Ariel

Princess Ariel is a mermaid who first appeared in Disney's 1989 theatrical release, The Little Mermaid, as the main protagonist. She reprises her role as the protagonist in its prequel television series, and prequel The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning. Though she is the secondary character in The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, while her daughter, Melody became the new primary character. Ariel is voiced by Jodi Benson in all the above animated material except the parody non-Disney appearances. She is the fourth Disney Princess and the only mother in the Disney Princess franchise.

The character is based on the protagonist of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid" Fairy Tale, but was developed into a different personality for the 1989 animated film adaptation. Her distinct appearance consists of long, flowing red hair, a green tail and a purple seashell bikini top. A stage musical version of the 1989 film debuted in 2007, in which the "live" role of Ariel was originated by Sierra Boggess and finalized by Chelsea Morgan Stock, who previously played her sister Andrina.

Design
Ariel's original design was developed by animator Glen Keane, who reportedly said in an animation lecture that she was based on his own wife. Ariel's appearance was also based on model Sherri Stoner, who provided live-action references for the animators during the development of the film and also inspired the look for Belle. A challenge in animating Ariel for the 1989 film were the color required to show Ariel in the changing environments, both under the sea and on land, for which the animators required 32-color models, not including costume changes. The blue-green color of Ariel's fin was a hue specially mixed by the Disney paint lab; the color was named "Ariel" after the character. Ariel has been compared to past Disney Heroines but is more physically similar to Alice from Alice in Wonderland as they both have big eyes, a broad forehead and a small mouth and chin.

Voice casting
Jodi Benson, who was predominantly a stage actress when she was cast, was the choice to voice Ariel because the directors felt "it was really important to have the same person doing the singing and speaking voice". Co-director Ron Clements remarked that Benson's voice had "sweetness" and "youthfulness" that was unique. When recording the vocals for Ariel's theme song "Part of Your World", Benson reportedly asked that the lights in the studio be dimmed, so to create the feeling of being deep under the sea.

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

Personality
Ariel is a bright, spirited mermaid who is also adventurous and stubborn. Her curiosity and love for adventure sometimes gets her into trouble. Usually, however, Ariel overcomes any obstacle she faces like she uses magic to change things. Her best friend is a fish named Flounder, and she develops a close relationship with a crab named Sebastian, the court's composer. Ariel is also impulsive, as striking the deal with Ursula and exploring whilst forgetting about the concert. In The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, Ariel matures after becoming a mother. Due to the threat of Morgana, she becomes overprotective of Melody in the same manner she was treated by King Triton in the first film. She is shown to long for the sea, but keeps this hidden from Melody for her own safety.

Appearance
As a mermaid, Ariel is strikingly beautiful; so beautiful in fact that she won an award for most beautiful Disney Heroine. She has an hourglass figure and fair, immaculate silken skin. In her childhood, she used to wear a strapless purple bikini top while her lips were the same color as her skin. As a teenager, her breasts, shoulders, hips and waist are perfect proportions. From the waist down, she has a green tail with paler green, translucent fins and wears a brassiere made out of purple seashells. She has large, deep sea-blue eyes and full red lips. Her most defining feature is her long, red hair that nearly matches her lips.

When she becomes a human, Ariel's lovely tail is turned into two beautiful, long, slender legs with small feet. At first, the only article of clothing she wore was her seashell bra, but wears an old sail with some rope to keep it closed fashioned by her friend Scuttle. Being prepared for dinner, she wears a pink and white gown with silver barrettes on her hair and pearl white earrings. Getting ready for bedtime, she wears a pink nightgown. After being taken in by Prince Eric, she wears a dress with light blue sleeves, a dark blue bodice, and a blue (sometimes white) shirt. She also wears a big royal blue bow in her hair and black heels. After she's turned into a human once again, she wears a light blue glittering dress. After she kisses Eric, during their wedding, she wears a white wedding dress with a sparkling golden tiara on her veil. During and after her daughter's christening, she wears a gold and white dress and wears a low ponytail, decorated with a white bow. Ariel also wears a periwinkle gown with an up-do decorated with a golden tiara with green and white gems on her necklace and earrings during her daughter's 12th birthday party. Ariel still wears the same up-do with a green peasant dress when she's on her husband's ship. In one of the video games, she wears an aqua-colored gown with a matching flower on the side of her hair.

