Beast

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> If he could learn to love another, and earn her love in return by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time. As the years passed, he fell into despair, and lost all hope, for who could ever learn to love a beast?
>
> Excerpt from the opening narration of *Beauty and the Beast*

The **Beast** is the male protagonist of Disney's 1991 animated feature film, *Beauty and the Beast*. A young prince who once lived a pampered life, he was notoriously selfish and unkind in his youth. As punishment for his cruel behavior, the prince was cursed by a mysterious Enchantress and transformed into a hideous beast. Only by loving another and earning their love in return, would the spell be broken.

The Beast is based on the titular creature from the folklore on which the film is based. In contrast to the original fairytale, Disney’s iteration of the character was developed as a callous, almost-villainous force whom steadily redeems himself throughout the story. To that end, the Beast’s narrative arc emphasizes the film’s moral that “true beauty comes from within."

## Background

### Official Description

*Cursed by an enchantress because he has no love within his heart, a prince is transformed into a terrible beast. The fearful spell can only be broken when he truly learns to love - and can earn the love of another. But who can love a beast? All seems hopeless until fate brings Belle into his world. Angry and despairing due to his long enchantment, the Beast tries to capture Belle's love with fear, not kindness. Then slowly, through her courage and compassion, he begins to discover the secrets of his own heart and learns that even a beast can be loved.*
### Development

The earliest versions of the Beast were intended to closely parallel the character in the original fairy tale; originally, the Beast was planned to be humble, gentleman-like, and had a generally welcoming personality, with only an occasional temper. As the film's development progressed, the directors felt changing this aspect would help add dimension to the Beast, but also promote the film's primary moral: "True beauty comes from within."

The Beast's design went through many changes during the film's production; at first, most of the initial sketches were little more than humanoids with the head of an animal attached. Desiring a more unconventional model, the filmmakers began brainstorming more unique designs, including a mantis-like version. Chris Sanders was responsible for helping come up with the basic design of the Beast. He went from insect forms, avian forms, and fish forms until he finally got the right design. Glen Keane, the supervising animator for the Beast, then studied various animals to modify the design and base it around real-life creatures as opposed to alien. Ultimately, Keane was inspired to make the Beast a combination of the variety of animals he studied, feeling that this design truly represented the character he envisioned.

In fear that Keane would design the human Beast to resemble his voice actor Robby Benson, then-Disney Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg did not allow Keane to see Benson during the production of the film. However, according to the filmmakers, not a lot of effort was put into the Beast's human design. The creators claimed that regardless of what he looked like, they felt the majority of those who watched the film would likely end up not liking his human appearance, simply because he no longer felt like the character whom the viewers bonded with through the film.

### Personality

> I know he looks vicious, but he's really kind and gentle. He's my friend.
>
> Belle

From his first introduction, the Beast is sentient and capable of human speech. He originally appeared to be irritable, spoiled, selfish, and temperamental, and came off as very hostile, even towards his servants. Yet he also had a very bitter outlook on his life and was quick to become frustrated and pitch a fit when things did not work his way, showing a spoiled side to his personality. Though these sides of his personality seemed contradictory, they both stemmed from his upbringing as a prince, since his privileged life made him selfish and inconsiderate during his youth, and also led to his curse in the first place when he refused to offer hospitality to strangers. The Beast's dire situation only exacerbated his temperamental nature further but introduced a deep sense of insecurity and shame because of what his past actions had cost him.

The Beast's greatest conflict was dealing with his hideous appearance and the retention of his humanity. Although he desired to break the curse, the Beast's dual nature made him truly uncertain of ever becoming human again, especially when many could not even recognize him as once being human. The Beast was ashamed of the monstrous aspect of himself; it was a reminder of both what he had done and what he had become. His shame held a stronghold on him, where often the first thing that often set off his temper was when others reacted to his appearance or his inhuman instincts. These cases created a self-fulfilling cycle, where the Beast reacted with a vicious behavior because he was seen as a vicious creature. Despite appearing infuriated when this became an issue, it was indicated that he could feel guilty for his behavior afterward; his first interactions with Belle left him feeling morose believing she would only see him as a monster, and later on when his temper got the better of him that he unintentionally scared away Belle, which only supported his doubts, so much so that he saves her life afterward to make up for his earlier behavior.

Though the Beast is stubborn and lacks manners, he is not without a kind side; the Beast can care for others but has difficulty in overcoming his own flaws to express empathy. In addition, his temper belies the Beast's naivety with the world and how to display his feelings towards it. He is best described by his animator Glen Keane as "a twenty-one-year-old guy who's insecure, wants to be loved, wants to love, but has this ugly exterior and has to overcome this". His softer nature was hinted at during his first appearance when he appeared to feel genuinely regretful towards Belle after he sent her father away without letting her say goodbye. Though seemingly aloof, the Beast is not completely apathetic, as he was able to also empathize with Belle and her own misery from his past experiences as a fellow outcast.

As a side effect of the curse, he was somewhat primal and had a habit of animalistic behavior, from serious social regressions like growling and roaring when angry to arbitrary, slightly humorous traits like forgetting his table manners or shaking himself when wet to dry off. These traits also likened him to that of an untamed animal towards strangers. According to the film's producer Don Hahn, the Beast's spell is not just physical but psychological as well. The longer the Beast is under the spell, the more feral he becomes (meaning if he stays a beast longer, he becomes more like an animal). If Belle had never arrived at the castle, he would have eventually stopped speaking, walking upright, wearing clothes altogether, and would have gone to live in the woods among the wild animals to fend for himself.

The film's commentary also implied during the wolf attack scene that he was suicidal, or at least did not value his life too strongly, due to the hopelessness of ever breaking the curse. This was further supported in the Marvel Comics where the Beast, after saving Belle and Chip after they were trapped in a very serious snowstorm, thanked Belle for saving his life, as her presence caused him to realize his own life was not "meaningless" after all and in the climax to the film with his refusal to defend himself or even his servants when the castle was attacked by the villagers and Gaston, instead insisting that Mrs. Potts just let them come in to kill him and then taking Gaston's attacks with a depressed look on his face and waiting for the finishing blow, only counter-attacking when he realized that Belle had returned to him.

Once the Beast begins to care for Belle after rescuing her from a pack of wolves, he changes from brutish and temperamental to becoming more agreeable and gentle. He even attempts to become civilized again for Belle's sake, relearning table manners and feeding birds, despite his beastly mannerisms. In turn, Belle's acceptance of him despite his appearance begins to show his more positive side, and he becomes progressively selfless. Learning to care for Belle also reveals a fiercely loyal side to him, as he was willing to give anything and everything to protect Belle and keep her happy, even if it meant sacrificing his own happiness by letting her leave him, even before she can return his love to break the curse.

In contrast to his earlier personality where he was bad-tempered and easily irritated, near the end of the enchantment the Beast has matured significantly. For instance, he is unfazed by Gaston's taunts over his ugliness during their duel on the castle rooftop, much to the chagrin of Gaston who was expecting these insults to goad the Beast into a straight-up fight where Gaston would have the advantage. The Beast instead relied on patience and cunning to gain the element of surprise and upper hand over Gaston.

### Physical appearance

The Beast is not of any one species of animal, but a chimera, a mixture of several animals. He has the head structure and horns of a buffalo, the arms, claws and body of a bear, the eyebrows of a gorilla, the jaws and mane of a lion, the tusks of a wild boar and the legs, teeth, and tail of a wolf. The Beast also bears resemblance to mythical monsters like the Minotaur or a werewolf. His size was described by Maurice to be close to 10 feet (3.05 meters). The fur of the Beast has three distinct variations. The main colour of his body is light brown. His neck mane, front hair line, forehead, elbow hair and ears are sepia. His nose and beard are amber. His brows are pale ivory and his mascara and horns are hickory. He also has blue eyes, the one physical feature that does not change whether he is a beast or a human.

Originally, the Beast is seen shirtless, with ragged, dark gray breeches, and a ragged reddish-colored cape with a golden-colored circular-shaped clasp. Despite the actual color of the Beast's cape being a dark wine red, it is more often referenced to be purple and has often been re-colored purple in subsequent productions like *Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas*, *House of Mouse* and the *Kingdom Hearts* games. The reason for this change in color is unknown, although the most likely reason is that the color purple is often associated with royalty.

After the Beast saves Belle from a pack of wolves, his dress style changes, reflecting a more refined personality, as it becomes more disciplined. On the day he showed Belle the castle's library, the Beast wore a white long-sleeved collared shirt, dark blue pants, and a dark blue cape with a blue clasp. While having lunch with Belle, the Beast wore a green vest with gold trimmings, white cuffs and a light green collar, a white kerchief, and black pants. When feeding the birds outside with Belle, he wore a white dress shirt with black pants and a light blue sash, as well as an indigo cape with magenta underneath and a white scarf. During the film's ballroom dance sequence, the Beast wore what became his most famous form of dress, which consists of a golden vest over a white dress shirt with a white kerchief attached to a golden brooch with a medium blue gem, black dress pants trimmed with gold, and a navy blue ballroom tailcoat trimmed with gold. He also tied the back of his fur similar to a ponytail adorned with a medium blue ribbon while wearing this suit. In the film's climax, the Beast wore another white long-sleeved collared shirt, dark blue pants, and his signature red cape.

