Merida is the main protagonist and the narrator in Disney/Pixar's Brave and a supporting major character in Ralph Breaks the Internet. She is the eleventh Official Disney Princess.
Background[]
Personality[]
Princess 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.
Merida is a very brave, bold, 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". She tends to be ungraceful and has bad manners, and is extremely tomboyish.
In terms of personality, Merida 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 was a very small, cute little child and 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. She is also shown to have developed an interest in archery early on her childhood, possibly by influence from her father.
As Merida has grown up, she 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. This is because 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 the three clans' next heirs as potential fiances for Merida without her consent while neglecting Merida's feelings.
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. Over the course of the film, however, after Merida rebonds with her mother (in bear form) while they catch fish to eat at a river bank and realizes all the trouble she has caused with her reckless actions, she proceeds to make amends and (with help from her mother) 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.
Dislikes: Jack Frost (sometimes), Jack's antics, Bunnymund (sometimes), Emily Jane (sometimes), seeing Hiccup upset, Hiccup being depressive, Hiccup being picked on, Bunny's strictness, stubbornness, rudeness, strictness and sexist towards her
Likes: Hiccup's inventions and drawings, competing with Jack and Bunny