Characters / The Little Mermaid - Antagonists

The Little Mermaid franchise character index
Titular Protagonists | Atlantica Royalty and Associates | Other Residents of Atlantica | Residents of Prince Eric's Castle | Allies | Antagonists

First Film Antagonists

Ursula

"Triton's daughter will be mine! And then I'll make him writhe. I'll see him wriggle like a worm on a HOOK!"

^{Click here to see her in her Vanessa disguise}

Voiced by: Pat Carroll (1989-2022), Debra Wilson (2024–present, beginning with Disney Speedstorm), Jodi Benson while in disguise; Micheline Dax (European French, first voice), Perrette Pradier (European French, redub voice); Rachel Atas (Hebrew dub)

Ursula is the main antagonist of The Little Mermaid and its 1992-94 spin-off television series in the saga.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: To Eric. While her main goal above all else is to get the Trident, her attraction to Eric seems to be completely genuine. She first calls him a "catch", and then when Ariel almost kisses Eric on the second day, Ursula has no problems with transforming herself into looking more like Ariel and hypnotizing Eric to fall in love with her instead, rather than considering anything simpler. She even has the plan to marry him. And her final words are "so much for true love!", implying a bitterness toward Ariel and Eric's relationship. In return, Eric completely ignores her in favor of Ariel after her hypnosis spell is broken, looks scared of Ursula when seeing her true appearance for the first time, and then is even the one to kill her shortly after this.
• Acrofatic:
  • Despite her weight, the end of "Poor Unfortunate Souls" has Ursula manically swimming around on several bursts of energy while driving home her points. Considering how many clients she has had and how many times she has likely had to do this, one can only wonder how she is failing to burn more calories from this.
  • Also has the upper-arm strength to quickly pull her huge body across a ship deck, grab Ariel, and lift them both onto the ship railing.
• Adaptational Attractiveness:
  • A side effect of Sherie Rene Scott's portrayal of Ursula in the Broadway play has her looking not only thinner, but also in some ways a slight resemblance to her sister Morgana.
  • Downplayed for this version of Ursula compared to the original. In the fairy tale, she looked almost like the Hag in Snow White, as seen here◊. While the Disney version still isn’t considered conventionally beautiful along the lines of Ariel, and even made to be morbidly obese unlike her original counterpart, she does look slightly better than in the fairytale, and could even be considered a Big Beautiful Woman to some.
  • Unlike the original sea witch, Ursula also disguises herself as the rival maiden Vanessa briefly, who is far more conventionally beautiful than either of the interpretations of her sea witch form.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • An interesting variant, as it's not Ursula herself who gets this in the Broadway version, but rather her necklace. In the film, it's exactly as Ursula describes it in the play—a simple, albeit magical trinket whose sole purpose is to keep Ariel's voice inside. Ursula is already plenty powerful without it and destroying it has no ill effects on her. In the Broadway version, it's basically the Evil Counterpart to Triton's trident—a sacred artifact that grants its user incredible power and is the source of all of Ursula's magic, just as the trident is the source of Triton's. It's mentioned that Ursula relies on it so much that destroying it would kill her, which she denies. The ending proves that it's true, as Ariel defeats Ursula by destroying the shell.
  • Ursula herself is this compared to the sea witch in the original fairytale. Unlike Ursula, the sea witch was not a magnificent schemer who succeeded at taking over the kingdom (albeit briefly).
• Adaptational Curves: In the original fairy tale, the sea witch looked like this◊. It wasn't until the Disney version that she began being portrayed as extremely obese.
• Adaptation Personality Change: Along with Adaptational Villainy, Ursula has an entirely different personality than the sea witch in the fairy tale did. While the sea witch didn't have much in the way of personality quirks, Ursula is full of them, being a flamboyant diva who embraces and flaunts her curves (that the sea witch didn't even have), along with having an ambitious drive and wanting to rule the ocean. In other words, the Disney adaptation dialed up the ham of the sea witch quite a lot.
• Adaptational Villainy: In the fairy tale, the sea witch is a neutral character who, in addition to warning the mermaid of the transformation's consequences, doesn't go back on her deal with the mermaid until asked to, and never interferes directly. Likewise, the princess, the Vanessa analog, is never cruel to the Little Mermaid and genuinely loves the prince. In some versions she's even very fond of the Little Mermaid herself, unaware that she's acting as a romantic rival to her mute friend.
• Adipose Rex: For a few minutes during her stint as Queen of Atlantica at the movie’s climax. This trope seems to be her ultimate life goal as well, due to her lament that she’s “wasting away to practically nothing” despite already being very, very fat and making herself even bigger once she gets the trident, combined with her desire for power and blatantly stating “the ocean will be mine!” during her Villain Song as Vanessa. While the fat part comes very easily to her, the power part takes much more effort on her part.
• Alpha Bitch: When she becomes Vanessa, she fulfills this archetype to a T. She steals Eric away from Ariel, quickly becomes incredibly popular within Eric's kingdom, shows Narcissist Proud Beauty behavior in private, and engages in general mean girl behavior such as kicking Max the sheepdog. She is nothing like this in her morbidly obese cecaelia form however, likely because she lacks the conventionally attractive looks to back it up. Vanessa essentially shows that Ursula would become the mean girl archetype if she had Ariel's beauty.
• Always Someone Better: To her sister, Morgana.
• Amazing Technicolor Population: Ursula stands out as the only humanoid character to have a purple skin tone in contrast to the rest of the cast, until her sister and mother are revealed to also have odd skin tones in the sequel.
• Ambition Is Evil: Ursula was kicked out of Atlantica because she attacked King Triton and tried to seize the throne. During the TV Series, she tried to defeat Triton in the Sargasso Sea with her Octopid army.
• Amusing Injuries: While disguised as Vanessa, Ursula suffers a variety of injuries that get Played for Laughs, including a lobster pinching her nose, a starfish slamming into her mouth in the middle of her screaming, and a dog taking a huge bite out of her butt. While she looks like a mess immediately afterward, her transformation back into her normal appearance has none of this leave a lasting effect.
• Animals Hate Him: When she's disguised as Vanessa, the animals crash the wedding by attacking her. Averted with her eel henchmen as they admire Ursula, who in turn treats them well.
• Ass Kicks You: In Morgana's deleted Villain Song in the sequel, Ursula is shown to have been just as big in her youth as she is in adulthood, and knocks Morgana away with her large butt.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: In the climax of the first film.
• Attack Its Weak Point: How Eric finishes her off.
• Attention Whore: The book "A Twisted Tale" constantly puts a lot of emphasis on how Ursula desperately craved a lot of attention.
• Ax-Crazy: Just check out some of her facial expressions.
• Bad People Abuse Animals: As "Vanessa", she kicks Max when he growls at her.
• Beauty Equals Goodness: Ursula has practically the complete antithesis of the time period's conventional beauty standards and she's the villain of the film, in contrast to the conventionally beautiful and heroic Ariel.
• Benevolent Boss: An unusual example for a Disney film; as opposed to many Disney villains who mistreat (or even punish) their minions for petty reasons, Ursula genuinely loves Flotsam and Jetsam and treats them well; despite barking orders at them during their tasks. She even praised them for completing their tasks at hand, as well as showing extreme remorse for killing them by accident. Subverted in the TV series, though, but that was before the film.
• Big Bad: Of both the first film and the TV series, and one of Disney's more notable examples.
• Big Beautiful Woman: Ursula certainly sees herself as this, though in the original film there is nothing to suggest that anyone else does. However, she is shown to have drawn the attraction of Splat in Disney's Once Upon a Studio, finally receiving this status In-Universe.
• Big Eater: Subverted in the film on its own in spite of her size. She eats one shrimp at the beginning and then nothing else for the duration of the film, in contrast to characters such as Ariel, Eric, and Grimsby who are shown having full palace meals. However, Disney Villains: The Top Secret Files shows Ursula being this in the past, which is supported by Ursula monologuing about missing the palace meals in her first scene.
• Big Fun: Ursula is incredibly fat, and despite being a villain, she is still shown to have a fun-loving personality, frequently laughing about most things and even acting silly at several points during her "Poor Unfortunate Souls" Villain Song. If she did not have her grudge against Triton making her bitter, she would embody this trope completely. This is briefly Averted during her time as Vanessa, due to Vanessa both no longer being fat (excluding her reflection) and acting much more serious and proper around Eric's kingdom to win their favor.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing:
  • Her human alias, "Vanessa", who acts like she is a doting lover to Eric but is actually just trying to keep him away from Ariel. This is only so that they won’t kiss and she can then use Ariel as a bargaining chip to take over the ocean.
  • Ursula is this in her regular form as well. Her whole Villain Song is about helping “poor unfortunate merfolk”. She is in fact responsible for getting Ariel to land, making her promise to help genuine to a degree, but after this she only tries to sabotage her making her fall into this trope.
• Cain and Abel: In the stage version, she's Triton's sister. Unsurprisingly, she's the Cain to his Abel.
• The Caligula: In the stage version, Ursula was Triton's sister and co-ruler. To put it bluntly, she wasn't much saner back then.
