The Little Mermaid - Titular Protagonists / Characters

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Ariel

"I don't see how a world that makes such wonderful things could be bad."

^{Click here to view her in human form.}

Voiced by: Jodi Benson ^{International voice actresses}
Facial Model: Sherri Lynn Stoner
Appearances: Ariel's Beginning | The Series | The Little Mermaid (1989) | II: Return to the Sea | Sofia the First^note
Appearances in alternate continuities: House of Mouse | Kingdom Hearts^note | Ralph Breaks the Internet | Disney Dreamlight Valley

A rebellious mermaid princess, she desired most to live above the sea and learn about humans, despite the wishes of her father, Triton the Sea King. After rescuing the human prince Eric, falling in love with him and having her spirits obliterated during a violent fight with her father, she makes a deal with the sea witch Ursula to be turned into a human. They bargain that she must receive the kiss of True Love by three days, or else belong to Ursula.
She's also a member of the Disney Princess line.

'80s Hair: Not the frizzy and curly kind, but her hair is certainly voluminous, and maintains its shape even when being underwater should weigh it down.
Action Girl: As a Tomboy with a Girly Streak, Ariel has a very hands-on personality. She loves the excitement of a good adventure, and she doesn't mind getting her hands dirty or putting herself at risk if she feels it's for a good cause. In the original film, this trait is best shown when she outswims and outwits a shark to save Flounder, when she saves Eric's life by preventing him from drowning in a storm, and when she obliterates Flotsam and Jetsam during the climactic fight. In the TV series, it's revealed that Ariel has had lots of other dangerous undersea adventures, and she has helped her dad to protect Atlantica from outside threats several times over.
Action Mom: In the sequel, she becomes a mother to her and Eric's only child, Melody, showing she still doesn't hesitate to get into a fight when necessary.
Adaptation Deviation: She never yearns for an immortal soul, which was the driving motive of the original protagonist.
Adaptational Badass: She's a Guile Heroine bordering on Action Girl in the first half of the film (she saves her own prince!), and further versions of her just get better. In the animated series, the stage musical, the live-action film, and some of the Kingdom Hearts games she's right in the action.
Adaptational Curves: In the early illustrations for Hans Christian Andersen The Little Mermaid the titular mermaid is flat chested◊, Ariel is not◊ being the Trope Codifier for Seashell Bra.
Adaptational Dye-Job: Possibly. While the original story never explicitly stated the mermaid's hair color, it did mention that the mermaid greatly resembles the princess whom the prince eventually marries. Given the princess is described as having long dark eyelashes, it stands to reason that the 1837 mermaid had dark hair, not red hair.
Adaptational Modesty: In the original story she was topless; here, she is given her iconic, purple seashell bra.
Adaptation Personality Change: Literally, as in two mermaids change personalities—the most distinguishing traits of Andersen's heroine were that she was thoughtful, quiet, and pensive (quite unlike Ariel), and one of her sisters is actually said to be by far the most daring and boldest of the family (quite like Ariel).
Aesop Amnesia: She's been told multiple times by her father and Sebastian not to go to the surface. Despite that, Ariel's curiousness got the best of her, and disobeyed, either to ask for information about the human world from Scuttle or to see a better view of a human ship.
Age Lift: Downplayed, as the difference is by one year. In the original tale, the little mermaid was 15. In this adaptation, she's 16.
All in the Manual: Disney has confirmed that Ariel grew up in the Mediterranean Sea.
All-Loving Hero: This is especially emphasized in the TV series. Ariel is a deeply compassionate person who's always willing to help others in need, especially the misunderstood ones.
Almost Kiss: With Eric, twice:
- The first happens in a lagoon, which is interrupted by Flotsam and Jetsam so she doesn't fulfill her bargain.
- The second happens after Ariel regains her voice and breaks Ursula's enchantment over Eric; before they can kiss, the sun sets, causing Ariel to turn back into a mermaid.
Always Someone Better: When Eric first meets Ariel, he assumes she's the one who saved his life until it turns out she can't talk. He is, then, depicted sitting outside the castle at night and playing with his flute the melody of "Part of Your World"'s reprise, hoping that his savior would appear (without knowing that she already lives with him). After Grimsby talks to him, he's about to propose to Ariel, only for Vanessa to appear out of nowhere. Thinking that she's his true savior due to her appearance and her angelic voice (and because she bewitched him), he chooses her as his wife.
Annoying Younger Sibling: Arista views her as one due to Ariel's headstrong and rebellious nature.
Art Shift: During the scene where King Triton finds out about her secret grotto, her characteristics are drawn differently. This is because she was animated by James Baxter in that scene instead of by her main animator Glen Keane.
Ascended Fangirl: Ariel always dreamed of joining the surface world and by the end of the film, her dream comes true.
Audience Surrogate: Due to transforming from a mermaid to a human, the audience can experience both the joys of the underwater world and the surface world.
Awesome, but Impractical: Her legs, even though they're perfect for jumping, dancing, don't help her swim well and she needs the help of Flounder to reach the ship where Eric and Vanessa are married.
Babies Ever After: She and Eric have a daughter, Melody, in Return to the Sea.
The Baby of the Bunch: Ariel is the youngest of Triton's seven daughters, and the most naïve and mischievous out of all of them. Despite them often arguing, Ariel is Triton's favorite daughter.
Badass Adorable: A young mermaid who isn't afraid to confront sharks or an evil sea witch, if it means getting what she wants.
Battle Cry: After her father is subjected to a fate worse than death, Ariel growls out "You... you MONSTER!!!" before she charges Ursula.
Beautiful Singing Voice: Her central plot trait. Among all her sisters' lovely singing, she has the most beautiful voice, and Eric immediately falls in love with her from the moment he hears her ethereal vocalizing.
Be Careful What You Wish For:
- Ariel's dream was to become human. To do so, she made a Deal with the Devil that nearly destroyed her home and family. Thankfully, it gets better. She suffers a bit of this in the sequel, as while she is happy being human, married to Eric, and a mother, she also has to be without her family and friends.
- The beginning of Return to the Sea has Ariel fondly sing to her then infant daughter that she hopes Melody's heart will hold part of hers. Fast-forward 12 years later, Melody is nearly a spitting image of her mother in personality. This becomes a problem since that means Melody is also just as rebellious and stubborn as Ariel, meaning she disregards the rules her mother placed for her.
Become a Real Boy: Ariel wishes she could be a human instead of a mermaid, and it makes up the main plot of the first movie. "Part of your World" is a passionate declaration of her desire to become human that becomes uncontrollable after Ariel's encounter with Eric, who could be said to represent the human world she's always longed for. Even after she becomes human, she is just as, if not more, focused on exploring as she is on kissing Eric and saving her own life.
Beware the Nice Ones: Ariel is friendly, playful, and always willing to help, even to total strangers. But if you make her mad? She might just attack you, or try to. Don't be fooled, she was ready and willing to physically attack Ursula, a bigger and (possibly) physically stronger woman who had the most powerful object in the ocean in her hand.
