Belle

> *"Well, some people use their imagination."* - Belle
>
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Template:Princesses

**Belle** is the female protagonist of *Beauty and the Beast*. She is the fifth official Disney Princess.

## Background

### Appearance

Belle has long, brown hair, most often tied back in a low ponytail, and possesses captivating hazel eyes, full lips, rosy cheeks, and a sculpted figure. One of her more distinct features are the strands of hair that are constantly slipping loose from her ponytail and falling in front of her face, she is often seen brushing them back into place when nervous, in a hurry, or trying to be polite.

Throughout the film, Belle wears various outfits depending on the occasion. Her most elaborate, recognized, iconic, and renowned outfit is her golden ball gown, in which she shares her first dance with the Beast in the "Beauty and the Beast" sequence. With this outfit, she wears some of her hair in a neat bun, but the majority of it trails down her neck in a beautiful, flowing motion, resembling a ponytail.

### Personality

Belle has gained a significant amount of intelligence over the years due to her love of books, providing her with an amazing vocabulary, active imagination, and an open mind. She is very confident and outspoken in her opinions, and seldom likes being told what to do. Despite all this, she does not have very many friends due to her smarts and being a free thinker. Unlike most characters in the film, Belle isn't concerned about hers or other's appearances and is able to look past how people appear and into their hearts. This is how Belle managed to break the Beast's enchantment and restore love and laughter to the castle.

Belle is known throughout the village for her beauty, with one villager commenting that it has no parallel, but although she knows it, she isn't vain or concerned about her looks. She is greatly aware that her fellow citizens think of her as "odd" and "peculiar". Belle pays very little attention to her appearance, unlike the very much conceited Gaston, who only wishes to wed her because she is attractive. He cares very little for her personality, her intelligence (he hates the very idea of a woman being smart), or the way she wants to live her life. Belle is somewhat liberal for her time and refuses to be mistreated, undermined, humiliated, demeaned, or controlled by any man, especially Gaston. However, Belle willingly listens to, looks up to and admires her father Maurice and considers the opinions and directions of the Beast, because they are both able to treat her as an equal, while Gaston views Belle and all women of the village as property.

While wise for the most part, Belle is quite obstinate when it comes to stating her points, upholding her opinions, and maintaining her ideas. Even though Belle had said in the film that she dreams of adventure, she has also stated that she also wishes for a friend who accepts her for who she is, because everyone in town criticizes her because of how she does her own thing and they don't understand why. Which makes her feel that she does not fit in but despite this even when people gave her a hard time she never changed, but came to a better understanding of herself; which made the biggest difference by her breaking the spell and charming the Beast just by being herself.

Belle's personality transforms throughout the film. At first, she frequently dreams about a life of adventure and romance, not realizing that sometimes adventures might take a turn for the worst. As Belle begins to spend more time with the Beast, and their relationship blossoms into a strong friendship, she begins to fall in love with him without realizing it. As she matures during the course of her imprisonment, her love for the Beast breaks the enchantment. Belle realizes that having dreams is great, but sometimes you need to look beyond them and find what you're truly looking for.

## Disney History

### *Beauty and the Beast*

 File:Belle’s golden ball gown.jpeg
The first time Belle is seen is in the song "Belle." Gaston fell in love with her, but she didn't feel the same as him. After her father was lost in the forest, she set out to find him, only to be taken hostage by a beast in exchange for her father's freedom.
Throughout the story, he gradually fell in love with her, as Belle saw through the Beast's heart. After a dance, she was released from the castle to save her father from being jailed by Gaston. Belle also revealed the Beast's existence, throwing Gaston into jealousy.
As he and the villagers marched into the castle of the Beast, he stabbed him, but also fell to his doom. In the Beast's last moment, Belle confessed her love, breaking the curse, and they lived happily ever after.

Belle is a young woman living in a small unnamed village in France. She first appears at the beginning of the film (after the prologue) as she emerges out of the cottage she lives in and heads to a bookstore in the village, aware that the (ignorant) villagers are noting her peculiarity and how she doesn't fit in with the rest of them due to her love of books and withdrawn nature. At the bookstore, Belle returns a book she has borrowed and takes the one she perceives as her favorite when the bookstore owner gives it to her. While heading back home to the cottage, she is pursued by a conceited, arrogant, 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.

