The Little Mermaid 1989 / Tropes E to N

The Little Mermaid (1989) Trope Examples
A - D | E - N | O - Z

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E

• Early-Installment Weirdness: A meta-example, as while this film would introduce the incorporation of Broadway elements in the so-called Renaissance Age of Animation, Ursula delivers a theatrical monologue in her first scene, something that no character after her regardless of moral alignment has done since.
• Earth-Shattering Kaboom: As King Triton starts his Unstoppable Rage in Ariel's secret grotto, he firsts blows up a globe first by firing an energy bolt from his trident, before he obliterates the rest of Ariel's human treasures.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Vanessa certainly qualifies.
• Embarrassing Statue: Prince Eric is given a statue of himself as a birthday gift, which depicts him as a mighty Warrior Prince in an over-the-top manner. It doesn't really fit Eric's personality and he's clearly unimpressed, though he tries to be polite about it. The statue ends up going down with the ship when it sinks, whereupon it ends up in Ariel's possession, who is far more appreciative of it.
• Emerging from the Shadows: How Ursula was introduced whilst spying on Ariel and Flounder via crystal bubble, before lamenting on her banishment.
  • King Triton does this when confronting Ariel in her secret grotto.
• Enemy Rising Behind: The shark does this to Ariel and Flounder. Bonus points for being outside the window of a sunken ship when it does it.
• Epileptic Flashing Lights: A few scenes involving lightning and Ursula's magic create bright strobing effects against dark backgrounds. Some of these effects also occur during plot-relevant scenes, with the most prominent example being Ursula's death.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Ursula is quite distraught at the deaths of Flotsam and Jetsam.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Despite her intentions and her later sabotage, Ursula does make sure Ariel understands exactly what their deal entails, even redirecting Ariel's attention when she's distracted.
• Even the Dog Is Ashamed: Max gets annoyed at Prince Eric's naïveté over whether or not the mute Ariel was the one he's been looking for.
• Everything's Better with Sparkles: When Triton returns Ariel to human form, she emerges from the sea before Eric in a sparkling silver dress.
• Evil Chef: Chef Louie certainly is from Sebastian's perspective, what with him singing about how he loves to chop and to serve little fish. However, he doesn't really know the sea creatures are sentient.
• Evil Counterpart: Vanessa, Ursula's disguise, even without Ariel's voice, greatly resembles Ariel herself, albeit overall much darker. She also technically doubles as an Evil Brunette Twin.
• Evil-Detecting Dog: Max can smell something wrong with Ursula when she's in the Vanessa-disguise (she probably smells like octopus and whatever those things are that she eats). Between that and his knowing who actually saved Eric...
• Evil Eyebrows: Ursula.
• Evil Laugh: Ursula does one about every five minutes.
• Evil Overlooker: Some posters for the film have Ursula sporting a nasty grin and staring down at Ariel/the viewer.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Ursula's voice is always fairly low, but it gets really deep after she grows to gigantic size in the climax.
• Exact Eavesdropping: Scuttle happens to be flying by when Ursula, disguised as Vanessa, sings her evil plot, and he sees Ursula’s true reflection in the mirror.
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!:
  • When Ariel shows off her latest finds for her collection to the supposed "human expert" Scuttle, his explanation of what he believes a tobacco pipe to be gets one of these from her, as she remembers all too late that she had a previous engagement that day.
    Scuttle: This is wonderful! A banded, bulbous - Snarfblat. Now, the Snarfblat dates back to pre-historical times, when humans used to sit around, and stare at each other all day. Got very boring. So, they invented the snarfblat to make fine music. Allow me. (blows into the pipe, causing seaweed to pop out the other end)
    Ariel: Music? Oh, the concert! Oh my gosh, my father's gonna kill me!
  • Combined with Jerkass Realization. After Ariel is turned into a human and ends up on the surface, Sebastian is panic-stricken and tries to go back down underwater to inform her father, King Triton. When Ariel silently begs him not to, he starts to staunchly defend his decision, but soon realizes that he can't bring himself to go through with it, especially since Triton destroyed her prized collection the last time he tattled on her to save his shell.
    Sebastian: I'm gonna march meself straight home right now and tell him just like I should have done the minute—
    (Ariel picks him up and shakes her head with a pleading expression)
    Sebastian: And don't you shake your head at me, young lady! Maybe there's still time. If we could get that witch to give you back your voice, you could go home, with all the normal fish, and just be...
    (he notices that Ariel has a mournful expression on her face, and he starts to lose steam)
    Sebastian: Just be... Just be miserable for the rest of your life. (beat) All right, all right. I'll help ya find that prince.
    (Ariel perks up and gives him a big kiss, then sets him back down)
    Sebastian: Boy, what a soft-shell I'm turning out to be.
  • When Scuttle sees Ursula in Vanessa's reflection, he starts saying, "The Sea Witch! She's gonna, she's gonna-" before going Oh, Crap! and immediately flying to where Ariel is on the docks to finish the thought: "The Prince is marrying the sea witch in disguise!"
• Excessive Evil Eyeshadow: Ursula and her sister Morgana.
• Expository Theme Tune: The film opens with the short Daughters of Triton number which gives a brief summary of the characters. Sebastian apparently wrote a shout-out to HIMSELF into the number.
• Eyelash Fluttering: As Ariel goes to bed in her first day at Prince Eric's castle, Sebastian gives her some tips on how to get Eric to kiss her, including "You've got to bat your eyes, like this", demonstrating with eyelashes that he has just for this line.

