Belle

Belle is the main protagonist of Disney's 1991 hit Beauty and the Beast, its sequels The Enchanted Christmas and Belle's Magical World. She is also an official Disney Princess and voiced by Paige O'Hara.

Personality
Belle is a young woman living in France and a lovely free-thinker who likes to read and go on adventures within her own imagination. She is not shy and is not afraid to speak her mind, especially in tight situations. She is very compassionate and takes care of those in need. Belle can also be stubborn, but she tries to protect people she truly loves.

Belle is a shrewd nonconformist for her time in many ways. The most pronounced is her love of books and knowledge, which the townspeople find odd for a woman, due to all the other women having low intelligence. Gaston says to her at one point, "It's not right for a woman to read. Soon, she starts getting ideas and.... thinking...." Belle also does not care about appearances, whether they pertain to herself or anyone else. This is highly ironic, considering she is seen as the most beautiful woman in her village. In the song Belle, a woman sings, "It's no wonder than her name means beauty. Her looks have got no parallel." Belle is the first and only Disney Princess to be a brunette and the only one to marry someone who wasn't human for most of his life. She is also one of the four Disney Princesses who were not born princesses (the other 3 being Cinderella, Fa Mulan, and Tiana).

Belle's most common outfit is a blue and white peasant dress with a white apron which she wears throughout most of the movie. She wears a blue bow in her hair and black shoes. Many people state that this outfit is based upon Dorothy Gale's dress in the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz.

When she is on an adventure, she wears a dark blue cloak.

When she is in the castle, she also wears a pink and green dress. Arguably, her most beautiful dress is her yellow ball gown which she wears when she is dancing with The Beast.

Beauty and the Beast
Belle is a young woman living in a small unnamed French town. Her father, Maurice, on his way to a fair, goes missing while she was reading books not wanting Gaston to marry her. Belle rides to a mysterious castle in possibility of finding him. She finds her father locked away in a dungeon, and begs the dungeon master to free him, offering her own freedom in exchange for her father's. On the condition that she stay with him forever, the dungeon master, a hideous beast, frees Maurice from the dungeon, however he is deeply moved by her beauty and affection towards her father, and can't help but feel attracted to her boldness and bravery. Belle is originally hesitant to interact with the Beast, but after he develops a more civil manner, aided by enchanted furnishings, a bond is formed. The Beast falls deeply in love with her, but is in denial that she will ever love him in return. Belle is soon granted right to leave on behalf of her sickly father, who tries to rescue her. But after denying Gaston (a conceited hunter) her hand in marriage for a third time, a mob of villagers, led by Gaston, plots against the Beast. After a grueling tussle between Gaston and Beast, the Beast is stabbed. Gaston falls to his death when he loses balance. Belle is able to lay the Beast on a balcony, and he dies in her arms. Belle confesses her love for the Beast just as the last petal falls from the enchanted rose. Belle's love for the Beast revives him and releases him from the curse, and he along with his furnishings return to human beings.

Sing Me a Story With Belle
From 1995 through 1999 on both Disney Channel and in syndication, a series titled Sing Me a Story with Belle aired from the Disney-MGM Studios in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Actress Lynsey McLeod portrayed Belle, who was the owner of a book and music shop in France in her commoner costume.

Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas
A midquel taking place during the winter segment of Beauty and the Beast, this is the story of Belle's attempt to bring back to the castle the one ceremony Beast hates most: Christmas. It has not been well recieved because it ignores the movie's continuity, and that at the point the movie is supposed to take place, Belle still considered herself a prisoner in the castle, and was not truly friends with the Beast at that point, though she had begun to accept him.

A pipe organ called Forte is determined to do anything necessary to keep the spell from breaking, because he thinks that if the curse is broken then the Beast won't need his depressing music anymore. Thus, he proves to be a real obstacle for Belle's plan.

After several attempts to get Beast to agree, Beast finally approves of the idea and allows Belle to prepare for Christmas, though he still bears a grudge, for Christmas is the day the Enchantress cast the spell on him and the castle residents.

With advice from Forte, Belle goes out into the woods to get a suitable tree for Christmas, but she falls into thin ice and almost drowns. Fortunately, she is rescued by Beast, who is enraged at her because Forte told him that she was trying to desert him again.

Belle is then thrown into the dungeon to rot, but Beast then finds a book that Belle had written for him earlier in the West Wing, and decides to set Belle free and they both continue to prepare for Christmas.

But Forte doesn't give up there, even going as far as to attempt to bring the whole castle down with Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in order to prevent the spell from ending, as it can't if everyone is dead. Fortunately, Beast stops him in time by crashing his keyboard to pieces.

The viewers are soon taken back the actual Christmas taking place, and Belle is presented with a gift from her husband: a rose.

Belle's Magical World
In this movie, Belle is the only human. She meets her new three enchanted object friends Webster, Crane and LePlume and is about to solve problems in all four segments.