The Beast's human form is that of a tall and slender young man named Prince Adam (though not as tall as the height of the Beast). He has fair skin, shoulder-length light auburn hair, while also retaining his bright blue eyes. Other than the immediate aftermath of regaining his human form (wearing the clothes he wore as the Beast at that time, minus the cape), he is only ever seen in a more "human" version of his ballroom attire, including a pair of brown dress boots with light brown folded sleeves and his hair tied in a low ponytail adorned with a blue clip. In *The Enchanted Christmas*, the human form's ballroom outfit has darker brown dress boots with gray folded sleeves.

### Powers and abilities

**Beast form:** Owing to his savage, bestial nature, the Beast has animalistic fighting powers in his beast form:

* **Superhuman Strength:** The Beast possesses tremendous strength, as he is able to pick up and carry full-grown men like Maurice and Gaston and not only lift but also throw large oak wood furniture when enraged, such as banquet tables and Forte's keyboard and allowing him to leap several feet in a single bound in terms of height and distance. He also was able to destroy furniture in a single chop, especially when he was enraged. Similarly, his strength was also such that slamming a door can cause destructive waves to occur several feet away, as evidenced by his reaction after Belle refused to dine with him: After Beast stormed back to the West Wing, he slammed the door to the hallway with enough force to actually cause portions of the ceiling to collapse above Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Mrs. Potts. His forcefulness of opening a door can also cause powerful gusts that can extinguish the flames in a fireplace, as evidenced by his on-screen debut after the prologue when he burst into the room Maurice was in. He was also able to overpower Gaston despite the hunter’s own strength.
* **Superhuman Speed and Agility:** The Beast is able to move faster than ordinary humans. He has been seen running into the woods on two different occasions and arriving just in time to save Belle and is able to climb and evade punches and blows from weapons dealt from Gaston.
* **Superhuman Durability:** He is slightly more durable than normal humans, as seen when he has taken attacks from a pack of wolves, being shot by Gaston's arrow, and been blasted by Forte's magical energy, although feeling great pain and being knocked down from these attacks. However, he was temporarily slain by Gaston’s dagger.
* **Superhuman Healing:** The Beast is able to heal faster from minor to moderate injuries than ordinary humans, such as bites and claw scratches from a pack of wolves within a few days and being able to survive to be in icy cold water and walking back to his castle in cold winter weather within a few hours.
* **Superhuman Senses:** All five of his senses are animal-keen, and enabling him to track down Belle in the woods when she was in danger by scent and listening in on conversations from several feet away from other people. However, even his enhanced senses, or at least sight, smell, and hearing, can be drowned out by a particularly deadly blizzard, as evidenced by his being unable to find Belle in a particularly severe blizzard in one of the Marvel Comics until a bushel of hollies hits him in the head and allowed him to trace her location in time.
* **Claws and Fangs:** The Beast possesses razor-sharp claws and fangs that enable him to rip through thick rugs and curtains as well as smash objects such as oak furniture to splinters when enraged, climb up and down the stone walls of his castle and bite down and hold objects. These, however, also proved to be a weakness, as his razor-sharp claws also resulted in books being shredded whenever he attempted to read them, as evidenced in *New Adventures of Beauty and the Beast*, when he attempted to read some poems, only for the pages to be shredded quickly.
* **Stealth:** The Beast was shown to be adept at stealth, keeping himself hidden without anyone being able to detect him in time. This was especially apparent when he managed to ambush Belle just after she discovered Maurice in the dungeon and confronting her again when she was just about to touch the Enchanted Rose, as well as easily surprising the pack of wolves pursuing Belle. He also managed to sneak up on Gaston by posing as a gargoyle, though the latter managed to detect the attack and strike back.

**Human form:**

* **Skilled Hunter:** In his human form, the Prince also was skilled with firearms and was presumably a hunter, at least according to *New Adventures of Beauty and the Beast*, although his actions during hunting were closer to poaching than true hunting due to specifically targeting a fawn until a crow (implied to be the Enchantress in disguise) interfered with the shot.
* **Learned Reader/Scholar:** When he was a human, at least according to *New Adventures of Beauty and the Beast*, he was shown to be extremely studious and a gifted reader, with his, even once admitting that at one point books meant more to him than anything else in the world. However, when he became a beast, due to the psychological nature of the curse, he largely forgot how to do so, and was left unable to physically handle books due to his claws shredding the books.
* **Skilled Horseman:** As a child, the Prince also is shown to be skilled at horseback riding, frequently using Thunder to ride around. However, he was unkind and cold to his steed, eventually resulting in Thunder escaping.

## Appearances

### *Beauty and the Beast*

> So, you've come to stare at the Beast, have you?
>
> The Beast, as he confronts Maurice

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Many years ago, a prince named Adam was a handsome young man, but also selfish, unkind, and spoiled. He lived in a beautiful luxurious castle deep in a forest in France and had everything he ever wanted. One night, on Christmas Eve, his kindness was put to the test when an old beggar woman came to the castle and pleaded for shelter from the freezing cold and rain, with a single rose as payment. Repulsed by her haggard appearance, he sneered at the simple, but beautiful gift, and turned the woman away. She warns the Prince not to be deceived by appearances, for beauty is found within. When the Prince shuns the beggar woman again, her ugliness melts away, transforming into a beautiful and powerful Enchantress. Seeing her beauty and realizing her power, the Prince tries to apologize, but it is too late, for she had seen in her disguise that there was no love in his heart. As punishment for his cold heart and cruelty, she transforms him into a terrifying beast. She also casts a ghastly spell on the entire castle, transforming it into a dark, foreboding place, its surrounding lush green grounds into dark, misty, wolf-infested woods, and the good-natured servants into anthropomorphic household objects to reflect their different personalities. Ashamed of his new appearance, the Beast conceals himself inside his castle with a magic mirror as his only window to the outside world.

The rose the Enchantress had given him was also enchanted, and it would bloom until his twenty-first year. She had told him that if he could learn to love another and earn her love in return by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken, but if he failed, he would be doomed to remain a beast forever. In his first animated appearance (set some time before his twenty-first year, as evidenced by the rose not having bloomed fully yet), he also scratches a portrait of his human self in anger and shame upon being reminded of his previous appearance before the Enchantress cursed him (seeing his former self as a fool). This anger soon gives way to despair and hopelessness as the years go by, for he becomes convinced that no one could ever love a beast.

 File:Prisoner.jpg
Ten years later, the Beast discovers Maurice inside the castle and accuses him of illegal trespassing (not knowing that Maurice was actually allowed inside by the servants for shelter, despite Cogsworth’s efforts to send him out as he feared that the Master will be furious when he finds a stranger in his castle). Maurice's stare at the Beast only provokes the Beast's fury and he proceeds to "give Maurice a place to stay" by locking Maurice in the tower as a prisoner. Sometime later, Maurice's daughter, Belle, arrives to find him, but soon confronts the Beast herself and pleads with him to let her father go, offering herself as a prisoner instead. The Beast, astonished by Belle's offer, ultimately accepts, under the further condition that she remains in the castle forever, as well as heeding her request to step into the light to reveal himself to her, horrifying Belle once she sees his monstrous form. He then brashly throws Maurice into an enchanted coach to take him back to the village he came from without letting Belle say goodbye to her father first.

The Beast then decided to give Belle an actual room instead of the dungeon cell (both at Lumiere's suggestion and due to feeling some remorse at Belle's sadness from his prior actions). He tells Belle that she is free to go to any part of the castle she likes, with the exception of his chamber, the West Wing, which he strictly warns her against going into. He then "invites" her to dinner, although it was much closer to command than a request. The Beast later waited for Belle to join him for dinner, although because of her residual anger towards the Beast for his earlier actions and grief towards her father being released before she said goodbye, Belle did not join him, citing as an excuse that she wasn't hungry, and refused to come down even when twice (albeit reluctantly) politely making requests to come down to dinner, incensing him enough to have her starve for the evening and later causing him to despair upon overhearing Belle's negative comments about him with the Wardrobe and her implication that she would never fall in love or have anything to do with him. Although he had specifically forbidden her from visiting the West Wing, she does later on out of curiosity. The Beast is furious with Belle not only for disobeying him but also for almost touching the enchanted rose in fear that she would of destroyed it and thus prevented the spell from being broken. Belle tries apologizing, but his rage caused him to destroy much of his chambers while screaming at her to get out.

