Ariel

**Ariel** is the protagonist of the 1989 film The Little Mermaid. She is the fourth member of the Disney Princess line-up and the first to be developed during the Disney Renaissance.

## Background

### Official Description

Ariel is an independent, headstrong, and determined young mermaid. She is the youngest and prettiest princess of the sea but spends most of her time outside the palace walls of Atlantica singing, daydreaming, and adventuring with her best friend, Flounder the guppy fish, and sometimes Sebastian the crab, who is also the royal adviser to Ariel's father. At the age of 16, she unexpectedly becomes deeply infatuated with a young and handsome human prince named Eric and sacrifices all things dear to her for the chance of being with her one true love.

### Development

Walt Disney himself and artist Kay Nielsen began work on the story of The Little Mermaid in the 1930s and early 40s. The feature was to be a very faithful adaption to Hans Christian Andersen's tale with the Mermaid dying and turning into sea foam in the end. However, after writing the script and illustrating the storyboard the project was shelved to focus on other projects also in the works such as Dumbo, Bambi, and Fantasia. There have been alternate statements, however, that indicated that Disney may have intended to go for the happy ending route.

In the mid-1980s, the project was finally reopened, yet Disney decided to disregard the dark and grimy aspects of Andersen's story and make the film a more child-friendly version with a much happier ending which worked better for the company's brand. However, the development team indicated that the changes given for the film coincidentally matched up with the changes Walt Disney made during his attempted take on the film. During development, the studio officially gave their Little Mermaid the aquatic-like name of "Ariel".

Ariel's original design was developed by animator Glen Keane, who had reportedly said in an animation lecture that she was based on his own wife. Her appearance was also based on model Sherri Stoner, who provided live-action references for the animators during the development of the film and also inspired the look for Belle. A challenge in animating her for the film was the colour required to show her in the changing environments, both under the sea and on land, for which the animators required 32-color models, not including costume changes. The sea-green colour of her mermaid tail was a hue specially mixed by the Disney paint lab; the colour was named "Ariel" after the character. She has been compared to past Disney heroines from Walt Disney's lifetime, but is more physically similar to Alice from Alice in Wonderland and Belle from Beauty and the Beast, as they all have big eyes, a broad forehead and a small mouth and chin.

### Voice

Jodi Benson, who was predominantly a stage actress when she was cast, was chosen to voice Ariel because the directors felt "it was really important to have the same person doing the singing and speaking voice." Co-director Ron Clements remarked that her voice had "sweetness" and "youthfulness" that was unique. When recording the vocals for Ariel's theme song "Part of Your World", she consented to Howard Ashman's suggestion that the lights in the studio be dimmed, to "feel a bit more enclosed" and create the feeling of being deep under the sea. She was also encouraged to soften her singing voice almost to the point of speaking so that the song would feel more intimate. Benson has remained as the main voice of Ariel since.

Voice actress Melissa Fahn auditioned for the role and was called back many times, but was turned down because she sounded slightly too young.

### 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 and 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 regard 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 wouldn'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 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, which be an abandoned killer whale, an irrationally feared sea creature. and even the son of one of her nemesis are 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 Ariel's father, Triton, she 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 to be serious, careful, and very intuitive on many occasions. 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 into a sophisticated and distinguished woman; fully embracing her responsibilities as a mother and the princess consort of Eric's kingdom and fully adapting to her human body that she has had for some time now thanks to her father's magic. However, when Morgana threatens Melody at her christening, Ariel becomes overprotective of her daughter similarly to how she was treated by Triton in the first film. As a result, she severs all ties with Atlantica and the ocean in hopes of preventing Morgana from using Melody's heritage to her advantage. Despite being happy with her new life as a human mother and wife, she misses her father and sisters, but keeps this hidden from Melody for the latter's own safety. Later, she comes to realize that this decision does more harm than good.

However, at one point, Ariel subtly alludes 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 Ariel's few flaws, she 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 first film's events, even before meeting her future husband, Eric. However, she did not always have this trait; until she was 15 years old, she expressed a deep fear of humans similar to Triton's prejudice towards humans, although her witnessing a human saving a beached dolphin changed her views on the matter. Ironically, the human 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, red lips, and large, deep, aqua blue eyes. In stark contrast to the previous Disney Princesses created before her, Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora, who were drawn with smaller eyes and smaller heads in proportion to their bodies similar to adult women, Ariel is drawn with somewhat semi-neotenous features, with larger eyes and with a head more similar to a child's than an adult's in proportion to her body, giving her an appearance of youth rather than maturity. This suggests the combination of youthful innocence and physical maturity which Ariel represented; for example, it eventually became the design basis of most Disney Princesses created after her in recent years; such as Jasmine, Rapunzel, Anna, Elsa, and Moana.

From childhood to her teenage years, she wore a lavender seashell bikini top. As a child, her lips were the same colour 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 that reveals her midriff and her belly button. She most likely has the reproductive organs of a cetacean. In Little Mermaid's Island, her seashell top looks more like a strapless top that covers all of her torso. She is also fairly tall in human form, being only a few inches shorter than Eric, himself a fairly tall human.