• Chekhov's Gun: Comically enough, Ursula's butt is actually this. When Ariel goes to Ursula early on in the film, Ursula uses many arguments to convince Ariel to give up her voice, including telling Ariel to use her "body language" while Shaking the Rump in what seems like the silliest example. However, near the end of the film, Max the Sheepdog biting Ursula's butt is actually the direct cause of Ursula dropping and breaking her shell necklace, returning Ariel's voice to her. In other words, what seemed like a minor gag about Ursula having a large butt ended up being important to Ariel's victory after all.
• The Chew Toy: As Vanessa, most of her screen time consists of her getting Amusing Injuries from animals in ways that are meant to make the audience laugh, such as seals bouncing her around, a starfish landing on her mouth mid-scream, and Max the sheepdog biting her butt. Averted in her true form though.
• Composite Character: Of two characters from the original fairytale, the sea witch and (in her "Vanessa" form) the woman that the prince mistakes for his savior and marries instead of the mermaid.
• The Conqueror: During the TV series, it's shown that sometime after her banishment she led her people, the Octopids, in a battle against the merpeople in a bid to conquer Atlantica, empowering one of her commanders with a trident more powerful than Triton's, but that failed. Ursula attempted to conquer Atlantica again by giving her Octopid army eight Dark Tridents, but that failed again.
• Cute, but Cacophonic: Very briefly, after she loses possession of Ariel’s voice. Considering she was in her “Vanessa” form at the time, and Vanessa is a deliberate Palette Swap of Ariel, Ursula’s heavy, deep, raspy voice coming from Vanessa’s appearance was quite the juxtaposition to say the least. She even visibly startles herself! Doesn’t take long for her to transform back to how she normally looks, and then she once again has an appearance that suits her normal voice.
• Dark Action Girl: Once Ursula takes hold of Triton’s trident, she becomes much more proactive and actively uses the powers of the trident against Ariel and Eric, nearly killing Ariel.
• Dark Is Evil: What with her Faustian overtones. A notable contrast to the original story's version of the character, who's an example of Dark Is Not Evil, even warning the mermaid of the deal's consequences.
• Deal with the Devil: Her profession when she brings Ariel around, as the devil of course. Those "poor unfortunate souls" you see in her lair can attest to her track record.
• Devil in Plain Sight: Dark Is Evil aside, if her near-constant Psychotic Smirks, Slasher Smiles, and Evil Laughs don't tip you off, we don't know what will.
• Drama Queen: Ursula has her moments. For example in her introduction she is lamenting that she's "wasting away" since her banishment, when she's anything but.
• The Dreaded: Almost every creature of the sea is terrified of Ursula, with the exception of her eels.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Genuinely cares for her eel henchmen Flotsam and Jetsam. Even when barking orders at them, she takes it into heart not to mistreat them; even praising them for getting their assignments done for her. When they're accidentally killed by the trident, she's so horrified that she mourns for them before going into a Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Ursula is shown to have a very shallow (heh) understanding of true love, and seems to think it's nothing more than lust. When Ariel asks how she can win over Eric without her voice, Ursula suggests using her look and body language to reach out to him. But when she learns that Ariel and Eric are becoming fond of each other and that it will increase their chances for a kiss before the sun sets on the third day, Ursula transforms into a conventionally attractive woman and hypnotize Eric into marrying her instead. Also, in a deleted scene, she told a merman named Harold to bring her a water lily for his deal, only to reveal to Harold that they're out of season. This implies that she always chooses a price that she knows is impossible for her clients to fulfill, and that she thinks true love is equally impossible.
• Evil Eyebrows: Let's face it, every Disney villain fits this trope, and Ursula here is certainly no exception.
• Evil Is Hammy: "YOU POOR, UNFORTUNATE SOOOOOOUUULLLLLLLL!!!!!"
• Evil Laugh: She does one about every five minutes.
• Evil Old Folks: She looks and sounds like an older woman, likely around Triton’s age.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Has a deep voice, courtesy of Pat Carroll. It gets even lower in her giant form.
• Exact Words: Implied to be how Ursula prevents most of her clients from actually fulfilling their end of the bargain. Not by hiding something within the text itself but by omission; there's nothing saying she can't interfere with events as they play out or put near-impossible conditions. The whole reason Ursula ends up turning into Vanessa is half because Ariel nearly made her bargain on day two and she decided to make it impossible.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: Just as she is about to fry Ariel alive with one huge blast of the trident, Eric impales her with the ship's bowline, causing the trident's magic to backfire on Ursula and painfully electrocute her. She then sinks below the waters as she drags the ship with her and ultimately explodes into a gelatinous mass which then disintegrates into tiny fragments. Strangely enough, her death looks very similar to that of Jafar's.
• Fat and Proud: Her body movements during "Poor Unfortunate Souls" make her unashamed of her weight. When she acquires the trident, she becomes taller and even fatter.
• Fat and Skinny: Almost always seen with her skinny moray eels Flotsam and Jetsam, while she herself is incredibly rotund.
• Fat Bitch: In contrast to her sister in the sequel, who is Lean and Mean, Ursula is as morbid in her personality as she is in her obesity.
• Fate Worse than Death: What she inflicts on the poor unfortunate souls who fail to meet the nigh-impossible terms of her contracts; turning them into miserable little polyps doomed to forever writhe helplessly in her personal garden. Thankfully, they're all set free after she's killed at the end of the film.
• Faux Affably Evil: It's easy to forget that Ursula's crazy as they come because she always makes herself sound reasonable and understanding to her clients. Clients that she screws over in the end because she has no intent to honor her half of the bargain.
• Formerly Fit: She's implied to have treated herself to numerous feasts in the palace, even if she's "wasting away to practically nothing". In the book Disney Villains: The Top Secret Files (not considered canon to the films), a skinnier Ursula is seen at a banquet getting ready to pig out.
• Giant Squid: She's already a rather large octopus lady, but this trope is truly invoked in the climax, when she grows enormous. When she dies, the way her tentacles clutch the wrecked ship while flailing looks a lot like old drawings of giant squids attacking ships.
• Glamour Failure: When "Vanessa" looks in the mirror, her true identity is revealed.
• Gonky Femme: Ursula has a frightening, obese, and mannish-looking appearance but behaves as a sexy seductress, down to her make up, hip swinging and mannerisms.
• Hartman Hips:
  • As Vanessa, she is slender but still somewhat bottom-heavy.
  • The Broadway play version of Ursula is also this due to the circumstances of casting and costuming. Rather than hire an obese actress, the show instead opted to hire the medium-weight Sherie Rene Scott and give her a costume that had a ridiculous amount of padding at her midsection, as a way to still give a nod to cartoon Ursula's weight. This gave the effect of her having a gigantic butt, waist, and hips while the rest of her remained thinner. Even when slightly heavier actresses such as Cicily Daniels played the role, the same costume design was still used, which gave the same effect. Sherie Rene Scott gave this a Lampshade Hanging in the behind-the-scenes footage while showing her costume.
  Sherie: Guess what this is? Everyone should have one! I'm trying to make them, um, like an… it's like the only thing that like hasn't been in fashion, is a giant, giant… ASS!
• Heavy Voice: Happens to her twice. The first time is when she loses possession of Ariel’s voice while disguised as Vanessa, making the voice she normally has in her much fatter body come out of the mouth of her thinner form, signifying it isn’t going to last much longer. Then it happens again when she gets the Trident and uses it to make herself even bigger, causing her voice to get even deeper than it is in her normal form.
• The Hedonist: The stage version makes a case for her being this, most notably with her song "I Want the Good Times Back".
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Her creating a whirlpool to trap Ariel results in a sunken ship being dislodged and floating up to the surface. Eric is able to steer its broken bow into her giant form, killing her.
• Humiliation Conga: As Vanessa, she gets beaten up by several land and sea animals, culminating in Eric’s dog Max biting her butt.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: In the climax, when Eric stabs her with the bow of the ship.
• Impossible Task: In true Fairy Tale Wicked Witch fashion (though, ironically, not the witch she's based on), Ursula deliberately makes the terms of her deals with mortals nearly impossible to fulfill, because she wants her clients to fail and turn into polyps. She's duly surprised and enraged when Ariel almost succeeds anyway.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Subversion; Ursula was actually based on the drag queen Divine, who was originally supposed to voice her, but died before he could even record the voice, so the role went to Pat Carroll instead. Ironically, in the Latin American Spanish dub, she's voiced by Serena Olvido, an actual drag queen.
• It's Personal: After Ariel throws off her aim, causing her to accidentally kill Flotsam and Jetsam, her rage goes off the charts.
• Kaiju: Grows into the size of one at the final battle.
• Kick the Dog: A literal example in her human form — she kicks Max with her shoe when the dog growls at her.
• Large Ham: She's voiced by Pat Carroll, who takes her to levels of crazy madness that make us wonder if Pat Carroll is on something or just certifiably insane.
• Laughably Evil: She's an over-the-top Large Ham, complains about "wasting away to practically nothing" in a direct inverse to Weight Woe, spends the majority of her Villain Song providing endless Fan Disservice by playing up her sexuality in a very Chewing the Scenery-style way. This is meant to encourage Ariel to take her deal and use those tactics herself (she doesn't). She later goes through a large number of Amusing Injuries when the heroes crash her wedding, including karma very literally biting her in the ass in the form of Max the dog. She also calls her pet eels her "poopsies". Ultimately subverted at the very end when she gets serious and goes One-Winged Angel, and tries to kill the protagonists.