F

• Facepalm:
  • Ariel during Scuttle's "little romantic stimulation".
  • Sebastian after Flotsam and Jetsam foil his plan to have Ariel and Eric kiss.
  • King Triton does a rather sad one whilst blaming himself for Ariel's disappearance after destroying her human treasures in her grotto.
• Fade Around the Eyes:
  • Ursula does this at the end of her first scene. The image of her tentacles curling around her as the screen fades to black can be very frightening.
  • She does it again in the scene when she transforms into her disguise as Vanessa, but instead of her eyes, she does it with her teeth and the shell on her necklace as smoke fills her lair.
• Failed a Spot Check: This is ultimately what gets Ursula killed. She's so focused on smiting Ariel with the Trident that she's not paying attention to her surroundings — and thus doesn't realize Eric's commandeered and raised wreck's on a collision course until a moment before it's on her.
• Fairy Tale
• Fairytale Wedding Dress: Ariel's dress with the poofy sleeves.
• Falling-in-Love Montage: Ariel and Eric touring the kingdom.
• Family-Unfriendly Death:
  • Flotsam and Jetsam get hit by a stray blast from the trident, and explode into tiny fragments of flesh, bone and eyes. And since Ursula actually loved them, this winds up pissing her off.
  • Ursula's death. Eric comes up from behind her using a sunken ship and rams the mast through her stomach with the point sticking out of her back, while being shocked by the power of the trident, seeing her skeleton flashing a few times before sinking into the sea and disintegrating. You can even see her pieces sinking to the ocean floor (though there's never any blood).
  • The original draft of the above scene originally had Eric wrestle the trident from her long enough to "oblige" her when she demands he give it back... by tossing it right through her heart (this scene was re-used in Kingdom Hearts II).
• Fan Disservice:
  • Ursula's bounces during "Poor Unfortunate Souls".
  • invoked The elderly preacher's knees, way more so.
• Fanfare: King Triton gets a nice trumpet fanfare as he enters, fitting for Lord of all the Seas. Sebastian also gets one, played on a kazoo.
• Fanservice:
  • Ariel is naked when she becomes human, and as a mermaid, she (and her fellow merpeople) show a lot of skin: the women wear only a Seashell Bra, and the men go bare-chested.
  • Ursula does a LOT of shaking in the "Poor Unfortunate Souls" scene...there's even a close up as she shimmies.
• Fantastic Racism: King Triton toward humans. When Ariel points out that he's judging Eric without knowing him, he declares "Know him?! I don't have to know him! They're all the same!"
  • Exposition removed from the original movie, but added back into the musical and the prequel, reveals that Ariel's mother was killed by humans (well, ran over by a pirate ship), making Triton's paranoia about them somewhat more sympathetic.
  • Furthermore, he says that in anger when his youngest, somewhat favorite daughter, had just professed her love for an unknown human being and her wish to leave home (possibly forever) to stay with him.
• Fantastic Slurs: To go with King Triton's Fantastic Racism towards humans, humans are referred as "Fish-eaters" (which is kind of justified, considering that to the merfolk, the fish are sentient).
• Feather Fingers: Notable in that the fish characters avert the "fish can walk on their tailfins" subtrope until the "Under the Sea" number, where it looks awkward. Scuttle doesn't exactly avoid the Trope Namer either.
• Fee Fi Faux Pas: Ariel, at her first dinner with Eric, uses a dinglehopper (a fork) to comb her hair (based on faulty information provided by Scuttle the seagull). She also grabs Grimsby's pipe and blows into it believing that it is a snarfblatt, which Scuttle blows like a trumpet.
• Fiery Redhead: Ariel. If one takes the prequel movie as canon, her father is a male example - as he had auburn hair in his youth.
• Fine, You Can Just Wait Here Alone: "You can just stay here and watch for sharks."
• Fish out of Water: Ariel's a near-literal example.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Triton tells Sebastian how excited he is for Ariel's first show which Sebastian follows up by saying, "If only she'd show up for rehearsals once in a while." under his breath. Ariel's no-show winds up ruining the performance.
  • The "Under the Sea" musical number has Sebastian singing about how humans use fish for food. In the middle of the film, poor Sebastian ends up in a kitchen full of fish food, and almost becomes food himself.
• Forgotten Fallen Friend: Subverted. When Sebastian and Ariel both go missing, Triton asks the Herald if there's any sign of "them," not just his daughter, when he sends out search parties. He considers Sebastian as his closest friend and is heartbroken at the thought of having driven him away as well as his daughter.
• Fourth-Date Marriage: Ariel and Eric play this straight, but if you go by previous Disney Princess standards, they avert it. Snow White barely even speaks to her Prince, Cinderella spends maybe a couple of hours with hers (and they don't speak enough for her to know he is the Prince), and Aurora exchanges maybe three sentences and a quick dance with Philip. Ariel and Eric spend a full day together touring the kingdom, taking in the sights, going to local festivals and such, and finishing off with an Old-Fashioned Rowboat Date. Eric was even about to give up pining for the girl who rescued him in favor of Ariel (not realizing it was Ariel) before Ursula interfered, so they definitely really liked each other even after spending time together.
• Funny Background Event: Eric standing stock still with a vacant expression on his face, doing nothing to help Ursula when she's attacked by the sea creatures, thanks to the spell that she put him under.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • The middle section of Ursula's Magically-Binding Contract is made up of gibberish◊, though this could be explained as Translation Convention simply translating the only relevant parts into English for the audience.
  • After Ariel's transformation, as Sebastian and Flounder begin rushing her to the surface, there are a few frames where you can see Ariel's butt, and the area between her legs.
  • When Scuttle is going through his Did You Get a New Haircut? routine with Ariel and asks her "New seashells?" he very briefly flashes a grin with a full set of teeth.
• French Accordion: Accordion music plays when Chef Louis is introduced because he's, well, French (or at least "Hollywood French").

