Even despite the fact that I love Ariel, she possesses a defining tendency to be selfish and selfless at the same time for all the different reasons. She'd risk herself for Eric multiple times and actually succeed in saving his life with it being evidently established in the movie that he would not have been able to make it out on his own while not taking her family's interests in consideration - which is quite ironic because they never took her outlooks and opinions in consideration either therefore I suppose it runs in a family.

I can't pick.... none of them.
I guess Ariel will win this, but I never considered her selfish, she is just follow her dreams and her heart's desire. I don't think so that would be a selfish act.

I wouldn't say she is but out of all these probably the most, not that it's a bad thing

tiffany88 I entirely agree with you that Ariel's determination to pursue her long term dream and achieve her goal of moving away to live in a place where she felt more comfortable, happy and content was none of a selfish act, but the point the movie - in my opinion - was trying to make is that neither Ariel nor her father & sisters had the wisdom to consider or at the very least respect and acknowlege the validity of each other's outlooks hence Ariel's rebellion. Had Triton been more considerate and accepting or possessed an ability and willingess to examine things including his own judgements and conclusions from different angles and had Ariel put a certain amount of effort into understanding where he was coming from, especially in regards to his continuous and systematic emotional struggle related to his issues with humans and processing his point of view/perspective the primary conflict of the movie as well as Ariel's rebellion could have been avoided... which would have been the dead end seeing as there would have been no movie in the first place.

Definitely. She's extremely selfish!

Dunno, she just came to my mind first.

I never thought Ariel was selfish. And she didn't just leave the sea for Eric...she had a love for humans and the land all her life. She sings Part of your World before even really meeting him. So she was in love with the land and being human too..she didn't just leave her family for a guy. It was more than that. She just came to mind first cuz I thought "Well surely Ariel will win this one."

She might even be more selfish than Merida and Jasmine put together

Definitely! Leaving your loving family just for a guy, you don't even know, is selfish!

BelleAnastasia LMAO I have so many arguments against the "JUST for a guy" and "LOVING family" part, but you are clearly uninterested in examining and analyzing the situation in objective and unbiased manner. Because Part of that world sang by Ariel prior to her even laying her eyes on Eric as well as Triton destroying everything his daughter had been working on for years due to his unwillingess to take her opinion in consideration or at least respect her outlooks is the epitome of "leaving your LOVING family JUST for a guy". And no, don't try to tell me that Triton used his physical and authoritative superiority on behalf of Ariel's safety therefore his actions should be regarded as a mere concern. An act of verbal abuse is exactly what it stands for no matter what the motives might be.

Definitely

@maryksand: Lol! She didn't have the courage to become human UNTIL she met Eric! And Ariel also didn't take into consideration Triton's view! Actually she didn't give a damn about him. So why should he consider her point of view? Everybody who loves Ariel is always so biased and always blames Triton, but Ariel also did not care at all about his opinion.

^ Nope, she did very much consider becoming a human prior to meeting, falling in love with and saving Eric hence the Part of That World song where she clearly and blatantly expresses her desire to one day integrate herself into the life on land because she perceived it as a more suitable and comfortable living place contrary to the sea where she felt like she never belonged and seeing as she was close to adulthood she had a complete entitlement to looking forward to moving away from her family. Back then she directly stated that she would give a lot if she could "live out of these waters", all of it happening prior to her (one sided) encounter with Eric. Fastforwarding to the point where she started developing feelings for him, the first and the only option she initially considered was going and meeting him in a MERMAID form with Scuttle and Flounder's help. Not untill her father destroyed everything she had been working on for years, putting immense effort into collecting those items, some of which nearly cost her life, did she turn to Ursula choosing a rebellion as the only way to go about her goals and aspirations after her father clearly established his position of disrespect, dismission and inconsideration in regards to her views and outlooks. Ariel did not consider Triton's view and neither did he. That's exactly why I mentioned previously that they BOTH were selfish when handling the relationship with one another. And for the record I love Triton and sincerely believe he tried his hardest to be a good father however attempts at thoughtful and healthy parenting don't always turn out to be or end up being successful.

^ But say if Triton turned Eric into a merman, do you believe that Ariel would have still chosen the life on land, despite that Eric would have been under the sea and this would have meant eternal separation?

Not exactly getting your point... firstly, Eric NEVER wanted to be a merman contrary to Ariel who had been dreaming of being a human for the most of her life and invested an immense effort into exploring and collecting information in that regard for a significantly long periode of time. Had Eric been an entiely different person, with different goals and aspirations their romance might not have happened in the first place and Ariel might not have fallen in love with him per say. In the end of the day, Ariel would have still been set out to fulfill her long term goal of living on land, especially if we take the tv series in consideration where she went to a Star Fish in order to get "two tails" (a non-specific term she used to describe legs back when she wasn't aware of the actual term) and obtain at the very least a certain feature to share with human beings, for starters, which was a clear indication of her willingess to expose herself to major and profound changes and transformations for the sake of getting closer to her initial dream fulfillment and consequently becoming a part of the human world.

But not in a bad way - I agree with tiffany88 :)

@maryksand: My point was that if Eric was turned into a merman, Ariel would have never gone on land. She would have stayed in the ocean. She might have dreamed to become a human, but without meeting Eric, she would have never get the courage to become one. Only after she met him, and her father destroyed the statue, she decided to go to Ursula. Remember how the eels used the broken face to persuade her. So, despite that she wanted to be human even before she met Eric, he was the one to give her courage to pursue her goal. So in a way she indeed changed herself for a man and became a human mainly so she can be with him.

@BelleAnastasia Eric might have been a driving force COMBINED with her father's lack of consideration and understanding which resulted in him entirely destroying her collection, but Ariel did NOT change herself for Eric. She changed herself into a form she desired to obtain long before even seeing Eric with multiple evidence and indication highlighting this fact both in the original movie and tv series, regardless of whether Eric or her feelings for him contributed to her ultimate decision or not (and said contribution was fairly minimal compared to Triton's act of violence which ended up being the primary reason why Ariel even considered turning to Ursula in the first place seeing as she was intending to go and see Eric in a mermaid form RIGHT before the incident occured). Eric couldn't have been turned into a mermaid by default because it wasn't what defined his desires and aspirations nor was an established part of his characterization. Ariel's ambition and goal of becoming a human was exposed to the audience from the very start of the movie, ultimately setting all of it's events in motion in the first place.

Easily. What she care is only her own happiness.

her and jasmine

lol who picked Mulan and Aurora?