Prince Eric’s biological parents
- It is said that Queen Selina ADOPTED Prince Eric. So what happened to his biological parents? Did they die? Also, were they commoners or another King and Queen?
- The tie-in book "Guide To Merfolk" establishes that Eric's family were killed in a shipwreck when he was a child. He was the only survivor, who washed up on the shore and was taken to the royal family. They were more than likely commoners as in the movie, Eric mentions to Ariel (in different wording) that he is not accustomed to the rules of royal life.
- Perhaps they were ambassadors from a different kingdom, who had as much passion for voyaging as he did. After they were killed in a shipwreck en route to the Selina's island, the king and queen took him in to A, Have an heir, as they could have no children of their own. And B, secure diplomacy with whatever government Eric's parents hailed from.
- The tie-in book "Guide To Merfolk" establishes that Eric's family were killed in a shipwreck when he was a child. He was the only survivor, who washed up on the shore and was taken to the royal family. They were more than likely commoners as in the movie, Eric mentions to Ariel (in different wording) that he is not accustomed to the rules of royal life.
Guests at the engagement reception
- Eric's kingdom is shown to be a pretty small and underdeveloped place, with its "capital" being explicitly referred to as, and shown to be, a mere village. There's no hint that the island has any aristocracy or gentry other than the royal family, nor a bourgeoisie of any kind. So where did all the richly dressed guests for Eric's engagement party with Vanessa come from?
- Foreign guests, maybe?
- Eric mentions checking the neighboring islands when searching for Ariel. It’s possible the surrounding islands are also populated with many other people who belong to their kingdom.
- I'm sure even the commoners on the island have elegant attire for formal occasions.
Ariel’s Dress
- After the third sunset, Ursula drags Ariel back under the sea and her blue dress gets torn off. Later, Ariel returns land still wearing the blue dress after her father turns her back into a human. How? 1) The dress is ripped off her body as she’s being dragged away yet still seems to remain as intact as if she’d simply removed it normally. If anything the dress should be tattered. 2) Triton was never present to see Ariel in the dress. So how did she get it after being turned back into a human? And finally 3) Why was she only given one dress for THREE days when she is a guest of the royal family?
- Some time has passed since she was taken back to the sea by Ursula and when Triton turned her human again completely. Maybe Eric found the dress washed up on the shore and had the tailors restore it (or make an exact replica depending on how severe the damage was) in the event Ariel should come back.
Ursula's victims
- As demonstrated with the skulls she displayed during "Poor Unfortunate Souls", it's implied Ursula KILLS her victims, and Triton's fate as her prisoner verifies this. So is her garden just a group of invertebrates who lived in that sea monster carcass before her, or are they victims that just got the lesser of the two evils?
- The live action films has a lot of elements from the original fairytale. In the original fairytale, the entrance to the sea witch's lair is guarded by aggressive sentient plants that try to grab the mermaid. It seems the live action film incorporated this as well.
Ariel's bra
- What exactly is Ariel's bra made of? In the 1989 animated film it was clearly a Seashell Bra. Here, it appears to be made of fish scales similar to her tail.
- It is. I'm sure the filmmakers thought an actual seashell bra would look too skimpy and revealing in a live action family-friendly film. So they pretty much just rewrote mermaid anatomy to get around this. Granted this made it harder for them to censor nudity when Ariel turns human the first time since she was completely naked after losing the top scales too, but that was only one scene.
- But then where do the mermaids get the material to make the bra? I would certainly hope they don't make it from actual mermaid scales. Do they skin some kind of fish (hopefully a non-sentient one) and fashion it out of their skin?
- It's not clothing. It's apart of their skin. The promotional book "Guide To Merfolk" establishes that merpeople have more fins and scales the older they get as well as the fact that not all merpeople look the same. Ariel's older sisters all have more fins and coverings and scales than she does. If you look closely, you can also see that Triton's chest has scales beneath his armor. So while we as humans are assuming that beneath Ariel's top, there must be human breasts, her top is just her body. There's nothing beneath it. The only merpeople actually wearing clothing are Triton and his guards, who wear armor.
Multiracial sisters
- What is up with Ariel's multiracial family? Ariel is black, King Triton is white, and Ariel's sisters are different races so diverse they don't even appear to be blood related. So did King Triton have different wives? Or were some of his daughters adopted? Or either Triton or his wife was of mixed race?
- Aside from how diverse Disney wants to be ethnic representation to today's audiences, I really wouldn't question the biology of an obviously fictional aquatic species of human-fish hybrids.
