Cinderella

**Cinderella** is the titular protagonist of Disney's 1950 animated feature film of the same name. After the death of her mother, her father remarried, believing that she "needed a mother's care". He died shortly thereafter, upon which she was forced to work as a scullery maid for her wicked stepmother, Lady Tremaine and two stepsisters, Anastasia and Drizella.

Despite the cruelty of her jealous stepfamily, Cinderella remained kind, spirited, and internally beautiful. Her faith and everlasting optimism manifested itself into a Fairy Godmother, whose magic served as a catalyst for Cinderella's ascent from servant to princess.

Cinderella is the second official member of the Disney Princess line-up, preceded by Snow White.

## Appearance

Cinderella is a beautiful young woman of average height and slender build with a softly-shaped, kind face. She has an hourglass figure. Her skin is fair and flawless, her lips are pink, and her eyes are blue. Cinderella's hair is a beautiful strawberry-blonde (light strawberry-blonde in her childhood) and medium-length with soft bangs.

Her second dress and most commonly seen sleeveless dress is a sparkling light cornflower bluish gray ball gown with a low-cut neckline, cornflower bluish white bustle, white-capped sleeves, white armpit length opera gloves, a delicate laced white petticoat (or petticoats), and glass slippers topped with sparkly hearts. (It should be noted, though, that the ball gown is often colored light powder blue in merchandise and later productions and was even digitally recolored as such in the original film's DVD and Blu-ray releases.) Her hair is pulled up into a variation of a French twist complimented with a very light cornflower blue band over it with large gems on both ends of the band (in recent merchandise, the two gems of the band have been replaced with diamond earrings). She also wears a thin black bead-less choker necklace around her neck.

## Personality

Despite being raised in toxicity and emotional abuse, Cinderella declared herself independent and strong-willed by remaining kind-hearted and self-loving, unlike her cruel stepfamily, not allowing the bitterness surrounding her life to overtake her and morph her into someone as cruel as her stepfamily. She makes the most of her misfortunes by remaining optimistic of the possibilities of a brighter future, keeping herself preoccupied with enforced housework and friendly bonds built with her pets, birds, and dozens of mice that have found themselves trapped over the years by Tremaine's mouse traps, only to be rescued and spared by Cinderella. In gratitude, the birds and mice would become loyal companions to Cinderella, providing her with company and serving as diligent helpers should something troubling occur. The particular devotion of the mice would ultimately play a crucial role in the young woman escaping her abusive household, thus furthering the example of how Cinderella's evergreen kindness towards others, despite her situation, would ultimately lead to her uprising.

As assumed, Cinderella's primary goal in life was to escape her stepfamily (though her dreams and other goals also seemed to be of romance, especially with the lyrics from "So This is Love" where Cinderella and the Prince sing, "*So this is the miracle that I've been dreaming of*.") However, as she was under Lady Tremaine's control since her childhood when her father passed away, such a feat proved to be difficult, with the emotional abuse and manipulation having been planted in Cinderella's mind for far too many years, making for an obedient and fearful young woman when faced with Tremaine's wrath; she would typically make attempts to avoid any form of conflict with her stepmother and stepsisters as a direct result of this.

Cinderella is also witty and sarcastic, at least when she is alone, and during those moments she would often make quips regarding her stepfamily's laziness, lack of talent, and over-dependence on her. She is also unafraid to stand up for herself when she feels she's in the right - or at least attempt to do so, especially seen when she stands up for herself as being able to go to the ball, and though she strives to contain her optimistic aura, she can fall into fits of frustration and annoyance quite often. This is seen through her interactions with Lady Tremaine's cat, Lucifer, who she sarcastically refers to as "Your Majesty", and openly berates for his cruelty, which mirrors that of her cruel stepmother. Her daily goal is to make the most of her situation, but she never forces herself to bottle up her true emotions in an unhealthy manner; instead, wisely keeping them under control, while also keeping in mind that the future holds brighter experiences. She also is shown to have some degree of common sense, as after Drizella and Anastasia rushed to Lady Tremaine in fear about how Cinderella had allegedly put a mouse in their teacup, Cinderella, hearing the report, immediately deduced that it had been Lucifer who had actually been responsible, and forced him to reveal Gus, allowing Gus a quick escape.

