Princess Ariel is a fictional character, a mermaid, and the protagonist of Disney's 1989 animated film The Little Mermaid. She later appears in the film's prequel television series, direct-to-video sequel The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea and direct-to-video prequel The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning. Ariel is voiced by Jodi Benson in all the above animated material. She also won three awards 1# Favorite Herorine, Most Popular Disney Princess, Most Beautiful Disney Girl.
The character is based on the protagonist of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid" story, but was developed into a different personality for the 1989 animated film adaptation. Her distinct appearance consists of long, flowing red hair, blue eyes, a green tail and a purple seashell bikini top.
Ariel is one of the meetable face characters at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.
Prince Eric is a fictional character who first appears in the animated Disney film The Little Mermaid. He later appears in the spin-off prequel television series and in the direct-to-video sequel The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea.
The character is based on the "prince" character of Hans Christian Andersen's story "The Little Mermaid" but adapted by writer Roger Allers for Disney's film. The character is voiced by Christopher Daniel Barnes in the original film and the Kingdom Hearts video games, by Jeff Bennett in the prequel television series, and by Rob Paulsen in the direct-to-video sequel. In the Japanese versions, he is voiced by Kazuhiko Inoue and his dubbed name is Eriku (絵理子). In the 2007 Broadway musical version, the role is originated by Sean Palmer.
Melody or Princess Melody is the protagonist of The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, which opens with the celebration of her birth. She is 12 years old and King Triton and Queen Athena's granddaughter, Ariel and Eric's daughter and the niece of Attina, Alana, Adella, Aquata, Arista and Andrina. Taking after her mother, she has an adventurous and rebellious streak. She has long black hair like her father styled in a ponytail and a red tail with pink fins when she's a mermaid. She learns how to talk to animals due to her mermaid heritage (however, she is unaware of it). Melody is voiced by Tara Strong who also voices two of Ariel's sisters in The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning and Princess Clara, a parody character of Princess Ariel from the animated series Drawn Together.
Soon after Melody's birth, her parents sail out to sea present her to King Triton. When the proud new grandfather sees her, he instantly loves her, and gives her a seashell locket, which, when opened, plays the melody of "Down to the sea" and shows a moving image of the underwater city Atlantica. The celebration is interrupted by Morgana, who threatens to hurt Melody if Triton does not hand over the trident which Triton almost agrees to do in order to save her. He ends up not having to when Ariel grabs Eric's sword and cuts the hatch to knock out Morgana and he retrieves Melody. When Morgana escapes, Ariel decides that, until Morgana is found, the sea would be too dangerous for Melody, and vows to keep all knowledge of the sea from her, including her grandfather, late grandmother, and her aunts. Ariel, heartbroken, gives her father the locket he had given to Melody. A baby Melody looks back at her sad grandfather who then asks Sebastian to watch over Melody (just like he had done for Ariel).
Melody grows up banned from entering the sea, and isn't told the reason why. This causes a misunderstanding to exist between her and Ariel, who refuses to explain the truth to Melody, making Melody believe that Ariel hated the sea and could not or would not understand her love of it. By her 12th birthday, she had been regularly secretly sneaking out to swim in the sea against her mother and fathers wishes. When Melody finds her locket on the day of her 12th birthday she finds her name on it and the image of Atlantica when she opens it. Melody begins to question Ariel as she had told her Atlantica was "just an old fish tale." Ariel, however, panics when she hears this and simply yells at Melody for her disobedience that it was dangerous in the sea (like how her father had yelled at her). Melody ends the argument by telling her mother "How would you know? You've never even been in it!" Melody then runs off from her room, and both Ariel and Eric decide that they can no longer hide the truth from her. However, Melody runs away before they can.
Melody eventually is coerced by Undertow to go and meet Morgana, who uses Melody's love of the sea against her. Morgana transforms Melody into a mermaid, promising her that the transformation will last forever if Melody will retrieve the trident from Triton, claiming that he stole it from Morgana. Wanting to be a mermaid forever, she agrees to get it, not knowing she would be stealing from her grandfather. Unknown to Melody, as the granddaughter of King Triton, she had the power to retrieve the trident from its resting place when Triton did not have it on his person. While searching for the trident, Melody befriends a penguin named Tip and a walrus named Dash, and they join her in her search. They manage to sneak into the Atlantican royal palace and make off with the trident.
Melody returns to Morgana at the same time that her mother Ariel, who's been turned back into a mermaid, arrives. Before Ariel has a chance to fully explain, Melody, angered at Ariel's decision to hide Melody's mermaid heritage, gives Morgana the trident. Afterwards, Morgana takes Ariel hostage and reveals her true colors to Melody, and also tells her that she had stolen from her grandfather. She traps Melody and Flounder in a cave by sealing the entrance with a thick layer of ice. After a failed attempt to escape, Melody begins to despair and regret her actions.