Big Damn Heroes: When Eric is trapped onboard a ship as it explodes and nearly drowns to death, Ariel swoops in to save his life. When Ursula tries to shoot Eric with her newly acquired trident later in the film, Ariel grabs her by the hair to make her miss her aim, causing her to kill her own pet eels instead.
Big Sister Instinct: She acts as a surrogate big sister for Flounder. Ariel is rather protective of him, and when in peril, she always puts his safety before her own, making sure he's always the first to make it out safe.
Birds of a Feather: She wanted to escape her underwater life to live above ground. Eric wanted to escape his landlocked life to go out to sea. Part of the reason why they bond so quickly is because both of them are atypical teenagers for their status and time period, but they're never afraid to be their real selves and they admire that about each other.
Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The redhead; Andrina and Arista are the blondes; Adella, Aquata, Attina, and Alana are the brunettes.
Body Horror: When Ursula stops in the middle of her transformation where she's stuck in a half-mermaid half-polyp state◊.
Boring, but Practical: She isn't very fond of her fins, even though they let her swim around the ocean, something that her new-acquired legs can't do.
Both Sides Have a Point: While Ariel was completely wrong for allowing Melody to be ignorant of her heritage, she had a good point regarding protecting her from Morgana, who indeed was a huge threat to Melody's life.
Bratty Teenage Daughter: Downplayed. While Ariel would openly disagree with her father and rebel against his decisions at times during her youth (usually when she thought he was being close-minded and hotheaded), she also showed that she could be thoughtful and mature (mostly seen in the TV series). This trope is no more in the sequel, where she is now a mother and an adult.
Break the Cutie:
- When Triton destroys her collection of human possessions, blowing all her dreams and ambitions into smithereens in front of her, it traumatizes Ariel quite a lot.
- When Ariel sees Vanessa with Eric. Punctuated when she's left standing alone on the dock watching the wedding boat leave. She slumps against a pole and curls up into a ball, sobbing brokenly.
- When Ursula captures her, she realizes the mistakes of her actions and apologizes to her father.
  Ariel: (sobbing) Daddy, I'm sorry! I... I didn't mean to... I didn't know!
Character Development: In the original film, Ariel learns she should stick to her convictions about humanity in spite of the backlash she might get for them, go for her dreams and trust her instincts. But she also learns she should be cautious and avoid being overly reckless because her actions can have greater consequences than she could predict. By the time of the sequel, with her becoming a mother, Ariel has become more mature and level-headed than she was as a teen; if anything she's a bit overprotective of Melody.
Character Tics: Ariel sighs so that it blows her bangs upwards, and bites her lip when excited or nervous, the latter of which was taken from the animator's wife as a habit.
Cheerful Child: As a child, she's shown to be extremely hyperactive.
Chronic Hero Syndrome: The second that she sees that Eric is trouble, she wastes no time rushing in to save him from drowning.
Classical Anti-Hero: She's a brave and kindhearted mermaid with a love for adventure, who does everything she can to save her loved ones. However, she's also rebellious, tempered and has yet to realize the consequences of her actions.
Cloudcuckoolander: The other merpeople view her this way, because of her obsession with human things.
Collector of the Strange: She has a grotto full of human things, which are considered strange by merfolk standards.
Color Motif:
- Green (her tail) and red (her hair).
- Also pink, as she's featured in many merchandise with the pink dress that Eric gave her.
Cool Crown: She wears a gold tiara as part of her wedding dress. She gets a few more crowns in the sequel, and of course in the merch.
Coquettish Lip Biting: She does this when she's confronted with her love interest Eric, after she's been turned into a human and washed up on a beach. Of course, not having her voice at the moment, she has to find non-verbal means of expressing herself.
Costume Evolution: She goes from her green tail and her purple seashell bikini top, to a destroyed sail converted into a short dress, to a beautiful pink dress with Giant Poofy Sleeves, to a casual pink nightgown, then goes to a basic and normal blue dress with a large bow, later getting a sparkly gown, then immediately followed by a splendid wedding dress! The sequel gives her an aristocratic purple dress, before she changes it back to her mermaid tail.
"Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: The entire plot of the sequel could have been avoided if Ariel had simply told Melody why she was forbidden to go in the sea. Ariel did plan to tell Melody the reason when she was old enough, but misjudged when that would be. When Melody goes missing, Ariel even acknowledges that she blew it.
Cute Mute: Ariel when she loses her voice, which requires some of the best animation in the film in getting her to express herself without speaking.
Daddy's Girl: Zigzagged. She butts heads with Triton a lot, but she is furious when Ursula transforms him into a polyp. Even her last line in the movie is, "I love you, Daddy."
Damsel in Distress:
- When Ursula captures her and threatens to turn her into a polyp, so King Triton will grant her the throne.
- When she's trapped inside a cyclone and Ursula is about to hit her. Fortunately, Eric stabs Ursula before she can do anything.
Dating What Daddy Hates: Triton is furious when Ariel declares her love for Eric. It's also implied that part of the reason why Ariel agrees to her dangerous deal with Ursula to try to become human and join the human world is to spite King Triton, for his violent and disturbingly abusive reaction to her feelings for Eric, though she winds up regretting this decision later.
Deal with the Devil: Out of anger and desperation, Ariel makes this type of bargain with Ursula the sea witch. She trades her voice to the sea witch in exchange for a chance to become human. If she can get a True Love's Kiss from Prince Eric within three days, she'll remain human permanently. If she fails however, she'll turn back into a mermaid and essentially become Ursula's prisoner.
Death Glare:
- She gives one to her father every time he scolds her.
- Also to Flounder, when he accidentally revealed that they visited the surface.
Demoted to Extra: She isn't given much focus or development in Return to the Sea, as the story is about her daughter Melody's journey.
Determinator: You can see it in her eyes when she agrees to Ursula's impossible bargain. She will do anything to accomplish her mission!
Deuteragonist: She becomes the second main focus in Return to the Sea, since her daughter, Melody, is the protagonist.
Didn't Think This Through: A flaw of Ariel's is that she never really seems to think of the consequences of her actions after making life-changing decisions.
- Subverted in this case. After Ariel hears the deal about if she does or doesn't kiss Eric, she starts reasoning that if she becomes human, she'll never see her father or sisters again. Considering what Triton just did, it's very wise of her to factor this in to her decision. Ursula then points out, "But you'll have your man. Life's full of tough choices, isn't it?" Then when Ursula demands Ariel's voice as payment, Ariel immediately protests, "But without my voice, how can I-?" with the obvious concern that she won't get Eric to fall in love with her. Ursula interrupts with, "You'll have your looks! Your pretty face!" and sings about how men prefer women to not talk. While Ariel ultimately signs the contract out of impulse and runs into problems communicating with Eric, she actually put some thought into what she was doing.
- In the second movie, she and Eric decide that it's best if Melody doesn't know anything about her mermaid heritage. This bites them in the butt when Morgana exploits this trope while manipulating Melody. Eric explicitly states that Melody was never meant to be in the dark permanently, but they misjudged when they should tell her, and Melody ended up running away the same night that Ariel decided it was time.