G

• Gambit Roulette: Played with. Ursula's plan to get Ariel and use her as leverage against Triton hinged on Ariel's failure to get kissed by Eric before the third sunset. Ursula initially believed this was an Impossible Task without Ariel's voice and figured she just needed to sit and wait. However, when she saw how close Ariel and Eric were getting and realized that Eric would kiss Ariel before time ran out, she was forced to improvise by disguising herself as Vanessa and keep the two apart.
• Garden of Evil: Ursula's garden of polyps at the entrance of her cave.
• Gay Paree: Chef Louis is, well, Hollywood's idea of a French cook. His sequence is introduced with accordion music (which is a cliché related to Paris), he has a Maurice Chevalier Accent, speaks about "Nouvelle Cuisine des Champs-Élysées" (the Champs-Élysées avenue is in Paris) and even names Maurice Chevalier (despite the film being set in the 18th century). And then The Cancan Song plays as Louis enters an Unstoppable Rage and destroys the kitchen trying to kill Sebastian.
• Giant Poofy Sleeves: Ariel's wedding dress, and to a lesser extent, her pink dress.
• Gloomy Gray: In the aftermath of King Triton's Unstoppable Rage, Ariel's secret grotto turns from a cool undersea blue to a chalky gray.
• Gondor Calls for Aid: Scuttle gets an army of fish, ducks, flamingos, crabs, dolphins, seals, and even starfish to help him crash and stall Vanessa's wedding.
• Gonky Femme: Ursula is frightening, obese, and mannish-looking but behaves as a sexy seductress, down to her make up, hip swinging and mannerisms-
• Gorgeous Garment Generation
• Got Volunteered: Sebastian ends up with the thankless job of keeping tabs on Ariel in the middle of a rant about how he'd make sure she stayed in line if she were his daughter.
  Sebastian: Hm! Teenagers... They think they know everything. You give 'em an inch, they swim all over you.
  Triton: Do you, er, think I - I was too hard on her?
  Sebastian: Definitely not. Why, if Ariel was my daughter, I'd show her who was boss! None of this "flitting to the surface" and other such nonsense. No, sir, I'd keep her under tight control.
  Triton: You're absolutely right, Sebastian!
  Sebastian: Of course.
  Triton: Ariel needs constant supervision.
  Sebastian: Constant.
  Triton: Someone to watch over her— to keep her out of trouble.
  Sebastian: All the time, I'd—
  Triton: And YOU are just the crab to do it.
  (Sebastian gasps in disbelief; cut to him leaving the throne room, muttering)
  Sebastian: How do I get myself into these situations?! I should be writing symphonies! Not tagging along after some headstrong teenager!
• Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Ariel's seashell bra, and her dress in the sequel are purple.
• Grass is Greener:
  • "Betcha on land they understand/Bet they don't... reprimand their daughters..."
  • In "Under the Sea", Sebastian points out, "The seaweed is always greener in somebody else's lake..."
• Gratuitous Animal Sidekick: While there had been a case in an animal sidekick in the 1975 anime adaptation and would be in animal sidekicks in adaptations that followed this one, this film makes it excessively gratuitous in that Ariel had not one, but three: Flounder, Sebastian and Scuttle.

