The Little Mermaid (1989 film)/Characters

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The Good Guys

Ariel

Voiced by: Jodi Benson

• Action Girl: At least, in the water.
• Be Yourself
• Buffy-Speak: Ariel uses this when referring to the human things she collected, no thanks to Scuttle.
• Cloudcuckoolander
• Collector of the Strange: Her hobby of collecting human things.
• Curtain Clothing: In the first film.
• Cute Mute: After she loses her voice in the first film.
• Deal with the Devil: How Ariel loses her voice to Ursula.
• Determinator
• Disney Princess
• Drives Like Crazy: When Eric shows her around his kingdom, he lets her have the reigns to the carriage. She apparently only knows enough to make the horses go even faster.
• Eighties Hair
• Fairytale Wedding Dress
• Fatal Flaw: Curiosity.
• Fish Out of Water: A near-literal example of the trope.
• Foot Focus: The scene right after the transformation sequence seems to be dedicated to this, as she starts getting used to her new appendages. She's the source of the current trope image, in fact.
• Giant Poofy Sleeves
• Graceful Ladies Like Purple: One of her dresses in the sequel.
• Hoist by Her Own Petard: She decides that it's best for Melody's safety to keep Melody ignorant of her true origins and heritage. But Melody's ignorance (and Ariel's unwillingness to be truthful when she finds the locket) is exactly what causes her to run away and go against her mother until Morgana reveals her true colors.
• Hot Mom: In the sequel.
• "I Want" Song: "Part Of Your World".
• Leitmotif: "Part Of Your World". "Ahh, ahh, ahh..."
• Pimped-Out Dress
• Princesses Prefer Pink
• Rebellious Princess
  • Former Teen Rebel: In the sequel, she scolds Melody for doing basically what she used to do as a teen. Granted, she did have good reason, but all she ever told Melody was to stay out of the ocean.
• Red Headed Heroine
• Seashell Bra
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tomboy to her sister Arista (Girly Girl) in The TV Series. Girly Girl to her daughter Melody (Tomboy) in the Direct to Video sequel "Return to the sea".

Prince Eric

Voiced by: Christopher Daniel Barnes (1st film), Rob Paulsen (2nd film)

• Brainwashed: This happened to Eric by "Vanessa" in the first film.
• Chekhov's Skill: His piloting his ship through a hurricane in the first film.
• Foot Focus: Used when Scuttle tried looking for his heartbeat.
• Heroes Love Dogs
• Hot Dad: In the sequel.
• I Will Find You: His intention to find Ariel after she was taken by Ursula.
• Leitmotif: Has a short love motif heard at the beginnings of "Bedtime" and "Eric to the Rescue".
• Marry for Love: In the first film.
• Meaningful Name
• The Other Darrin: He is voiced by Rob Paulsen in the second film.
• Rebel Prince
• Royals Who Actually Do Something

King Triton

Voiced by: Kenneth Mars

• Badass Beard
• Badass Grandpa
• Fantastic Racism: His insight of humans.
• Fatal Flaw: Loyalty.
• Hey, It's That Voice!: Ken Mars at his best.
• Leitmotif: Has a Fanfare.
• My God, What Have I Done?: In the first film, when he realizes that he was too hard on Ariel.
• Overprotective Dad
• Papa Wolf
• Physical God
• Prongs of Poseidon: Fitting, considering that it's implied Poseidon is his father.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something

Sebastian the Crab

Voiced by: Samuel E. Wright

• Badly-Battered Babysitter: In the second film.
• Butt Monkey
• The Chew Toy
• Overly Long Name: According to his introduction before the royal court, it's Horatio Felonious Ignatius Crustaceous Sebastian
• The Renfield: To King Triton.

Flounder the Fish

Voiced by: Jason Marin (1st film), Edan Gross & Bradley Pierce (TV series), Cam Clarke (2nd film), Parker Goris (3rd film)

• Cowardly Sidekick: At the beginning of the first film
• Hey, It's That Voice!: In the second film, it's Cam Clarke voicing Flounder as an adult.
• Informed Species: Flounder does not look anything like an actual flounder, though he might be named after the verb instead of the fish.
• The Other Darrin: In the TV series, the second film, and the third film.

Scuttle the Seagull

Voiced by: Buddy Hackett (1st and 2nd films), Maurice LaMarche (TV series)

• Cloudcuckoolander
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: When he stalls the wedding to buy Ariel some time in the first film.
• Did You Get a New Haircut?: In the first film, when he meets up with Ariel after she became human.
• Feather Fingers
• Hey, It's That Voice!: Who would've thought that Tennessee Steinmetz was a seagull?
• Ink Suit Actor: Scuttle bears a strong resemblance to his voice actor, the late Buddy Hackett.
• The Klutz: Scuttle seems to have a habit of occasionally running into things while flying.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: His knowledge about human things is anything but accurate.
• Leitmotif: His playful theme can be heard at the beginning of "Wedding Announcement" and was rewritten as "Beyond My Wildest Dreams" in the Broadway Show.
• The Other Darrin: Scuttle is voiced by Maurice LaMarche in the TV series.
• Plucky Comic Relief
• Punctuated Pounding/Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: From the first film, "The prince! Is marrying! The sea witch! In disguise!"
• Small Name, Big Ego
• Sophisticated As Hell: "You've got an aesthetically pleasing configuration of hair that humans go nuts over."
• Toothy Bird

Max the Sheepdog

• Big Friendly Dog
• Butt Biter: Max gets to bite Ursula/Vanessa in the butt near the end of the first film.
• Even the Dog Is Ashamed
• Evil-Detecting Dog: Taken to the extreme in the first film.
• They Have the Scent: From the first film, when he finds Ariel after she became human.