Difficult, but Awesome: Legs are these for her. When she first got them, she almost drowned immediately and would've died if it weren't for Flounder and Sebastian, and once she made it to shore she had a hard time learning how to walk. Later as she got better, she could use them to dance and explore the wonderful new world, with Eric at her side, but water was still a problem with her as she could still barely swim and needed Flounder's help to get to the wedding ship. The sequel shows that she eventually overcame this, and she's capable of easily, gracefully swimming with her legs even while wearing a large dress getting weighed down by water.
Digging Yourself Deeper: Granted, she most likely wasn't thinking straight in the heat of the moment, but you still have to wonder why Ariel chose to blurt out her love for a human while her human-hating father was clearly losing it.
Disney Death: She gets hit with this in Ariel's Beginning, though since this is a prequel, some may be more fooled by it than others.
Doom Magnet: Right from the beginning of the film, Ursula had set her eyes on her and was planning a way to overthrow King Triton and rule Atlantica through Ariel's fascination about the human world and her crush on Prince Eric.
Doting Parent: Her first scene in Return to the Sea is telling her infant daughter how precious she is and that Melody is her whole world.
Drives Like Crazy: Well, Ariel never saw a horse-drawn carriage before, so she didn't know how to drive it. A bit of Hilarity Ensues (it's not stated in the sequel if she learned since then).
Earthy Barefoot Character:
- Ariel has some shades of this, being a rather energetic character who loves adventure, spends most of her time out in the wild, is loved by (almost) all animals, and abandons her shoes at every possible chance. Special mention goes to the scene in The Little Mermaid II where a more proper, strict Ariel takes off her shoes so she can soak her bare feet in some ocean water as a way to reconnect with nature.
- In Ralph Breaks the Internet she completely embraces this trope and spends the entire movie barefoot.
Embodiment of Virtue:
- Courage. She isn't afraid to face sharks or the sea witch to pursue her dreams.
- Determination. Won't stop 'till she gets what she wants.
Establishing Character Moment: In the first movie, she's introduced forgetting to attend a royal concert that she's the star of because she's too busy excitedly exploring sunken ships looking for human trinkets. She also ignores Flounder's worry that there might be sharks around, and then effortlessly fends off (and saves Flounder from) said shark when it turns up looking for dinner.
"Eureka!" Moment: When she meets Eric, she has a hard time communicating with him, due to her inability to talk, so she starts making motions with her hands to make him understand she's from the ocean.
Extremely Protective Child: During the climax of the movie, Ariel attacks Ursula when she transforms her father into a limbless worm.
Fairytale Wedding Dress: She gets a big, poofy '80s version in her wedding with Eric, which helped characterize that specific look as a fairy tale wedding dress in the modern age (along with Cinderella).
Fangirl: After studying the human world from afar for years, she's come to greatly admire it and she always wanted to be part of it.
Fatal Flaw: Her curiosity nearly led to Ursula ruling the sea. More specifically, Ariel is a kind, brave, fun-loving, and open-minded individual, but she can also be stubborn and shortsighted. Throughout the film, she ignores Flounder and Sebastian's warnings and keeps putting herself into dangerous situations for the sake of discovery (plus, after the grotto incident, she was too angry with Sebastian to care what he thought). This eventually catches up to her when she loses a bet she made with Ursula out of anger and hurt, and the sea witch nearly kills her and her friends and family. While Ariel wasn't wrong to want a human life or pursue it, she does learn the hard way that her actions have consequences that can affect more than just herself.
Fiery Redhead: She's a more rebellious example than an angry one, and it's easier to see in the first half of the movie.
Fish out of Water: Going on land as a mermaid among humans is actually Ariel's dream, and although she doesn't exactly blend in, she's endearing enough that it doesn't bother the people she meets.
Foil:
- To her father, Triton. Triton despises the human world (a justifiable case, as humans had killed his wife when Ariel and her siblings were still young) and refuses to admit that it has some redeeming qualities, while Ariel loves it and can't understand why it's so bad.
  Ariel: I don't see things the way he does. I don't see how a world that made these wonderful things... could be bad.
- To her daughter, Melody. Ariel, in the sequel, is more mature and has isolated herself from Atlantica (another justifiable case, as "Ursula's crazy sister" attacked them once and tried to harm Melody as a baby), while Melody is just a kid, who feels like she doesn't belong, and wants to see the ocean.
Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The foolish (late for recitals, constantly breaks her father's rules, and impulsive) to her sisters' responsible (shows up for recitals on time, obey their father's rules, and generally more level-headed).
Forgotten First Meeting: With Eric. In the TV series episode "Scuttle", Ariel witnesses a human (Eric) saving a dolphin from being stuck, but she doesn't see his face. However, her future husband's heroic act helped her realize that not all humans are bad.
Former Teen Rebel: In the sequel, she scolds Melody for doing what she used to do as a teen. Granted, she did have good reason, but all she ever told Melody was to stay out of the ocean. She intended to tell Melody the real reason when she was old enough but misjudged the timing.
Freeze-Frame Bonus: When Ariel signs the Ursula's contract, you can see that the middle part of it looks like gibberish, a possibility that she might not know how to write (or might know, but writes in the mermaid dialect) and her signature has to be translated for the convenience of the audience.
Freudian Trio: The Id (fiery and emotional) to Sebastian's Superego (overly strict and logical) and Flounder's Ego (more rational than Ariel but more laid-back than Sebastian).
Friend to All Living Things: True to her status as a Disney Princess, animals on both land and sea tend to love Ariel. It helps that she's the type of girl who tries to see the beauty in everything.
Futile Hand Reach: Ariel reaches out her hand to stop Melody from giving the trident to Morgana, but it doesn't work out.
Gender-Blender Name: Ariel is traditionally a male Hebrew name, with Ariela, Ariella, and Arielle being common female forms. It has become more commonly used as a female name in recent years, though.
Generation Xerox:
- In Return to the Sea, she becomes the overprotective parent with a tense relationship with her rebellious daughter. Just like how she was in The Little Mermaid with Triton.
- From the Strong Family Resemblance to the Beautiful Singing Voice, to call her the spitting image of her mother is an understatement.
Genki Girl: She frustrates her father with how energetic and adventurous she is.
Giant Poofy Sleeves: As per '80s norm, and probably no small part in why poofy sleeves are still considered princess-y (along with Snow White).
Girliness Upgrade: By Return to the Sea, she's come a long way from her curiosity/teen rebel phase from the first film, to the point where she's superseded by her own daughter in regards to the Tomboy Princess trope.
Good Parents: She may have made a mistake or two with Melody, but the way Melody grew up into a respectful and good-hearted young lady proves she and Eric raised their daughter right.
Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Her seashell bikini top, and her dress in the sequel.
Gratuitous Princess: The mermaid isn't a princess in the original fairy tale but becomes one in the Disney adaption. Ariel was made a princess in fact because they wanted to make it a Genre Throwback to the princess movies of Walt's day.
