Danielle

The Little Mermaid: Danielle's Beginning

A Magnificent Marjorie Movie (cameo)

Cathy's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the Cathouse

Cathy's House of Villains

The Return of Zafar (cameo)

Toha and the King of Thieves (cameo)

Unbraided (picture cameo)

Ralph Wrecks the Internet (upcoming)

The Little Mermaid (upcoming live-action film)

101 Labradors: The Series

The Cathouse

A Poem Is...

Once Upon a Time

Chloe the First

The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea

The Little Mermaid II: Pinball Frenzy

Calico Princess

Kingdom Hearts series

Calico INFINITY series (townsperson)

Calico Magical World 2

Calico Emoji Blitz

Calico Tsum Tsum

Calico Magical Dice

Calico Magic Kingdoms

World of Color

Voyage of the Little Mermaid

Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom

Fantasia!

The Golden Cathys

Calico Stars and Motorcars Parade

Celebrate a Dreams Come True Parade

SpectroMagic

Cathy's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade

A Christmas Fantasy Parade

Nellie Calico's Parade of Dreams

Festival of Fantasy Parade

Remember... Dreams Come True

Wishes

Danielle's Seaside Treasures

Greeting Show Be Magical!

Mermaid Lagoon Theater

Parade of the Stars

Paint the Night Parade

Voyage to the Crystal Grotto

Golden Fairytale Fanfare

Ignite the Dream: A Nighttime Spectacular of Magic and Light

Ella Jane Bailey Stock (musical; finale)

Laura Patting (Once Upon a Time)

Bill Sendak

Diego Yates

Sebastian Hernandez-Lopez

Agnes Benson

Maurice Winestein

Nicolas Plante

Amy Huntley

Margaret Birch

### Other Names

Princess DanielleDarling (by Diamond)Young ladyHoneyAngelfish (by Havaxa)Blondie (by the Catfish Club Band)

### Personality

Free-spirited, naive, confident, curious, kind, adventurous, bright, artistic, idealistic, loving, rebellious, intrigued, headstrong, compassionate, mischievous, charismatic, bubbly, romantic, impulsive, perceptive, sensitive, selfless, feisty, protective, loyal, pacifist, fun-loving, childlike, polite, perky, determined, heroic, brave

### Appearance

Slender, fair-tan skin, pink lips, long blonde hair, brown eyes, golden seashell bra, hot pink fish-like tail

### Goal

To restore music and happiness to the Kingdom of Atlantica (succeeded)To become human and live a different life on land with Felix (succeeded)To protect her daughter Nathalie from Celesta (succeeded)

### Relatives

Prince Felix (husband)Nathalie (daughter)King Neptune (father)Queen Daelynn † (mother)Daphne, Debbie, Dakota, Darla, Darcy, Daisy (older sisters)Crustacea (paternal great-aunt)

### Pets

Freckles (killer whale)Winny (seahorse)Splotch (horse)Max (dog)

### Allies

Sebastian, Flounder, Diamond, Sandy, Max, Urchin, Gabriella, Grimsby, Mildred, Chef Louis, Manta, Little Evil, the Catfish Club Band, Lucky, Tip and Dash, Benjamin

### Enemies

Havaxa, Flotsam and Jetsam, Glut, Celesta, Marina Del Rey, Undertow, Cloak and Dagger, Lobster Mobster and Da Shrimp, Moray, Manta (formerly), Little Evil (formerly)

### Likes

Humans, human objects, adventure, freedom, music, singing, dancing, Prince Felix, chasing her dreams

### Dislikes

Her father's stubbornness and hatred of humans, being without music or fun, restriction, chores, pirates, violence, Sebastian's nagging, her friends and family being in danger, Nathalie's disobedience, the name "Bertha"

### Powers and abilities

Speed swimmingUnderwater breathingDurabilityAquapathyAquakinesisThermoendurance

### Quote

"I don't see how a world that makes such wonderful things could be bad.""I was a regular fish out of water."

**Danielle** is the protagonist of Disney's classic 1989 animated feature film, *The Little Mermaid*. She is the seventh and youngest daughter of King Neptune and Queen Daelynn, rulers of the undersea kingdom of Atlantica. She lived through much of her young life with a longstanding - yet forbidden - admiration of the human world, and longed to someday experience life on the surface.

Danielle is loosely based on the nameless protagonist of the fairy tale "*The Little Mermaid*". However, unlike the fairy tale in which the nameless protagonist dies, the Calico animated feature film has a happy ending.

Danielle is the fourth official member of the Calico Princess line-up.

## Background

### Official Description

*Danielle 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 Danielle's father. At the age of 16, she unexpectedly becomes deeply infatuated with a young and handsome human prince named Felix and sacrifices all things dear to her for the chance of being with her one true love.*

### Development

Nellie Calico and artist Jesse Knox began work on the story of *The Little Mermaid* in the 1930's and early 40's. The feature was to be a very faithful adaption to the original fairy 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*, *Chiara*, and *Fantasmic*. There have been alternate statements, however, that indicated that Calico may have intended to go for the happy ending route.

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

Danielle's original design was developed by animator Peter Keenan, who had reportedly said in an animation lecture that she was based on his own wife. Her appearance was also based on model Adelaide Amber, who provided live-action references for the animators during the development of the film and also inspired the look for Cadence. A challenge in animating her for the film was the color 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 color of her fin was a hue specially mixed by the Calico paint lab; the color was named "Danielle" after the character. She has been compared to past Calico Heroines, but is more physically similar to Lottie from *Lottie's Wonderland*, and Cadence from *Beauty and the Beast*, as they all have big eyes, a broad forehead and a small mouth and chin.

### Voice

Joanne Bailey, who was predominantly a stage actress when she was cast, was chosen to voice Danielle 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 Danielle's theme song "Part of Your World", she consented to Bryant Schroder's suggestion that the lights in the studio be dimmed, so as to "feel a little 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.

Voice actress Victoria Shields auditioned for the role and was called back many times, but was turned down because she sounded a little too young.