• Leitmotif: "Poor Unfortunate Souls".
• Lightis Not Good: As Vanessa, besides the obvious wedding dress, there's also the white slip Vanessa wears underneath said dress when Scuttle snoops at her in her dressing room before the wedding begins and discovers that she's actually Ursula in disguise when she looks into a mirror and is unable to change her reflection.
• Magically-Binding Contract: Ursula specializes in these, which serve as a catalyst for her spells to work. They’re powerful enough that not even King Triton’s trident zapping it, doesn’t destroy it. Thus, forcing Triton to take his daughter’s place when her deal expired, leading Ursula to temporarily become the Queen of the seas.
• Make My Monster Grow: In the climax, Ursula grows into a Godzilla-sized version of herself to murder Ariel.
• Makeup Is Evil: She's a manipulative witch, and she wears Excessive Evil Eyeshadow, along with "lipstick" from a crushed clam.
• Male Gaze: Ursula first invoked this with her "body language" move when trying to convince Ariel that she didn't need a voice to woo Eric. Then there was also a zoom up to her butt in her "Vanessa" form when Max the Sheepdog bit her.
• Mama Bear: Ursula does not take kindly to Flotsam and Jetsam getting blasted by the trident.
• Marilyn Maneuver: As Vanessa, the flock of birds that attack her fly right under her dress, causing a draft that lifts up her dress and humiliates her.
• Mask of Sanity: It's implied that Ursula is genuinely insane with a power-hungry god-complex beneath her scheming, calm, and manipulative nature. She's usually able to hide, but there are instances, such as when she completes the contract to gain Ariel's voice and when she gains Triton's crown/trident that the mask slips off to reveal her true nature, and by the time, she's turned into a giant, the mask is ripped off completely.
• The Mirror Shows Your True Self: When Scuttle peers into Vanessa's room before the wedding, he learns she's Ursula when he sees her reflection revealing the sea witch's true form.
• Moment of Weakness: This tactic is Urusula's modus-operandi: What is clearly a dangerous Deal with the Devil that anyone in their right mind will reject becomes An Offer You Can't Refuse when it is warmly and enticingly handed out as the only ray of hope in your Darkest Hour of emotional despair...
• Monster Clown: Ursula's design and Leitmotif invoke elements of this, as Ursula has clownish makeup and her leitmotif sounds circus-like. Visually, this is in part due to her design being based on a Drag Queen.
• Moving The Goal Posts: She gives Ariel three days to woo and kiss the prince to become a permanent human. When she sees that Ariel might have greater chances to succeed on her side of the deal, Ursula turns herself into a beautiful young maiden and uses Ariel's own voice to hypnotize the prince into falling in love with her so Ariel won't have a chance at success. Given the sheer number of merfolk turned into polyps in her lair, it is likely she does this with every deal she makes.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Ursula was intending to use the trident to make a lethal blow on Eric, only for Ariel to foil her by pulling on Ursula's hair, causing the blast to accidentally hit Flotsam and Jetsam, killing them. Shocked by what has happened, Ursula mourns for her pet eels out of complete remorse, right before turning her rage towards Ariel for causing it in the first place.
• 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 abandon his hatred of humans and let Ariel stay with Eric and depart with him and the rest of his kingdom on good terms.
  • The entire plot of the film is essentially Ursula giving her Arch-Enemy Triton's daughter everything that she ever wanted in life. While she did do it intentionally as a means of getting Ariel to take her deal, fail the terms, and then have Triton face the consequences in her place, Ursula ends up getting killed right after this, restoring Triton and leaving Ariel with everything that Ursula gave her. In other words, Ursula is one hundred percent responsible for the daughter of her arch enemy thriving in life.
• Nightmare Hands: Ursula's voice stealing spell manifests as a pair of whipsy black claws.
• Noblewoman's Laugh: Most female Disney villains (and male ones too, in fact) have one of these, but few are more rich and booming than Ursula's.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Her design was based on Divine, a Drag Queen known for collaborating with John Waters. As mentioned above under Ink-Suit Actor, Disney originally intended to cast Divine himself as Ursula, but he died before he could record any lines.
• No Sense of Personal Space: Gives Ariel almost no personal space throughout her Villain Song, casually putting her arm around her shoulder like an old friend and pulling her in even closer when explaining parts of the deal. Ariel does not seem to like this.
• Nothing Personal: After claiming Ariel, Ursula admits that, despite everything of what has happened, she's not after her: "Poor little Princess, it's not you I'm after. I've got a much bigger fish-" before she's cut off by Triton arriving. And, earlier in the film, though she considers turning Ariel into a polyp, she never does so until after Triton tries to break the contract. She's even content to let Ariel go once she has the seas in her power... that is until Ariel attacks her and causes the deaths of Flotsam and Jetsam.
• Obviously Evil: She's a scary octopus woman who practices Black Magic and lives in the skeleton of a dead sea monster which is surrounded by many of her previous victims now turned into hapless polyps. Need we say more?
• Oh, Crap!: "Vanessa" does one when she sees the whole flock of birds flying towards her. Ursula has one in her giant form when, as she's about to kill Ariel, she turns aside a bit only to see Eric charging at her in the ship and impaling her.
• One-Winged Angel: Grows into a giant enemy monster version of herself at the film's climax using the trident's magic.
• Organic Bra: Ursula's scales extend up to her bustline, though are missing from part of her back, giving the impression of a backless dress without actually wearing one.
• Palette Swap: Vanessa's appearance is basically Ariel with the hair and eye colors changed.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Her treatment of Flotsam and Jetsam. She clearly cares deeply for them, and their deaths are the direct cause of her Roaring Rampage of Revenge in the finale. She was mildly fighting back against her opposition beforehand, but it’s once she loses them that she transforms into a giant and begins using the power of the trident to its full extent.
  • While she clearly uses Ariel for her own ends, she is still the one who ultimately gives Ariel legs, and by extension the opportunity to realize her dream of going to land and meeting Eric; even allowing Sebastian and Flounder to swim Ariel up to the surface to catch her first breath as a human. Due to Triton’s hatred of humans, this would not have happened without Ursula’s help. Once her victory is guaranteed, Ursula assured to Ariel it was Nothing Personal against her by saying: "Poor little princess, it’s not you I’m after, I’ve got a much bigger fish-" Granted, she did intend for Ariel to fail her terms, but she didn’t antagonize Ariel more than she needed to. Her real opponent was Triton after all.
• Power Makes Your Voice Deep: Her already deep voice goes downright demonic after she uses the trident's magic to grow into a giant. This is most noticeable in the Latin American Spanish dub.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Ursula laughs maniacally as she turns Ariel into a human after gaining her voice, and it would seem that she would've let Ariel drown in the sea as a result (as humans cannot breathe underwater). Instead, Ursula deliberately allows Sebastian and Flounder to swim Ariel away to the surface without even stopping them, knowing fully well that they will help her win Eric's heart as part of her true plan to overthrow Triton. Even in the musical, upon gaining Ariel's voice before turning Ariel into a human, Ursula happily orders her to swim to the surface, but only for the same reason to achieve her plot.
• Prefers the True Form: Heavily implied in how she sees herself. Despite every character except Flotsam, Jetsam, and Triton looking scared or disgusted by her when seeing her true form, which is counterproductive to her goal of gaining trust for deals, she seemed to easily win over Eric's kingdom when she was in her conventionally attractive Vanessa disguise. Despite this, she only uses the Vanessa form when she absolutely has to, as despite hypnotizing Eric himself, she still had to be accepted by his kingdom too. Immediately after she no longer needs the Vanessa form, she ditches it to look like herself again, scaring off the whole wedding party. She also makes a comment in her true form that she's “wasting away to practically nothing”, calls a mermaid longing to be thinner in her Villain Song “pathetic”, and even uses the power of the trident to make herself even bigger, all of which suggest she loves how fat she is and wishes she were even bigger. She also admires her true form in the mirror as Vanessa and shows no signs of being unhappy with her reflection still showing her as fat and old, despite that same image scaring Scuttle.
• Rasputinian Death: First, she's impaled by Prince Eric with a ship's bow as she is about to kill Ariel with one last strike of the trident. This causes the trident to backfire on her and give her one nasty electrocution. She then sinks into the water grabbing Eric's ship with her tentacles and ultimately explodes into a gelatinous mass which then breaks into tiny fragments that restore the polyps in her garden to their former glory.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: While we never see them together, she's shown to be much more calm and collected than Morgana, suggesting that they may have had this dynamic.
• Resized Vocals: Once the sea witch Ursula obtains King Triton's trident, she uses it grow to an enormous size. Her normal voice is lower feminine, about right for a cathouse madam; her giant size lowers her pitch half an octave or more. It's almost masculine to hear her exult: "The waves obey my every whim. The sea and all its spoils bow to my power!"
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Very uniquely for a Disney Big Bad, Ursula's final Villainous Breakdown isn't as a result of being put in a corner — by the time she goes One-Winged Angel, she's the most powerful being in all the oceans — but, when Ariel's interference sends some of that unlimited power into the path of Flotsam and Jetsam, they're vaporized. It's only after her "poor little poopsies" die that Ursula develops the crazy eyes and decides to go full out.