Happily Married: To Eric in the sequel. Even after more than a decade has passed since they first met each other, they still prove to have an incredibly loving and stable marriage whether there is or isn't danger.
Heal the Cutie: After she finds out that Eric wants to marry Vanessa, she's devastated and she can't do anything. Only when Scuttle reveals that Vanessa is actually Ursula in disguise, does she take action, confront her and eventually marries Eric, living happily as a human.
Heroic BSoD: She briefly undergoes one when "Vanessa" (Ursula in disguise) enchants Eric and the two are set to be married, leaving Ariel unable to fulfill her end of the bargain, meaning she will become Ursula's prisoner and be forever separated from Eric, her father, and her sisters. She can only weep in utter devastation at her loss. However, she snaps out of it upon learning of Ursula's deception and hurries to stop her from marrying Eric.
Heroes Fight Barehanded: To avenge her father, she attacks Ursula just using her barehands.
Hidden Depths: Pre-Character Development, despite her usual naivety and impulsiveness, Ariel is shown on many occasions to be serious, careful, and very intelligent and intuitive.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Much like her father, she decides that it's best for Melody's safety to keep Melody ignorant of her true origins and heritage. However, it is Melody's ignorance (and Ariel's unwillingness to be truthful when she finds the locket) that cause her to run away and go against her mother until Morgana reveals her true colors.
Hot-Blooded: She isn't a Fiery Redhead for nothing. To her defense, she's just a teenager.
Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: The "Little" Mermaid lives up to her moniker. Ironically, in spite of getting long legs after turning human, Ariel is a rather short woman, and it's only◊ emphasised◊ more◊ when she's next to the taller Eric. The fact that Ariel is wearing heels in all of these pictures really shows how petite' she is. At the end of the movie when they finally kiss, Ariel has to stand on her tiptoes while barefoot in order to reach his lips◊
Hypocrite Has a Point:
- During her argument with King Triton, Ariel retorts that he doesn't even know about Prince Eric. Despite herself knowing him for about a few days at most, Ariel was more willing to give him a chance than her father, who hated all humans no matter what, was.
- In the sequel, while it was more of Parental Hypocrisy for Ariel to scold Melody for disobeying her (she did the same thing with Triton when she was a teenager), she had a good reason to keep Melody from the sea. The real mistake was Ariel not being completely truthful to Melody earlier.
Iconic Outfit:
- Her green tail and purple Seashell Bra she wears as a mermaid.
- The pink dress she wears while she lives with Eric, which is featured in many of her merchandise.
I Just Want to Be Normal: The mermaid Ariel dreams of being human.
Impossible Hourglass Figure: Ariel has a very slim hourglass figure, both as a mermaid and a human.
Improvised Clothes: Due to wearing a Seashell Bra and nothing else when she turns human after she's been transformed into a human by Ursula, Ariel really needs to find something to cover herself with before she goes to look for Eric. Since it's not like you're going to find a Pimped-Out Dress lying around on a beach, Scuttle improvises and makes Ariel's first human dress: a strapless gown made from a destroyed sail and some rope.
Innocent Blue Eyes: Ariel's innocence is especially emphasized when she meets Ursula, who she decides to trust for a chance to become human, be with Eric and have adventures, despite feeling wary of her for several totally valid reasons.
Innocent Fanservice Girl: Ariel does not seem to detect at all when her first human transformation leaves her completely naked aside from her Seashell Bra. Possibly either due to not knowing/forgetting that humans need to wear clothes, or simply being too excited about her new legs. One storybook adaptation, that's narrated by Ariel herself, leans towards the latter, where Ariel mentions she was aware she was naked from the waist down, but was too excited to be human to worry about it.
Interspecies Friendship: Her closest friends are as listed: Flounder (fish), Sebastian (crab), and Scuttle (seagull).
Interspecies Romance: Ariel, a mermaid, falls in love and marries Eric, a human.
In the Blood: Ariel is just as stubborn, loving, and protective as her father. She even becomes the same overprotective parent to Melody like he was to her.
Intrigued by Humanity: Ariel is probably one of the quintessential examples of this trope in film history. Despite being raised by her father for years to think humans are nothing more than evil, violent, savage brutes, Ariel is determined to form her own, educated opinion about them from years of discovery, instead of blindly conforming to her father's prejudices. A major part of Ariel's personality is that she tries to understand and appreciate the beauty in everything, even things that humans have created, and the more she learns about their world, their culture, and their history, the more would she like to see it all for herself. Her "I Want" Song, "Part Of Your World", is all about how Ariel is impressed by the seemingly endless potential of a human life, the adventures that could be had with legs, even if she knows her longing for one would make her a freak in mermaid society. Her resolve to become human someday is only strengthened after Eric proves her right about how humans can be good, kind people.
Ariel: If only I could make him understand, I just don't see things the way he does. I don't see how a world that makes such wonderful things could be bad.
Irony: Before being Intrigued by Humanity, Ariel was originally fearful of humans because of the way her father demonized them while she was growing up.
It's All About Me: Ariel shows hints of this. She just expects others to agree with everything she does, despite the devastating consequences that may ensue. Good examples are the time when she explored an abandoned ship where sharks were dwelling, while ignoring Flounder's protests. Another time was when she accidentally missed the concert hosted by King Triton. While this was an accident, Ariel barely shows any remorse for it. This is averted in the sequel, as Ariel grows up and learns from her mistakes.
It's All My Fault: Combined with My God, What Have I Done?, she takes responsibility for her role in Melody running away and tries to make things right.
It Runs in the Family: Ariel sees Triton as an overprotective, suffocating father unable to understand her needs and desires and spends her adolescence trying to find a way to reach her dreams and defy his authority, despite loving him dearly. But then, Ariel manages to reach her dreams, have her father accept her as an adult, marry her sweetheart... and becomes the tormented mother of a rebellious daughter believing her to be overprotective, suffocating, unable to understand her needs and desires, who spends her entire adolescence trying to find a way to reach her dreams and defy her authority, despite loving her mother as much as she loved her father. On the other side, Triton is a loving, doting father trying to shelter his daughter for every perceived threat... as Ariel becomes a similar, if not equal, parental figure for her own daughter. It seems that genetics conspire to turn every rebellious teen in Triton's family into an adult Mama Wolf or Papa Bear as soon as the biological clock starts ticking.
"I Want" Song: Her character-establishing song, "Part Of Your World", reveals the admiration she has for the human world and her desire to be a human woman herself.
Karmic Jackpot: She always dreamed of joining the surface world (even though her father forbade her and even ruined her collection in her grotto when he found out that she was in love with a human) and by the end of the film, she gets her wish.
Kitsch Collection: She treasures the human artifacts that she finds inside of shipwrecks and stores inside of her grotto. She truly admires them, since they're the only things that connects her with the surface.