When Ariel becomes a human, the only article of clothing she wore was her seashell bikini top, 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 periwinkle, glittering dress. After she kisses Eric and during their wedding, she wears a white wedding dress with pale green trimming, big puffy sleeves, and 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 in 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-coloured gown with a matching flower on the side of her hair.

### Power and Abilities

* Aquapathy
* Adaptability
* Singing
* Dancing
* Expert Swimming
* Expert Animal Rider
* Expert Musician

## Film Appearances

### The Little Mermaid

At the beginning of the film, Ariel, and her fish friend, Flounder swim through a shipwreck where they salvage human items. During their adventure, they are chased out of the sunken ship by a shark, but Ariel manages to outwit him. After escaping him, Ariel and Flounder swim up to the surface, where they speak to Scuttle to identify human objects. He misidentifies a fork as a "dinglehopper" used to straighten their hair and a pipe as a "snarfblatt" used to make music. The identification of the latter reminds her of the concert she was supposed to be a part of. Ariel hurries home to Triton and Sebastian, who both rebuke her for missing the concert. Hearing from Flounder about her encounter with a seagull, Triton reprimands Ariel for swimming up to the surface and demands that she never does so again, driving Ariel to tearfully swim off to her secret grotto.

There, Ariel's collection of human objects is kept, hidden away from the other merpeople. She feels that collecting them isn't enough and gets more curious about the human world, even expressing her desire to actually live in it. As Sebastian tries to talk Ariel out of her obsession, the mermaid spots a ship passing above. Curious, she quickly swims up to the surface and towards it. Among the humans aboard, Ariel's attention is drawn to a male human named Eric. Just then, a storm moves in and destroys the ship. Ariel looks around for Eric and finds him floating unconscious in the sea. She saves him from drowning and takes his body to shore, where Eric starts to breathe again. Ariel sings to Eric as he steadily regains his consciousness. Eric's manservant, Grimsby, suddenly arrives in search for the prince, though he fails to notice Ariel. As Eric is taken into care, Ariel watches on, even more determined to accomplish her dreams of living alongside humanity.

Back at Atlantica, Ariel's sisters hear her humming dreamily, causing them to realize she has fallen in love. Ariel comes up with a plan to somehow see Eric again, but Sebastian tries to talk her out of it, telling her how life under the sea is better than the world up above through the song "Under the Sea". Flounder arrives and takes Ariel away to show her a surprise at her grotto, the statue of Prince Eric that he somehow salvaged from the wrecked ship. Unfortunately, King Triton soon appears, having learned from Sebastian that Ariel had rescued a human from drowning, and he berates her for breaking his rules of association with humans, though Ariel replies that Eric would have died if she hadn't saved him, and he shouldn't be so quick to judge him. After Triton once again lectures Ariel on how bad humans are, she declares that she loves Eric and doesn't care if they are different species. Shocked and enraged at this display of blasphemy from his youngest daughter, Triton loses his temper and, in a blind rage, proceeds to destroy all the human objects in the grotto with his trident, including the statue of Eric. Devastated, Ariel breaks down in tears, and an ashamed Triton leaves while regretting what he has done. Sebastian, who has accompanied him, tries to console Ariel, only for her to tell him to leave her alone.

After Sebastian and Flounder exit, Flotsam and Jetsam appear to convince Ariel to see their mistress, Ursula, who may have the power to make her dream come true. She, after initially attempting to refuse, reluctantly follows them to Ursula's Lair, while Sebastian and Flounder follow her. At the fortress, Ursula - who knows that Ariel is in love with a human through spying on her via Flotsam and Jetsam - makes a proposition: in exchange for her voice, Ariel will become a human for three days, during which she must get a kiss of true love from Eric before the sun sets on the third day. Should she succeed, she will remain human permanently; should she fail, she will turn back into a mermaid and will belong to Ursula forever. A desperate Ariel accepts the deal and signs a contract conjured by Ursula. Her voice is then sealed into a seashell on Ursula's necklace. Ariel is then turned into a human and is helped to the surface by Flounder and Sebastian due to her now having the inability to swim and breathe in water.

At the shore, Sebastian goes into a nervous panic over the predicament and begins to trot home to seek help from the king. Ariel pleads for Sebastian to stay, giving him the most pleading look, she can muster without her voice to talk him out of it, and out of sympathy, he agrees. Scuttle provides some "clothing" for Ariel in the meantime in the form of an old sail and rigging rope, just as they are discovered by Eric's dog, Max, who leads his master to them. Eric faintly recognizes Ariel but doesn't believe her to be the girl who rescued him from the shipwreck, due to her inability to speak. Nevertheless, he takes her to his castle, where Ariel is given a bath and proper clothing. At dinner, Ariel notices a fork and uses it to comb her hair, leaving Eric and his servants dumbfounded. Ariel then notices Grimsby's pipe and tries to use it as a musical instrument, covering Grimsby with soot. Despite Ariel's initial embarrassment, Eric finds her antics funny. Carlotta even notes that this is the first time Eric has smiled in quite some time, much to Ariel's delight. Eric then invites Ariel on a tour of the kingdom, which she accepts.

