Why The Little Mermaid’s Ariel Is Unique Among Disney Princesses

Ariel of The Little Mermaid is just one of many classic Disney princesses, but she has one unique trait that separates her from her contemporaries. While every Disney princess has her own story, setting, and side characters, the whole group showcases many consistent similarities like beautiful singing voices, handsome royal love interests, and of course, Disney’s patented princess animal companions. Thus, it’s interesting to consider how Ariel’s one big difference makes her stand out from the rest.

Disney’s The Little Mermaid—like many other princess stories—is based on Hans Christian Anderson’s story of the same name from 1837. The traditional fairy tale is notably dark, featuring siren sisters who lure sailors to their death, a prince that’s more than a little creepy, and even a murder deal that turns into suicide. To top it all off, once the Little Mermaid makes her deal to swap her tail for legs, she has to feel the pain of being stabbed with knives every time she takes a step. For obvious reasons, the Disney version changes a lot of this story, as it does for many others. Because so many fables, folk tales, and historical stories are quite dark, Disney princesses differ from their fairytales significantly. And in Disney’s current wave of live-action princess remakes, of which The Little Mermaid will join the ranks in 2023, the tendency to keep things PG has largely remained in place, even if the live-action films are a bit more grown-up in some ways.

But there’s a key component of Ariel’s story that will certainly always stay the same, and it’s this detail that separates her from the rest of the Disney princess pack. Though she spends most of her movie looking like one, Ariel is not technically a human. She may end up with legs in the end, but she was still born a mermaid and retains certain unique abilities, such as being able to talk to sea creatures, even when in human form.

Disney princesses all go through changes, as transformations of a practical or magical nature are commonplace in Disney film lore. Examples include Mulan disguising herself as a man or Cinderella’s fairy godmother turning a pumpkin into a coach. Even Tiana from The Princess and the Frog spends a lot of time in an inhuman form; that of a frog. But all of these princesses, including Tiana, are still human beings in their original form, unlike Ariel. Other non-human princesses don’t technically count, either. The Lion King‘s Nala is a princess of sorts since her mate Simba is the leader of the pride, but she’s never been considered an official Disney princess. Tinkerbell from Peter Pan, who is a fairy, was for a time, but she was eventually replaced by Tiana. This means that Ariel truly is the only non-human Disney princess.

At the same time, The Little Mermaid‘s Ariel, whether siren or human at birth, chooses to remain on land with Prince Eric and keep her legs in the end. Thus, being a human could be said to be her truest form, even if she does turn mermaid again in the sequel film for a time. She’s also most often represented in human form in Disney princess group shots, though this could be more of a logistical issue since Ariel would stand out from the group if she were sitting on the floor beside them in a puddle. Ultimately, Ariel from The Little Mermaid blends in pretty seamlessly with the rest of the Disney princess crew, even if she’s unique for being something other than human at first.

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