The Little Mermaid
As depicted in the 1989 film, Ariel is the youngest of King Triton's seven daughters, and is 16-years-old. Ariel has a vast fascination with the world of humans, despite contact being forbidden by her father, King Triton, who is xenophobic, which means he hates humans. The beginning of the film shows Ariel salvaging human items, and taking them to Scuttle for identification. Ariel keeps them in a secret grotto as part of her collection, from books to other regular objects (such as globes, mugs and chests of jewels), but realized that collecting human objects wasn't enough. She gets more curious about the world above the ocean and even desires to actually live among the humans. During a storm, Ariel rescues Prince Eric, whose ship sinks. She sings to him on the shore, but is forced to leave when others approach. Ariel falls in love, and became more determined to accomplish her dreams of living alongside humanity.

After an argument with Triton regarding her love for the human world, her father loses his temper and destroys all of her human objects, including the statue of Prince Eric that Flounder had given to her as a gift just before. Grief-striken, Ariel goes to Ursula, the sea witch. In exchange for Ariel's voice, Ursula makes Ariel human. However, if she cannot get Eric to kiss her within three days, Ariel would change back into a mermaid and become Ursula's prisoner. (Unknown to Ariel, this is simply a part of Ursula's sinister plot to take Triton's throne.) Though she is unable to speak, and thus unable to identify herself, Eric takes Ariel in, showing her his kingdom, even teaching her to dance. Ariel and Eric begin to fall in love, but Ursula intervenes, by turning herself human and hypnotizing Eric with Ariel's voice. The hypnotized Eric plans to marry "Vanessa", who is actually Ursula in disguise. Ariel is able to stop the wedding, and regain her voice, but before Eric and Ariel can kiss, the third day ends and Ariel becomes Ursula's prisoner. Triton offers himself in Ariel's place, allowing Ursula to gain control over the sea. Ariel and Eric have a final showdown, during which Ariel is trapped and left helpless at the bottom of a whirlpool. Ursula aims her newly acquired trident at the princess and fires bolts of pure destruction at her. Ariel fearfully manages to avoid her painful demise each time and is saved by Eric when he charges the broken bow of a wrecked ship through the Sea Witch's heart, killing her. At the end of the film, Ariel is made human permanently by her father, who has realized how much Ariel loves Eric. Ariel stays on land with Eric, and marries him. They then live happily ever after.

The Little Mermaid Series
The short-lived prequel series, which first debuted in 1992, takes place an indeterminate time chronologically before the 1989 film, and revolves around Ariel's adventures as a 14-year-old mermaid living under the sea. Most Ariel's adventures involve her meeting various creatures, getting in trouble, and usually getting out of it successfully. Her friends, Flounder and Sebastian, are also featured prominently in the series. She is also shown to have a friend named Urchin, an orphaned merboy. The series also has her meeting Hans Christian Andersen, which also hints at both her possible birth year and the possible chronological events of the series, due to being a direct influence on the creation of the story (it was published in 1837, and written in 1836, which meant that Ariel was born in c. 1810-1811, and the series took place in 1835-1836.).

Ariel continues to be fascinated with human things in the series and is shown collecting items for her grotto; she gives them strange names such as calling an ordinary telescope a "Thing-a-mebob". Many episodes show Ariel working to foil enemies who would do harm to Atlantica. Prince Eric is sometimes shown in the show, but Ariel 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
This 2000 direct-to-video sequel shows Ariel as having given birth to a daughter named Melody. When we first see Ariel playing with her beautiful newborn daughter, many toys of Flounder, Sebastian and other fish can be seen in the room, showing that she misses her old friends and family. When Melody's safety is threatened by a sea witch named Morgana (sister of Ursula, who died in the 1989 film), Ariel and her husband Eric decide they must keep Melody away from the sea, and to this effect, they build a large wall separating the castle from it. Melody's love of the sea proves too strong, however, and when Melody falls into Morgana's clutches, Ariel is forced to temporarily resume her mermaid form in order to rescue her and save Melody from Morgana's scheme. In this time, Ariel briefly returns to her grotto as seen in the first film, and studies the objects, (which we are left to presume survived King Tritons anger in the first film) and keeps looking for Melody. This sequel features Ariel becoming an over-protective parent for her daughter, effectively taking over the role of her father in the 1989 film. Ariel is the first and only mother of the Disney Princesses.