In *Cinderella III: A Twist in Time*, Cinderella's hard-working ethics, optimism, kindness and devotion are put to the test when she is magically stripped away from her "happily ever after" by a vengeful and then magically-empowered Tremaine and is forced to jump into physical action to restore her happy life and relationship with Prince Charming and save Anastasia from her mother's cruel and vain influence when it becomes clear that she too is suffering. During these events, Cinderella is shown to be cunning, tactical, persistent, and a fierce rival to those who oppress her. With no magic, being forced to rely solely on her intelligence and fearlessness, Cinderella is able to defeat her stepmother, repair her relationship with a reformed Anastasia and retain her much-deserved life of happiness, proving both her independence and strong will.

## History

Cinderella was born to wealthy, unnamed parents who treated their daughter with great love. The family resided in a French château, just beyond a small- but powerful- kingdom. Sometime during her childhood, Cinderella's mother tragically passed away, and as a result of believing his daughter needed a mother figure in her life, Cinderella's father remarried a woman named Lady Tremaine, who notably had two daughters of her own, both around Cinderella's age: Anastasia and Drizella. After the death of her father, Cinderella was under the control of Lady Tremaine, whose true colors finally surfaced, showing a cruel and cold-hearted woman. Her selfishness and vanity destroyed both the family fortune and left the once beautiful château in a state of disrepair. While pampering her own two daughters and spoiling them rotten, she raised Cinderella in abuse and virtual slavery. This was a result of being wickedly jealous of the young girl's natural beauty and charm, which she and her own daughters all lacked. This went on for many years, but Cinderella's personality remained sweet, humble, and kind.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Animal Empathy and Communication:** Cinderella has a special ability to empathize with animals, perceive what they say and communicate with them.
* **Peak-Human Strength**: Despite her slim figure, Cinderella seems to have considerable strength, as demonstrated in *A Twist in Time*. This is best reflected in the scene when Lady Tremaine traps her in a twisted pumpkin carriage driven by a human Lucifer; she literally punches her way out of the pumpkin carriage to escape from it, and in the same scene she is able to break off one of the strong thorn-filled vines of the pumpkin carriage which human Lucifer is sitting on, causing him to fall off said carriage. Human Lucifer is presumed to weigh considerably more than Cinderella, making her attack towards him quite a feat.Because Cinderella is a Princess of Heart, her heart holds part of the ability to open the Final Keyhole that leads to Kingdom Hearts, which can only be opened when she is joined with the other six princesses. Should her heart be lost, her body will remain in a dormant state until it returns.

* She also has the power to hold back darkness using the light stored within her heart, a power which she and the other princesses can utilize alone (the exact way she fights off darkness is currently unclear).
* In addition, her heart (along with that of the other princesses) can be used to create the Keyblade of People's Hearts, which allows the bearer to unlock anyone's heart.
* Cinderella (along with the other princesses) can also upgrade other people's powers, as revealed when they upgraded Sora's Fira spell to Firaga.
* She can also locate darkness, as shown when she and her fellow princesses tell Sora about a great darkness approaching nearby.

## Role in Sora’s Adventures

Cinderella appears in several episodes of the show, mostly as a teacher at Kairi's school.

Her first prominent role in the show was in Kairi’s Adventures in Castle of Dreams, in which her heart has been stolen by her stepmother under Maleficent's orders. For much of the episode, her body remains in a coma while her heart is inside Kairi's body, thus allowing her to talk to Kairi if needed which means Lady Tremaine failed to bring her heart to Maleficent. With the help of Jaq, Fairy Godmother and even her own stepsister Anastasia, who reforms thanks to Terra, she gets her heart back after Kairi releases it following a duel against Lady Tremaine and her Heartless army.