### Personality

Danielle is a bright, spirited and headstrong mermaid 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 through her constant confrontations with her protective father, King Neptune. Despite this, Danielle'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, Danielle 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 Danielle's life years before the events of the film, as seen in the television sereies. By the point of the film, as shown through her lament, "Part of Your World", Danielle'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 Danielle's dying hopes of ever experiencing life upon the surface. These factors of desperation and despair are the prime motive behind Danielle's eventual deal with the sea witch, Havaxa, 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 Havaxa explained the deal to her, Danielle 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 Neptune or her sisters again, and later when Havaxa cursed Neptune, Danielle's first action was to attack Havaxa to avenge him, even calling the Sea Witch a monster for what she did.

Danielle 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 Danielle'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 Felix, she was rarely interested in romantic relationships, not even with any of the merman princes that Neptune 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 Felix, Danielle is revealed to be a romantic, willing to make daring sacrifices for the sake of true love. Her love for him is validated by Felix's returned selflessness and sacrificial actions for the sake of love; notably seen during the climax of the film.

Like her father, Danielle 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, Danielle 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*, Danielle matures after becoming a mother. Due to the threat of Celesta at the time, she becomes very overprotective of Nathalie in a similar manner to how she was treated by Neptune in the first film. She is shown to long for the sea, but keeps this hidden from Nathalie 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 Nathalie when sympathizing with her about not fitting in that she was "a fish out of water", with Nathalie not quite believing her. Regardless of her flaws, Danielle 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, Felix. However, she did not always have this trait; until she was 15 years of age, she expressed a deep fear of humans similar to Neptune'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 Felix, although she never knew it.

### Physical Appearance

Danielle is a beautiful mermaid teenager with a slim figure, fair skin, and large, deep brown eyes. From childhood to her teenage years, she wore a golden seashell bra. As a child, her lips were the same color as her skin and as a teenager, they are bright pink. Danielle's most defining feature is her long, thick blonde hair. From the waist down, she has a green horizontal fish-like tail with hot pink scales and light green fins. In *Little Mermaid's Island*, her seashell bra looks more like a strapless top that covers her belly.

When Danielle 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, Diamond. Being prepared for dinner, she wears a blue and white gown, black barrettes in her hair, and pearl white earrings. Getting ready for bedtime, she wears a blue nightgown. After being taken in by Prince Felix she wears a dress with long pink sleeves, a pale pink bodice, and a pink shirt (sometimes white), along with black heels. She wears a big pink bow in her hair. After she's turned into a human once again, she wears a light blue glittering dress. After she kisses Felix, 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 a low ponytail decorated with a white bow. She also wears a lavender gown with an up-do decorated with a golden tiara with pink and white gems on her necklace and earrings during Nathalie's 12th birthday party with her hair being a bit shorter due to it being adjusted. She still wears the same up-do with a green peasant dress when she's on Felix's ship and a pink and white dress with lavender 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

* **Superhuman Strength:** Danielle 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. Danielle likely retains her superhuman strength, even in her human form.
* **Superhuman Durability:** Danielle has superhuman durability, as, during the final battle with Havaxa 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. Danielle retains her superhuman durability, even in her human form.
* **Superhuman Speed:** Danielle 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, Danielle is the fastest mermaid in all of Atlantica. Danielle likely retains her superhuman speed, even in her human form.
* **Speed Swimming:** As a mermaid, Danielle is capable of swimming at a much faster rate than normal humans and even certain marine creatures in terms of undersea travel or sea travel, as a whole due to her half-marine status; for example, she was able to get to King Neptune's palace from Prince Felix'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. Danielle likely retains her speed swimming ability, even in her human form.
* **Underwater Breathing:** As a mermaid, Danielle 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. Danielle does not retain her ability to breathe underwater while she is in her human form.

* **Aquapathy:** As a mermaid, Danielle is capable of speaking with aquatic fauna. Danielle retains her ability to understand and communicate with aquatic/marine creatures, even in her human form.
* **Aquakinesis:** As a mermaid, Danielle 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). Danielle retains her aquakinesis even in her human form; as she and Melody both were able to cause unusual wave-forms.
* **Thermoendurance:** As a mermaid, Danielle 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 Celesta's lair, which was located inside an iceberg, and when visiting Havaxa's, which was located in a volcanic region. Danielle likely retains her thermoendurance, even in her human form.
* **Rapid Adaptability:** As a mermaid, Danielle is capable of rapid adaptability (she retains this ability, in both her human and mermaid forms respectively); for example, after she became human, Danielle was able to learn how to walk in a few minutes, and move in the same timespan; she also figured out how to run, when Max the sheepdog, unintentionally scared her, as she tried (in a failed attempt) to get away from him.

### Former Powers

* **Magic:** In the episode "T'ank You For Dat, Danielle", Danielle 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: Danielle's Beginning*, Danielle is an excellent singer; a talent that she inherited from her mother, the late Daelynn. According to Sebastian, she has the most beautiful voice in all of Atlantica; her voice is so beautiful, that even Felix had fallen in love with Danielle, 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: Danielle's Beginning*, Danielle is an excellent dancer; a talent inherent in most merpeople. After Danielle became human and when Felix 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, Danielle is capable of dancing in a similar fashion.
* **Expert Swimmer:** As a mermaid, Danielle is an excellent swimmer as seen in the first film, the TV series and the prequel film *The Little Mermaid: Danielle's Beginning*. However, as demonstrated in the first film, Danielle as a human (initially) was not very good at swimming. When Danielle became human (due to her inability to breathe underwater or swim without her tail that she was accustomed to) Flounder and Sebastian was 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*, Danielle 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, Danielle 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 Neptune's dolphins relatively easily. In her human form, she is able to ride horses in a similar fashion; when Felix took her out on a tour of his kingdom, he attempted to teach her how to ride a carriage controlled by his horses. Initially, Danielle lost control of the horses, as it turned into a wild ride to the point where Felix (a brave and daring adventurer in his own right) became terrified. However, she soon gained control of the horses (this is partly due to her rapid adaptability) to the point that Felix became relaxed again. In the storybook of *The Little Mermaid: Danielle And The Horse*, sometime after her marriage to Felix, the latter gave Danielle a foal (a baby horse) as a gift, who she named Splotch, and once Splotch grew into a mature stallion, she began to riding 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: Danielle's Beginning*, Danielle is an excellent musician, as she is capable of playing a guitar, 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, Danielle's skills with the calliope did not improve. 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 her.