The Klutz: A downplayed version. When she first got legs, she had a hard time using them and often fell down, but after a while, she got a handle on them.
Leeroy Jenkins: She tends to leap before she looks and decides to worry about the fallout later, much to Flounder and Sebastian's consternation.
Leitmotif: "Part Of Your World" and "Part Of Your World (Reprise)". Instrumental variations of "Part Of Your World (Reprise)" serve as Ariel and Eric's love theme throughout the film's score.
Like Parent, Unlike Child: Ariel is one of seven daughters. The other six are blonde and brunette, and perfectly content being mermaids. Ariel is the only redhead, and the only one who finds any interest at all in the surface world. This drastic contrast causes severe friction between her and her father, Triton.
Love at First Sight: For Eric. When she first sees him on his boat, she is immediately smitten. When her father confronts her over Eric and how he is just as bad as every other human, Ariel impulsively yells she loves him, and this is roughly a few days after Ariel first saw Eric.
Made of Iron: During the final battle with Ursula, Ariel was knocked into a whirlpool that was several miles deep and survived the fall with little to no injuries — which would have killed a normal human being if they weren't also crushed by the pressure of the whirlpool — though this may have something to do with Atlanteans' bodies having a higher endurance level than humans.
Mama Bear: So far, she's the only Disney princess who's shown to have children (although it's not outright denied that the other princesses became mothers). Ariel will do anything to keep Melody safe — case in point, she uses Eric's sword to cut one of the sails to knock Morgana away from Melody when the sea witch was holding her daughter hostage.
Massive Numbered Siblings: Ariel has six older sisters: Aquata, Andrina, Arista, Attina, Adella, and Alana.
Meaningful Name: Her name is also the name of the air-spirit servant in The Tempest, who is in thrall to an older, sterner authority figure and longs for freedom — appropriate for the mermaid who's bent on leaving the water and living an air-breathing existence.
Mermaid Arc Emergence: When she's drowning after she turns human, she desperately swims to the surface and emerges from the sea in an explosion of water with her head and hair thrown back, eyes shut, and mouth hanging open gasping for breath. It's easily one of Ariel's most iconic moments in the film.
Modest Royalty: Ariel always wears casual attire as a mermaid, and in a notable contrast to her sisters, she prefers a very natural look for her hair, always leaving it down and letting it flow messy and free, and she doesn't wear any hair decorations except for tropical flowers by her ear. Even though she wears more tiaras, regal gowns, fancy shoes, and Prim and Proper Buns as a human, she seems to prefer going barefoot with her hair down and wearing the more modest, less regal-looking "Kiss the Girl" dress. Honestly, most of the time she's a mermaid and a human you would never guess she was a princess based on looks alone.
Ms. Fanservice: She's a pretty, cute and curvy red-headed bikini-top-wearing mermaid with a mesmerizing voice. Special mention goes to her first transformation where she becomes human. Due to Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing being in effect, the only thing she's wearing is her Seashell Bra. She was also the first major Disney female character to be designed and animated in a way that showed the line of her cleavage.
Multiple-Choice Past: On how she and Flounder met. The TV series shows that they met when Ariel was still a child, while Ariel's Beginning portrays them as meeting when she was a teenager.
Mum Looks Like a Sister: In the sequel, despite having a twelve-year-old daughter, Ariel apparently hasn't aged a day since she was sixteen.
Muscles Are Meaningless: She's able to move a huge boulder (which leads to her secret grotto) with ease, despite being slim as hell. She also doesn't have much of a problem rescuing Eric from drowning in the ocean and swimming him all the way to shore by herself.
My Beloved Smother: She becomes an overprotective mother to Melody in Return to the Sea. Unfortunately, it leads to Melody pulling a Screw This, I'm Outta Here after their argument about Melody's origins.
My God, What Have I Done?:
- After witnessing her father sacrifice himself to save her, Ariel is horrified. While she was willing to risk her own safety for a chance to live out her dreams, she never intended for anyone else to get hurt and she quickly feels remorse for what her actions have done.
- In Return To The Sea, Ariel discovers her actions have only caused Melody to run away from home, much like her own father did to her years ago.
Named by the Adaptation: Ariel is referred to as "the little mermaid" in the original story.
Nice Girl: While Ariel has her share of personality flaws, she's overall a very kind, brave, loyal, and sweet person who tries to approach each new situation with an open mind, and is always willing to help out people who are in need of it.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In Return to the Sea, her decision to deny telling Melody why she is forbidden to enter the sea sets the whole plot in motion. Ariel even acknowledges that she blew it.
Not Like Other Girls: Most notably in the French version (both of them), where there's a line in "Part of Your World" about how her desire to explore the surface and her collection of human artifacts makes her different from the rest of the mermaids.
Ariel: Mais, tout ça m'indiffère... ^noteBut all this makes me indifferent...
Odd Friendship: Ariel, a brave and curious teenage mermaid, is friends with Flounder, a timid and cowardly kid fish. Still, they get along and Flounder supports Ariel's dream to visit the world above.
Oblivious to Love: During the series, she is completely unaware of Urchin's crush on her.
Odd Name Out: If you notice, while she's in an Alliterative Family, her name is the only one that doesn't end with an 'a'; since she's the youngest, evidently her parents couldn't think of another name that did.
Official Couple: With Prince Eric. After she spends much of the first film pursuing a relationship with him, the movie ends with them being wed, and they're shown to still be Happily Married many years later in the second film.
Oh, Crap!:
- When her father discovered her grotto and saw her esteeming the statue of Prince Eric.
- When Melody runs away from home in Return to the Sea.
Our Mermaids Are Different: Ariel definitely popularized mermaid characters for a generation. The filmmakers certainly claim that they subverted the blonde, otherworldly, mischievous archetype of the mermaid by creating a rebellious redheaded mermaid who was very human rather than fiery in character. Although little is fleshed out about the culture of mermaids who live in Atlantica in the first two movies, the series fixes this.
Parental Abandonment: Ariel has no mother, and while he's not evil, her father is so misguided in his attempts to protect her that she feels emotionally abandoned.
Parental Hypocrisy: She becomes a strict mother to Melody, just like how King Triton was to her. This may be justified, as both Triton and Ariel had good reasons to be protective of their offspring. Ariel also intended to tell Melody the whole story when she was old enough, but misjudged the timing.
Parental Substitute: She acted as a surrogate mother to Spot, an orphaned killer whale.
Parental Title Characterization: Ariel always calls King Triton "Daddy," highlighting her youthful innocence, and showing that despite their painful conflict, their relationship is ultimately close and caring.
Pimped-Out Dress: Her pink dress and wedding dress in the first movie, and a few more in the sequel.
Plucky Girl: She's very brave and never gives up.
Prefers Going Barefoot:
- In the movies and spinoff books, whenever Ariel is human, she seems to go around barefoot a lot more than she is shown wearing footwear. Justified since having feet and toes is a really big deal for Ariel and "Part of Your World" says she wants to experience certain physical sensations like warm sand on human skin, so Ariel probably goes barefoot all the time because she wants to look at her feet and toes and feel things with them as much as possible.