Descending into the basement and coughing her way in, Belle finds her father, Maurice, who is about to give up on his latest contraption 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 Phillipe, 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, much to her dismay, but nevertheless lets him in. Gaston reveals to Belle that he wants to make her his little wife and the mother of seven handsome little boys; Belle is disgusted by this idea and slips away from Gaston, who continues to approach her. As Gaston has Belle cornered at the door and is about to plant a kiss on her, Belle opens the door, causing Gaston to fall into a large mud pond outside. After a furious and humiliated Gaston leaves the cottage, Belle goes outside to feed the chickens, shocked in disbelief at how Gaston has asked her to marry him. Not wanting to be the wife of that boorish, brainless man, she runs off into an open field, where Phillipe finds her. Seeing the horse without her father, Belle pleads the horse to take her to where her father is.

Belle rides to a mysterious castle on Phillipe in the possibility of finding her father. She finds her father locked away in a dungeon, and begs the dungeon master to free him, offering her own 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 can't help but feel touched by her boldness and bravery.

Belle is later taken on a tour by the head butler who became a mantel clock in the same spell that affects the castle, Cogsworth, and his assistant servant turned candelabrum, Lumiere. They decide to show Belle their library but Belle's curiosity about the West Wing makes her go into the forbidden room. There she sees a torn picture of a young man and a glowing rose. She takes the glass off the rose and tries to touch it. However, the Beast arrives and ruthlessly scolds Belle out of fury. Terrified and sad, Belle escapes the castle and runs away. There, she and her horse encounter a pack of frightening and savage wolves, but the Beast arrives and rescues her. And this is where their bond begins.

As a token of his appreciation, 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 never love him in return. When he is to reveal his feelings for her, Belle is soon granted the right to leave on behalf of her sickly father, who tries to rescue her. But after denying Gaston her hand in marriage again and exposing the Beast's existence to save her father from being taken to the insane asylum by a mob of villagers orchestrated by Gaston, the mob attacks the Beast out of fear of the village's safety (and Gaston out of jealousy for the implication that Belle loves the Beast more than himself).

After a grueling tussle between Gaston and the Beast, the Beast is fatally stabbed. Gaston falls to his death when he loses his balance. Belle is able to lay the Beast on a balcony, and he dies in her arms. Belle sobs over the Beast's dead body and confesses her love for him just as the last petal falls from the enchanted rose. As Belle continues to sob over losing her love, the Beast's body begins to float in the air and is enshrouded in a fog. Belle watches mysteriously as the Beast's fore-paws, hind-paws, and furry head respectively transform back into hands, feet, and head of a Prince. The Prince then turns to Belle, who initially looks at him skeptically, but then she recognizes him by his blue eyes. The Prince and Belle share their first kiss, a kiss of true love, which subsequently breaks the additional spell the Enchantress had placed on the castle: the dark, scary castle is restored into its original, shining state, and all the Prince's servants, including Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Mrs. Potts, are transformed back into a human. Belle and the Prince then dance in the ballroom with her father and his servants watching happily while Cogsworth and Lumiere enter an argument.

### *Beauty And The Beast: The Enchanted Christmas*

In the film, Belle set out to save Christmas in the castle, unknowing that the Beast hated Christmas. Forte, a pipe organ, tried everything necessary to stop the curse from breaking, including putting Belle in mortal danger. However, the Beast saves her, but in return, his closest companion, Forte, fell out of his position and died.

The midquel takes place during the winter segment of *Beauty and the Beast*, this is the story of Belle's attempt to bring back to the castle the one ceremony the Beast hates most: Christmas. 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 had begun to accept him. This takes not too long after she was saved from the wolves, she had started to warm up to the Beast a little.

A pipe organ called Forte 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 to Belle's plan.

After several attempts to get the Beast to agree, the 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 that she was trying to desert him again.

Belle is then thrown into the dungeon to rot, but the Beast then finds a book that Belle had 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's Symphony No. 5 in order to prevent the spell from ending, as it can't if everyone is dead. Fortunately, the Beast stops him in time by crashing his keyboard to pieces. Sadly, the Beast mourns the loss of his servant and Belle comforts him.

The viewers are soon taken back to 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 a segment of the film, it is Lumiere'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 of Fifi and practicing what he's going to do for their date. Fifi sees the two and believes Lumiere is leaving her for Belle. Eventually, all is straightened out.
In another 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 its singing. Belle convinces him to let it free. In the end, they become closer and closer showing signs of feelings for each other.

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 one of the stories, it is Lumiere'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 of Fifi and practicing what he's going to do for their date. Fifi sees the two and believes Lumiere is leaving her for Belle. Eventually, all is straightened out.

