Belle

* Live Action
* Animated

## Personal information

### Personality

Unconventional, intelligent, compassionate, graceful, selfless, educated, sophisticated, caring, sweet, bibliophilic, assertive, outspoken, curious, stubborn, headstrong, kind, gentle, sensible, spirited

### Allies

Beast, Ben, Mal, Evie, Jay, Carlos De Vil, Fairy Godmother, Aurora, Phillip, Snow White, Ariel, Rapunzel, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Other Auradon Heroes, Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, Chip, Hades, Persephone

### Enemies

Maleficent, Gaston, LeFou, Evil Queen, Cruella De Vil, Jafar, Ursula, Captain Hook, Hades (formerly), Victoria Hearts

### Family

Beast (husband)Ben (son)

Mal (daughter-in-law)

Maurice (father)

Unnamed mother; deceased

## Appearance information

### Movies

Beauty and the Beast

**Queen Belle** is one of the supporting characters in the *Descendants* franchise. She is also the co-founder and former queen of the kingdom of Auradon.

She's one of the heroes and she is also the wife of Beast, the mother of Ben, and the mother-in-law of Mal. Belle is also the protagonist of Disney's 1991 feature animated film, *Beauty and the Beast*.

## Character Information

### Personality

Belle has gained a significant amount of intelligence over the years due to her love of books, which provided her with an elevated vocabulary, an active imagination, and an open mind. She is very confident and outspoken in her opinions and seldom likes being told what to do. Despite all this, she doesn't have very many friends. Her smarts and free-thinking attitude make her stand out from her fellow townspeople, who regard her as a little odd behind her beauty.

Belle is known throughout the village for her beauty, with one villager commenting that it has no parallel, but she isn't vain or concerned about her looks, although she knows it. She is only too aware that her fellow citizens think of her as "odd" and "peculiar".

Belle appears less concerned about her or others' appearances and is able to look past appearances into their personality. In addition, Belle pays very little attention or concern to her appearance, unlike the very rude and arrogant Gaston. This is how she manages to break the Beast's curse and bring love and laughter to the castle.

Belle is somewhat of a free woman for her time and resists being mistreated, undermined, humiliated, demeaned, or controlled by anyone, especially and specifically by Gaston. She appeared disgusted with Gaston's description of marriage together, such as having six to seven sons or rubbing his feet. Even when agreeing to live under the Beast's control, she acts independently.

Belle willingly listens to, takes advice from, and admires her father Maurice since, throughout most of her life, he's the only person who has believed in her unconditionally. She also considers the opinions and directions of the Beast, because, like Maurice, he is able to treat her as an equal (the Beast eventually learned how throughout the course of the film). Belle also seemed to have a good relationship with the bookseller, presumably because of his encouraging her to pursue her love of literature.

Belle's compassionate heart and warm nature also embeds in an impressively brave woman that neither listens nor cares about what the other townspeople say about her. She refuses Gaston's wedding proposal and remains the only girl to resist his "charms" due to his rude, sexist demeanor instead of mindlessly lavishing over him based purely on the physical. Her most triumphant moments in the film are when she willingly trades her freedom for her father's without much hesitation, and manage to stand up against the Beast at certain points. However, like any human, Belle does fear things, such as wolves, Beast's Castle, family disappearance, etc. The Beast also, at first, manages to make the situation of her predicament as a prisoner, never to see her father or dreams again, come crushing down in tears. Especially when her captor himself is 10 feet, easily angered monster which commands her entire life. Nevertheless, the unconditional love Belle places to those close to her, including the Beast eventually, make her strong enough to risk her life for theirs.

Belle is quite stubborn when it comes to stating and upholding her opinions and maintaining her ideas. Even though she says that she dreams of adventure, she also states that she wishes for a friend who accepts her for who she is. This is because everyone in town criticizes her for doing her own thing and can't understand her, making her feel like she can't fit in. However, even when people give her a hard time, she never changes but comes to a better understanding of herself. This makes the biggest difference when she breaks the spell and charms the Beast just by being herself.

The Disney comic *New Adventures of Beauty and the Beast*, set a few years before the first film's events, implies that Belle was a scientific skeptic despite her love of fairy tales. This is evidenced while she explores a part of the Black Forest before encountering an owl and thinks that there aren't any mythical creatures in there. This is also supported in the film, where she yells "this is impossible" in shock after accidentally bumping into the Wardrobe in shock upon discovery that Mrs. Potts and her fellow servants were living objects.