During their outing, Sebastian, Flounder, and Scuttle anxiously watch on, awaiting the kiss. Ariel is more preoccupied with taking in the atmosphere of the human world; she even learns how to dance and ride a carriage. That evening, she and Eric go out for a boat ride in a lagoon. In hopes of initiating a kiss, Scuttle tries to provide some "romantic stimulation". However, his terrible squawking (mistaken for singing) prompts Sebastian to lead some animals of the lagoon to create a more fitting mood with his song "Kiss the Girl". Sebastian's plan seems to have a positive effect on Ariel and Eric, as they steadily draw closer to each other. Before they can kiss, however, Flotsam and Jetsam purposely tip the boat over by order of Ursula (who's been watching Ariel and Eric's development from her fortress). This ruins the moment, thus ending Ariel and Eric's date.

The next day (which is the third and last of Ariel's human days), Scuttle delivers the news that Eric is getting hitched. Believing herself to be the girl in question, Ariel excitedly runs downstairs, only to see Eric with a dark-haired girl named Vanessa, whom he intends to marry. Devastated, Ariel breaks down in tears and runs off. As the wedding ship departs with Eric aboard, Ariel is left at the port to mourn her losses as Sebastian and Flounder do the same. Meanwhile, Scuttle discovers that Vanessa is actually Ursula in disguise and flies back to warn Ariel. Determined to save both herself and Eric, Ariel swims to the wedding ship with help from Flounder, while Sebastian returns to Atlantica to receive help from King Triton. Scuttle, meanwhile, rallies the lagoon animals to stall the wedding by assaulting Vanessa. Eventually, Ursula's necklace is destroyed, releasing Ariel's voice and freeing Eric from his trance. The two embrace each other as Eric finally realizes that Ariel is the girl who rescued him all along. Before they can kiss, however, the sun sets, and Ariel turns back into a mermaid.

Vanessa transforms back into Ursula, takes Ariel as her prisoner, and dives back into the sea with her. As Ursula thinks of her next move, Triton, having been alerted by Sebastian, confronts and orders her to release Ariel, to which she refuses. Ariel apologizes to Triton as he attempts to destroy Ursula's contract, to no avail. Ursula proceeds to wither the princess and turn her into a polyp like all her other victims, proclaiming the contract to be legal, binding, and completely unbreakable, but offers her freedom should Triton be willing to take her place. Triton accepts and overwrites Ariel's signature on the contract with his own, and though Ariel is released, she is forced to watch as her father is withered and transformed into a polyp faster than when Ursula tried to do it to her, having sadistically slowed the transformation on Ariel to torture Triton into surrendering himself to save his daughter. Ursula then takes his crown and trident, becoming queen of the seas. Finally, Ariel realizes that she had manipulated her into obtaining her father's power, and furiously tries to fight her off, but is no match for the empowered sea witch. Eric intervenes to help her, striking Ursula with a harpoon. She prepares to destroy him with the trident, but Ariel pulls on her hair just as it shoots, causing the shot to miss Eric and hit Flotsam and Jetsam instead, killing them.

After Ursula briefly mourns her pets' loss, she enlarges herself as an even eviler, nastier, monstrous version of herself. Ariel and Eric try to escape, but then face a towering, gigantic Ursula. She declares herself as ruler of the ocean who has the power to control the waves and creates a rainstorm and whirlpool. Ariel is separated from Eric, and Ursula causes her to become trapped at the bottom of the whirlpool. She aims the trident at Ariel and fires bolts of pure destruction, who barely manages to avoid her painful destruction each time. Finally, just as Ursula prepares to use the trident to vaporize her with an unavoidable blast and taunting that she will never get to be with Eric, he plunges the splintered bow of one of the shipwrecks (that have surfaced as a result of the whirlpool) through her abdomen, killing her and saving Ariel just in the nick of time.

With Ursula defeated, her spells upon the unfortunate merpeople who made deals with her and failed to uphold them are broken, including the spell cast upon Triton, who transforms back into a merman. Eric manages to swim to shore at the surface, breaking down out of exhaustion as a saddened Ariel watches on from a nearby rock. Triton and Sebastian look on from a distance, the former finally softening up toward humans upon realizing Eric risked his own life to save Ariel. Knowing the love between them is pure and true, and despite their differences as species, Triton uses the power of the trident to permanently transform Ariel into a human, granting his daughter her wish and allowing her to be with the one she loves, at long last. After the transformation, she walks up to the shore, where she is happily reunited with Eric as he embraces her, and they share their first kiss. Soon, they have their wedding on the wedding ship attended by his loyal subjects on-board and her family and friends in the sea around the ship. She silently bids farewell to Scuttle and Flounder and gives Triton a heart-warming hug before happily sailing away with Eric. Triton then casts a beautiful rainbow over the sky to wish the couple well as they start their new future together. Due to Ariel's courage and earlier sacrifices, Triton understands that not all humans are bad and accepts Eric, her new husband, as his new son-in-law.