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Realizing his mistake, the Beast pursues Belle after she flees the castle, arriving just in time to rescue her from a pack of wolves and getting injured in the process (Lumiere and Cogsworth probably tipped him off about where Belle went). After Belle helps him back to the castle, she starts tending his wounds, but the two then enter another brief argument about who is at fault, with Belle effectively winning the argument. As Belle, having conquered the Beast's ferocious temper, continues to tend to his injuries, she thanks him for saving her life, to which the Beast, realizing the deed he has just done while noticing her kindness, starts feeling good inside himself. The Beast, who has never felt considerate before, accepts Belle's gratitude and later finds he wants to do something good for her, but initially can't decide what. At Lumiere's suggestion, he shows Belle the castle's enormous library, which strikes her interest so much that he decides to give it to her as a gift. She then in return helps him behave more civilized. During one evening date, Belle teaches the Beast how to dance in the ballroom; during which, the Beast falls in actual love with her. Placing her happiness before his own, he releases Belle to tend to her sick father (and to make up for his earlier harsh treatment of her father) when Belle discovers Maurice lost in the woods. He then gives her the magic mirror as a present to remember him by. As Belle departs on Philippe, he gives out a mournful roar that echoes through the castle.

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Later, a lynch mob comes to kill the Beast, led by a jealous rival suitor named Gaston (with Belle, albeit unintentionally, instigating the mob by exposing his existence to save Maurice from the paddy wagon). Gaston eventually finds the Beast, and initially, the Beast has no will to fight, still in a state of depression from Belle leaving. Just as Gaston is about to bring the final blow, Belle returns, calling for Gaston to stop. Upon hearing Belle's voice and seeing her, the Beast suddenly stands and fights back with a renewed vigor in the knowledge that Belle truly does care about him. As the fight continues, Gaston brags about his superficial beliefs that he is Belle's true love, and the Beast is nothing more than a monster whom Belle will never love. Finally fed up with Gaston's taunts and arrogance, the Beast overpowers him and holds him by the throat over the edge of the castle moat. Gaston finally drops his pride and pathetically begs for mercy, which the Beast initially ignores. But upon realizing that he is turning into everything that represents Gaston himself (not to mention that Belle would never allow him to take the latter's life, despite her animosity towards the hunter), the Beast instead spares his life and angrily yet calmly tells him "get out."

Just then, Belle arrives at the castle's balcony and calls out to the Beast, who turns and climbs his way up toward her. Reuniting with Belle, he happily embraces her but is then stabbed in the hip by Gaston. This sudden twinge of excruciating pain causing him to rear backward to try and endure it. Belle manages to grab hold of the Beast and pull him onto the balcony while Gaston, knocked off balance by the Beast, falls off the castle to his death. After helping the Beast onto the balcony surface, Belle turns his face towards her. The Beast smiles at seeing Belle, who tries to reassure him that everything's going to be fine, but he knows all too well that his time is coming, telling her how grateful he is to have a chance at seeing her one last time before succumbing to his wounds. Upon losing him, Belle begs him not to leave her. She breaks down into tears and admits her love for him, mere seconds before the last petal falls from the enchanted rose.

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As Belle continues sobbing over the loss of her love, shimmering beams of light fall onto the Beast, whose body then begins to float in the air and becomes enshrouded in his own cape and surrounding fog as he begins to transform: his fore-paws, hind-paws, and furry head respectively turn back into the hands, feet, and head of Prince Adam, and he is returned to his human form. He then gets up, looks at himself, and turns to Belle, who initially looks at him skeptically before recognizing him by his blue eyes. Adam and Belle share their first kiss that further breaks the additional spell the Enchantress had placed on the castle and its inhabitants: the castle is restored to its original, shining state and all the his servants are transformed back into humans, including Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, Lumiere, and Chip. The film ends with Belle and the Prince dancing in the ballroom, surrounded by his servants and her father watching them happily. A stained glass window of him and Belle is also depicted on the castle.

In the Special Edition, his role is unchanged, except for a small scene that was added where we see the Beast's struggle to read, a trait he knew as a human but was taken away after his transformation. This is during the song only included for the Special Edition DVD, "Human Again". In addition, in the Special Edition version of the film, as soon as the Beast gives out a mournful roar that echoes through the castle, glass-smashing and furniture-knocking sound effects are heard as the camera pans upward to the West Wing balcony, implying that the Beast, in a fit of despair, destroyed and messed-up the West Wing off-screen, in order to better connect the "Human Again" musical number with the climax from the main film where the West Wing was still in disrepair.

### *Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas*

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In the midquel, which takes place not long after the Beast rescued Belle from the wolves, much to the Beast's frustration, Belle wants to celebrate Christmas and throw a real Christmas party. The Beast hates the idea of Christmas, for it was the very day when the Enchantress cast the spell on him and the entire castle ten years ago; he also was ungrateful for his gift that day, a storybook. For this reason, the Beast has forbidden Christmas, just to keep history from repeating itself. While the Beast sits most of the preparations out, a treacherous servant plot to have Belle thrown out of the castle: Forte the Pipe Organ since he is far more appreciated by the Beast while under the spell.

Unknown to the Beast, Belle writes him a special book which he doesn't see until later on. She also meets Forte later on in a chance meeting. Forte tells her that the Beast's favorite Christmas tradition when he was a child was the Christmas tree. Belle becomes frustrated, for no tree she has seen on the grounds has been tall enough to hang ornaments. He then lies to Belle, saying that a perfect tree can be found in the woods beyond the castle. Reluctant to go against the Beast's orders that she never leaves the castle, Belle leaves nonetheless in order to find the perfect tree. When Belle does not arrive to see the Beast's Christmas present to her, he begins to suspect that she is not there at all. When Mrs. Potts explains that the household cannot find her, the Beast becomes enraged. He goes to Forte to ask for advice, and Forte lies to him that Belle has abandoned him. The Beast finds Belle in the woods and saves her in time from drowning since she fell through thin ice.

Still believing that Belle disobeyed him by leaving the grounds, the Beast ruthlessly throws her into the dungeon. But when Forte goads him into destroying the rose to end his suffering, the Beast finds Belle's book in the West Wing and reads it. He finally came to his senses and sees that all Belle and the servants wanted was for him to be happy and to put the past behind him. Realizing that Forte is a traitor and that everything he said about Belle wasn't true, the Beast releases Belle from the dungeon and apologizes to her, asking her to forgive him. But Belle warmly wished him a merry Christmas and allows him to join in the Christmas festivities. But Forte does not give up and even goes as far as to attempt to destroy the entire castle with *Beethoven's 5th*. Fortunately, the Beast finds him in time and attempts to confront the traitorous pipe organ. With Fife's advice, he destroys Forte's keyboard with Franz Schubert's *Symphony No 8*. Losing his balance (and his pipes), Forte falls from the wall he is leaned up against and is silenced forever. Despite his intentions, the Beast mourns Forte's death with Belle comforting him. When he and the other servants are returned to normal, the Prince and Belle give Chip a book to read, which he loves. As the Prince and Belle come out to the balcony, he gives her something too: a rose.

### *Belle's Magical World*

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In the final entry of the franchise, made up of four segments from a presumably failed television series, Belle teaches the Beast a thing or two about life itself, consideration and manners. He appears only in the first and fourth segments, but makes a cameo in the third. Only this time, he is shown to be *very* different from he was later in the chronological story: he is more foolish, immature, a slacker, and still a brat, according to Belle, and is far more arrogant, foul-tempered, selfish and abusive than he was in other appearances, and therefore somewhat serves as the main antagonist of this film.

In the first part, *The Perfect Word*, the Beast, and Belle have a bitter falling out at dinner when the Beast demands that Cogsworth opens the windows to cool him down, despite the fact that he is the only one hot and there is a cold wind and states that the castle belongs to him, and only he makes the rules. Eventually, he angrily strikes his servant, Webster, a long-tongued dictionary for giving to synonyms to Belle's ensuing insults. Despite Lumiere and Cogsworth's please, the Beast refuses to apologize for his behavior, until Webster, Crane, and LePlume forge a letter of apology from the Beast to Belle. All is settled until the Beast realizes that it was a forgery. He furiously banishes Webster, Crane, and LePlume from the castle. Belle tries to object, but the Beast orders her to be silent, and tosses the servants out the window, and declares that anyone who gives them comfort would be sorry, but Belle brings them back from the woods, and the Beast soon learns to forgive them, as their intentions were good.

In the fourth (and final) part, *The Broken Wing*, the Beast loses his temper with Belle again when she brings an injured bird into the castle, as he dislikes birds. As he tries to chase the bird out, however, he falls over on the stairs and hits his head hard, knocking him unconscious and later stripping him of his hatred for birds. However, his selfishness still remains, and he locks the bird in a cage in his room, demanding that it sings for him whenever he demands it. The bird, terrified, refuses until Belle teaches the Beast that the bird will only sing when he's happy. The Beast lets the bird out and learns to consider others before himself.