### Weaknesses

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

## Appearances

### *The Little Mermaid*

As depicted in the film, Danielle is the youngest of Neptune's seven daughters and is 16 years old. She has a vast fascination with the world of humans, despite such contact being forbidden by Neptune, who is xenophobic and forbids contact between humans and her species.

At the beginning of the film, Danielle, 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 Danielle manages to outwit him. After escaping him, Danielle and Flounder swim up to the surface, where they speak to Diamond to identify human objects. She 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 Danielle of a concert she was initially supposed to be a part of. Unbeknownst to her, she is watched by two eels, Flotsam and Jetsam, through which Havaxa watches from her crystal ball bubble and orders them to keep an extra close watch on her.

Danielle hurries home to Neptune and Sebastian, who both rebuke her for missing the concert. Hearing from Flounder about her encounter with a seagull, Neptune reprimands her for swimming up to the surface, telling her how she could have been spotted by what he calls "barbarians" who could have snared her with a fishhook. After being demanded by him to obey his every rule and not go up to the surface again, she tearfully swims off to her secret grotto, where her collection of human objects, from books to other regular objects such as globes, mugs, and chests of jewels, is kept. 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.

Later, Danielle spots a ship passing above. Excited, she quickly swims up to the surface and toward it, where she watches the party on board. She then spots a male human named Felix, and remarks to Diamond how she has never seen a human this close before. Just then, a storm moves in and destroys the ship. She looks around for Felix and finds him floating unconscious in the sea. She carries him to the shore, where she sings to him about how she longs to be with him in his world but is forced to leave when a search team looking for Felix approach. She falls in love with him and becomes even more determined to accomplish her dreams of living alongside humanity. Back in Atlantica, Danielle's other sisters notice her humming dreamily, giving them a notion that she is in love. She comes up with a plan to somehow see Felix 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". While he tries to entertain her with a band of crustaceans producing music, Flounder comes over to her, whispers something in her ear, and they both swim off.

Flounder takes Danielle to her grotto, where he surprises her with a statue of Felix that he has somehow salvaged from the destroyed ship and added into her collection. She thanks him, but then faces a stern Neptune, who is very upset to learn from Sebastian that she has rescued a human being from drowning. Shocked and enraged that she is in love with that human, he loses his temper and in a blind rage, proceeds to destroy all the human objects in her grotto with his trident, including the statue of Felix. She tries pleading for him to stop, but to no avail. Devastated, she breaks down in tears, and an ashamed Triton leaves regretting what he has done. Sebastian, who has accompanied Neptune, tries to console her, only for her to tell him to leave. After he and Flounder exit, Flotsam and Jetsam appear to convince her to see their mistress, Havaxa, who may have the power to make her dream come true. Danielle initially attempts to refuse, but after the eels subtly toss what remains of Felix's statue toward her while taking their leave, she reluctantly follows them to Havaxa's fortress.

With Sebastian and Flounder following her, Danielle nervously and fearfully enters the fortress, and Havaxa calls for her. Havaxa, who knows that she is in love with a human by spying on her via Flotsam and Jetsam, tells her that she must become a human herself to be with Felix. Havaxa explains the deal to her: she will become a human for three days, during which she must get a kiss of true love from him before the sun sets on the third day in order to stay human; otherwise, she will turn back into a mermaid and will belong to Havaxa forever. Havaxa further states that as part of the deal, she must give up her voice in order to become a human. (Unbeknownst to her, the deal is simply a part of Havaxa's sinister plot to take Neptune's throne.) She, thinking that is her only chance to be with Prince Felix, accepts the deal as she signs a contract conjured by Havaxa, then orders Danielle to sing for her and summons magical hands to take her voice (represented by a glowing ball of golden light), which is then sealed into a seashell on Havaxa's necklace. Danielle 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, Diamond arrives and witnesses Danielles new legs for the first time. However, Sebastian is beyond furious, going into a nervous panic at what would happen if she failed to kiss Felix, as well as if King Neptune were to find out about the entire event. Frustrated, he begins trotting home, only to have her convince him to stay and help, knowing if they reversed the curse and went back home, she would be miserable once again. Now that the mission is set in motion, Diamond provides some "clothing" for her in the meantime, just as they are found by Felix's dog, Max, who leads his master to her. When he sees her, he finds her familiar, but when he sees that she is unable to talk, he gets the feeling that she can't be the girl he is looking for. Nevertheless, he takes her to his castle, where she takes a bath and gets dressed for dinner. As he, his manservant Grimsby, and maid Carlotta, join her, she notices a fork and uses it to comb her hair, making them dumbfounded, which makes her embarrassed. Noticing Grimsby's pipe, she takes it and, thinking it as a musical instrument, blows the contents into his face, and Felix laughs at the sight of him covered with ashes. After Grimsby wipes his face clean and dinner is served, he suggests that Felix takes her out on a tour of his kingdom, which she accepts.

The next day, Felix takes Danielle out to show her his kingdom, while Sebastian, Flounder, and Scuttle watch on, anxiously awaiting the moment they finally share the kiss of true love. During the tour, he teaches her to dance and ride a carriage. For her, finally exploring the human world freely, it was the best day of her life, with a constant smile beaming on her face as she curiously experiences the sights and sounds of the kingdom. That evening, they spend time in a lagoon, riding in a rowboat rowed by him. In order to get them to kiss, Diamond tries to provide some romantic stimulation. However, her terrible squawking (mistaken for singing) prompts Sebastian to lead some animals in the lagoon to create the mood with music and his song "Kiss the Girl". Danielle and Felix enjoy the sights and draw closer to a kiss, but before they can, Flotsam and Jetsam purposely tip the boat over by order of the scheming Havaxa (who's been watching their development from her fortress), prompting him to help her out of the water, and thus ruining the kiss.