The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning
This direct-to-video prequel features Ariel as a young mermaid. King Triton, her father, has banned music from Atlantica because it reminds him of his deceased wife. It is also shown that Ariel and her sisters were raised very strictly after their mother's death. She learns about music after stumbling onto a forbidden music club. With all her heart, Ariel vows to help her father realize how wonderful music really is. At the same time, Ariel becomes a victim of a plot by Marina Del Rey, the girls' governess, who wishes to become Triton's attache. In the end, Ariel is successful in her quest, and Triton restores music to Atlantica.

House of Mouse
Ariel appears as a regular guest in the animated television series House of Mouse and its specials. Her appearance alternates irregularly between her human form and mermaid form, depending on what the situation requires. In the series, 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." She sits there looking embarrassed and ashamed. Also in "Everybody Loves Mickey", Ariel wishes that Mickey could live under the sea with her. In another episode, she is repeatedly shown with Daisy Duck, who seems to be a big fan of Ariel and her films. In "Pluto Vs. Figaro", she tried to sing on stage, although the set ended up falling on top of her. In "Suddenly Hades", Pete attempted to flood the club to run out the customers, as he could shut down the club if there were no guests. Though he succeeded in flooding the club, he was stopped from closing the club as Ariel was still present. Ariel was also briefly seen in "Pete's House of Villains" where she held up a sign that read "Somebody stole my voice again" since she lost her voice.

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

Lilo & Stitch
In a special trailer promoting the film Lilo & Stitch, Ariel was seen performing the reprise of Part of Your World, when Stitch surfs a giant wave towards her, ruining the song. In anger, Ariel throws a starfish at Stitch, exclaiming "I was singing here!!".

Kilala Princess
In the manga series Kilala Princess, Ariel plays a prominent role in Kilala's adventure to become a princess. She is the second Disney princess to be visited. While mistaking Kilala to be a fish, she helps her look for a young prince named Rei, 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 Rei was captured by the sea witch Ursula, Flounder comes to inform Ariel. On their way to the witch's lair, Flounder collapses due to exhaustion and injury. Ariel then inspires Kilala to fight using her singing voice to remind her of the strength of love. After the witch is defeated, Ariel gives Kilala an aquamarine gem. Ariel is last seen handing an emerald to Kilala's Magic Tiara.

Kingdom Keepers
The mermaid first appears in Power Play when she helps Willa escape Judge 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 Disney Magic.

Sofia the First
Ariel is set to appear in Sofia the First TV Series,

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

Songs
Songs performed by Ariel
 * 1) Part of Your World
 * 2) One Dance
 * 3) Down to the Sea
 * 4) Here On The Land and Sea
 * 5) I Remember
 * 6) For A Moment
 * 7) If You Can Dream
 * 8) Part of Your World reprise

Disney Parks
Ariel makes appearances in all of the Disney parks. In Walt Disney World, Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland she can be found for meet and greets at her special location Ariel's Grotto.

Voyage of the Little Mermaid
Ariel appears as the main star in the musical show in Disney's Hollywood Studios and Tokyo DisneySea. In the show, Ariel plays out her exact same role in the film. Ariel makes and deal with Ursula and ends up with her true love Prince Eric.

Fantasmic!
Ariel appears during the Princess Melody in the live nighttime spectacular and reappears in the end riding either Steamboat Willie or the Mark Twain Riverboat.

Mickey's PhilharMagic
Ariel appears in the computer animated show in Disney's Magic Kingdom, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Tokyo Disneyland. In the show, Ariel sings "Part of Your World", while Donald Duck tries to obtain Mickey Mouse's sorcerer hat for a very important show. During the song, Donald shows that he has feelings for Ariel and even attempts to kiss her, but kisses an electric eel instead.

Disney Stars and Motorcars Parade
Ariel appears in the parade in Disney's Hollywood Studios, Walt Disney Studios Park, and  Disneyland Resort Paris. In the parade, Ariel riding in a clam coach inspired car.

World of Color
Ariel appears in the live nighttime spectacular at Disney California Adventure in the Disneyland Resort. Ariel appears in the very beginning of the show along with Flounder singing Part of Your World followed by Sebastian singing Under the Sea.

