Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

Belle is the titular female protagonist of Disney's franchise. She is an official Disney Princess, the 5th in order of release, after Ariel and before Jasmine. In Beauty and the Beast, she is Prince Adam's love interest after the end of the movie. She is 17 years old in the film Beauty and The Beast.
==Portrayals==
 did both her speaking and singing voices. Back in 2011, Paige O'Hara retired from voicing her character Belle due to her old age and the change in her voice, except in Ralph Breaks the Internet, and left Julie Nathanson to look after and voice her character. O'Hara later returned to voice Belle in Once Upon a Studio.
A stage version of the 1991 film debuted on Broadway on April 14, 1994, with the 'live' role of Belle originated by (who would later go on to voice Megara in Hercules), and finalized by .
In the 2017 live action remake, Belle was portrayed by (who also played Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films) in the live action reboot of Beauty and the Beast, and she was also portrayed by in the television series Once Upon a Time. Belle also appeared in the Descendants film series on Disney Channel portrayed by . In Japanese dub from the movie, she was voiced by Eri Ito, who also voiced Mulan in Disney Mulan and singing Queen Erika in Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper.
==Biography==
===Beauty and the Beast===
Belle is a young woman living in an unnamed village in France. She first appears at the beginning of the film (after the prologue) as she emerges from the cottage she lives in and heads to a bookstore in the village, unaware that the villagers are noting her peculiarity and how she doesn't fit in with the rest of them due to her love for books. At the bookstore, Belle returns a book she has borrowed and takes the one she perceives as her favorite. While heading back home to the cottage, she is pursued by a rude, conniving, arrogant, greedy, muscle-headed hunter named Gaston, who eventually stands in her way. Gaston takes the book from Belle, drops it into a mud puddle, and tells Belle to get herself out of reading and pay more attention to "more important things" like him. Just then, an explosion comes out from the basement of her cottage, prompting Belle to run back home, worried for her father Maurice as he was working in the basement at the time.
Descending into the basement and coughing her way in, Belle finds her father, Maurice, who is about to give up on his latest invention that he has built. Belle faithfully tells her father how she has believed he will get the machine working, win first prize at the fair, and become a world-famous inventor. Inspired by his daughter's beliefs, Maurice reworks on the machine, and once he thinks he has done fixing it, he gives it a test run. To both Belle and her father's surprise, the test run goes successfully. Belle waves goodbye to her father and wishes him luck as Maurice, riding on their horse Philippe, goes off to the fair with the invention.
The following day, Belle hears a knock on a door. She uses the periscope, only to find that Gaston was at the porch in a fancy suit, much to her dismay, but nevertheless lets him in. Gaston reveals to Belle his plans for after they marry and have children, cornering her at the door and is about to plant a kiss on her, but Belle turns the doorknob, pushes the door open, and swings around causing Gaston to fall out the door and into a mud swamp outside. After an angry and humiliated Gaston throws LeFou into the mud and storms off sulking, Belle runs outside, shocked in disbelief at how Gaston has asked her to marry him. Not wanting to be the wife of that boorish, blunderous, brainless man, she runs off into an open field where Phillipe comes to her. Seeing the horse without her father, Belle pleads the horse to take her to where her father is, unhitching Phillipe from the trailer carrying Maurice's invention before heading into the Black Forest to locate Maurice.
Belle rides through the Black Forest to a mysterious castle on Phillipe with the intent of finding her father. She finds her father locked away in a dungeon, and begs the dungeon master to free him, offering him her freedom in exchange for her father's. On the condition that she stay with him forever, the dungeon master, a hideous beast, frees Maurice from the dungeon, however, he is deeply moved by her beauty and affection towards her father, and cannot help but feel touched by her boldness and courage.
Belle is originally reluctant and suspicious to interact with the Beast, especially after violating his warning not to trespass in his private quarters in the West Wing and he erupts in anger at her over it, but he rescues her from a pack of wolves and develops a more civilized manner, and aided by enchanted furnishings, a bond is formed. The Beast gives Belle his enormous library and Belle helps him to act more like a gentleman. The Beast falls deeply in love with her but fears that she will ever love him in return. Their relationship culminates in a waltz in the massive castle ballroom, but when Beast asks Belle while out on the balcony if she enjoys her time in the castle, Belle appears grateful, but then mentions missing her father deeply. Belle is soon granted right to leave on behalf of her sickly father, who tries to rescue her, after seeing him struggling through the Black Forest to get back to the Beast's castle in the Beast's magic mirror. But after Belle rejects Gaston's second marriage proposal that, if she refused, her father would be sent to the insane asylum, and reveals that her love is not for him, but for the Beast, a mob of villagers, led by Gaston, plot against the Beast, as Gaston snaps in a fit of jealous rage when Belle accuses him of being the monster and not the Beast. 