Belle is quite witty and uses this trait to her advantage to outsmart people. When in an argument with the Beast, Belle held her ground and challenged each of the Beast's points with a cunning comeback, such as "If you hadn't frightened me I wouldn't have run away" or "You should learn to control your temper". Each of these statements left the Beast stunned and at a loss for words. Belle managed to think of these comebacks without much thought or hesitation. When Lumiere and Cogsworth attempted to lead Belle's curiosity away from the West Wing, she challenged them by saying the West Wing wouldn't be forbidden if the Beast wasn't hiding something in it, also briefly stunning them. Belle's logic may also have helped her save Maurice by realizing that something was going on in the castle that she wanted to find out. Soon, in the West Wing, she almost discovers the Beast's true identity, though she briefly forgets it in the end.

Belle has a strong sense of character and uses this trait in a variety of ways, often to her own advantage. On Belle's first night in the castle, following the "Be Our Guest" sequence, she develops an urge to explore the castle and asks for a guide. Observing Cogsworth's "authoritative" personality, she immediately knows that Cogsworth would be the best candidate. At first, Cogsworth is quite reluctant to the idea, but when Belle says she is sure he knows everything about the castle, he agrees. Similarly, she also has a strong sense of deductive reasoning, as she deduced from the animate objects' interactions that the castle in which she was imprisoned was enchanted without anyone telling her beforehand.

She is also implied to have deduced Gaston's true role in locking Maurice up. This, however, was contradicted when she exposed the Beast's existence to a congregated mob despite the high likelihood that they would turn and kill the Beast due to their current emotional state, as well as being shocked by Gaston and the villagers doing exactly that. This makes Belle feel so guilty that she resolves to stop Gaston and save the Beast, her true love.

Belle's personality transforms throughout the film. At first, she frequently dreams about a life of adventure and romance, not realizing that sometimes adventures might take a turn for the worse. As Belle begins to spend more time with the Beast and their relationship blossoms into a strong friendship, she begins to fall in love with him without realizing it.

### Physical Appearance

Like her namesake, Belle is known in her village for her beauty, mainly her outer features. Belle has long, brown hair, most often tied back in a low ponytail by a ribbon, and possesses captivating hazel eyes, full pink lips, rosy cheeks, a heart-shaped face, and a sculpted figure. One of her more distinct features is the strands of hair that are constantly slipping loose from her ponytail and falling in front of her face - she is often seen brushing them back into place when nervous or trying to be polite. Not only that Belle was also viewed as "the most beautiful girl in town" by the arrogant and conceited Gaston who thinks nothing else of her but that she has great looks and charms.

Throughout the film, Belle wears various outfits depending on the occasion:

* Her primary outfit is a medium-length cerulean blue sleeveless dress with a white long puffy-sleeved shirt underneath, a white apron on her waist, a white petticoat, and dark brown ballet flats on her feet. Her hair is tied in a low ponytail adorned with a medium blue ribbon. When she goes to the Beast's Castle, she wears a dark blue cloak with a yellow button. Belle's hair is loose twice in the film, the first time when the ribbon on her ponytail is torn off by one of the wolves when she was knocked away by her horse Philippe, and the second when she removes the ribbon before finding the Beast during his fight with Gaston.
* The day that Belle was gifted the castle's library, she wore a light green dress (similar to the color scheme of Ariel from *The Little Mermaid*) with Juliet sleeves and a darker bodice, a matching hair ribbon, a white petticoat underneath the dress and black ballet flats, and outside when she was tending to Philippe and Sultan she added her traditional dark blue cloak.
* When she was reading to the Beast, Belle wore a pink dress with a rose bodice (similar to Aurora's from *Sleeping Beauty*), a matching hair ribbon, a white petticoat, and red ballet flats and when she was outside teaching the Beast to feed the birds she added a red cloak with white fur trim.
* Her most elaborate and iconic outfit is a golden ball gown with a simply designed bodice, wrapped off-the-shoulder sleeves, a wide-hemmed floor-length skirt made of eight triangular panels and small round yellow ornaments, long yellow opera gloves, round yellow earrings, a multiple-layered white petticoat with scalloped edging on the hemline, and yellow high-heeled shoes. This is the outfit she wears while sharing her first dance with the Beast in the "Beauty and the Beast" sequence, and their second dance after the curse is broken. With this outfit, she wears some of her hair in a neat bun by a golden hair band, but the majority of it trails down her neck in a beautiful, flowing motion resembling a ponytail.

