The Little Mermaid: How did Ariel's mother die?
The new Disney cinematic masterpiece titled The Little Mermaid has received excellent reviews from both fans and critics.
The story is straightforward and heartwarming as it focuses on the exploits of an innocent mermaid named Ariel, whose fascination with the world outside the underwater kingdom grew with every passing day.
Unfortunately, she was not allowed to leave the ocean. The reason behind this was revealed at the start of the film: Ariel's mother was killed by a human being.
This was something new because the story of Ariel's mother had never been the focus of the franchise and proved vital to the overall plot as we got to know why the underwater kingdom avoided land and humans.
The Little Mermaid: Ariel's mother was crushed by a pirate ship
From the 2023 film, we learned that Ariel was very similar to her mother. She too was fascinated by land and humans. Before she departed, the underwater kingdom and the land were connected on a much deeper level. But her obsession with the outside world is what got her killed.
After her death, King Triton banned merpeople from going on land. This meant, Ariel got access to her mother's love for knowledge, but there was no way she could act upon them because of her father's rules.
Ariel even tried to argue with her father that just because one human murdered her mother did not mean every human was the same. But King Triton refused to listen to her daughter as he believed that every human was vile and murderous.
Ariel's mother never made an onscreen appearance. Neither did the film give any details on how she was murdered but there is information about the incident in the 2008 The Little Mermaid prequel titled The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning.
The film revealed that her mother was crushed by a pirate ship during a battle between merpeople and human beings. This incident completely changed the underwater kingdom and the new rules did not allow any merpeople to access land.
Thankfully, everything turned out to be fine in the end as King Triton finally accepted Ariel and Eric's relationship. Ariel was transformed into a human and the lovebirds got married and lived happily ever after.
The new film even revealed some other important details about certain characters, like Ursula and King Triton. It was revealed that the reason Ursula went against the King was because she was his own forgotten sister.
The Little Mermaid synopsis
The official synopsis of The Little Mermaid according to its trailer on YouTube reads:
“The Little Mermaid” is the beloved story of Ariel, a beautiful and spirited young mermaid with a thirst for adventure. The youngest of King Triton’s daughters and the most defiant, Ariel longs to find out more about the world beyond the sea and, while visiting the surface, falls for the dashing Prince Eric. While mermaids are forbidden to interact with humans, Ariel must follow her heart. She makes a deal with the evil sea witch, Ursula, which gives her a chance to experience life on land but ultimately places her life – and her father’s crown – in jeopardy."
Directed by Rob Marshall and written by David Magee, the film starred Halle Bailey as Ariel and Jonah Hauer-King as Eric.