I finished playing Kingdom Hearts earlier this week. I'm at Hollow Bastion in Kingdom Hearts II. So before I eventually get to the Atlantica levels with the infamous rhythm games where the translators apparently didn't even bother keeping the beat, I wanted to talk about an aspect of the first game's Atlantica levels that really got me thinking.
I wanna talk about Ariel.
Let me just say I love how the game put focus on Ariel's curiosity and desire to see what's beyond her home. I feel like that's an aspect that so many people forget about and instead reduce her to someone who only cares about dudes.
But there's a few things about her in the first Kingdom Hearts that really stood out to me.
Ariel isn't one of the Princesses of Heart. Before playing the game, I always found it odd that Alice isn't a princess but is considered one while Ariel isn't one of the Princesses of Heart. Now I know it's mainly because Ariel never turned human in this game and that'd be hard to work around. It's probably also because she's a party member, which leads to the next item on the list...
Ariel's kind of a badass. Granted, the Antlantica gameplay is different than all the other worlds because you're underwater. You can't jump or glide. That being said, in terms of underwater combat, having Ariel in my party helped a lot. I mean, she mostly just flips and whips enemies with her tail but it's enough. And she does this rapid corkscrew move that's very effective. I seriously did not expect Ariel to kick more ass than Jasmine in the game.
Triton knows about Keyblades (meaning Ariel knows by the end). I found this out before playing the game during the Snapcube fandub's cast commentary. Aside from the classic toons, Triton is the only non-villain from the Disney worlds in the game to directly acknowledge other worlds, Keyblade wielders and their responsibility to keep the world order in tact. Ariel being along for the ride the whole time means that she learns all this by the end, if she didn't already before. She also had a Keyblade in her grotto that she gave to Sora. (Okay, Jack Skellington and maybe others gave him one to but Ariel learned what they were).
Ariel knows about other worlds. Okay, this is kind of the same as the last point but stay with me. There's lot of talk in Kingdom Hearts about keeping the World Order and trying not to give away that you're not from around there. (This requires a massive suspension of disbelief but that's a lot to get into) But Ariel knows about other worlds, not just the surface that she longs to be part of. She knows Sora, Donald and Goofy aren't from Atlantica or even another ocean. She doesn't know what they hold but she wants to explore them and see what's in store. It's one of her final lines in the game.
So why am I bringing all this up? Well, Ariel can kick ass, meaning she probably wouldn't get kidnapped if she WAS a Princess of Light. Her father knows about other worlds and Keyblades. She knows about other worlds and had a Keyblade in her grotto. This all leads to my final point...
ARIEL SHOULD BE A KEYBLADE WIELDER AND DISNEY & SQUARE ENIX ARE FUCKING COWARDS FOR NOT LETTING IT HAPPEN
That would be friggin' amazing. I'm so serious right now. I want to see Ariel carry a Keyblade around and kill Heartless with it. I wanna hear Jodi Benson talk about Light and Darkness and Hearts. I want Ariel's daughter from that lame-ass direct-to-video sequel to be canon in Kingdom Hearts so that the story can go completely different. Ariel doesn't build a wall to keep out Ursula's crazy sister or fail to break the cycle of abuse. No, she protects her daughter with a big-ass key sword! There's your Little Mermaid 2 right there!
Oh, god, did I make the rambling nonsense post that no one is interested just so I could get that idea out of my head and not feel obligated to write a fic about it? What's wrong with me?
Ariel should still get a Keyblade though.
I wish I noticed my big-ass typo before people started reblogging this.
blakekathryn
pixelskylines
theartofmadeline
yousharknotpass
tangentwithtanner
