Characters / The Little Mermaid - Atlantica Royalty and Associates

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

King Triton

"She really does love him, doesn't she Sebastian?"

Voiced by: Kenneth Mars (first two films, TV series, Kingdom Hearts), Jim Cummings (third film, LEGO Disney Princess: The Castle Quest, Disney Speedstorm)
Voiced in French by: Jacques Deschamps (1990, TV series), Jean Davy (1998, Return to the Sea), Pierre Dourlens {Ariel's Beginning)
Voiced in Italian by Pino Locchi
Voiced in Polish by Włodzimierz Bednarski (movies, TV series, 2011 dub), Janusz Nowicki (TV series, 1995 dub)
Voiced in Latin American Spanish by Guillermo Romano (first two movies, TV series), Jorge Lapuente (Ariel's Beginning)
Voiced in Hebrew by Ariel Furman

Triton is the ruler of the underwater kingdom of Atlantica. He is a muscular merman, the widower of the late Queen Athena, and the father of Aquata, Andrina, Arista, Attina, Adella, Alana and Ariel. He is also the father-in-law of Prince Eric and the grandfather of Ariel and Eric's daughter Melody. As King of Atlantica, he has in his possession a powerful magical trident which appears to be made of gold. It emits a glowing light and a typical sound when in use. Furthermore, he has a crown and two armbands, which also appear to be made out of gold.

