Merida

Character information Other names Red-Haired Lass Princess Wee Darling Wee Lassie Princess of DunBroch Occupation Princess of DunBroch Home DunBroch, Scottish Highlands Likes Archery, apples, her family, training with her father, horseback riding, getting help from her brothers, sewing tapestries with her mother, having control over her own destiny, Will O' the Wisps, woodcarvings, adventure, exploring, sweets Dislikes Having to follow ancient traditions pertaining to marriage, her mother's strictness and stubbornness, danger to her family and kingdom, tight formal dresses and gowns, her brothers' mischief, deception, sewing tapestries (formerly) Powers and abilities Master of archery Master swordsmanship Paraphernalia Bow Arrows Quiver Sword Pendant (formerly) Status Active Family information Parent(s) King Fergus (father) Queen Elinor (mother) Sibling(s) Harris, Hubert, and Hamish (younger triplet brothers) Pets Angus (Scottish Clydesdale horse)

“I am Merida! Firstborn descendant of clan DunBroch, and I'll be shootin' for my OWN hand!” Merida

Princess Merida is the protagonist of Disney•Pixar's 2012 animated feature film Brave. She is a Scottish princess from the kingdom of DunBroch, the daughter of Queen Elinor and King Fergus, and the older sister of Harris, Hubert, and Hamish. Headstrong and intrepid, Merida challenged her kingdom's longstanding traditions to live a life of independence.

Merida is the eleventh official member of the Disney Princess line-up and the first to originate from a Pixar film.

Background Merida is the headstrong and free-spirited 16-year-old tomboyish, willful daughter of Queen Elinor, who rules the kingdom alongside her husband, King Fergus. Queen Elinor's expectations of her daughter cause Merida to see Elinor as being distant, while also causing friction between the two. Despite Elinor's desire to see Merida as a proper royal lady, Merida is an impetuous girl who wants to take control of her own destiny. Merida has honed her skill in archery and is one of the most skilled archers ever seen. She is also skilled in sword-fighting and racing across the countryside on her horse, Angus. Despite her outgoing, forceful, headstrong, and willful personality, Merida does have a playful softness of heart; particularly when it comes to her younger triplet brothers, Harris, Hubert, and Hamish.

Official Description Merida is a princess by birth and an adventurer by a spirit. She spends her days practicing archery, riding her horse Angus, and exploring the world around her. She loves her family, but she wants to control her own destiny. Personality Merida is a very bold, brave, daring, courageous, stubborn, rebellious, and headstrong girl who does not fit the stereotypical princess role. Rather than being a damsel in distress who is subservient to the customs, traditions, and social restrictions her society places on her and expects her to follow, Merida openly rebels and defies her heritage as a princess and would like for nothing more than to be a normal girl. She is very athletic and enjoys nothing more than riding her horse Angus and practicing her archery, of which she is the best in the kingdom. She also seems to be skilled in sword fighting, as shown in the Brave featurette "Cutting the Class". Merida tends to be ungraceful and has bad manners, and is extremely tomboyish.

In terms of personality, she greatly parallels and resembles her father, as the two both tend to be unruly, impulsive, and loud. However, she also does resemble her mother in terms of stubbornness and inability to listen to others.

When Merida was younger, she had a close relationship with both her mother and her father. She showed a curious side as she followed the wisps despite needing to go back to the trail and seemed to believe in the legends and myths of her kingdom, highlighting her innocence and naivety. She also tended to be playful, as shown by her playing hide-and-seek with her mother and being very hyperactive. Merida is also shown to have developed an interest in archery early on her childhood, possibly by influence from her father.

As she has grown up, Merida is still very energetic and free-spirited but has a more strained relationship with her mother (though she still holds the same good relationship with her father) and is more rebellious. She views the strict training and social etiquette that her mother teaches her as tedious and bothersome. She also thinks her mother places too much expectation on her to become the same type of person she is without listening to what she wants to be, which is true since her mother continually and strictly instructed her in how to be a "proper" princess, and arranged for the three clans to present their heirs as potential fiancés for Merida without her consent. However, Merida also hardly ever understands her mother's feelings about wanting to do what she believed would be best for Merida or properly conveying her feelings and understanding how her desire for freedom and rebelliousness could potentially and negatively affect the kingdom. Throughout the film, however, after Merida rebuilds her bond with her mother (in bear form) while they catch fish to eat at a riverbank and realizes all the trouble she has caused with her reckless actions, she proceeds to make amends, and with her mother's help, creates a diplomatic solution that allows everyone to be happy and for her to have a better understanding of the importance of her mother's role and wisdom while teaching her mother to learn to listen and understand her better.

