King Eric is the deuteragonist of Walt Disney's 1989 feature film The Little Mermaid. A minor character in its television series, and the tritagonist of direct-to-video sequel. The character is based on the "prince" character of Hans Christian Andersen's story "The Little Mermaid" but adapted by writer Roger Allers for Disney's film. The character is voiced by Christopher Daniel Barnes in the original film and the Kingdom Hearts video games, by Jeff Bennett in the prequel television series, and by Rob Paulsen in the direct-to-video sequel. In the 2007 Broadway musical version, the role was originated by Sean Palmer. In the live action adaptation, he is played by Jonah Hauer-King.
Background[]
Biography[]
Despite being royalty, Eric is an accomplished mariner who is often seen partaking in various duties aboard ships in his own fleet, emblematic of being a merchant prince. Eric is also displayed to be a skilled helmsman as he is seen steering ships in both the 1989 film and its sequel, the former his skill displayed where he skewers through Ursula in a split second hard turn to port in a derelict ship. He is often out at sea going on voyages ranging from a fishing expedition to battles at sea. He is often accompanied by Grimsby, his servant and personal confidant.
Personality[]
Eric is a hopeless romantic and appears to be quite dreamy, believing his true love certainly exists, but simply hasn't been found by the earliest points of the film. After being rescued by a mysterious girl with a beautiful voice, he immediately falls in love with her and makes it his primary goal to find her and marry her, feeling deep gratitude for her actions. Eric would later prove his commitment towards romance by risking his life at the climax for the safety of Ariel, proclaiming he's lost her once and refuses to lose her again.
As demonstrated in the first film, Eric is initially shy around girls, as seen in the love song "Kiss the Girl", where, although he did not know at the time that she had rescued him from drowning, he wanted to kiss Ariel, but was initially too shy to do so, however, he eventually overcame this shyness and would have kissed her, if it had not been for Flotsam and Jetsam tipping over the boat they were in. By the climax of the film, Eric's shy nature, regarding girls has completely disappeared. This is evidenced by the fact that, after Ariel is permanently transformed into a human by her father, Triton, he not only lovingly embraces the woman he loves very much, but they also share their first kiss.
Eric grimaces at the massive statue of himself given to him by Grimsby, suggesting that he lacks vanity and is not impressed by such an extravagant gesture.
Physical appearance[]
Eric has fair skin, a muscular physique, short black hair, and light blue eyes.
Eric's primary mode of dress is a white, long-sleeved collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up, teal blue trousers with a red sash, and black boots with lighter blue cuffs. His shirt collar is open to the point that it reveals his clavicles.
When he was saved by Ariel from drowning and ended up at the shore, his clothes were in shreds and he was barefoot, implying that he lost both his red sash and his boots after the shipwreck.
At the time he was hypnotized by Vanessa (who was Ursula in disguise), Eric wore a far more royal outfit. It is a navy blue long-sleeved royal uniform; it includes a black belt with a gold buckle at the midriff; gold buttons; redlining the collar, down the chest, and cuffs along with red epaulets; he wore a matching pair of dark blue trousers with red lining and black shoes. At his wedding to Vanessa (later Ariel), he wore another military uniform; a white coat with gold buttons and two vertical gold stripes lining the chest; a white sash, a navy blue collar and cuffs with gold lining and golden epaulets; blue trousers, and black boots with golden lining at their tops. He also wore white gloves. At the back of his coat, it has tail ends on each side.
During his fight against Ursula and rescues Ariel, Eric wears a combination between his primary outfit and his royal outfit; he retains his white long-sleeved collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up from his primary outfit and wears his blue trousers with gold linings and his black boots with golden lining at their tops from his royal outfit, after the defeat of Ursula he jump of the boat and swam to shore he lost his boots and was barefoot again.
In The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, Eric retains his primary outfit throughout the film. At the beginning of the film where they christened their daughter Melody, he wears his royal outfit at the end of the original film only his pants and boots are changed to white to match his military white coat. During Melody's 12th birthday, Eric retains his first royal outfit but in a minor color change which resembles his white military uniform. His royal uniform is white with the collar and epaulets are gold and his belt is also white, his trousers are now navy blue to match up to his black shoes.