  Ursula:: So much for true love!
• Sanity Slippage: She becomes more and more deranged as her plan achieves more success. By the time she's got the trident in her hands and transforms into a giant monster, the little sanity she had is completely gone.
• Satanic Archetype: Ursula was once a member of King Triton's court, but he banished her after she attempted to overthrow him.^note This backstory isn't made explicitly clear in the actual movie, but is canon in deleted scenes and in related media like the Broadway version. She made her home in a dark lair on the seafloor, where she routinely makes deals with merfolk, most of which (of not all of them) end with her screwing her clients over, transforming them into immobile creatures, and keeping them trapped in her lair. The way she, Flotsam, and Jetsam, manipulate Ariel into signing her contract is quite reminiscent of how The Bible describes Satan tempting humans, along with the story of Satan tempting Jesus in the desert. While this is going on, she also plots to take Triton's domain. Ursula looks drastically different from typical depictions of Satan, but her nemesis Triton looks like the typical Grandpa God.
• Sea Monster: She becomes a gigantic version of herself, which invokes elements of the Kraken and the ancient sea mosnters.
• Shaking the Rump: "And DON’T underestimate the importance of BODY LANGUAGE! Ha!"
• Shameless Fanservice Girl: In contrast to the innocent Ariel, Ursula is shameless about flaunting her curves. Whether as Vanessa or as herself.
• Shout-Out: The climactic battle against her is heavily inspired by H. P. Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu.
• Slapstick: As Vanessa sea animals crash her wedding with a slapstick routine played mostly for laughs. Particularly notable since this only happens to her in her generically pretty, feminine form.
• Slasher Smile:
  • Near the conclusion of "Poor Unfortunate Souls" as she goads Ariel into signing, gets the cauldron boiling, and demands Ariel to "SIIIING". The Psychotic Smirk that accompanies her triumphantly clasping Ariel's voice probably should have tipped the little mermaid off to her true nature before Ursula started interfering with her own deal a few days later.
  • Vanessa, her disguise, has this when gloating about her inevitable victory (specifically, when she throws her hairpin at a mirror with enough force to knock the mirror back upon impact).
  • She does this quite a bit during the final battle.
• Solitary Sorceress: She was banished from the Kingdom of Atlantica, but still gives magical help to "poor unfortunate souls"... with a hook in it.
• Sore Loser: Her reaction to seeing Ariel nearly succeed in getting Eric to kiss her in the three day time limit (despite the odds) is to have Flotsam and Jetsam flip the boat over before their lips can meet, and Brainwash Eric into thinking he's in love with a disguised Ursula so Ariel can't meet the terms of their deal fairly.
• Spared by the Adaptation: In the PC game Ariel's Story Studio, Ursula is still struck by Eric's ship, but she is changed into a polyp instead of being electrocuted and dying.
• Stage Whisper: "Flotsam, Jetsam, now I've got her, boys."
• Stealthy Cephalopod: Ursula, the half-octopus sea witch, transforms herself into a beautiful human woman named Vanessa to seduce and hypnotize Prince Eric. However, she does the transformation by magic rather than by any natural cephalopodian abilities, which is what this trope usually implies.
• Tentacled Terror: This cunning wicked sea witch is part octopus. Her first designs had lower bodies based on scorpion fishes and manta rays, but the designers decided to base her on an octopus instead since tentacles would add a "seductive yet scary aspect".
• Third-Person Person: Not always, but here's a line:
  Ursula: Well, it's time Ursula took matters into her own tentacles!
• Tragic Keepsake: Her shell is depicted as this in the Broadway version, given to her by her deceased father Poseidon. Subverted in some showings, as they occasionally portray him as simply giving it to her so that she'll leave him alone.
• Tyrant Takes the Helm: As soon as she gets her hands on Triton's crown and trident, she wastes no time abusing her power.
  Ursula: NOW I AM THE RULER OF ALL THE OCEAN!! THE WAVES OBEY MY EVERY WHIM. THE SEA AND ALL ITS SPOILS BOW TO MY POWER!!!
• Uncanny Valley: Invoked when she's in disguise as Vanessa. While conventionally attractive, there's a subtle off-factor with how she glares without saying a word, like a monster hiding behind a mask. This gets further expanded upon when her face distorts to exaggerated degrees or her pupils become smaller either for comedic effect when the animals attack her to get the conch shell containing Ariel's voice or nightmarish just before she returns to her previous form. Additionally, Vanessa's voice gets this effect- either through Ariel's voice being a harsher tone than her sweeter original owner or when Ursula's voice comes out of her still conventionally attractive form, leading to an extreme juxtaposition.
• Unscaled Merfolk: Being half octopus, or more accurately, an Octopid. Although, according to Classical Mythology, she could be a cecaelia.
• Vague Age: She makes use of a Wise Old Folk Façade, suggesting she is of Triton's generation, but on the other hand she was modeled after actor Divine, who was supposed to voice her, who died at 42. On the other hand, she and Triton may simply be an example of Younger Than They Look.
• Vain Sorceress: Oddly enough, Ursula is very vain about her appearance. The first time that Ariel meets her, Ursula is admiring herself in the mirror, and when she admires her real appearance in the mirror again as Vanessa later on, this actually leads to Scuttle seeing her true reflection and telling everyone her real identity. Ursula does seem to have an awareness of the disparity between her own beauty standards and the beauty standards of Eric's kingdom though, since she seemed to know that she needed to change her appearance entirely to be accepted as a bride for Eric.
• Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: She is pretty menacing for such a lighthearted film. She is very manipulative, traps countless merfolk through Faustian deals to transform them into grotesque/helpless horrors when they fail to complete their deals due to sabotaging them to the point that it's an implied hobby, and even her minions are much more competent than most Disney henchmen. This is especially the case in the climax where she becomes a terrifying giant and very nearly kills Ariel.
• Villain Has a Point: Ursula was mocking Ariel when the latter realized her choice in remaining a human forever would mean she would no longer be with her family, but Ursula was correct on the fact that life is filled with tough choices that everyone needs to make.
• Villainous Breakdown: Near the end of the movie, the more Ursula's plan succeeds, the more her sanity seems to fade away. By the time she finally gets her hands on the trident and her beloved "poopsies" are disintegrated alive by a misfire from the trident, Ursula expands to monstrous proportions and pretty much loses whatever little sanity she had by that point, becoming a destructive, almost mindless rampaging beast blowing up everything in her sight.
• Villainous Face Hold: Ursula holds Ariel's jaw with one of her tentacles and forces Ariel to look at her, whilst feigning concern for her fractured relationship with her father and her inability to be on land. She does this to better pressure Ariel to bargain with her.
• Villainous Glutton: Her figure implies it, but she is only ever actually seen eating a few shrimp. Her monologue of missing the "fantastical feasts" from the palace is likely the movie’s way of explaining that she used to be this though.
• Villain Song: "Poor Unfortunate Souls".
• Weight Woe:
  • Inverted for Ursula herself. Her opening monologue has her complaining that she is "wasting away to practically nothing".
  • Discussed by Ursula during her Villain Song, when she mentions the mermaid "longing to be thinner" who she helped with her magic. This is a subtle indicator that she would be able to use that magic on herself for a disguise later, although considering it came with Glamor Failure that still showed her as fat in reflections, one wonders if the mermaid she helped with her weight woe had to deal with that issue as well.
• Wicked Witch: Also a Witch with a Capital "B".
  I admit that in the past I've been a nasty
  They weren't kidding when they called me, well, a witch
• Wingding Eyes: They occur sparsely, but sometimes Ursula's eyes gain extra rings to make her look more unhinged than her usual calm look implies. The most prominent is when Ursula is gaining Ariel's voice and when she's angered at the deaths of Flotsam and Jetsam.
• Wise Old Folk Façade: She starts her plan to overthrow King Triton by inviting Ariel in her lair. Even though Ariel is aware of the sea witch's reputation as a traitor of the court, Ursula quickly claims in her Villain Song to have changed for the better and started helping the "poor, unfortunate souls" of the sea as if she were some kind of Fairy Godmother. Needless to say, Ursula doesn't actually care about Ariel at all, even calling her a "tramp" after the former almost keeps up the end of the bargain, though she briefly admits that Ariel happens to be more clever in her efforts.
• Wizard Workshop: Ursula has a glowing cauldron inside her home, which is inside the ribcage of some huge dead creature. Its entrance is guarded by serpentine creatures that try to snare intruders. She also has shelves of "ingredients", many of which have terrified eyes that look out through their clear vessels.
• Worthy Opponent: Ursula briefly comes to this after witnessing Ariel's first attempt to kiss Eric during her second day as a human. Despite having her eels to successfully sabotage the attempt, Ursula grudgingly admits that Ariel is more clever than she thought and that her efforts will drive Eric to become more infatuated with her before the sun sets on the third day, which led Ursula to do her Moving The Goal Posts move.
  Ursula: That was a close one.... too close!! The little tramp!! Uh, she's better than I thought. At this rate, he'll be kissing her by sunset for sure.
• Your Soul Is Mine!: Invoked. The way she transforms merfolk who can't uphold their ends of the deals and keeps them trapped in her lair. If you look closely at the contract she gives Ariel, it even explicitly mentions that she'll be giving up her soul. "Poor unfortunate souls" indeed.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Flotsam (left) and Jetsam (right).

