Sebastian is known as the anxious but proud advisor to King Triton and the court composer (a job which he takes very seriously). Throughout The Little Mermaid, the Jamaican crab had his work cut out for him keeping an eye on Princess Ariel, who was bound and determined to get into trouble.
The Little Mermaid is a fairy tale of Danish origin and was originally conceived by writer Hans Christian Andersen, who was best known for his riveting fairy tales. Andersen lived from 1805 to 1875. He published The Little Mermaid in 1837 as a part of a larger collection titled Fairy Tales Told for Children.
He says they were looking for the best actor for the role of any ethnicity who could not only sing but convey traits such as strength, passion, beauty, joy and intelligence, which they found in Bailey.
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.
However, their accents are always a clear indication of their true behavior and intention. In The Little Mermaid, for example, dialects range from Ariel's Standard American accent, to the French accent spoken by the evil Chef, and Sebastian's Jamaican accent.
Is The Little Mermaid set in Denmark or Caribbean?
“The Disney artists moved the story from the frigid Baltic of Andersen's native Denmark to a warmer, sunnier that suggested the Mediterranean, probably off the coast of southern Italy. Elements in the costumes and building suggest an equally vague time in the late seventeenth or eighteenth century.
Sebastian is from Trinidad, not Jamaica. The Little Mermaid creators Howard Ashman and Alan Menken had originally planned to have Sebastian be English, but they decided an “English butler” would be too stuffy.
Apparently, Sebastian was born in Jamaica and went to Music Academy in Trinidad prior to joining King Triton's staff as his assistant. "T'ank You for Dat, Ariel" reveals that he is somewhat insecure regarding his size.
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.
Ariel, is a fictional character, with no defined skin color in her original material. She was originally written by a Danish author in the 1800s. She has been portrayed in ballet and movies by Asian, Russian, and mixed-race individuals, her cartoon depictions are typically pale.
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.
Trinidadian English was initially based on a standard of British English, including having a non-rhotic accent. In the Americas, TE now uses many Americanisms, including apartment and trunk (of a car).
While some of Sebastian's features resemble a lobster, Sebastian is definitely a crab, as is stated in The Little Mermaid itself a few times. This includes the scene where the obsessed Chef Louis refers to Sebastian as a crab, and since he's a professional, he really should know.
Horatio Thelonious Ignacious Crustaceous Sebastian is a red Jamaican crab and a servant of King Triton, and also his main musical composer. His main song is "Under the Sea". He is voiced by Samuel E. Wright in the films, the TV series and the Sebastian segments from the Marsupilami series.
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.
In this novel, Ursula is King Triton's younger sister who was betrayed by him as a child for choosing a tentacled form instead of a mermaid's tail, and grew up as a human in the town of Ipswich with an adoptive human father.
Rather, Ursula's appearance is radically different from her family, and she sports tentacles that look like a permanent black dress. It's possible Ursula is not a mermaid in appearance because she and Triton did not have the same mother or father. If they're half siblings, Ursula's tentacles make more sense.