Earlier on, in the third segment, *Mrs. Potts' Party*, the Beast makes several cameos sleeping in his bed in the West Wing. The dialogue between Lumiere and Cogsworth shows that he had spent the entire previous night mending leaks in the castle roof, and is still resting. An argument between Lumiere and Cogsworth about Mrs. Potts' favorite flowers lead to them having to hide several bunches of flowers around the Beast's bed. At one point, the Beast begins to smell one of the flowers and almost wakes up, but it is removed just in time, and he falls asleep again.

### *House of Mouse*

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The Beast made recurring cameo appearances in the animated series *House of Mouse*, again voiced by Robby Benson. One of the Beast's most notable appearances is where The Angry Villagers perform the song "Let's Slay the Beast". After the performance ended, the Beast (hiding under a table) asks Belle if it is over.

In "Not So Goofy", the Beast was seen struggling to scratch his back until Goofy arrived and scratched it for him.

In "Ask Von Drake" he appeared in "The Ludwig Von Drake Song" where he's in the headcount of all Disney characters in the club.

In "The Stolen Cartoons", the Beast turning from his human to beast form was used as a visual reference when Daisy noticed the crowd getting ugly.

Unusually in the episode "Max's Embarrassing Date", the Beast was seen having affairs with Cruella De Vil.

In the episode "Goofy for a Day" the Penguin Waiters fancily prepare the Beast for fine dining during the song "Soup or Salad, Fries or Biscuits, Extra Olives, Donuts".

In "Rent Day", the Beast was seen when he offers Mickey the Enchanted Rose to give to Aladdin for Jasmine if Mickey manages to find a book for Belle, and is seen again when he sees Goofy and says Goofy's not what he ordered.

In "Pluto Saves the Day", the Beast was seen with the kittens playing around him with Lumiere shown along.

The Beast was also a secondary guest character in the film *Mickey's Magical Christmas* as well as *Mickey's House of Villains*, where Donald Duck tries to scare him, only to be scared away himself when the Beast responds with an annoyed roar.

### Other appearances

In 1992, Beast made an animated/live-action appearance alongside Belle and Chip at the 64th Academy Awards ceremony, where they awarded Daniel Greaves the Oscar for Short Film (Animated) for *Manipulation*.

 File:Aladdin-disneyscreencaps.com-5513.jpg
The Beast makes a cameo appearance in *Aladdin* as one of the Sultan's toys. It also made a cameo in the Jafar's Palace level of the video game. Also in the television series spin-off episode, Genie transformed into the Beast and even zapped Iago into a Belle costume.

The Beast and Belle were featured in one of the "Inter-Stitch-al" parody trailers for *Lilo & Stitch*. Here, the Beast and Belle are having their famous ballroom dance until Stitch appears above on the chandelier, unintentionally causing it to fall to the ground. Though the Beast manages to save Belle, he is left looking confused as an enraged Belle storm off to her room after Stitch ruined their dance.

The Beast made a cameo appearance at the end of *The Lion King 1½* in the form of a silhouette alongside Belle, Mrs. Potts, Chip, and other Disney characters.

The Beast is mentioned by Belle while singing to Sofia in the *Sofia the First* episode "The Amulet and the Anthem" and is shown in a clip from the song "Human Again".

The Beast makes a cameo appearance along with Belle in the *Mickey Mouse* episode "The Adorable Couple", where Donald Duck accidentally bumps into them while dancing, angering the Beast and prompting him to beat up the duck.

Later he would appear again in the episode "Keep on Rolling", where this time he attacks with a roar towards Mickey and his friends forcing them to flee.

An emoticon version of the Beast (as well as the Prince) also appears in the *Beauty and the Beast* entry of the *As Told by Emoji* short series.

In *Ralph Breaks the Internet*, Belle's tank top features stylized black silhouette artwork of the Beast's head that reads "BFF" (meaning "Beast Friends Forever").

In the series finale of *At Home With Olaf*, a short clip of *Beauty and the Beast* featuring the Beast and Belle appears during a montage of heartwarming moments from Disney films playing in Olaf's song "I Am with You".

## Live-action appearances

### *Disney's Sing-Along Songs: The Twelve Days of Christmas*

Belle and the Beast make a brief appearance in the Christmas themed video Disney Sing Along Songs: The Twelve Days of Christmas, specifically during the final song "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". They can be seen dancing with each other amongst other Disney characters and Christmas carolers.

### *Once Upon a Time*

Main article: Rumplestiltskin
 File:Once Upon a Time - 1x12 - Skin Deep - Belle & Rumplestiltkin.jpg
The role of the Beast in *Once Upon a Time*, rather than being a prince who is cursed, is actually Rumplestiltskin (Robert Carlyle). He had gained Belle (Emilie de Ravin) in a trade for saving her kingdom from an army of Ogres who were invading. Originally having intended her to be his servant while living in his castle, the two form a bond similar to that of the original fairy tale. Their bond would only grow stronger when Belle would speak with the man about the son whom he lost. However, unlike the original fairy tale and animated Disney classic, the two do not end up together due to an argument, but despite going their separate ways he still holds strong feelings for her, keeping a special chipped tea cup as a reminder of her.

### *Descendants*

 File:Beast in Descendants.jpg
The Beast appears in the Disney Channel original film. Here, he and Belle are the rulers of Auradon, a modern-day kingdom inhabited by various Disney characters, and the parents of a young prince named Ben. He is played by Dan Payne.

At the beginning of the story, his son decides to allow the children of some of the worst villains (namely Maleficent, the Evil Queen, Jafar, and Cruella De Vil) to be transferred from the Isle of the Lost to Auradon. King Beast is initially furious with the idea, but Ben convinces him that the sins of the parents should not be passed on to their children as well. He is dismayed when Ben introduces Mal, the daughter of Maleficent, as his new girlfriend to his parents, and even more so when a fight erupts that results in Chad Charming being put under a temporary sleeping spell.

On Ben's Coronation Day, the Beast passes his crown to his son and thereon his throne. He witnesses the return of Maleficent and also Mal and her friends' heroic deed by defeating her, resulting in them all on Auradon's good graces.

Beast is shown to be very sarcastic, to the point of playfully insulting his wife that he only married her because his only other option was a teapot.

### *Beauty and the Beast* (2017)

 File:Beast by his Rose Evermore.jpg
The Beast appears in the 2017 live-action remake, played by Dan Stevens. In this version, Beast is wittier and has a very dry, English sense of humor. While he retains some of his animated counterpart's traits like selfishness, being unkind, and having a spoiled nature, the prince was turned into a beast by the Enchantress for his arrogance, as well as making an explicit reference to his old fixation on beauty above all else. Additionally, unlike the original 1991 animated version where his cruel nature is not explained, a backstory in the live-action version reveals the Prince/Beast's terrible past; the Prince/Beast was raised as a good person by his kind-hearted mother who died when he was a child, leaving his crueler father to raise him alone, which resulted in his cruel behavior. However, he still hints at a strong interest in literature when he shows Belle his library, and is later found reading the book *King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table*. The film also features an original song for the Beast, "Evermore", sung after Belle departs to save her father, where he mourns his belief that he will never find love while aware that Belle's memory will be with him forever. His appearance here, as opposed to combining features of various animals, is instead more explicitly an anthropomorphic lion, but with a pair of large, ram-like horns.

Introduced as a Prince who was selfish and unkind, the Prince rejected an appeal for shelter from an elderly woman, which led to her transforming into a beautiful Enchantress. The Prince tried to apologize but it was too late and as punishment for his cruelty and selfishness, the Prince is transformed into a hideous Beast as the spell is cast all around the castle. In order to break the curse, the Prince must come to love another and earn her love in return before the last petal falls from the enchanted rose, or he will remain a hideous Beast forever and his staff will become simple objects.

As Maurice explores the castle grounds around him, the Beast approaches him as he takes a rose whom he is taking for his daughter Belle, dismissing Maurice as a common thief. Approaching the Beast, Belle spends a minute alone with the Beast requesting him to see her father just as Belle notices the Beast taking her father away much to her worry.

The Beast then approaches the dining room where he tells Lumiere and Cogsworth, who are both preparing dinner for Belle, much to the Beast's temper, explaining to Belle that joining him for dinner is not a request. The Enchanted objects told him to be gentle and he later discusses with Belle about joining her for dinner to which she refuses as she remembers he locked her into the tower just as the Beast angrily storms off. The Beast goes to a room where the Enchanted Rose is at, grabbing the Enchanted Mirror to show him Belle to which the mirror shows Belle in her room just as another petal falls.

Later, Belle then tries to ask the Beast, but he angrily scares her away, causing Belle to leave the castle in terror. Belle then rides on Philippe to escape while being chased by a pack of wolves, just as the Beast comes to the rescue, but is injured in process. Later, the Beast is taken to the castle where he is told to control his temper just as Belle puts him to sleep.

