Queen Elinor

Short Films
 Video Games
 Voice
 Portrayed by
 Personality
 Goal
 Enemies
 Likes
 Dislikes
 Quotes
"Are you willing to pay the price your freedom will cost?"
"A princess should not have weapons in my opinion."
"No weapons on the table."
"Don't you dare loose another arrow."
"Oh, darling. We both have."

**Queen Elinor** is the deuteragonist in the 2012 Pixar animated feature film *Brave*. She is the queen of the Scottish kingdom of DunBroch, sharing the throne alongside her husband, King Fergus, and is the mother of their eldest daughter, Merida and three young triplet sons, Harris, Hubert and Hamish. She is voiced by Academy Award winner Emma Thompson.

## Background

A vision of grace, beauty, wisdom and strength of character, Queen Elinor is fiercely dedicated to the well being of her family and kingdom. As the diplomatic counterpoint to her more impulsive husband, King Fergus, Elinor carries the weight of the kingdom on her shoulders.

## Personality

Queen Elinor is, initially, a very strict and stubborn authoritarian figure in Merida's life and her kingdom. She demands that Merida follow in her footsteps as queen and follow the customs and traditions of her kingdom, despite them conflicting with Merida's desire for freedom and indepedence. She is shown to be a very stern teacher who expects nothing less but perfection from Merida. This causes a strain in the relationship between her and Merida, as she ignores the needs and desires of Merida and seeks only to impose upon her the same role and responsibilities she has. However, she is well intentioned and only wants what is best for her daughter.

Elinor is also very elegant and ladylike, befitting her role as the queen. She understands the importance of her role as diplomat of the kingdom and is very educated and knowledgable, as she has appointed herself in being Merida's sole teacher in becoming queen herself, demonstrating a vast knowledge of the manners and education a princess must have to ascend to her role as queen.

Elinor has brown eyes and very long brown hair, extending nearly to her feet in length. A gray streak runs off the right side of her hair. Elinor's hair is usually arranged in two pigtails, fastened with gold ribbons wrapped around her hair all the way to the bottom of her pigtails. She is a slender woman, taller than Merida, and she usually wears a dark green dress with a sparkly, emerald green robe with dark green trimming, with a gold belt and gold jewelry. Elinor's tiara is also golden, and has a large emerald in the center of it. At the end of the movie, Elinor wears her hair down without pigtails, gold ribbon, or her tiara, and she wears a simpler navy blue dress with gold trimming instead of her green, queenly one.

Elinor believes it is important for people to follow the path laid out for them, and often tells the story of Mor'du to prove her point, as Mor'du, a vain prince who wanted to rule the kingdom by himself rather than divide it among his brothers, followed his own destiny and caused the kingdom to fall. Merida implies she has told this tale often. Her belief in this is so strong that after Merida competes in the game "for her own hand" and wins, she yells and argues with Merida stating she had embarrassed her, the clans, and that her actions could lead to war. She even goes as far as to burn Merida's bow, her most prized belonging, as a way to punish her. This shows that she may value her kingdom more than her daughter's feelings. However, she did show remorse in her actions and saved the bow before it was completely destroyed.

Elinor also seems rather strong, as she was able to pull all of the ears of the leaders of the four clans (including her husband) at once while remaining a calm face. She deals with the more political, diplomatic problems among the four clans. This is shown as the leaders of the three clans went to Elinor to decide who was the winner of the queen and as she helped Merida reach a compromise among the four clans regarding who would marry Merida that satisfied all sides.

Elinor shares her traits of stubbornness and lack of listening with her daughter, as both refuse to attempt to listen to each other and their intentions and only choose to attempt to force their ideals and beliefs onto each other without finding compromise.

However, after she is turned into a bear by Merida, she begins to see her daughter for who she is as Merida's survival skills come in handy in finding food and during the time they spend together, to have the two rekindle and mend their strong bond. The beginning of the change in her character is shown when she eats the fish Merida catches her, and becomes more apparent when she leaves her crown behind, indicating her ability and desire to change and let go of the stern perfectionist queen she once was and allow Merida to embrace the freedom she has always wanted.

She has shown to be a very brave person, as shown when she fought against Mor'du in order to protect Merida. She is also compassionate and was devastated both times she hurt Merida by mistake as she began to lose her humanity, even running away the second time as she felt she had become a danger to her family and her kingdom.

Overall, Elinor is a loving, strong, determined woman who changes from a serious, stubborn, unyielding perfectionist into a more compassionate, thoughtful, understanding person but has and will always cares greatly for her family and kingdom.