the way ariel still sings her head bc.. u cannot take her mermaid gifts away from her not truly and completely cause the sea is still part of her!!! even as a human, when she requires comfort, she goes to the sea as she can feel the connection still and her family.
she's an incredibly strong swimmer (She Has A Tail i know this but) and the upper body strength it would've taken to do the thing with turning the ship around in the middle of an underwater tornado thing in a storm with. NO LEGS???? this strength carries over even with legs.
ariel youngest daughter privilege and i know it ššš by comparison to her sisters, she gets away with soo much more. he's strict with her but i imagine him destroying her grotto was the first time she's ever been disciplined to a large degree. she's only afraid of him and disappointing him once in a while from what her sisters have told her about his rage. and not only is she the youngest sibling, her mother was tritonās favorite wife and that also results in a lot of ariel favoritism. she has her motherās voice and reminds her father a lot of her. sheās the daughter that yells back!!
ariel has a necklace to remind her of home, it has a pearl for each of her sisters, tinted to be their respective color, and a small golden conch shell in the middle to represent her father.
eric was arielās first romantic interest, and before him she was almost uninterested in romance? she found that she didnāt like that most of the people she knew only saw her for her father, and either pursued her because of it or didnāt because of it. while she loved romance in a daydreamy sort of way, she had never physically experienced it, even while she had developed crushes sheās never acted on. her crushes were normally idealized and romanticized versions of people, and she was quick to try and befriend them, only to realize that she wasnāt interested once she truly got to know them, and nothing ever went further than friendship.
ariel fell in love with eric when she saw him, but it was definitely more the idealized and frankly made up version of him in her head because she didnāt know him at all.
at this point, ariel does not rule over the carinae sea as she has broken all three rules. she is 20 at the time of the movie, while an arguably young 20, but she needs to prove her maturity to her father before he allows her her birthright.
when she does rule, arielās kingdom is filled with music and joy. while her fatherās palace still resides in the carinae sea, the way she rules is completely different to him. āPrincess Ariel is said to rule her kingdom with an endearing kindness, and is beloved by all. In stories, Princess Ariel is revered for her remarkable singing voice and curiosity. She believes in the power of togetherness and unity, and she has a gift for seeing the best in her people.ā ariel also does her best to never forbid anything, especially when it comes to learning and exploring, even if/when her people seem to be caused more harm by it than help. she is looked down upon by her father and sisters because they find her to be completely naive. (and, she is in ways, but not to the degree they think) this frustrates ariel and often, while she doesnāt do it on purpose, causes her to listen to their advice even less.
tritonās constant overbearing and overprotective attitude over ariel did not help keep her in line as it did her sisters. she appears to be an outlier, as the rest of her sisters are more ātameā, and triton has an almost perception that he did something wrong with her, because she is so different to her sisters.Ā
especially on land but generally as well, ariel has a constant need to touch and stimulate her senses, to a point of social inappropriateness at times.Ā
if arielās singing, or even humming, you can hear it from incredible distances, even if sheās just speaking it projects in a way that can seem odd, never too loud when youāre close to her but she is almost always heard. recognizing this and her voice/existence in general is sure to get you a beaming smile, as she was used to having her every thought and want being disregarded by her family and royal staff at the palace.
ariel has an incredibly active imagination, and because of it can stay up for hours into the night, even laying down, thinking of scenarios and ideas and things to explore. sheās also an awesome storyteller.
arielās love language is learning <3 teach her anything and sheās immediately looking at with you with the most amazement and trust
ariel appreciates the sea a lot more once she spends time with eric on the surface and learns his fascination with it, as well as her no longer feeling as trapped in it
ariel is very much a darling to the merpeople in the carinae sea, and so a lot of people have suspicions about arielās grotto, as well as some have seen it themselves, unbeknownst to her, of course, and have kept it from the sea king.
arielās mother, who started her infatuation with humans as she had one herself before her passing, taught her how to read english from a very young age, which is why sheās able to read the books in her grotto.
when her father gives her the blessing of legs, ariel still has her other mermaid abilities, she is not human in any other sense but her legs. tritonās spell allows her to return to the water and her tail whenever she chooses.
honest girl honest girl honest girl āi canāt lie to you i wonātā and she always expects this kind of honesty from others, she will never doubt you unless proven otherwise and even then it has to be strong evidence
ariel doesnāt eat any meat, itās what her diet was like in the sea and it stays the same on land. it definitely has to do with her discomfort for the human culture for eating fish.
her draw to the boat in the lagoon is because she misses the water!!! even if she doesnāt realize it, she would never be able to remain on land, just for her own sanity, without ever being near water again.
ariel never wears heels again after she finds out that there are other options. she prefers the comfort of sandals or no shoes. if sandals, they are often shoes with little to no support because she doesnāt like how sturdy and firm they can get, itās uncomfortable.
ariel is a little bit shy about physical intimacy because itās never been something sheās been interested in before eric, and like frankly i think mermaids are pretty horny so ariel was used to the culture, it was just never something she ever did. when he tried to kiss her, she didnāt try to dodge him on purpose, she just gets a little fidgety and flighty when sheās nervous, and there was a lot going on that she wanted to see.
queen atlanta was her mother (changed from athena) and ariel looks like the near splitting image of her, as well as having her voice. arielās mother also had an infatuation with humans, which initially is was drew ariel to them. atlanta would take the family up to the surface, before she died, and while triton was careful about what humans he trusted, and the answer was little to none, atlanta was not. she had many human friends that she visited and trusted to be around her girls. one day while they are out, a boat approaches them rapidly and all of the children make it back into the water, but their mother does not. this raptures tritonās trust with humans completely. in reality, atlanta had befriended a human artist named duncan and posed for paintings. triton allowed this, thinking that humans weren't so bad. however kole, a rival artist, jealous of duncan's success and talent, tries to kill him by letting loose an avalanche, but atlanta, while pushing him out of the way, got crushed by the rocks herself. enraged, triton confronts kole, terrifying him and falls off the cliff. turning his anger to duncan and ready to destroy him, the voice of atlanta appears in the clouds asking triton to spare him. leaving with the unfinished painting of duncan's, he returns to the sea to mourn. ursula had interfered with queen atlantaās death, pretending to be kole to stir up trouble which resulted in the sea queenās death.
ariel was incredibly nervous to at eric wouldnāt want her anymore when she came back to him, she thought she had lost him but she knew she had to go back, because she had to see him again even if he didnāt want her.
arielās emotions are always displayed on her face, her heart is on her sleeve. she is incredibly easy to read as well as honest.
ariel and eric go on beach picnics frequently where eric brings her new foods to try, and ariel shows him fish that she calls up to the surface to meet them, one that heās never seen before. any date they go on is a favorite for her because itās all new, even if sheās been there before with him. sheās incredibly easy to please.
she adores wind chimes, especially those made out of seashells and sea glass, but especially little things she wouldāve collected when she lived in the sea, itās a new collection for her.