Ariel (The Little Mermaid 2023)

ARIEL 2023 — Ariel (The Little Mermaid (2023) Film)

Ariel is the titular main protagonist of the 2023 Disney film The Little Mermaid. She is a mermaid princess of Atlantica who has long been fascinated by the surface where humans live and dreams of being able to travel there if she wanted to, despite her father's constant objection since her mother was killed by human in her childhood.

Shortly after saving the human prince Eric from drowning in a storm, Ariel became more than determined to finally see that other world, even to make a magical pact with the sea witch and evil aunt, Ursula, thereby becoming human herself.

Ariel is portrayed by Halle Bailey, who also portrays Sky Forster in Grown-ish. In the Korean dub, she is played by Danielle, a member of the K-pop group NewJeans.

Personality[]

Ariel is a teenage mermaid girl with the heart to love humans and things that are in the "above world". She is a kind and loving creature to all the animals of the sea. For this information, she is also a confident person who will do anything to become human in order to get Eric's love.

Physical appearance[]

Ariel's physical appearance resembles her animated counterpart. But unlike her animated version, she has brown skin with glossy naturel red hair in dreadlocks along with brown eyes. She also sports a mermaid tail quite different from the original film, now having a teal color and having additional thin fins. Physically, she is less lean and is slightly more muscular than the original Ariel.

Powers and Abilities[]

Powers[]

Mermaid physiology: As a mermaid, Ariel possesses superhuman attributes such as superhuman strength, durability, speed, agility, reflexes, leaping, stamina and senses. Ariel also still retains most of her these attributes in her human form.
- Superhuman strength: Ariel is much stronger than normal humans. She was able to easily lift and carry a statue from Mermen's reef to her grotto.
- Superhuman durability: Ariel is far more durable than normal humans and is able to withstand immense underwater pressures.
- Superhuman speed: Ariel is much faster than normal humans. When she is underwater, she can move at blur-like speeds, as well as outpace great white sharks such as Glut. Ariel was able to get from Sardinia to Atlantica in less than a day. After becoming human, Ariel was also able to get from Ursula's lair to the surface in a matter of seconds, before she could drown.
- Superhuman agility: Ariel is far more agile than normal humans. She was able to outmaneuver Glut despite being in a narrow space.
- Superhuman reflexes: Ariel's reflexes are much faster than normal humans.
- Superhuman leaping: Ariel can leap much further than normal humans. She is able to propel herself out of the water in a dolphin-like way.
- Superhuman stamina: Ariel possesses far more stamina than normal humans, allowing her to remain physically active for long periods of time. She can exert herself for several hours before experiencing fatigue.
- Superhuman senses: Ariel's senses are far more developed than normal humans.
  - Night vision: Due to Ariel's superhuman senses, she can see clearly in the dark.
- Superhuman immunity: Ariel is completely immune to extremely cold and hot temperatures.
- Adaptability: Ariel is capable of quickly gain knowledge or master new skills. After becoming human, she immediately knew how to swim and move and it took her only a few minutes to learn how to stand up and walk. Ariel also quickly figured out how to utilize the reigns of a carriage controlled by Eric's horse to tell the animal to go faster, turn and then stop. She quickly learned about the human's customs and culture, including the objects that are used by them. Ariel can also quickly master skills that would take normal humans months or years to learn, such as dressing, dancing, horse riding, sailing, etc.
- Aquapathy: Ariel is capable of communicating with other aquatic entities, however, only with the ones who are sentient.
- Breath manipulation: Ariel is capable of holding her breath far longer than normal humans. After becoming human, she was able to hold her breath long enough for her get to the surface before she could drown.
- Vitakinesis: Via singing, Ariel is able to heal other individuals from physical injuries.

Former powers[]

Aquatic breathing: Ariel is capable of breathing in the water indefinitely, however, she isn't capable of doing it in her human form.

Abilities[]

Expert dancer: Ariel is a highly skilled dancer. After becoming human, she was able to dance with Eric as if she had been a human for years.
Expert rider: Ariel is a highly skilled rider. She is capable of riding horses and was even able to command the reigns of a carriage controlled by Eric's horse..
Expert swimmer: Ariel is a highly skilled swimmer. When she is in her mermaid form, she is able to swim in a dolphin-like way. After becoming human, Ariel was able to swim in a similar manner to humans and was able to quickly get to the surface before she could drown without any help.
Expert singer: Ariel is a highly skilled singer. Her voice is so beautiful that Eric fell in love with her after only hearing her sing to him once.
Expert sailor: Ariel is a highly skilled sailor. She was able to steer a ship towards Ursula while in her mermaid form.

Weaknesses[]

Limited durability: Although Ariel is incredibly durable, it is still possible for objects, weapons or other aquatic entities with enough force to injure her.
Mortality: Despite Ariel's superhuman levels of durability and vitakinesis, she is not immortal and can be killed.
Oxygen: In her human form, Ariel can't breathe underwater and will drown if she remains underwater for too long. Despite this, she can at least hold her breath far longer than normal humans.