Later after singing the musical number "Days in the Sun", Lumiere explains to Belle that if the last petal falls, the Prince will remain a Beast forever and all the castle residents become inanimate objects, but Mrs. Potts stops Cogsworth revealing how the curse might be broken. The Beast is fully healed the next day. With the Beast healed, he takes Belle to the library as she looks at the library around her in excitement. Later, Belle and the Beast walk outside together just as the couple looks at the frozen lake around them. Belle then teaches the Beast how to be gentle to Philippe and later sings the musical number "Something There" just as she and the Beast start a relationship with them. Later, Belle thanks the Beast for saving from the wolves just as Belle talks to him about the villagers thinking Belle is funny. Back at the library, the Beast shows Belle a book from the Enchantress related to the curse she casted on her. Belle later takes the Beast into Paris where she sings to him that the childhood at Paris is gone just as she remembers her tragic flashback about her mother who died from plague, prompting the Beast to apologize for calling her father a thief.

Back at the Beast's Castle, the Beast wears a formal suit while Belle wears a ball gown just as she and the Beast dance together during the musical number "Beauty and the Beast" as Mrs. Potts sings in front of the dancing couple.

As the couple arrives at the balcony, Belle tells the Beast that her father taught her how to dance. Showing empathy to Belle, the Beast gives her the Enchanted Mirror to Belle to help find her father. Upon seeing Maurice being attacked by an angry mob, Belle is tasked to go find her father and rescue her. As Belle leaves the castle to find her father, Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, and Plumette are worried about Belle planning to find her father. They recognise that the Beast letting Belle go like this proves that he loves her, but the curse has not been broken as she apparently doesn't love him in turn, the servants sadly leaving as the Beast sings the musical number "Evermore" about how Belle's influence will remain with him forever.

Later, Belle talks to Gaston and shows him the Enchanted Mirror with an image of the Beast on it. Upon seeing this, Gaston tells the villagers that the Beast will kill everyone as a hideous creature, locking Belle in a carriage so that she cannot warn the Beast as Gaston leads a mob to kill him. During the battle against Gaston, the Beast is injured by Gaston who fires a pistol on him just as Belle tries to protect him, Belle's appearance affirming that she didn't betray him to Gaston on purpose. Later as the Beast sees Belle and the Beast reunites with her, Gaston attacks again, injuring the Beast severely just as Gaston falls to his death. Belle then cries over the Beast's motionless body just as the last petal falls.

As the last petal falls, the Enchantress arrives to the spot where Belle cries over the Beast's dead body. Hearing Belle affirm that she loves the Beast, the Enchantress uses her magic to restore the Enchanted Rose as the Beast is transformed back into his normal form, the Prince. With the spell broken and the castle fixed, the Prince and Belle start a relationship again and dance in the ballroom with the other residents of the castle.

## Printed material

### *The New Adventures of Beauty and the Beast*

This two-part comic series released by Disney Comics took place a few years prior to the first film. He appears in two of the three-story arcs of the first issue. In the first arc, "Bewitched", he is roaring in an apparent tantrum, scaring the other staff members. Eventually, they arrive at his quarters, and the Beast merely asks them where his Music Box was, with Mrs. Potts telling him that it was likely in the library, with it being revealed that his tantrum from earlier was due to being unable to nap from not finding the music box. The story proper also covered the Beast's backstory, which Mrs. Potts relayed to Chip. Specifically: He was shown as a child to be very bratty, and got irritated when an apparent old crone stopped traffic, resulting in his hitting her and Lumiere and Cogsworth scolding him before attempting to apologize by the then-long disappeared woman (who had secretly turned into a crow and flew off). The prince later noted that she was most likely a witch (it would later turn out he was right in more ways than one). It later showed the time he was on a hunting trip and was about to target a fawn, despite Lumiere's suggestions against it, although a crow (strongly implied to be the Enchantress in disguise) managed to interfere with the shot. They then covered some positives to the prince, namely, he was kind to Chip as a toddler, and he was a gifted learner and scholar. In the third arc, Bewildered, the Beast had learned to be educated in an attempt to become nicer at the behest of his servants, which included trying to read poetry (despite the Beast insisting that the curse robbed him of his ability to read any books, let alone poetry). Fifi (identified as Marie in this comic) and Lumiere also attempted to give dating advice to the Beast, although it didn't work due to his accidentally shredding the pages, resulting in Beast accidentally destroying his cherished toy, the music box, during one of his rages.

In the second issue, he appeared in both story arcs. In "Elsewhere", he appeared very briefly in the end when panning away from Maurice and Belle returning to their village. In "Elsewhen", starting where Elsewhere left off, the Beast, having clearly given up hope of ever becoming human again (with it is implied that the rose had just started to wilt), decided to try living in the wild, although this resulted in his falling off a cliff and being knocked out, with Chip and Sultan discovering the Beast's unconscious body during a thunderstorm due to his absence. He was ultimately saved by the servants after Chip had Sultan warn them of the Beast's current status, eventually lashing out against his servants, although he managed to save Chip from being destroyed when he revealed he was the one who saved the Beast's life, also sleeping with Chip on his hand. In both stories, there was foreshadowing of the events of the film.

### *Beauty and the Beast* (Marvel Comics)

This 13-issue series of comics, similar to the midquels, took place sometime between Belle's imprisonment at his castle (presumably right after Beast gave Belle the library) and the curse being lifted in the original film.

 File:Beast Belle Marvel Cover 1.jpg
In the first issue, he had a dream where Belle restored him to his original form but ended up enraged upon seeing he is still a monster upon waking up, resulting in him causing an uproar that was scaring the other servants (who already were having a hard time preparing for the wardrobe's surprise birthday party). After being confronted by Belle regarding the Beast's recent behavior, he admitted his rage was due to the nightmare he experienced upon waking up. He then agreed to hold the surprise party, albeit reluctantly.

In the second issue, he ended up becoming impatient due to the wardrobe taking too long. He eventually chowed down on a meal (albeit in an animalistic fashion), and eventually nearly canceled the party due to the wardrobe not arriving. However, they eventually managed to get the party underway after Belle agreed to try out one of her dresses to make her feel better (as she was upset that she, a former opera star, was forced by the spell into becoming a wardrobe and thus be less than useful). The Beast ended up participating in the resulting festivities but left due to the feeling that Belle will never love him, largely because of his appearance.

In the third issue, the Beast, as a suggestion by some of the servants, decided to accompany Belle on a walk on the castle grounds. Because of the Beast's skulking around, however, this resulted in disaster due to them arguing. After making up, they then continued with their walk. The fourth issue continued with this, where Lumiere ended up overestimating it with this action and sent letters to the Beast and Belle for the Grand Harvest Festival. However, the Beast, because he no longer knew how to read thanks to the curse, burned the letter, which resulted in another near-disaster. Belle eventually confronted him on this (having overheard Lumiere and Cogsworth's argument about the former's botching of the event due to Chip opening the window for Belle to hear while she was reading). The Beast eventually decided to admit on the advice of his staff to Belle that he could not read the letter, with her promising to teach him.

In the fifth issue, the Beast, true to his word, attempted to learn how to read, but he ended up getting frustrated at his lack of progress, causing Belle to think she may have misjudged him. The Beast realized he may have messed up, and believed her to have been the object of many men's desires at her village and thus further fueling his self-loathing and doubts. Lumiere then offered to have the Beast compose a poem. However, the Beast got the wrong idea and had him finish it under his name after giving a few inputs to the letter. Belle eventually saw through this and attempted to have him learn to read and write by himself in the next issue.

In the seventh issue, the Beast witnessed Belle and Chip playing in the snow, wishing he could be out there with them. In the eighth issue, after demanding to know the commotion behind the servant's panic, learned that Belle and Chip got lost in the blizzard. He then consulted his magic mirror to locate Belle near the snowman that Belle and Chip had created earlier and immediately rushed out to find them. Unfortunately, the blizzard was becoming extremely thick that he couldn't find them. He eventually managed to find them when Belle's bouquet of Holly bushels was blown towards him. After locating them both, he managed to get them back into the castle and tended to her side. He then thanked her for saving his life, as because of her, he began realizing his own life was not "meaningless" after all. In the ninth issue, the Beast felt a lot of guilt for Belle and Chip nearly being killed in the snowstorm. He also had breakfast served to Belle in bed, although her recovery and meeting the Beast downstairs made this unnecessary. Eventually, after Lumiere and Cogsworth arranged for Belle to have a portrait done for her, the Beast managed to find it after they unveiled it. Although impressed, he initially guessed that she was sad before correcting himself and saying she was pensive (although Chip's later comment about the painting implies that "sad" was, in fact, the true emotion Belle was expressing in the painting).

