The Enchanted Rose

The Enchanted Rose is a mystic flower from the 1991 Disney animated film, Beauty and the Beast. The Enchanted Rose has since become the trademark symbol for Beauty and the Beast.

Background
When the Beast was a human prince, an old beggar woman came to his castle requesting shelter from the bitter cold and offered to him this very rose. The prince sneered at the gift and turned the old woman away because of her haggard appearance. She warned him not to judge her based on appearance for true beauty was found within. When he did not heed her warning, she shed her false form, revealing herself to be an astonishingly beautiful enchantress.

She saw there was no love in the prince's heart, and thus punished him by turning him into a Beast, and all who dwelt within the castle into living objects. She left him the rose, promising him that it would bloom until his 21st year: If he could learn to love and earn in love in return before the last petal fell, the spell would be broken. If he failed, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time.

Ever since, the Beast kept the rose safe in his chambers, the rose serving as his countdown and a reminder of his selfishness and cruelty.

When the Beast finally turned 21, his countdown truly began as the rose slowly but surely began to wilt.

Beauty and the Beast
Aside from the prologue, the enchanted rose made its first appearance after Beast's failed attempt at convincing Belle to come have dinner with him. After Beast overheard Belle's comment about not wanting to have anything to do with him and being hurt by the remark, a petal fell down. During this scene, it was revealed that at least four petals fell before that one, and Lumiere beforehand mentioned that the rose had started wilting months prior.

The rose was later seen again when Belle entered the West Wing without the Beast's permission, where she briefly saw it and then proceeded to remove its glass covering before attempting to touch its petals. However, the Beast caught her and snapped at her due to her actions nearly destroying the rose by accident, yelling at her to get out of the West Wing (although she ended up leaving the Castle as well, necessitating Beast to save her).

The rose appears in the background for the remainder of the film, and is seen one last time as Beast dies and Belle professes her love for him just as the last petal fell. The Beast had succeeded; the spell was broken, restoring him and his servants to their human forms, and the bleak fortress into a shining castle. The Beast-turned-Prince married Belle and they lived happily ever after.

Beauty and the Beast (Marvel Comics)
The rose appears in several issues as part of the West Wing, although it doesn't have any major roles in the comics. In issue 13, however, in an alternate take on the night of his curse, the prince puts the rose in a vase.

New Adventures of Disney's Beauty and the Beast
The rose appears in both issues of the comic. In the first comic's first story arc, it can be seen briefly, with it still not having bloomed yet, though it had apparently had bloomed by the end of the third arc of the same issue. The second issue shows that two pedals have fallen, and Mrs. Potts implies at one point that it wilting has just happened recently.

Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas
The enchanted rose, aside from the appearances in the background with the West Wing, also appeared nearing the climax, where Forte, shortly after manipulating the Beast to lock Belle away forever, then proceeded to goad him into "ending his misery" by smashing the rose to bits. Before Beast could do so, however, a petal fell on the present Belle had earlier left for him and caused him to snap out of it and read the present, giving him some renewed hope for making Christmas good. In addition, the rose was nearly destroyed again when Forte, having gone completely insane from fear of being left out once the curse is broken, tried to collapse the castle with his music in a desperate attempt to ensure they can't fall in love. However, after Beast disabled Forte's keyboard by ripping it out, Cogsworth and Lumiere managed to place the glass covering properly back on the table in time.