A Deep Dive into Ariel’s Mermaid Sisters In THE LITTLE MERMAID (2023)

There’s a lot to love about this year’s live-action THE LITTLE MERMAID. But one of the least discussed and most delightfully intriguing parts of the film are Ariel’s mermaid sisters. Each mermaid sister felt like they inhabited their own story in their own world in their own film. And most importantly, they all felt like a family. Considering their limited camera time, this is a remarkable accomplishment. And moreover, I believe that much thought was still given to each sister by the filmmakers. And hopefully after reading this post, you’ll understand why. I want to take a closer look at all of the narrative and visual cues that filled in the backstories of these sisters, extrapolating more about their stories, and speculate how each might fit into Ariel’s own story and complicated family dynamics. And thanks to some of the expanded materials, specifically THE LITTLE MERMAID: GUIDE TO MERFOLK by Eric Geron and THE LITTLE MERMAID novelization, that were released alongside the movie, we can draw conclusions about which real life oceans that each sea represents.

Ariel’s six mermaid sisters actually have a long and mildly complicated Disney history. The sisters began as unnamed characters in 1989’s original animated feature and were largely placed in the background for various set pieces set in and around King Triton. However, the characters were expanded upon in the third feature of the animated franchise: 2008’s “The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning” and were finally given personalities and names: Attina, Andrina, Adella, Aquatica, Alanna, and Arista. But Ariel’s sisters in the 2023 live-action THE LITTLE MERMAID diverge from this continuity in name, personality and origin. They are: Mala, Karina, Indira, Caspia, Perla, and Tamika.

So, what do we know about these sisters from the movie? First, each sister rules over a different sea – each representative of the mythical seven seas. Triton even calls them, “my daughters of the seven seas.” Accordingly and appropriately, the seas are given fictional, mythical, names – which makes sense. I mean why would Triton’s ancestors give his seas the same names as humans whom they hate so much. This adds another layer of mystery to the sisters. Luckily, each sister has been designed in the spirit of the sea and each sea has associated real sea life in their specific ocean (per Geron’s GUIDE TO MERFOLK) – which helps to give us clues as to their actual global location. For instance Ariel rules the “Carinae Sea” which is described as having warm and crystal clear waters, potentially meant to invoke the Atlantic Ocean in and around the Caribbean Islands. Having seen the film and the environments that Eric and Ariel frequent, this seems like a good guess. But what about those other sisters? Let’s take a look at each of them, their personalities, the qualities of their kingdom, their associated sea life and even what they conveyed during the film.

PRINCESS MALA OF THE CHAINE SEA

Princess Mala is played by Karolina Conchet, and she rules over the “The Chaine Sea”. The sea is know for its shallows and islands. And fish associated with the Chaine sea include the Baiki, sea turtle, hairtale, black scraper, and the grey whale. These are all examples of sea life found in and around China. In fact, the Baiji is even known colloquially as “the chinese river dolphin.”

Interestingly, Princess Mala in GUIDE TO MERFOLK as someone who used to have communication with humans. In fact, she used to send messages to humans through great crested terns. But once King Triton found out, he promptly put an end to it. She also seems to have a concerned and compassionate worldview as when Ariel confronts the sisters when they are working on the shipwreck, Mala openly wonders, “what is going on with her??”

Also if you have a chance to pick up the book GUIDE TO MERFOLK, there are some wonderful illustrations of the kingdom of CHAINE which definitely evoke China’s architecture including tiered towers, curved roofs, and steps. The culture of the CHAINE sea is said to have produced skilled artists in opera and acrobatics. And on holiday, merfolk in the Chaine Sea go to the opera. Though not definitive, in my estimation the world of Princess Mala is probably meant to evoke the East China Sea in the Atlantic Ocean.

PRINCESS TAMIKA OF THE FRACUS SEA

Princess Tamika, ruler of the Fracus Sea, is played by Sienna King. Tamika is perhaps the most skilled tactician of the sisters. The sea is known for its strong currents and storms. Some of the sea life that is featured in this kingdom includes the lionfish, thresher shark, crown butterfly fish, the great moray eel, and the great barracuda – all creatures featured in sub-tropical environments surround Africa. Interestingly, the sea meets with the Dianian Ocean (more on that in a minute). The city limits of the great Coral City at the heart of the Fracus Sea is bordered by an enormous sea wall drop off – perhaps representative of Mauritus’s Great Underwater Waterfall.

And the architectural illustrations of Coral City in MERFOLK remind me a bit of the traditional architecture from THE LITTLE MERMAID (1989). Considering her character design infuses deep purples and orange, colors associated with African history, and factoring in the fish and the potential reference to Mauritus, I would guess that the Fracus Sea would be located towards the south of Africa and in the east near Madagascar in the Indian Ocean.

PRINCESS KARINA OF THE SAITHE SEA

Princess Karina, played by Kasja Mohammar, is the ruler of the Saithe Sea – also known as the Dark Sea (not said in the film but mentioned in the novelization and GUIDE TO MERFOLK). Karina appears to be strong willed, intuitive, and very protective of the sea – to the point that she shares her father Triton’s hatred of humans. In the film, when the sisters collectively clean Eric’s shipwreck, she reminds Ariel sternly, “They’re (humans) careless, Ariel. It will take thousands of years for this coral to grow back.” Shortly thereafter she reminds Ariel that, “They’d (humans) kill us too if they had the chance.”