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• Abusive Parent: Triton is constantly struggling with treading the fine line between parental authority for discipline and protectiveness, and emotional abuse when dealing with his teenage daughter, Ariel. He finally becomes this in one of his weaker moments, where he tries to assert authority over Ariel by using violent magic to destroy her collection of human objects while she watches. He clearly feels remorse afterwards, improves upon himself by the end of the movie, and is forgiven by Ariel, but it was nonetheless an extremely cruel way to treat one's own child.
• Action Dad: Triton isn't afraid to get his hands dirty if it's to protect Atlantica or his family.
• Adaptational Jerkass: While he's relatively unchanged for the first Kingdom Hearts game, complete with his overprotective Papa Wolf tendencies and Was Too Hard on Her moment with Sebastian afterwards, in Kingdom Hearts II he is a lot more controlling and restrictive towards Ariel in a way that also makes him come off as manipulative and strongarming of Sebastian, Sora, Donald, and Goofy into helping him make Ariel rehearse his musical to keep her mind from the human world. Then after his Abusive Parent moment where he destroys the Prince Eric statue, his face remains stern, angry, and unrepentant rather than having the immediate remorse he had in the film.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: In the Kingdom Hearts manga, he's not the one responsible for destroying Ariel's grotto—the Heartless did it, and he discovered the grotto after happening upon them (and presumably driving them away/destroying them). Played with in that he's still angry at Ariel for keeping it a secret and Ariel initially believes that he was the one who did it and leaves without giving him a chance to explain himself.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: In the first and second movie, his eyes were blue, but in the third movie, his eyes were green.
• Almost Kiss: In the prequel, he almost kisses his wife until he catches his daughters watching them.
• Anger Born of Worry: Triton only gets angry at his daughters, especially Ariel, because he just wants them to be safe.
• The Atoner: Becomes one near the start of the climax when, because of his utter remorse of him destroying his daughter's grotto, takes Ariel's place in Ursula's deal.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Triton is a noble and reasonable king with a soft heart...just don't make him angry and may the Oceans help you if you put his daughters or granddaughter in danger.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: A tough, short-tempered guy who has a soft side.
• Big Good: For Alantica as he's the King and wielder of the trident.
• Big "NO!": At the beginning of Ariel's Beginning, Triton yells "No" when his wife, Athena, gets crushed to death by the pirate ship while he's unable to save her.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: His gray eyebrows are thick.
• Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: A Double Subversion occurs when Triton learns that Ariel is in love. He doesn't get angry or threaten harm to the man in question — he's totally enthusiastic and on-board with the idea... until he finds out the individual in question is a human rather than a merman.
• Cain and Abel: In the stage version, Triton and Ursula are siblings. Unsurprisingly, he's the Abel to Ursula's Cain.
• Character Development: King Triton receives a sizable amount of character development when he realizes being so hard on Ariel just ended up driving her away from him, and when Eric saves his daughter's life from Ursula, it allows him to overcome his xenophobia of humans and realize that it's for the better that he lets Ariel stay with Eric. By the time of the sequel, Triton has become accepting of humans. He's presented as still very wise, though incredibly toned down temper wise. However, his aggressive nature remains in times of crisis.
• Chick Magnet: As shown in the prequel, besides being in a loving marriage with his wife, two other women (seen at the beginning and end) give him a flirty greeting.
• Color-Coded Eyes: Only in the prequel, thanks to Adaptation Dye-Job. His eyes are now green, a representation of him being a magical being, or at least, in possession of a magical item (i.e. the trident).
• Cool Crown: Which emphasizes his authority and intimidation.
• Cynicism Catalyst: The death of his wife Athena. Before this happened, he was perfectly content to take periodic trips to the surface with his family.
• Demoted to Extra: In the sequel, he only gets a handful of appearances. It's quite justified, because Ariel hadn't seen him during the twelve year gap, and could not for Melody's protection.
• Doting Grandparent: He has a notable soft spot for Melody and highly values her safety.
• Easily Forgiven: Ariel seems to have forgiven Triton for his earlier, severe mistreatment of her, especially after her father takes her place as Ursula's prisoner. Since her own reckless actions nearly doomed the kingdom, it would seem they were even.
• Expy: His design is based on Poseidon, complete with a big beard and magic trident.
• Fantastic Racism: His insight of humans, and it blinded him to the fact that there are far worse threats than humans.
• Fatal Flaw: Triton has two:
  • His first flaw is his wrath. While Triton is a wise, respectful, and fair ruler, his temper got the best of him when he destroyed Ariel's collection in a fit of rage. Despite regretting what he's done, it was too late, and Ariel made a deal with Ursula. The look on his face says it all.
  • His second flaw is his prejudice towards humans. Triton's refusal to see the good in humanity goes to the point where even the slightest reference in humans invoke his wrath which leads to his other flaw mentioned above. Later on, he mellowed out and ended his bigotry.
• Fantasy-Forbidding Father: He forbids his daughters from going to the surface, refuses to listen to Ariel when she tries to explain her interest in the human world, and is enraged when he discovers Ariel has not only fallen for a human but has been collecting scavenged human trinkets behind his back - so he destroys her collection.
• Fiery Redhead: Even after his hair turned grey, Triton still retains the "fiery" status.
• Former Bigot: Triton hated human with a passion until Eric saved his daughter's life. By the sequel, his animosity is completely gone as he has a notable soft spot for his half-human, half-mermaid granddaughter.
• Freudian Excuse: His racism towards humans came from the fact that his wife was killed (albeit indirectly) by humans in the prequel.
• Fury-Fueled Foolishness: Triton is generally a wise, respectful, and fair ruler, his temper gets the best of him big-time when he finds out that Ariel has fallen in love with a human; determined to "get through to her" and turn her over to his views of humans, Triton destroys Ariel's collection of human artifacts right in front of her in a fit of rage. It's only after Ariel is reduced to tears by the result that Triton calms down and realizes what he's done, only able to look on in horror and remorse before leaving the grotto in shame. This proves to be the catalyst that leads Ariel to make a deal with Ursula.
• Generation Xerox: The cartoon series features an episode where he is de-aged physically and mentally back to being a child where he displays Ariel's playful, stubborn, curious and compassionate traits. The second movie also shows that, mostly thanks to Morgana threatening Melody's life, Ariel grows into a similarly overprotective mother who forbids Melody entering the sea.
• Godzilla Threshold: Triton never personally gets involved in most problems, usually sending Sebastian to take care of it. When he does get involved, things are that serious.
• Good is Not Nice: He loves Ariel and his kingdom...but does really harsh things to protect them and has a (not entirely unwarranted) hatred of humanity.
• The Good King: Shown a lot in the TV series that Triton is a kind, respectful, wise, and fair leader. There was, however at least a period of time when he was something of a tyrant, all because he let his grief consume him.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: It doesn't really take much to piss him off.
• Happily Married: He and Athena deeply loved each other, before her tragic death.
• Heartbroken Badass: After his wife, Queen Athena, is killed by pirates. He does move on from his wife's death, but doesn't remarry, and it took him a while to accept humans as equals.
