The red-headed star of The Little Mermaid, Ariel is the youngest of seven daughters of Triton , king of the Oceans. She has a beautiful singing voice and gorgeous red hair.
Ariel's only real friends are Flounder (a cute little fish) and Sebastian (carribean Crab). Ariel falls in love with, and marries, Prince Eric, giving up her mermaid form.
Prince of a seaside kingdom, Eric had been searching for his true love when fate stepped in and he is rescued from a watery grave by Ariel (who falls instantly in love with him). Eric is haunted by her voice (Disney's attempt to add authenticity to the story. Ulysses (Odysseus),in mythology, ties himself to the mast of his ship to stop himself from being dragged under the waves by the seductive voices of the mermaids). Eric searches for the source of the voice only to discover Ariel, voiceless and alone on the beach.
After much excitement, he discovers that she is the one he was searching for, Ariel.
As King of the Ocean, Triton commands much respect from everyone in the seas. He has trouble convincing his youngest of seven daughters to obey his laws about humans. As a result he ends up forbidding her from seeing Eric thus causing her to go to Ursula and there is another major event in the story......
Since childhood, Flounder's best friend has been Ariel. He is very timid and shy and often gets tongue tied. A very cute little sidekick , Flounder is a colorful addition to the movie.
A Carribean Crab, Sebastian is brought to be the court composer and tutor to Ariel.When not working, he follows Ariel around, trying to keep her out of trouble. He follows Ariel onto the land when she goes in search of Eric, and lends his voice to the beautiful love scene when he and the animals of a lake sing "Kiss the girl".
Ursula is a cross between an octopus and a human, she has arms and tentacles. Once a member of Triton's court, Ursula was banished in disgrace (for something we never find out about , although who is triton's wife?) She possesses great magic and the occassional merfolk come to her to get help. She helps them for a price that is usually too high. She tries to spoil Ariel's attempt to woo Eric by using Ariel's voice to enchant Eric and change herself to a human named Vanessa.
A seagull whom Ariel turns for (incorrect) knowledge on the human things she finds. Scuttle definitely has trouble cutting to the chase when talking.
The French cook of Eric's castle. Sings "Les Poissons" and tries to kill Sebastian.
One of Eric's advisors. He gives eric a statue of the prince for his birthday present. He also desperately wants Eric to marry a princess.
