I hated Merida when I watched Brave for the first time. I watched it three times, thereafter, desperately trying to "love" her. I only managed to "like" her. The liking lasted about 4 -ish years, and now my original feelings about Merida have resurfaced. I still overtly dislike Merida being pitted as better than her predecessors ( especially Ariel and Mulan). Just because Brave made Merida disgusted with romance, doesn't mean Ariel is a bad role model for embracing romance, or Mulan is worse for finding someone at the end. (Brenda Chapman has all sorts of personal problems with romance and family life, herself, I think--- and boy, does her agenda show all throughout Brave). Merida does nothing of merit in Brave aside from wrecking the whole of her mother's life over a stupid argument, and then doing damage control when she sees the eventual tide of consequences washing into shore. Brave works as cautionary tale about what you should never do, when it comes to preserving relationships and respecting others. I love Brenda Chapman's Prince of Egypt ( which I find totally awesome). It was a sad day to find that Brenda's Merida is the exact opposite of Moses and Miriam's honorable characterization. Merida is mean-spirited, and is all of the nasty things that Walt Disney himself defined as "an ugly step-sister" in Cinderella.

Even the underrated Kayley shows much more empathy and integrity than Merida does. And Kayley is even more underrated than Merida is.

I DESPISE Merida! I love Kayley!

Hardly know anthing about her.

What's Kayley from?

^Quest for Camelot --> link

I've only seen Quest for Camelot once, and I'm sad to say that Kayley didn't impress me much. Merida is far more fun and enjoyable to watch onscreen. Her archery skills are amazing, and she isn't just naturally talented at it. She worked hard to learn how to get better, and that training and dedication paid off. When her mother was trying to force her to be someone she wasn't she took matters into her own hands, even if the result was bad. She grew to learn that her mother only had her best interests at heart, and then admitted her mistakes, apologized, and corrected them. That right there is why I love her. No other princess does that to the extent that Merida does.