only hearing her sing to him once.
*Dancing: Ariel is an excellent dancer both in human and mermaid form. After becoming human via Ursula's magic, she was able to dance with Eric if she had been a human for years. 
*Expert Swimmer: As a mermaid, Ariel is an excellent swimmer. However, as a human, she initially was not very good at swimming due to her inability to breathe underwater or swim without her mermaid tail that she was accustomed to. Flounder and Sebastian had to help her get to the surface, otherwise she would have drowned. Later, Ariel regained her swimming skills in human form.
*Expert Rider: Ariel is an excellent animal rider both in human and mermaid form. She can easily ride giant seahorses or horses on land as well as command the reigns of carriages controlled by dolphins or horses.
== Quotes ==
===The Little Mermaid: The Series===
===The Little Mermaid===
===The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea===
===Lilo & Stitch Teaser Trailer===
===Sofia the First===
===Ralph Breaks the Internet===
===LEGO===
===Other===
==Vocals==
* 5-Year old Ariel's laugh (from The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning)
==Trivia== 
*Ariel (Voiced by Jodi Benson (singing)) in The Little Mermaid on Disney has the same voice as Miss Abigail the Nightclub Singer from The Judy Show (1999) on Hanna Barbera.
*Ariel is the only Disney Princess born as a mythical creature.
*Ariel is one of the most popular Disney Princesses (if not the most popular Disney Princess) probably because she was the only one not being born a human or because of her adventurous, rebellious and bubbly personality.
*Many fans consider Ariel to be Disney's most “hottest” princess due to her colorful and exotic features.
*In Hebrew, Ariel translates to English as "lion of God".
*Ariel is the first Disney Princess to become a parent, in this case, mother to her first child, her daughter Melody. Unless otherwise stated in other Disney media, she is the only one so far.
*Ariel is the first Disney Princess to have red hair, the second being Merida.
*Ariel is the first Disney Princess to bare her midriff, the second being Jasmine, and the third being Kida Nedakh (although she is not an official Disney Princess since her movie failed in the box office).
* She is the first Disney Princess to physically fight the villain of her movie.
*Ariel is the first Disney Princess to have magical powers, the second being Pocahontas, the third being Rapunzel, and the fourth being Queen Elsa.
** She is also arguably the physically strongest of all of the Disney Princesses, with Rapunzel being a very close challenge for her.
*Ariel is the first Disney Princess to have biological siblings, the second being Merida, and the third and fourth being Anna and Elsa.
*Ariel is the only one out of her sisters, as a mermaid, without hair accessories, save for the occasional sea flower.
*Ariel is the fourth youngest Disney Princess, with Jasmine being the third youngest, Aurora being the second youngest, and Snow White being the youngest.
*Ariel has the most songs sung by any Disney movie character, although she only has one song in her original movie (not counting the reprise).
*Ariel is the first Disney Princess to save her prince.
*Ariel is the only Disney Princess to know sign language.
*Ariel is the first rebellious Disney Princess.
*Ariel is the first tomboyish Disney Princess, the second being Jasmine, the third being Pocahontas, the fourth being Fa Mulan, the fifth being Rapunzel, the sixth being Merida, and the seventh being Anna. However, all of them have girly traits as well, some more than others.
* Out of all of the Disney Princesses in the line-up, Ariel is mostly seen with Jasmine, Belle and Rapunzel.
*1941 concept art of the original idea of The Little Mermaid (before shelved) shows Ariel with long black hair and a bluish or greenish tail. It was also much closer to the original story. This artwork was done by Kay Nielsen.
*In some foreign-language versions of the film, her name is in the title.
*A theory among Disney fans is that Ariel (alongside her sister and her father King Triton) are related to Hercules. Ariel's grandfather is confirmed to be Poseidon, whose brother is Zeus , whose son is Hercules. However, it is not confirmed whether or not the Disney incarnation of Poseidon from Hercules is in fact related to Ariel or her father, let alone the fact that The Little Mermaid is set roughly 3000 years after Hercules. This can however be countered by the fact King Triton is also a god, and is thus immortal.
* She is the first Disney princess to have only her father alive and her mother deceased then the second being Belle, the third being Jasmine and the fourth being Pocahontas.
*Chelsea Van Der Zee was inspired for one of the characters in one of the Dreamworks films, Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken.
==External Links==
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