Ursula the Little Mermaid Evil Disney Princess

The Little Mermaid: Why Ursula Was Banished

The Little Mermaid introduced Ursula, the evil sea witch who was banished years before the events of the movie, but why? Let's take a look.

The Little Mermaid introduced viewers to Ursula, a villainous sea witch who tricked Ariel by taking advantage of what the young princess desired. In the movie, it's shown that Ursula lives isolated from the rest of the kingdom and doesn't attend any events, showing that she was banished at some point before the events of the movie, but why? Walt Disney Pictures has explored a variety of genres for decades and in different styles (live-action, animation, etc), but it's still best remembered for its animated features, mostly those starring female characters, of which most have made it to the Disney Princesses franchise.

Among the official Disney Princesses is Ariel, who was introduced in the 1989 movie The Little Mermaid. Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, The Little Mermaid is loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen's 1837 tale of the same name and tells the story of the mermaid Princess Ariel (voiced by Jodie Benson), who dreams of becoming human. One day, she rescues a young Prince named Eric (Christopher Daniel Barnes) after a storm wrecks his ship and falls in love with him. This drives her to make a deal with Ursula (Pat Carroll), who turns her into a human but takes her voice away. As in any other Disney movie, Ursula was defeated at the end, and Ariel had her "happily ever after" alongside Prince Eric.

Ursula's plan was not only to trick Ariel so she could own her but also to get rid of her so she could replace King Triton and thus rule over the oceans. However, her reasons to do so, for her resentment towards King Triton and company, and for her banishment and isolation weren't revealed in the movie, and her appearances in subsequent TV shows and movies didn't solve the mystery either – her appearances in The Little Mermaid TV series were all about her plans to take King Triton and Ariel down and rule over Atlantica, and though she was mentioned in The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea as the main antagonist was her sister Morgana, her backstory wasn't revealed. However, the musical version of the movie did include Ursula's backstory, finally answering the big question of why she was banished.

The Little Mermaid stage musical was based on the movie and used the music and lyrics by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, respectively, with additional lyrics by Glenn Slater. Although the story is the same as the one in the movie, it rescued a concept for the original movie that was eventually dropped, which is that Ursula and King Triton are siblings. When their father died, they were given equal share of the sea along with two magical items: the trident Triton always carries, and a magic Nautilus shell for Ursula. Triton and Ursula were meant to rule the seas together, but Ursula's greed began to grow and she tried to use dark magic to usurp Triton, leading to her banishment. However, the musical was later reinvented by Glenn Casale, who made Ursula and Triton the seventh and eighth of eight siblings, with Ursula killing their older siblings until she became Queen, but she forgot to get rid of Triton.

Ursula and Triton being siblings explains a lot about her motivations and actions in The Little Mermaid , especially how far she went to make sure Ariel failed, and thus Triton would do literally anything to set her free, such as giving up the throne. Taking the backstory given by the musical into account, it's up to the audience to decide if Ursula was right in wanting to take over the throne, if it was her right to become a Queen, or if she was blinded by greed and evil.

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About The Author

Adrienne Tyler (2950 Articles Published)

Adrienne Tyler is a features writer for Screen Rant. She is an Audiovisual Communication graduate who wanted to be a filmmaker, but life had other plans (and it turned out great). Prior to Screen Rant, she wrote for Pop Wrapped, 4 Your Excitement (4YE), and D20Crit, where she was also a regular guest at Netfreaks podcast. She was also a contributor for FanSided's BamSmackPow and 1428 Elm. Adrienne is very into films and she enjoys a bit of everything: from superhero films to heartbreaking dramas, to low-budget horror films. Every time she manages to commit to a TV show without getting bored, an angel gets its wings.

When she's not writing, you can find her trying to learn a new language, watching hockey (go Avs!), or wondering what life would have been like had Pushing Daisies, Firefly, and Limitless not been cancelled. Breakfast food is life and coffee is what makes the world go round.

Guillermo del Toro said "hi" to her once. It was great.

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Ursula the Little Mermaid Evil Disney Princess

Source: https://screenrant.com/little-mermaid-disney-movie-ursula-banished-reason/

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