The next day (which is the third and last of Danielle's human days), Diamond wakes her up and delivers the news that Felix is getting hitched. She excitedly runs downstairs, only to see him with a black-haired girl named Veronica, whom he intends to marry. She breaks down in tears and runs off, devastated that he has abandoned her. Later that afternoon, the wedding ship departs with him, Veronica, and the wedding guests on board, leaving a heartbroken Danielle to mourn the loss of him. Just then, Diamond comes over to tell her shocking news: Veronica is Havaxa in disguise, and Felix is marrying Haxava while entranced by her. Recalling Ursula's deal, she jumps into the sea, but has to grab onto one of the barrels released by Sebastian to stay afloat, and Flounder helps her to the wedding ship by pulling it. Danielle eventually reaches the ship and climbs aboard. Just then, the seashell on Haxava's necklace that Veronica has been wearing shatters in front of Danielle, freeing her voice, which is then restored to her. Felix, who has come out of a spell placed on him by Veronica, realizes that she is the girl he is looking for. He dumps Veronica and runs over to her. But just as they are about to kiss, the sun sets, and Danielle collapses as she turns back into a mermaid. Veronica, laughing wickedly at winning the deal, transforms back into Haxava, takes Danielle as her prisoner, and dives back into the sea with her.

As Haxava thinks of her next move, Neptune, having been alerted by Sebastian, confronts and orders her to release Danielle, to which she refuses. Danielle apologizes to Neptune as he attempts to destroy the contract, to no avail. Haxava proceeds to wither the princess and turn her into apolyp like all her other victims, proclaiming the contract to be legally unbreakable, but offers her freedom should Neptune be willing to take her place. Neptune accepts, and though Danielle is released, she is forced to watch as her father is withered and transformed into a polyp faster than when Haxava tried to do it to her. Haxava then takes his crown and trident, becoming queen of the seas, moments before an enraged Danielle tries to fight her off, though she is quickly restrained. Felix arrives to help her, striking Haxava with a harpoon. She prepares to destroy him with the trident, but Danielle pulls on her hair just as it shoots, causing the shot to miss Felix and hit Flotsam and Jetsam instead, vaporizing them. Furious over the loss of her pets, Haxava enlarges herself as an even more evil, nastier, monstrous version of herself. Danielle and Felix try to escape but then face a towering, gigantic Haxava. She declares herself as ruler of the ocean who has the power to control the waves and creates a rainstorm and whirlpool. Danielle is separated from Felix, and Haxava causes her to become trapped at the bottom of the whirlpool. Haxava fires bolts of pure destruction toward Danielle, who barely manages to avoid her painful death each time. Haxava then charges the trident to vaporize her with an unavoidable blast while taunting that she will never kiss Felix. Just then, Felix impales Haxava by plunging the splintered bow of one of the shipwrecks (that have surfaced as a result of the whirlpool) through her abdomen, killing her and saving Danielle in the nick of time.

With Haxava defeated, her spells upon the unfortunate merpeople are broken, including the spell cast upon Neptune, who transforms back into a merman. At the surface, Felix manages to swim to shore, breaking down out of exhaustion as a saddened Danielle watches on from a nearby rock. Neptune and Sebastian look on from a distance; the former finally softening up toward humans upon realizing Felix risked his own life to save Danielle. Knowing the love between them is pure and true, despite their differences as species, Neptune uses the power of the trident to permanently transform Danielle into a human, 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 Felix as he embraces her, and they share their first kiss. Some time later, the two 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 Diamond and Flounder and gives Neptune a heartwarming hug before happily sailing away with Felix. Neptune then casts a beautiful rainbow over the sky to wish the couple well as they start their new future together. Thanks to Danielle's courage, Neptune now understands that humans aren't bad and accepts Felix, her new husband, as his new son-in-law.

### *The Little Mermaid: The Series*

The prequel series, which first debuted in 1992, takes place during an indeterminate time chronologically before the 1989 film and revolves around Danielle'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 Coral, an orphaned mermaid. It also has her meeting Titus Floringsen, which also hints at both her possible birth year (ie. during his lifetime, yet at least 16 years before the writing of *The Little Mermaid*) 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".

Danielle 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. Felix is sometimes shown, but she always just misses seeing him, preserving the continuity that she sees him first in the 1989 film.

### *The Little Mermaid II: Return To The Sea*

In this 2000 direct-to-video sequel, Danielle serves as the deuteragonist. It is shown that she has given birth to a daughter named Nathalie (the new protagonist) prior to the start of the film. When we first see her playing with the beautiful newborn Nathalie, many toys of Flounder, Sebastian, and other fish can be seen in the room, showing that she misses her old friends and family. When Nathalie's safety is threatened by a sea witch named Celesta (Ursula's younger sister), Danielle and Felix decide they must keep Nathalie away from the sea, and to this effect, they build a large wall separating the castle from it.

As a consequence, this also meant Danielle could not visit her ancestral home. Nathalie's love of the sea proves too strong, however, and when she falls into Celesta's clutches, Danielle is forced to temporarily resume her mermaid form in order to rescue and save Nathalie from Celesta's scheme.

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

She is the first and so far only mother of the Calico Princesses.

### *Cathy's Cathouse*

Danielle appears as a regular guest in the animated television series *Cathy's Cathouse* and its specials, usually sitting with Sebastian and Scuttle. Her appearance alternates irregularly between her human form and mermaid form, 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 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." Danielle sits there looking embarrassed and ashamed, and upon hearing this, she snatches the necklace containing her voice away from Ursula, much to her anger.

Also in "Everybody Loves Cathy", Danielle wishes that Cathy could live under the sea with her.

In "House of Preston", she was one of many Calico characters shoved at one table as Preston was trying to save money.

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

In "Salute to Sports", she is sitting next to Neptune when he creates a literal wave after Cathy told the crowd to do the "wave".

In "The Cat Who Came to Dinner", she is sitting next to Sebastian before Marjorie takes him to cook for Cornbread, who was pretending to be a critic. She is later seen laughing with the rest of the audience after the crew call him out and insult him.

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

In "Suddenly Hades", Boris 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 Danielle was still present.

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

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

Danielle also appears in *Cathy's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the Cathouse*. In the film, Danielle, along with Felix and other characters, are snowed in and trapped inside the club. Danielle is the first to openly have faith in Cathy Cat, who she believes will have a plan.

### *The Little Mermaid III: Danielle's Beginning*

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

Ten years later, Danielle and her sisters live under a strict routine maintained by their governess Nerida Shoresberg and her assistant Grayson. Nerida hates being the girls' governess and longs to be Neptune's attaché, a job currently filled by Sebastian. Danielle is frustrated by their current lifestyle, which brings her into conflict with her father. One day, Danielle 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 Danielle will tell her father about them. Danielle sings a song explaining her love of music and the remembrance of her mother and she joins the club with an oath.