### The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea

In this 2000 direct-to-video sequel, Ariel serves as the deuteragonist. It is shown that she has given birth to a daughter named Melody (the new protagonist) prior to the start of the film. When we first see her playing with the beautiful new-born Melody, many toys of Flounder, Sebastian and other fish can be seen in the room, showing that she misses her old friends and family with how long she's been human thanks to Triton and living happily with Eric. When Melody's safety is threatened by a sea witch named Morgana (Ursula's younger sister), seeking revenge for her sister's demise, Ariel and Eric decide they must keep Melody away from the sea, and to this effect, they build a large wall separating the castle from it. It remains like this for Melody's first twelve years of her life, until her 12th birthday. Ariel also leaves the locket Triton gave Melody on her christening day with him to have released into the ocean to sink to where it would never be found, while also knowing that this may be the last time, she would see her father while he sent out his royal guards to hunt down Morgana and bring her to justice.

As a consequence, this also meant Ariel couldn't visit her ancestral home, making her miss Triton and her sisters deeply, but only when alone so Melody doesn't learn the truth of her mermaid heritage. Melody's love of the sea proves too strong, however, especially after finding her locket while out swimming beyond the sea wall and confronting her mother over it after Sebastian ends up ruining her birthday party, humiliating her, and when she falls into Morgana's clutches, Ariel is forced to temporarily resume her mermaid form in order to rescue and save Melody from Morgana's scheme, with Triton using his trident to revert the spell that turned Ariel human originally, returning her to her old mermaid body so she could return home to Atlantica after so long.

In this time, Ariel briefly returns to her grotto as seen in the first film, and studies the objects, (which we are left to presume survived Triton's anger in the first film) and keeps looking for Melody. This features Ariel becoming an overprotective parent for Melody, effectively taking over the role of Triton in the first film.

Ariel is the first and only Disney Princess to date to become a mother.

### The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning

Years before the events of the original film, Ariel, and her sisters enjoy a music-filled life in Atlantica, with Triton and their mother, Queen Athena. The merpeople are shown relaxing in a lagoon above water, and Triton gives Athena a music box. Suddenly, a big pirate ship approach. Everyone escapes except Athena, who is crushed by it when she tries to save the music box and the pirates lose control and run it aground, breaking the keel and sinking it. Devastated by her death, Triton throws it into the ocean and bans music from the kingdom.

Ten years later, Ariel and her sisters live under a strict routine maintained by their governess Marina Del Rey and her assistant, Benjamin. Marina hates being the girls' governess and longs to be Triton's attaché, a job currently filled by Sebastian. Ariel is frustrated by their current lifestyle, which brings her into conflict with her father. One day, Ariel encounters Flounder, whom she later follows to an underground music club. She is overjoyed by the presence of music and is shocked when she sees Sebastian performing there. When her presence is revealed, the entire band stops playing and hides, believing Ariel will tell her father about them. Ariel sings a song explaining her love of music and the remembrance of her mother, and she joins the club with an oath.

Ariel returns to the palace, and the sisters confront her over her disappearance. She explains where she was, and the following night all seven girls go to the club to have fun. Marina secretly finds them, and she later reports their activities to Triton. Sebastian, Flounder, and the band are sent to jail while Marina gets the job she wants.

Triton confines his daughters to the palace, which results in Ariel asking him why music isn't allowed. Triton refuses to answer and shouts that he won't have music in his kingdom. Distraught, Ariel confronts Triton and says that Athena wouldn't have wanted music to be forbidden and angrily swims to the girls' bedroom, her saddened sisters soon following, while Marina, who is not the girls' governess anymore, is now Triton's new attaché. That night, she decides to leave Atlantica and frees the jailbirds. Sebastian leads them to a deserted place far from the palace where Ariel finds Athena's music box, as Sebastian hoped. Ariel and Sebastian decide to return to Atlantica to bring the music box to Triton, hoping that it will change his mind, as he has forgotten how to be happy after Athena's death.

On the way back, Marina and her electric eels confront Ariel, Flounder, and Sebastian. Before music is restored back into the kingdom, the final battle begins when Marina bans Ariel from going back to Atlantica. Marina wants to stop them, so she will retain her position of "power", and a struggle ensues. It ends when Marina barrels towards Sebastian, but Ariel pushes him away, getting hit in the process. Triton arrives in time to witness this, and he is remorseful for his actions. He sings the lyrics of "Athena's Song", and Ariel wakes up. The film ends with Triton restoring music to Atlantica and appointing Sebastian as the new court composer, much to everyone's glee with Ariel and Flounder. Everyone, including Ariel, Sebastian, Flounder, and six older sisters, rejoices except Marina, who has been sent to prison.