Just as beautiful as the day she set foot in Beast's castle, Queen Belle has aged gracefully. Her chestnut curls, atop which usually sits a diamond-studded tiara, are styled in a fashionable bob. Her warm brown eyes are accompanied by laugh lines, testifying of her kindness, and good nature. Her petite frame is usually sporting a regal gown in her signature yellow color.

## Appearances and Timeline

### Before Auradon

Belle is a beautiful young woman living in a small unnamed village in France. She first appears at the beginning of the film (after the prologue) as she emerges out of the cottage she lives in and heads to a bookstore in the village, aware that the villagers are noting her peculiarity and how she doesn't fit in with the rest of them due to her love of books and withdrawn nature. At the bookstore, Belle returns a book she has borrowed and takes the one she perceives as her favorite. While heading back home to the cottage, she is pursued by a handsome but narcissistic hunter named Gaston, who eventually stands in her way. Gaston takes the book from Belle, drops it into a mud puddle, and tells Belle to get herself out of reading and pay more attention to "more important things" like him. Just then, an explosion comes out from the basement of her cottage, prompting Belle to run back home.

Descending into the basement and coughing her way in, Belle finds her father, Maurice, who is about to give up on his latest contraption that he has built. Belle faithfully tells her father how she has believed he will get the machine working, win first prize at the fair, and become a world-famous inventor. Inspired by his daughter's beliefs, Maurice re-works on the machine, and once he thinks he has done fixing it, he gives it a test run. To both Belle and her father's surprise, the test run goes successfully. Belle waves goodbye to her father and wishes him luck as Maurice, riding on their horse Philippe, goes off to the fair with the invention.

The following day, Belle is happily reading when she hears a knock on a door. She uses the periscope, only to find that Gaston is on the porch, much to her dismay, but nevertheless lets him in. Gaston then dirties Belle's book for the second time and reveals that he wants to make her his little wife and the mother of six or seven handsome little boys; Belle is disgusted by this idea and slips away from Gaston who continues to approach her. As Gaston has Belle cornered at the door and is about to plant a kiss on her, Belle opens the door as she swings around, causing Gaston to fall forward into a large mud pond outside. Belle then throws Gaston's boots out in front of her door before closing it and waits for him to leave. After the furious and humiliated Gaston storms off, Belle goes outside to feed the chickens, shocked in disbelief at how Gaston has asked her to marry him. Not wanting to be the wife of that boorish, brainless man, she runs off into an open field, where Philippe finds her, still hitched to the trailer carrying Maurice's invention, but without Maurice. Seeing Philippe without her father, Belle pleads for Philippe to take her to where her father is after unhitching Philippe from the trailer.

Belle rides Philippe through a dark forest to a mysterious castle in the possibility of finding her father. She finds her father locked away in a dungeon and begs the master of the castle to free him due to his poor health, offering her own freedom in exchange for her father's, over the latter's protests. When the master agrees on the condition that she has to stay with him forever, she asks the master to step into the light, revealing himself to be a hideous Beast. Although Belle is terrified by the Beast's visage, and Maurice pleads for her to reconsider, not wanting to lose her in becoming the Beast's prisoner in his place, she promises to remain as the castle's prisoner and the Beast fulfills *his* end of the bargain by immediately releasing and sending Maurice back to the village in an enchanted palanquin. The Beast is deeply moved by her beauty and affection towards her father, and can't help but feel touched by her boldness and bravery, as well as feeling some remorse for not allowing Belle to say her goodbyes to her father whom she may not see again. The Beast then shows Belle to her room where she is initially terrified by the décor and gargoyles. He allows her to go about the castle but warns her not to go into his lair, the West Wing, which he cryptically labels as forbidden. When the Beast brings Belle to her room, he orders her to join him for dinner before slamming the door shut and storming off. Belle throws herself onto her bed and breaks down in tears over being separated from her father forever and trapped in the scary castle by the Beast.