  - The "physical sensations" theory is supported by the scene in The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea where it's shown that she enjoys the feeling of ocean water on her bare feet.
  - Also her fish tail technically makes her a Barefoot Cartoon Animal since she wouldn't have been accustomed to footwear of any sort when a mermaid.
- In Ralph Breaks the Internet, she's barefoot both under her princess gown and in her comfy outfit of T-shirt and shorts.
Princesses Prefer Pink: The second human dress she's seen wearing, and her nightgown, are pink.
Proper Lady: She tries to act like this in front of Eric to impress him, until she notices a fork and, believing Scuttle's words, that this is actually a comb, she starts using it like this.
Protagonist Title: The "little mermaid" refers to her and the prequel's title is "Ariel's Beginning".
Rainbow Motif: With her sisters, they share the different colors of the rainbow. See her sisters' section for more details.
Rebellious Princess: Although it's never expressed whether she had any royal duties, she's probably the most rebellious of the princesses. To elaborate, throughout the franchise, Ariel is characterized as an adventurous, hotblooded, outspoken mermaid who will always try to stand up for what she feels is right, even if means butting heads with her own family.
Redhead In Green: This is a common color scheme for her.
- When she's a mermaid, she has a green tail.
- In the sequel, one of her dresses is green.
- Her redesign dress is green too.
Redheads Are Ravishing: Ariel's most distinctive feature as a mermaid and human is her long, flowing red hair.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Pretty much the Red Oni to:
- Her best friend, Flounder. Flounder is a timid little fish who just sticks around Ariel because she's his best friend, while Ariel is a tempered, brave mermaid who yearns for more.
- Sebastian. Sebastian is mature, sane and really loves the sea, while Ariel is immature, curious and is tired of the underwater life.
Rescue Romance: Although Eric gets the biggest moment with saving Ariel at the climax, the true Rescue Romance is actually Ariel saving Eric, which leads them both to fall in love. His obsession with the beautiful singer who saved him leads him to overlook Ariel as a love interest for the first day of knowing her.
Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: The spunky, rambunctious Energetic Girl to Eric's down-to-earth Savvy Guy. In the dinner scene, his housekeeper mentions that he rarely laughed before he met Ariel.
Seashell Bra: She's most likely the Trope Codifier, but not the Trope Maker — the mermaids in Peter Pan had them first. It's interesting to note that, aside from her mother, she is the only mermaid whose bra isn't the same color as her tail.
Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing: She's left wearing her Seashell Bra and nothing else after turning into a human. By using non-transparent water to hide her waist region from view and clever camera angles that focus more on her facial expressions and her legs (which fits thematically better as well), the film preserves her modesty until Scuttle converts a destroyed sail into a dress for her to wear.
She Cleans Up Nicely: When she walks into the dining room wearing her pink dress, Eric is stunned by her beauty.
Sibling Yin-Yang: To Attina. Ariel is carefree, naive, and impulsive, compared to her mature, serious older sister Attina.
Significant Wardrobe Shift: When King Triton decides to let Ariel go, he changes her into a human and gives her a sparkly silver dress.
Single-Target Sexuality: The TV series shows that Ariel never once expressed any kind of romantic interest in any male. The only person she ever fell in love with was Eric.
Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Ariel falls in love with Prince Eric because he is kind, brave, humble and heroic, as well as handsome. He's also one of the few characters in the film who never once tries to change her, but likes and appreciates her for who she is. A significant conflict in the first film is Ariel trying to win Eric's heart.
Sirens Are Mermaids: A key plot point is Ariel's magical voice, which Ursula-as-Vanessa uses to hypnotize Eric.
Spared by the Adaptation: She turns into sea foam at the end of the fairy tale, and must work to gain a soul. In the Disney version, she gets a pair of legs, marries Prince Eric and they live happily ever after.
Speaks Fluent Animal: Justified. Ariel was born a mermaid and thus can easily talk to animals, especially sea creatures.
The Speechless: After she trades her voice to the sea witch for a pair of legs, Ariel becomes a mute character for about a third of her movie, which makes her goal of romancing Prince Eric rather difficult for her. However, she refuses to let her new disability slow her down, and she still manages to charm Eric anyway with her personality. When Ursula later decides to interfere with their deal in an attempt to sabotage her, Ariel manages to reclaim her voice from her during the chaos of the climax.
Strong Family Resemblance: In Ariel's Beginning, her mother Queen Athena looks exactly like Ariel with green eyes.
Stronger Than They Look: While it isn't brought up, it's clear that Ariel has some form of superhuman strength. She was able to easily move a boulder that blocked the entrance to her underwater grotto.^note When discovering Eric's ship due to the fireworks, she is shown effortlessly climbing up the side of the ship with just her arms. She was also shown to be able to pull Eric to the surface and keep him afloat using one arm as she swam him to shore.
Tomboy Princess: She's very feisty, active, and adventurous, and can hold her own against a shark — the start of a Renaissance-era tradition involving the Disney Princesses.
Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Ariel is an adventurous and rebellious Fiery Redhead and more of a Tomboy Princess when compared to her older sisters, but despite her tomboyish traits, her default personality is giddy, playful, bubbly and sensitive, and falling in love with Eric reveals that she can be very flirty and hopelessly romantic.
A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: After her father hurts her in the most personal way possible, and makes it clear she will never be her own person while she's living under his ocean, she decides to impulsively make a deal with Ursula the sea witch despite knowing the latter's reputation.
True Blue Femininity: The dress she wore while on a date with Eric, as well as the sparkling gown she wears after her final transformation.
True Love's Kiss: When she accepts her deal with Ursula, her actual given mission in her movie is to get "the kiss of true love".
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In Return of the Sea, her actions to keep Melody Locked Out of the Loop result in the latter running away from home and making a Deal with the Devil to have Morgana transform her into a mermaid.
Unwitting Pawn: While Ariel was completely aware of what she was getting into when she made a Deal with the Devil with Ursula, she didn't know that Ursula was using her as a pawn to become the ruler of Atlantica and is subsequently horrified when the sea witch starts to attack her friends and family. As quoted by the 2004 Disney Princess storybook:
Ursula: It's not you I'm after. You're merely the bait to catch your father.
Violently Protective Girlfriend: After witnessing Ursula turn her father into a polyp, Ariel attacks the sea witch to stop her from harming Eric as well.
What the Hell, Hero?:
- In the first movie, she gets called out by Triton for missing the concert and swimming above the ocean.
- In the second movie, her own daughter calls her out for forbidding her for swimming in the ocean. She later rightfully calls her out for lying to her about her heritage.
Youngest Child Wins: Of the "the other ones are boring" variety. Ariel is the most unique in appearance, as well as the most praised in voice. She is the only one with whom the movie focuses on. The animated series and prequel does a bit to flesh out the other sisters.