After a grueling tussle between Gaston and Beast, the Beast is fatally stabbed. Gaston then falls off the castle to his death when he loses his balance; Belle can lay the Beast on the balcony, and he dies in her arms. Belle sobs over the Beast's dead body and confesses her love for him mere seconds before the last petal falls from the enchanted rose. Belle's love for the Beast revives and releases him from the curse, turning him and his servants back to their human selves as well as returning the entire castle and its surrounding environment to their former beauty. Belle and her Prince then dance in the ballroom with her father and his servants watching the couple happily.
===Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas===
A midquel taking place during the winter segment of Beauty and the Beast, thus is the story of Belle's attempt to bring back to the castle the one ceremony Beast hates most: Christmas. It has not been well received because it ignores the movie's continuity, and that at the point the movie is supposed to take place. Belle still considered herself a prisoner in the castle and was not truly friends with the Beast at that point, though she has begun to accept him.
A pipe organ called Maestro Forte, formerly the head maestro, is determined to do anything necessary to keep the spell from breaking, because he thinks that if the curse is broken, then the Beast won't need his depressing music anymore. Thus, he proves to be a real obstacle for Belle's plan.
After several attempts to get Beast to agree, Beast finally approves of the idea and allows Belle to prepare for Christmas, though he still bears a grudge, for Christmas is the day the Enchantress cast the spell on him and the castle residents.
With advice from Forte, Belle goes out into the woods to get a suitable tree for Christmas, but she falls into thin ice and almost drowns. Fortunately, she is rescued by Beast, who is enraged at her because Forte told him she was trying to desert him again.
Belle is then thrown into the dungeon to rot, but Beast then finds a book that Belle has written for him earlier in the West Wing and decides to set Belle free and they both continue to prepare for Christmas. But Forte doesn't give up there, even going as far as to attempt to bring the whole castle down with Beethoven Symphony No. 5 to prevent the spell from ending, as it can't if everyone is dead. Fortunately, Beast stops him in time by crashing his keyboard to pieces, resulting in an infuriated Forte ripping himself from the wall and crashing down face-first, silencing him forever.
The viewers are soon taken back the actual Christmas taking place, and Belle is presented with a gift from her husband: a rose.
===Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World===
In this movie, Belle is the only human character. She meets her new three enchanted object friends Webster, Crane, and LePlume and is about to solve problems in all four segments.
In the first story, a love triangle ensues, when the Beast's dictionary servant, Webster gives synonyms to Belle's insults until an apology letter is written. When he realized it was a forgery, the "betrayed" Beast was afraid that his plan to love Belle and become human would be ruined by Webster, so he banished the servant and his friends from the castle, until Belle allows them back in, assuring them that he "has a good heart."
In the second story, it is Lumière's anniversary with Fifi yet he does not know the proper way to confess how he truly feels. Belle assists him by taking the role as Fifi and practicing what he's going to do for their date. Fifi sees the two and believes Lumière is leaving her for Belle. Eventually, all is straightened out.
In the fourth story, Belle finds a wounded bird and takes it in. She spends most of her time hiding it from Beast originally until he grows to like. After a while, another problem brews as the bird is healthy once more, but Beast wants to keep it for it's singing. Belle convinces him to let it free. In the end, they become closer and closer showing signs of feelings for each other.
==Other Media==
===Lilo & Stitch===
Belle and Beast appear in one of the teaser trailers for this film, where as they are doing the famous waltz scene from the original film, neither are aware of Stitch watching them from the ceiling, until he climbs onto the chandelier for a better look, only for his weight to cause the chandelier to tear loose from the ceiling and plummet towards the floor, where his screaming alerts Beast and Belle, and Beast is able to grab Belle and roll her safely out of harm's way before the chandelier smashes into the floor, ruining their romantic moment. After Stitch reveals himself as the culprit who ruined their dance, a disappointed and annoyed Belle tells Beast she'll be in her room as she storms off. When Stitch wolf whistles at her, Belle indignantly tells him to get his own movie, apparently hitting a nerve with Stitch as he replies in disappointment and remorse for his actions.
