Belle

**Belle** is the female protagonist of Disney's 1991 animated feature film, *Beauty and the Beast*. She is the only daughter of Maurice, an inventor with whom she resides in a small French village. The townsfolk labeled Belle an outcast because of her free spirit. She is also a proud bibliophile, her favorite genres being fantasy and adventure. Belle's passion for fantastical stories, coupled with her outcast status, left her yearning for a life of adventure outside her small village. She unexpectedly gets her wish when she becomes the Beast's prisoner in order to save her father's life.

## Appearance

Like her namesake, Belle is known in her village for her great beauty, mainly her outer features, and is viewed as "the most beautiful girl in town" by Gaston. Belle has long, brown hair, most often tied back in a low ponytail by a ribbon, and possesses captivating hazel eyes, full pink lips, rosy cheeks, a heart-shaped face, and a sculpted figure. One of her more distinct features is 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 or trying to be polite.

Throughout the film, Belle wears various outfits depending on the occasion:

Her primary outfit is a medium-length cerulean blue sleeveless dress with a white long puffy-sleeved shirt underneath, a white apron on her waist, a white petticoat, and dark brown ballet flats on her feet. Her hair is tied in a low ponytail adorned with a medium blue ribbon. When she goes to the Beast's Castle, she wears a dark blue cloak with a yellow button. Belle's hair is loose twice in the film, the first time when the ribbon on her ponytail is torn off by one of the wolves when she was knocked away by her horse Philippe, and the second when she removes the ribbon before finding the Beast during his fight with Gaston.

The day that Belle was gifted the castle's library, she wore a light green dress (similar to the color scheme of Ariel from *The Little Mermaid*) with Juliet sleeves and a darker bodice, a matching hair ribbon, a white petticoat underneath the dress and black ballet flats, and outside when she was tending to Philippe and Sultan she added her traditional dark blue cloak.

When she was reading to the Beast, Belle wore a pink dress with a rose bodice (similar to Aurora's from *Sleeping Beauty*), a matching hair ribbon, a white petticoat, and red ballet flats and when she was outside teaching the Beast to feed the birds she added a red cloak with white fur trim.

Her most elaborate and iconic outfit is a golden ball gown with a simply designed bodice, wrapped off-the-shoulder sleeves, a wide-hemmed floor-length skirt made of eight triangular panels and small round yellow ornaments, long yellow opera gloves, round yellow earrings, a multiple-layered white petticoat with scalloped edging on the hemline, and yellow high-heeled shoes. This is the outfit she wears while sharing her first dance with the Beast in the "Beauty and the Beast" sequence, and their second dance after the curse is broken. With this outfit, she wears some of her hair in a neat bun by a golden hair band, but the majority of it trails down her neck in a beautiful, flowing motion resembling a ponytail.

In *Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas*, Belle wears a long deep red winter coat with a white fur collar, belt, and folded sleeves while wearing her primary outfit with short brown gloves and brown boots with white fur cuffs. At the end of the film, set after the curse was broken, Belle wears a deep red rose dress which resembles the color of a red rose with light yellow bell-bottoms at the sleeves and deep red roses-like decorations with green leaves, a matching hair ribbon, a pearl necklace, a light yellow lining connected to her bodice and the end of her dress skirt, a deep red bow on the waist back of her dress, a white petticoat, and deep red high-heeled shoes.

Overall, when she first enters the Beast's Castle, her outfit wasn't adapted to the castle, but as the film moves on, her outfit started progressively shifting to more formal and elegant dresses, signifying her growing more attached to the castle and its inhabitants as the Beast reforms into a well-behaved gentleman.

## Personality

Belle has gained a significant amount of intelligence over the years due to her love of books, which provided her with an elevated vocabulary, an 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 doesn't have very many friends. Her smarts and free-thinking attitude make her stand out from her fellow townspeople, who regard her as a little odd behind her beauty.