Danielle returns to the palace, and 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. Nerida secretly finds them, and she later reports their activities to Neptune. Sebastian, Flounder, and the band are sent to jail, while Nerida gets the job she wants.

Neptune confines his daughters to the palace, which results in Danielle asking him why music isn't allowed. Neptune refuses to answer and shouts that he won't have music in his kingdom. Distraught, Danielle confronts Neptune and says that Daelynn wouldn't have wanted music to be forbidden and angrily swims to the girls' bedroom, her saddened sisters soon following, while Nerida, who is not the girls' governess anymore, is now Neptune'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 Danielle finds Athena's music box, as Sebastian hoped. Danielle and Sebastian decide to return to Atlantica to bring the music box to Neptune, hoping that it will change his mind, as he has forgotten how to be happy after Daelynn's death.

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

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

### *Chloe The First*

Danielle 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 Chloe with her trouble of saving her mermaid friend and her family's ship in danger and sings "The Love We Share" to encourage Chloe to enlist Marina to help her save Delta. She is later seen at the end of the special by the floating palace jumping into the water.

## Live Action Appearances

### *Once Upon A Time*

Danielle is a recurring character on the hit show *Once Upon a Time*. She is portrayed by Laura Patting.

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

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

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

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

After learning that Danielle was sent by Rumplestiltskin, Cadence takes her to Gold's shop, where Cadence 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 are now working for Ollie Oak. John and Michael the two of them up and take the item to destroy it. In order to get out of the ropes, Cadence removes Danielle's bracelet, which allows Danielle to wiggle free from the ropes and undo Cadence's bindings. Danielle then puts the bracelet back on and goes after John and Michael.

Danielle and Cadence find John and Michael just before they destroy the box. Cadence 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 Oak is because he has been holding their sister Violet hostage. Cadence manages to convince them, however, that if they help her, the ones in Neverland will be able to use Pandora's box to defeat Oak.

Danielle returns to Neverland and gives Pandora's box to Gold. As a reward, Cana enchants the bracelet, so that Danielle can become a human whenever she wishes. Before Danielle departs, she tells Cana and Gold about Violet's situation. Cana exhibits no concern about Violet, since she only cares about Finn. However, Danielle manages to convince her and Gold to do what they can to help Violet. Upon returning to Storybrooke, Danielle finds Felix 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, Felix is captured by the pirate Blackbeard. Danielle, however, believes that Captain Hook was responsible and tracks him down. Upon learning that Blackbeard also has his ship, Danielle and Hook agree to work together. In order to take his ship back, Hook throws Blackbeard over the edge without learning where Felix is. Danielle is forced to rescue Blackbeard so that she can rescue Felix. She eventually relocates with Felix to Hangman's Island.

The guilt Hook still feels for his nearly sacrificing any attempt to rescue Felix is later exploited by the Wicked Witch of the West. She impersonates Danielle, so that she can get Hook to admit he loves Olivia Hood in a "plea for redemption." Using this, she is able to curse his lips. She also reveals that Danielle and Felix 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 Ruby and her fiancé Dominic, of Torridia. After her return to Torridia, Queen Rowan trapped it in a bottle and Danielle accidentally becomes trapped inside as well. She is freed after Hook restores his ship in Storybrooke. After Haxava throws Hook overboard, Danielle saves his life and helps him discover a new plan to help restore Haxava's happy ending. She later helps contact Haxava's father, Poseidon, and bring him to Storybrooke so he can reconcile with his daughter.

After this, Danielle returns to Hangman's Island. A while later, she enters her hut to discover Hook, Toha, and Zinnia have broken in and triggered a trap. She is pleased to see Hook and Zinnia again and soon also becomes acquainted with Toha. After learning of their plight and that they were led to her hut while tracking Zafar, she brings out a lamp which she believes to be Agrabahn. Zinnia takes the lamp and, assured by the presence of Danielle, Hook and Toha, who she believes to be heroes, prepares to face her fears and Zafar. However, when Zafar emerges, he is easily able to break the genie curse, much to Danielle's surprise, and proceeds to freeze Danielle, Toha and Hook in place, before he faces Zinnia alone. After Zinnia has used magical dust to transform Zafar into a staff, the trio are freed from the sorcerer's magic and regain mobility. Zinnia 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 Toha, magically transporting Agrabah back to its proper place and the four heroes with it. Now that the ring no longer contains the kingdom, Danielle asks for permission to keep it as a trinket. Afterward, Hook asks Danielle 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 Olivia, Danielle 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 Olivia the truth of what happened, though he is unsure if she is on the other end.

## Printed Material

### *The Little Mermaid* Calico Comics Serial

Danielle was the main character in a few of the comic stories in the four-issue serial. The timeframe takes place at least a year prior to the film, due to Danielle being referred to as 15. The first and second issues had her disposing of a creature called the Serpentine in a failed negotiation with the Moray people. She also ended up abducted by a metallic fish in the final issue.

### *The Little Mermaid* Pyrite Comics Serial

She was the main character in the 12-issue Marvel serial comics that, like the TV series, took place prior to the events of the first film. One of the issues also had her acting as a knight. She also saved Flounder from petrification in the penultimate issue. In the final issue, after a fight with Neptune, she managed to learn the history of Atlantica and Atlantis from a wizard fish. She eventually told Neptune this, but when she tried to find the wizard fish, he disappeared, although not before leaving a note.

Besides the main storyline, Danielle also featured in the 12th Issue of the anthology series Disney Comic Hits!, which had been a previously unpublished story.

### *Novelizations*

Danielle also appeared in several novelizations, both in human form and in mermaid form:

In *Reflections of Vaaxah*, Danielle was suspicious of the newcomer mermaid named Vaxaah, and eventually uncovered that the latter was actually Havaxa in disguise. She proceeded to expose Vaaxah's true identity with a flock of reflecting scaled fish.

In *Danielle and the Aquamarine Jewel*, she, after becoming human, was requested by Neptune to find several of Atlantica's treasures after a storm cast them out to sea, also necessitating that she return to mermaid form. She managed to retrieve them all, and Neptune rewarded her by letting her keep one of the treasures and aquamarine necklace. It's implied in this story that she became much more well-versed in the knowledge of human behaviors and items, as she managed to politely correct Diamond about what a human item was with some amusement.