In another 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 History

### *House of Mouse*

Belle made cameo appearances in many episodes of the House of Mouse television series. In "Mickey and the Culture Clash", Belle attempted to read a book that Mickey was balancing on his head, but her hand was slapped away by Mortimer Mouse. She then asked what the commotion was about, and was informed by Clarabelle that Minnie was looking for someone more sophisticated than Mickey. In "Ask Von Drake", Belle was seen sitting with Beast during Disney character headcount. In "The Stolen Cartoons", Donald Duck accidentally served Lumiere as Belle's evening meal.

Belle also appeared aside Beast in *Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse*, and in some crowd shots in *Mickey's House of Villains*.

### *Sofia the First*

Belle made a guest appearance in the episode "The Amulet and the Anthem".

She teaches Sofia that actions speak louder than words when apologizing about her bragging didn't break her croaking curse by singing "Make It Right".

Curiously, like Princess Jasmine before her, Belle's hairstyle is different from what her redesign shows. Rather than being waist length with a large sock bun and two free locks framing her face, the hairstyle that she sports in the episode is only just past her shoulders with the bun being the previous fancy knot that she had prior to her redesign. This is either because this version of the hairstyle was easier and less time-consuming to animate or the animators chose to combine aspects of her original hairstyle with her new one as a sort of homage to her first appearance.

### *Once Upon a Time*

Belle (Emilie de Ravin) is the daughter of Sir Maurice, whose town will be destroyed in the Ogre Wars. Rumplestiltskin offers to protect them if Belle becomes his servant forever. Her father and her fiancée Gaston (Sage Brocklebank) refuse to agree to his terms, but Belle accepts the deal. Over time, the pair fall in love, and Rumplestiltskin asks her to go out and buy straw, expecting that she will not return. On the road, she meets the Evil Queen Regina and learns that true love's kiss will break any curse, including the one on Rumplestiltskin. Belle returns to the castle and kisses him, and he starts changing back into a human. However, he learns that she met the Queen and becomes convinced that she is a spy; this stops the transformation. In his rage, he rejects her love and locks Belle in his dungeon. He then breaks all of his dishware, except the cup that she accidentally chipped. He throws her out of his castle, stating that his power is more important to him than she is. She admonishes him for not believing that she loves him and promises that he will regret it when he is left with an empty heart and the chipped cup. She then leaves and he does not see her again. Belle is later seen giving advice on love to Grumpy.

Her storyline in the Enchanted Forest involved Mulan's in one episode. The two of them hear of a fiery monster causing trouble in the Enchanted Forest. Belle hunts it down and douses it with water. The monster then writes "save me" on the ground. Belle uses fairy dust to help the creature and it turns back into its true form, Prince Phillip. He thanks Belle for saving him and reveals to her that Maleficent cast a spell over him to keep him away from his true love, Aurora. Belle then introduces Phillip to Mulan and leaves them to help her true love, Rumplestiltskin. However, soon after she is taken prisoner by Regina. In another episode, Hook goes to Belle's jail cell after hearing that she could be Rumplestiltskin's weakness. He asks her to help destroy him, but she refuses to do so. Hook then knock her out and leaves.

According to the Queen, Belle was allegedly shunned by her town for her association with Rumplestiltskin and was imprisoned and tortured until she threw herself off a tower and died. However, this is later proven false by her existence in Storybrooke, where Regina keeps her locked in a secret room underneath the Storybrooke Hospital.

She is eventually released by Jefferson. He tells her to find Mr. Gold, who is actually Rumplestiltskin, and to tell Gold that Regina held her captive. She finds Gold but does not remember who he is. When the curse on Storybrooke is broken, she regains her memories and professes her love for Rumplestiltskin. He then takes her to his shop, where she makes him promise he won't kill Regina. After Gold releases the Wraith to seek out vengeance on Regina, Belle storms out of the pawnshop, frustrated by his play on words. Later, she comes back to him, where he shows her the chipped cup and she says she will stay with him as "he's a monster."

At the beginning of "The Crocodile", Belle has a dream that Mr. Gold turns into Rumplestiltskin/The Dark One and throws a pickaxe into Leroy's chest. When she wakes up, she sees Mr. Gold in the basement of his house doing magic. The next morning, Belle asks him what he has been doing. Mr. Gold just says, "Magic is Power."

