Of course, the animated mermaids are the daughters of King Triton and Queen Athena, but that may change in the live-action version with the implication that Ariel's sisters have different mothers.
Each of Ariel's sisters has a distinct personality and role in the underwater world, representing different seas and having unique characteristics. While the animated versions of Ariel's sisters were less developed, the live-action remake gives them more significance and individuality in the story.
All of king Triton's daughters represent their own seas all over the world and as such they are all different ethnicities in the movie. It is not specified where the movie takes place, i.e. where Ariel lives but it's obvious it's not in Denmark.
In the animated film, Ursula was a villain who enjoyed messing with people and getting what she wanted. In The Little Mermaid live-action, however, Ursula's backstory gets an adjustment — she is upgraded to Triton's sister and Ariel's aunt, making her revenge and motivations all the more sinister.
Disney Princess Ariel's Siblings That No One Ever Talks About
Is Ursula Ariel's grandma?
Ursula was played by Melissa McCarthy in the 2023 live action remake of The Little Mermaid, directed by Rob Marshall. In this version, like with the Broadway musical, Ursula is the estranged younger sister of King Triton (played by Javier Bardem), thus making her the paternal aunt to Ariel and her sisters in this film.
While it is known that her mother perished, there is no story attached to the event. However, much later, in 2008, an animated The Little Mermaid prequel revealed that Ariel's mother was crushed by a pirate ship during an altercation between humans and merpeople.
On the significance of casting a Black actress as Ariel
Sherri Hope Culver: To have a Disney character who is not just a princess but a live-action, real flesh and blood person that children can be inspired by is important. This is because people of color are less likely to see themselves reflected in the media.
The backstory of Ariel and Eric's daughter. Let's break. down the tale of a princess who was half human and. half mermaid: the adventurous, kind, and brave.
The fourth Disney Princess, Ariel is the youngest daughter of King Triton and Queen Athena of an underwater kingdom of merfolk called Atlantica. She is often rebellious, and in the first film, she longs to be a part of the human world.
Ariel, in the Disney animated film, The Little Mermaid (1989), based on the classic fairy-tale by Hans Christian Andersen, is not a harmful creature, but a young mermaid who wishes to become human and join our world above water. Sirens, on the other hand, have different intentions.
The movie is loosely based on the fairy tale, so Disney has the freedom to give Ariel any skin color they want. In the 1989 movie, Ariel was born in the fictional underwater kingdom of Atlantica, which technically makes her Atlantican, not Danish.
Poseidon is the father of King Triton, and therefore the paternal grandfather of Ariel and her sisters. He is, presumably, the son of Triton's Grandpa Neptune.
“There's so much you can do with tentacles. They give a creepy feeling,” supervising animator Ruben Aquino told Premiere magazine in 1989, adding the team ultimately decided to make her look like an octopus.
The Little Mermaid (1989) explains that Ariel's mother was taken by pirates in the Mermaid Lagoon - a location also prominent in Peter Pan - and killed in the process. Fans have theorised that Captain Hook is the one who attacked Ariel's mother, Athena, and it is her likeness that rests at the hull of his ship.
Triton tosses Melody's locket into the sea and departs. Ariel and Eric then have a large sea wall constructed around the castle to separate the two worlds. Melody, 12 years later. Melody grows up as an ordinary human princess, unaware of her Atlantican ancestry, and banned from entering the sea.
And while creators of The Little Mermaid originally wanted Ariel to have blonde hair to stay in keeping with the fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen, Splash's massive popularity was still too hot to ignore. So, in a bid to stand out from the crowd, an iconic change was given to the underwater princess.
The reason studios make beloved characters black in the live action adaptations is so they don't have to go to the trouble of actually giving special, brand new unique characters made from scratch to black people.
There are several instances when Eric's mother Queen Salina (Noma Dumezweni), who is Black and adopted him as a child when he washed up from the ocean, chastises him for his obvious love for beings that are considered other.
Though it looked like King Triton was dead, Ariel's defeat of Ursula resurrected him. It's possible Ursula held merpeople captive for eternity, but the spell was no longer active after her death, setting Triton free of the contract and restoring him to full health.
The original character in the 1989 movie was inspired by the triple threat drag queen, actor, and singer Divine, a fact that was mere speculation at first, but has since been confirmed by those involved with the film. Divine catapulted to cult fame after appearing in Pink Flamingos, John Waters' filthy 1972 comedy.