• Heel Realization: Has one almost immediately after destroying Ariel's collection of human souvenirs.
• Heroic Build: Just look at him. Even nearing old age, he still has a broad chest.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In the first film, he swaps places with Ariel when Ursula's taken her prisoner as part of their contract.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: An interspecies example. He (a merman) and Sebastian (a crab) are each other's best friend, with the latter being the former's closest advisor.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: The Huge Guy to Athena's Tiny Girl. She's not especially tiny, but looks small compared to Triton who has a massive physique.
• Hydro-Electro Combo: His trident gives him command over water and lightning.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Before Adaptation Dye-Job, Triton's blue eyes represented his heroic, if flawed, nature.
• In-Series Nickname: "Red" was Triton's childhood nickname.
• I Was Quite a Looker: Triton has by no means aged poorly; even in his middle-aged/elder years, he maintains a broad, muscular physique, and we see in the prequel he was quite handsome.
• Jerkass Has a Point: For the king of the sea, this guy may need some anger management control but he's still a wise person underneath.
  • In general, while Triton's initial hatred for humans is mainly bigotry, his fear does have its merits as humans were responsible for the death of Athena and some would kidnap Ariel for their own selfish reasons. After all, humans aren't perfect in the slightest. He even points out that some humans like to eat sea creatures for pleasure (as he describes them as spineless, savage harpooning fish-eaters), to which he isn't wrong about, considering the case of Prince Eric's castle chef Louis, who relishes on chopping off sea creatures for food.
  • His anger at Ariel in the first film for missing the recital is understandable, as attending it was something she was supposed to do.
  • Triton scolds Ariel in the prequel movie because the latter caused a disturbance during their family's customary swim through Atlantica.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Sure, he has a temper and may overreact, but he's a softie underneath it all.
• Knight Templar Parent: He is fiercely overprotective of his daughter due to his hatred and fear of humans.
• Laser-Guided Karma: By letting his vendetta towards humans get the better of him, he was arguably begging for the heartache of a missing child.
• Leitmotif: Has a Fanfare.
• Meaningful Name:
  • His name sounds awfully close to "trident", his main weapon.
  • Triton was also the name of Poseidon's fish-tailed son.
• My Beloved Smother: This may actually be justified. He doesn't want his daughters anywhere near humans (or anything that came from humans) because human pirates were the reason for his wife's death.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • After he destroys Ariel's grotto in a fit of rage; the minute Ariel breaks down in tears, Triton has a visible look of guilt on his face before he leaves. Later, he almost says it word-for-word when none of Triton's search parties can find any trace of Ariel.
  • He gets one of these in the prequel too, when Ariel says that her mother "wouldn't have wanted this" - "this" being Atlantica empty of music and it being banned.
• Noble Bigot: Pre-Character Development. Triton may have had an intense hatred for humans, but he was also a good king, protective father, and he never used his powers to kill humans. Not even the ones indirectly responsible for his true love's death.
• Odd Name Out: His wife and daughters all have names that start with an "A." His name starts with a "T."
• Oh, Crap!:
  • When he realizes that destroying Ariel's grotto indirectly caused the latter to run away and make a deal with Ursula.
  • Triton has one of these moments in Return to the Sea when Melody steals his trident as part of her deal with Morgana.
  • He has another one in Ariel's Beginning when he realizes that Athena is about to get killed. At the end of the film, he's utterly shocked when Ariel is rendered unconscious.
• The One Guy: The only male royal family member as he has seven daughters with his wife.
• Papa Wolf: He's protective of all his daughters and granddaughter. He was all and ready to kill the people who dare to harm either.
• Parental Favoritism: Although never addressed in the animated media, Ariel is actually Triton's favorite daughter. The reason behind this being he sees so much of himself in her, personality-wise. Like him, she has red hair, and as seen in the third film, she has an almost uncanny resemblance to his late wife, Queen Athena.
• Parental Substitute: His interactions with Urchin are reminiscent of a father and son.
• Parents as People: Triton blatantly loves Ariel and his other daughters, and many episodes of the TV series show him raising them quite competently, but he has a very overprotective zeal and a temperament that, while not abusive, can be very harsh. It is almost always followed by heavy remorse after he cools down.
• Physical God: It's implied he is the Triton of Greek Mythology. (He looks like a merman, he's king of a race of people that look like him -merpeople - he wields a magical trident, and carries a conch shell at one point). If so, this would make him son of Poseidon, God of the Sea, and a minor deity in his own right.
• Powerful and Helpless: All the power he wields through his trident can't break Ariel's contract with Ursula. All he can do to save his daughter is take her place.
• Prongs of Poseidon: Fitting, considering that it's implied Poseidon is his father.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Of the underwater kingdom of Atlantica.
  "I consider myself a reasonable merman. I set certain rules, and I expect those rules to be obeyed!"
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: He's the King of Atlantica and has no problem taking on a foe who has either his kingdom or family.
• Ruling Couple: Before her death, Triton ruled alongside Athena in Atlantica.
• Single-Target Sexuality: He has never stopped loving Athena.
• Super-Strength: His build plus the fact that merpeople have more physical prowess than humans.
• Take Me Instead: Willingly takes Ariel's place in the contract she signed with Ursula, taking her place as a polyp.
• Took a Level in Kindness: He finally gives up his grudge towards humans as he let Ariel marry Prince Eric.
• A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: Triton destroys Ariel's grotto to prevent the latter from interacting with the humans. Unfortunately for him, it only draws his daughter closer to the sea witch.
• Tragic Keepsake:
  • In the Broadway version, his trident is one from his late father Poseidon.
  • The prequel has the music box he gifted for Athena. It indirectly led to her death and he threw it away. Ariel found the music box years later and returned it to him.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His destruction of Ariel's Grotto all but ensured that Ursula would have Ariel make a Deal with the Devil and stage a plot to assume control of Atlantica.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: An older example. The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning, initially depicts Triton as a devoted and loving father and husband. After his wife's death, he becomes extremely strict and a violent-tempered man, but eventually comes to terms with the incident. During the series though, we see what a free-spirited kid he used to be when he regressed.
• Was Too Hard on Her: In the first film, when Ariel swims away crying after he scolds her for going to the surface, he asks Sebastian if he was too hard on her, but Sebastian assures him he wasn't. Later, when Ariel disappears from the kingdom, he blames himself for causing her to run away. And he's not exactly wrong...
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Takes extreme measures to prevent Ariel from interacting with the human world. Unfortunately, this helps convince her to strike a deal with Ursula.
• Would Hit a Girl: He's willing to injure Ursula with a blast from his trident or freeze Morgana in a block of ice. Given that the former tried to kill his daughter and took over all the oceans and the latter tried to feed his granddaughter to a shark and then tried to drown her, can you blame him?
• Youthful Freckles: In his youth, he had some that represented his energetic nature.