She is also shown to be very adventurous and brave, as she enjoys wandering around the forests that surround her kingdom and even climbed the Crone's Tooth and drank from the fire falls, something her father has mentioned that only the bravest kings have done. She was also willing to defend her mother from her father after her father tried to kill her (as she was in her bear form and Fergus mistakenly believed that she in her bear form killed Elinor) and again when she shot arrows at Mor'du to protect him from attacking her father.

Merida can also be cheeky and humorous, as shown when her father was attacked by a falcon during her falconry lesson, she cracked up in a fit of giggles and snorted like a pig as she watched her father fend off the falcon. She also made a mocking drawing of her mother during one of her class lessons.

Unfortunately, Merida is very short-tempered and impulsive, causing her to do things without considering the consequences her actions can lead to. For example, she wanted her parents to call off the gathering for the three clans allied with the DunBroch despite the fact it could possibly lead to war. She also entered the games that would determine who would be her groom, so she could "shoot for her own hand." However, she was unaware that this would lead to a disagreement between the three clans and DunBroch clan until after she returns to the castle with her mother after going to the witch's cottage in an attempt to find a way to reverse the curse that turned Elinor into the bear. This was also shown when she bought a spell from a witch to "change her mother" without realizing the potential harm the spell could do to her or what would happen to her. Through seeing the consequences of her actions, she goes to appreciate the role her mother plays as a diplomat, especially when (due to Elinor being a bear) Merida had to act as the diplomat and settle matters herself. This also helps to mend the distance between her and Elinor.

Merida can also be slightly selfish, as shown when after feeding her mother the cake that contained the spell that would "change her mother", she ignored her mother's pain and groaning and consistently bombarded her with questions of whether she had changed her mind about the engagement, and also when she wanted to call off the gathering, despite seemingly knowing it might cause trouble as she mentions "we expect your declarations of war in the morning". However, Merida can understand when she is wrong and will do her best to fix what has happened.

Despite her impulsivity and short temper, Merida can keep a calm head in a dangerous situation, as shown when she manages to calm her mother after her mother nearly attacks and runs frantically after the wisps and when she settles the dispute between the three different clans. She is also very quick-witted, as she quickly manages to bargain the witch for a spell by offering to give her her medallion in exchange for all the wood carvings and one spell, when she realizes she could enter herself in the games as she was "the firstborn of the four clans" and could, therefore, win her own hand in marriage, along with understanding that Mor'du the bear was actually the prince from the legends who led his kingdom into a war between him and his brothers due to his selfish desire and lust for power.

Merida is kind and caring to those she cares about and who are very close to her, as shown through her interaction with her family, particularly her brothers (whom she dotes on). She is also shown to care for her horse, Angus, greatly, as she personally tends and cares for him and does not let anyone else do it for her.

Overall, Merida has grown throughout the film from a stubborn, rebellious, and defiant person to a more understanding, open-minded individual and remaining brave, courageous, kind, adventurous, free-spirited, compassionate, and loyal to those she loves the most.

Physical appearance Merida is a 16-year-old young Scottish girl with a slender figure. She has pale skin, a round face, a light dusting of freckles, long curly, red hair, thin pink lips, rosy cheeks, a small snub nose, red eyebrows and eyelashes, and robin’s egg blue eyes.

At the start of the film, Merida was seen in a dark teal cotton dress that exposing bits of her undergarments from the back and on her sleeves, white tights, and low heeled brown boots with black soles. Merida's bow is slung onto her back, over her shoulder, with arrows in a brown leather quiver around her waist. She also appears in scenes wearing a navy/black cape with a gold buckle.

Merida is dressed in a sheer turquoise gown with gold trimming and a square neckline for her coronation, along with a white wimple and a gold tiara to keep her hair in place, white leggings and blue ballet flats with gray soles. Eventually, she removes the headdress and gold tiara and tears the dress slightly to gain better movement in her body and proper pose in holding her bow and arrows. She later changes back into her first outfit and wears it throughout the rest of the film.

In the final scene, Merida is seen wearing a dark blue gown with light green patterns, with the same white tights and low heeled brown boots.