Melody

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/human_5.png

"You know what? Sometimes I even pretend...*whispers* I have FINS!"

^{Click here to see her mermaid form.}

Voiced by: Tara Strong ^{International voice actresses}

Melody is the protagonist of The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea. She is the daughter of Ariel and Prince Eric, and the princess of her father's kingdom.

Accidental Misnaming: When Alex asked for her name, she was too lovestruck to answer completely and said, "Mel-Mel".
All-Loving Hero: Melody is a Nice Girl and never meant to hurt anyone. Probably not even Morgana at the end.
All of the Other Reindeer: A rare example where someone of high status is marginalized, because of her "weird" behavior.
Apparently Human Merfolk: She's physically a human despite her mermaid heritage from her mother's side, and even before Melody turns into a mermaid, she can swim faster and hold her breath underwater longer than the average human. However, this is downplayed since her mother lived as a mermaid for most of her life before permanently becoming a human.
Badass Adorable: Melody is a beautiful child who, in the climax, goes to attack Morgana.
Beautiful Singing Voice: Guess where she gets that from.
Be Careful What You Wish For: Melody wished to become a mermaid. She got more than she bargained for.
Beware the Nice Ones: Like her parents and grandfather, Melody is usually a polite person. But, if you make her angry? All bets are off.
Be Yourself: The lesson Melody learns at the end of the movie.
Melody: I just wanted to be a better mermaid than a girl.
Ariel: Oh no sweetie, it doesn't matter if you have fins or feet. We love you for who you are on the inside, our very brave little girl.
Big Ol' Eyebrows: Something she inherited from her father where his thick, black eyebrows.
A Birthday, Not a Break: On her 12th birthday, Melody is viciously humiliated by her peers because she was talking to a crab (Sebastian).
Both Sides Have a Point: While Melody was wrong for deliberately disobeying Ariel and handing the trident to Morgana, she was right in calling Ariel out for lying to her. Even Morgana exploited Melody's ignorance of her heritage and family.
Brainy Brunette: Melody inherited her father's black hair and is very smart and mature for her age.
Break the Cutie: From her ruined birthday party to discovering that she indirectly stole from her grandfather.
Brief Accent Imitation: Melody briefly imitates Sebastian's Trinidadian accent when reciting the latter's reminder not to swim outside of the sea wall.
Calling the Old Woman Out: Twice to Ariel.
- First, Melody yells at her mother for saying the ocean is dangerous even though she's never been in it to the point that she pulls a Screw This, I'm Outta Here.
- Second, when Ariel (now in mermaid form) tries to persuade Melody to give her the trident, Melody calls her out for lying to her about Atlantica and trying to keep Melody from the sea despite being aware of how much her daughter loved it.
Celibate Hero: Downplayed. Two boys are shown interacting with Melody and she is shown to enjoy interacting with them in turn, but she is never shown expressing any interest in them specifically. Melody only laments that she cannot fit in with children her age.
Character Development: Melody begins the film with a passion for the ocean without knowing why and feeling like an outcast from her human peers. Her times as a mermaid helps her realize that all she wanted was to be accepted but ultimately understands she must learn to accept herself. By the end, while she doesn't become a mermaid forever, she has a better understanding of herself and comes to love both the land and sea.
Child of Two Worlds: Zigzagged. While Melody is half-mermaid and half-human ('Never been seen, never before!'/'A child born of sea and shore!') and ultimately brings the human and mermaid communities together at the end of the film, the reason Ariel cut ties with Atlantica was because she thought keeping Melody ignorant of her mermaid heritage was the only way to save her from Morgana.
Color Motifs: Throughout the sequel, Melody has shown to be associated with three colors: pink, white, and to a certain extent, yellow.
- Pink — She has a pink canopy bed, wears a pink dress to her birthday, and has a pink mermaid fin.
- White — Her Modest Royalty attire (or rather underclothes which she uses to swim in secret) is white in colour and she keeps her white camisole after transforming into a mermaid.
- Yellow — Her yellow music locket Triton gave to her, having a possible type in blonde boys, and wore a yellow dress at the end.
Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Ariel was a mermaid teenager who was obsessed with the land and wanted to become human, grew up knowing her entire heritage, raised by one parent with six other sisters, and had a healthy amount of confidence. Melody is a human preteen (specifically, Half-Human Hybrid but was born effectively human) drawn to the ocean and wants to be a mermaid, remained ignorant of her true lineage for most of her life, and is an only child raised by both parents but also gained self-esteem issues. They're not strikingly different in temperament, but their goals are complete opposites.
Damsel in Distress: When Morgana locks her up in unmeltable ice and when she's transformed back into a human.
Deal with the Devil: When she trades Triton's trident to Morgana in the second movie in order to become a permanent mermaid.
Determinator: One of the strongest qualities she shares with both parents.
Establishing Character Moment: Melody's first scene as teenager shows her in the ocean despite her parent's rule of her not going out there. She politely greets Scuttle and Sebastian, and when the latter warns her about going out into the ocean, Melody starts to playfully recite what he's told her thousands of time before happily apologizing, but can't resist because she loves the sea so much. This scene shows she's just like her mother — rebellious, friendly, playful but with a twist: instead of having a love for land, she has a deep love for the sea.
Fatal Flaw: Her desire to become a mermaid after learning of her origins immediately leads to her making a deal with Morgana and nearly dooming Atlantica.
Fearless Infant: As a baby, she is always shown smiling and giggling, including when she is held hostage by Morgana and almost fed to Undertow.
Freudian Trio: The Ego (balances her headstrong nature with her maturity) to Tip's Superego (loud, but on point most of the time) and Dash's Id (the most emotional of them).
Friendless Background: She's not shown to have any human friends because they think she's weird.
Friend to All Living Things: Justified. She has a strong connection with the creatures of the sea because of her mother being born a mermaid. The Disneystrology even stated that people born on Melody's birthday (January 14) "cherish animals and enjoy their companionship."
Generation Xerox: Melody has gained a lot of Ariel's looks (sans hair and eye color), personality, and Deal with the Devil scenario (with some minor differences). The major difference is their dreams (Ariel becoming a human, Melody wanting to be a mermaid).
Half-Human Hybrid: The first hybrid in Disney. She is half human (father)-half mermaid (mother). Deconstructed as it leaves her with a lot of insecurity and social awkwardness due to never quite being able to fit in.
Heroic Self-Deprecation: Melody has a lot of low self-esteem issues.
Horrible Judge of Character: Both played straight and subverted; she openly trusts the Obviously Evil Morgana right from the beginning, but at the same time, she notes how King Triton does not seem like the thieving type and is reluctant to steal the trident back from him, even before learning that he's its rightful owner to begin with.
Iconic Sequel Character: Melody doesn't show up until the sequel, but is still a remembered and beloved character.
Identical Granddaughter: Since Ariel got all of her looks from Athena, Melody also bares a strong resemblance to her grandmother sans the different hair and eye colors.
I Just Want to Be Special: In direct contrast to her mother, Melody dreams of being a mermaid.
I Just Want to Have Friends: Implied. Though not outright stated, Melody's outcast by her peers and Friendless Background has very happy when asked by Alex and his friends if she wants to hang out with them.
Innocent Blue Eyes: Melody's blue eyes represent her naive and adventurous personality.
Interspecies Friendship: As the only Mer-Human, any friends Melody has qualify as this.
- Her closest friends include Sebastian (crab), Scuttle (seagull), Tip (penguin), Dash (walrus), and Flounder (fish).
- She may have possibly became friends with the snooty, human kids.
- Melody may have also became friends with Alex and his two unnamed friends, the merteens she met in Atlantica.
Interspecies Romance: Melody, the first mer-human, apparently has a crush on Alex, a merboy, and really any romance she would have would qualify.