===Kingdom Hearts===
Belle appears in the Disney/Square Enix series Kingdom Hearts as one of the Princesses of Heart that are being sought out by Master Xehanort and Maleficent for their dark plans. In Kingdom Hearts, Belle has already been kidnapped and imprisoned in Hollow Bastion with her fellow Princesses in Cinderella, Aurora, and Snow White. However, Beast, having pursued her through sheer willpower after their world was taken by the Heartless, arrives around the same time that Sora does with Donald Duck and Goofy. When confronted by Riku, Beast vows to get Belle back, but when Riku taunts him to try and get past him to reach the castle, Beast attacks, and is wounded in the process. After Riku takes the Keyblade from Sora and Donald and Goofy abandon him to continue following Riku per King Mickey Mouse's orders, Beast joins Sora until they reach the Entrance Hall to the castle. There, Beast is distracted by a vision of Belle as she's turned into a Shadow Heartless as, at the same time, Belle was having her heart extracted alongside those of her fellow Princesses of Heart to open Hollow Bastion's Keyhole by Maleficent. Enraged by the deception, Beast lunges for the Shadow, leaving Sora to face Riku alone, but Goofy and Donald decide to rejoin him, and Sora's heart proves stronger than Riku's, reclaiming the Keyblade from him. When an Ansem, Seeker of Darkness possessed Riku rejoins Maleficent in the Great Hall, he summons a dark Keyblade, forged from Belle and the other Princesses' hearts, but discovers the Keyhole unresponsive to it as Kairi's heart was not with her body at that moment. After Sora defeats Maleficent and confronts Riku-Ansem in the Great Hall and defeats him as well, realizing the Keyhole is incomplete, Sora decides to impale himself on Ansem's dark Keyblade, freeing Kairi's heart, and destroying the dark Keyblade as well, freeing Belle's heart and those of the other Princesses, which return to their bodies and resuscitate them. When Sora returns later to find Beast waiting for him at the Rising Falls, he explains that Belle and the other Princesses are still in the castle, and when they head to the Library, Belle is there browsing through the shelves of books, where she is reunited with the Beast, explains the situation to Sora, and gives him the Divine Rose Keychain for his Keyblade as support in his fight against the Heartless. Once Ansem is defeated in the End of the World and the Door to Darkness sealed by Sora and Mickey, the worlds are restored, and Belle and Beast are able to return home.
However, in Kingdom Hearts II, Xaldin of Organization XIII is trying to taint Beast's heart with anger to turn him into a powerful Heartless and Nobody for the Organization to use. As a result, Belle takes refuge in her room in the East Wing while Lumiere, Cogsworth, and the Potts are imprisoned in the dungeon for their own protection. When Sora, Donald, and Goofy arrive, Belle is overjoyed to see them and asks for their help regarding the Beast. After they and Cogsworth are able to snap Beast back to his senses, they hear Belle calling for help from the ballroom, having tried to confront Xaldin herself, but he unleashed the Shadow Stalker/Dark Thorn Heartless on her, forcing her to take cover on the outside balcony while Sora and the Beast fought the Heartless as it tainted the ballroom with its darkness to give it an advantage, but it was overpowered and slain, returning the ballroom to normal. Xaldin mocks the heroes shortly before taking his leave for the time being, and Belle gives Beast a good scolding for not trusting her before Sora uses the enchanted rose to open a new path for him to explore. When he returns later following the Heartless War in Hollow Bastion, Belle is preparing for her famous waltz with Beast, but once they enter the ballroom and prepare to dance, with Sora, Donald, Goofy, and the castle servants in attendance, Xaldin disrupts the dance before it can begin, much to Belle's frustration, and when Beast realizes what Xaldin was referring to when he mentioned he had come to take something very precious to the Beast, they rush to the West Wing, only to find the Enchanted Rose gone, stolen by Xaldin. When Beast takes his anger out on Belle, Sora defends her and tells Beast off, saying he shouldn't blame Belle for what happened. Remorseful and ashamed of his behavior, Beast asks Sora and Belle to leave the castle, accepting he'll never break the spell and regain his humanity, so he might as well stick to living like a Beast for good. Despite Belle not wanting to believe that Beast means that, she's heartbroken over it. Despite Sora's reassurance that he, Donald, and Goofy will help Beast get his morale back, Belle returns sadly to her room. Later, when she sees them outside in the courtyard from her balcony, she prepares to go back into her room, but then finds the rose on the balcony with her. Showing it to Beast and the others, she was unaware that it was a trap, as Xaldin ambushes her and kidnaps her and the rose, fleeing to the bridge leading away from the castle. When Beast, Sora, Donald, and Goofy confront him, Xaldin mocks Beast over what he should leave behind before departing: Belle or the rose. Thankfully, Belle decides to take action, and elbows Xaldin in the stomach, incapacitating him long enough for her to grab the rose and flee to safety. Angered at losing both his bargaining chips, Xaldin summons his lances to fight Sora and Beast, but despite his speed and agility with his wind-based elemental powers, Xaldin is defeated and fades away to be reborn as Dilan. Beast and Belle then make amends with each other, and share a dance in the courtyard as Sora, Donald, and Goofy look on. During the game's end credits, Belle and Beast attempt to have their waltz again in the ballroom, and Beast is turned back into his true form as Prince Adam so he and Belle can share a dance together with the curse broken and ending the Beauty and the Beast storyline in the Kingdom Hearts series for now.