Appearances[]
The Little Mermaid[]
Eric with his dog, Max
In a page of the film's 1997 official novelization by A.L. Singer, Eric is confirmed to be canonically two years older than Ariel. Through dialogue between him and his man-servant Grimsby, it is revealed that the kingdom is eagerly awaiting the day that Eric marries. Eric has turned down at least one princess as a prospective bride, claiming that he is still looking for the right girl. When a storm hits, everyone manages to escape to the lifeboat except for Eric, who swims back to save his dog, Max. In the process, he almost drowns, but he is saved by Ariel. She drags him to shore and sings to him, but before he can regain consciousness fully, Max and Grimsby arrive, forcing Ariel to dive underwater. When Eric is seen on-film again, he is haunted by Ariel’s voice, and has been searching the kingdom for her. When he crosses paths with Ariel again, she has traded her voice for legs, and though he initially finds her familiar, her lack of a voice makes him think that she cannot be the girl who rescued him. However, he brings her back to his palace and they spend time together. After some advice from Grimsby, Eric takes Ariel on a tour of his kingdom. That evening, the two go on a boat ride in which Sebastian leads a group of animals in a chorus of "Kiss The Girl", in an attempt to get Eric to fall in love with Ariel and kiss her, so that she can remain human. The two come close to kissing, but Ursula the sea witch's eels, Flotsam and Jetsam intervene by tipping over their boat. Later on, Grimsby advises Eric to forget about his "dream girl", and focus on the one "warm, caring, and right before his eyes". He apparently does so, throwing his fife (that he had been using to play Ariel's song) into the sea. But before he can approach Ariel, Ursula, disguised as a human girl named Vanessa, arrives and uses Ariel's voice to hypnotize Eric into believing she is the girl who saved his life, causing him to forget all about Ariel.
Eric almost marries Vanessa, but before the vows are completed, Ariel's friend Scuttle learns Vanessa's true identity and leads the same group of sea creatures that sang to Ariel and Eric on a mission to stop the wedding. During the chaos, the sea shell around Vanessa's neck containing Ariel's voice is smashed and the spell is broken. Ariel's voice is also restored, making Eric realize that Ariel is the girl he has been looking for. Before they can kiss, the sun sets and Ursula claims Ariel. Eric goes after them, diving into the sea to help Ariel. In the battle that follows, Eric climbs on to a ship and charges it towards Ursula just as she is about to destroy Ariel with the stolen trident, plunging the splintered prow into her.
Eric manages to reach the shore, and when he wakes, he sees Ariel, transformed back into a human, and the two embrace. The film ends with their wedding, at which Eric and Ariel exchange vows.
The Little Mermaid (TV series)[]
The prequel television series is set before the events of the 1989 film, and focuses almost entirely on Ariel. However, Eric makes very brief cameo appearances in three episodes.
The first cameo occurs in Season 1 episode "Thingamajigger". This episode implies that Eric plays a significant role in altering Ariel's perception of humans. Through dialogue, Ariel says that despite her fascination with human things, she is fearful of humans because of the stories she's been told since she was little. But when she witnesses Eric release a trapped dolphin from a net, she starts doubting the truth of those stories. To avoid messing up the film's story, Ariel does not see Eric's face, and Eric does not see Ariel at all.
In the Season 3 episode "Scuttle", Ariel and her friends stop a bunch of pirates from boarding a vessel, which turns out to be Eric's royal barge. Ariel does not see Eric at all, but Eric briefly glimpses Ariel from a distance, though Grimsby brushes it off as his imagination.
In a later Season 3 episode “Ariel’s Treasures", Eric is seen briefly aboard a ship, from which a human item falls and is later collected by Ariel.
The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea[]
In the 2000 direct-to-video sequel, Eric is a supporting character. Although happily married to Ariel the couple have a problem in protecting their daughter Melody from Ursula's sister, Morgana. Morgana blames everyone on board Eric's ship for killing Ursula although it was only Eric who skewered Ursula. Eric does not contribute to the plot, often playing a supporting role in helping Ariel or Melody. However, he was the one who convinced Ariel to temporarily transform into a Mermaid to help their daughter. In the end, he was reunited with Ariel and Melody as Humans and merfolk began celebrating together. This makes him the first and only supporting father of the Disney Princes in the franchise and this movie. Ariel's father was in the original however he was an antagonist of sorts.