Voiced by: Paddi Edwards; Marc Alfos (first film), Vincent Violette (series) (European French dub); Dov Raizer (Hebrew dub)

Flotsam and Jetsam were the moray eel minions of the sea witch Ursula. They appear as the secondary antagonists in the film The Little Mermaid and the prequel television series.

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• Animal Eye Spy: They serve as this to Ursula.
• Bumbling Henchmen Duo: Oddly for a Disney movie, it's completely Averted. These two are scary minions without a bit of comedy, unlike their Large Ham master.
• Carnivore Confusion: In real life, moray eels like to eat octopi, but probably justified because Ursula's species is given as "Octopoid" in the TV series
• Co-Dragons: Both serve Ursula faithfully.
• Creepy Twins: True, they may or may not be twins (one eel looks pretty much like another), but the scene where they talk Ariel into going with them to see Ursula is pretty creepy.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: If one is willing to see Ursula as their "mother" (she certainly acts like it), they adore Ursula as much as she adores them. Though they do still show some mild fear when she snaps at them to get their attention.
• Evil Minions: Ursula's personal attack dogs.
• Evil Sounds Raspy: They speak with very deep, raspy voices.
• Familiar: They fulfill this role to a tee, being animals under the control of an evil witch who seem to have no thoughts outside of doing her bidding.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: They end up getting blasted to smithereens from a misfire from the trident. For added bonus points, their body parts land on Ursula's hands, which genuinely upsets her.
• Fat and Skinny: Skinny moray eels who are almost always seen with the extremely rotund Ursula.
• Identical Twin ID Tag: It's not clear if they are actually twins, but they look exactly the same with one difference which is easy to overlook-Jetsam's left eye is yellow while his right eye is white. For Flotsam, it's the other way around.
• Leitmotif: If you listen carefully, they have a sub-theme inside of Ursula's own leitmotif. Their soundtrack is even called, "Flotsam and Jetsam".
• Magical Eye: Their white eyes act as viewfinders through which Ursula can see what they see.
• Slippery as an Eel: Flotsam and Jetsam are a prime example of this trope.
• Theme Naming: They're both named after maritime law terms for shipwreck.
• Undying Loyalty: Their loyalty to Ursula is absolute and they carry out her wicked wishes with gusto.
• Vile Villain, Laughable Lackey: Averted. Unlike many Disney henchmen, they are not comedic at all. In fact, they prove to be just as successful at manipulating Ariel as Ursula is, and even effectively and decisively prevent Ariel from kissing Eric and breaking the spell too early. Ursula even gives them a brief, but completely sincere compliment on it afterwards.
• Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness: They have these, one eye is yellow while the other is white.

