Lake Ripple is a character in the 2023Disney/Pixar animated feature film Elemental. They are the younger sibling of Wade Ripple and a student from the Element City School for the Arts.
Lake is a very open-minded and friendly individual like everyone else in their family. Lake is also prone to tears to like the rest of their family and can be very emotional. They're very accepting of other elements where they warmly welcomed Ember Lumen and accepted their second older brother, Wade's relationship with the fire girl. In addition, Lake is a very artistic individual like most of their family members where they were impressed with Ember's glass-making abilities.
Physical appearance
Being a water element, Lake's body is made of translucent blue water, forming a slender body that is much shorter than their mother's and older brothers' bodies, complete with dark blue eyebrows, small waves that give off the appearance of pixie-cut hair on the top of their head, a small nose, and blue eyes.
They wear dark blue earrings, a purple choker necklace, and a dark green sweater with pale green diamonds over a pale green shirt.
Role in the film
Wade encounters Lake and the rest of the Ripple family at Wade's apartment, where Wade introduces Lake to Ember, alongside Ghibli, which Wade describes Lake and Ghibli as students of Element City School for the Arts. Lake replies, "Following in Mom's wake" just before Brook replies that she is an architect as the real artist is her brother Harold. Lake is later seen having dinner with the rest of the Ripples to which they find Alan's story about Wade being afraid of sponges as a child interesting. After Alan accidentally breaks the pitcher he is using, Ember uses her fiery ability to fix the broken pitcher, impressing Lake and the rest of the Ripples.
Later during the Crying Game where Wade tells Ember that the light inside her made him feel like that he wants her to be near him, Lake and the rest of the Ripples emotionally react to Ember and Wade's relationship. During the climax of the film, Lake and the rest of the Ripples are seen bidding a farewell to Wade who is leaving just before Wade's relatives began crying together, only for Wade to notice Ember in danger, due to the water bursting through the glass wall Ember made, flowing through the canal. Lake does not appear again throughout the rest of the film.
Trivia
Lake is non-binary and is introduced as using they/them pronouns. Lake's voice actor, Kai Ava Hauser, is also non-binary and uses they/he pronouns.
Kai Ava Hauser is not directly credited as the voice of Lake and is simply listed under additional voices. Nevertheless, Hauser was confirmed to be the voice of Lake.
Besides Wade and Ember appearing in the teaser trailer, Lake is the only other named element to appear in the teaser. In it, Lake is seen putting lipstick only for the train to bump, causing the lipstick to be absorbed within Lake's body, which they react in shock.
Despite being described as a canonically non-binary character and Wade referring to them as his sibling, he calls Lake 'her' when referring to Ghibli as 'her' girlfriend rather than 'their'.
It's possible that Lake does not mind the use of gendered pronouns, or perhaps goes by they/them and she/her.