Later, Belle is visited by Mrs. Potts and Chip; she is shocked and surprised that a teapot and a teacup are alive (the Enchantress who turned the prince into a beast also transformed his servants into household objects) that she backs into a Wardrobe, who is also alive. She accepts tea from Mrs. Potts, and after the teapot and the teacup leave, the Wardrobe decides upon a dress for Belle to wear for her upcoming dinner with the Beast, but Belle declines just as Cogsworth - the head servant who was turned into a mantle clock - arrives to inform her that dinner is ready.

The Beast is enraged upon learning from Cogsworth that Belle isn't joining him for dinner, storms over to Belle's room and bangs on the door, ordering her to come out to dinner. The two then have a heated shouting match which results in the Beast finally granting her wish to be left alone *again*. Back in his lair, the Beast is shocked to find that Belle still grudges him for his mistreatment of her and Maurice, causing him to doubt if he will ever break the spell. Meanwhile, a little later, Belle, feeling hungry, emerges out of her room and makes her way to the castle's kitchen, where she meets Cogsworth, his assistant Lumiere, and Mrs. Potts, who all agree to feed Belle (despite their master's protests) and entertain her with a marvelous musical number.

After the dinner show, Belle applauds the entertainers and servers for putting on a spectacular performance. Having figured out that the castle is enchanted and wanting to see more of the castle, Belle asks Cogsworth to show her around. Belle comes across a staircase leading to the West Wing during the tour, but Cogsworth and Lumiere stop her and coerce her from going into the room she is forbidden to step into by showing their library; however, her curiosity of the West Wing gets the better of her. Taking advantage of a brief distraction from the two servants, Belle enters the room and discovers it's beaten down, ransacked and sickly. There she sees a torn picture of a young man and a glowing rose. She takes the glass off the rose and tries to touch it. Just then, however, the Beast arrives and is furious at Belle for disobeying him. Belle tries apologizing, but the Beast screams at her to get out while destroying some of his own furniture in the process. Terrified as well as having had enough of the Beast's ferocious temper and the castle itself, Belle escapes the castle (rushing past Cogsworth and Lumiere) and runs away. When the Beast calms down, he realizes his mistake too late and hangs his head in guilt and shame.

In the woods, she and Philippe encounter a pack of frightening and savage wolves, who chase after her and the horse. The wolves quickly catch up and knock Belle off Philippe, while Philippe gets his reigns wrapped around a tree branch, trapping him. Belle takes a tree branch to use as a weapon to defend herself and protect Philippe, but the wolves bite it in half when she attempts to hit them, rendering her helpless and defenseless in no time. Just as she is about to meet her apparent demise, the Beast intervenes and attacks the wolves, rescuing Belle and forcing the animals into retreat after flinging one of them, possibly the alpha, into a tree hard enough to knock it out, if not kill it by breaking its spine on the trunk, terrifying the other wolves into fleeing in fear. However, a wolf managed to injure him in the process before they flee in terror of his wrath. Coming to realize that the Beast has saved her life, Belle chooses to help the Beast - who has collapsed from exhaustion and his wounds - back to the castle over running away and leaving him in the woods to suffer. While she tends to the Beast's wounds, the two then get into another heated argument about who was at fault (including Belle ignoring the Beast's orders of not going to the West Wing), with Belle winning the argument by ordering him to control his temper, overcoming her fears and conquering his ferocious temper. She then thanks to the Beast for saving her life, to which the Beast, realizing the good deed he has done while noticing her kindness, starts feeling good inside himself.

As a token of his appreciation, the Beast, at Lumiere's suggestion, shows Belle the castle's enormous library, which strikes her interest so much that he gives it to her as a gift. In return, Belle helps him act more like a gentleman, and the two eventually form a healthy friendship, bonding over suppers, reading, and playful outings in the snow. Over time, the Beast falls deeply in love with her, but fears that she will never love him in return. On a special night, however, an evening date is conceived, and the two eventually fall in love, though neither express their feelings verbally. After a waltz in the grand ballroom, Belle expresses the longing for her father and wishes for a way to see him once more. The Beast tells her that there is a way and shows Belle the magic mirror he had used previously, which is capable of showing anything the user wishes to see. Belle asks the mirror to show her father, and it reveals Maurice to be lost and sick in the woods trying to find his way back to the Beast's castle, apparently dying, a sight that shocks and worries her. With no choice, the Beast grants Belle freedom for the safety of her father. As a way to remember him, he hands her the mirror, which she accepts before thanking him for his kind gesture and departing in haste, changing back into her civilian clothes from her ballgown and riding away on Philippe as the Beast lets out a mournful howl as he watches her depart.