Peter Pan's Flight
Ariel makes a cameo appearance in Mermaid Lagoon.

Ariel's Seaside Treasures
After the marrige with the prince, Ariel heard that her father king had been feeling lonely for missing her. So she planned a big party at the seaside with both human and mar-people for the king! This was the special event taken place at Tokyo Disneysea on 2003, summer.

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

Greeting Show “Be Magical!”
Tokyo Disney Sea's 10th anniversary celebration. At the start of the show, Mickey Mouse arrives at Mediterranean Harbor aboard a special barge. As he calls out “Be Magical!” together with the guests, the magic spreads throughout the area, bringing seven Disney characters dressed in 10th anniversary costumes to Mediterranean Harbor. The seven Disney characters have been transformed into Sorcerer's ambassadors for the 10th anniversary. By spreading to each of the seven themed ports, the magic of the 10th anniversary event has awakened. Together, they celebrate the milestone year with lively music and colorful dancing. Main characters: Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Chip ’n Dale, Genie, Ariel.

It's a Small World
Ariel makes a cameo appearance in the boat ride in Disneyland and Hong Kong Disneyland.

The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure
Ariel stars in the musical ride at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. The ride follows Ariel as she meets Prince Eric, makes peace with her father and defeats Ursula. Ariel has a bigger role with the ride in Walt Disney World. Outside the ride she appears as a figurehead on a shipwrecked ship. In the queue of the ride guests can help her organize her human treasures.

Video games
Ariel appears in a large amount of video games. Some are based on her franchise such as The Little Mermaid Pinball Frenzy, while most are based on the Disney Princess franchise like Disney Princess Enchanting Storybooks. A costume of Ariel is also available as an add-on feature in Disney Universe.

The Little Mermaid (NES)
Taking place after Eric skewered Ursula in the original film, Ariel and Eric are planning to wed, but the sea-witch Ursula (somehow resurrected) has taken control of the ocean. So Ariel becomes a mermaid once more and sets off to rescue the sea.

The game takes place from a side view and Ariel (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. She can also dig through sand to find treasure and pick up sea shells to break chests open with.

After Ursula is defeated for good, Ariel attempts to return to the surface and become human, but she cannot return to being a human. Triton then attempts to help Ariel out by transforming her back into a human, and their wedding continues as planned.

Although this game is not canon, this exact situation where Ariel had to be turned back into a mermaid would be duplicated in The Little Mermaid II where she dives off a much larger boat (Eric's lead fleet ship) rather than his rowboat in the NES game.

Kingdom Hearts series
Ariel appears in the Kingdom Hearts series and is voiced by her original voice actress Jodi Benson. She is featured in the game not as one the seven Princesses of Heart (her spot is taken by Alice from "Alice in Wonderland") but as one of two female warriors, along with Mulan, to join Sora, Donald and Goofy in the fight against the Heartless

Kingdom Hearts
Ariel makes her Kingdom Hearts debut in the first game in the series. She meets Sora, Donald, and Goofy when she is running away from the Heartless with Sebastian and Flounder. They teach the player how to move around in their new forms, and Sora, Donald, and Goofy cover up the fact that they are from another world by claiming that they are from a distant ocean. When she hears Goofy talking to her father about a Keyhole, she decides to help them find it and manages to find the crystal, that resembles her father's trident, that has the power to reveal the Keyhole. King Triton arrives in time to destroy it, and Ariel leaves in tears.

The sea witch Ursula lures her into helping her steal the Trident from her father, with the promise of helping her get to other worlds, while also revealing that Sora, Donald, and Goofy are in fact from another world. However, things don't go as Ariel planned, as Ursula makes off with the trident and injures Triton. With Sora's help, they defeat Ursula.

After sealing the Keyhole, Sora apologizes to Ariel for lying to her, but she lets it slide, confident that, if they could find a way to travel to different worlds, then so can she.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, she appears as a memory of Sora. She roams around Atlantica though when she sees Sora and friends she runs away for no reason. Sora and company find out she was running away because she stole her father's Trident to save Flounder from Ursula's clutches. Sora and his friends help Ariel confront Ursula and save Flounder. After Ursula's defeat Sebastian arrives and Ariel decides to face the consequences for taking the Trident.