Glut the Shark

An antagonistic shark that tries to kill both Ariel and Flounder.

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• Furry Confusion: Unlike the other fish in the movie, he never speaks a word. Even Undertow, a fellow shark, is sapient and capable of speech.
• Predators Are Mean: Shark? Check. Vicious and snarling? Check.
• Starter Villain: He is the first antagonistic character in the film, where he tries to eat Ariel and Flounder. And all of this is before Ursula enters the scene.
• Threatening Shark: He nearly ate heroes Ariel and Flounder.
• Uncertain Doom: He's left trapped in the anchor, and sharks need to move in order to get oxygen. He seems strong enough to free himself, but if not, he's going to either suffocate or starve to death. Yeah, don't mess with Ariel.

Second Film Antagonists

Morgana

Voiced by: Pat Carroll; Micheline Dax (European French dub)

Morgana is Ursula's sister and the main antagonist in The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea.

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• Agony of the Feet: Err...tentacle in this case. At the climax, Melody pricks Morgana in the tentacle with the trident! Cue Morgana holding her tentacle in pain.
• And I Must Scream: Her fate at the end of the movie, courtesy of King Triton.
• Avenging the Villain: Which is why she attempted to have baby Melody swallowed by Undertow, because her parents killed Ursula.
• Big Bad: The main antagonist of the sequel.
• Big "NO!": When Melody gives the trident back to her grandfather.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Pretends to be a caring, mother-like figure to Melody, but is only manipulating the young girl for her own selfish desires.
• Break Them by Talking: She tries this to Melody after the latter gives her King Triton's trident.
• Can't Take Criticism: Morgana admits to Undertow that she hates criticism when the latter constantly criticizes her.
  Morgana: STOP CRITICIZING ME! That's all my mother ever did was criticize me! It was always "Ursula" this or "Ursula" that! Or "Morgana, why can't you be more like your sister, URSULA?!" (throws a starfish at a picture of Ursula)
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To Ursula. In regards to body types, Ursula was obese while Morgana is quite skinny and almost skeletal. Morgana was The Unfavorite to their mother who doted on Ursula. Ursula was completely full of herself and had loyal henchmen who served her quite well, while Morgana is frequently bickering with Undertow and suffers from a major inferiority complex. Her magic is also not as strong as Ursula's. Despite this, Morgana manages to become more manipulative in nature than Ursula as the latter came across as more businesslike and ultimately pressured Ariel into signing her contract while Morgana was more informal and managed to convince Melody she was truly sympathetic to her plight. Plus, Ursula only used Ariel as bait to get the trident while Morgana slyly tricked Melody into stealing it for her without raising any suspicions.
• The Dreaded: Morgana terrifies everyone (especially Sebastian) when she first shows up.
  Sebastian: (panicked) URSULA'S CRAZY SISTER!
• Driven by Envy: Implied. She wanted to steal the trident not only for ultimate power, but also to prove she was a better conqueror than her sister.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: A little zigzagged. In her first scene, she appeared generally upset about what happened to her sister. Then, it was revealed it was just a façade and she actually loathed her sister (due to being The Unfavorite). However, she is quite close to her minions Undertow, Cloak and Dagger, though she takes no concern over their supposed fates.
• Evil Counterpart: To Melody. Both have self-esteem problems, Mommy Issues making them into "well done daughter" girls, and are based on the previous protagonist (Ariel to Melody) and antagonist (Ursula to Morgana). However, Melody is a caring and kind person who is able to repair her relationship with her mother while Morgana is heartless and vindictive who was never able to get the reconciliation she needed.
• Evil Is Petty: Everything she does is motivated by her Mommy Issues and desire to prove herself better than Ursula.
  • Another example is after Melody gives her the Trident, she immediately proceeds to tell Melody the truth about what her mother did for her, and then proceeds to rub in the fact that Melody inadvertently doomed an entire race to oppression. None of this helps Morgana, she just felt like doing it.
  • Later, in the same scene, she decides to not allow Melody to keep her tail. Not only does this not help Morgana in any way, but it ultimately proves to be her undoing, as Melody becomes unaffected by any of the Trident’s spells in the third act.
• Expy: She is an evil sea witch planning to take over Atlantica that the heroine makes a deal with, identically like her sister Ursula from the first film. She also crashes the heroine’s birthday party, almost identically like Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty.
• Fate Worse than Death: She gets trapped into a block of ice and falls into the oceans below.
• Final Boss: She is chronologically the final antagonist to be faced in the franchise.
• Freudian Excuse: When she gets the trident:
  Morgana (to the sky): Oh.... wishes do come true. SEE THAT MA?! WHO'S YOUR FAVORITE NOW?!
• Green and Mean: She is an evil sea witch with light green skin and black and green tentacles.
• An Ice Person: Doesn't use ice to attack, but she lives by a glacier and creates an icy throne. She's also imprisoned in ice.
• Inept Mage: None of her own magic works correctly given the numerous times that she tried to restore Undertow to his normal size that ended with disastrous results for 12 years, much to her complete embarrassment. As such, she has to use Ursula's magic and the Trident to be a real threat; she even used the Trident's power to properly restore Undertow to his normal size, much to his relief.
• Lean and Mean: In contrast to her sister's Fat Bitch.
• Manipulative Bitch: To Melody. Morgana is able to effortlessly manipulate Melody into stealing the trident by giving her the answers she needed while making Ariel look like the bad guy.
• Never My Fault: Even Undertow calls her out on this, by telling Morgana she should stop blaming Ursula for her issues.
• Noodle People: Again, contrasting with Ursula's fatness.
• Obviously Evil: Like her sister, she too is a malevolent octopus sorceress with terrible powers, but Morgana takes it further by being far more deranged and unhinged than Ursula.
• Oh, Crap!: When Melody successfully hands over the trident back to Triton, and then when she is going to be trapped into a block of ice for eternity.
• Organic Bra: Her scales cover herself up in a similar fashion to Ursula's.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Upon learning that Melody has ran off to the sea following her argument with Ariel, Morgana gets her henchmen to bring Melody to her lair. At first, it would appear that Morgana intends to use Melody as bait again to force Triton in handing over the trident like before, but she instead grants Melody's wish to become a mermaid free of charge; even assuring to Undertow that doing so is just a way to gain Melody's trust. She even arranges Melody to deliver the trident to her in a false assurance to render her mermaid form permanent.
• Psychopathic Womanchild: In contrast to the more calm and collected Ursula, Morgana is essentially a middle-aged Emo Teen.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: While we never see them together, she's shown to be much more erratic and emotional than Ursula, suggesting that they may have had this dynamic.
• Remember the New Guy?: A rare case wherein it's kind of justified, seeing as it's implied that Morgana's hatred of her sister was mutual, thus giving an explanation as to why Ursula never mentioned her.
• The Resenter: Towards her sister, Ursula. One thing Morgana hates is being compared to her. She even makes a Dartboard of Hate out of a photo of Ursula.
• Significant Double Casting: She shares the same voice actress, Pat Carroll, as her sister.
• Strong Family Resemblance: The deleted song, "Gonna Get My Wish", shows that Morgana looked the most like her and Ursula's mother.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Ursula.
• The Unfavorite:
  Morgana: That's all my mother ever did was criticize me! It was always 'Ursula this' or 'Ursula that' or 'Morgana, why can't you be more like your sister URSULA!?!'
• Villain Ball: Rather than just killing Melody outright once she has the trident, she sadistically leaves her to drown once she reverts to human form, giving her and Flounder a chance to escape. Additionally, she doesn't just take back the trident once Melody wrestles it away from her, instead laughing about how she has the barbed end pointed away from her face. Melody decides to just stab her in the tentacle.
• Villain Has a Point: A unique example where the villain has a point about both parties.
  • When Ariel tries to explain that Morgana is lying to Melody just to get the trident, Morgana retorts back that pointing out that Ariel lied to her daughter by covering her heritage as a mermaid and the existence of Atlantica as a mere myth; even asking Melody if Ariel is even worthy of gaining her trust for such an unwise decision. Even a guilty Ariel herself concedes to this following Morgana's defeat, admitting that she was wrong to keep the truth from Melody.
  • After Melody impulsively gives Morgana the trident out of anger towards Ariel for her lies, the sea witch reveals her true colors. And when Melody angrily berates Morgana for tricking her, the witch gleefully retorted back that Melody only has herself to blame as she let her anger against Ariel get the best of her and that she should've listened to Ariel's orders not to go to the sea in the first place, which of course left Melody guilt-ridden.
• "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: The main reason Morgana hated Ursula is because their mother always praised her sister while criticizing her.
• Wise Old Folk Façade: She uses the same trick as Ursula's to gain the trust of Ariel's daughter, Melody. In particular, she uses the last remaining magic philter of Ursula to turn Melody into a mermaid and asks her to retrieve the trident from Atlantica, so that she could extend the duration of the spell. It doesn't help they both have Mommy Issues at the time of their meeting and Morgana already tried to kill Melody as an infant twelve years earlier, only to fail and promise King Triton to find him and his precious granddaughter again in the future.
• Wicked Witch: Like her sister Ursula, she is an evil sea witch.
• Would Hurt a Child: Morgana has zero moral restraints over harming Kid Hero Melody.
  • In her first scene, she threatened to have Melody eaten by Undertow if Triton didn't give her his trident. Oh, and Melody was a newborn infant at this point.
  • After obtaining the trident, she trapped Melody (with Flounder) in an ice prison while gleefully telling Melody she only has few hours before her mermaid form wears off.
  • At the climax, she didn't hesitate to hurt Melody with or without the trident.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The second Melody hands her the trident, she immediately betrays her and leaves her trapped to drown once she reverts to human form.
• You Killed My Father: Subverted. Her first scene has her enraged over the good guys killing her sister. The next scene with her has her reveal she doesn't really care for Ursula.