Disney Princess Enchanted Tales
Originally, when the first installment of Disney Princess Enchanted Tales was to be released, it was to feature a new Belle story and a brand new Aurora story. The First chapter was entitled "A Kingdom Of Kindness". The plot of Belle's story featured Chip getting in trouble with the Beast after breaking some of his things. Terrified, Chip runs away. Belle finds him and convinces him to come back to the castle, and teaches Beast what it means to be kind. She also teaches Chip that even when people are mad with him, it still means they love him. All of the original Beauty and the Beast cast returned for "A Kingdom Of Kindness", with the exception to Jerry Orbach.

Only one known song has been written for Belle, this song is called "You'll Never Lose This Love", and is available to watch on the Enchanted Tales Website.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Belle also makes a cameo appearance in Disney's 1996 animated feature The Hunchback of Notre Dame. During the song Out There Belle is seen walking through the streets reading her book.

House of Mouse
Belle also appears in many episodes of the Disney's House of Mouse television series and in the direct-to-video releases Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse and Mickey's House of Villains. She also appears in the Kingdom Hearts series of video games as one of the most important Disney characters.

Kingdom Hearts (series)
Belle is one of the Princesses of Heart who appeared in Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and Kingdom Hearts II. She is originally from the Disney animated film Beauty and the Beast (1991). For Kingdom Hearts, she spoke using dialogue boxes, but in Kingdom Hearts II her role was greatly expanded and she was voiced by her original voice actress, Paige O'Hara.

Kingdom Hearts
Belle's first appearance is a stained-glass likeness of her depicted on top of a yellow-colored pillar in the Awakening world. She was asleep in the artwork, suggesting that she has already been captured by Maleficent at that time.

Belle has been living somewhat happily at the Beast's Castle, becoming closer to the Beast everyday, despite his hideous form and uneven temperament. One day, however, Belle is kidnapped by Maleficent as part of the plot to obtain Kingdom Hearts. The Heartless consume her world, causing all of its enchanted inhabitants to disappear into darkness. But the Beast manage to survive the destruction of his world, and pursue Belle, using corridors of darkness to reach her at Hollow Bastion.

Maleficent puts Belle into an enchanted sleep and places her in an upstanding glass case alongside the other Princesses of Heart. She then uses all of the Princesses' hearts to open the Final Keyhole. At the same time, the Beast witnesses a vision of Belle transforming into a Heartless (although this is not what actually occurred, as the princesses lack darkness in their hearts, and cannot become Heartless).

Belle's heart is later restored by the bravery of Sora, and she is released from her enchantment. She separates from her fellow princesses and, due to her passion for books, goes to Hollow Bastion's library in search of ways to stop the darkness. Happily reunited with the Beast at last, she explains as best she could to Sora what has occurred in Hollow Bastion during his brief departure, and then gives him the Divine Rose Keychain. When Sora finally sealed Kingdom Hearts, Belle and the Beast return home together.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
The following events are really a corruption of Sora's memories from Kingdom Hearts, and thus they do not actually occur in the Kingdom Hearts reality. Sora, Donald, and Goofy enter Sora's memories of Hollow Bastion through Castle Oblivion only to find Belle and the Beast in a heated argument near Hollow Bastion's entrance. The Beast attempts to explain to Belle that he has come from very far to rescue her from Maleficent, but Belle insists that the Beast leave as she has no interest in talking to him. She eventually retreats to Hollow Bastion's library, leaving the Beast in depressed confusion.

Sora and his friends later find Belle in the library, and attempt to understand her oddly cold attitude towards the Beast. However, before she could explain, Maleficent enters and demands that Belle call the Beast. When she refuses to do so, Maleficent transports herself and Belle to a different area of the castle.

Belle continues to refuse Maleficent's demands, even under the threat of torture. Sora arrives just in time, as does the Beast. Belle continues her increasingly rude attitude towards the Beast upon seeing him, prompting the Beast to pour out his true feelings for her. Maleficent then threatens to steal the Beast's heart, which he has shown to be rich and vulnerable when explaining his love for Belle. As Maleficent attempts to take the Beast's heart, Belle sacrifices herself to save him.

Maleficent later reveals to the Beast, Sora, Donald and Goofy that Belle had been purposefully shunning the Beast in an attempt to prevent herself from exposing his heart for Maleficent to use for dark magic. After Sora defeats Maleficent, Belle is returned to her physical state with her heart intact. She quickly apologizes for her actions, which the Beast easily forgives knowing that they were not her true feelings.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Belle appears alongside Beast in Beast's Castle in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. As the story takes place after the original Kingdom Hearts, Belle and the Beast have returned to Beast's Castle safe and sound and are trying to forget everything that happened. But when Xaldin from Organization XIII takes interest in the Beast's heart, their peaceful days are troubled.

Kingdom Hearts II
A year after the events of Kingdom Hearts, Belle and the Beast attempt to return back to their normal lives at the Beast's Castle. However, the peace is soon disrupted by Organization XIII member Xaldin. Xaldin begins playing on the Beast's anger, attempting to enrage him to the point that his heart would be drenched in darkness, thus spawning an extremely powerful Heartless and Nobody variation of the Beast for the Organization to use. In an attempt to keep them safe, the Beast forces the majority of his servants into the castle's dungeon. Belle, not knowing what to do and fearing the Beast's sudden surge of rage, hides in her room in fear. She is overjoyed when Sora, Donald and Goofy happened to drop by.