The tenth issue takes place the day afterward, with the Beast briefly roaring. Beast almost shuts Cogsworth and Lumiere out, although because Lumiere persisted, he explained his problem: Despite his second analysis, he realized Belle was indeed sad in the painting and was caught in a conflict of how to make her happy. He then at Lumiere's suggestion decided to go outside to converse with Belle, which he did after a delay where Belle accidentally hit the Beast in the snout with a snowball. However, upon hearing Belle express a desire to find hollies, he left to try to locate holly bushes in the forest and managed to decorate the castle with them. The Beast then, after dinner, showed Belle the bushels inside the castle.

In the eleventh issue, set some time afterward the Beast and Belle were reading in the library again. When Belle felt chilly, the Beast removed his cloak in an attempt to keep her warm, although Belle moved out of the way when she discovered the cause was from the window being ajar. When Belle was devastated that her favorite book was ruined, the Beast attempted to cheer her up by stating that there were thousands of other books, also unintentionally and obliviously hurting her feelings when telling her it was a "silly book." The Beast eventually realized his error when Belle did not come down for dinner, and his servants told him about her being hurt by his earlier comment. He also decided (from Chip's suggestion) to have the book fixed.

In the twelfth issue, taking place where the eleventh issue left off, as a result of guilt from his earlier insensitivity towards the ruining of Belle's favorite book due to a storm, the Beast attempted to have the book rebound immediately, as well as trying to rehearse, to his own discomfort, how to deliver the book. Taking Mrs. Potts' advice regarding being himself once the book was rebounded, he then attempted to surprise Belle with the book, but he ended up dissuaded after the Wardrobe gave an opera performance before he could even give the book to her, feeling the majestic performance outclassed his attempt at fixing the book. However, when Belle came to see him and he explained what happened, he then gave her the book.

In the final issue, the Beast reflected on how things might have turned out differently had he let the old woman in. He eventually snapped when the footstool dog escaped and attempted to enter the West Wing due to disturbing him, causing even Mrs. Potts to have doubts about whether the Beast can ever break the curse. He eventually came down to dinner and had a meal with Belle. However, the planned dessert ended up ruined by the footstool dog who kept jumping out and back in. Despite this, he was touched that Belle made the dessert and wasn't upset about it being ruined. They then shared a moment near the fire. In addition, a flashback was shown giving hints to the Beast's childhood prior to the curse. His parents spoiled him immensely, and they even threw an extravagant party, yet he ended up bored by it. In addition, he formerly had an Arabian horse named "Thunder", whom he frequently rode yet never gave him any love and compassion. When about to ride him one instance, the horse fled, with the prince ordering everyone to retrieve it. Deep down, he missed the horse and presumably felt remorse for his treatment of it. Thunder eventually was adopted by an enchantress who gave it love.

Aside from the main serial, Issue 5 of *Disney Comic Hits* had the Beast eventually supplying Belle with a carriage as a present during the winter as a suggestion from Chip, after he had initially had an angry outburst to Belle.

### *Disney Adventures* comics

Some issues of *Disney Adventures* Magazine included comic stories for the film, either reprint of the Marvel series or entirely new stories to tie into new releases of the film.

Although he doesn't appear in the story "Time Flies!", he is mentioned by Cogsworth, as he panicked at the possibility of the Beast entering a rage due to the preparations for dinner apparently being late (unaware that it was actually only a few hours away and it was at the wrong time due to Lumiere stealing his winder as a prank).

The Beast has a direct appearance in the story "Sittin' Pretty!". In it, Beast is going through one of his rages again, particularly how he can get Belle to love him due to his hideous appearance. Lumiere then gets the idea of giving the Beast a spa makeover, with Cogsworth, Chip, and Fifi chiming in. Eventually, Belle comes in and notices that Beast looks ridiculous, as well as adorable, catching Beast off-guard.

In one story, the Beast ended up becoming bitter even more than usual, although he later worked with Belle and the others to save Chip after he got lost in the forest during a blizzard. The story also implied that, prior to Belle, there was a blonde woman he was betrothed to, but she had disappeared, eventually resulting in his bitterness.

### *Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Royal Wedding*

In the short story following the events of the film, Belle and the Prince prepare for their upcoming nuptials. Belle is fitted for her wedding dress while the Prince returns to Belle's village to get her the perfect gift for the wedding. After searching around, the Prince finds a flower shop and requests for roses, as they were Belle's favorite.

Eventually, the wedding day arrives for the young couple. During the ceremony, the Prince proceeded to give Belle a book as his gift, so they could "write their adventures together." Belle then reveals her surprise: she invited all the villagers to the wedding. Because the Prince spent most of his life unloved, Belle wanted to show the Prince how loved he is by the kingdom. The Prince loves the gift, and the two embrace as the festivities commence.

### *The Beast Within: A Tale of Beauty's Prince*

The Beast appears in the novel as the main character, written by Serena Valentino. On that note, he's the only major character thus far in Serena Valentino to not be a Disney Villain beforehand (not counting the Odd Sisters). Detailing the Beast's past when he was a prince, it is explained that he used to be good friends with Gaston and was beloved by the court and villagers. However, when he discovered that a woman named Circe (whom he was betrothed to) was, in reality, a farmer, he was quick to reject her despite being at first smitten by her looks. When she returns disguised as a beggar woman, the Prince showed no mercy towards her wish to forgive him, and so she and her three sisters cursed him with the spell that would turn him into a monster. Soon, the Prince's fear gets the better of him, and he decides to marry a princess named Tulip in hopes of loving her. Unfortunately, as the castle begins to endure more phenomena, he becomes infuriated and throws Tulip out when he believes she has deceived him into thinking she loved him. Eventually, his transformation finishes, and with it the dissipation of memories of his past life as he slowly descends into an animalistic mindset. When he does meet Belle, however, he comes to love her. The sisters attempt to prevent the Beast from breaking the spell by manipulating the arrival of Gaston and the mob, and nearly the Beast's death. However, Circe brings the Beast to life and restores him to human form, allowing the Prince to live happily with Belle.

### *As Old as Time (A Twisted Tale)*

In this new interpretation of the tale, further information is provided on the Beast's past, as well as events changing after Belle accidentally makes contact with the rose before the Beast can drive her away. With the curse disrupted, Belle realizes that the Enchantress that cursed the Beast was her own mother, and her subsequent efforts to help the Beast research what drove her mother to cast the curse include such discoveries as the dead body of his former favorite servant, Alaric Potts, the former stable-master and Mrs. Potts' husband. When Belle is captured by Monsieur D'Arque as part of his own campaign against magic, the Beast is forced to appeal to Gaston and the villagers for help, nearly regressing to a feral level himself as the curse reaches a point where the servants are reduced to mere objects. However, after D'Arque is killed by Gaston, Belle is able to rescue her mother, while her presence and affection help the Beast regain his human mind, but the Enchantress is so weakened by D'Arque's attempts to 'cure' her of magic that she is only able to either restore the Beast to humanity or restore his servants. With this in mind, the Beast requests that she restore his servants, allowing himself to remain in his current state, but deciding to gather other magic-users into his restored kingdom while working on a solution to his own transformation.

## Video games

### *Roar of the Beast*

In this game, the Beast must travel through different levels (based on locations from the film) to rescue Belle from the villainous Gaston, and prevent the villagers from attacking his castle.

### *Beauty and the Beast: A Board Game Adventure*

The game was basically the plot of the original film adapted into a video board game, although it was mostly based on the ending of the film. In addition, Beast also makes a brief appearance in the commercial for the game, where he pops up from behind the Game Boy Color and yells at Lumiere and Mrs. Potts to shut up after the latter two entered an argument due to Lumiere causing things to set on fire due to his wild movements while presenting the game. Robby Benson reprised the role in this brief appearance.

### *Kingdom Hearts* series

File:Beast KH.png
The Beast is a recurring character in the *Kingdom Hearts* series. He plays a major role in *Kingdom Hearts* and *Kingdom Hearts II* as an ally to Sora and his friends.

His story prior to *Kingdom Hearts* is basically the same as in the movie. During the time he and Belle were getting to know each other, Belle was captured by the Heartless, and the Beast's world, along with all of his servants, was swallowed by the darkness. In a rare occurrence of most Disney characters in the game, Beast appeared outside of his homeworld due to its demise, but was able to escape to Hollow Bastion because of his love for Belle, allowing him to pursue her kidnappers there through sheer willpower. However, he is confronted by Riku when he learns that Belle is within the castle Maleficent has made her home base, and is harmed by the boy when he demands her return to him and tries to fight past Riku to gain entrance to the castle when Riku calls his bluff and taunts him. The Beast then finds an ally in Sora and aids him and his friends with fighting the Heartless and Maleficent. When the Princesses of Heart, including Belle, finally awaken, the Beast happily reunites with her. After Sora's victory over the darkness, Beast and Belle are able to return to their restored home.