H

• Happily Married: Ariel and Eric, from the end of the first movie and into the sequel.
• Hard Truth Aesop: This movie emphasizes that finding the perfect romantic partner for you is impossible. Eric tries so hard to find the mysterious girl who saved him, and fails to realize the redheaded mute combing her hair with a fork is the same person. Ariel finds out that Eric can be obsessive and ignore what's in front of him, but she loves him regardless and he has a good heart. Neither are perfect, but they realize they want to be together despite their flaws.
• Hartman Hips: While in her "Vanessa" form, the usually-obese Ursula is a lot more slender and elegant in her appearance, though her lower half is quite curvaceous.
• Heel Realization: Sebastian, twice; after he spills Ariel's secret, leading to the destruction of her 'collection', and after he tries to coerce her into trying to go back on Ursula's deal. He helps Ariel in her mission wholeheartedly after the second time.
  • Triton also gets one. Look closely at his face as he leaves after destroying Ariel's collection: As he sees his daughter sobbing uncontrollably, you can imagine him thinking "My God, What Have I Done?". Then Ariel and Sebastian go missing and no one can find them; all Triton can do is organize search parties and fret.
• Heroic BSoD: Ariel 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 Love Dogs: And will nearly die for them.
• Heroic Dog: Max barks excitedly when Scuttle and his army animal crash the wedding, stalling Vanessa until Ariel can climb. Then Vanessa tries to strangle Scuttle when he squawks in her face, and he gets his beak on her shell necklace having figured out what it was. Max breaks free of his leash and bites Vanessa in the butt, not only saving Scuttle but also allowing the shell to break allowing Ariel to regain her voice and to break the spell on Eric.
• Heroic Sacrifice: King Triton decides to take Ariel's place as Ursula's prisoner to free Ariel, though this could also be to regain her trust after feeling remorse for destroying her grotto.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: If Ursula wasn't such a showoff, she would not have surfaced Eric's ship and enabled him to kill her. A fitting death for a sea witch with an ego that outsizes her. Not only that, thanks to the spell she put on him, Eric does nothing to help her when the sea creatures attack her, ultimately leading to the spell being broken when one of them finally pulls off her shell necklace.
• Hold Your Hippogriffs:
  • "You're not getting cold fins (feet) now, are you?"
  • "You are such a guppy (baby/chicken)!"
  • "You give them an inch, they'll swim (walk) all over you."
  • "The seaweed (grass) is always greener / In somebody else's lake (lawn)!"
  • "Someone needs to nail that girl's fins (feet) to the floor."
  • "It's time Ursula took matters into her own tentacles (hands)!"
  • "Leave no shell (stone) unturned, no coral (corner) unexplored!"
  • "What a soft shell (touch) I'm turning out to be."
• Hollywood Costuming: While set somewhere around the 19th century, Ariel's wardrobe as a human stands out as a crossover between a throwback of the previous Disney Princesses, and a mishmash of 1980s fashions, with the mall hair, the sparkly dress she wore at the finale, and the giant poofy sleeved wedding dress reminiscent of Princess Diana.
• Hollywood Kiss: Ariel and Eric.
• Honest John's Dealership: As seen and heard in "Poor Unfortunate Souls", Ursula has been known to make these kinds of deals with others.
• Hope Spot:
  • Two during the sea storm. Even though crashing on the rocks knocks everyone into the water, they safely get into lifeboats with Eric pulling Grimsby into one since the latter can't swim. Then they hear barking; Max is still onboard! Eric dives into the water, climbs back onto the burning ship, and convinces Max to jump into his arms. He then runs with the giant sheepdog, and they nearly make it to the railing. Then the wood splinters under Eric's feet, trapping his leg. He does get Max out, who swims to the lifeboats, but the boat explodes when the flames hit the fireworks, knocking him out. Fortunately, Ariel was watching and rescues Eric when he sinks unconscious into the waves.
  • At the stalled wedding, Scuttle smashes Ursula's shell just as Ariel climbs aboard. Her voice is returned to her, breaking the spell on Eric, and he realizes she was the girl all along. They embrace and come closer for a kiss...but the sun has gone down already, turning her back into a mermaid. Ursula gloats, returns to her real form, and snatches Ariel before jumping overboard.
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: Whilst Triton is extremely harsh in the way he tried to cut down Ariel's human obsession the fact remains is that he has some extremely good reasons for trying to protect his daughter. Warfare, pollution and the stuffed crab Sebastian runs into are all perfect examples of this.
  • Not to mention all the hundreds of diseases that a Mermaid's human half could potentially contract from humans: syphilis, smallpox, and plague would fit the general setting of this film (approximately the 16th to 17th century given the look of the ships).
    • The prequel gives the best reason of all for his actions — his wife was killed by a human ship.
• Hurt Foot Hop: This happens to Chef Louis after a pan falls onto his foot while he is chasing after Sebastian. He briefly hops in pain, clutching his other foot in both hands.
• Hypno Trinket: The shell containing Ariel's voice. Inverted in that it is Ursula who is wearing it and using it to manipulate Eric, rather than the usual case of the antagonist placing it on the victim.
• Hypocritical Singing: "Poor Unfortunate Souls" in a slight variation. Ursula, while trying to get Ariel to make a deal with her, sings about how she uses her powers to help people. Of course, these deals are always a lot more profitable to her than to any of her beneficiaries mainly because she goes out of her way to ensure that those under contract can't hold up their end of the bargain.