In the original concept for Ariel's Beginning, then known as The Little Mermaid III, Ariel, alongside Sebastian, were supposed to accompany Eric and Melody in locating a white whale.

### Ralph Breaks the Internet

In Ralph Breaks the Internet, Ariel appears as a netizen resident of Oh My Disney. She and the other Disney princesses work as cast members that meet-and-greet net users. When Vanellope von Schweetz is confronted by First Order Stormtroopers, she glitches into the princesses' backstage room; Ariel is seen combing her hair with a dinglehopper at her vanity. The princesses mistake Vanellope for a threat, and charge at her with various weapons at hand; Ariel wields a dinglehopper. Vanellope explains that she's actually a princess, as well, prompting Pocahontas to ask what kind of princess she is. Ariel questions if Vanellope made a deal with an underwater sea witch in exchange for human legs, but to Ariel's relief, Vanellope denies. When Jasmine asks if Vanellope has "daddy issues", she notes that she doesn't even have a mom, to which Ariel relates.

Shortly after, Ariel and Cinderella take a liking to Vanellope's casual modern attire. As the other princesses take an interest, Ariel excitedly declares she also wants an outfit like Vanellope's. After Cinderella asks her mice to craft comfy modern outfits for each of the princesses, Ariel dons green shorts and a violet shirt which reference the colours of her mermaid form and is seen lounging between Jasmine and Belle; unlike the majority of Disney princesses, she is seen the whole time being barefoot when in modern clothes (another exception is Moana). Ariel is overwhelmingly delighted to finally have a shirt and expresses through song that she's always dreamed of someday wearing one before Vanellope cuts her off. Vanellope questions Ariel's singing, but the other princesses explain that they've all had songs that help them express their desires. They encourage Vanellope to find her song, but the results are not very impressive. Pocahontas advises Vanellope to find some water and stare at it. Though Vanellope isn't convinced, Ariel reaffirms that it's not merely water, but "important water".

During the climax of the film, Ariel and the Disney princesses spot Wreck-It Ralph falling to his doom. They rally together to rescue him. Moana summons the ocean, which Ariel dives into. She then swims upward, creating a spiral with the water. When Ariel emerges, she lands on Jasmine's magic carpet, from where Elsa freezes the water while in its spiral formation, creating a slide for Ralph to safely descend. After Ralph is safe, the princesses formally introduce themselves as friends of Vanellope as they befriend him as well.

## Television Appearances

### The Little Mermaid

The prequel series, which had debuted in 1992, takes place during an indeterminate time chronologically before the 1989 film and revolves around Ariel's adventures as a 15 to 16-year-old mermaid living under the sea. Most of her adventures involve her meeting various creatures, getting into trouble and usually getting out of it successfully. Her friends, Flounder and Sebastian, are also featured prominently. She is also shown to have a friend named Urchin, an orphaned merboy. It also has her meeting Hans Christian Andersen, which also hints at both her possible birth year (i.e. during his lifetime, yet at least 16 years before the writing of The Little Mermaid, which, in a manner of speaking, makes him her creator) and the possible chronological events of the series, due to her being a direct influence on the creation of the story. She also gets along well with Sebastian's young Crab Scouts, as she is shown cradling one of them when they're tired in "Tail of Two Crabs".

Ariel continues to be fascinated with human objects in the series and is shown collecting them for her grotto; she gives them strange names such as calling an ordinary telescope a "thingamabob". Many episodes show her working to foil enemies who would do harm to Atlantica. Eric is sometimes shown, but she always just misses seeing him, preserving the continuity that she sees him first in the 1989 film.

### House of Mouse

Ariel appears as a regular guest in the animated television series House of Mouse and its specials, usually sitting with Sebastian and Scuttle and sometimes with Eric or Triton. Her appearance alternates irregularly between her human form and mermaid form (even at the same time in a few episodes), depending on what the situation requires. Daisy Duck seems to be a big fan of her and her films, as shown in "Daisy's Debut" and "House of Genius". In the show's opening song, she is seen combing her hair with a fork, like in the original film.

In a clip recycled for many episodes, she is seen sitting at a table with Scuttle and Sebastian and her and Scuttle clap starting with "The Three Caballeros". In "Gone Goofy", she appears next to Prince Eric near the end.

In "Timon and Pumbaa", Scuttle perches on Ariel's head saying that Timon is gonna lose something.

In the episode "Jiminy Cricket", while Jiminy Cricket is sharing his wisdom, he states, "Never sell your voice to a giant sea witch just because you have a crush on some guy, it's just not worth it". Ariel sits there looking embarrassed and ashamed, and upon hearing this, she snatches the necklace containing her voice away from Ursula, much to her anger.

In "The Mouse Who Came to Dinner", Ariel is sitting next to Sebastian before Goofy takes him to cook for Mortimer, who was pretending to be a critic. She is later seen laughing with the rest of the audience after the crew calls him out and insults him.

