Merida

**Princess Merida** is the protagonist of Disney•Pixar's 2012 animated feature film, *Brave*. She is a Scottish princess from the kingdom of DunBroch, the daughter of Queen Elinor and King Fergus, and the older sister of Harris, Hubert, and Hamish. Headstrong and intrepid, Merida challenged her kingdom's longstanding traditions to live a life of independence.

Merida is the eleventh official member of the Disney Princess line-up after Rapunzel, and the first to originate from a Pixar film.

## Background

Merida is the headstrong and free-spirited 16-year old tomboyish, willful daughter of Queen Elinor, who rules the kingdom alongside her husband, King Fergus. Queen Elinor's expectations of her daughter cause Merida to see Elinor as being distant while also causing friction between the two. Despite Elinor's desire to see Merida as a proper royal lady, Merida is an impetuous girl who wants to take control of her own destiny. Merida has honed her skill in archery and is one of the most skilled archers ever seen. She is also skilled in sword-fighting and racing across the countryside on her horse, Angus. Despite her outgoing, forceful, headstrong, and willful personality, Merida does have a playful softness of heart; particularly when it comes to her younger triplet brothers, Harris, Hubert, and Hamish.

## Appearance

Merida has a slender figure with pale skin, a round face, a light dusting of freckles, long, curly, red hair, and blue eyes.

At the start of the film, Merida was seen in a dark teal cotton dress that exposing bits of her undergarments from the back and on her sleeves.

Merida is dressed in a sheer turquoise gown with gold trimming and a square neckline for her coronation, along with a white headdress and a gold tiara to keep her hair in place. Eventually, she tears the dress slightly to gain better movement in her body and proper pose in holding her bow and arrows.

## Personality

Merida is a very bold, brave, daring, courageous, stubborn, rebellious, and headstrong girl who does not fit the stereotypical princess role. Rather than being a damsel in distress who is subservient to the customs, traditions, and social restrictions her society places on her and expects her to follow, Merida openly rebels and defies her heritage as a princess and would like for nothing more than to be a normal girl. She is very athletic and enjoys nothing more than riding her horse Angus and practicing her archery, of which she is the best in the kingdom. She also seems to be skilled in sword fighting, as shown in the Brave featurette "Cutting the Class". Merida tends to be ungraceful and has bad manners, and is extremely tomboyish.

In terms of personality, she greatly parallels and resembles her father, as the two both tend to be unruly, impulsive, and loud. However, she also does resemble her mother in terms of stubbornness and inability to listen to others.

When Merida was younger, she had a close relationship with both her mother and her father. She showed a curious side as she followed the wisps despite needing to go back to the trail and seemed to believe in the legends and myths of her kingdom, highlighting her innocence and naivety. She also tended to be playful, as shown by her playing hide-and-seek with her mother and being very hyperactive. Merida is also shown to have developed an interest in archery early on her childhood, possibly by influence from her father.

As she has grown up, Merida is still very energetic and free-spirited but has a more strained relationship with her mother (though she still holds the same good relationship with her father) and is more rebellious. She views the strict training and social etiquette that her mother teaches her as tedious and bothersome. She also thinks her mother places too much expectation on her to become the same type of person she is without listening to what she wants to be, which is true since her mother continually and strictly instructed her in how to be a "proper" princess, and arranged for the three clans to present their heirs as potential fiancés for Merida without her consent. However, Merida also hardly ever understands her mother's feelings about wanting to do what she believed would be best for Merida or properly conveying her feelings and understanding how her desire for freedom and rebelliousness could potentially and negatively affect the kingdom. Throughout the film, however, after Merida rebuilds her bond with her mother (in bear form) while they catch fish to eat at a riverbank and realizes all the trouble she has caused with her reckless actions, she proceeds to make amends, and with her mother's help, creates a diplomatic solution that allows everyone to be happy and for her to have a better understanding of the importance of her mother's role and wisdom while teaching her mother to learn to listen and understand her better.

She is also shown to be very adventurous and brave, as she enjoys wandering around the forests that surround her kingdom and even climbed the Crone's Tooth and drank from the fire falls, something her father has mentioned that only the bravest kings have done. She was also willing to defend her mother from her father after her father tried to kill her (as she was in her bear form and Fergus mistakenly believed that she in her bear form killed Elinor) and again when she shot arrows at Mor'du to protect him from attacking her father.

Unfortunately, Merida is very short-tempered and impulsive, causing her to do things without considering the consequences her actions can lead to. For example, she wanted her parents to call off the gathering for the three clans allied with the DunBroch despite the fact it could possibly lead to war. She also entered the games that would determine who would be her groom, so she could "shoot for her own hand." However, she was unaware that this would lead to a disagreement between the three clans and DunBroch clan until after she returns to the castle with her mother after going to the witch's cottage in an attempt to find a way to reverse the curse that turned Elinor into the bear. This was also shown when she bought a spell from a witch to "change her mother" without realizing the potential harm the spell could do to her or what would happen to her. Through seeing the consequences of her actions, she goes to appreciate the role her mother plays as a diplomat, especially when (due to Elinor being a bear) Merida had to act as the diplomat and settle matters herself. This also helps to mend the distance between her and Elinor.

Merida can also be slightly selfish, as shown when after feeding her mother the cake that contained the spell that would "change her mother", she ignored her mother's pain and groaning and consistently bombarded her with questions of whether she had changed her mind about the engagement, and also when she wanted to call off the gathering, despite seemingly knowing it might cause trouble as she mentions "we expect your declarations of war in the morning". However, Merida can understand when she is wrong and will do her best to fix what has happened.

Despite her impulsivity and short temper, Merida can keep a calm head in a dangerous situation, as shown when she manages to calm her mother after her mother nearly attacks and runs frantically after the wisps and when she settles the dispute between the three different clans. She is also very quick-witted, as she quickly manages to bargain the witch for a spell by offering to give her her medallion in exchange for all the wood carvings and one spell, when she realizes she could enter herself in the games as she was "the firstborn of the four clans" and could, therefore, win her own hand in marriage, along with understanding that Mor'du the bear was actually the prince from the legends who led his kingdom into a war between him and his brothers due to his selfish desire and lust for power.

Merida is kind and caring to those she cares about and who are very close to her, as shown through her interaction with her family, particularly her brothers (whom she dotes on). She is also shown to care for her horse, Angus, greatly, as she personally tends and cares for him and does not let anyone else do it for her.

Overall, Merida has grown throughout the film from a stubborn, rebellious, and defiant person to a more understanding, open-minded individual and remaining brave, courageous, kind, adventurous, free-spirited, compassionate, and loyal to those she loves the most.