Trivia. The name of Ursula's human disguise, "Vanessa", is derived from the Latin word "Vanitas", meaning "Vanity", "Worthlessness", "Emptiness" and "Nothingness". In an original draft for The Little Mermaid, Vanessa's role in the plot was quite different than in the final version.
[The Little Mermaid] (1989): Ursula's pseudonym, Vanessa, was an intentional reference. "Vanessa" was a name made up by Jonathan Swift (that's not an important part) for a character based on a woman named Esther Vanhomrigh, "Van" from her surname and "Essa" being a then-common pet name form of Esther.
In the past, Ursula was a resident of King Triton's palace, before being banished and exiled by order of the king. Scorned, she has since vowed to exact vengeance by harnessing the power of the king's trident and installing herself as ruler of all the ocean.
Description. Meet Uma, fierce leader of the high seas, daughter of Ursula, the sea witch, and the newest villainess-in-training in Disney's Descendants 2!
But in a desire to re-market these ladies to a chic clientele, it appears that they decided to shave more than a few pounds off of Ursula the Sea Witch and Alice in Wonderland's Queen of Hearts. Because in order to be fashionable, you must be thin. The fact is, Ursula was fashionable.
Although The Little Mermaid live-action confirms Ursula is Triton's sister, the Sea Witch does not have a mermaid's tale like Ariel. Rather, Ursula's appearance is radically different from her family, and she sports tentacles that look like a permanent black dress.
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.
Ariel kills the Sea Witch at the end of the movie.
At the end of the 1989 animated film, Eric saves the day and kills Ursula. But in the new movie, Ariel is no longer the damsel in distress. She takes matters into her own hands and kills Ursula herself.
Ariel makes this deal because she falls in love with Prince Eric and desires to be with him. Ursula specifically targets Ariel because she sees an opportunity to exploit her curiosity about the human world and her fascination with Prince Eric.
Lettie is finally able to do away with Ursula when she learns the monster's real name—Skarthatch of the Keep—and what Ursula is afraid of: the hunger birds. Ursula reappears briefly after the hunger birds eat her to torment the narrator, making him feel friendless and alone.
There, before Ursula is fully evil, she actually chooses to have octopus tentacles instead of the usual fishtails that mermaids have, and Triton betrays her because of her choice, banishing her from the kingdom.
Vanessa is Ursula's human alter ego from The Little Mermaid film. She is an extremely beautiful and seductive woman who brainwashes Prince Eric into loving her instead of Ariel.
Morgana is a villainess who appears in The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea. She is the infamous younger sister of Ursula and the older sister of Ulyana, but Ursula is worse than Morgana.
Scuttle is not only changed from male to female but is also now a diving bird instead of a seagull. "This was done specifically so that Ariel would only meet Scuttle underwater, because, at the start of our story, Ariel has never dared go above the surface," director Rob Marshall said in production notes.
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.
Ursula was initially going to resemble Joan Collins, however, basing the character on Divine made much more sense. "It just seemed like a funny and quirky idea," Minkoff added, "to take [Ursula] and treat her more like a drag queen."
One theory is that each of Ariel's sisters represents different oceans that are home to various cultures and ethnicities. It's pretty problematic to have mermaids who all look the same representing such an expansive underwater world.
Melissa McCarthy's version of Ursula is revealed to be King Triton's sister. The sea witch was banished and wanted power and revenge on her older brother, as well as his trident.
Athena was the wife of King Triton, and the mother of Ariel, Andrina, Arista, Aquata, Adella, Alana, and Attina. She was the Queen of Atlantica, and beloved by her family and subjects. She was noted for her singing talent and her love of music.
Carroll argued that made Ursula a squid, not an octopus: 'People call her an octopus and I'm so knowledgeable that I have to correct them and say: ''No, she is not an octopus, she is a squid''. She has six tentacles instead of eight,' she noted in a later interview.