Trivia Her name means "honorable" in Gaelic. Many people believe that "Merida" is a variation of "Meredith". However, Brave is set in Scotland, perhaps during the Celtic times, so this cannot be true. "Meredith" is a Welsh name, and until the late 20th century, it was exclusively male (meaning "lord"). Tia Kratter, responsible for Merida's initial character design, has admitted that Merida was based on British model and actress Lily Cole[2] and Brenda Chapman came up with the concept of Merida's character as a combination of her daughter and one of her friends. When Elinor (as a bear) unsuccessfully tries to tell Merida that "a princess should not put her weapons on the table", she responds by saying "Sorry, I don't speak bear." This could be a reference to the 2003 Walt Disney Animation Studios film Brother Bear, in which Tanana told the same thing (though in a much gentler tone) to a bear-turned Kenai. Merida is the first female protagonist in a Pixar feature film. Same as Snow White, Merida does not have a sequel nor spin-off to her film. Reese Witherspoon was originally cast to voice Merida, but due to scheduling conflicts and failing to master a Scottish accent, she was replaced by Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald. Merida is the third Pixar princess after Atta and Dot in 1998 from A Bug's Life. However, she is the first human Pixar princess. In terms of syllable count, Merida's film has the shortest title among all the Disney Princess films. Merida has more than 1500 individually sculpted, red strands that generate about 111,700 total hairs. If Merida's curls were straightened, her hair would be four feet long and reach the middle of her calf. With five dresses, plus a cloak, quiver, hand wrap, and necklace, as well as torn dresses, Merida has a total of 22 different costumes. She also has five different hairstyles throughout the film. Merida is the first Pixar character to appear on Once Upon a Time, as well as on Sofia the First. During "The Secret Library", Merida shows confusion and astonishment when Sofia starts singing. That's because her movie that she appeared is not a musical, and thus the concept of people randomly bursting into song is foreign to her. Merida is unique among the Disney Princesses for the following traits: She is the first and so far the only Princess ever to come from a Pixar film, as well as a film outside the Disney Animated Canon. She is the first Princess whose film is not a musical, though two of the songs were sung by characters. She is also the first Princess to ever sing a song in any language aside from English. She is the first Disney Princess, with the second and third being Moana and Raya, to not originate from any real-life source, such as a fairy tale or literature work (Snow White; Cinderella; Aurora from "Sleeping Beauty"; Ariel from "The Little Mermaid"; Belle from "Beauty and the Beast"; Jasmine from the "Aladdin" story of "1001 Arabian Nights"; Tiana from "The Frog Prince"; and Rapunzel), or a historical figure (Pocahontas and Mulan). Thus, with this matter, this makes her the first originally made Disney Princess. Merida is the first Princess to be devoid of a love interest, followed by Moana and Raya. However, the film's creators claimed that Young MacGuffin was going to be Merida's love interest (and Merida seemed to express an interest in him during the presentation of the suitors) before ultimately deciding that Merida should stay single. Ironically, part of the film's conflict has her being set up for an arranged marriage, which was meant to happen for the unification of the Scottish clans. She, Moana and Raya are currently the only Disney Princesses who do not have a Palace Pet. They are also the only Disney Princesses who are not Spell Card characters in Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. Merida's hair is softened in her 2D appearance. Merida's appearance in Ralph Breaks the Internet, along with Buzz Lightyear's, marks the first time Pixar characters have appeared in a Disney Animated Canon movie. She is the first princess to be seen in her undergarments. Merida is one of only three official Disney Princesses, with the other two being Tiana and Moana, to be featured in more than one animated film that was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature (Brave, Ralph Breaks the Internet). Merida is the only princess not to be featured in the 2023 short Once Upon a Studio due to the fact that she is a Pixar character and the short only features characters that were created by Walt Disney Animation Studios. Merida is the first Pixar protagonist who didn't first appear as an adult in the present-day setting, being within her teens during the film's main plot. Merida's appearance in Ralph Breaks the Internet is rather coincidental, as both Brave and Wreck-It Ralph originally came out in 2012. Merida is currently the only official CGI-animated Disney Princess to not have any eponymous media, as Rapunzel got her own cases since the original Tangled film (Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure, Rapunzel and the Lost Lagoon, and Rapunzel and the Vanishing Village). Merida is the first Disney Princess in a Pixar feature film to completely lack a tiara or any sort of crown.