Queen Athena

Voiced by: Lorelei Hill Butters (speaking) and Andrea Robinson (singing)
Voiced in French by: Marielle Hervé
Voiced in Polish by: Olga Bończyk
Voiced in Latin American Spanish: Paula Arias Esquivel

Queen Athena was the wife of King Triton, and the mother of Ariel and her six older sisters. She was the Queen of Atlantica, and beloved by her family and subjects. Unfortunately, she died as a result of a run-in with a big pirate ship when Ariel was very young. A statue of her dancing with Triton is present in his courtyard.

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• Beautiful Singing Voice: It's easy to see where Ariel got it from.
• Deceased Parents Are the Best: When she was alive, she's shown to be a very caring mother towards her daughters.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: Though not shown onscreen, you can tell Athena was crushed to death between a rock and an incoming ship.
• Generation Xerox: From the red hair to the singing voice, to say that she's the spitting image of Ariel is an understatement. No wonder Triton is so protective of Ariel.
• Happily Married: Before her death, she and Triton were in a loving, close marriage.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: The Tiny Girl to Triton's Huge Guy. Athena's not especially tiny, but looks small compared to Triton who has a massive physique.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Her death took a very long time for Triton to accept and was the main trigger for his initial hatred of humans.
• The Lost Lenore: For her husband — her death left him so grief struck he banned music in Atlantica because it reminded him of her.
• Mama Bear: A small moment, but Athena helped rescue her eldest daughter, Attina, by freeing from being stuck between two rocks to escape from the pirates.
• Missing Mom: She died when her daughters were young children—from oldest to youngest, Athena's daughters were 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 and 5 when she died.
• Mum Looks Like a Sister: After having seven children (a few being teenagers), she still looks youthful. While she does have the start of a few wrinkles going on, they only appear in certain shots.
• Nice Girl: Kind, motherly, romantic, and caring.
• Posthumous Character: Her role in Ariel's backstory doesn't come up until the third installment.
• Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Red hair and green eyes. She's also the mother of the franchise's protagonist and is a key figure in the prequel.
• Skewed Priorities: Granted, the music box holds sentimental value to her and her husband, but you really have to wonder what was going through Athena's head when she chose to save the music box before saving herself from the pirate ship.
• Strong Family Resemblance: She looks pretty much identical to her youngest daughter, Ariel—the only difference being that Athena has green eyes while Ariel has blue eyes.

Ariel's Sisters

Ariel's six older sisters.

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• A Day in the Limelight: Arista in the episode "Beached" and Alana in the episode "Eel-lectric City."
• Adaptation Deviation: In the original story, Ariel had five siblings. She was the sixth. The film however gives Triton seven daughters.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: In the first movie, all of Ariel's sisters had blue eyes like Ariel. Come the prequel and only a few have blue eyes — Attina - green; Alana - violet; Adella - teal; Aquata - brown; Arista - ice blue; Andrina - hazel.
• Alliterative Family: Their names all start with "A" while the names of the six eldest daughters also end with "A." It makes initializing their things with just one letter pretty pointless.
• Ascended Extras: They get a major role in the TV Series and in the prequel Ariel's Beginning.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Andrina and Arista are the Blondes and Adella, Aquata, Attina, and Alana are the Brunettes to Ariel's Redhead.
• The Cameo: A few of them make an appearance in the sequel.
• Divergent Character Evolution: In the original movie, Ariel's sisters had more-or-less the same face and no known personalities. Future adaptations, such as the tv show and particularly the prequel Ariel's Beginning, give them more varying designs and more individualized personalities.
• Everyone Can See It: Ariel's sisters quickly figured out that their youngest sister was in love in the first film.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The responsible (shows up for recitals on time, obey their father's rules, and generally more level-headed) to Ariel's foolish (late for recitals, constantly breaks her father's rules, and impulsive).
• Hairstyle Inertia: The prequel's beginning shows that all of them had the exact same hairstyles they had in their youth.
• Impossible Hourglass Figure: All them like Ariel, especially in the prequel. Subverted with Adella in the TV series where she's more chubby.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: Counting Ariel, there's seven of them in total.
• Rainbow Motif: Arista - red; Attina - orange; Adella - yellow; Ariel - green; Aquata - blue; Andrina - purple; Alana - pink.
• Retcon: The prequel, Ariel's Beginning, changed up their birth order. Until its release, Aquata was always assumed to be the eldest, because in the original film she's the first sister named in the song "Daughters of Triton," but in the prequel Attina
• Seashell Bra: All six of them wear this, in the movie that codified this for mermaids.
• Single Sex Offspring: All seven of them, including Ariel, are female.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: They are nowhere to be seen in the sequel, even though they would presumably want to meet their niece.
• You Don't Look Like You: Comes with the territory of the design updates for the girls, though a few have the same hair colors and similar styles that they originally did.

Aquata

Voiced by: Sheryl Bernstein (TV series), Grey DeLisle (third film)
Voiced in French by: Céline Duhamel (1990), Christine Bellier (Ariel's Beginning)
Voiced in Polish by: Agnieszka Maliszewska (TV series, 2011 dub), Katarzyna Łaska (Ariel's Beginning)
Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Claudia Motta (Ariel's Beginning)

Aquata is the eldest (fourth in the prequel) daughter of King Triton and Queen Athena.

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• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Implied. When she thought that Ariel was with a "bad boy" in the prequel, Aquata seemed excited for her sister.
• Big Sister Instinct: After Ariel is captured by morays in the comic "Serpent Teen", Aquata decides to go look for her. However, she ends up captured herself. She ends up escaping and gets their father to help.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: She looks delicate enough but doesn't like when her stuff gets borrowed without permission or when her sisters get threatened, and is more than capable of holding her own as the sportiest of the seven. She also, by her own admission, has a strong case of I Can't Dance - in her own words, "I look like a spastic piece of kelp!"
• Curtains Match the Windows: Aquata has brown hair and brown eyes.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: In the comic "Serpent Teen", Aquata is the responsible sibling to Ariel's foolish one. Aquata is serious and is being groomed to be queen, but she can't keep up with her adventurous little sister Ariel, which makes her doubt her ability to be queen.
• Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Aquata was quite irritated with Arista when she took her pink, stuffed seahorse named Mr. Fuzzyfinkle.
• Hot-Blooded: Downplayed. Aquata can be aggressive, but only slightly.
• Meaningful Name: Aquata's name comes from the Latin word for "water."
• Noodle Incident: Aquata and the "sting ray incident." (Marina can still feel it.)
• Retcon: As mentioned, early material clearly had Aquata as the heir to the throne while the third film places her as the middle daughter.

