Belle


 * This article is about the Beauty and the Beast character. For the Christmas Carol character, see Belle (A Christmas Carol).

Belle is one of the two main characters of Beauty and the Beast and its direct-to-video follow-ups, The Enchanted Christmas and Belle's Magical World. In all of the above media, her speaking and singing ees are provided by Broadway icon Paige O'Hara.

Belle is an official Disney Princess, and the fifth in order of release, after Ariel and before Jasmine.

A stage version of the 1991 film debuted on Broadway on April 14, 1994 with the 'live' role of Belle originated by Susan Egan (who would later go on to voice Megara in Hercules), and finalized by Anneliese van der Pol (who was prevously Chelsea Daniels on That's So Raven').

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.

Beauty and the Beast (musical)
A Broadway musical adapatation of the film premired on Broadway on April 18, 1994 at the Palace Theatre with Susan Egan as the original Belle. Since then many actresses including Deborah Gibson, Toni Braxton, Andrea McArdle, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Christy Carlson Romano and Ashley Brown have played the role on Broadway. The show closed on July 29, 2007 at the Lunt-Fountanne Theatre with Anneliese van der Pol as the show's final Belle.

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 character. She meets her new three enchanted object friends Webster, Crane and LePlume and is about to solve problems in all four segments.

In one of the stories it is Lumiere's anniversary with Fifi yet he does not know the proper way to confess how he truly feels. Belle assist him by taking the role as Fifi and practicing what he's going to do for their date. Fifi sees the two and believes Lumiere is leaving her for Belle. Eventually all is straightened out.

In another story, Belle finds a wounded bird and takes it in. She spends most of her time hiding it from Beast originally until he grows to like. After a while another problem brews as the bird is healthy once more but Beast wants to keep it for it's singing. Belle convinces him to let it free. In the end they become closer and closer showing signs of feelings for each other.

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, which would make some believe that both films take place at the same time.

House of Mouse
Belle made cameo appearances in many episodes of the House of Mouse television series, including the direct-to-video releases Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse and Mickey's House of Villains.

Kilala Princess
In the manga series, Kilala Princess, the main characters Kilala, Prince Rei and Princess Sylphy enter the world of "Beauty and the Beast" looking for magical gems to activate the Magic Tiara's power and awaken the princess within Kilala. When Belle first meets them, Kilala immediately asks to shake her hand. They become fast friends, and Belle asks the Beast to let them stay in the castle and work. Sylphy's egocentric attitude initially makes it unbearable for everyone, but it improves overtime. When Cogsworth accidentally loses the pocket watch that the Beast planned to give to Belle, Kilala and Rei go into town to find it. Though they manage to retrieve the watch, in a broken condition, the amber stored inside is stolen by Gaston.

The Beast remains unaware of this incident, and when it breaks in his hand, he bursts out angrily and hides in his room. In order to cheer him up, Kilala, Rei and Sylphy steal back the lost gem from Gaston. Kilala then tells him why he wanted to give Belle the watch in the first place, and that it doesn't matter if the gift is broken. Belle accepts the broken watch and gives the gem to Kilala as a token of grattitude, and turns into a gem of the Magic Tiara. She is last seen witnessing Kilala receive her own gem: an emerald.

Physical Appearance
Belle is a very attractive young woman in her late teens or early twenties. Although she is known throughout her village for her beauty, she is quite ignorant of her own appearance, but ironically greatly aware that her fellow citizens think of her as "odd" and "peculiar". Belle pays very little attention to her appearance, unlike the vain Gaston, who only loves her because she is "the most beautiful girl in town".

Belle is stunningly beautiful. She has long, brown hair, most often tied in a low ponytail, brown eyes (appearing hazel in the recent Diamond Edition re-release), rosy cheeks and a sculpted figure. One of her distinct features are the strands of hair that constantly find their way onto her forhead, causing her to frequently brush them back into place.

Throughout the film, Belle wears various outfits depending on the occasion. Her most elaborate and renowned is her golden ball gown, in which she shares her first dance with the Beast in the "Beauty and the Beast" sequence. With this outfit, she wears some of her hair in a neat bun, but the majority of it trails down her neck in a beautiful, flowing motion, resembling a ponytail. thumb|right|250px|Belle's first appearance in Beauty and the Beast, during the opening number, "Belle". Notice the different color scheme between Belle and her fellow town residents, as well as Belle's graceful motion, and her ability to walk while reading. The storywriters and producers of Beauty and the Beast wanted to give Belle's movements an air of elegance, so they studied the movements of ballerinas during the course of Belle's development. Like ballerinas, Belle walks diligently and swiftly on her toes no matter what types of shoes she is wearing, or where she is located. The designers and artists wanted Belle to be noticeable in a crowded town, so they payed close attention to her wardrobe. Belle is the only member of the town to wear blue, while the other townfolk wear rustic colors, such as red, green and brown.

It is made quite obvious in the early chapters of the film that Belle has a beautiful singing voice, courtesy of broadway actress and singer Paige O'Hara.

Personality
Belle has gained a significant amount of intelligence over the years due to her love of books, providing her with a wide vocabulary, active imagination, and open mind. She is very confident and outspoken in her opinions, and seldom likes being told what to do. Unlike most characters in the film, Belle isn't concerned about her's or other's appearances, and is able to look past how people appear and into their hearts. This is how Belle managed to break the Beast's enchantment, and restore love and laughter to the castle.