After returning to the village with her rescued father and nursing him back to good health, Monsieur D'Arque, the head of a mental asylum, arrives to apprehend Maurice because of his claims about the Beast. It's soon revealed that Gaston was behind the asylum's arrival, in hopes of forcing Belle to marry him in exchange for her father's freedom. Belle refuses, and Gaston goes ahead with taking Maurice to the asylum. Thinking fast, Belle fetches the mirror and begs for it to show her the Beast, then turns the mirror to the villagers to reveal his existence, proving Maurice's sanity. Unfortunately, as she assures the intimidated crowd that the Beast isn't dangerous, Gaston senses Belle's romantic feelings for the creature and mocks her for being in love with a monster, to which Belle angrily retorts by labeling Gaston as the real monster, making him snap in a furious rage. Out of spite and jealousy, Gaston snatches the mirror from Belle, declaring that she is just as crazy as her father and convinces the villagers that the Beast is a threat, rallying a mob to kill him. Shocked, Belle tries to stop Gaston from going through with his plans, but he perceives that she is against him and has her and Maurice locked in their cellar to prevent them from warning the Beast. Just then, after the mob's departure, Chip (who stowed away in Belle's satchel) uses Maurice's wood-cutting invention to free them, allowing them to rush to the castle on Philippe.

Belle arrives at the castle while Gaston takes on the Beast and attempts to stop the former from hurting the latter. The Beast, seeing Belle return, summons up the strength to fight back while Belle rushes into the castle and up the stairs. Arriving at the balcony, she calls to the Beast and reaches out for him to take her hand. Just as the Beast takes hold of Belle's hand, and they embrace each other, a jealous Gaston fatally stabs the Beast in the back, causing the Beast to jerk backward in pain, which then causes Gaston to lose his balance and fall to his death and Belle saves the Beast from the same fate and pulls him up onto the balcony. The Beast smiles at seeing Belle, who ensures all will be well with their reunion at hand. Unfortunately, the weak Beast with his last breath can only express gratitude over seeing Belle one last time before he dies in her arms. Belle begs him not to leave her and, sobbing over the dying Beast, admits her love for him mere seconds before the last petal falls from the enchanted rose.

As Belle continues sobbing over the loss of her love, shimmering beams of light fall onto the Beast. The Beast's body then begins to float in the air and is enshrouded in a fog. The amazed Belle witnesses the Beast's fore-paws, hind-paws, and furry head respectively transform back into hands, feet, and head of a Prince, now healed from his fatal wound. The Prince then turns to Belle, who initially looks at him skeptically but then recognizes him from the torn portrait's blue eyes. The Prince and Belle share their first kiss, a kiss of true love, which subsequently breaks the additional spell placed on the castle and its inhabitants: the dark, gloomy castle is restored into its original, shining state, all the Prince's servants are transformed back into humans, and the Black Forest surrounding the castle is transformed back into the beautiful forest it was before. The film ends with Belle and the Prince dancing in the ballroom with her father and his servants watching happily. A stained glass window of her and the prince is also depicted on the castle.

Belle and Beast got married shortly after the events of the movie and ruled for 20 years until the events of Descendants.

### Descendants

Belle appears in the Disney Channel Original Movie, *Descendants*, where she serves as the mother of the major character, Ben, and the ruler of an idyllic kingdom in the present day, inhabited by various iconic Disney characters and their children. She and the Human Beast serve as the parents of the major character, Ben. Sometime after breaking the curse on her Prince, she and the Beast became the King and Queen of the idyllic kingdom of The United States of Auradon, one large kingdom uniting all of the famous kingdoms, set in the present day, and inhabited by various iconic Disney characters and their children. When Ben, who is soon to be King, states he wants to grant the children of the Isle of the Lost a second chance as his first proclamation, she is understandably worried, but she remains supportive of her son's endeavors and pushes her husband to do so as well.

### Descendants 2

Belle alongside her husband makes a appearance at the Cotillion.

### Descendants 3

Belle and Adam make another appearence being seeing at Belle's wedding and expressing concern about dangers coming from the Isle, leading to Mal to make the decision to close the Isle forever.