Former weaknesses[]

Limited knowledge: Initially, Ariel had limited knowledge of the human world as result of never going to the surface and never interacting with humans. She didn't know about their customs and culture or objects used by them. At one point, she even mistook a fork for a hair comb because of what Scuttle had told her about this object. She only realized this error upon seeing the confused look on the faces of a market vendor and other people, much to her complete embarrassment. After marrying Eric and starting to live in Sardinia, Ariel's knowledge of humans and the land above water has greatly improved.

Biography[]

Early life[]

Ariel was born in Atlantica to her parents, Triton and Athena. She also has six older sisters: Mala, Indira, Caspia, Tamika, Karina, and Perla.

Despite her mother's death at the hands of a human, Ariel didn't develop any prejudice against humans like her father and most of her other sisters. Instead, she end up developing a fascination about humans.

The Little Mermaid (2023)[]

Exploring the wreckage[]

Wandering around the reef, Ariel finds a spyglass and tries to figure out its use as Flounder tries to convince her to return to the palace. Ignoring her friend's advice, she continues to go straight ahead, arriving at the entrance to a dark abyss where several shipwrecks have ended. Intrigued by a new ship, Ariel chooses to approach it closer with a reluctant Flounder and, upon seeing the interior, deduces that it was a warship due to the multiple cannons before exploring the interior.

In the cabin, she finds a fork, which she confuses with a miniature trident, then finds a mirror, whose reflection frightens Flounder a little. Suddenly, a white shark smashes through the cabin and tries to eat Ariel and Flounder, who swim as fast as they can through the boat to escape the beast. Flounder finds himself numb in the sand, but Ariel saves him from the shark by tricking the predator with the mirror into running into it and getting stuck in it. Ariel then leaves the place, taking Flounder in her bag to make sure she doesn't lose him.

Chat with Scuttle[]

Barely recovered from the adventure, Flounder is surprised by the sudden dive of something in front of him, but Ariel reassures him that it is only their northern gannet friend, Scuttle, fishing for her meal. Ariel shares with Scuttle her earlier finds so that the diving bird can identify the objects for her due to her "knowledge" of the human world. Scuttle mistakes the fork for an object to brush her hair, prompting Ariel to try on her own hair hoping to see someone do it on the surface, not to Flounder's approval since Triton forbids mermaids from going to the surface, which Ariel resents due to not believing humans are so dangerous. The trio is interrupted by a Sebastian who has come to remind Ariel that the Coral Moon is for tonight and that her six sisters are already there. Realizing her forgetfulness, Ariel says goodbye to Scuttle before hurrying back to the palace.

A desire so deep[]

Ariel is reprimanded by her father for missing the reunion with her sisters. She apologizes for it, but when Flounder talks about the shark attack, Triton becomes more upset since he more than once forbade his daughter to go in these areas of the ocean, while reprimanding her interest in humans. Ariel claims she just wants to know more about them, despite Triton thinking she already knows everything there is to know, escalating the argument to the point where Triton compares Ariel's recklessness to her late mother, to which Ariel replies that this is because she is her daughter, which Triton accepts. Her father running out of patience with her and repeating his demand that she follow the rules of his ocean, a distraught and disappointed Ariel leaves without saying a word.

Ariel then make her way to her secret hideout where she keeps every surface item she finds. She openly tells Flounder that her father is not able to listen to her because she is too different from him, especially since she does not believe that a people making such beautiful things can be so barbaric. She begins to sing "Part of Your World" to express melancholy how much her life as a mermaid is no longer enough for her and that she would so much like to discover life on the surface by herself. Suddenly, Ariel becomes drawn to blasts of light coming from the sky and goes to see what it is, despite Flounder's objection.

Saving Eric[]

With her head above water, Ariel admires the fireworks fired by a nearby boat. Climbing into a canoe, she observes the men dancing and singing at the edge of the railing then begins to interest herself in Prince Eric who was also partying with his men before being approached by Max the ship's dog, with whom she interacts friendly, stroking his head. She then listens to Eric expressing his frustration to Grimsby over his royal duties limiting his zest for life, something Ariel identifies with and quickly comes to admire the young prince's open-mindedness. As a storm rolls in, Ariel clings to the ship as the weather worsens until she jumps into the sea before the boat crashes into a reef. The ship catches fire and the entire crew evacuates, only for Eric to fall unconscious from the boat after rescuing Max, but Ariel dives down to him and saves him from drowning.

Ariel brings Eric to the beach and makes sure that he is still alive, until he starts breathing again. Ariel begins to sing to the barely conscious injured human, apparently expressing the feelings she had recently had for him, combined with her desire to live among humans. Grimsby and the guards arrive at the beach in search of Eric, forcing Ariel to return to the ocean and observe hidden behind a rock what is happening. She then passionately ends her song on her now tenfold dream, not only of belonging to the human world but also of living alongside Eric.

Trivia[]

Ariel has differences compared to her animated counterpart:
- Ariel is 18 years old in her debut instead of 16.
- Ariel is less rebellious than her animated counterpart and she has never been to the surface before until she saw a ship passing above her grotto.
- Ariel falls in love with Eric due to them being similar, with both of them viewing their royal life as suffocation and a limitation on freedom.
- Ariel kills Ursula instead of Eric.
Ariel is indirectly called the "Little Mermaid" by Eric.
Despite losing her voice to Ursula, Ariel can still make sounds like when she was breathing for air before swimming with Flounder and Sebastian's help.