House of Mouse[]
Eric appears as one of the guest stars in the 2001-2003 animated television series House of Mouse, usually sitting next to Ariel. His notable appearance is in the episode "Goofy's Valentine Date", wherein that episode Ariel was seen staring affectionately at him. In the same scene, Goofy reads out the valentine specials on the menu, sobbing away his misery for not having Valentine's Day date.
The Little Mermaid (Broadway)[]
In the 2007 Broadway musical adaptation of the Disney film, the role of Eric is originated by Sean Palmer and Drew Seeley is also playing the role. It is explained through dialogue that Eric's father has passed away, and it is Grimsby's duty to help Eric find a bride so he can return to the throne properly, despite Eric's affinity for exploring the seas.
Eric contributes singing vocals to the opening song "Fathoms Below", and performs two solo songs: "Her Voice", a song about Eric's obsession with Ariel’s voice that had been written for the original film but discarded, and "One Step Closer", a new song where Eric helps Ariel express herself through dance. Eric also provides vocals in the quartet "If Only", where he expresses confusion over his attraction to Ariel, and his fear that if he finds the girl with the right voice, he might lose Ariel.
A new subplot in the stage musical is a singing competition where the eligible princesses in all the land are invited to sing for Eric. The princesses perform in the song "The Contest", which is set to the tune of Ariel’s song "Part of Your World".
Kingdom Hearts II[]
Eric is a prince on the surface land near Atlantica. All his life, he has been living in ignorance about the mysteries of the sea world.
Eric was saved by Ariel after his ship was wrecked in a storm. While he was unconscious, Ariel sang to him, and when he woke up, he recognised nothing about Ariel than her voice.
Ariel & Eric.
To be able to be with him Ariel, signed a contract with Ursula that allows her to become human for three days in exchange for her voice, and unless she makes the prince kiss her before sundown of the third day, she will belong to her forever.
Eric met Ariel at the beach where he was brought ashore, but did not recognize her because of her loss of voice. On the second night, he and Ariel were out on a little boat and almost kissed, until Flotsam and Jetsam interrupted them. The next morning, Ursula turned into a human girl called Vanessa and cast a spell on Eric to make him fall in love with her. However, Sora interferes with her plan and breaks Ursula's charm, thus giving Ariel her voice back and breaks Eric out of the spell. Eric, having recognized Ariel, confesses his love to her, but Ursula takes her back to the sea.
He then rescues Ariel and defeats Ursula with the help of Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Upon her defeat, Ariel reveals to Eric about her true identity, but he admits that it does not change how he feels. The romantic scene makes King Triton finally change his mind and let his daughter be with a human prince.
In the ending credits, Eric and Ariel, having finally become human, are seen getting married in a ceremony gathered with humans and merpeople.
The Little Mermaid (2023)[]
Prince Eric as portrayed in the 2023 remake
Prince Eric appears in the live action remake of the original 1989 film, portrayed by Jonah Hauer-King. He is given his own original song, titled "Wild Uncharted Waters".
Gallery[]
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Trivia[]
- Prince Eric speaks the first non-musical line of The Little Mermaid is "Isn't this great?. The salty sea air, the wind blowing in your face!".
- Prince Eric's original voice actor Christopher Daniel Barnes was only 16 when he recorded his voice for Eric. The producers decided to cast him because he sounded much older than his actual age.
- In Kinect: Disneyland Adventures, Prince Eric is mentioned by Ariel: "Oh, I can't wait to dance with Eric. He's so handsome."
- In the original The Little Mermaid fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, the Prince is nameless and his love for the mermaid was strictly platonic.
- The Prince also married a different princess, whom he believed to be the one who saved him from drowning. As a result, the mermaid's heart broke; meaning that; she would dissolve into sea foam; by sunrise and she was forced to kill the prince in his sleep in order to regain her old life. But she loved the prince too much that; she chose death; instead.
- Eric is the first disney prince to be seen barefoot.