I

• "I Can't Look!" Gesture:
  • Flounder and Sebastian avert their eyes during several tense scenes.
  • Ariel looks away and squeezes her eyes shut while signing Ursula's contract.
• Idiot Ball:
  • Ariel somehow forgetting the concert was that day was (unintentionally) inconsiderate but a little believable and understandable. What raises eyebrows, on the other hand, is that none of the other concert personnel seem to have reminded her at all. Or that her sisters - who are visibly shocked that Ariel isn't there - didn't at least check to make sure she was in her position on the stage. Sebastian really should have seen the embarrassment coming for allowing such a mistake to happen.
  • Speaking of Sebastian, while it's understandable that he thinks that Triton knows about Ariel's antics when his messenger summons him, doesn't he notice Triton's playful, teasing demeanor? He knows how Triton feels about humans, does he really think he'd be acting like this if he thought or knew Ariel was in love with one?
  • For some viewers, Ariel accepting Ursula's deal is this period. Yes, Ariel was devastated by her father destroying her treasures, and thus wasn't thinking clearly. Yes, Ursula is a Manipulative Bitch who deliberately waited until Ariel was at her most vulnerable to strike. And yes, Ariel is an impulsive teenager. And no, it's not portrayed by the film as "a good thing." However, for many viewers, Ursula's status as an Obviously Evil Devil in Plain Sight offering an almost literal Deal with the Devil, coupled with the nearly impossible terms of her contract and harsh penalty for failing, makes any deal with her come off as this. (It's even lampshaded in a deleted scene.)
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Again, Ursula's death. Eric rams a broken ship into her.
• Ink-Suit Actor:
  • Scuttle and his voice actor, the late Buddy Hackett. Hackett had his wife take photos of his face as he tried to make seagull-esque expressions in preparation for the role, and it seems the animators used those photos as reference material.
  • Subverted with Ursula, although just barely. Her design was based on Divine and apparently was actually intended to be voiced by Divine, but he died before he could lend the voice.
  • Ariel's face and movements were heavily modelled on her voice actress, the very redheaded Jodi Benson. Even twenty years later, the resemblance is incredibly striking.
  • And we can't forget Sherri "Slappy Squirrel" Stoner, who served as the main physical model for Ariel. That little lip-biting thing Ariel does on occasion? That's all Sherri.
  • Eric is also an animated version of Christopher Daniel Barnes. There's almost no difference between the two.
  • Samuel E. Wright as Sebastian—especially on the lips.
• Innocent Fanservice Girl: Ariel. When she first becomes human, the only thing she's wearing is her Seashell Bra. Not having much knowledge of clothes, who knows how much longer she would have went naked without care if Scuttle hadn't given her that old sail.
• Improvised Clothes: Ariel's first dress is an old sail strategically tied up with rope.
• Intangible Price: Ursula insists on Ariel's voice in exchange for turning her human.
• Irony:
  • Ariel doesn't speak for a significant chunk of the film, despite being the lead female of an Animated Musical.
  • Eric and Grimsby repeatedly discuss Eric's dating life when Ariel is nearby.
  • Grim councils Eric to forget his "dream girl" (Eric wished to marry the girl who saved him, not realizing it was Ariel), and to accept the real one he has.
  • Ariel, a Mermaid Princess, falling in love with Eric, a Human Prince — a royal pairing that would work under different circumstanses if not for, ah, biological, environmental, and cultural incompatibilities.
    • Ursula even lampshades the irony in universe, sarcastically predicting that King Triton will just love this.
• 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 her mother loved her mother's 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. Unlike Triton, Ariel didn't destroy her daughter's things; she just told her off for disobeying her and realized she went too far when Melody ran off crying, deciding that Melody needs to know the truth. 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: "Part Of Your World" in the original and "Her Voice" in the musical.
• I Will Find You: Eric's intention when Ursula drags Ariel back to the sea.

J

• Jar of the Bizarre: Ursula has a few oddities in glass containers on a shelf in her lair. Some of these become ingredients in her roiling cauldron that transform the mermaid Ariel into a human girl. One or two of these ingredients seem to be live creatures, helplessly watching their demise unfold.
• Jaw Drop: Sebastian's reaction upon seeing Ariel sing to Eric. His jaw is promptly closed by Scuttle.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Sebastian's frustrations with Ariel are understandable. As the court composer, it's his job to make sure that his concerts go according to plan. She's a no-show for rehearsals and her big debut, defies orders from her father to stay away from humans that eat up sea creatures like Sebastian, and doesn't appreciate what she has in the ocean. When Sebastian tells her off, he isn't nice about it, but he's also very correct.
• Job Song:
  • In "Poor Unfortunate Souls", Ursula sings about her job of offering alleged help to people.
  • In "Les Poissons", the chef sings about his job as a chef.
• Just the Way You Are: Eric doesn't care that the girl he loves is actually a mermaid. When he finds out, he's surprised but has a mild expression of This Explains So Much before going Oh, Crap! as Ursula kidnaps Ariel and takes her below. His next reaction is to go alone in a rowboat and mount a rescue, even as Ariel is urging him to get to safety.

K

• Kick the Dog: In her human disguise, Ursula kicks poor Max for growling at her on her way up the aisle to marry Prince Eric. Max yelps and whimpers. Later, he comes back to bite her in the butt.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Scuttle claims to be an expert on humans but thinks forks are combs called "dinglehoppers", and smoking pipes are musical instruments called "snarfblats".