In the Blood: While Sebastian states that Melody is "just like her mother" in The Little Mermaid II, many similarities exist between Melody and her father, Eric.
- From both of her parents, she inherited their sense of adventure, curiosity, kindness, selflessness, humility, and willingness to take risks. She also shares their preference in wearing comfortable clothing.
- From her mother specifically, she inherited Ariel's sassy, rebellious and headstrong personality.
- From her father specifically, she inherited Eric's insecurity around others, mild shyness stemming from a sheltered upbringing, and socially-awkward tendencies.
It's All My Fault: Melody admits responsibility for her actions and makes things right by fighting Morgana and getting the trident from her. She eventually apologizes for what she's done in the end.
Kid Has a Point: Her reasons for running away are quite understandable, considering how she felt interacting with her peers and that her mother was keeping truths from her.
Kid Hero: Only 12 years old and is the sequel's protagonist.
Little Miss Badass: She had inherited some of her mother's superhuman traits, namely speed and strength, the latter of which is demonstrated by her scaling an ice wall with little problems late into the film. She also inherited superhuman endurance, as evidenced by her not being crushed into oblivion when forcibly changed back into a human by Morgana despite the depth she was at.
Locked Out of the Loop: Deconstructed. Ariel thought it would be best to keep Melody's true heritage a secret. But this comes back to haunt her 12 years later when Melody goes to Morgana for help and the sea-witch uses Melody's ignorance to her advantage.
Lonely Rich Kid: Melody is a princess but doesn't have many human friends, and her peers think she's strange.
Love at First Sight: Downplayed. When Melody first meets Alex she is speechless and it's obvious she finds him attractive but keeps to her task. And at the end, when they meet again, it's also implied he likes her too.
Meaningful Name: 'Melody' is Greek for "song", which alludes to her mother's love for singing, as well as her own love for it.
Mermanity Ensues: Her goal in the sequel is to make herself a mermaid. Thanks to the events of the film, as well as her parents keeping her in the dark about her true heritage, she winds up obtaining that goal for a time thanks to Morgana.
Modest Royalty: Judging from the mild reactions of the snooty kids, it wasn't uncommon to see the Princess of the Kingdom in her underwear.
Motif: Melody is visually associated with seashells, as a reflection of her connection to the sea. Her infant bed had a seashell-themed style. The dresses she wear as a baby and at her twelfth birthday party have full skirts that resemble scallop seashells. She is seen collecting shells in her bag as she explores the sea, and the necklace that she receives from her grandfather is a seashell-shaped locket. As she opens up to various characters about her feelings throughout the film, she also begins to "come out of her shell".
My God, What Have I Done?: After she gives Morgana the trident and realizes that Morgana was Evil All Along.
Nature Versus Nurture: Despite having no idea that her mother was a mermaid, Melody is naturally drawn to the sea from a young age.
Nice Girl: One of the friendliest.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: She probably should have given Triton's trident to Ariel when the latter confronted Morgana. However, her actions in giving the trident to Morgana ends up dooming Atlantica. "You've got no one to blame but yourself," indeed.
Oh, Crap!:
- When she realizes that Morgana tricked her into giving her Triton's trident to spite Ariel for lying about her heritage.
- She has another one when she is about to be transformed back into a human after Morgana traps her.
Parental Title Characterization: Melody switches between calling Ariel "mother" and "mom", as the former signifies respect while the latter indicates a closer bond.
Patchwork Kids: Melody is the perfect blend between both of her parents — She inherited her mother's eyes, nose, and facial structure; she inherited her father's hair color, skin tone, smile, and thick eyebrows.
Pimped-Out Dress: Being a princess, she has to wear some for formal events.
Pink Means Feminine: Downplayed. Melody is comparatively more tomboyish than her mother but does have a pink, canopy bedroom.
Prefers Going Barefoot: Melody strongly prefers going barefoot, only wearing shoes during one scene (where she's pretty much forced to).
Princesses Prefer Pink: Her ballroom dress is pink. Her mermaid tail is close to pink.
Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Long, black hair with a pale complexion.
Rebellious Princess: Disobeyed her parents' rule of not going out into the sea.
Rejected Apology: During the climax, when Ariel tries to apologize to Melody for lying to her about her mermaid heritage her whole life, Melody tells her point blank that it's "too late" and spitefully hands the trident over to Morgana. Immediately afterwards, Morgana reveals her true colors to Melody and why Ariel did what she did. In the end, Melody does accept the apology.
Royal Brat: Averted. Melody never uses her title as a princess for selfish or vain reasons.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Melody wastes no time in scaling a giant ice wall to stop Morgana's rampage.
The Runaway: Of the Vagrant variety. Melody runs away from home to find out why the locket she found in the ocean has her name on it, why the music she hears from it is so familiar, and why it has a picture of Atlantica on it despite her mother saying the place was fictional.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After her argument with Ariel, Melody runs off to the ocean to become a mermaid.
Single Specimen Species: The only known mer-human to exist.
Skewed Priorities: When confronted by Ariel, she prioritizes calling Ariel out for lying over handing the trident back to her grandfather. This is understandable, however, due to Melody being unaware of the fact that Morgana was evil and what the Trident is capable of doing.
Smitten Teenage Girl: Downplayed. She's totally lovestruck by the cute, blonde merboy she meets in Atlantica; this detours her initial "mission" in the underwater city.
Socially Awkward Hero: Melody will effortlessly sneak out of the castle and go swim in the seas, without any regard to her parents' wishes. But, talking to cute boys or even interacting with kids her own age... That's a challenge.
Speaks Fluent Animal: Deconstructed. Melody has the ability to speak with marine life. Unfortunately, her powers cause her to be marginalized as a freak.
Spin Off Spring: As Ariel's daughter, the spotlight shifted to her for the direct-to-video sequel.
Super Not-Drowning Skills: Likely as a result of her mermaid heritage, she can hold her breath underwater for minutes at a time, though not indefinitely.
Take a Third Option: At the end of the film, King Triton offers Melody a choice to either live with him in Atlantica as a mermaid or stay human and live with her family. She chooses neither: instead using his trident to dissolve the castle's seawall so both humans and merfolk can live together and presumably, she spends the rest of her life switching back and forth from human to mermaid.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Tomboy who loves to go out and swim to Ariel's Girly Girl who acts quite queenly in the sequel.
Tomboyish Ponytail: She's a Tomboy Princess wearing a black, long ponytail.
Tomboy Princess: She is into boyish things and is a princess.
Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Melody is more unfeminine than Ariel was as a teen, and headstrong and daring just like both her parents. But despite being tomboyish, she has a princess canopy bed and a girlish styled bedroom.
A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: Like her mother, Melody rushes into decisions without properly thinking them over and misjudges evil beings, and it's one of the reasons for Atlantica's near-downfall. She gave Morgana the trident largely to spite Ariel for lying to her about her mermaid heritage her entire life. She realizes what a bad decision that was mere seconds later.
Underwear Swimsuit: Prior to her fateful birthday, Melody often sneaks out of the castle to go swimming and picking seashells clad in her undergarments, comprising of a white camisole with a small green bow on its chest and a pair of white pantalettes. That being said, she's in a period of time where swimsuits haven't been invented yet.
Unwitting Pawn: Melody doesn't realize that Morgana was just using her for her revenge scheme until she gives the trident to Morgana out of spite.
"Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: Implied in a subtle way in a few scenes.
Melody: (to Ariel) I just wanted to be a better mermaid than a girl.

Characters / The Little Mermaid - Titular Protagonists

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