Also in "Everybody Loves Mickey", Ariel wishes that Mickey could visit her under the sea.

In "Suddenly Hades", Pete attempted to flood the club to run out the customers, as he could shut down the club if there were no guests. Though he succeeded in flooding the club, he was stopped from closing the club as Ariel was still present, having returned after Hades bugged out in annoyance from the flooding.

In "Mickey and Minnie's Big Vacation", she is seen in the crowd when the Pink Elephants invade the house.

In "Music Day", when Ariel saw Huey, Dewey, and Louie reuniting, she waved her hands as she cheered.

In "House of Scrooge", Ariel was one of many Disney characters shoved at one table as Scrooge was trying to save money.

In "Ask Von Drake", Ariel is seen in Professor Von Drake's song, sitting next to a giant seashell where Ursula is hiding.

In "Salute to Sports", Ariel is sitting next to Triton when he creates a literal wave after Mickey told the crowd to do the "wave".

In "Pluto vs. Figaro", Ariel tried to sing on stage, although the set ended up falling on top of her due to Pluto and Figaro's antics.

Ariel was also briefly seen in "Pete's House of Villains" where she held up a sign that read "Somebody stole my voice again" since she lost her voice.

Ariel also appears in Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse. In the film, Ariel, along with Eric and other characters, are snowed in and trapped inside the club. Ariel is the first to openly have faith in Mickey Mouse, who she believes will have a plan.

### 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.

Ariel 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.

### Once Upon a Time

Ariel is a recurring character on the hit show Once Upon a Time. She is portrayed by JoAnna Garcia.

In her debut episode, she saves Snow White from drowning after Snow jumps off a cliff to avoid the Evil Queen Regina's guards. Ariel tells Snow that once a year a mermaid can walk on land, though only for the twelve hours between high tides. She then tells Snow she saved Eric (played by Gil McKinney) a year before and has been in love with him ever since. Snow, knowing what love, at first sight, is like, understands the mermaid and convinces her to go to Eric's ball. At the ball, he is immediately drawn to Ariel and asks her to dance with him. While they dance, he tells Ariel that he will be leaving the next morning on an adventure to see the world and asks Ariel to go with him. Ariel relays this information back to Snow, who tells Ariel to be honest with the prince. However, Ariel is reluctant as she does not want to be rejected by the prince by telling him she is a mermaid. Ariel is later seen at the seashore asking the Sea Goddess Ursula for guidance. After she seems to have given up, Ursula appears in front of Ariel.

However, this is not the true Ursula; this is Queen Regina in disguise. Regina gives Ariel a magical bracelet that will trade her tail to whomever she gives it to. Ariel gives the bracelet to Snow White, thinking that if Snow is a mermaid, she could escape into the sea and be free from the Queen. Regina then appears and reveals her deception. The Queen gives Ariel an ultimatum: either go and find her prince and let the Queen kill Snow White or die along with her. Ariel, not willing to let her friend die, attacks the Queen with a fork, distracting her long enough for Ariel and Snow to get away. After Ariel and Snow have escaped to a nearby beach, Snow tells Ariel to go back to the Prince and tell him the truth. Ariel happily listens to Snow and returns to the dock by Eric's palace as she is about to yell Eric's name her voice vanishes. Regina appears on the dock and reveals that she took Ariel's voice so that she could never tell Eric how she felt, as vengeance for the mermaid's siding with Snow White against her. In tears, a muted Ariel heads back to the sea.

Twenty-eight years later in Neverland, Regina, working with Rumplestiltskin, returns Ariel's voice in exchange for her help. Ariel agrees to return to Storybrooke and retrieve a weapon from Rumplestiltskin's shop that will be strong enough to stop Peter Pan. If the mission succeeds, the Queen promises to make Ariel human permanently and be with Eric.

Ariel's next appearance in Once Upon a Time is titled "Dark Hollow". This episode immediately picks up after the events of "Ariel". Gold shows Ariel how to get to Storybrooke and tells her to find Belle and give her a sand dollar with a message from him. Though Regina chooses not to tell Ariel where to find Eric, she does warn her that she only has one hour. When Ariel arrives in Storybrooke, she meets with Grumpy, who takes her to Belle.

After learning that Ariel was sent by Rumplestiltskin, Belle takes her to Gold's shop, where Belle deciphers Gold's coded message and retrieves the item of which he requires: Pandora's Box. However, before they can do anything, they are ambushed by John and Michael Darling, who is now working for Peter Pan. John and Michael, the two of them up and take the item to destroy it. In order to get out of the ropes, Belle removes Ariel's bracelet, which allows Ariel to wiggle free from the ropes and undo Belle's bindings. Ariel then puts the bracelet back on and goes after John and Michael.

