Beast

The Beast is the male protagonist of Beauty and the Beast and its midquels. As the film is based on the traditional fairy tale of the same name, the Beast is based on the corresponding character from that fairy tale.

The Beast is voiced in all of his movies and video appearances by Robby Benson. While his true name is never mentioned in the media franchise, it has been confirmed by the CD-ROM tie-in game The D Show that his real name is Prince Adam.

Appearance and Personality
In the original tale, the Beast is seen wants to be kind hearted for the most part, and gentleman-like, with only an occasional tendency to be hot-tempered. In Disney's variant of the tale, the Beast originally appeared to be a constantly angry and depressed spoiled brat. As opposed to his original counterpart, the creators gave him a more primal nature to his personality, which truly exploited his character as an untamed animal. To reflect his early personality, the Beast is seen shirt-less, with ragged, dark gray breeches, and a ragged reddish-colored cape with a golden colored circular-shaped clasp. Despite the actual color of his cape being a dark reddish color, The Beast's cape is more often referenced to be purple. The reason for this change in color is unknown, although the most likely reason is because the color purple is often associated with royalty. After the Beast saves Belle from a pack of wolves, his dress-style changes, reflecting a more refined personality. His dress style becomes more disciplined, and the most referenced form of dress is his ballroom outfit, which consisted of a golden vest over a white dress shirt with a white kerchief, black dress pants trimmed with gold, and a navy blue ballroom tail coat trimmed with gold, worn during the film's ballroom dance sequence. Upon his reform under his love interest Belle, his personality changes to refined, but naive about the world at the same time.

Supervising animator Glen Keane describes the Beast as "a twenty-one-year-old guy who's insecure, wants to be loved, wants to love, but has this ugly exterior and has to overcome this".

Design
The Beast is not of any one species of animal, but a mixture of several animals. He has the head structure and horns of a buffalo, the arms and body of a bear, the eyebrows of a gorilla, the jaws, teeth, and mane of a lion, the tusks of a wild boar and the legs and tail of a wolf. He also bears resemblance to mythical monsters like the Minotaur or a werewolf. In the original versions, he was described more like a cross between a lion and a mythical animal. He also has blue eyes, the one physical feature that does not change whether he is a beast or a human.

Beauty and the Beast


Prince Adam was a handsome young prince who lived in a luxurious castle in France and had everything he wanted. As a result he was a selfish and spoiled human. One night, on Christmas Eve, his kindness, or lack of it, was put to the test when a beggar woman came to the castle and pleaded for shelter from the freezing cold and rain, with a single rose as payment. Repulsed by her appearance, he sneered at the simple but beautiful gift. The woman begs again, and he still refuses. When he shuns the beggar woman for her repulsive appearance again, her ugliness melts away and then reveals her true form: as a beautiful (and powerful) Enchantress.

Seeing her beauty and realizing her power, the Prince tries to apologize. But it is too late, for she has seen in her disguise that there was no love in his heart. As punishment for his cold heart, she turns him into a terrifying beast-like creature. She also casts a ghastly curse on the entire castle, transforming it into a dark, foreboding place, its lush green grounds into dark, misty woods, and the good-natured servants into anthropomorphic household objects to reflect their different personalities. Ashamed of his new appearance, the Beast conceals himself inside his castle with a magic mirror as his only window to the outside world.

Years later, when Beast locks Maurice, an old man in the tower as a prisoner for trespassing (not knowing or caring that Maurice was actually allowed inside by the servants for shelter), his daughter, Belle, confronts Beast and pleads with him to let her father go, offering herself as a prisoner instead. The Beast accepts, under the further condition that she remain in the castle forever. Beast comes to appreciate Belle when she tends to his wounds after he saves her from the wolves, and strikes up a friendship with her. Eventually, he falls in love with her, and placing her happiness before his own, he releases her to tend to her sick father.

A lynch mob comes to kill the Beast, led by a rival suitor named Gaston. Gaston eventually finds Beast, and the two fight. The battle ends in a stalemate: the Beast is mortally stabbed and Gaston falls from the castle roof to his apparent death. Belle comes to tend to the Beast's wounds, but he succumbs to his injuries. Upon losing him, Belle realises that she truly loves him, and breaks the spell, and he is revived and turned back into the prince. The next day, a ball is held to celebrate their victory.

Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas
In the midquel, which takes place not long after the Beast rescued Belle from the wolves, much to Beast's frustration, Belle wants to celebrate Christmas and throw a real Christmas party. Beast hates the idea of Christmas, for it was the very day ten years ago when the Enchantress cast the spell on him and the entire castle - he also was ungrateful for his gift that day, a storybook. While Beast sits most of the preparations out, a treacherous servant plots to have Belle thrown out of the castle: Forte the Pipe Organ, since he is far more appreciated by the Beast while under the spell.

Unknown to Beast, Belle writes him a special book which he doesn't see until later on. She also meets Forte later on in a chance meeting. Forte tells her that Beast's favorite Christmas tradition when he was a child... was the Christmas tree. Belle becomes frustrated, for no tree she has seen on the grounds has been tall enough to hang ornaments. Forte lies to Belle, saying that a perfect tree can be found in the woods beyond the castle. Reluctant to go against Beast's orders that she never leave the castle, Belle leaves nonetheless in order to find the perfect tree. When Belle does not arrive to see Beast's Christmas present to her, he begins to suspect that she isn't there at all. When Mrs. Potts explains that the household cannot find her, Beast becomes enraged. He goes to Forte to ask for advice, and Forte lies that Belle has abandoned him. Beast confronts Belle in the woods and saves her in time from drowning, since she fell through thin ice.

Still believing that Belle disobeyed him by leaving the grounds, Beast throws her into the dungeons. But when Forte goads him into destroying the rose to end his suffering, Beast finds Belle's book in the West Wing and reads it, coming to his senses and realizing that all Belle wants is for him to be happy. Releasing Belle from the dungeon, Beast prepares to join in the Christmas festivities. But Forte doesn't give up and even goes as far as to attempt to destroy the entire castle with Beethoven's 5th. Fortunately, Beast finds him in time and destroys his keyboard with Franz Schubert's Symphony No 8. Losing his balance (and his pipes), Forte falls from the wall he is leaned up against and is silenced forever. When the whole castle is turned back into humans, the Prince and Belle give Chip, Mrs. Potts' son, a book to read, which he loves. As the Prince and Belle come out to the balcony, he gives her something too: a rose.

Belle's Magical World
In the final entry of the franchise, made up of four segments from a presumably failed television series, Belle teaches the Beast a thing or two about life itself, consideration and manners. He appears only in the first and fourth segments, and in a cameo in the third. In the first part, The Perfect Word, Beast and Belle have a bitter falling out at dinner when the Beast demands that Cogsworth open the windows to cool him down, despite the fact that he is the only one hot and there is a cold wind, and angrily strikes his servant, Webster, a long-tongued dictionary. Despite Lumiere and Cogsworth's pleas, Beast refuses to apologise for his behavior, until Webster, Crane and LePlume forge a letter of apology from the Beast to Belle. All is settled, until the Beast realizes that it was a forgery. He furiously banishes Webster, Crane and LePlume from the castle, but Belle brings them back from the woods, and the Beast soon learns to forgive them, as their intentions were good.

In the 4th part, The Broken Wing, the Beast loses his temper with Belle again when she brings an injured bird into the castle, as he dislikes birds. As he tries to chase the bird out, however, he falls over on the stairs and hits his head hard, stripping him of his hatred for birds. However, his selfishness still remains, and he locks the bird in a cage in his room, demanding that it sing for him whenever he demands it. The bird, terrified, refuses, until Belle teaches the Beast that the bird will only sing when happy. The Beast lets the bird out, and learns to consider others before himself.

Earlier on, in the third segment, Mrs. Potts' Party, the Beast makes several cameos sleeping in his bed in the West Wing. Dialogue between Lumiere and Cogsworth shows that he had spent the entire previous night mending leaks in the castle roof, and is still resting. An argument between Lumiere and Cogsworth about Mrs. Potts' favorite flowers lead to them having to hide several bunches of flowers around the Beast's bed. At one point, the Beast begins to smell one of the flowers and almost wakes up, but it is removed just in time, and he falls asleep again.

House of Mouse
Beast made recurring cameo appearances in the animated series House of Mouse, again voiced by Benson. One of Beast's most notable appearances is where The Angry Villagers perform the song Let's Slay the Beast. After the performance ended, Beast (hiding under a table) ask Belle if it's over. The beast was also a secondary guest character in the film Mickey's Magical Christmas as well as Mickey's House of Villains where Donald Duck tries to scare him but it backfires.

Aladdin
The Beast makes a cameo appearance in Aladdin as one of the Sultan's toys.

Kingdom Hearts series
The Beast is a recurring character in the Kingdom Hearts series. He plays a big role in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II as an ally to Sora and his friends.