Belle is somewhat a women's-libber for her time, and refuses to be mistreated, undermined, demeaned or directed by any (sexist) man, especially Gaston with his belief (for the time that the film takes place) that a woman should only be confined to doing housework (cooking, cleaning, obedience to a husband and taking care of the children) and be forbidden from reading or doing anything that increases intelligence - which he finds wrong for a woman. (At the time that the film takes place, 18th century France, marriage was something akin to slavery anyway, especially in the case of Gaston and his ideals on how his wife should be like.)  However, she willingly listens to her father, Maurice, and considers the opinions and directions of the Beast, because they are both able to treat her as an equal (the Beast had more time to learn how to) while Gaston is not. She is quite obstinate when it comes to stating her points, upholding her opinions and maintaining her ideas.

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 worst. 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. As she matures during the course of her inprisonment, her pure heart breaks the enchantment. Belle realizes that having dreams is great, but sometimes you need to look beyond them and find what you're truly looking for.

Abilities
Most of Belle's abilities are based on knowledge and intelligence, instead of physical strength.

One of Belle's more obvious abilities is her use of vocabulary. Possibly due to her love of books and constant reading, Belle is able to call out many words off the top of her head and use them in the correct context in order to prove a point or state a fact, such as "primeval" and "provincial".

Belle is quite witty, and is able to use this trait to her advantage. When in an argument with the Beast, Belle was able to hold her ground and challenge 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 facts left the Beast stunned and at a loss for words. Belle managed to think of these combacks without much thought or hesitation. When Lumiere and Cogsworth were attempting 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.

Belle has a strong sense of character, and is able to use this trait in a variety of ways, even 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 of the idea, but when Belle says she's sure he knows everything about the castle, he agrees.

Although Belle is quite ignorant of her own beauty, she does somehow manage to use her feminine charm to her advantange. When Gaston proposed to Belle, she pretended to be clueless and at a loss for words, however, she was secretly leading Gaston to the door, and when cornered against it, opened it and sent him flying into a mud pond.

Although Belle displays few athletic abilities, she is able to ride a horse at quite stunning speeds with ease and skill, and subconciously navigate her way through a crowded street while reading, without colliding with anyt other people or objects.

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. 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 the series, although Belle's status as one of the Princesses of Heart may still tie her in to future Kingdom Hearts adventures.

Significance and Legacy
Part of Belle's legacy is the fact that she brought a new dawn of more adventurous, heroic and independent heroines to the world of film, although Ariel brought a new personality trend to heroines. Belle is the first heroine to not be saved by a prince in order to live happily ever after. Instead, she "saves" the Beast by evolving him into a loving gentleman, proving that true beauty is beneath the skin, breaking the spell, and transforming him into a handsome prince once again through her love. Belle's pioneering role in Beauty and the Beast introduced more heroic heroines to the Disney scene, specifically with Pocahontas in 1995 and Mulan in 1998.

Belle is sometimes used as an advocate for women's liberation and intelligence among women around the world. She is also used to encourage children in their love of reading and literature.

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. She can be spotted on a float in Mickey's Soundsational Parade.

Storytime with Belle
In the former show held at the Magic Kingdom, Belle will 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 as in the film.

World of Color
Belle appears in the nighttime water show in Disney California Adventure park in the Disneyland Resort. Belle appears in the opening during the theme of the show shown ball dancing with Best. She later appears starting the show's finale as she confesses her love for Beast and he transforms into a handsome prince.

Trivia

 * Belle is the first and only Disney Princess to be born with brown hair.
 * Belle is the first Disney Princess to marry a prince who wasn't human for a large portion of his life.
 * Belle was the second Disney Princess to not be of royal descent, after Cinderella in 1950.
 * Belle was the final Disney Princess to have the same actress play both her speaking and singing voices until Tiana in 2009.
 * Belle is the first Disney Princess to "save" her prince at the film's climax by breaking the spell and returning the Beast to his human form. She is followed by Mulan, Tiana and Rapunzel.
 * Belle is the third Disney Princess to have a father present during the film, after Aurora in 1959 and Ariel in 1989, and before Jasmine in 1992, Pocahontas in 1995, Mulan in 1998, Tiana in 2009 and Rapunzel in 2010.
 * Belle arguably saw the dawn of more heroic and independent Disney Princesses. Her legacy led to Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tiana and Rapunzel. However, some say this title rightfully belongs to Ariel
 * Belle is French for "beautiful".
 * Belle is the second Disney Princess with a male villain in her story, after Eilonwy with the Horned King. The third is Jasmine with Jafar, the fourth is Pocahontas with Governor Ratcliffe, the fifth is Mulan with Shan-Yu and the sixth is Tiana with Dr. Facilier.
 * Belle is the second Disney Princess to be shown eating food. Snow White was the first, Mulan was the third, and Tiana was the fourth.
 * Belle is the second Disney Princess to have a horse companion in the form of Phillipe. The first was Cinderella and the third was Mulan.
 * Belle is the first and only Disney Princess to not sing the film's theme song, "Beauty and the Beast". Instead, it is sung by the supporting character, Mrs. Potts.