Belle and Ariel find John and Michael just before they destroy the box. Belle is able to stop them by activating a mine cart on the tracks, which throws Michael and John off their feet. Using the time to her advantage, she grabs the box and kicks their gun away. John and Michael reveal that the only reason they are working for Pan is that he has been holding their sister Wendy hostage. Belle manages to convince them, however, that if they help her, the ones in Neverland will be able to use Pandora's box to defeat Pan.

Ariel returns to Neverland and gives Pandora's box to Gold. As a reward, Regina enchants the bracelet, so that Ariel can become a human whenever she wishes. Before Ariel departs, she tells Regina and Gold about Wendy's situation. Regina exhibits no concern about Wendy since she only cares about Henry. However, Ariel manages to convince her and Gold to do what they can to help Wendy. Upon returning to Storybrooke, Ariel finds Eric working as a fisherman. The two of them are then reunited and reconcile.

After the fairy-tale characters are sent back to the Enchanted Forest, Eric is captured by the pirate Blackbeard. Ariel, however, believes that Captain Hook was responsible and tracks him down. Upon learning that Blackbeard also has his ship, Ariel and Hook agree to work together. In order to take his ship back, Hook throws Blackbeard over the edge without learning where Eric is. Ariel is forced to rescue Blackbeard so that she can rescue Eric. She eventually relocates with Eric to Hangman's Island.

The guilt Hook still feels for his nearly sacrificing any attempt to rescue Eric is later exploited by the Wicked Witch of the West. She impersonates Ariel so that she can get Hook to admit he loves Emma Swan in a "plea for redemption." Using this, she is able to curse his lips. She also reveals that Ariel and Eric are alive on Hangman's Island.

It is later revealed that after Hook sold the Jolly Roger back to Blackbeard, he used it to terrorize people, including Princess Anna and her fiancé, Kristoff, of Arendelle. After her return to Arendelle, Queen Elsa trapped it in a bottle and Ariel accidentally becomes trapped inside as well. She is freed after Hook restores his ship in Storybrooke. After Ursula throws Hook overboard, Ariel saves his life and helps him discover a new plan to help restore Ursula's happy ending. She later helps contact Ursula's father, Poseidon, and bring him to Storybrooke so he can reconcile with his daughter.

After this, Ariel returns to Hangman's Island. A while later, she enters her hut to discover Hook, Jasmine, and Aladdin have broken in and triggered a trap. She is pleased to see Hook and Jasmine again and soon also becomes acquainted with Aladdin. After learning of their plight and that they were led to her hut while tracking Jafar, she brings out a lamp which she believes to be Agrabah. Jasmine takes the lamp and assured by the presence of Ariel, Hook, and Aladdin, who she believes to be heroes, prepares to face her fears and Jafar. However, when Jafar emerges, he is easily able to break the genie curse, much to Ariel's surprise, and proceeds to freeze Ariel, Aladdin, and Hook in place, before he faces Jasmine alone. After Jasmine has used magical dust to transform Jafar into a staff, the trio is freed from the sorcerer's magic and regain mobility. Jasmine then reveals that Agrabah is inside the ring she has been wearing, and she now knows how to bring it back with true love's kiss, and proceeds to kiss Aladdin, magically transporting Agrabah back to its proper place and the four heroes with it. Now that the ring no longer contains the kingdom, Ariel asks for permission to keep it as a trinket. Afterward, Hook asks Ariel if she can get back home, and she states that she will be able to use her mermaid powers by swimming in the nearby Agrabah Gulf. Realizing that she can help with Hook's problem of being separated from Emma, Ariel offers a magic conch shell that Hook can use to communicate into as long as there's someone on the other end. Hook begins to speak into it, telling Emma the truth of what happened, though he is unsure if she is on the other end.

## Other Appearances

"Ariel" made a cameo during in The Return of Jafar. Genie makes himself look like Ariel and appears on the top of the treasure ship of Coeur du Mer to take Jafar's Lamp and hide it from Abis Mal and Jafar.

In A Goofy Movie, Ariel is seen twice: once as a prop in Max's school auditorium and also a lamp in Goofy and Max's hotel room with her iconic colours.

In the TV series Aladdin, Saleen at one point gave Jasmine a hairstyle resembling that of Ariel's, although she then complained that it makes Jasmine looked like "every other Princess under the sea." In the same episode, Saleen also indirectly alludes to Ariel's goal with her line "Legs? Who needs them?"

In Aladdin and the King of Thieves, Ariel made a cameo on a poster (before Jessica Rabbit and Minnie Mouse) when the Genie tried to make Jasmine happy because she was sad from Aladdin's absence.

In the 101 Dalmatians: The Series episode "Home is Where the Bark Is", Ariel's silhouette can be seen as one of the passengers of a subway train the Dalmatians ride on.

In a special trailer promoting the film Lilo & Stitch, Ariel was seen performing the reprise of "Part of Your World", when Stitch surfs a giant wave towards her, ruining the song. In anger, Ariel throws a starfish at Stitch, exclaiming "I was singing here!". Jodi Benson reprises her role in this teaser and some new animation is used.

Ariel appears on the cover of a Little Mermaid book in the village scene in Tangled.