Soon afterwards, Morgana's spell on Melody wears off; she reverts back into a human and nearly drowns, but Tip and Dash trick Undertow, who has been restored to his original form, into ramming into the ice and drag her to the shore. At that moment, Morgana casts a spell that subjugates all sea creatures to her whim; however, as Melody is no longer a mermaid, she stands unaffected.
Melody surprises Morgana and steals the trident back. Morgana attacks her, but Melody throws the trident back to Triton, who promptly encases Morgana in ice. In the aftermath, Melody apologizes to Ariel and Eric for her actions, stating that she believed that she would be a better mermaid than a human. Ariel thinks otherwise; she blames herself for what had transpired, stating that they should have told Melody the truth to begin with. Ariel proceeds to assure Melody that it doesn't matter whether she was a human or a mermaid; she is loved for who she is, their very brave little girl. At that moment, Triton arrives and remarks that Melody is just like her mother in that regard.
Melody embraces her grandfather, who gives her the option of becoming a mermaid permanently. Melody declines, having thought up a better solution; she instead uses the trident to disintegrate the wall between the palace and the sea, thus reuniting both sides of her family.
In the film, Melody sings in the songs "For a Moment", "Tip and Dash", and the finale song "Here on the Land and Sea". Melody is also a playable character in the PlayStation game, The Little Mermaid 2 which is based on the two movies.
Morgana is the main antagonist of The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea. She is the sister of the deceased Ursula and King Triton's second rival. Both Morgana and Ursula are cecaelians, who have tentacles instead of a tail. Morgana's skin is of a green hue, in contrast to the purple-skinned Ursula (Although it should be noted that in the flashback present in the song "Gotta Get My Wish", Ursula had a green hue.). While Ursula was considerably large, Morgana has a much smaller frame. Morgana also has green eyes as well. Her voice is provided by Pat Caroll, who had also voiced her sister Ursula.
Morgana's prime motivation, rather than seeking revenge, is proving her superiority over Ursula, apparently the favored child of their mother. Unfortunately, Morgana lacks her late sister's talent with magic. Furthermore, Morgana initially lacks Ursula's subtlety and deviousness, openly attacking Melody's birthday party and using her as a hostage to gain Triton's trident, a ploy that ultimately fails due to Ariel's quick thinking.
Twelve years later, Morgana (introduced by Undertow) meets with a preteen Melody, who has rebelled against her mother's overprotective ways. Morgana lures Melody with the promise of becoming a mermaid, ironically using the last of Ursula's magic potion to transform Melody temporarily into a mermaid. Morgana asks Melody to get the trident for her, claiming herself to be its rightful owner. Morgana succeeds in getting the trident thanks to Melody, but is eventually defeated when Melody, having realized her error, returns the trident to King Triton. Morgana is permanently encased in ice as punishment, and is left to sink to the bottom of the ocean forever along with a picture of Ursula.
Queen Athena is a character first seen in the direct to video prequel The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning, although she has been mentioned in the TV series. She is King Triton's wife and queen of Atlantica. She is the mother of Ariel, Aquata, Andrina, Arista, Attina, Adella and Alana, Eric's mother-in-law and Melody's grandmother. Her speaking voice is provided by Lorelei Hill Butters, and her singing voice is provided by Andrea Robinson. She has long auburn hair and green eyes, and looks very similar to Ariel as an adult.
She died when Ariel was about 5 years old. It's from her that many of her daughters get their musical talent (Ariel's vocal range, however, is higher than her mother's.) Although she isn't the main character in the film, she plays an important role. In the film, she is shown relaxing in a cove on the surface with her husband and seven daughters and many other merpeople. She and Triton have a special song ("Athena's Song"), and he has just given her a music box for their anniversary; that plays the song. All the fun ceases when a pirate ship stumbles on to and attacks the mer-family. Athena is crushed to death by the ship while tryng to save her gift.
Marina Del Rey is the main antagonist of The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning, voiced by Sally Field. She is a mermaid unlike the two villains from the previous films who are cecaelians, and the governess of King Triton's seven daughters, in charge of enforcing Triton's distant and formal parenting style. She feels she has been stuck as the governess for too long, and her primary motivation in the film is to take over Sebastian's job as the King's attaché, by any means necessary. She temporarily succeeds after getting Sebastian, Flounder, and their entire secret music band sent to prison (music was forbidden from Atlantica at the time), but upon learning of the gang's escape with Ariel to find Triton's old music box (the only object that will get him to change his mind), Marina resolves to kill them all by sending her electric eels after them. While the eels battle the gang, Marina takes on Sebastian, who outsmarts her every move and ultimately gets her trapped inside a coral spike. Marina doesn't give up, however, and still tries to kill Sebastian by crushing him. Ariel pushes Marina away, and she is sent to prison for her crimes.
She changes wigs, hats and earrings in all different colors, shapes and sizes.
Her name is a pun on Marina Del Rey, California, a beachside community about four miles north of Los Angeles International Airport. It may also be an in-joke referring to the 1975 Japanese animated movie, in which the name of Ariel's equivalent was Marina; or to Marina, a fantasy-oriented TV show from the Philippines whose titular character is a mermaid.
