Ariel

**Princess Ariel** is the protagonist of Disney's classic 1989 animated musical fantasy feature film, The Little Mermaid. She is the seventh and youngest daughter of King Triton and the late Queen Athena, rulers of the undersea kingdom of Atlantica. Ariel lived through much of her young life with a passionate - yet forbidden - admiration of the human world, and longed to someday experience life on the surface. Ariel is loosely based on the nameless protagonist of Hans Christian Andersen's Danish fairy tale "The Little Mermaid". However, unlike Andersen's fairy tale in which the nameless protagonist dies, the Disney animated feature film has a happy ending. Ariel is the fourth official member of the Disney Princess line-up, voiced by Jodi Benson.

## Background

### Personality

Ariel is a bright, spirited, and headstrong mermaid princess with a strong passion for adventure and exploration. Her tendency to explore the more mysterious depths of the ocean (or more importantly, the world beyond the ocean) can lead to an array of problems to both herself, her friends, and in the confines of her personal life - as seen when she gets into an argument with her overprotective father, King Triton. Despite this, Ariel's selflessness, compassion and intuitive way of thinking often resolve such problems, as she always takes full responsibility for her actions.

At the start of the original film, Ariel is shown to have a burning obsession with the human world, and a desire to learn more about their culture. Unlike her father at first, she views humans as aspiring creatures, astonished by their ability to constantly create, and heavily goes against the idea of them being "barbaric" and selfish as a result of this. This passion is revealed to have been prominent throughout Ariel's life years before the events of the film, as seen in the television series. By the point of the film, as seen through her lament, "Part of Your World", Ariel's obsession with the human world has reached unimaginable heights, as she spends most of her time focusing on finding, observing, and collecting various human objects that have sunk into the sea. Her obsession has also taken a toll on her emotionally, as the song begins with a sense of wonder and enchantment, ultimately climaxing in a soft end, filled with hopelessness and despair, representing Ariel's dying hopes of ever experiencing life upon the surface. These factors of desperation and despair are the prime motive behind Ariel's eventual deal with the sea witch, Ursula, to become human and experience the world above the surface. Despite not having the best relationship with her father, especially in regards to their respective views on humanity, she nonetheless was very loyal to him as well as her sisters, as after Ursula explained the deal to her, Ariel expressed some hesitance as she realized that if she succeeded in the deal (never mind if she failed her end of the bargain) she won't be able to see Triton or her sisters again, and later when Ursula cursed Triton, Ariel's first action was to attack Ursula to avenge him, even calling the Sea Witch a monster for what she did.

Ariel is also shown to be extremely compassionate and loving towards almost all living things; more so platonically than romantically. This is most notably seen through her friendship with her closest companion, Flounder, and even her father's court composer, Sebastian who, despite being against Ariel's recklessness and overly adventurous nature, is given a considerably large amount of love and respect from the princess, which is often reciprocated. With Flounder, she is comforting and patient, as well as protective, with the tendency to risk her own life for the guppies on various occasions. Her ability to befriend all various creatures, be they an abandoned killer whale, an irrationally feared sea creature and even the son of one of her nemesis is displayed throughout the franchise. Before she met Eric, she was rarely interested in romantic relationships, not even with any of the merman princes that Triton tried to get her to marry. The only known exception was Prince Waverly of the Pacifica Kingdom, with whom she was infatuated. However, after meeting Eric, Ariel is revealed to be a romantic, willing to make daring sacrifices for the sake of true love. Her love for him is validated by Eric's returned selflessness and sacrificial actions for the sake of love; notably seen during the climax of the film.

Like her father, Ariel has a bad temper if she ever is provoked, although hers is not as bad as his. Although spirited, even she has had some degree of self-doubts about herself, as she actually at one point considered her father might have been correct and that she may have been a freak for having any fascination for humanity. She also had a degree of seeing the good in things, as she also doubted that humans could have been pure evil from their tools and artworks.

Also, despite her usual naivety and impulsiveness, Ariel has shown on many occasions to be serious, careful, and very intuitive. One example of her occasionally showing intuitiveness was just before exploring the sunken ship, where she suggested that Flounder stay outside and be on the lookout for sharks in the area when the latter tried to fake illness.

In The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, as an adult, Ariel has matured; after becoming a mother and queen of her husband's kingdom, due to the threat of Morgana at the time, she becomes very overprotective of Melody in a similar manner to how she was treated by Triton in the first film. She is shown to long for the sea, but keeps this hidden from Melody for the latter's own safety; even though it would've been easier if she had explained everything to her, she even points this out in a later scene and at the film's climax. At one point, however, she does subtly allude to her true heritage as she mentioned to Melody when sympathizing with her about not fitting in that she was "a fish out of water", with Melody not quite believing her. Regardless of her few flaws, Ariel is very much selfless, sweet-natured, and inspirational. However, her most notable trait, was her deep love and fascination for humans, having desired to become human during the events of the first film, even prior to meeting her future husband, Eric. However, she did not always have this trait; until she was 15 years of age, she expressed a deep fear of humans similar to Triton's prejudiced of humans, although her witnessing some humans saving a beached dolphin changed her views on the matter. Ironically, one of the people responsible for saving the dolphin was Eric, although she never knew it.