Andrina

Voiced by: Cathy Cavadini (TV series), Tara Strong (third film)
Voiced in French by: Carole Bacon (1990), Marie Millet Giraudon (Ariel's Beginning)
Voiced in Polish by: Izabela Dąbrowska (first movie, Ariel's Beginning)

Andrina is the second (sixth in the prequel) daughter of King Triton and Queen Athena.

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• Big Eater: Andrina's favorite food is everything.
• Deadpan Snarker: As the prequel reveals, Andrina is the most sarcastic member of the family.
• Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Adrina has a purple tail and wears purple seashells.
• Not a Morning Person: Andrina didn't like to wake up early, as seen in the prequel.
• Passionate Sports Girl: Andrina was shown to be quite the athletic one.

Arista

Voiced by: Mary Kay Bergman (TV series), Grey DeLisle (third film)
Voiced in French by: Marie Sambourg (Ariel's Beginning)
Voiced in Polish by: Małgorzata Rudzka (TV series, 1995 dub), Aleksandra Rojewska (TV series, 2011 dub)
Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Gladys Parra (TV series), Gaby Ugarte (Ariel's Beginning)

Arista is the third (fifth in the prequel) daughter of King Triton and Queen Athena.

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• Adaptational Nice Guy: In the TV series, Arista had some jerkass moments towards Ariel, but did show her nicer side. The prequel makes her nicer, if Ditzy.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: To Aquata in the prequel, as she has a habit of borrowing Aquata's stuff without asking.
• Big Sister Bully: To Ariel, to an extent. She has a tendency to be unnecessarily harsh when interacting with her younger sister and often initiates arguments between them. It's implied in the episode "Beached" that this stems from Arista feeling like Ariel is always excluding her from her adventures.
• The Ditz: Arista has a more ditzy, absent-minded personality in the prequel.
• Genius Ditz: In the prequel, she's shown to be ditzy and absent-minded, but she sure can play a mean saxophone.
• Genki Girl: Arista is more excitable in the prequel.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Arista reveals in the TV series that she is jealous of the adventures that Ariel has.
• Hidden Depths: The episode "Beached" reveals Arista to be an excellent trap-maker. She also expresses a desire to join Ariel on her adventures.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Arista has blue eyes in the prequel to symbolize her friendliness and innocent (if ditzy) nature.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Arista in the TV series was prone to being an antagonistic jerk (especially to Ariel), but did show she had a good heart at the end of the day.
• Noodle Incident: Arista and the "blowfish incident".
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Arista is the prejudiced, girly Jerk with a Heart of Gold and Ariel is the open-minded, tomboyish Nice Girl in the TV series. Also, in the prequel — in this case Arista is the ditzy older sister who follows her father's rules while Ariel is the sensible (at times) younger sister who wants to change the rules.
• Sweet Tooth: Arista's favorite food is sea sponge swirl, which is a lot like cotton candy.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Arista is the Girly Girl to Ariel's Tomboy.

Attina

Voiced by: Kath Soucie (TV series), Kari Wahlgren (third film)
Voiced in French by: Laurence Sacquet (Ariel's Beginning)
Voiced in Polish by: Katarzyna Kwiatkowska (first movie), Monika Pikuła (TV series 2011 dub), Katarzyna Tatarak (Ariel's Beginning)
Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Gladys Parra (first movie), Rocío Gallegos (TV series), Mireya Mendoza (Ariel's Beginning'')

Attina is the fourth (the eldest in the prequel) daughter of King Triton and Queen Athena, and presumptive heir to the throne of Atlantica.

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• Big Sister Instinct: To Ariel in the prequel. It's also implied in the TV series that while she may be the fourth daughter (as opposed to the prequel's eldest), she may be the most mature of the group.
• Brainy Brunette: Attina has shown to be the most rational and mature of her sisters in the prequel.
• Color-Coded Eyes: In the prequel, Attina's eyes are changed from blue to green, making her the only sister to share their mother's eye color.
• Cool Crown: She wears a spikier version of her father's crown, signifying her position as the heir.
• Cute Bookworm: Attina loves to read.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Attina is shown to be the Responsible Sibling (following their father's rules) to Ariel's Foolish Sibling (who breaks her father's rules) in the prequel.
• Irony: Despite being the middle daughter (in the prequel's case, oldest) and having the "job" to boss her younger sisters around, Attina finds herself being bossed around by them.
• Meaningful Name: Attina is very close to her mother's name, Athena.
• Retcon: Early material clearly had Aquata as the oldest and even had her worry about being the heir to the throne. The third movie states Attina is the oldest sister.
• Team Mom: Attina in the prequel given the fact she's the oldest and wants to keep her sister safe.
• "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: Her biggest fear is letting her father down.