Another story had her having a picnic with her sisters (herself sitting on an offshore rock, due to her being human during that time).

Another story, *Danielle's Dolphin Adventure*, had Danielle and Felix creating a wall so her old friends could be with her due to her missing them, but unintentionally trapped a baby dolphin inside. The wall was eventually destroyed by Neptune after Danielle requested his assistance.

### *Kazumi Princess*

In the manga series *Kazumi Princess*, Danielle plays a prominent role in Kazumi's adventure to become a princess. She is the second Calico Princess to be visited. While mistaking Kazumi to be a fish, she helps her look for a young prince named Ami, who separated from her in a storm. After finding the prince and providing medicine, she becomes curious with love and hopes to find her own true love someday. It inspires her to sing.

After Ami was captured by Haxava, Flounder comes to inform Danielle. On their way to Haxava's lair, Flounder collapses due to exhaustion and injury. Danielle then inspires Kazumi to fight using her singing voice to remind her of the strength of love. After Haxava is defeated, Danielle gives Kazumi an aquamarine gem. Danielle is last seen handing an emerald to Kazumi's Magic Tiara.

### *Kingdom Keepers*

The mermaid first appears in *Power Play* when she helps Gracie escape Claude Frollo. She then teams up with the Keepers to defeat The Overtakers. It is revealed at the end of the book that she is friends with the captain of the *Calico Magic*.

In the second book *Calico at Dawn*, Gracie approaches a cast member of the park who's dressed up as Danielle for autographs. She tells Gracie that Captain Hook was acting strange and leaving his usual meet and greet spot.

### *Poor Unfortunate Soul: Tale Of The Sea Witch*

Danielle appears in the novel written by Geonna Pinna, in a significantly reduced role, as Haxava's backstory is the main focus. She appears only in the events that are canon to the original film.

Within the novel she appear officially three times, but is mostly seen briefly or mention during the storyline. The three times she does officially debut take on a interesting view of both the character in view point (Danielle's perspective) and observation (Haxava's perspective).

The first time begins when she comes to Haxava to solve her problem of being a mermaid, as the scene unfolds through the chapter. It is revealed that Danielle was fully aware after signing the contract that she had made a serious mistake along with how terrified she was of the uncertain fate she placed herself in, and what the experience it was for Danielle to lose her voice, which turned out to be excruciatingly painful.

Second time in the story she appear on the third day and unveils her thoughts during and after Felix is going to marry the mysterious girl of his dreams, Veronica (Haxava in disguise). Showing how much Danielle wished she could undo the damage she cause, yet knowing and willing to face the consequences of her actions. Until it is reveal by Diamond that she has been deceived all along by Haxava.

The last and final time Danielle is seen rising off on her wedding ship with Felix. She is full of joy that things have worked out with her father, and that she will be able to finally be a part of the human world with the man she loves.

## Video Games

### *The Little Mermaid* (NES)

Taking place either after Felix skewered Haxava or sometime after Danielle signed her contract in an alternate version of the original story, Danielle and Felix are planning to wed, but the sea-witch Haxava (perhaps somehow resurrected) has taken control of the ocean. So Danielle becomes a mermaid once more and sets off to rescue the sea.

The game takes place from a side view and Danielle (swimming most of the time, but hopping around on the land occasionally) can shoot bubbles to trap her foes and can then throw them at each other or into nooks and crannies (to potentially find treasure). She can also dig through sand to find treasure and pick up sea shells with which to break open chests. Some of her old foes, such as the shark Glut and moray eels Flotsam and Jetsam, have returned as stage bosses, while other bosses are new.

After Haxava is defeated for good, Danielle attempts to return to the surface and become human, but she cannot return to being a human. Much like in the ending of the original film, Neptune then attempts to help Danielle out by transforming her back into a human, and their wedding continues as planned.

Although this game is not canon, this exact situation where Danielle had to be turned back into a mermaid would be duplicated in *The Little Mermaid II* where she leaves a much larger boat (Felix's lead fleet ship) rather than his rowboat as in the NES game. In addition, her bubble attack is later referenced as a spell card in Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom.

### *Danielle: The Little Mermaid* (Genesis)

The Genesis game features Danielle, (or Neptune) on a quest to save the transformed Atlanteans, (and either Neptune or Danielle, depending on whom the player choose to play as) from Haxava's spell. This game most likely takes place before Daniele saved Felix from the shipwreck.

The gameplay allows the player to move in 8 directions, with the goal being to locate and transform Haxava's polyps back into Merfolk. The player is given a "normal attack" and "special attack". During the gameplay, the player can collect treasure, which after finding his icon, can trade with Diamond for health, special characters, (Like Flounder and Sebastian) and special powers to aid them on their quest. After saving all the Atlanteans in a stage, the player must then face a boss, the final encounter being Havaxa herself, and the transformed Neptune, (or Danielle if the player chose to play as Neptune), being the final polyp that must be rescued.

### *Kingdom Hearts*

Danielle appears in the *Kingdom Hearts* series. She is featured in the game, not as one the seven Princesses of Heart (her spot is taken by Lottie from "Lottie's Wonderland") but as one of two female warriors, along with Yang, to join Kaede, Bunnie, and Marjorie in the fight against the Heartless.

She makes her series debut in *Kingdom Hearts*, where she encounters Kaede, Bunnie, and Marjorie for the first time during her latest phase. The young mermaid expresses her desire to see the mysterious worlds beyond the sea, though her father forbids it. Even so, she's soon manipulated by Haxava into revealing the legendary keyhole of her world in exchange for her dream come true. Fortunately, enough, Kaede and friends are able to defeat the sea witch with Danielle's help, restoring peace and unveiling the keyhole, which Kaede must lock.

In the sequel *Kingdom Hearts II*, Danielle's dreams of traveling the worlds were put aside for the simpler dream of living upon the surface. A dream that was only pushed further upon discovering the handsome Prince Felix. With Kaede, Bunnie, Marjorie, Sebastian, and Flounder by her side, Danielle challenges her struggles and makes her dream a reality, with King Neptune eventually giving his blessing, like in the film, after seeing Felix risks his life for Danielle's safety at the hands of a revived Haxava. Before leaving upon opening the keyhole, however, Kaede and Danielle vow that they'll see each other again.