Undertow

Voiced by: Clancy Brown; Banjo Ginga (Japanese dub); Jacques Frantz (European French dub)

Undertow is the secondary antagonist of The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea. He is Morgana's gigantic tiger shark thug who loves intimidating others with his size...at least until King Triton shrinks him. He spends much of the movie trying to reclaim his former size.

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• Butt-Monkey: Being magically shrunk and then many failures at having him return to his original size. Even after he succeeds in his goal, he still winds up knocked out and with all his teeth broken.
• The Dragon: To Morgana. Of her three minions, Undertow is her main muscle and the one who will call her out on her plans.
• Dub Name Change: In the Finnish dub, Undertow's name became Viemäri ('sewer, drainage').
• Evil Sounds Deep: It helps that he's voiced by Clancy Brown.
• Furry Confusion: He can talk, unlike the shark in the first movie.
• Jerkass: He's cruel, mean, and very vicious due to him being one of Morgana's minions.
• Threatening Shark: An aggressive tiger shark who loves intimidating others with his size.
• Uncertain Doom: He's last seen knocked out and left behind in Morgana's lair, which later collapsed and sank. Whether he escaped or not beforehand is unknown.
• Villain Has a Point:
  • Undertow is right that Morgana can't keep blaming Ursula for her own failures.
  • When he scares off Tip and Dash, Melody wants to get them because they're friends. Undertow laughs at the idea she would consider them friends, but given that the duo ran away and left another friend to Uncertain Doom, he's not wrong.
    • Although in another light, he's actually Right for the Wrong Reasons: Tip and Dash genuinely saw Melody as a friend, but weren't likely thinking straight at a sight of a shark and regretted leaving Melody behind at the mercy of Undertow, due to their phobia for sharks. After some reflecting and believing Melody to be in danger, they finally grow a spine and use their wits to defeat Undertow and save their friend to atone.
• Vocal Dissonance: Even after being turned into a tiny fish, Undertow keeps his tough deep voice.
• Would Hit a Girl: Has no problem with eating Melody.
• Would Hurt a Child: He wanted to eat baby Melody at the beginning of the sequel.

Cloak and Dagger

Voiced by: Dee Bradley Baker; Emmanuel Curtil (European French dub)

Cloak and Dagger are the tertiary antagonists in The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea. They are dark manta rays and Morgana's pets and minions.

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• Evil Minions: The dastardly duo serve under the sequel's Big Bad, Morgana.
• Silent Antagonist: In contrast to Flotsam and Jetsam, they never speak aside from the occasional evil giggle.
• Sinister Stingrays: Well, sinister manta rays. They're Morgana's minions and carries out her dirty work.
• Uncertain Doom: Just like Undertow, it's unknown whether they managed to escape the collapse of Morgana's lair or not. They're last seen tied to a stalactite.

Third Film Antagonists

Marina del Ray

Voiced by: Sally Field; Brigitte Virtudes (European French dub)

Marina Del Rey is the main antagonist in The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning. Marina is the governess of Ariel and her sisters.

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• Ambition Is Evil: A rather unusual case in that she has no interest in replacing the figurehead, just being the attaché.
• Ax-Crazy: Marina is definitely unhinged underneath her mask of immaturity.
• Bald of Evil: She's actually mostly bald, and the hair she usually wears is a wig.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Marina contrasts Ursula and Morgana in numerous ways — A mermaid who started off as a servant to King Triton, had no plans for controlling the trident only getting a promotion, was implied to be genuinely sympathetic to Ariel's plight, no magical abilities, and is still alive after her defeat.
• Disc-One Final Boss: She is chronologically the first major antagonist to be faced in the franchise, despite being the last one to be introduced.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Implied to sympathize with Ariel and her sisters on Triton's harsh measures. This doesn't prevent her from exploiting Ariel's musical desires, though.
• Hartman Hips: She is the first Little Mermaid villain to not be at an extreme end of the weight scale (excluding Ursula’s human disguise "Vanessa"), but like Vanessa, has a more bottom-heavy figure.
• Laughably Evil: She's evil, but sure is immature.
• Male Gaze: When she complains to Triton about feeling sore, she rubs her butt and the camera gives viewers a direct closeup.
• Meaningful Name: "Marina" is Latin for "of the sea".
• Psychopathic Woman Child: Still an immature woman when she makes her Ax-Crazy Face–Heel Turn.
• Punny Name: Los Angeles residents get a chuckle out of a villain named after Marina del Rey, a tiny coastal neighborhood immediately to the south of Venice Beach.
• Put on a Prison Bus: Along with Benjamin, Triton has Marina imprisoned after Ariel foils her plans at the end of the film.
• Villain Song: "Just One Mistake".
• Womanchild: Marina is fairly immature despite being a grown woman. Crosses into Psychopathic Woman Child when she unleashes her electric eels.

Benjamin the Manatee

Voiced by: Jeff Bennett; Thierry Ragueneau (European French dub)

Benjamin is Marina Del Ray's sidekick, but he is much nicer than Marina.

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• Anti-Villain: Quite possibly one of the least villainous antagonists Disney ever conceived, as all he does is follow Marina around like the cute manatee he is.
• Black Bead Eyes: He has small dots for eyes.
• Morality Chain: He even keeps the key to the Marina's dangerous pet eels, just in case she goes crazy.
• Nice Guy: Benjamin is kind, merciful, and sweet.
• Only Friend: He is Marina's constant companion.

TV Series Antagonists

The Evil Manta

Voiced by: Tim Curry; Igor De Savitch (European French dub)

The Evil Manta, or just Manta, is a major antagonist who appears in the television series of The Little Mermaid franchise. Although it is unknown how old he is, he is believed to be ageless. He has the form of a giant black and purple manta ray, giving a foul presence to wherever he dwells.

