Ariel

Ariel is a mermaid who lives on the Crotoonian Eastern Coast.

## Personality

Ariel (a mermaid who can turn human) is the head of the C.C.S.C (Crotoonian Coast Salvage Company) which salvages odd finds around the Crotoonian Coast. She's a born explorer and a grand adventurer with a big heart, a head-full of determination and, despite her impulsive and sometimes mischievous nature, is a loyal friend to the finish! Due to her love for exploration, Ariel tends to get herself into rather sticky situations! But with a team of friends by her side, Ariel will always make sure all turns out okay.

## Trivia

* Unlike her sisters, as a mermaid, Ariel doesn't wear hair accessories except for the occasional sea flower, which she wears more often in the film's comic adaptation.
* In Shrek 2, Ariel is referenced when Fiona tosses a mermaid bearing Ariel's color scheme into the ocean, only to be attacked by sharks. This may have been merely a joke, or was meant to highlight the negative history between some of the staff members at Disney and DreamWorks.
* Although all of Ariel's sister's names begin with the letter "A", Ariel is the only one to be of Roman instead of Greek origin, and the only one to not end with the letter "a", as in Aquata, Andrina, Arista, Attina, Adella and Alana. This could have been in an attempt to draw more attention to Ariel and emphasize how original she is.
* In Hebrew, Ariel's name literally means "lion of God".
* Ariel's namesake is most likely a reference to William Shakespeare's The Tempest, where the play's character of Ariel is an air spirit (referring to HC Andersen's original ending of his tale).
* Ariel's pose while she was sitting on a rock looking at an unconscious Eric near the end of the movie was inspired by the statue of The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen, Denmark, where the story originated.
* Although Ariel and Athena bare a striking resemblance, her personality is more similar to that of her father, King Triton's. This is especially noticeable in The Little Mermaid II, when Ariel reprimands her daughter Melody, for disobeying orders and venturing out into the sea, the same way Ariel disobeyed her father's orders and venturing up to the surface in the first film.
* Ariel's daughter, Melody, shares almost all of Ariel's personality traits from the first film. However, Ariel dreamt of becoming human and living on land while Melody's dream was to swim beneath the waves. Melody also resembles her father, however, they only have the same eyes and hair texture.
* In the video game Skate or Die 2: The Search for Double Trouble, CJ, the main protagonist's girlfriend, was modeled after Ariel.
* In Enchanted, the animated troll hunted down by Prince Edward wears Ariel's seashells as earrings.
* In Timon and Pumbaa's Wild About Safety short In the Water, Pumbaa briefly makes a reference to Ariel.
* The first real dress Ariel wears after she is a human is pink, similarly, the first dress her daughter is shown wearing is pink as well.
* Ariel speaks the last non-musical line of The Little Mermaid, which was: "I love you, Daddy." Her husband speaks the first non-musical line of the film being "Isn't this great, the salty sea air, the wind blowing in your face."
* During production of the first film, Ariel was originally going to be depicted with blonde hair, but was changed into a redhead in order to distinguish her from another famous Disney mermaid, Madison from Touchstone Pictures' Splash.
* In Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion, Ariel is seen trapped in a crystal.
* Ariel's eyes are redesigned when she became a woman in Return to the Sea.
* Voice actress Melissa Fahn, known for voicing Gaz on Invader Zim and Rika Nonaka on Digimon, auditioned for the part of Ariel. However, she was called back several times, and was turned down in favor of Jodi Benson because she sounded "too young."
* According to the Disneystrology book, her birthday is October 8. Ironically, some merchandising items indicate she is a Pisces (born between February 18 and March 20).
* Ariel is right handed, as shown when she signs her name on Ursula's contract in the first film.
* The storyline of Ariel stealing King Triton's trident in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories is taken from The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, where Ariel's daughter Melody, steals Triton's trident (although for completely different reasons).
* Ariel has the most songs sung by any Disney movie character, despite the fact that she only has one song in her original movie (not counting the reprise).
* Ariel was the subject of an internet meme called "Hipster Ariel", which depicted Ariel with horn-rimmed glasses and saying a humorous statement.
	+ Hipster Ariel also has her own Funko POP! figure as a Hot Topic exclusive.
* 1941 concept art of the original idea of The Little Mermaid (before shelved) shows Ariel with long black hair and a bluish or greenish tail. It was also much closer to the original story. This artwork was done by Kay Nielsen.
* In some foreign-language versions of the film, her name is in the title.
* It's believed that the movement of Ariel's hair while underwater was based on footage of the astronaut Sally Ride in zero gravity.
* On the Marvel site, there was a create your own Marvel Superhero. One of these Superhero concepts, "Little Mermaid", was based on Ariel.