The following is a list of original characters from Disney's The Little Mermaid franchise, covering the 1989 film, its prequel television series, its direct-to-video sequel and prequel films, stage musical adaptation, and the live-action adaption.

Introduced in The Little Mermaid Ariel

Ariel (voiced by Jodi Benson and portrayed by Auli'i Cravalho in The Little Mermaid Live!, Sierra Boggess in the Broadway musical and portrayed by Halle Bailey in the 2023 live-action film) is the protagonist of the franchise. The seventh-born and the youngest daughter of King Triton and the late Queen Athena of the merfolk, Ariel is a fun-loving and mischievous mermaid who, over the course of the original film, becomes human and marries Eric, a human prince. She is the only Disney Princess to reach parenthood in Disney's history, although in a direct-to-video sequel, as in The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, Ariel is the mother of Melody, the film's protagonist.

Prince Eric

Eric is based on the "prince" character of Hans Christian Andersen's 1837 fairy tale "The Little Mermaid", but was adapted by the writer-directors Ron Clements and John Musker for the film adaptation. According to the film's screenplay, Eric had just turned eighteen in the film, which would make him two years older than Ariel. Prince Eric is the only prince in the Disney Princess franchise not to sing in an original movie.

Eric is an eighteen-year-old human prince who lives in a castle in a small coastal town in Europe. After Ariel saves him from drowning in a storm at sea, she drags him to shore and sings to him, leaving Eric haunted by her voice. He searches the kingdom for her to no avail; when he crosses paths with Ariel again, he is unable to identify her, as she has given her voice to Ursula in exchange for legs. He brings her back to his palace and develops feelings for her as they spend time together. However, before he can approach her about them, Ursula, disguised as a human girl named Vanessa, hypnotizes Eric, forcing him to forget about Ariel and believe that Vanessa is the one who saved his life. He nearly marries Vanessa, but Ariel and her friends intervene, breaking Ursula's spell and restoring Ariel's voice to her. Eric realizes that Ariel is the girl he has been looking for, but before they can kiss, the sun sets and Ursula claims Ariel. Eric dives into the sea to help Ariel, and, in the ensuing battle, climbs onto a ship and kills Ursula by impaling her on its prow.

Eric makes cameo appearances in three episodes of the prequel television series: "Thingamajigger" in a non-speaking appearance, "Scuttle", and "Ariel's Treasures".

In the 2000 direct-to-video sequel, Eric is a supporting character. Although he and Ariel are happily married, in order to keep their new daughter Melody safe, they raise her away from the sea, keeping her mermaid heritage secret. They are attacked by Ursula's sister Morgana, who wishes to avenge Ursula.

In the 2007 Broadway musical, the role of Eric was originated by Sean Palmer. Following the death of Eric's father, 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". At the end of the performance, Ariel dances for Eric, and he chooses her. The role was also performed by Drew Seeley.

In video games, Eric appears in Kingdom Hearts II in the world of Atlantica. Eric also appears in the video game Disney Magic Kingdoms, as a playable character to unlock for a limited time. In Disney Dreamlight Valley, Eric is one of the villagers of the titular valley.

In the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, he performs an original song for the character named "Wild Uncharted Waters", where he dreams of going on adventures and voyages.

Sebastian

Horatio Thelonious Ignacious Crustaceous Sebastian is a red Trinidadian-accented crab. He is the servant and advisor of King Triton, and his main musical composer and best friend. His main songs are "Under the Sea" and "Kiss the Girl".

The character was developed solely for the Disney film and is not derived from the original Hans Christian Andersen story. Early on in the writing and development of the film, the character was originally an English-butler lobster named Clarence; songwriter Howard Ashman proposed changing Clarence to a Jamaican Rastafari crab and shifting the music style throughout the film to reflect this.(2006) Audio Commentary by John Musker, Ron Clements, and Alan Menken Bonus material from The Little Mermaid: Platinum Edition [DVD]. Walt Disney Home Entertainment. Duncan Marjoribanks served as Sebastian's supervising animator.

Wright auditioned for the role as though for a stage musical. He could not do a Jamaican accent, so he did a Trinidadian accent during his audition, which Ashman decided to keep. His physicality impressed co-director Ron Clements, who videotaped a repeat performance in order to inspire the animators.

Two reggae albums featuring Wright performing in-character as Sebastian were released under the Walt Disney Records label. The first was Sebastian from The Little Mermaid, featuring one song from The Little Mermaid, along with covers including Three Little Birds, and one original tune. The second, released in October 1991, is Sebastian: Party Gras! This consists of reggae covers of classic songs such as "Iko Iko", "Octopus's Garden", "Twist and Shout", and "What a Wonderful World", as well as one original tune.