Once Sora freed the servants from the dungeon and utilized their aid to make the Beast calm down, the Beast realizes he had been rude to Belle in his blind rage. Hoping to apologize, he heads off with Sora to find her, only to hear her muffled voice in the castle's ballroom. Belle has taken it upon herself to confront Xaldin on her own, warning him to leave the Beast alone. Xaldin uses his influence of the darkness to set a Shadow Stalker on Belle. She manages to evade it, escaping to the ballroom's balcony. After the creature was defeated, the Beast apologizes to Belle, who accepts his kind words but reprimands him for not trusting her.

When Sora and the others visit Hollow Bastion for the third time, her name is found out to be part of a password to access the DTD's dataspace, along with the other princesses.

Sora later returns to Beast's Castle to find Belle and the Beast in the middle of a date. As the couple begin a romantic dance in the ballroom, Xaldin interrupts the celebration, much to Belle's displeasure. She is forced to briefly retreat as Xaldin sent a horde of Nobodies after Sora and the Beast. When the enemies are defeated, Belle returns only to find the Beast in great distress about his enchanted rose. Following him upstairs, she pleads with the Beast to explain what was wrong, but the Beast's frustration simply leads him to order Belle and Sora to leave the castle.

Belle retreats to her room in despair, eventually going out to the balcony to mull things over. When she later spots the Beast, along with Sora, Goofy and Donald, emerging into the castle courtyard she heads back inside, but on her way spots the rose sitting near the door. Happily showing off the rose to her companions below, she soon realizes the whole thing was a setup as Xaldin grabs her from behind and flies her to the bridge outside the Beast's Castle. As Xaldin offers the Beast a choice between Belle or the rose, Belle shows Xaldin she is not just a simple village girl. She elbows the Organization XIII member hard in the stomach and, smiling to herself, runs back to the castle clutching the rose in its bell jar.

Once the Beast and Sora defeat Xaldin, Belle gladly returns the rose to the Beast. He then nervously asks her to stay with him in his castle, to which she happily agrees.

At the conclusion of Sora's adventure in Kingdom Hearts II it is revealed that the Beast has transformed back into Prince Adam, apparently ending the Beauty and the Beast story arc in Kingdom Hearts, although Belle's status as one of the Princesses of Heart may still tie her in to future Kingdom Hearts adventures.

Disney Parks


Belle appears as a meetable character in the Disney Parks, wearing either her commoner costume (such as in "Storytime with Belle" at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World) or her gold princess outfit and appears in many shows such as Fantasmic! and every Disney Parks parade.

Storytime with Belle
In the former show held at the Magic Kingdom, Belle wil walk out to an audience a reads a story.

Beauty and the Beast: Live
In the live show at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World Resort Belle appears in the stage adaption of the film. In the show Belle plays out her same role in the film.

Fantasmic!
Belle appears in the nightime spectacular Fantasmic! Belle appears in the Princess Melody dancing with the Beast and later on top of either the Mark Twain Riverboat or Steamboat Willie.

Beauty and the Beast: The Musical
On Broadway, a musical version of the film debuted on April 18, 1994 at the Palace Theatre and closed on July 29, 2007 at the Lunt-Fontaine Theatre, both in New York City. Sugan Egan, who would later voice Meg in Hercules, was the original Belle, and was succeeded by among others, Andrea McArdle (the original "Annie"), Jamie Lynn Siegler, former teen pop star Deborah Gibson, soul singer Toni Braxton (who was the first African American to portray Belle), Disney Channel star Christy Carlson Romano and the last Belle when the curtain rang down, Annaliese van der Pol. Sarah Litzinger portrayed Belle the longest of the 5,464 performances.

Trivia

 * Belle is wearing a yellow ball gown during a dance with the Beast in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories.
 * She was wearing her commoner dress in Kingdom Hearts II.
 * The fairytale Belle was more often called Beauty. In fact, Belle's name is French for "beauty".
 * The original Belle was the daughter of a rich merchant and not a peasant inventor.
 * In the original version she had five sisters and six brothers and in the modernized Beaumont version, Belle had two sisters and three brothers, but the Disney Belle is an only child.
 * The original Belle asked her father to bring her a rose, setting off the chain of events which led to her sacrificing herself to the Beast to save her father's life. The Disney Belle did no such thing; Maurice's actions were voluntary.
 * The original Belle was not portrayed as a book lover (although she did read when she finished her work) but the Disney Belle is, adding the idea that true beauty is more than skin deep.
 * The original Belle was not viewed as peculiar by the townspeople, only by her siblings.
 * The original Belle didn't have a vain lover but Disney Belle does in the form of Gaston. His handsome looks but brutish habits help to further the story's moral.

Bestia