### Physical appearance

Ariel is a beautiful adolescent mermaid with an hourglass figure, fair skin, and large, deep aqua blue eyes. From childhood to her teenage years, she wore a lavender seashell bra. As a child, her lips were the same color as her skin and as a teenager, they are bright red. Ariel's most defining feature is her long, flowing, thick, bright red hair. From the waist down, she has a green horizontal fish-like tail with sea green scales and sea-foam green fins and a matching V-shaped waist-line resembling fish-lips. She most likely has the reproductive organs of a tropical fish. In Little Mermaid's Island, her seashell bra looks more like a strapless top that covers all of her torso.

When Ariel becomes a human, the only article of clothing she wore was her seashell bra but wears an old sail from a shipwreck with some rope to keep it closed, fashioned by her friend, Scuttle. Being prepared for dinner, she wears a pink and white gown, silver barrettes in her hair and pearl white earrings. Getting ready for bedtime, she wears a pink nightgown. After being taken in by Prince Eric, she wears a multi-shade-of-blue dress consisting of a powder-blue blouse with long sleeves, a midnight-blue bodice, and a cobalt-blue foot-length skirt, along with black heels. She wears a big royal blue bow in her hair. After she's turned into a human once again, she wears a light blue glittering dress. After she kisses Eric and during their wedding, she wears a white wedding dress with a sparkling golden tiara on her veil. During and after her daughter Melody's christening, she wears a gold and white dress, and has her hair a low ponytail decorated with a white bow. She also wears a periwinkle gown with an up-do decorated with a golden tiara with green and white gems on her necklace and earrings during Melody's 12th birthday party with her hair being a bit shorter due to it being adjusted and pulled in a bun. She still wears the same up-do with a green peasant dress when she's on Eric's ship and a blue and white dress with light blue earrings in the song "Here on the Land and Sea" in the second movie. In one of the video games, she wears an aqua-colored gown with a matching flower on the side of her hair.

### Powers and abilities

#### Powers

* **Superhuman Strength:** Ariel is known to have at least a very certain degree of superhuman strength, as she was able to move away from an underwater boulder blocking her grotto with relative ease in the original film. Ariel likely retains her superhuman strength; even in her human form.
* **Superhuman Durability:** Ariel has superhuman durability, as, during the final battle with Ursula in the film, she was at one point knocked into a whirlpool that is several miles deep and survived with barely any injuries. Such a feat would kill a normal human, if not completely destroy the body of that said human. Ariel retains her superhuman durability; even in her human form.
* **Superhuman Speed:** Ariel is known to have a great degree of superhuman speed, as she can move amazingly fast in the water, even for a mermaid; according to Sebastian, Ariel is the fastest mermaid in all of Atlantica. Ariel likely retains her superhuman speed; even in her human form.
* **Speed Swimming:** As a mermaid, Ariel is capable of swimming at a much faster rate than normal humans and even certain aquatic/marine creatures in terms of undersea travel or sea travel, as a whole due to her half-aquatic/marine status; for example, she was able to get to Atlantica from Prince Eric's kingdom in less than a day, as well as getting from Atlantica to Norway in the episode "Metal Fish", in a similar time fashion. Ariel likely retains her speed swimming ability; even in her human form.
* **Underwater Breathing:** As a mermaid, Ariel is able to metabolize oxygen from the water, which negates the need to surface, though she is certainly more than capable of breathing on land. Ariel does not retain her ability to breathe underwater; while she is in her human form.
* **Aquapathy:** As a mermaid, Ariel is capable of speaking with aquatic fauna. Ariel retains her ability to understand and communicate with aquatic/marine creatures; even in her human form.
* **Aquakinesis:** As a mermaid, Ariel possesses the power of aquakinesis, as demonstrated in the first film, and its sequel The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, she caused a wave to form behind her from a nearby rock from which she was watching Eric at a distance (shortly after Ariel had saved him from drowning and he had regained consciousness). Ariel retains her aquakinesis even in her human form; as she and Melody both were able to cause unusual wave-forms.
* **Thermoendurance:** As a mermaid, Ariel has demonstrated the ability to endure temperatures far more extreme than would be survivable for a normal human (especially one of her build). This is demonstrated in the films and the TV series, where she went to the arctic with minimal ill effects other than feeling a bit cold, as well as in The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, where she traveled to Morgana's lair, which was located inside an iceberg, and when visiting Ursula's, which was located in a volcanic region. Ariel likely retains her thermoendurance; even in her human form.
* **Rapid Adaptability:** As a mermaid, Ariel is capable of rapid adaptability (she retains this ability in both her human and mermaid forms respectively); for example, after becoming human, Ariel was able to learn how to walk in a few minutes, if not a few seconds, she also figured out how to run when Max the sheepdog had unintentionally scared her.