L

• Language Equals Thought: Although land and sea share a common language ^note (see Aliens Speaking English) Part Of Your World implies merpeople lack the vocabulary for a number of concepts meaningless underwater — concepts Ariel strives to acquire regardless, much like her collection of land artifacts.
  What's a fire and why does it (what's the word?) ... burn?
• Large Ham:
  • Ursula has a few of these moments. Whoo boy, whoever said "Right, Ursula is nuts, so we want you to go ABSOLUTELY CRACKERS!" to Pat Carroll made the best decision ever; here's the proof - "YOU POOR, UNFORTUNATE SOOOOOOUUULLLLLLLL!!!!!". For a better example, actually watch the song; wow! Disney went crackers... and it worked.
  • Louie the chef. "Come out, you little pipsqueak and FIGHT LIKE A MAN!!"
    • "Hee, hee, hee! Ho, ho ho!"
  • You could say even Sebastian falls under this, too: "Well, [the concert] WAS RUINED! THAT'S ALL! COMPLETELY DESTROYED! (dramatic) This concert was to be the pinnacle of my distinguished career... (enraged) NOW THANKS TO YOU I AM THE LAUGHINGSTOCK OF THE ENTIRE KINGDOM!!!"
• Laughably Evil: The movie does well to balance Ursula's sadistic and sinister ambience with lots of brilliant snarking and scenery chewing courtesy of Pat Carroll.
  • Louis the Chef also counts, too.
• Laughing Mad: Although Ursula usually does Evil Laughs, her laughter when gloating about her inevitable victory as Vanessa is closer to Laughing Mad.
• Leitmotif: Used and subverted. Normally it's a good thing to hear Ariel's Voice, but in the scene when Eric throws his flute into the sea and seems ready to marry voiceless Ariel, hearing that song turns into an Oh, Crap! moment for the audience.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: To denote that Scuttle is about to bring the pain, Sebastian orders him seriously to "Stall the wedding!" without his usual eye-rolling. Scuttle delivers by rallying an army of birds, dolphins, seals and fish to help. He also ends up smashing Ursula's shell after grappling with her for it.
• Letter Motif: Ariel and all of her sisters have the same first initial — as did their mother. (See Theme Naming, below.)
• Light Is Not Good: In this movie, when the trident glows, something bad is about to happen (Triton destroys the grotto in one of the most frightening scenes in Disney history, Ursula usurps him, etc.). Subverted after Ursula's defeat, when it's used to turn Ariel human permanently.
• Lighter and Softer: When compared to the original story, which had a very unhappy ending. Well, it is a Disney movie after all.
• Limb-Sensation Fascination: One of the most important events is Ariel's transformation into a human. The film focuses briefly on her feet and how she's excited to have toes she can wriggle.
• Little "No":
  • King Triton, after Ariel confesses her love for Eric during their argument.
  • Later in the climax, Ariel, after Ursula turns Triton into a polyp and picks up his crown and trident.
• Lonely at the Top: After reaching the zenith of his anger over Ariel's human fascination and destroying her secret grotto just to get to her, King Triton falls into this after learning that she, along with Sebastian, his best friend and advisor, have run away out of disgust over his actions. Besides sending out search parties to find them, Triton can do nothing about it but sit alone in his throne room, knowing he's alienated the two sea creatures he loves most in one fell swoop.
• Longing Look: Eric gives such a look to Ariel during the dinner scene. In fact, he's distracted enough to not hear Grimsby's questions.
• Loose Lips:
  • Whilst making up a story to cover up Ariel's disappearance at the concert, Flounder inadvertently gets Ariel into trouble with Triton for going up to the surface by mentioning "seagull".
  • How King Triton found out of Ariel's rescue of Eric and her secret grotto, after Sebastian spills the beans due to Triton pressuring him whilst questioning Sebastian about Ariel's recent lovestruck behavior.
• Lord of the Ocean: King Triton himself is ruler of a race of merpeople in an underwater acropolis. The untold magical power of his trident makes one question whether or not he is the Greek God of his namesake, especially when Ursula gets a hold of it.
• Losing a Shoe in the Struggle: Eric's boots come off in the ocean while Ariel is trying to save him from drowning. They also come off after Eric defeats Ursula and before he makes it to shore.
• Lost Voice Plot: Ariel didn't lose her voice in the normal way, but, through magic, she had it stolen.
• Love at First Note: Eric for Ariel.
• Love at First Sight: Ariel for Eric, with a chaser of Florence Nightingale Effect.
• Love Hurts: Much less than in the original version, though Ariel's pain is obvious when she thinks Eric is going to leave her and marry "Vanessa".
• Loves Me Not: With an underwater flower.
• Loving a Shadow: Discussed by Eric and Grimsby about the mysterious girl who rescued him. Grimsby logically points out that a girl wouldn't just vanish into thin air, and Eric is searching for someone who may not exist. Eric insists that the girl is real and he knows it, he just has to keep looking. Ariel appears, voiceless and in need of help, and Eric starts falling for her spirited nature. If not for Ursula interfering, Eric would have given up the quest to talk with Ariel and declare his love.
• Lower Half Reveal: Subverted, in that when the Prince first sees Ariel, he only sees her from the waist up, and believes she is a beautiful human: he does not know she is a mermaid.