The Beast's backstory prior to the events of Kingdom Hearts is basically the same as in the movie. During the time he and Belle were getting to know each other, Belle was captured by the Heartless, and the Beast's world, along with all of his servants, was swallowed by the darkness.

Kingdom Hearts
In a rare occurrence for the characters of the Kingdom Hearts series, Beast made his first appearance outside of his home world, due to its destruction. Sora, Donald, and Goofy witnessed him detailing his history to Riku at Hollow Bastion's backward waterfalls; Beast explained that it was his love for Belle that had helped him travel all the way to Hollow Bastion from his original world without an aircraft to assist him. He demanded that Riku return Belle to him. When his request was denied, Beast attempted to attack Riku, but Riku managed to injure the Beast. Sora then lost control of the Keyblade to Riku, and Donald and Goofy had no choice but to follow Riku due to their king's orders to follow the Keyblade master, leaving Sora alone with the Beast. The two briefly explained to each other that they were both looking for someone, before heading into Hollow Bastion as a team; the Beast's strength was a great asset to Sora, whose old wooden sword was ineffective against the Heartless.

However, once inside Hollow Bastion's main entrance, the Beast witnessed a vision of Belle being turned into a Heartless (which did not actually happen, although at that exact moment Belle had lost her heart), and in a fit of rage the Beast abandoned Sora, chasing after the Heartless in his vision. After Sora battled Riku and took back the Keyblade, the Beast returned to his senses and continued to assist Sora, who now had Donald and Goofy back on his side. The four encountered Maleficent, who battled them in her human and dragon forms. Once she was defeated, the Beast separated from the group while Sora, Goofy and Donald entered the chamber where the Princesses of Heart were held; here, Sora once again fought Riku, who was now possessed by Xehanort's Heartless. After Sora won the battle, he used the Keyblade of People's Hearts to release Kairi's heart from his own, as well as to return all of the other princesses' hearts, including Belle's. When Sora, Kairi, Goofy and Donald were surrounded near Hollow Bastion's exit, the Beast stayed behind as Hollow Bastion became infested with Heartless, refusing to leave without Belle, who was still encased in glass and crystal, and also to divert the Heartless' attention from Sora and friends so they could escape.

When Sora returned to Hollow Bastion, he took the Beast into the library, where Belle was researching ways to stop the darkness that was beginning to engulf Hollow Bastion. She and the Beast lovingly embraced, happily reunited at last. Beast continued to help Sora in battle at Hollow Bastion, and then waited there with Belle following Sora's departure, anticipating Sora's victory so that he and Belle could return home, which they eventually did.

In Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, the Beast was also present for the special fight with Xemnas, who had come to Hollow Bastion with the intent of testing Sora's strength.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
An illusion of the Beast appears in Castle Oblivion as a figment of Sora's memories of Hollow Bastion. He is shown coming to Hollow Bastion to rescue the captured Belle much like the real Beast, but is coldly refused by Belle and told to return home. The Beast becomes depressed, not knowing that Belle is merely faking her cruelty to foil Maleficent's plans to steal her heart. When he is rejected again, however, the Beast declares he will stay and fight for her even if it is against her wishes, confessing his own feelings for her in the process and prompting Maleficent to try and steal his heart instead, but Belle is so moved that she sacrifices her own heart to save his. The Beast joins Sora and his friends in defeating Maleficent, and Belle's heart is restored. The Beast apologizes for doubting Belle's love for him, and the two lovingly embrace.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Upon returning to his home world, the Beast finds his castle under attack by the Heartless and does everything he can to fight them off, though his constant fighting strains his relationship with Belle. He is defeated while trying to keep an Infernal Engine from breaking into the castle, and finally stops fighting knowing that Belle and his servants are safe. Some time later, the Beast is contacted by Xaldin of Organization XIII, who begins to sow seeds of distrust for Belle into the Beast, and he slowly begins to fear that he will lose everything he holds dear.

Kingdom Hearts II
In Kingdom Hearts II, Belle and the Beast have been back in their world for a year following the events of Kingdom Hearts. However, the peace was once again interrupted by a high-ranking Organization XIII member, Xaldin, who angered the Beast by telling him that Belle would leave him, and that her feelings for him were not true. In his rage, the Beast threw his servants into the dungeon and frightened Belle to the point that she would not venture beyond the East Wing of the castle.

When Sora, Donald and Goofy arrived in Beast's Castle, they were attacked by Shadow Heartless, but were saved by the Beast. However, despite having saved them, the Beast was not the least bit interested in seeing his old friends again. He shoved them aside and reached for his enchanted rose, which he took back to his room in the West Wing.