Adella

Voiced by: Sherry Lynn (TV series), Tara Strong (third film)
Voiced in French by: Anouk Hautbois (Ariel's Beginning)
Voiced in Polish by: Dorota Kawęcka (TV series, 1995 dub), Beatrycze Łukaszewska (TV series, 2011 dub), Barbara Kałużna (Ariel's Beginning)
Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Gladys Parra (first movie), Carla Castañeda (Ariel's Beginning)

Adella is the fifth (third in the prequel) daughter of King Triton and Queen Athena.

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• Drama Queen: Adella can be this to way when she finds out that her youngest sister (possibly) has a boyfriend before she does.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Zig-Zagged. In the original movie, Adella is slim like her sisters, but she gained a little weight in the TV series. While she is only briefly seen, Adella is still quite chubby in the original version of the sequel. This seems to have been modified in a later edition, where she fits the same frame as her sisters. All other material minus the TV series has her slimmed down.
• Gossipy Hens: Adella has a bit of one because she doesn't mind speculating or commenting on others' love lives.
• Really Gets Around: Adella has had many boyfriends.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: The reason Adella is so obsessed over guys? She wants to find the perfect one.
• Smitten Teenage Girl: In the prequel, Adella was shown to like a cute merboy, Stevie.

Alana

Voiced by: Kimmy Robertson (TV series), Jennifer Hale (third film)
Voiced in French by: Barbara Tissier (1990), Caroline Pascal (Ariel's Beginning)
Voiced in Polish by: Aleksandra Rojewska (TV series' 1995 dub), Dominika Kluźniak (TV series, 2011 dub), Aneta Todorczuk-Perchuć (Ariel's Beginning)
Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Ivette González (TV series), Romina Marroquín Payró (Ariel's Beginning)

Alana is the sixth (the second in the prequel) daughter of King Triton and Queen Athena.

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• Cool Big Sis: When she had A Day in the Limelight in the series, Alana was shown bringing Ariel to a party and showing concern about her sister possibly getting in over her head.
• The Fashionista: Book!Alana creates her own beauty products.
• Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Alana wears purple seashells.
• Green Thumb: Alana. Not in powers, but she takes care of the sea garden.
• It's All About Me: Downplayed. Alana can be somewhat vain, it is not to the extent that she could play this trope straight.
• Princesses Prefer Pink: Her tail and tiara are pink.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Alana is a brunette with pale skin.
• Shout-Out: When writing the "Daughters of Triton" song, lyricist Howard Ashman named the character Alana as a nod to his songwriting partner, Alan Menken.
• Retcon: In extension media released after the first film, Alana is the second youngest daughter of King Triton. In the prequel, however, she is the second oldest after Attina.

Sebastian

"I should be writing symphonies. Not tagging along after some headstrong teenager!"

Voiced by: Samuel E. Wright
Voiced in French by: Henri Salvador (1990)
Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Michael Cruz
Voiced in Italian by: Ronny Grant
Voiced in Hebrew by: Eli Gorenstein

Horatio Thelonious Ignacious Crustaceous Sebastian Crab, or Sebastian, is a red Jamaican crab and a major character The Little Mermaid franchise. He is the "distinguished" court composer for King Triton and is regularly tasked with watching over his daughter, Princess Ariel.