#### Former powers

* **Magic:** In the episode "T'ank You For Dat, Ariel", Ariel briefly became a sea witch and learned how to use magic; she used her new-found talents to grant Sebastian's wish of being bigger but unfortunately, it continuously worked, making him continue to grow to the point where he surfaced while standing, and it was fueled by the light of the full moon. She lost her magic and status as a sea witch when she wished the whole entire mess never happened, and her magic did just that, erasing the entire event and influencing her so it wouldn't happen in the reset timeline.

#### Abilities

* **Singing:** As demonstrated in the first film, the TV series and the prequel film The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning, Ariel is an excellent singer; a talent that she inherited from her mother, the late Athena. According to Sebastian, she has the most beautiful voice in all of Atlantica; her voice is so beautiful, that even Eric had fallen in love with Ariel, after only hearing her sing to him once when she drew him to consciousness with her incredible voice after rescuing him from drowning at sea.
* **Dancing:** As demonstrated in the first film, the TV series and the prequel film The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning, Ariel is an excellent dancer; a talent inherent in most merpeople. After Ariel became human and when Eric took her out on a tour of his kingdom, during which she capably danced with him - as if she had been a human for many years (this is partly due to her rapid adaptability). In her mermaid form with her stunning emerald green tail, Ariel is capable of dancing in a similar fashion.
* **Expert Swimmer:** As a mermaid, Ariel is an excellent swimmer as seen in the first film, the TV series and the prequel film The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning. However, as demonstrated in the first film, Ariel as a human (initially) was not very good at swimming. When Ariel became human (due to her inability to breathe underwater or swim without her tail that she was accustomed to) Flounder and Sebastian were forced to help her get to the surface, otherwise, she would have drowned. However, by the time of the events of The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, Ariel has regained her swimming skills, as seen in the ending of the second film.
* **Expert Animal Rider:** As demonstrated in the first film and the TV series, Ariel is an excellent animal rider, she can ride giant seahorses (the equivalent of horses) like Stormy and Seabiscuit as well as command the reigns of a carriage controlled by Triton's dolphins relatively easily. In her human form, she is able to ride horses in a similar fashion; for example, when Eric took her out on a tour of his kingdom, he attempted to teach her how to ride a carriage controlled by his horse. Initially, Ariel lost control of the horse, as it turned into a wild ride to the point where Eric (a brave and daring adventurer in his own right) became terrified. However, she soon gained control of the horse (this is partly due to her rapid adaptability) to the point that Eric became relaxed again. In the storybook of The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Baby Beau, sometime after her marriage to Eric, the latter gave Ariel a foal (a baby horse) as a gift, who she named Beau, and once Beau grew into a mature stallion, she began to ride him very often, with skill and enthusiasm in a similar fashion to her riding giant seahorses.
* **Expert Musician:** As demonstrated in the TV series and the prequel film The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning, Ariel is an excellent musician, as she is capable of playing a guitar, a piano, bongo drums, and the harp respectively with admirable skill. However, as seen in the episode "Calliope Dreams", the only musical instrument that she is not proficient at, is the sea calliope (the equivalent of the organ). Even when Sebastian tries his best to teach her how to play the calliope, Ariel's skills with calliope did not improve at all. Her lack of skill with this musical instrument is in fact, so bad - that it not only woke up the Seaclops, but it also annoyed the sea monster; to the point that it tried to annihilate Ariel.

#### Weaknesses

* **Oxygen:** As demonstrated in the first film, Ariel cannot breathe underwater while in human form; if she remains underwater for too long, she will lose consciousness and eventually drown.

## Role in the Series

### Sofia the First

Ariel appeared in the special "The Floating Palace". She was the first princess to be seen twice in an episode, and the fourth princess to appear in the series, overall. She is summoned to help Sofia with her trouble of saving her mermaid friend and her family's ship in danger and sings "The Love We Share" to encourage Sofia to enlist Cora to help her save Oona. She is later seen at the end of the special by the floating palace jumping into the water.

In "Forever Royal" when Sofia is battling Vor inside her amulet, Ariel appears to Sofia in spirit form along with all the other princesses who have been summoned to help Sofia in her times of need and they encourage her to be brave and strong for they all believe in her.