The Beast appears in a minor role in *Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories* as an illusion of the real Beast, crafted from Sora's memories of him. Like before, he tries to rescue Belle but is cruelly rejected by her (although she was only pretending in order to fool Maleficent). Despite this, the Beast states his own feelings for her, which moves Belle to sacrifice her own heart to save his when Maleficent tries to steal it. Maleficent's defeat restores Belle's heart, and the two reconcile.

In *358/2 Days*, the Beast makes an appearance back in his homeworld but is met with constant attacks from the Heartless, forcing him to keep fighting them which places stress between him and Belle. He finally stops when he realizes that his servants and Belle are safe. However, the Beast is contacted by Xaldin of Organization XIII soon after, who begins to turn the Beast against Belle in a plot to turn him into a Heartless with his Nobody as a weapon for the Organization.

Continuing into *Kingdom Hearts II*, Xaldin had nearly completed his plan, while the Beast had grown aggressive towards both his staff and Belle. The return of Sora, Donald Duck and Goofy manage to bring the Beast back to his senses and decides to help his friends confront Xaldin after learning that the Organization member was using him for their own intentions. After Xaldin escapes, the Beast tries to fix things with Belle, leading to where they attempt to have a dance in the castle ballroom before it is interrupted by Xaldin. Things take a turn for the worse when Xaldin steals the enchanted rose, sending the Beast into despair. The Beast tells Sora and the others to leave the castle, believing he will never be able to break the curse, but Sora convinces him to fight back, giving Beast the courage to reclaim the rose from Xaldin. However, Belle is kidnapped by Xaldin with the rose, with Xaldin forcing the Beast to choose between her and the rose. Although the Beast chooses Belle, Belle takes action and escapes from Xaldin, taking the rose with her. The group is able to defeat Xaldin, where afterward Beast asks Belle to stay with him, which she accepts, much to the Beast's joy. At the end of the game, the Beast appears to have turned back into a human, indicating that the curse was broken.

### *Kinect: Disneyland Adventures*

The Beast appears as a meet-and-greet character near the Matterhorn in Fantasyland. One of the tasks that the Beast gives to the player, give or take having finished Belle's tasks first, is to find lost pages for one of Belle's books. Right after, the Beast asks the player to find red crystals so he can create a crystal rose and place it on the cover of Belle's book as a gift. Once the book is prepared, the Beast becomes nervous pondering on the possibility of her not liking her gift, so he asks the player to take it to her instead.

### *Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion*

The Beast is among the "still popular" Toons that gets captured and pulled into Wasteland by Mizrabel. He is the first toon Mickey manages to rescue.

## Musical

 File:TerrenceMann Beast.jpg
In the stage adaptation of the film, the Beast's role in the story, in addition to his character development, is expanded considerably. The role was originated by Terrence Mann, while the final performances of the Beast were portrayed by Steve Blanchard. The stage version, at the start, portrays the Beast as more physically abusive and mentally unsettled.

Unlike the film, where the singing performance of Beast was only utilized during "Something There", several new songs were written for the Beast, including "How Long Must This Go On?", where the Beast reflects his mistake in turning away the Enchantress and his longing for forgiveness. In "If I Can't Love Her", the Beast contemplates his decaying humanity and the hardships of the curse that befell the castle. This was driven out of physically harming Belle prior, though he admitted harm was not his intention, revealing the curse has begun overtaking his physical actions. He is also given a reprise of this song, shortly after releasing Belle from the castle.

Like the film, Beast and Belle are shown to bond through books, though the stage version elaborates on this further. After being read a book aloud, Beast discovers the power of literature, and how it can take him to a world of fantasy, and be used as an escape from the pressures and despair of his cursed life—something to which Belle openly relates.

## Disney Parks

 File:Beast character central .jpg
The Beast appears in the Disney Parks as a meetable character in both his beast and human forms. Also, his likeness is commonly featured throughout the theme parks as well, specifically in the Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland, which, notably, features his castle.

### Disneyland Resort

In California, the Beast can be seen throughout the original version of *World of Color*.

For meet-and-greets, he can sometimes be found at the Disneyland Hotel.

### Walt Disney World

The Beast can be seen alongside Belle during the *Festival of Fantasy Parade* at the Magic Kingdom.

In Disney's Hollywood Studios, he can be spotted during *Fantasmic!*, and stars in the *Beauty and the Beast* live stage show.

For meet-and-greets, the Beast is usually only found at the Be Our Guest Restaurant at dinnertime and during special events but occasionally appears at the France Pavilion in Epcot.

### Tokyo Disney Resort

Beast is prominently featured during the *Once Upon a Time* castle show at Tokyo Disneyland. He also appears, nightly, in the *Beauty and the Beast* unit of *Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade: DreamLights*.

### Disneyland Paris

In Park (Paris), he dances with Belle and other princes and princesses at The Starlit Princess Waltz.

In Walt Disney Studios Park, during Lumiere's segment of *Mickey and the Magician*, Beast and Belle are introduced after the candelabra's performance of "Be Our Guest", where they share a ballroom dance to "Beauty and the Beast".

### Hong Kong Disneyland

In Hong Kong, Beast appears in *The Golden Mickeys*. He also makes a brief appearance during the finale of *Mickey and the Wondrous Book*.

### Shanghai Disneyland

In Shanghai, Beast is featured on the *Beauty and the Beast* display in *Voyage to the Crystal Grotto*. There is also a statue inside the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel depicting Beast and Belle ballroom dancing.

## Differences from the source material

While the Beast keeps much of his original character continuity from the French fairy tale version by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, there are quite a few differences to be accounted for:

* The Beast's curse had no time limit in the original version and only required that he learn to love and gain a woman's love in return to break the spell. In addition, in the original tale, Beast alone was cursed, not anyone else, and also took care of his property by himself.
* The Beast's confrontation with Belle's father was a lot tamer in the original version, simply telling her dad to trade his daughter for his life. In addition, in the original version, Maurice had pilfered a rose from Beast's garden as a gift for Belle after being perplexed at thinking he had taken refuge at a deserted castle with no one inside, yet found a breakfast waiting for him. But when he attempted to take the rose, the Beast revealed himself. The Beast became angered at Maurice's attempted theft when he had tried to be a good host, implying to have allowed him to stay at the castle generously. Maurice's imprisonment for attempting to steal one of the Beast's roses in the original story was restored in the live-action remake.
* The rose had no direct link to the curse in the original version.
* Originally, the Beast permitted Belle to leave under a time limit to visit her family instead of actually freeing her to save her dad.
* Beast's death was not caused by a rival suitor knifing him in the back, but from a broken heart from Belle being late in returning due to her wicked sisters manipulating her into staying past the deadline.
* As noted above, the Beast's personality was, while somewhat gruff, also more kind and simple to begin with.

Several of these actually were included in the Original Screenplay but ended up cut due to Jeffrey Katzenberg demanding a rewrite.