Kingdom Hearts II
In Kingdom Hearts II, she has an unusual role, as Atlantica sets a musical stage about Ariel and Prince Eric. She saves the Prince from drowning and takes him to shore. There she sings to him until he awakes.

Unable to forget about the Prince, she falls into deep depression, and so Sora and the others decide to help her. When her father finds out that she has fallen in love with a human, he tries to make her forget about him by destroying the statue of him that Flounder gave to her as a gift to cheer her up. But then Ursula reappears and makes a deal with her: to make her human for three days in exchange for her voice. In addition, she must make the prince kiss her willingly before sunset on the 3rd day, otherwise she will become hers forever. Despite the hardship, she signs the contract and finally gets to meet Eric in person, although he does not recognize her at first.

On the third day, Ariel gets her voice back with Sora's help, and they all battle the sea witch again. Once Ursula is defeated, Ariel reveals to Eric that she is a mermaid and says goodbye to him, but he does not change his feelings about her. Seeing how much they are in love, King Triton's view of humans changes and he lets his daughter be with a human prince. After the final song, "A New Day is Dawning", is sung, Ariel is disappointed to learn that Sora, Donald, and Goofy are leaving, but they refuse to say goodbye and assure her in song that they will meet again, to which she happily agrees. In the ending credits, Ariel is seen in human form and marries Eric.

Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey
In this game, Ariel is first seen sitting on a rock near the harbor awaiting for the blond-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.

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

Stage musical
A stage musical version of the 1989 film had its world premiere in Denver, Colorado in 2007 for its pre-Broadway tryout, and on January 10, 2008 debuted on Broadway. The character of Ariel for the stage adaptation was originated by Sierra Boggess. Jodi Benson, the original voice actor for Ariel, attended the musical's 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 Ariel's introductory song, replacing the entire shark-chase sequence in the film. In Act 2, although Ariel has become mute, she sings two songs expressing her thoughts and feelings, these songs being "Beyond My Wildest Dreams", where Ariel explores the human world for the first time, and "If Only", in which Ariel bemoans that she cannot express her feelings to Eric. Additionally, Ariel'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 Ariel inherited her mother's singing voice, adding another layer to Triton's protectiveness of her. Ariel and Eric'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 Ariel, not Eric, who destroys Ursula by smashing the magic shell. The reason for this change was that the musical's creative team did not want Ariel to come off as passive. It is to be noted that she also is labeled as Ursula's niece in the musical, based on a deleted concept on the film.

Abilities
While she is a Mermaid, Ariel has a few abilities. She is known to have at least a certain degree Superhuman strength, as she was able to move away an underwater boulder blocking her grotto with relative ease in the original film (which, in real life, an underwater object blocking an object with an unbalanced volume would result in the door being sealed shut and virtually impossible to open, which doesn't even take into account water pressure and other related factors.). Also, according to a slightly alternate version of the ending to the original film, Ariel slams into Ursula damaging her enough to knock the Trident off of her hand. The fact that she can give an Octopid Sea Witch who is at least 300 pounds and far larger than her a degree of damage by bumping into her implies that she has superhuman strength. In Ariel's Beginning, she seemed to be able to knock down a door to free her friends (This is especially telling as Sebastian stated immediately prior that Ariel was "a weak helpless girl"). It's debatable if she ever retained her superhuman strength by the time she became a human.

She may also have superhuman endurance, as during the final battle with Ursula in the film, Ariel 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 person if not completely destroy the body of a sad person. Like her superhuman strength, it's debatable if she ever retained her superhuman endurance when she turned into a human, although her first transformation implied that it was retained as her body was not being crushed while trying to swim for air (in real life, a human who is at that depth would be crushed into oblivion in a matter of seconds due to the immense water pressure).

As a mermaid, she is also able to metabolize oxygen from the water, which negates the need to surface, though she is certainly more than capable of breathing on land. Also, she is capable of swimming at a much faster rate than humans or even certain marine creatures in terms of undersea travel, or sea travel as a whole due to her half-marine status. Like dolphins, she is capable of leaping out of water at great heights. For example, she was able to get to Triton's Greenland Palace from Sicily, Italy (the implied location of Eric'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. Because of her being a mermaid, she is also capable of speaking with aquatic fauna.