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• Absurdly Sharp Claws: Sebastian's claws can easily slice through several thick ropes when he releases some barrels for Ariel to grab onto when she's in the water.
• Advice Backfire: When Triton asks him if he was too tough on Ariel, Sebastian responds he wasn't tough enough and should "show her who's boss." He's completely mortified when his advice leads to Triton, having discovered that his daughter has been collecting objects from the surface (and has fallen in love with a human), flying into an Unstoppable Rage and destroying Ariel's collection of human things right in front of her.
• Anger Born of Worry: Frequently, in the first film.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: One episode of the series has his wish to be bigger, what problem? He doesn't stop growing until he's twice the size of a large vessel, and gets even worse when Ariel uses her wish for him to be "his old self" which makes him giant AND elderly.
• Badly Battered Babysitter: Sebastian's part in the movie is a fleshed-out version of this plot. The fact that his charge is 16 does not make things any easier.
• Battle Butler: He has a few moments when he shows off his fighting skills, especially if the people he cares about are in danger.
• Bound and Gagged: In the second film, when Melody unintentionally ties him in her dress bow. But when he finally breaks free...
  • A more serious version is when he begs for Ariel to not sign Ursula's contract, but Floatsam and Jetsam immediatly wrap themselves around him and Flounder.
• Breakout Character: Sebastian was just Ariel's guardian of the film. Prince Eric is the deuteragonist and Flounder was her sidekick/best friend. But Sebastian has rose to popularity tremendously and is the most remembered character besides Ariel. He also had his own shorts on Marsupilami in 1992.
• Butt-Monkey: Sometimes he suffers comic incidents. Played for Laughs.
• Character Development: Sebastian has, perhaps, the most dynamic character growth in the original movie. He goes from a pompous, self-centered dirty coward who just wants to write symphonies, and convince Ariel to act like "all the normal fish" so he doesn't get in trouble with her father, to a brave and selfless hero who willingly risks his own life many times to ensure Ariel's happiness. (And keep in mind that Ariel is not his daughter like she is to Triton, nor his love interest like she is to Eric, nor even really his friend at first like she is to Flounder and Scuttle. Ariel isn't even his favorite student, since her constant no-shows cause him no end of trouble. Not to mention their last interaction had Ariel coldly dismissing Sebastian after he blabbed her secret to her dad. He has no personal stake in making her happy. Yet, Sebastian still risks it all to help Ariel, just to make her happy.) He also learns to overcome his fear of humans, going from running scared of Chef Louis to confidently knocking the chef out with a loose beam at the end of the film.
• Character Tics: His voice tends to get high when he's nervous and/or scared.
• The Comically Serious: Serious, somewhat grumpy personality, and often put into comic situations.
• The Complainer Is Always Wrong: In the original movie. He's the only member of Ariel's inner circle who tries to discourage her interest in humans, and after she gains legs he's the only one to advocate using the short time she has left to cancel her deal with Ursula instead of risking it all on a slim chance of victory. It's only after Sebastian agrees to go along with her (very dangerous) wish to woo the prince that he's portrayed sympathetically. (Though no less of a Butt-Monkey.)
• Conflicting Loyalty: Between Triton and Ariel. Sebastian is originally tasked by King Triton to keep Princess Ariel away from the surface and humans. However, as Sebastian becomes increasingly aware of Ariel's feelings he becomes increasingly torn between keeping her secrets, and obeying her father's instructions. He ultimately chooses Ariel.
• Drama Queen: Shown all the time in the movies and TV series.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Frequently, especially after becoming Ariel's Badly Battered Babysitter.
  Sebastian: (after narrowly avoiding being eaten) I hope you appreciate what I go through for you, young lady!
  Ariel: (absentmindedly pats his head and walks away)
• Fiery Redhead: Fiery red "shelled".
• The Finicky One: He's basically The Lion King's Zazu but as a red crab. They are both hapless and uptight comic reliefs who serve as the voice of reason but are never taken seriously by the main protagonist.
• Freudian Trio:
  • The Superego (overly strict and logical) to Ariel's Id (fiery and emotional) and Flounder's Ego (more rational than Ariel but more laid back than Sebastian).
  • The Superego to Scuttle's Id (an impulsive Cloudcuckoolander) and Flounder's Ego.
• Friend-or-Idol Decision: When Ariel first becomes human, Sebastian resolves to tell her father about Ursula's deal so they can reverse it. This would conveniently free him from being Ariel's Badly Battered Babysitter, and allow him to return to his old job as the royal court composer. However, when he realizes just how miserable this would make Ariel, Sebastian decides to give up his "idol" (his king, his job) for the sake of his "friend" (Ariel).
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: An interspecies example. He (a crab) and Triton (a merman) are each other's best friend, with the former being the latter's closest advisor.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: To Ariel after she becomes human, since Ariel and Flounder are out of their element on land, and Scuttle doesn't know as much as he thinks he does about humans. It's Sebastian's plans that help Ariel woo Eric, and later stall the wedding (and get Triton for good measure), that gives her a fighting chance against Ursula's treachery.
• Inopportune Voice Cracking: As he nervously approaches King Triton, trying to maintain a calm, dignified appearance. But when he speaks, he lets out a squeaky "Yes?" before composing himself and speaking in his regular tone of voice.
• Interspecies Friendship:
  • His closest friends are Triton and Ariel (merpeople), Flounder (fish), and even Scuttle (seagull).
  • Sebastian also develops a close bond to Melody (the first mer-human).
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: When you get to really know Sebastian underneath his vain and temperamental nature, he's a real softie.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Has his moments in the original film. He doesn't exactly want to risk life and limb to help Ariel fit in among humans, but he helps her anyway because it's the right thing to do.
  Sebastian: (ruefully) What a soft shell I turned out to be.
• The Lancer: To Ariel, after she becomes human. He's her complete opposite in terms of temperament and ideology, yet he's her most competent sidekick and works tirelessly to help her succeed.
• Large Ham: He LOVES to chew the scenery.
• The Leader:
  • Of Ariel's Non Human Sidekicks since he is usually the one directing and giving orders.
  • Also to the Catfish Club Band in the prequel.
  • His ability here is really highlighted in the climax, when Scuttle reveals Ursula's deception and they all realize time is running out. Sebastian knows they've got to get organized or they're done for, and quickly comes up with multiple plans. He tells Flounder to tow Ariel out to the wedding boat, orders Scuttle to do whatever it takes to stop the wedding, then immediately leaves to go get King Triton.
