When it was released by Disney in 1989, The Little Mermaid became a phenomenon for children around the world. With the iconic Ariel inspiring a generation to want to be mermaids and live out an exciting life under the sea. What a lot of people didn’t realize is that the film is a (loose) adaptation of an 1837 Hans Christian Anderson book.
We’ve collected ten of the biggest differences between the hugely successful film, and the Fairytale that inspired it.
The Names
In the original Fairytale, Hans Christian Anderson didn’t give his characters names, per se. The three most important characters who are common to both versions are each referred to as The Little Mermaid, The Sea King, and The Sea Witch. You can see how this might have become a bit of a marketing/merchandising problem for Disney.
As such, they have these characters the names Ariel, King Triton, and Ursula, respectively. Beyond that, the comic relief of Sebastian, Flounder, and Scuttle is all missing from the book, while The Grandmother doesn’t have a role in the film.
Ariel’s Motivation
As it was a Disney film, there had to be an element of unrequited love combined with helpless-princessness. As such, Ariel fell in love with Eric from the first time she saw him and went on a mission to change herself in order to suit the needs of a man. Classic Disney. The book version of Ariel was far more brutal, vowing to marry a man in order to gain an immortal soul. If she didn’t end up marrying a human, she would live until the ripe old age of three hundred, but then turn to sea foam.
Ursula’s Existence
The book’s equivalent to Ursula is simply named The Sea Witch. She isn’t exactly a lovely lady, given the fact that she lives on the bones of drowned sailors, but she doesn’t have the same evil heart of Ursula.
While Ursula is a strange octopus-like being with the desire to gain from Ariel’s desires, The Sea Witch pretty much sits back and helps Ariel get on with it, without taking any real personal gain. On top of this, it is The Grandmother who explains how to get her immortal soul, while the film shows Ursula explaining the film equivalent.
The Surface
In the film, the surface is seen as a terrible place that mermaids should never explore. As such, Ariel’s actions are seen as a betrayal of the King’s (AKA her father) orders. Her less adventurous sisters are never seen even attempting to go to the surface. In the book, it is actually completely fine for a mermaid to adventure to the surface as soon as they turn fifteen. While Ariel does this frequently out of her own desire, her sisters aren’t so interested. They are shown to explore the surface but realize that they’d rather be in the sea anyway.
Ariel’s Thingamabobs
We all know the song. The film version of Ariel is very happy with the collection of human things and loves to sing about everything she’ll do when she can walk around and own items like forks. Obviously, the book didn’t have the song available to get kids across the world singing about such mundane items, or the character of Flounder to provide her with some of them. Instead, the book version of Ariel has a garden with some flowers and a tree, as well as the statue of the book version of Eric.
The Transformation
Given that The Little Mermaid was aimed almost exclusively at children and needed to gain a rating that would be suitable for any audience to watch, they had to really dial back the violence.
As such, the film shows that Ariel’s acquisition of legs doesn’t hurt, and her voice is simply stored inside a shell. Also, if she fails, the witch ‘owns’ her. The book describes Ariel having legs as incredibly painful, and she cuts out her tongue entirely. On top of that, if she fails, she dies right there and then.
The Prince’s Marriage
In the book, The Little Mermaid and The Prince meet, without him taking her overly seriously. He sees her as more of a novelty or a pet, than a potential future wife. On top of that, the whole time this is going on, he is having a potential marriage arranged for him. In the book, Eric seems to fall in love with Ariel almost straight away, which is pretty convenient for her.
The Princess
In a cold, cruel twist of fate for The Little Mermaid, the book sees The Prince find and marry a totally different princess. They fall in love long before he can fall in love with Ariel, and she has to watch as they get married aboard a boat.
With the novelty of having Ursula as a character, the films use her to intervene and fall in love with Eric instead. She disguises herself as a princess and steals Ariel’s voice, making Eric fall in love with her. The two are about to marry when he plan is finally foiled.
Near-Death
After her plan fails, The Little Mermaid needs to find a way to avoid death. Apparently, the best way to do that (and to simply be returned to her previous state) is to kill The Prince. It is a much darker turn that the film takes, and ends up with her sisters trading their hair for a knife. The film sees King Triton attempting to trade his life for that of Ariel’s, while Eric is very nearly killed anyway, but this time it is through Ursula dragging him under the sea in a massive whirlpool.
The Ending
The final moments of The Little Mermaid are probably where the two versions differ the most. Obviously, the Disney film had to have a happy ending. Eric is able to kill Ursula, bringing Triton back to life and marrying Ariel.
The book is almost the exact opposite. She can’t bring herself to kill The Prince, so throws the knife and herself into the sea, effectively killing herself and turning into foam. Brutal.