Danielle would also appear in the title *Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories*, but as a fragment of Kaede's memories and with a much smaller role.

Danielle will appear in *Kingdom Hearts III* as a Link summon. She has an ability called *Lagoon Showtime*, involving her summoned through a current of water where Kaede will swing her overhead when she enters. Her initial attacks allow Kaede to dive through platforms like water, while her final attack consists of Danielle and Kaede entering an encore dance as water spouts from the ground akin to waterworks.

### *Calico Princess: Enchanted Journey*

In this game, Danielle is first seen sitting on a rock near the harbor waiting for the red-haired heroine of the game who has a bow on her head to befriend her. She convinces her that the land and the sea had lost their music so she took her under the sea to get the singing voices of the merpeople back and keep her human treasures from being broken. Later, they guide all the blue crabs to safety and go to the lagoon to bring in the chorus of animals.

### *Nectus Calicoland Adventures*

Danielle appears as a meet-and-greet character in front of *It's a Small World* as well as a participant in the *Cathy's Soundsational Parade* and *Princess Fantasy Faire* mini-games. Danielle asks the player to complete several tasks as well. One includes finding seashells for a collection. Another involves finding some decor to decorate her parade float with. At one point, Diamond loses a load of dinglehoppers and Danielle asks the player to help retrieve them for her so that she can return them to Diamond.

## Musical

A stage musical version of the 1989 film had its world premiere in Sunset City, Kokkino in 2007 for its pre-Broadway tryout, and on January 10, 2008 debuted on Broadway. The character of Danielle for the stage adaptation was originated by Sabrina Lowry. Joanne Bailey her original voice actor, attended the opening night.

A few new songs were added to the score, accompanying the songs in the film that were moved to the stage. "The World Above" is Danielle's introductory song, and in the revised book after closing on Broadway, the show's opening number, replacing the entire shark-chase sequence in the film. In Act 2, although Danielle has become mute, she sings two songs expressing her thoughts and feelings, these songs being "Beyond My Wildest Dreams", where Danielle explores the human world for the first time, and "If Only", in which Danielle laments that she cannot express her feelings to Felix. Additionally, Danielle's voice can be heard in the extended opening of "Fathoms Below", although she is not seen on-stage.

The stage musical features new plot elements not present in the film. It is explained through dialogue that Danielle inherited her mother's singing voice, adding another layer to Neptune's protectiveness of her. Danielle and Felix's romance is expanded from the film, as explored in a musical sequence "One Step Closer" where the pair dance together. In the climatic battle, it is Danielle, not Felix, who destroys Haxava by smashing the magic shell. The reason for this change was that the musical's creative team did not want Danielle to come off as passive. It is to be noted that she also is labeled as Haxava's niece in the musical, based on a deleted concept on the film.

## Calico Parks

Danielle makes appearances in all of the Calico parks. At Calico World's Magic Kingdom and Azuma CalicoSea, she can be found for meet-and-greets at her own special location known as Danielle's Grotto in her mermaid form, while her human form is available for meet and greets at Fantasy Faire in Calicoland and the princess meet-and-greets at Calicoland Rayis and Hong Kong Calicoland.

Interestingly, Danielle is rather common in terms of cameo appearances in a few attractions. She can be spotted in Ollie Oak's Flight amongst the other mermaids of Mermaid Lagoon and in the Calicoland and Hong Kong Calicoland versions of It's a Small World.

### Calicoland

In Tsukiluna, Danielle appears during Cath*y's Soundsational Parade*, and also takes center stage in her own segment of the Calico Tsukiluna Adventure nighttime spectacular *World of Color*, singing a rendition of "Part of Your World" that transitions in Sebastian's "Under the Sea" performance.

### Calico World

In animated form, Danielle takes part in Cathy's PhilharMagic, where she performs "Part of Your World" as Bunnie tries to retrieve the newest addition to her human collection--Cathy's sorcerer hat. The rabbit 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 Calico's Maplewood Studios, Danielle appears in *Voyage of the Little Mermaid* and *Fantasmic!*

Danielle serves as the star of the dark ride *The Little Mermaid: Danielle's Undersea Adventure*, which can be found at Calico Tsukiluna Adventure and the Magic Kingdom. Danielle 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*, Danielle assists Sebastian, Merlin the Wizard and the park guests in stopping Havaxa when Hades brings her back to life to assist the Underworld ruler in his attempts to take over the Magic Kingdom. Havaxa even attempts to disguise herself as Danielle at one point to try and fool Merlin and the guests. Later on, the real Danielle happily congratulates the park guests after Havaxa is defeat. Danielle also has her own spell card called "Danielle's Bubble Attack".

### Azuma Calico Resort

In *Danielle's Seaside Treasures*, after the marriage with Prince Felix, Danielle heard that her father King Neptune had been feeling lonely for missing her. So she planned a big party at the seaside with both human and mer-people for the king! This was the special event taken place at Azuma Calico Sea on Summer of 2003.

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

### Juntai Calicoland

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

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

## Calico Princess

Danielle is one of the eleven official members of the Calico 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. Danielle is usually depicted in her mermaid form on merchandise but also appears in her human form wearing her pink dress, white wedding dress or blue dress. The Calico Princess magazine features comics and posters of Danielle, usually in her mermaid form, but also in her human form as well.

### Redesign

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

Danielle's blonde hair is much wavier and greater detail is shown and it also appears more voluminous. She is clad in a beautiful off-the-shoulder gown that has the same distinctive hot pink color as her tail, with the overskirt being a paler pink that matches her tail fins as do the long, puffy sleeves covering her arms and the petticoat under her dress. The hem of the overskirt has many elaborate swirly designs which include pictures of sea-related things. She wears golden scallop seashell earrings with a matching brooch on her dress and a pair of pink pumps to protect her feet.

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

The modified redesigns of her mermaid form have added a sparkly effect to her mermaid tail, giving the impression of fish scales caught in a gradient light and a similarity to the patterns on her pink dress, also with golden earrings that are similar to her seashell bra on her mermaid form.