The waters of the Saithe Sea are typically coated in ice and feature harp seals (which Karina is particularly protective of), wolffish, bowhead whales, and Atlantic salmon. When you factor in ALL of these fish one can pinpoint the location to somewhere in the north, far north Atlantic, perhaps as high up as the subarctic (where bowheads are usually found).

One of the coolest things about the Saithe Sea is that it is home to the Water Nokk – canonically mentioned in GUIDE TO MERFOLK – meaning that perhaps Ariel and Elsa and Anna may all be sharing the same universe.

The environment of the Saithe Sea is ice covered (as previously mentioned), with frigide depths with green water and a jagged seafloor. Karina’s character design showcases the icy blue and whites associated with The merfolk live in a city carved beaneath floating icebergs (really cool illustrations in GUIDE TO MERFOLK). They also love watching a snow fall from wholes in the icebergs where they live. All of this adds up to intuit the Saithe Sea is likely the location of the Arctic Ocean in the northernmost parts of Canada and Greenland.

PRINCESS INDIRA OF THE BRINEDIVE SEA

Princess Indira, played by Simone Ashley is the ruler of the Brinedive Sea, known for its hot and sunny weather and its warm waters. The Brinedive Sea is located between the Dianian Ocean and the Brinedive Peninsula. Recall that the Fracus Sea also touches upon the Dianian Ocean. If Tamika is the tactician and Karina is the emotional sister, then Indira is the politician, skilled in diplomacy, manipulating those in her court and even King Triton himself. Sea life in the Brinedive sea include the bottlenose dolphin, tuna, hammerhead shark, moonfish, and sea cucumber.

The Brinedive, also like the Fracus, has architecture that is very similar to that seen in the original 1989 THE LITTLE MERMAID. And those merfolk citizens of the Brinedive also bask on rocks and coasts alon the ocean – making them likely one of the most spotted groups of merfolk. Also the merfolk often use dust clouds UNDER the ocean as a natural line of defense. And Indira’s colors in her visual design seem to reference desert vistas and sunsets. Using all of these sea and cultural cues, I think we can say that the Brinedive is likely in the middle of the Indian Ocean, possibly an analog for the Arabian Sea, and bordering countries like Pakistan and Western India.

PRINCESS PERLA OF THE PITON SEA

Princess Perla, played by Lorena Andrea, is ruler of the Piton Sea. She is a charismatic leader and a beloved ruler of a sea characterized by temperate and calm waters. In GUIDE TO MERFOLK it is noted that the sea creatures in and around the Piton Sea include the Dusky Dolphin, the Elephant Seal, the Sea Otter and the Penguin!

The Piton Sea is also home to a great kelp forest. This is really important as there is a large “kelp forest” off the coast of Chile. The merfolk of the Piton Sea also like music and one of their favorite dishes is sea urchins wrapped in sea kelp. This was really interesting to me because merfolk eat sea creatures (albeit invertebrates). I think one of the most interesting things showcased about Perla in the movie is the way she is able to diffuse a situation. When most of the sisters seem bothered by Ariel’s quick exit at the shipwreck scene, Perla is quick to remind them, “She’s just at the age when she doesn’t want to hang out with her older sisters anymore.”

PRINCESS CASPIA OF THE APNEIC SEA

Princess Caspia, played by Nathalie Sorrell, is the ruler of the Apneic Sea and is known as the most generous of the sisters, she is also protective and values knowledge per the novelization and GUIDE TO MERFOLK. The Apneic Sea, which is known for its murky and brackish waters can be remote and therefore Caspia created a river that cuts through the Dianian Ocean to the Chaine Sea so that she can visit all of her other sisters. I don’t know quite why, but I really responded to Caspia’s backstory. She might be my favorite of the mermaid sisters and I collected her doll when I saw it in the store. I think her general outlook on life, positive attitude, and the way that Nathalie Sorrell plays her in the movie combine to make the most memborable sister, for me at least. She also may be a bit of a troublemaker as, when Ariel swims away frustrated, Caspia reminds the sisters with a wry smile, “Don’t you remember what I was like (at Ariel’s age)?”

Anyway, the sea life for the Apneic includes the great stugeon, the pike, the sterlet, and the chub! The Apneic sea is home to many sunken ships (perhaps showing why Caspia was so good at helping clean up shipwrecks in the actual movie). It is a brackish sea with deep depths and depressions that are said to be haunted towards their lowest depths. The environment and sea life appears to be representative of the Caspian Sea and Eastern European bodies of water in and around Siberia including Black Sea, Azov Sea, Caspian Sea, and Baltic Sea.

So that’s it. And for me it was fun to see which seas are represented in THE LITTLE MERMAID and to what extent each mermaid was designed both in personality and looks to mimic their associated bodies of water. I do hope at some point – maybe in the upcoming Disney Junior series, we get to see what each of these sisters is like, directly from the characters, and also see how they interact with Ariel. Which mermaid sister did you like best?