M

• Made of Indestructium: Ursula's contract, once it's signed, cannot be damaged even by a direct blast from Triton's trident.
• Made of Iron: Eric in the climax takes a heck of a beating. The waves that Ursula summons knock him at least ten feet in the air, a shipwreck runs him over, causing him to sink underwater and nearly drown in the currents, and Ursula's electrified tentacles envelop him and said ship when he uses it to impale her. Eric somehow manages to swim to shore and collapse from exhaustion, with no signs of broken ribs or serious injuries. Anyone else would be dead.
  • 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.
• Magic Cauldron: Ursula, as befits someone who's called a witch, has something which is functionally equivalent to a witch's cauldron. It's used for Ariel's transformation sequence.
• Magic Pants: When Triton turns Ariel human for good, he also conjures a blue dress out of nowhere for her. What, you didn't expect her dad to send her walking naked into her boyfriend's arms, did you?
• Magically-Binding Contract: Ariel signs such a contract with Ursula; when Triton tries to destroy it with his trident, it doesn't work. As it turns out, the only thing that can break Ursula's contracts is her demise — once she dies, all the polyps in her garden return to their natural forms.
• Make My Monster Grow: Ursula in the climax.
• Mama Bear: Ursula did not take Flotsam and Jetsam's deaths well. "Babies! My poor little poopsies!"
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: From Eric's perspective, anyway; the actual movie itself averts this. The girl Prince Eric encounters on the beach is the 'dream girl'; the girl who uses a fork to comb her hair and jumps a carriage over a ravine is the 'manic pixie'. Only at the end does Eric realize they're one and the same.
• Marilyn Maneuver: A disguised Ursula's (as Vanessa) wedding dress receives a draft from a flock of bluebirds as they fly underneath her.
• Marry for Love: Eric intends to do this.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: Ariel has six older sisters: Aquata, Andrina, Arista, Attina, Adella, and Alana.
• Match Cut: When Eric is with the disguised Ursula and announces the iminent wedding at sunset, Ursula grimaces down and we pan to her glowing necklace, which changes to a similar shot of the setting sun in the sky.
• Meaningful Name:
  • "Eric" is an Old Norse name that can mean "One Ruler", "Lone Ruler" or "Lone Prince", which is what he is in the beginning of the film.
  • Ariel is Hebrew for "Lion of God" and is derived from one of God's Archangels.
    • It's also the name of the air-spirit servant in The Tempest—appropriate for the mermaid who's bent on leaving the water and living an air-breathing existence (as well as a Shout-Out to the original story, where the mermaid ended the story as an air spirit).
  • Vanessa's name is derived from the Latin word "Vanitas", which means among other things Vanity, Worthlessness, Emptiness, and Nothingness. The first meaning is more than a little obvious, but the remaining three meanings also have a place in it as well, as it highlights the fact that Vanessa is Eric's false savior.
• Mermaid Arc Emergence: Occurs when a human Ariel emerges from the sea and desperately gasps for air after almost drowning in Ursula's lair, throwing her head back causing her hair to flip in a backward arc.
• The Mirror Shows Your True Self: Scuttle discovers Vanessa is actually Ursula when he sees the reflection she casts in a mirror.
  Scuttle: The Sea Witch! Oh, no! She's gonna...I gotta... [flies into window!] ARIEL!
• Misplaced Wildlife: Carp and newts living in saltwater habitats.
• Moment Killer: Deliberately done by Flotsam and Jetsam when they knock over Eric and Ariel's boat, preventing the two from kissing.
• Mood Whiplash:
  • "You're too late!"
  • The music track "Destruction of the Grotto" starts out all lively and cheerful as Ariel admires her Prince Eric statue. When Triton shows up, the music does a total 180. Damn, that Menken knows how to write music.
• Mr. Fanservice:
  • Whilst not as popular as Phillip from Sleeping Beauty, Eric nevertheless has his fair share of fangirls. It helps that he's the Animation Renaissance's first bona fide badass.
  • Old fellow or not, Triton is pretty well-built, himself. Doesn't hurt that he's basically Aquaman with a fish tail.
• Ms. Fanservice:
  • Ariel all the way. She is 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.
  • Vanessa, Ursula's alterego, counts as well. While she dresses much more conservatively than Ariel does in her mermaid form, she still has obvious Hartman Hips, a pretty face, briefly shows her legs while lifting her dress in front of her vanity mirror, and behaves as a seductress because of having Ursula's personality. There’s also the camera zoom to her butt right before Max the sheepdog bites her there.
• Mundane Object Amazement: Ariel is amazed at things like forks and spoons.
• Murder by Mistake: Flotsam and Jetsam are vaporized after Ursula's attempt to kill Prince Eric goes awry thanks to Ariel pulling on her hair and throwing her aim.
• Musicalis Interruptus: Some of the best around.
• Musical World Hypotheses: While there is the occasional song sequence where it's ambiguous, a majority of the songs are diegetic and meant to be literally happening, explicitly Ariel singing her reprise of "Part of Your World" to a barely conscious Eric and Sebastian serenading them with "Kiss the Girl."
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Triton when he blames himself for Ariel's disappearance as well as Sebastian's, given the way he acted. This foreshadows his eventual Heroic Sacrifice to being Ursula's prisoner instead of Ariel.
  • Downplayed when Ariel is in Ursula's clutches after failing to get Eric's kiss, and tries to apologize to her father. When he's turned into a polyp in her place, she's clearly horrified.
  • Sebastian also has a similar reaction after Triton destroys Ariel's things. Like the former, this prompts him to try and help Ariel to make amends.
  • Even Ursula gets this when she accidentally vaporizes Flotsam and Jetsam during the climax. She's absolutely horrified and heartbroken... which then gives way to pure rage at Ariel and Eric and leads into the final battle.
  • After the third movie of the series we're made aware that King Triton not only believes humans are a threat to mermaids and mermen, but he holds them responsible for the death of Ariel's mother: his own wife. And while he was just trying to keep his youngest daughter safe, he throws her in the hands of his worst enemy and the kind of people he despises most with a single stroke.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The DVD Commentary notes that the scenes of Ariel posed on the rock were based on the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen.
  • Ursula tosses a tongue-looking thing into her cauldron. In the original story, the little mermaid's tongue was cut out before she became human.
  • Attina, one of Ariel's sisters, was named after an obscure previous Alan Menken musical, Atina: Evil Queen of the Galaxy.