Melody

Voiced by: Tara Strong

• Deal with the Devil: When she trades Triton's trident to Morgana in the second movie in order to become a permanent mermaid.
• Determinator
• Kid Has a Point: She arguably has better reasons for running away than Ariel did
• Rebellious Princess
• Spin Offspring: As Ariel's daughter, the spotlight shifted to her for the direct-to-video sequel.
• Tomboy Princess
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tomboy to Girly Girl's Ariel.

Tip and Dash

Voiced by: Max Casella (Tip) and Stephan Furst (Dash)

• Cowardly Sidekick: Dash.
• Everything's Better with Penguins: Tip.
• Expy: Tip and Dash are basically sea creature versions of Timon and Pumbaa.
• Fat and Skinny
• Hey, It's That Voice!: Tip is voiced by Daxter while Dash is Vir Cotto.
• Miles Gloriosus: Tip again.
• Those Two Guys

Queen Athena

Voiced by: Lorelei Hill Butters (speaking) and Andrea Robinson (singing)

• Significant Green-Eyed Redhead
• Hot Mom
• Strong Family Resemblance: She looks almost exactly like Ariel, except her eyes are green.

Stormy the Seahorse

• Moody Mount
• Seahorse Steed

The Bad Guys

Ursula

Voiced by: Pat Carroll

• Adaptational Villainy: In the fairy tale, the sea witch was a neutral character who in addition to warning the mermaid of the transformation's consequences, didn't go back on her deal with the mermaid until asked to, and never interferes directly.
• Ambition Is Evil
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: In the climax of the first film.
• Benevolent Boss: An unusual example for a Disney film. Subverted in the TV series, though.
• Big Bad
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Her human alias, "Vanessa".
• Brainwashed: "Vanessa" does this to Eric.
• Evil Eyebrows
• Evil Laugh
• Evil Sounds Deep
• Family-Unfriendly Death: When Eric stabs her with the ship's bowline. Strangely enough, her death looks very similar to that of Jafar's.
• Glamour Failure: When "Vanessa" looks in the mirror, her true identity is revealed.
• Hey, It's That Voice!: Ursula is Grandma Arbuckle.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: In the climax, when Eric stabs her with the bow of the ship.
• 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.
• Kick the Dog: A literal example in her human form.
• Leitmotif: "Poor Unfortunate Souls", of course!
• Make Myself Grow: In the climax.
• Mama Bear: Ursula did not take kindly to Flotsam and Jetsam getting blasted by the trident.
• Oh Crap: "Vanessa" does one when she sees the whole flock of birds flying towards her.
• Power Hair
• Purple Eyes: As Vanessa.
• Sanity Slippage
• Slasher Smile
• Unscaled Merfolk
• Villainous Breakdown: Near the end.
• Villainous Glutton
• Villain Song: "Poor Unfortunate Souls".
• Wicked Witch
• X-Ray Sparks: During her death scene.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Voiced by: Paddi Edwards

• Animal Eye Spy: They serve as this to Ursula.
• Evil Minions
• Family-Unfriendly Death: They end up getting blasted to smithereens from a misfire from the trident.
• Hey, It's That Voice!: It's both chilling and amazing at the same time to think that Gozer the Gozerian is a pair of evil eels.
• Leitmotif: If you listen carefully, they have a sub-theme inside of Ursula's own leitmotif.
• Meaningful Name
• Mismatched Eyes
• Those Two Bad Guys

Glut the Shark

• Carnivores Are Mean
• Everything's Even Worse with Sharks
• One-Scene Wonder/Non Sequitur Scene
• The Voiceless

Morgana

Voiced by: Pat Carroll

• Suspiciously Similar Substitute
• The Unfavorite

Undertow the Tiger Shark

Voiced by: Clancy Brown

• The Dragon: To Morgana
• Everything's Even Worse with Sharks
• Hey, It's That Voice!: Undertow is voiced by Mr. Krabs.

Cloak and Dagger

• Evil Minions
• Expy: To Flotsam and Jetsam from the first film.
• Meaningful Name
• Those Two Bad Guys
• The Voiceless

The Evil Manta

Voiced by: Tim Curry

• Affably Evil
• Badass Cape: His manta wings double as an effective one.
• Beware My Stinger Tail
• The Corrupter: His first plot involves turning all the denizens of Atlantica against one another
• Dark Is Evil
• 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 Sounds Deep
• Glowing Eyes of Doom
• Good Hurts Evil
• 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.
• Large Ham
• Manipulative Bastard
• 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.

Lobster Mobster and Da Shrimp

• Brooklyn Rage: If Mobster's accent is anything to go by.
• The Mafia: Well, as close as you're gonna get to the mob on a children's show produced by Disney,

Little Evil

• Identical Grandson: Looks almost exactly like a miniature version of his father minus the mustache.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: His motivation for befriending Ariel.
• Missing Mom: No word on what happened to Mrs. Evil Manta.
• Overlord, Jr.

Howling Hairfish

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

Other Characters

Sir Grimsby

Voiced by: Ben Wright (1st film), Kay E. Kuter (2nd film)

• Hey, It's That Voice!: In the first film, Grimsby is voiced by Roger, while in the second film, he is voiced by Newt Kiley.
• Only Sane Man
• The Renfield: To Eric.
• Servile Snarker

Chef Louis

Voiced by: Rene Auberjonois

• French Jerk
• Gratuitous French
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: After he chases Sebastian all over the kitchen in the first film.
• Super-Persistent Predator: to Sebastian, though, to Louis, it may be more a matter of pride than simply to serve the little crab as an entrée.

=== Priest

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