While in human form, she seems to at least have some knowledge of swordplay, which is evident when she used one to cut the rope of a mast to save Melody from Morgana. Also, her ability to speak with Marine Fauna is retained in her human form. Whether her abilities of superhuman strength/superhuman endurance were retained upon becoming human is debatable.

She also seems to be capable of rapid adaptability. This is especially evident in terms of her becoming a temporary human, where she learned how to stand in a few minutes, and move in presumably the same timespan (whereas the average human seems to need a few months at the very least to learn how to walk), as well as quickly learning about the true human customs and abandoning her original beliefs about how human artifacts work, or at the very least not doing it in public) In the Kingdom Hearts timeline, she also seems to excel at Lightning Magic (presumably due to her father wielding the Trident). It's also implied that she was capable of reading advanced literature, as during Part of Your World, she is seen reading an immense book in the grotto. And in one of her episodes, she became a sea-witch and used her magic to grant Sebastian's wish of being bigger but unfortunately, the spell continuously worked, making Sebastian continue to grow to the point where he surfaced while standing, and Ariel's magic 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 Ariel so it wouldn't happen in the re-set timeline.

Impact
Ariel is one of Disney's most iconic animated characters, and her specific color combination of red hair, purple seashells and green tail make her distinctly identifiable. She is also thought of as being the first Disney princess to break free from the traditional princesses of the 30's through 50's, as she is a very proactive character, whilst earlier heroines were more reactive. Ariel makes the choice to exchange her voice for legs, and fights to achieve her dream. Earlier Disney heroines often had dreams, but they did little about them, and they usually only involved finding a prince and living happily ever after. Although Ariel wishes to be with Eric, her desire to be human also adds a dimension to the story. Many see her as being the first contemporary Disney princess, since she is independent and proactive about making her dreams a reality instead of simply waiting for them to come true.

Disney Princesses
Ariel is one of ten characters of the Disney Princess line, a prominent franchise directed to young girls. The franchise covers a wide variety of merchandise, including but not limited to magazines, music albums, toys, clothes and stationery. Ariel is usually depicted in her mermaid form on the merchandise, but also appears in human form wearing her blue dress, white wedding dress or pink dress. The Disney Princess magazine features comics and posters of Ariel, usually in mermaid form. She is the second Disney Princess that is shown naked (the others are Cinderella and Fa Mulan). Ariel is the only Disney Princess who is not human to begin with because she was born as a mermaid.

