History Literature / TheLittleMermaid

* SettingUpdate: A careful examination of the original story indicates a Mediterranean setting, but clues in the 1976 Russian film such as the Prince being from Normandy and the mention of the Duke of Norfolk indicate a Western European setting.

** One illustration shows her half-octopus or cecaelia.

* NamedByTheAdaptation: Most adaptations do this due to the story being a NamelessNarrative, but the episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheFairyTailer'' preserves the fact that none of the characters had names.

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: The mermaid has nothing to gain and everything to lose by sparing the prince. She does it anyway.

Published in 1837, ''The Little Mermaid'' is a classic FairyTale written by Creator/HansChristianAndersen, about a mermaid who seeks to become human.

* CannotKillTheirLovedOnes: The prince ends up marrying a different girl. The mermaid's sisters tell her that she could kill the prince to become a mermaid again, but she can't bring herself to do it.

* LoveHurts: The mermaid is heartbroken to learn that the prince is going to marry the princess of a neighbouring kingdom, whom he believes is the one who rescued him from drowning. He did not know that the mermaid, who is in love with him, was actually the one who rescued him.

* AlienBlood: The Sea Witch’s blood that is used in the potion is the color black.

* IfICantHaveYou: {{Invoked}} by the mermaid's sisters and the sea witch. They give her a dagger to use to kill the prince on his wedding night, and then let the blood drip on her legs so she will become a mermaid once more. Ultimately {{defied}} by the little mermaid herself, who chooses to die rather than kill him.

* AuthorAvatar: The story was written around the time a man Andersen loved romantically was getting married. There are claims that at the time, Andersen was writing desperate letters that he didn't dare send, saying "I want to tell my love, but I cannot speak." Sound familiar?

* ABirthdayNotABreak: The prince's nearly drowns on his sixteenth birthday, but he is rescued by the titular mermaid... on her fifteenth birthday.
* BittersweetEnding: The mermaid is given a LastSecondChance to kill the prince and return to the sea. She chooses death instead. However, the sacrifice earns her a provisional afterlife as a sort of ministering spirit, and when her time is done she will gain an immortal soul and go to heaven.

* CannotKillTheirLovedOnes: The prince ends up marring a different girl. The mermaid's sisters tell her that she could kill the prince to become a mermaid again, but she can't bring herself to do it.

* DisabledMeansHelpless: The prince takes the "mute girl" in as an act of kindness, like agreeing to foster a permanent dependent. She lives with him for weeks if not months, but he treats her almost like a pet or a small child (even though they are only a year apart) and seldom seems interested in what she is thinking or feeling. She doesn't mind, since she's happy to be with him, but it's evident early on her muteness disqualifies her as a potential wife... for him or for anyone.

* FriendOrIdolDecision: The mermaid has the choice to kill the prince and avert her death, or spare his at the cost of her own. She chooses the latter.

* HopeSpot: Two -- when the prince tells the mermaid he won't marry anyone, not even the princess to whom he's been betrothed; and much later (after he marries her), when the mermaid's sisters offer her a chance to save her life.

* LanguageBarrier: While mermaids can understand humans, humans apparently cannot understand them.

* AdaptationalVillainy: In the fairy tale, The Sea Witch is a neutral character who has no evil plans and tells the mermaid the consequences of her actions. However in various adaptations, The Sea Witch is a WickedWitch who sabotages the mermaid's plans of marrying the prince or is simply described as being evil.

* CessationOfExistence: Mermaids live much longer than humans but don't have an afterlife.

Then he is betrothed and sent unwillingly off on a ship to meet his intended bride. Lo and behold, she is the temple maiden! The prince is overjoyed, but the mermaid silently mourns. They are married immediately and begin their honeymoon on the return voyage, with the mermaid thinking of nothing but her impending death. But just before dawn, her sisters appear to her with a dearly-bought LastSecondChance -- if she kills the prince with the enchanted knife they have brought her, she can become a mermaid again and live out her centuries under the sea. The little mermaid considers it, but ultimately she is unable to murder the man she still loves. She throws the knife away and jumps from the ship, dissolving into sea foam.

Unexpectedly, the mermaid finds herself rising from the water in the company of the Daughters of the Air, benevolent spirits who, after 300 years of good deeds, will [[EarnYourHappyEnding earn an immortal soul and go to Heaven]]. Whenever they see good and obedient children, their sentence is shortened, but disobedient ones make it longer.

The story has been adapted several times, from ballets, to musicals, to the [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 1989 Disney animated musical]]. The film changed the ending to a HappilyEverAfter one, and several [[LostInImitation subsequent adaptations]] have followed suit.

* AgonyOfTheFeet: The Little Mermaid feels like she is walking on knives while she is human.