After rescuing the castle's servants at Belle's request, Sora, Donald, Goofy and the Beast's butler, Cogsworth found the Beast in his room, being provoked by Xaldin. After battling the Beast to calm him down, the Beast came to his senses and decided to apologize to Belle. However, Belle was not in her room. The Beast and company found her running from a Shadow Stalker in the castle's ballroom. She escaped to the balcony as the Beast confronted Xaldin and fought the Shadow Stalker that Xaldin attacked the group with. After the fight, the Beast apologized to Belle, who accepted. However, Belle was still disappointed in the Beast's lack of trust for her, and Sora left their world wondering if they would ever manage to work out their differences.

When Sora returned, he found the Beast pacing in the main entrance. The Beast was dressed very nicely, and after a few reluctant grunts he finally admitted that he and Belle were on a date for the evening. Unfortunately, as the two began to dance in the ballroom, Xaldin returned. The Beast charged at Xaldin, while Belle bemoaned the Organization's interference with her romantic evening. Following yet another battle, Xaldin told the Beast that something precious to him was now gone. The Beast realized Xaldin had been talking about the enchanted rose, and abandoned his friends to check if his fear was true. Unfortunately, this was exactly the case, and in his despair, the Beast lashed out at Belle and Sora, telling them to leave his castle. But, while Belle walked to her room to prepare for her departure, Sora stayed and convinced the Beast that he needed to show Xaldin who was boss. The Beast, realizing Sora's words were true, went to find Xaldin, who was waiting for him in the entrance hall. When Xaldin retreated outside, the Beast followed.

Meanwhile, Belle stood on the balcony outside of her room, lost in thought. When she saw Beast and the others emerge from the castle, she ran back inside, but saw the rose sitting beside her door. She happily held the rose over the balcony to show it to the Beast, but she was suddenly grabbed behind by Xaldin and whisked away to the castle's bridge. The Beast was then presented with the choice of keeping Belle or his rose; he chose Belle, but did not have to worry, as Belle briefly took matters into her own hands; she caught Xaldin off guard, painfully elbowed him in the stomach, grabbed the rose, and run off toward Sora and party, ensuring that the Beast lost neither her or the rose.

After a fierce confrontation with Xaldin (which the Organization member lost), the Beast gladly took his rose back from Belle. However, he was ashamed of how he had yelled at Belle, and (with a little encouragement from his friends) bashfully asked her to stay with him. Belle smiled and accepted, and the two danced the night away in the castle courtyard.

During the credits of Kingdom Hearts II, it was revealed that the Beast transformed back into Prince Adam.

Disney Parks
Beast appears in the Disney Parks as a meetable character, in both his beast and human forms. He and Belle are commonly seen in Epcot's World Showcase.

Beauty and the Beast Live
Beast appears in the Live stage show Beauty and the Beast. In the show Beast plays out the exact same role he plays in the film. In the show Beast battle both Gaston and a couple of villagers as well.

Fantasmic!
Beast appears in the nightime spectacular Fantasmic! Beast appears in the Princess Melody, dancing with Belle. Beast later appears on the Mark Twain Riverboat or Steamboat Willie along with many other Disney characters.

World of Color
Beast appears at the opening of the show where he is seen dancing with Belle. Beast later appears with Belle introducing the grand finale of the show.

Trivia

 * The Beast is the first male character in a Disney fairy tale to have a role that is equally as significant as the female protagonists'.
 * The Beast's actual name isn't revealed in the film.
 * The Beast is also the first prince to not be a human for a major portion of his life.
 * The Beast is the first male protagonist to not "save" his female counterpart near the film's climax. He does, however, save Belle from a vicious wolf attack roughly at the film's turning point.
 * Casting of the Beast was a true challenge, considering the fact the directors were searching for someone who could alternate between a deep, gruff and rather uninviting voice to a soft, prince-like tone. When Robby Benson surprisingly auditioned for the role, the casting directors were both shocked and pleased, and immediately cast him. Critics claim Benson did the role so well that they couldn't even tell it was him.
 * The Beast in the original fairy tale had a generally welcoming personality, unlike in the film version. The directors felt changing this aspect would help add dimension to the Beast, but also promote the film's primary moral "True beauty comes from within."
 * Several animals were used during the process of designing and animating the Beast, such as wildebeasts, bears, lions and wolves.
 * The Beast is the first Disney Prince to be wounded by the villian.

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