Belle is known throughout the village for her beauty, with one villager commenting that it has no parallel, but she isn't vain or concerned about her looks, although she knows it. She is only too aware that her fellow citizens think of her as "odd" and "peculiar".

Belle appears less concerned about her or others' appearances and is able to look past appearances into their personality. In addition, Belle pays very little attention or concern to her appearance, unlike the very rude and arrogant Gaston. This is how she manages to break the Beast's curse and bring love and laughter to the castle.

Belle is somewhat of a free woman for her time and resists being mistreated, undermined, humiliated, demeaned, or controlled by anyone, especially and specifically by Gaston. She appeared disgusted with Gaston's description of marriage together, such as having six to seven sons or rubbing his feet. Even when agreeing to live under the Beast's control, she acts independently.

Belle willingly listens to, takes advice from, and admires her father Maurice since, throughout most of her life, he's the only person who has believed in her unconditionally. She also considers the opinions and directions of the Beast, because, like Maurice, he is able to treat her as an equal (the Beast eventually learned how throughout the course of the film). Belle also seemed to have a good relationship with the bookseller, presumably because of his encouraging her to pursue her love of literature.

Belle's compassionate heart and warm nature also embeds in an impressively brave woman that neither listens nor cares about what the other townspeople say about her. She refuses Gaston's wedding proposal and remains the only girl to resist his "charms" due to his rude, sexist demeanor instead of mindlessly lavishing over him based purely on the physical. Her most triumphant moments in the film are when she willingly trades her freedom for her father's without much hesitation, and manage to stand up against the Beast at certain points. However, like any human, Belle does fear things, such as wolves, Beast's Castle, family disappearance, etc. The Beast also, at first, manages to make the situation of her predicament as a prisoner, never to see her father or dreams again, come crushing down in tears. Especially when her captor himself is 10 feet, easily angered monster which commands her entire life. Nevertheless, the unconditional love Belle places to those close to her, including the Beast eventually, make her strong enough to risk her life for theirs.

Belle is quite stubborn when it comes to stating and upholding her opinions and maintaining her ideas. Even though she says that she dreams of adventure, she also states that she wishes for a friend who accepts her for who she is. This is because everyone in town criticizes her for doing her own thing and can't understand her, making her feel like she can't fit in. However, even when people give her a hard time, she never changes but comes to a better understanding of herself. This makes the biggest difference when she breaks the spell and charms the Beast just by being herself.

The Disney comic *New Adventures of Beauty and the Beast*, set a few years before the first film's events, implies that Belle was a scientific skeptic despite her love of fairy tales. This is evidenced while she explores a part of the Black Forest before encountering an owl and thinks that there aren't any mythical creatures in there. This is also supported in the film, where she yells "this is impossible" in shock after accidentally bumping into the Wardrobe in shock upon discovery that Mrs. Potts and her fellow servants were living objects.

Belle is quite witty and uses this trait to her advantage to outsmart people. When in an argument with the Beast, Belle held her ground and challenged each of the Beast's points with a cunning comeback, such as "If you hadn't frightened me I wouldn't have run away" or "You should learn to control your temper". Each of these statements left the Beast stunned and at a loss for words. Belle managed to think of these comebacks without much thought or hesitation. When Lumiere and Cogsworth attempted to lead Belle's curiosity away from the West Wing, she challenged them by saying the West Wing wouldn't be forbidden if the Beast wasn't hiding something in it, also briefly stunning them. Belle's logic may also have helped her save Maurice by realizing that something was going on in the castle that she wanted to find out. Soon, in the West Wing, she almost discovers the Beast's true identity, though she briefly forgets it in the end.

Belle has a strong sense of character and uses this trait in a variety of ways, often to her own advantage. On Belle's first night in the castle, following the "Be Our Guest" sequence, she develops an urge to explore the castle and asks for a guide. Observing Cogsworth's "authoritative" personality, she immediately knows that Cogsworth would be the best candidate. At first, Cogsworth is quite reluctant to the idea, but when Belle says she is sure he knows everything about the castle, he agrees. Similarly, she also has a strong sense of deductive reasoning, as she deduced from the animate objects' interactions that the castle in which she was imprisoned was enchanted without anyone telling her beforehand.