• Loose Lips: How Triton found out about Ariel saving Eric, and her grotto filled with human treasures.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • After Triton finds out about and destroys Ariel's "collection" due to Sebastian's own big mouth. The horrified and guilt-ridden look on his face after Triton destroys Ariel's treasures says it all. The fact that this drives Ariel into Ursula's arms certainly does not help his guilt.
  • He does this again in the second film as he accidentally ruined Melody's birthday cake, which drove an angry Chef Louis to chase him off, humiliating Melody in front of her peers in the process and driving her to run away to the sea following an argument with Ariel. Considering the fact that his antics with Chef Louis have topped things off, Sebastian holds himself responsible for this; even attempting to apologize to Melody before she ran away.
• Nervous Wreck: Combined with Drama Queen, in the original movie. Trying to keep the less-than-discreet Ariel's new love for Prince Eric a secret, and then deal with the daunting odds against her coming out okay from Ursula's Deal with the Devil, are almost more than he can bear.
  Sebastian: (Gasps) My nerves are shot! This is a catastrophe! What would her father say? I'll tell you what her father'd say. He'd say he's gonna kill himself a CRAB, that's what her father'd say!
• Number Two: He is King Triton's most trusted advisor and closest friend. In the television series, he may arguably share this role with Dudley the turtle.
• Only Friend: He's Melody's constant companion throughout most of her life.
• Only Sane Man: Sure, he's a neurotic and snooty pessimist, but he's also the voice of reason, especially when it comes to Ariel's actions.
• Overly Long Name: According to his introduction before the royal court, it's Horatio Felonious Ignatius Crustaceous Sebastian.
• Properly Paranoid:
  • Sebastian's belief that humans want to eat sea creatures like him is proven deadly accurate when he stumbles into a kitchen filled with cooking seafood, and where the fanatical chef becomes hell-bent on making Sebastian part of the menu.
  • Sebastian effectively begs Ariel not to go near Ursula, knowing full well how evil she is, but Ariel simply dismisses him. The horror on his face as he realizes that he might drive his charge into the kingdom's worst enemy is present throughout the entire sequence.
• Red Is Heroic: Sebastian is a red-shelled crab and one of the good guys.
• Red Live Lobster: Sebastian is the classic bright red crab standard to cartoons.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Played with in regards to Ariel. In the face of danger, Sebastian is very Red (dramatic, temperamental, and heatedly convinced everything is a catastrophe), while Ariel is very calm, cool, and always confident that things will turn out. However, when it comes to planning ahead, Ariel is very reckless and impulsive, preferring to leap into action and worry about the fallout later, while Sebastian is much more cautious and meticulous, preferring to look and plan ahead before leaping.
  • Played straight with Flounder, where Sebastian is very much the yelling, temperamental, dramatic Red Oni to Flounder's quiet, listening Blue Oni.
• Reformed, but Not Tamed: While Sebastian becomes brave and selfless following Ariel's adventure, he never quite gets over his old Drama Queen and self-aggrandizing ways.
  Sebastian: Well, it's like I always say, Your Majesty. Children got to be free to lead their own lives.
  Triton: (Skeptical) You always say that?
• Sarcastic Devotee: He often snarks and complains when following Ariel around, but he's completely devoted to her happiness and well-being.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: In Return to the Sea, Sebastian does this thrice when he gets thrown from Melody's belt in her party, when he reports to Ariel that Melody ran away and when he encounters something terrifying under the sea.
• Shipper on Deck: After some Character Development, Sebastian becomes this for Eric and Ariel instead of a Shipper with an Agenda. At their wedding, he is shown crying Tears of Joy while hugging their wedding figurines.
• Shipper with an Agenda: For Ariel/Eric (though very reluctantly at first). He helps Scuttle and Flounder to get Eric to fall in love with Ariel, but only because he doesn't want Ariel to become Ursula's slave. However, the ending shows him becoming a true Shipper on Deck for the couple.
• Shy Shelled Animal: He's a crab and is the uptight, Nervous Wreck servant of King Triton.
• The Smart Guy: Of Ariel's friends, since Flounder is so young and Scuttle is so spacey.
• The Stool Pigeon: He becomes the Lacerated Larry type when King Triton gives him visual cues to spill everything he knows about Ariel's whereabouts.
• Suddenly Shouting: In the sequel, when Melody feels torn about keeping her love of the sea a secret from her mother.
  Scuttle: Wait a minute. How about you tell Ariel how you really feel?
  Sebastian: Oh, yes. By all means. Just waltz right in and tell her you been out here SWIMMING IN THE OCEAN!
• Surrounded by Idiots: Has this reaction a lot after following Ariel to land; mostly in response to Scuttle.
  Sebastian: Jeez, mon, I'm surrounded by amateurs!
• To Be Lawful or Good: To follow King Triton's orders that Ariel stay away from the surface and humans, or to help Ariel attain her dream of becoming human? Sebastian ultimately chooses the latter, especially after seeing how far Triton is willing to go to keep Ariel away from any human influence.
• Undying Loyalty: To both Triton and Ariel.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He misinterprets Triton's innocent belief that Ariel has found a merman boyfriend as him having discovered that she saved Eric, and in his attempt to apologize he ends up just revealing to the truth to the king, which is what sets the entire plot in motion.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: His trauma and near-death experience in Louis' kitchen is Played for Laughs since he's just a crab.
• What You Are in the Dark: When Ariel blows him off to follow Flotsam and Jetsam to Ursula, he and Flounder have plenty of chances to turn back and inform King Triton. Instead, he follows her and opts to save her life after she makes her deal with Ursula instead of turning back to tell her father.

Herald the Seahorse

Voiced by: Will Ryan; Eric Metayer (European French dub)

A royal announcer and a member of King Triton's court.

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• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: For some reason Herald wasn't present in the prequel, granted he might not have been employed at the time.
• Meaningful Name: As a royal announcer, it makes perfect sense that his name would be "Herald".
• The Narrator: In the PC storybook.
• Regal Ruff: As a member of King Triton's court, he wears a purplish one.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Had Herald been more explicit on why Triton needed to see Sebastian about Ariel, the crab wouldn't have thought it was because he knew about Prince Eric.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: After informing King Triton that Ariel's whereabouts are still unknown, Herald disappears to continue to look for her and isn't seen again.

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