## Trivia

 File:GamerTuesdayDShowJuly13-1.jpg
* It has been stated in the directors' commentary included in the *Beauty and the Beast* DVD/Blu-ray that the writers and producers were so busy during production that they forgot to give the character an actual name; he is only referred to as "The Beast" or "the Prince". Keane admitted that the Beast never had an alternative name prior to the film's events. Despite that, his real name has been introduced in products licensed by Disney (such as the 1998 video game *The D Show* which was developed by Cyberflix and released by Disney Interactive) which explicitly use **Adam** as the Prince's name.
	+ Since then, Disney has run with the name Adam, releasing licensed Disney Princess merchandise items as well as clearly labeling his portrait that adorns the walls of the Royal Rooms in Port Orleans Riverside at the Walt Disney World resort as Prince Adam
	+ In the eleventh episode of the Season 2 of *High School Musical: The Musical: The Series* he is referred to as Prince Adam by the cast of the series.
	+ Paige O'Hara, the voice actress to Belle, recently confirmed during a fan Q&A while adding "Disney will always deny it." that some animators and crew members did refer to The Prince as 'Adam' during production.
	+ Dan Stevens, the actor who portrayed the Beast in the live-action movie, also used Prince Adam as the Beast's name during an interview. File:Prince Portrait.jpg
	+ According to the standalone US Weekly issue *Secrets From the World of Disney: From Mickey to the Magic Kingdom!*, Adam was the Beast's real name.
	+ There seems to be Biblical inspiration for giving the name as "*Template:WikipediaLink*": According to Glen Keane in a bonus featurette on the Diamond Edition Blu-ray of *Beauty and the Beast*, when animating the Beast's transformation sequence back to his (now-adult) human form, Glen Keane kept a quote from the Bible with him, from 2 Corinthians 5:17: "If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation: The old things has passed away, and all things have become new!", stating how his time working on the film had been a nigh-religious experience for him.
* Even though he is referred to as a prince in the opening, none of the characters directly refer to him by that title. In addition, the first draft for Woolverton's take of the film indicated that the Beast was intended to be a duke instead of a prince.
* According to the first stained-glass window featured in the film's opening sequence, the Prince's family motto is "*vincit qui se vincit*" (meaning "*The winner is who wins himself*"), which is rather ironic, seeing as the Prince/Beast, who comes from this family, is a character who needs to learn to master himself and learn self-restraint.
* Although the Beast and Belle are technically co-protagonists of the film, various members of the production staff, including Howard Ashman, considered Beast *the* protagonist.
* The Beast is the first male character in a Disney fairy tale to have a role that is equally significant as the female protagonist's.
* Some of the sculptures seen in the castle are early concept versions of the Beast.
* The Beast's human form in the merchandise has him only wearing his ballroom attire, only his brown dress boots are replaced with light blue socks and a traditional brown dress shoes.
* Though the Beast's official age is not mentioned in the movie, it is strongly indicated by the narrator's statement that the rose "would bloom until his 21st year." As the rose has already begun to wilt by the time Belle arrives at the castle, it is very likely that the Beast is 20 years (i.e. *on* their 21st year) of age by this point. This has been confirmed by Glen Keane, and also in the filmmakers commentary for the extended edition, where it is specifically stated that the Beast's/Prince's 21st birthday would occur at some point *after* the enchanted rose has lost all of its petals and the curse had either been broken or else become permanent.
	+ During the song "Be Our Guest" Lumiere states "*for ten years, we've been rusting*", implying the spell that had changed them all had been active for that amount of time. This, along with the statement the rose would wither by the Beast's 21st birthday, would imply he was cursed at age 11.
	+ When looking at his shredded portrait in the West Wing, however, as well as his appearance in the flashback the sequel, he was likely closer to the age of a teenager when the Enchantress appeared at his door, and ten years was possibly a metaphor for how they never have company, not an actual statement of how long the curse has been active.
		- On the other hand, his depiction in the portrait was not an uncommon case: portraits of King Edward Tudor (Edward VI) depict him as looking 18 years of age when in reality, he was 13 years of age when it was painted, this was the case of children who were the reigning monarchs of their country.
		- Moreover, the Prince's flashback appearance in the sequel appearing to look like a teenager is simply down to the way that he was animated. Several other Disney preteens such as Melody, Peter Pan, Taran, and Alex all appear to be older than the age they actually are.
	+ In the original screenplay of the movie written by Linda Woolverton, the prologue mentions that the Prince was 11 years of age when he was cursed and that the curse was active for ten years. The screenplay also mentions that the Prince was the reigning monarch of the kingdom he lived in and that Lumiere and Cogsworth (unnamed at that point) were his regents. Because this was an early draft, it is unknown if this was carried to the final product.
	+ Some materials have also supported this statement, such as the mobile game *Disney Magic Kingdoms* explicitly stating the curse was active for ten years. It is unknown whether this holds true to the original or only to the game's continuity.
	+ In authorized supplementary comics, most notably *The New Adventures of Beauty and the Beast*, the Prince is never shown as being older than a preteen when he's shown as a human; moreover, the palace staff all refer to his pre-curse self as "a young boy" or "child". Two individual comics show that the Prince was originally a few years older than Chip, who didn't age during the curse, and shows him as being a couple of years older than Belle herself. The comics also show that the Prince has had a few run-ins with the disguised Enchantress, meaning that he'd still be a preteen when he was cursed.
	+ Perhaps to avoid this implication, the Broadway musical instead states that the rose "would bloom for many years".
	+ In the *Descendants* universe, Belle hinted Beast had married her at the age of 28 when commenting on when he made a good decision as their son is being crowned King at the age of 16. This suggests that in this continuity, *Beauty and the Beast* took place seven years before *Descendants* or Beast met Belle at a different age.
* The Beast is the first male protagonist to not "save" his female counterpart near the film's climax. He does, however, save Belle from a vicious wolf attack roughly at the film's turning point.
* The casting of the Beast was a true challenge, considering the fact the directors were searching for someone who could alternate between a deep, gruff, and rather uninviting voice to a soft, prince-like tone. When Robby Benson surprisingly auditioned for the role, the casting directors were both shocked and pleased, and immediately cast him. Critics claim Benson did the role so well that they couldn't even tell it was him.
	+ In order to achieve the gruff Beast-like quality in the character's voice, Robby Benson's voice recordings were mixed with the growls of those of lions, tigers, panthers, and bears.
* Several animals were studied and observed during the process of animating the Beast, such as wildebeests, bears, lions, and wolves.
* During the fight with Gaston, the Beast says only two words to him: "Get out."
	+ In the 2017 remake, Beast only says to Gaston: "I am not a beast", "Go", and "Get out".
* One of the concept artworks for the Beast bore a large resemblance to the character of the same name from the *X-Men* series from Marvel Comics. Coincidentally, both characters are now owned by Disney, which acquired Marvel in 2009.
	+ Ironically, one of the "Beautiful & Beastly Mail" correspondences in the second issue of the *Beauty and the Beast* Marvel Comics actually requested for a crossover between the two beasts, with Barbara Slate stating that, while one isn't in the works, if they do have one, expect "fur to fly."
* The Beast is one of Disney's most unpredictable characters because at first glance he's a fierce monster but behind the intimidating face is a loving heart, which he displays toward Belle at the end of the film.
* Before his change of heart, Beast wears mostly a purple cape, which is a combination of Gaston's trademark red (his antagonistic behavior) and Belle's blue (his true kind nature).
* As mentioned above, because the viewers of the film grew more attached to the character's beastly form, most merchandising featuring the Beast tries to aim for the use of this form, not his human form. This is also why Beast's human form rarely ever appears as a Meet-and-Greet Character at the Disney Parks, as most patrons prefer to interact with the Beast.
* Glen Keane went to the Los Angeles Zoo to study animals for the Beast's looks and personality. When he studied a six-hundred-pound antisocial gorilla, Caesar, and tried to draw him, Caesar charged at him and slammed against the bars. Keane knew this was how Belle would feel when she first caught sight of the Beast.
* In the movie *Enchanted*, Robert Philip wears a suit very similar to the Beast's during the ball scene.
* When the Beast is getting his hair cut for Belle, the hairstyle he is given is the same as the Cowardly Lion's from the 1939 film *The Wizard of Oz*.
* One of the considered voice actors for the Beast during development was Laurence Fishburne.
* Other than the opening prologue to the story, the Beast was never actually identified as a prince during the events of the first film.
* Originally, when he was planning dinner, the Beast was to bring in a carcass of a slain deer and explicitly chow down on it in front of Belle in a more animalistic manner. However, the scene ended up deleted because the writers realized such a scene would actually have the audience view the Beast with disgust instead of sympathy. Nonetheless, the Beast hunting for his food in a more animalistic manner is still implied in the film with the presence of a rotting rib-cage being seen briefly in the West Wing.
* In the Special Edition of the film, because of the addition of "Human Again", the scene where Beast roars in despair at having to let Belle go was slightly altered to include glass shattering to imply that Beast, while still filled with despair at having to do this, ended up smashing the then-recently restored West Wing in order to have the song connect better with the main film where it was still tarnished during the climax.
* According to Alan Menken, in the 2017 adaptation, one of the new songs written for the film "Evermore", sung by the Beast after he lets Belle go, is a love song to effectively takes the place of the reprise of "If I Can't Love Her" from the musical.
* The Beast's death scene originally had a more cheery underscore, as heard on the first soundtrack, the Special Edition credits, and a DVD bonus feature, but the film itself had a more somber underscore, which had been retained on the Special Edition soundtrack.
* Adam Mitchell provided the singing voice for the young prince in the 2017 film.
* Dan Stevens' portrayal as the Beast in the 2017 film was partially inspired by Wreck-It Ralph.

## External links

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1. ↑ Oh My Disney (March 26, 2015). 11 Things You Didn't Know About Beauty and the Beast. Disney. Retrieved on August 8, 2016.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Template:Cite video
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 DisneyD23 (September 2, 2016). Animating Beast (Video). Retrieved on September 2, 2016.
4. ↑ Noyer, Jérémie (October 11, 2010). *Beauty And The Beast*: Glen Keane on discovering the beauty in The Beast. Retrieved on August 27, 2016.
5. ↑ Template:Cite book
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Template:Cite book
7. ↑ Short Film Winners: 1992 Oscars (Video) (March 23, 2015). Retrieved on September 6, 2016.
8. ↑ Template:Stitch Kingdom
9. ↑ Fairytale Wedding Gift Set
10. ↑ Fairytale Wedding Gift Set (alternate): ""Belle & Prince Adam"
11. ↑ Florida Supercon (January 9, 2015). Meet Paige O'Hara: Belle of Beauty and the Beast Q&A (Video).
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 *Beauty and the Beast* draft
13. ↑ Template:Cite book
14. ↑ Everything You Need to Know About the Three New Songs in Live-Action Beauty and the Beast (November 8, 2016).
15. ↑ 13 THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT THE LIVE-ACTION BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (May 16, 2017).