Trivia

 * Ariel is the only Disney Princess to not be born a human.
 * Although Ariel is the only Disney Princess to have a child of her own, she is not the only Disney heroine to have that honor if you count Wendy Darling from Peter Pan (film) who is shown to have a daughter and a son in Return to Never Land and Esmeralda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame who has a son in the film's sequel. However, it is predicted that other Disney Princesses like Jasmine and Tiana will have children of their own as well.
 * Ariel is the fourth youngest Disney Princess as she already turned 16 before her feature film began. Aurora is the third youngest for a majority of Sleeping Beauty takes place on Aurora's birthday. Jasmine is the second youngest as she was 15 during the events of Aladdin and turns 16 at the movies conclusion, while Snow White is the youngest being only 14.
 * Ariel is the second Disney Princess to be tempted by the villain's offer to make her wish come true (the first being Snow White and the third being Tiana), and yet, the last to give in to the temptation.
 * Unlike her sisters, as a mermaid, Ariel doesn't wear hair accessories except for the occasional sea flower.
 * Although all of Ariel's sister's names begin with the letter "A", Ariel is the only one to be of Roman instead of Greek origin, and the only one to not end with the letter "a", as in Aquata, Andrina, Arista, Attina, Adella and Alana. This could have been in an attempt to draw more attention to Ariel and emphasize how original she is.
 * In Hebrew terms, Ariel translates to English as "lion of God".
 * Although Ariel and Athena bare a striking resemblance, her personality is more similar to that of her father, King Triton's. This is especially noticeable in The Little Mermaid II, when Ariel reprimands her daughter, Melody, for disobeying orders and venturing out into the sea, the same way Ariel disobeyed her father's orders in the first film.
 * Ariel's daughter, Melody, shares almost all of Ariel's personality traits from the first film. However, Ariel dreamt of becoming human and living on land while Melody's dream was to swim beneath the waves.
 * Ariel is the first (and currently the only) Disney Princess to have red hair.
 * Ariel is the first and currently the only Disney Princess to have biological siblings. Cinderella is the only other Disney Princess with any siblings. However, she has step-sisters.
 * In Return of Jafar, Genie briefly transformed into Ariel near the film's climax (having disguised himself as a "bow statue" that's modeled in her likeness, in order to steal Jafar's Lamp from an elated Abis Mal).
 * In A Goofy Movie, a mermaid lamp with Ariel's trademark colors was seen in Goofy and Max's motel room.
 * In the video game Skate or Die 2: The Search for Double Trouble, CJ, the main protagonist's girlfriend, was modeled after Ariel.
 * In Timon and Pumbaa's Wild About Safety short Water Safety, Pumbaa briefly makes a reference to Ariel.
 * Ariel is one of two Disney stars to meet their author. The other is Tarzan of the movie of the same name. In both cases they meet them in their television series, made after the film they first appear in, and in each case they are unaware of the significance of the meeting.
 * Ariel is the first Disney princess/heroine to wear a skimpy outfit, with Jasmine being the second.
 * Ariel is the first Disney Heroine to save their love interest's life. As she saved Eric from drowning, she was followed by Belle, Pocahontas, Mulan, Esmeralda, and Rapunzel.
 * Ariel is the first Disney Princess (second if you include Princess Eilonwy from The Black Cauldron) to be created since 1959, with Princess Aurora.
 * Ariel is the first princess to come from an underwater kingdom, with the second being Kida.
 * Ariel was the last Disney Princess to have a female villain until Rapunzel's debut in 2010.
 * The first real dress Ariel wears after she is a human is pink, similarly the first dress her daughter is shown wearing is pink as well.
 * The first line Ariel speaks in The Little Mermaid is "Flounder, hurry up!".
 * Ariel 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 film being "Isn't this great, the salty sea air, the wind blowing in your face."
 * Ariel is the third Disney Heroine to share a dance with her love interest, however the dance did not take place right after they met like it did for Aurora and Cinderella.
 * Ariel is the fourth Disney Princess to run away from her love interest, she was preceded by Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora, Pocahontas does this as well.
 * Both Ariel and Prince Naveen each accepted a villain's offer and were double crossed by them. This is notable for though Snow White took a villain's offer, she was unaware of who she was taking it from. Ariel and Naveen were both taking offers from outcasts of Atlantica, and New Orleans.
 * Ariel and Prince Naveen were both magically transformed at the end of their villain's song.
 * Ariel and Prince Naveen needed their respective love interest to save their life. For Eric defeated Ursula before she was about to kill Ariel, and Tiana defeated Facilier who was going to use the prince to gain power.
 * Ariel is smiliar to Tod from The Fox and the Hound, both red-headed creatures who cause mischief with their curiosity.
 * In Epic Mickey 2: Power of Illusion, Ariel was seen trapped in a crystal in a similar manner to Zelda in A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time from The Legend of Zelda series.
 * Ariel's nightgown resembles the one worn by Princess Anna in the film Roman Holiday.
 * Ariel's eyes are redesigned when she became a woman in Return to the Sea.
 * Ariel has the second biggest eyes after Rapunzel and the first to have big eyes.
 * Voice actress Melissa Fahn, known for voicing Gaz on Invader Zim and Rika Nonaka on Digimon, auditioned for the part of Ariel and was called back several times, but was turned down in favor of Jodi Benson because she sounded "too young".
 * According to Disneystrology book, she's the character associated to October 8.
 * Ariel is right handed, as shown when she signs her name on Ursula's contract in the first film.
 * As Ariel shares similar personality traits with her father it should be noted she has deep regret over her actions(not telling Melody the truth about her heritage/keeping her from the sea), the same way King Trition regrets how he treated Ariel(not allowing her to study human objects/destroying her whole collection of objects). Due to both Ariel and Triton trying to protect their children they ended up putting their child at risk, and themselves for by the time the truth was revealed Ursula and Morgana gained the upper hand due to their manipulations of Ariel and Melody. Notably both villains believed Ariel and Melody were the key to King Tritons undoing.
 * Not counting Kida, Ariel is the first Disney Princess to become queen, but remains in the franchise as a princess. She would be followed by Belle and Rapunzel. However, her father is still alive at the start of Return to the Sea.