## Disney Princess

Ariel is one of the twelve official members of the Disney Princess line, a prominent franchise directed at young girls. The franchise covers a wide variety of merchandise, including, but not limited to, magazines, music albums, toys, clothing, and stationery. Ariel is usually depicted in her mermaid form on merchandise, but also appears in her human form wearing her blue dress, white wedding dress or pink dress. The Disney Princess magazine features comics and posters of Ariel, usually in her mermaid form, but also in her human form as well.

### Redesign

With her new redesign, Ariel is less franchised in her mermaid form and is more focused on her human form.

Ariel's red hair is much wavier, and greater detail is shown as it also appears glossier and more voluminous, with her bangs being a bit smaller. She is clad in a beautiful off-the-shoulder gown with the same distinctive sea green colour as her mermaid tail. The overskirt is a paler green that matches her tail fins, as do the long sleeves covering her arms (puffy on the upper half) and the petticoat under her dress. The overskirt hem has many elaborate swirly designs, which include designs of items found in the ocean like starfish and seashells. She wears lavender scallop seashell earrings with a matching brooch on her dress and a pair of sea-green pumps on her feet.

In early redesigns, Ariel had a pale pink dress that was a revamp of her previous pink-and-white gown.

The modified redesigns of her mermaid form have added a sparkly/metallic effect to her mermaid tail, giving either the impression of fish scales caught in a gradient light of yellow to green to blue or a similar shimmer to the patterns on her sea green dress with larger tail fins, along with lavender earrings that are similar to her seashell bra on her mermaid form.

### Palace Pets

Ariel's Palace Pets are Treasure, Seashell, Matey, Sandy Pearl, Otto, and Waddles.

## Disney Parks

Ariel makes appearances as a face character in all the Disney parks. At Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom and Tokyo DisneySea, she can be found for meet-and-greets at her own special location known as Ariel's Grotto in her mermaid form, while her human form is available for meet and greets at Fantasy Faire in Disneyland and the princess meet-and-greets at Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland. In her human form, she's often seen wearing a white dress similar to the one she wore at her wedding in the movie, sans the veil and tiara.

Interestingly, Ariel is rather common in terms of cameo appearances in a few attractions. She can be spotted in Peter Pan's Flight amongst the other mermaids of Mermaid Lagoon and in the Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, and Hong Kong Disneyland versions of It's a Small World.

### Disneyland Resort

In California, Ariel appears during Mickey's Soundsational Parade, and also takes centre stage in her own segment of the Disney California Adventure night-time spectacular World of Color, singing a rendition of "Part of Your World" that transitions in Sebastian's "Under the Sea" performance.

### Walt Disney World Resort

In animated form, Ariel takes part in Mickey's PhilharMagic, where she performs "Part of Your World" as Donald Duck tries to retrieve the newest addition to her human collection―Mickey's sorcerer hat. The duck also becomes smitten with the mermaid and her beauty and makes an attempt to kiss her, only to lock lips with a flirtatious electric eel.

She can also be seen in her own float of the Festival of Fantasy Parade at the Magic Kingdom.

In Disney's Hollywood Studios, Ariel appears in Voyage of the Little Mermaid and Fantasmic!

Ariel serves as the star of the dark ride The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure, which can be found at Disney California Adventure and the Magic Kingdom. Ariel makes several appearances throughout the ride, mostly in audio-animatronic form. On the exterior of the Magic Kingdom version, she appears as a figurehead on a shipwrecked ship. In the queue area of the Magic Kingdom version, guests can help her organize her human treasures.

In Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, Ariel assists Sebastian, Merlin the Wizard, and the park guests in stopping Ursula when Hades brings her back to life to assist the Underworld ruler in his attempts to take over the Magic Kingdom. Ursula even attempts to disguise herself as Ariel at one point to try to fool Merlin and the guests. Later on, the real Ariel happily congratulates the park guests after Ursula is defeat. Ariel also has her own spell card called "Ariel's Bubble Attack".

### Tokyo Disney Resort

In Ariel's Seaside Treasures, after the marriage with Prince Eric, Ariel heard that her father King Triton had been feeling lonely for missing her. So, she planned a big party at the seaside with both human and mar-people for the king! This was the special event taken place at Tokyo Disney Sea on Summer of 2003.

In the Mermaid Lagoon Theater, Ariel, Flounder, and other sea characters "swim" freely in this "undersea" theatre, in a show featuring dazzling music and dynamic aerial performances. Here, Ariel and her undersea friends stand up to the evil sea witch Ursula, in a musical performance of courage and friendship.

### Shanghai Disneyland

In Shanghai, Ariel is featured in The Little Mermaid display in Voyage to the Crystal Grotto, and during the Golden Fairytale Fanfare castle show. Inside the castle, Ariel appears alongside Sebastian and Flounder in one of the walls carving displays.

Ariel is also prominently featured during the fireworks show, Ignite the Dream, where she performs "Part of Your World".