She is also implied to have deduced Gaston's true role in locking Maurice up. This, however, was contradicted when she exposed the Beast's existence to a congregated mob despite the high likelihood that they would turn and kill the Beast due to their current emotional state, as well as being shocked by Gaston and the villagers doing exactly that. This makes Belle feel so guilty that she resolves to stop Gaston and save the Beast, her true love.

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 worse. 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.

Belle manages to set herself apart from the members of the village which she lives in. The citizens of the village find Belle to be very strange, as she reads at an astonishing rate and rejects the advances of the town's muscle man, Gaston (the original film's villain). Belle also has plans to be in control of her own future, and hopes for an adventure outside of her provincial life.

Belle has been known to be easily frightened, but she often overcomes her fears and usually manages to be quite brave, even in the most dangerous situations. She is also known for being somewhat outspoken and occasionally allowing her curiosity to get the best of her.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Peak-Human Agility:** Belle displays a few notable athletic abilities despite having spent her life in the village. She can ride her horse, Philippe, at quite stunning speeds with ease and skill, such as in the Black Forest when she managed to outrun the wolves for a time and even causing one wolf to veer into a tree. During the opening song, while reading her new book, she also managed to effortlessly sweep aside a water downpour from gutters that was about to hit her, deflecting it onto a nearby signpost, all without even looking up from her book, implying that she was keenly aware of her surroundings.
* **Peak-Human Strength:** Despite her slim figure, Belle seems to have considerable strength. She may have lifted the Beast, as evidenced by the Beast being placed onto Philippe's back, although this was never shown on-screen. Later on, she was able to pull the Beast up onto a balcony. In addition, she also was revealed to have rescued her father from the elements and presumably place him onto Philippe while he was still unconscious. Both the Beast and Maurice are each presumed to weigh considerably more than Belle, making her rescue of them quite a feat.
* **Peak-Human Stamina:** Belle also appears to have tireless reserves of stamina and considerable resilience to cold, likely due to her young age, able to survive fording icy water for a short period of time (in *Enchanted Christmas*, she proved to be a capable swimmer when she rescued Chip), and she can walk back to the castle having given her cloak and Philippe over to the injured Beast after the wolves were driven off. In the *Marvel Comics* serial, she even managed to withstand the cold long enough to tell Chip about how she and her father went to the fair and won the first prize before passing out, just as Beast ultimately managed to trace her location via holly bushels hitting him when she let go of them.

### Princess of Heart

Because Belle is a Princess of Heart, she has many special abilities that are heightened or activated when she is joined with the other princesses:

* Her main power is to use her heart to open the Final Keyhole to Kingdom Hearts, which can only be opened when she is gathered with the other six princesses.

* In this exclusive group, her heart can also be used to create the Keyblade of People's Hearts and enable the bearer to unlock anyone's heart.
* Also, as her heart only contains pure light, she can fight back the darkness (she can perform this task alone, but it has stronger effects when she is with the other princesses).
* When Jasmine, Alice, Snow White, Cinderella and Aurora upgraded Sora's Fire spell, she was absent; however, it is assumed that she has the power to upgrade people's powers as well, as Princesses of Heart possess the same powers.
* She and her fellow princesses also have a sixth sense to locate darkness, as shown when Alice, Aurora, Jasmine, Snow White and Cinderella tell Sora of a great darkness approaching.

### Combat

* Belle also has a great affinity for books, which allows her to soak up knowledge quickly. And, as she showed Xaldin in *Kingdom Hearts II*, she can administer a good punch in the stomach if she has reason to.

## Role in Sora’s Adventures

Belle is a teacher in Radiant Garden High School and Radiant Garden Academy for Young Princesses