### Palace Pets

Danielle's Palace Pets are Seashell, Pearl, Sandy, Barker, and Trident.

## Trivia

* Unlike her sisters, as a mermaid, Danielle 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*, Danielle is referenced when Fiona tosses a mermaid bearing Danielle'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 Calico and FantasyWorks.
* Danielle's namesake is most likely a reference to William Shakespeare's *The Tempest*, where the play's character of Danielle is an air spirit (referring to HC Andersen's original ending of his tale).
* Danielle's pose while she was sitting on a rock looking at an unconscious Felix near the end of the movie was inspired by the statue of The Little Mermaid in Vattenbla, Sweden.
* Although Danielle and Daelynn bare a striking resemblance, her personality is more similar to that of her father, King Neptune's. This is especially noticeable in *The Little Mermaid II*, when Danielle reprimands her daughter Nathalie, for disobeying orders and venturing out into the sea, the same way Danielle disobeyed her father's orders and venturing up to the surface in the first film.
* Danielle's daughter, Nathalie, shares almost all of Danielle's personality traits from the first film. However, Danielle dreamt of becoming human and living on land while Nathalie's dream was to swim beneath the waves. Nathalie 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 Danielle.
* In *Spellcast,* the animated troll hunted down by Prince Edgar wears Danielle's seashells as earrings.
* In *Yuka and Wally's Wild About Safety* short *In the Water*, Wally briefly makes a reference to Danielle.
* The first real dress Danielle wears after she is a human is blue, similarly, the first dress her daughter is shown wearing is blue as well.
* Danielle 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, Danielle was originally going to be depicted with red hair, but was changed into a blonde in order to distinguish her from another famous Calico mermaid, Hannah from Touchstone Pictures' *Splash*.
* In *Epic Cathy: Powers of Magic*, Danielle is seen trapped in a crystal.
* Danielle's eyes are redesigned when she became a woman in *Return to the Sea*.
* Voice actress Victoria Shields, known for voicing Raz on *Invader Zim* and Riza Sakura on *Digimon*, auditioned for the part of Danielle. However, she was called back several times, and was turned down in favor of Joanne Bailey because she sounded "too young."
* According to the *Calicostrology* book, her birthday is October 8. Ironically, some merchandising items indicate she is a Pisces (born between February 18 and March 20).
* Danielle is right handed, as shown when she signs her name on Havaxa's contract in the first film.
* The storyline of Danielle stealing King Neptune's trident in *Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories* is taken from *The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea*, where Danielle's daughter Nathalie, steals Neptune's trident (although for completely different reasons).
* Danielle has the most songs sung by any Calico movie character, despite the fact that she only has one song in her original movie (not counting the reprise).
* Danielle was the subject of an internet meme called "Hipster Danielle", which depicted Danielle with horn-rimmed glasses and saying a humorous statement.
	+ Hipster Danielle 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 Danielle's hair while underwater was based on footage of the astronaut Amy Huntley in zero gravity.
* On the Pyrite site, there was a create your own Pyrite Superhero. One of these Superhero concepts, "Little Mermaid", was based on Danielle.

## Differences From The Source Material

* The original Mermaid had only 5 sisters.
* The Mermaid's name is not revealed.
* The age of the Mermaid in the story was 15.
* The Mermaid has a grandmother in the original story with whom she frequently speaks.
* The Mermaid was actually permitted to swim to the surface and observe the human world when she turned 15. This plot point was given a subtle reference in the song "Part of Your World" with the lyric "When's it my turn? Wouldn't I love, love to explore that shore up above?"
* The Mermaid asks her grandmother about humans. Her grandmother explains that humans have a much shorter lifespan than the 300 years of the merfolk, but that when mermaids die they turn to sea foam and cease to exist, while humans have an eternal soul that lives on in Heaven. Having an eternal soul was one of the Mermaid's main motivations of becoming human in the original story.
* Rather than selling her voice to the Sea Witch, the witch sells her a potion that gives her legs in exchange for her tongue. She was warned that she would never be able to return to the sea. In exchange for her lost ability to sing and speak, she gains the ability to have amazing dancing skill. In addition, she will only obtain a soul if she finds true love and if the prince loves her and marries her. Otherwise, at dawn on the first day after he marries another woman, the Mermaid will die brokenhearted and turn into sea foam.
	+ On a related note, because of the motives for Danielle being changed (see above), the Calico version implied that the merpeople already possessed souls, especially regarding Havaxa absorbing several souls from their deals. This is highlighted in her signature song, "Poor Unfortunate Souls".
* The prince believes a different princess saved him from drowning, rather than the Mermaid, and he falls in love with this girl and marries her.
* In the original ending, the Mermaid's heart breaks when the prince marries another girl. She despairs, thinking of the death that awaits her, but before dawn, her sisters bring her a knife that the Sea Witch has given them at the cost of their hair. If she slays the prince with the knife and lets his blood drip on her feet, she will become a mermaid again, all her suffering will end, and she will live out her full life. She can't bring herself to kill him and instead throws herself into the sea. She becomes a spirit called the "daughter of the air" and learns if she does good deeds for 300 years she will eventually rise into heaven with God, but only if the children of the world are good.
	+ There was a debate among the scholar over the ending. Some said this is an unnatural addition to the tale. One even commented "This final message is more frightening than any other presented in the tale. The story descends into the Victorian moral tales written for children to scare them into good behavior."
* When the Mermaid got her feet, she would experience excruciating pain as if she were walking on knives but she still ended up dancing with her lover despite that.
* The Mermaid got her statue before meeting and rescuing the prince, and it is implied that her main motivation for saving him was because he looked just like her statue. In the movie, Danielle got the statue *after* rescuing Felix.
	+ In addition, Danielle's interest in humanity had more focus in the movie than in the original tale, notably having an established interest in humanity before meeting Felix, even frequently disobeying Neptune's commands that she stay away from the surface or get a human collection. The original mermaid lacked any interest in collecting objects from the surface beyond her marble statue, only being interested in tending to underwater red flowers. Ironically, it was her sisters who frequently plundered ships for objects instead of the mermaid herself, while in the Calico version, Danielle was more interested in collecting than her sisters. According to the writers, they changed this specific plot point specifically to avoid the resulting implication that Danielle only desired to become human because of Felix.