Later, her father, Moe/Maurice sends Smee to "kidnap" her so she could see her father but Moe finds out she still loves Mr. Gold. To fix this "little" problem, her father handcuffs her to a mining trolley and rolls it downhill, so she can have her memories erased (because when a person crosses the town border, they lose all memory of their true selves). She is rescued by Mr. Gold, Prince Charming/David Nolan, and Red Riding Hood/Ruby. However, once she is rescued, she says she doesn't want to see Mr. Gold and Moe ever again.

Mr. Gold gives Belle the key to the Storybrooke Library and then explains everything from being a coward to Baelfire. He starts to go but Belle stops him, wanting to go with him for a hamburger at Grannies, to which he happily agrees.

Sometime later, Archie is supposedly killed by Regina. Belle, along with the other townspeople, attends Archie's funeral where Mary Margaret gives a eulogy in remembrance of him. Afterward, Belle meets up with Mr. Gold in which he happily tells her the potion for crossing the border works. She expresses wishes to go with him, but he regretfully says the potion is only enough for one person. She heads to the library, later on, to sort through books and notices a stranger standing in the corner and recognizes him as the man who broke into her cell in the Evil Queen's palace, Captain Hook. In a state of panic, she runs from him but is unable to escape the building. Belle pushes a bookshelf, which topples and pins him to the floor as she scurries into the elevator. Pulling out her cellphone to call Mr. Gold, she is able to tell him about the man trying to kill her, but when she attempts to give more details, Mr. Gold is unable to hear her through the bad reception. Belle does not return to the library until Mr. Gold operates the switch to open the elevator shaft.

Reunited, they hurry back to the pawnshop together. On the way there, Belle demands to know Mr. Gold's history with Hook. Hesitantly, he finally tells her Hook stole his wife, Milah from him years ago. When she asks what happened to his wife, Mr. Gold can only say that she died. When Mr. Gold's cloak is stolen by William Smee, Mr. Gold wants to get back. He gives her a loaded gun to keep in case she needs to ever use it to protect herself. While Mr. Gold is away, Belle goes back into the library. There she finds a knot left behind from Hook and searches through her books about it. Reading the books, she realizes the knot comes specifically from a ship.

Heading to the harbor, she looks up at the seagulls and is surprised to see one of the lands and stand on something invisible. Suspecting something is there but she can't see it, Belle takes a pinch of dust and throws it over, revealing stairs leading up to an invisible ship. She goes up the steps until she passes a barrier that leads her onto the ship's visible deck. Belle opens a door below deck and discovers Archie tied up. She uses a sword to cut him free and urges him to get back to town. Then, she proceeds to rummage around the shelves hoping to find Baelfire's cloak. In her distraction, she had put down the gun, and just then Hook makes himself known to her. She lunges for the gun, but Hook is faster. He threateningly points the gun at her forehead, and whilst they converse, he reveals to her a truth Mr. Gold did not tell her--that he killed Milah by ripping out her heart. Even knowing this, Belle still believes in Mr. Gold and asserts that she knows he has changed and has good in him. She hits him with a rowing paddle and runs away to the above deck while taking the cloak with her.

Mr. Gold shows up to save Belle and proceeds to beat Hook bloody with his cane. Belle pleads that they should leave, but Mr. Gold cannot contain his anger at Hook's presence. Finally, he stops when she reminds him of the hope she had in believing he changed, and that if he has, to walk away right now. They leave Hook's ship.

That night, Mr. Gold and Belle are at the town border. He uses the potion on himself and steps to the other side of the borderline while his memory stays intact. Belle is very pleased the potion will give him the opportunity to find his son. She promises to wait for him in Storybrooke. The heartfelt moment is interrupted when Belle is suddenly shot and pierced in the shoulder causing her to trip and fall over the border into Mr. Gold's arms and thus loses her memories. Hook is then revealed to be the shooter, stating that now Gold knows how it feels to lose someone he loves. Mr. Gold yells her name in anguish, but she stares at him in confusion, asking, "Who is Belle?".

She is in a frantic and frightened state after she becomes amnesic. Mr. Gold is worried about her injuries, so he magically heals them. Belle is confused and asks him how he did it. An ambulance arrives at the scene and takes Belle to the hospital. While laying in the hospital bed, Mr. Gold tries to trigger her memory with true love's kiss. It is unsuccessful and Belle screams at Mr. Gold.

