| The Little Mermaid | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Illustrated by Helen Stratton | |||
| Naming | |||
| Others | Swanhild Marina Ariel Pearl | ||
| Original | Den lille Havfrue | ||
| Personal information | |||
| Species | Mermaid (originally) Human (briefly) Daughter of the Air (currently) | ||
| Gender | Female | ||
| Age | 15 at the time of death | ||
| Relations | Sea King (father) Sea King's mother (grandmother) Little Mermaid's sisters The Prince (love interest) | ||
| Occupation | Princess | ||
| Current status | Revived as a Daughter of the Air | ||
| Biology | |||
| Body type | Pisci-centaurian | ||
| Sentience | Sentient | ||
| Sapience | Sapient | ||
| Behind the scenes | |||
| Universe | The Little Mermaid | ||
| Created by | Hans Christian Andersen | ||
| Performed by | Fumie Kashiyama Pam Dawber Jodie Benson Sonja Ball | ||
The Little Mermaid is the originally unnamed protagonist of Hans Christian Andersen's eponymous fairy tale. In subsequent adaptations, she is variously given the names Swanhild (The Garden of Paradise, 1914), Marina (1975 animated film and 1991 animated series), Pearl (Faerie Tale Theatre, 1987) or Ariel (Disney franchise).
Biography[]
The Little Mermaid was a princess; the youngest daughter of the Sea King; and had five older sisters, each of them one year apart in age. She has been described as the prettiest among her sisters, with "eyes as blue as the deepest sea". In disposition, she has been described as a silent and thoughtful child, with a curious interest in the surface world. She decorated her private spot in the royal garden by planting red sea-flowers in a circular shape to resemble the sun, and while her sisters often enjoyed collecting objects from sunken ships, she has only claimed one item: a marble statue of a handsome young man.
When she completed 15 years of age, she was finally allowed to go to the surface and observed a ship where a young prince was celebrating his own birthday as well. She believed him to be not much older than herself, probably 16. When the ship unexpectedly suffered damage and started to sink, the mermaid risked her own life among the wreckage to rescue the young prince, and swam all the way to the shore with him. By the time the prince woke up, other people were already arriving to assist him, and the mermaid went back to the sea, lamenting the fact that the prince would never know that she was the one who had saved him.
Over the course of the next months, the mermaid's love for the prince didn't diminish, and she longed for an opportunity to be with him. Although she tried to keep her feelings secret, she eventually told one of her sisters the truth. The sisters managed to find out the prince's identity and showed the Little Mermaid where his palace was, so that she could always come to the surface to see him.
Still, even that was not enough, for the mermaid wished she could actually live by the prince's side and marry him. To do so, she sought help from the sinister Sea Witch, who brewed a potion that would transform the mermaid into a human girl. The Sea Witch did warn her that the transformation would be extraordinarily painful, and that her legs would continue to hurt, giving her agony with each step. She also warned that it would be irreversible, and that if the mermaid couldn't win the love of the prince, she would die and her body would still turn into sea foam in the next morning at dawn after he marries someone else; as is the fate of all merfolk, who don't have an eternal soul like humans and therefore can't move on to the afterlife. However, if the Little Mermaid did manage to win the prince's true love and marry him, then her transformation would be complete and she would gain a soul just like a human being's.
Having agreed to these terms, the mermaid was finally informed of the price that she would have to pay for the potion: her voice/tongue. That would make her quest to win the prince's love considerably more difficult, since she wouldn't be able to speak or to showcase her singing voice, which had always been regarded as beautiful by fellow merfolk. Still, the Little Mermaid didn't change her mind and willingly allowed the Witch to cut out her tongue and keep it as payment.
When she went ashore and drank the potion, the pain overwhelmed her to the point that she fainted. She woke up on the beach, with a pair of legs in place of her tail, and the prince took her in, believing her to be a mute foreigner with no place to stay. Even though she couldn't speak or sing, and each step she gave hurt like she was stepping on sharp knives, the former mermaid still managed to dance skillfully, and her dance was greatly admired by the prince. Still, although the prince was fond of her and even confided in her as a sister, he never truly fell in love with her. Instead, he fell in love with a princess of a neighboring kingdom and marriage was quickly arranged.
Heartbroken by this, the Little Mermaid knew that would mean death to her and that her body would dissolve into sea foam tomorrow at dawn. While staring into the sea after the wedding celebration, she saw her sisters with their beautiful long hair cut off, now reduced to short and rough haircuts. They explained that they had offered their hair to the Sea Witch in exchange for a way to prevent the Little Mermaid's death. The Witch forged a knife and instructed that the Little Mermaid should use it to kill the prince. If she did so before the marriage, she would transform back into her original shape and live the rest of her natural life as a mermaid, back home with her family.
The mermaid couldn't bring herself to do this, as she still loved the prince and preferred death to the thought of murdering him. Because of that, the divine powers took pity of her and when she died, she didn't become foam. Instead, she was turned into a Daughter of the Air - a type of being which also lives for 300 years, but which can gain an eternal soul at the end of that period, provided that they perform good deeds throughout their existence.
Appearances[]
- "The Little Mermaid" (original: "Den lille havfrue"), by Hans Christian Andersen (1837)
- The Garden of Paradise, by Edward Sheldon (1914)
- Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid (original: アンデルセン童話 にんぎょ姫), animated film (1975)
- Faerie Tale Theatre, s06e02, "The Little Mermaid" (1987)
- The Little Mermaid, animated film (1989)
- Adventures of the Little Mermaid, (original: 人魚姫マリーナの冒険) animated series (1991)
- The Little Mermaid, animated series (1992 - 1994)
- The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, animated film (2000)
- The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning, animated film (2008)
Gallery[]