===Beauty and the Beast (2017)===
Belle appears in the 2017 live-action remake, once again as the female protagonist. She was portrayed by Emma Watson, who previously portrayed Hermione Granger.
===House of Mouse===
Belle is seen as a regular guest at the House of Mouse in most episodes of the series. In the special Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse, when the House of Mouse is snowed in by a bad snowstorm so the guests can't go home to celebrate Christmas, Belle is among the guests who are offered a free-of-charge Christmas show at the House of Mouse to entertain them until the storm lets up. She is among the first characters to sing "The Best Christmas of All" at the end of the special.
===Sofia the First===
In the episode, "The Amulet and the Anthem", after Princess Sofia curses herself with a croaking curse due to her actions against her best friends, the Amulet of Avalor summons Belle to help Sofia out, explaining what she needs to do to fix her mistake and thus be released from the curse, using the song "Make it Right" to help Sofia see the error of her ways. Belle later appears to Sofia when she is trapped in the Amulet with the evil Vor in the series finale, "Forever Royal", alongside the other Disney Princesses summoned to aid Sofia in her darkest hours, showing that they all support and believe in her, giving Sofia the strength to defeat Vor and destroy her forever.
===Ralph Breaks the Internet===
Belle appears as a netizen of the Oh My Disney website alongside her fellow Disney Princesses and honorary members Anna and Elsa, serving as Cast Members in a similar fashion to their real life counterparts in the Disney Parks and Resorts. They are relaxing in their private dressing room on break from their duties, with Belle reading a book titled "The Provincial Life" (A shout-out to her original film and the first song she sang in it) while sitting on the floor in the middle of the room, when they are startled by the appearance of Vanellope von Schweetz glitching into their room to escape First Order Stormtroopers wanting to arrest her for illegal pop-up advertising on the site. Suspecting her of being an agent sent by one of their respective Disney Villains to attack them, or a user's avatar that, similar to Guests in the parks or resorts, has trespassed in a "Cast Members Only" restricted area that is off-limits to them unless they have special permission or VIP access, the girls immediately prepare to strike first and subdue Vanellope before handing her over to the proper authorities, with Belle arming herself with the book she was reading moments earlier, all the girls having hostile looks of contempt and anger over an unauthorized person being in their private quarters. Vanellope tries to calm the girls down with saying she's a princess like them, but the girls are hesitant to believe her, still remaining wary despite lowering their guard at Vanellope's initial explanation, choosing to grill her on various questions from their respective movies like they do when on the job, with Belle joining Rapunzel in asking Vanellope if she's been kidnapped or enslaved, with a little too much enthusiasm that unnerves Vanellope greatly. When asked if Vanellope has daddy issues by Jasmine, Vanellope answers that she doesn't even have a mom, which Belle supports with several of the other girls since her mom passed away when she was younger. After Rapunzel asks the big question about if Vanellope relies on some big, strong man coming to save her all the time, and Vanellope answers "yes" to that, the girls are finally convinced that Vanellope is a princess and stand down, welcoming Vanellope into their group, before inquiring about her current choice of clothing, thinking it her "gown" like what they traditionally wear. Inspired by it, Cinderella has Jaq and Gus make similar casual wear for the girls, allowing them a chance to actually be able to relax and enjoy themselves in a way they couldn't while in their regular trademark attire.
While bonding with Vanellope, they explain to her several things they've all done in their films to find their purpose in life to give her inspiration about what to do with her life. Shortly thereafter, C-3PO appears to tell the girls they are due for another quiz in a few minutes, meaning they got to change back into their normal outfits before going back on duty for a bit before their next break is permitted. Nevertheless, they are grateful to Vanellope for the time they spent with her and wish her good luck with her mission, with Belle wishing Vanellope good luck finding her dream.