N

• Naked on Arrival: When Ariel first becomes human, the lower half of her body is unclothed.
• Named by the Adaptation: None of the characters in the original fairy tale (the little mermaid, the prince, the sea king, the sea witch, etc.) have names.
• Never Trust a Trailer: There was one that made it seem like Triton taking on Ursula would be a major part of the movie. Notably, this version seemed to get a lot of airplay in shows aimed at a young, male audience.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: If Triton hadn't stormed into Ariel's grotto and destroyed her stuff, Ariel would have been satisfied with Eric's statue rather than try to pursue him. She was already happier with her family, and affectionate. When Triton incinerates everything in the name of teaching Ariel a lesson — which is nonsense because he just wanted an outlet for his temper — it leaves her vulnerable enough for Ursula to offer a chance to be with the real Eric. Triton realizes this in the end, especially when Eric risks his life to save Ariel.
  • And Sebastian is not better. After Ariel saves Eric, he promises her that he won't tell her father any of this, but later, when Triton pressures him about Ariel being so lovestruck, he gets so nervous that he accidentally tattles her to him and breaks his promise, leading to the scene where Triton destroys everything in the grotto, and Ariel gets upset with him for it. If only you knew when to keep your mouth shut, Sebastian...
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Ursula throwing a monkey wrench into her deal with Ariel to usurp power is ultimately a catalyst for Eric killing her for trying to kill Ariel, which convinces Triton to overcome his hatred of humans and let Ariel stay with Eric and depart with him and the rest of his kingdom on good terms.
  • Ursula singing and gloating as Vanessa on the wedding barge also counts. If she hadn't been celebrating her victory early, Ursula wouldn't have unknowngly outed herself to an eavesdropping Scuttle (who then warns Ariel and sets off the climax).
• Nice, Mean, and In-Between: Out of Ariel's animal friends, Flounder is innocent and shy (nice), Sebastian is snooty and grumpy (mean), and Scuttle is a friendly but slightly annoying Cloudcuckoolander (in-between).
• Nightmare Face: "So help me, Ariel, I am going to get through to you, and if this is the only way, so be it!"
• Nightmare Fetishist: Ariel's love of the human world, by merfolk standards.
• No Cartoon Fish: Interestingly zigzagged. While there are of course plenty of cartoon fish in this movie, all dead fish are drawn realistically. The fish caught in the net in the first scene all look realistic, but when the sailor picks one up and waves it around in front of Grimsby's face, it alternates between realistic and cartoony before settling on cartoony after it's released back into the water.
• Noodle Incident:
  • Ursula states that she once lived in the palace, indicating she must have held a high status in Triton's court, but at some point she was banished and exiled for life - but we're never told what she did to earn such a punishment.
  • Also, Eric asks Grim "You're not still sore cause I didn't fall for the Princess of Glowerhaven, are you?"
• Non-Human Sidekick: Flounder, Sebastian, Scuttle, and Max for the goodies. Flotsam and Jetsam for the baddie.
• Non-Standard Character Design: Ironically, the merpeople have much more realistic designs and proportions than those of the humans (With the exception of Eric and Vanessa.)
• No Ontological Inertia: Ursula's prisoners are freed when she dies.
• Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: Ursula claims this.
  Ursula: "I admit that in the past I've been a nasty
  They weren't kidding when they called me, well, a witch
  But you'll find that nowadays, I've mended all my ways..."

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