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• Badass Cape: His manta wings double as an effective one.
• Beard of Evil: Has very long and thin moustache.
• Big Bad: He's set up as the main villain of the series, at least until Ursula eventually shows up.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Being evil is as natural to him as eating and breathing.
• The Corrupter: His first plot involves turning all the denizens of Atlantica against one another.
• Dark Is Evil: Black and dark purple all over.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He genuinely seems to love and care about his son, Little Evil. He just really wishes Evil would act, well, more evil.
• Evil Parents Want Good Kids: Played With. He wants his son to be good... good at being evil.
• Evil Sounds Deep: His voice is deep. Comes with being voiced by Tim Curry.
• Good Hurts Evil: His debut episode sees him defeated by songs about friendship and harmony, driving him off.
• Heel–Face Turn: Implied to be heading in this direction in the last episode of the TV series after Ariel saves him from getting his brain drained.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Almost gets his own brain sucked out by his pet brain sponge.
• Manipulative Bastard: His entire debut episode centers around him manipulating others, first Ariel into freeing him, then he makes almost everyone he comes across hate the other denizens of the sea by simple use of flattery and prejudice against other species.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: What else do you expect from the Evil Manta?
• Papa Wolf: A rare villain example.
• Really 700 Years Old: He was imprisoned by ancient Merpeople and apparently hasn't aged a day.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Pupiless eyes,◊ no less.
• Satan: While it couldn't be stated out loud, he really does come across as an underwater version of The Devil.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: The ancient denizens of the sea imprisoned him in a volcano.
• Sinister Stingrays: His animal motif is a huge manta ray, and he's one of the main villains of the series.
• Unscaled Merfolk: He looks like monstrous, demonic merman whose fish parts are that of a manta ray.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: In his debut episode, he pretends to be weak and helpless in order to get Ariel to set him free.

Little Evil

Voiced by: N/A

Little Evil is a minor character in the television series The Little Mermaid. He is the son of Evil Manta, who is a recurring villain in the series.

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• Character Development: Little Evil eventually learns to be true to himself and not be the brat his father wants him to be.
• Heel–Face Turn: Early on, Little Evil expressed a desire to be like his evil father. After encountering Ariel, however, Little Evil ultimately proved to be good at heart with a natural sense of curiosity.
• Hidden Depths: He develops a love of art and a desire to attend school with other Atlanticans.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: His motivation for befriending Ariel.
• Ironic Name: He's named Little Evil, but isn't all that evil.
• Morality Pet: To Evil Manta. Despite his evil ways, he appears to be a good father to his son.
• Overlord Jr.: He is the son and heir of Evil Manta, hence his name being Little Evil.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Looks almost exactly like a miniature version of his father minus the mustache.
• Unscaled Merfolk: Just like his father, he's part humanoid, part manta ray.

Brain Sponge

A pet of the Evil Manta, the brain sponge has the power to suck out people's imagination.

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• Emotion Eater: He feeds on imagination.
• Killed Off for Real: He's crushed by a boulder by Ariel.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: He has glowing red eyes.
• The Starscream: He's happy to feed on the Evil Manta's brain when Ariel suggests it.

Lobster Mobster and Da Shrimp

Voiced by: Joe Alaskey (Lobster Mobster); David Lander (Da Shrimp)

Lobster Mobster and Da Shrimp are recurring antagonists from The Little Mermaid television series. They are bumbling con-artists and constantly antagonize Ariel and her friends. They are modeled after 1920s gangster stereotypes.

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• Brooklyn Rage: If Mobster's accent is anything to go by.
• Jerkass: Both are mean and cruel.
• Mad Libs Catchphrase: "I'm taking over this [noun], see?"
• The Mafia: They are modeled after 1920s gangster stereotypes.
• Pet the Dog: Lobster Mobster actually seems concerned for the babies he's kidnapped for ransom in Double Bubble, though he tries to play it off as just protecting his investment.

Ebb and Flo

Voiced by: Richard Karron (Ebb); Kath Soucie (Flo)

A pair of crocodilian burglars who attempt to rob Atlantica in an episode of the The Little Mermaid television series, coming into conflict with Ariel and Arista.

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• Fat and Skinny: Ebb is short and rotund, while Flo is tall and slender, but they're a pair of crocodilian crooks almost never seen apart from each other.
• Informed Species: They are called alligators and stated to be freshwater thieves, but given that Atlantica is at the bottom of the ocean they appear to actually be saltwater crocodiles.
• Misplaced Wildlife: If they are alligators, they're on the opposite side of the Atlantic Ocean from where they should be and in an environment alligators can only tolerate for short periods.
• Never Smile at a Crocodile: They are a pair of crocodilian criminals seeking to rob King Triton's palace.
• Shout-Out: Their characterization and plot to rob Atlantica is a nod to Marv and Harry from the Home Alone series.
• Super Not-Drowning Skills: While real-life crocodilians — including prehistoric marine species — need to return to the surface to breathe air, Ebb and Flo both seem to be able to breathe underwater.
• Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness: Both Ebb and Flo have yellow sclerae and red irises, accentuating their nature as thieves.

Howling Hairfish

Voiced by: Jim Cummings (1952)

Howling Hairfish are monstrous fish that a normal fish becomes when cursed in The Little Mermaid TV series. A school of silver fish will turn a Howling Hairfish back into a normal fish. The only Howling Hairfish that speaks is Flounder who turned into a Howling Hairfish.

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• Our Werewolves Are Different: Justified, seeing as how they're underwater and all.

Comic Book Antagonists

The Morays

A race of moray-merpeople who appeared in the comic book story "Serpent Teen." They are led by King Cornelius, Queen Aemelia, and Princess Celia. A race of vicious hunters, their first king was defeated by Triton's father, leading to legends of the merpeople being just as vicious.

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King Cornelius

• Evil Counterpart: To King Triton.
• Fed to the Beast: He tries to feed Aquata to a sea monster.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Zapping Triton and daring him to destroy his kingdom caused him to do just that. He crows about his "victory" in driving Triton off until Aemelia points out the city's been destroyed.
• Shock and Awe: He can electrify anything with his tail and zaps Triton in an attempt to conquer him.
• Unwitting Pawn: Ursula convinced him to wage war against Triton, knowing he'd fail, and claimed the body of his people's serpentine monster as her new home.

Queen Aemelia

• Neutral No Longer: While she sympathizes with Ariel and tries to persuade her family to release her, she doesn't directly help Ariel until the very end of the story, where she backs up her lie about Celia being tortured to get Cornelius to surrender.
• Only Sane Woman: She's the only one in her family who wants to release Ariel.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Aemelia, as contrasted with her tyrant husband and bratty daughter.
• Weak-Willed: She lets her husband and daughter push her around even when they commit monstrous acts.

Princess Celia

• And Call Him "George": Celia treats Ariel like some exotic pet with no rights.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment: She's tortured with Scuttle's awful singing.
• Evil Counterpart: Celia represents Ariel at her worst. She's hostile and rude to her parents, self-centered and cruel, and persists in getting whatever she wants.
• Royal Brat: She's rude and controlling to both her parents, but mostly to her mother.
• Shadow Archetype: She's what Ariel would be if she only did what she wanted.
• Shock and Awe: She can electrify anything with her tail and zaps Ariel to capture her.
• Teens Are Monsters: Figuratively and literally. Celia reveled in watching Ariel's sister, Aquata, swimming for her life in a caged maze from a sea monster trying to eat her, all for public amusement and to blackmail Ariel.
• Villainous Princess: She's an evil counterpart to Ariel in terms of royalty.

Arnaaluk

Arnaaluk

Queen of the Arctic merfolk, she hates humans and was turned bitter after her human lover left her for another woman. When humans try to build a port near her land, she sabotages their efforts and kidnaps Eric.

• Fantastic Racism: She hates humans because of how a human hurt her in the past, and views Ariel as a traitor for choosing to be with them.
• Mythology Gag: Her backstory is essentially the original Little Mermaid's story with less death involved.

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