Sebastian makes a cameo appearance in Aladdin as the Genie is looking for "Royal Recipes" to transform Aladdin into a prince and sees a recipe for "Alaskan king crab". Sebastian comes out of the book and pinches the Genie's finger as a snippet of "Under the Sea" is played. The Genie responds, "I hate when they do that".

Sebastian appears in the Little Mermaid Broadway musical, where he was originally portrayed by Tituss Burgess, and has also been performed by Alan Mingo Jr. and Rodgelio Douglas Jr. He also appears in The Little Mermaid Live!, portrayed by Shaggy.

Sebastian made an appearance in the first three titles of the Kingdom Hearts series of video games. He also appears in the video game Disney Magic Kingdoms, as a playable character to unlock for a limited time.

This version is a fiddler crab. He also appears in the short film Once Upon a Studio, where he stands on the Golden Harp from Fun and Fancy Free composing the music for "When You Wish Upon a Star".

Flounder

Flounder is one of the main characters of the franchise. He is a yellow and blue tropical fish and Ariel's best friend. Though easily afraid and prone to panicking under stressful situations like a shark breaching the sunken ship, when Ariel is in trouble, he comes through for her without hesitation. In the film, he is the only character aside from Scuttle, to support Ariel's fascination with human things, giving her a statue of Eric as a gift.

Flounder appears in all episodes of the prequel television series, sharing constant adventures with Ariel, with the episode "The Evil Manta" showing how he first met Ariel when they were children. According to the television series, Flounder's real name is "Guppy Number 35".

Flounder also appears in Jim Henson's Little Mermaid's Island, where he has a twin sister named Sandy.

Flounder has a small role in The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, where he is reunited with Ariel and helps search for Ariel and Eric's daughter Melody, meeting Melody in Morgana's lair. He has grown up and became a father himself, with five children of his own.

He has a larger role in The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning, which shows an alternate version of how he first meets Ariel and later unknowingly leads her to the Catfish Club. He beatboxes and initiates a reprise of "Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora)" when he, Ariel, Sebastian, and the Catfish Club Band are on the run from Atlantica.

Flounder appears in the Kingdom Hearts series, where he retains his role as Ariel's friend. His biggest role in the series is in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, where Ursula kidnaps him to force Ariel to give her the trident. He also sings his part in the song called "A New Day is Dawning". He also appears in Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey as Ariel's sidekick, voiced by Anthony Skillman. In the game, he is a remote-controlled playable character, holding a big conch shell on his head and catching voice orbs with the player's help. Flounder also appears in the video game Disney Magic Kingdoms, as a playable character to unlock for a limited time.

At the Disney theme parks, Flounder makes cameo appearances in the Mickey's Philharmagic 3D show and in the Hong Kong Disneyland version of "It's a Small World". He has also appeared in the parks as a walk-around character, primarily in parades, shows and special events such as "Mickey's Pirate & Princess Party".

Flounder appears in the stage adaptation of The Little Mermaid. His supporting role is similar to in the film, but he does not give Ariel the statue of Eric and does not help Ariel reach Eric's wedding barge, as the Vanessa subplot has been removed. Flounder performs a new song titled "She's in Love", which he sings with Ariel's sisters when they notice that Ariel has been acting "fishy lately". The stage role was originated by Cody Hanford and J.J. Singleton, who had to leave the show when they grew taller than Sierra Boggess, who originated Ariel. The role was taken over by Trevor Braun and Brian D'Addario. On the Original Broadway Cast Recording, Brian D'Addario performs as Flounder.

Flounder also appears as a puppet in The Little Mermaid Live!.

Flounder also makes a cameo appearance in the 2022 film Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, voiced by Rachel Bloom. He is among the Toons that are abducted by the Valley Gang for lack of payment, having his appearance altered and made to work in a bootleg version of The Little Mermaid.

Flounder also appears in the special Lego Disney Princess: Magical Mayhem, voiced by Carson Minniear.

Scuttle

Scuttle is a seagull and friend of Ariel. He presents himself as an expert on human objects, with whom Ariel consults about items she salvages, but refers to objects with incorrect names, referring to a fork as a "dinglehopper" and a smoking pipe as a "snarfblatt". He also provides support and advice when he learns that Ariel has to win Eric's heart in three days. On the third day, Scuttle discovers that Vanessa is actually Ursula and tells Ariel.

Scuttle appears in a small role in The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, in which he helps Ariel find her daughter Melody after she runs away.

Scuttle appears in two episodes of the third season of the prequel television series; "Scuttle", where Ariel, Flounder and Sebastian meet him for the first time and he claims his name was originally "Scuttlebutt", but he changed it "for obvious reasons", and "Island of Fear". In these episodes, Scuttle's explanation of human things is a mixture of correct and erroneous.