Sometime later, they are forced to evacuate Oh My Disney due to a Denial-of-Service attack caused by several Wreck-It Ralph viral clones created by the Arthur virus wreaking havoc on the Internet due to Ralph's insecurities over being without Vanellope in his life. After Ralph is able to resolve his insecurities, causing the viral clones to vanish, he ends up being knocked unconscious as he falls to his apparent doom. Seeing him in trouble, Belle and the other girls rush to his aid, with Belle using her book to help save Ralph's life, along with using her gown as a parachute for him alongside Ariel's, Tiana's, and Cinderella's. When he comes to afterwards and meets them, Elsa assures Ralph that "any friend of Vanellope is a friend of ours".
==Quotes==
==Trivia==
*The name "Belle" means "Beauty" or "Beautiful" in French.
*Belle made a cameo as a background character from the 1996 Disney film, The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
*In an early draft of the film, Belle had a younger sister named Clarice as well as a snobbish aunt named Marguerite (who would have moved in with Belle, Clarice, and Maurice to help them out after Maurice's fortune was lost at sea. She also wished for Belle to marry Gaston so her family could have a better life).
*Emma Roberts, Kristen Stewart, Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, and Emmy Rossum were considered for the role of Belle before Emma Watson was cast.
*in House of Mouse series, Ariel's voice actress, Jodi Benson took over as the voice of Belle, although Paige O'Hara did reprise her role as Belle in Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse.
*When Paige O'Hara was auditioning, a bit of her hair flew in her face and she tucked it back. The animators liked this so they put it in the movie.
*Belle's love of reading is meant to be a sign of great intelligence, a trait that had previously not been shown in a Disney Princess, except for Cinderella to an extent. It is also a subtle hint to the movie's message: "Don't judge a book by its cover."
*This movie depicts Belle as being an only child, or at least makes no mention of her having siblings. In the original fairy tale, Belle is the youngest of three daughters and her sisters are wicked and selfish, and secretly taunt and treat the kind-hearted Belle like a servant to them. It is believed that the sisters were purposefully omitted from the Disney adaptation because they were too similar to characters in another Disney movie, Cinderella (1950).
*Belle is the first brown-haired Disney Princess.
*The song 'Be Our Guest' was originally supposed to be sung to Maurice instead of Belle, but Bruce Woodside pointed out that the song was in the wrong place because Maurice was not the focus of the story, and it made no sense to waste such a wonderful song on a secondary character.
*Belle's blue-and-white dress and hairstyle were inspired by Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (1939).
*Disney was originally going to have Jodi Benson, the voice of Ariel in The Little Mermaid (1989) also provide the voice for Belle. However, it was decided that Belle needed a more "European"-sounding voice. Howard Ashman remembered working with Paige O'Hara and suggested she try out for the part.
*The first song of the movie, "Belle", has her express her fantasies, "Oh, isn't this amazing. It's my favorite part because, you'll see. Here is where she meets Prince Charming, but she won't discover that it's him till chapter three". Later, the same music is reprised during "Something There", where along the same tune she sings, "New and a bit alarming, who'd have ever thought that this could be? True, that he's no Prince Charming, but there's something in him that I simply didn't see." It is basically a retelling of the story she had read, with herself, unknowingly, as a character in it.
*Paige O'Hara was in her early thirties when she voiced the much-younger Belle.
*Paige O'Hara, the voice of Belle, was amongst the first few artists to express an interest in recording the pop version of "Beauty and the Beast" as heard at the ending credits, but Walt Disney Pictures dismissed her because she sounded "too Broadway".
*Belle's eyes were originally going to be gray, but in the final cut, they were hazel. Belle is currently the only official Disney Princess to have hazel eyes.
*Paige O'Hara cried while recording Belle's mourning of Beast. Her performance was so intense that directors Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise asked her if she was okay, upon which O'Hara immediately dropped out of character and said "Acting!"
*When Belle first becomes Beast's prisoner, he warns her to never go to the west wing. Belle not only goes to the west wing once, but three times in the entire movie. The first time she goes is in the beginning after "Be Our Guest". The second time is when Belle wishes to see her father. The third time is when the Beast was dying in Belle's arms.
*Belle is the only Disney Princess to be a true brunette.
*Belle is the last Disney Princess to be introduced during the Cold War between the USA and USSR, as the Soviet Union dissolved the following year.
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