* ABirthdayNotABreak: The prince's sixteenth birthday ends with him almost drowning, but he was rescued by the titular mermaid.

* BloodMagic: The Sea Witch uses her own blood in the potion that turns the Mermaid into a human.
* CannotKillTheirLovedOnes: The titular character doesn't end up with the prince, who ends up marring a different girl. Her sisters tell her that she has to kill the prince in order to become a mermaid again, but she can't bring herself to do that and she turns into sea foam as a result of a deal with the sea witch.

* CessationOfExistence: Mermaids live longer than humans but don't have an afterlife.

* DealWithTheDevil: For the mere ''chance'' to gain a soul, the mermaid gives up her centuries-long lifespan and her voice. She gains human legs with extraordinary grace but feels like she's ''walking on knives'', making her feet bleed every time she dances. If she marries the prince, she'll gain a soul, but if he marries someone else, she'll die permanently. However, unusually for such deals, the sea witch is open from the start about the consequences, and later helps her sisters when they want to save her.

* IfICantHaveYou: {{Invoked}} by the mermaid's sisters and the sea witch. They give her a dagger to use to kill the prince on his wedding night, and then let the blood drip on her legs so she will become a mermaid once more. Ultimately {{defied}} by the little mermaid herself, who chooses to spare the prince at the cost of her own life.

* LanguageBarrier: The little mermaid's sisters try to communicate to imperiled sailors, but fail because of this:

* LastSecondChance: The mermaid can save her own life, even after the prince marries another, if she kills him on his wedding night.

* CelestialDeadline: If the prince marries anyone but the mermaid, her life will end the next morning.

* AdaptedOut: Many adaptations do not feature the mermaid's grandmother, the Daughters of the Air, or the immortal soul subplot.

* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: The storybook by Van Gool portrayed the merpeople this way. The Mer King was read, his queen orange and daughters 1 through 4 being purple, blue, green and cyan while the title character, though resembling her mother, averts this and has a skin tone like the humans do.

Merfolk live for centuries but have no afterlife. One of them, a princess, is deeply curious about the world above but isn't permitted to go to the surface until she turns fifteen. She is the youngest of her sisters, and when each of them comes of age, she returns with stories about the wonderful sights to be seen up there. When her turn finally comes, the youngest mermaid rescues a young prince from drowning. She leaves him unconscious on shore, near a temple where he can be found, but she has already fallen in love with him.

* LostInImitation: Few young children know the original tragic ending thanks to the [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid Disney retelling]]. Several adaptations that came after the 1989 movie imitated the ending by having the prince indeed fall in love with the little mermaid, and the two of them marry and live HappilyEverAfter.

* TheSoulless: Mermaids have no souls and therefore no afterlife.
** This was inspired by a long tradition of water fairies without souls. Andersen was particularly inspired by the 1811 novella ''Undine'', which in turn was inspired by Paracelsus' AlchemicElementals.

* DownerEnding: Many adaptations do not have the mermaid become an air spirit and has her die and not return in any form.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_little_mermaid.jpg]]

* WickedWitch: Averted. While the Sea Witch lives in a house made of bones with creepy familiars such as sea snakes and a toad and cuts off the little mermaid’s tongue as the price for the human-legs potion, she is not evil but a neutral character.
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* DownerEnding: The mermaid is given a LastSecondChance to kill the prince and return to the sea. She chooses death instead. However, the sacrifice earns her a provisional afterlife as a sort of ministering spirit, and when her time is done she will gain an immortal soul and go to heaven but only if the children of the world are good making it nearly impossible for the mermaid to get an immortal soul.

* {{Expy}}: The Little Mermaid was heavily inspired by Undine, the protagonist in the story of the same name. Both are merfolk who must win the love of a human man and will die if they fail.

* ActOfTrueLove: The mermaid is given one last chance to save herself by killing the prince as he lays sleeping. She refuses it, allowing him to live happily with his new wife. In doing so, she is rewarded by being transformed into a daughter of the air.

** Andersen's second revision adds a more explicit moral: Be good, children who hear this story, because the time the mermaid must serve gets shorter every time she sees a good child but longer every time she sees a bad one.

* WickedWitch: Averted. While the Sea Witch lives in a house made of bones with creepy familiars such as sea snakes and a toad and cuts off the little mermaid’s tongue as the price for the human-legs potion, she is not evil and a neutral party.

* AnimeAdaptation: The fairy tale was adapted into an Anime film in 1975.

* NatureSpirit: The merfolk are water elementals while the Daughters of the Air are air elementals.

* WickedWitch: Averted. While the Sea Witch lives in a house made of bones with creepy familiars such as sea snakes and toads and cuts off the little mermaid’s tongue as the price for the human legs potion, she is not evil and a neutral party.