Later, Mr. Gold arrives at the hospital, with the chipped cup, which he magically charmed. He gives it to Belle in hopes that she remember her past from the Enchanted Forest. The plan does not work. Belle is confused and unsure when he mentions magic and tries giving the cup back to Mr. Gold, but he insists she tries. Belle becomes angry and throws the cup, shattering it to pieces. She asks him to leave one final time, and Mr. Gold finally leaves her room in tears. For the time, Belle remains in the hospital until she gets a call from Mr. Gold who tells her that he knows she doesn't remember who she is, but that she was a beautiful woman who loved an ugly man, and adds that she creates goodness in people. Belle begins to tear up at his words, but he hangs up before she can respond. She is then visited by Regina who is displeased to hear Mr. Gold is going to help her. Thinking quickly, she bends down to pick up an item and instead conjures a little red card of the town bar, The Rabbit Hole, and asks if it belongs to her. Though Belle says no, Regina suggests she should take a better look at it. Belle glances down at the card, exclaims she remembers who she is. In reality, Regina gave her false memories to replace the memories she lost as Belle. With the false memories, she assumes a new personality and a new name, **Lacey**.

In the final episode of Season 2, Grumpy gives Mr. Gold some magic from The Blue Fairy to help restore Belle's memories. Mr. Gold restores the chipped cup and pours the magic into it. Belle drinks from the cup and her memories come back. After Henry Mills is kidnapped Mr. Gold decides to go rescue him and tells Belle to look after Storybrooke while he is gone. In Season 3, Belle had been appearing to Mr. Gold as a vision to guide him through Never Land but it is eventually revealed that she is actually Peter Pan's shadow in disguise. Back in Storybrooke, the real Belle has a difficult time accepting that Rumplestilskin is gone. Then, with the help of the Dwarfs and the Blue Fairy. She casts a protection spell over the town. Sometime later, Belle meets Ariel. Belle questions Ariel as to why she has come to Storybrooke to which Ariel replies she came from Never Land on a mission for Mr. Gold. Belle is then shocked and relieved Mr. Gold is alive and Ariel tells Belle Mr. Gold needs him to save everyone.

The two head goes to Mr. Gold's shop where Belle is able to use the Sand Dollar given to her by Ariel from Mr. Gold to find the item capable of defeating Pan. However, after finding the item which has turned out to be Pandora's Box the are ambushed by John and Michael Darling now working for Pan and the two of them tie Ariel and Belle up and take the item to destroy it. In order to get out of the ropes, Belle removes Ariel's bracelet which allows Ariel to wiggle free from the ropes and undo Belle's bindings. Ariel then puts the bracelet back on and go after John and Michael.

Belle and Ariel find Michael and John just before they destroy the box. Belle is able to stop them by activating a minecart on the tracks, which throws Michael and John off their feet. Using time to her advantage, she grabs the box and kicks their gun away. John and Michael tell Ariel and Belle that Pan has Wendy hostage and if they don't do his bidding he will kill her. Ariel and Belle promise they will help save their sister. Ariel and Belle then go to the coast where she parts ways with Belle and returns to Never Land with Pandora's Box.

When Ariel returns to Storybrooke, Belle helps her reunite with Prince Eric. Mr. Gold and Belle also reunite, but it's only for a few days. Pan casts a curse to destroy Storybrooke and its residents, but Gold stops him and disappears. Regina then casts a spell to send everyone from the Enchanted Forest, including Belle, back to the world they came from.

In the Enchanted Forest, Belle and Baelfire return to the castle to try to find a way to bring Rumplestilskin back to life. They meet Lumiere in the library and he tells them they must use a key to open the Vault of the Dark One. When they reach the vault, Lumiere reveals that he has been working under Zelena the Wicked Witch of the West. Baelfire still decides to open the vault despite Belle's warning and his life is exchanged for Rumplestilskin's. A new curse is later cast and everyone in the Enchanted Forest, including Belle, returns to Storybrooke. After a long battle, Zelena is defeated and taken to jail. Belle tells Mr. Gold not to go after Zelena even though she was responsible for his son's death. However, Mr. Gold kills Zelena behind her back, then he and Belle get married.

In Season 2, it is revealed that Belle's curse name is Lacey. She also receives 2 more centric episodes "The Outsider" and "Lacey". "The Outsider" explores what happened to Belle after she left Rumplestiltskin. In it, she meets up with Mulan, and together, they defeat the yaoguai which turns out to be Prince Phillip. The flashback ends with her being captured by the Evil Queen. The flashback in "Lacey" shows what happened in the time in between the flashbacks of "Skin Deep." It shows Belle interacting with Robin Hood while she was a servant in Rumplestiltskin's castle.

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