This is the path I choose father, what would yours be!? - Pocahontas to her father
Pocahontas is the titular protagonist of the 1995 animated Disney film of the same name. She is the seventh official
Disney Princess.
She is also the first Disney Princess to be based off a real historical figure rather than a fairy-tale.
Background[]
Pocahontas' mother had died and she had inherited her strong will and free spirit. She is the only member of her tribe who is not xenophobic toward the white settlers, instead forming a romantic relationship with John Smith. By the time of the second film, she is respected enough that she is sent as an ambassador to England on behalf of her people.
Personality[]
Pocahontas is displayed as a noble, free-spirited, and highly spiritual young woman. She expresses wisdom beyond her years and offers kindness and guidance to those around her. She loves her homeland, adventure, and nature. In the film, she appears to have shamanic powers since she was able to commune with nature, talk to spirits, empathize with animals, and understand unknown languages.
Pocahontas believes that her mother's spirit surrounds her, where she enjoys fleeing a breeze as if she feels her deceased mother's presence. Pocahontas also shows a very playful side where she tips her best friend, Nakoma, off her boat and proceeds to splash her with water.
When English settlers came to her homeland, Pocahontas was curiously drawn to them and unlike her people, she was able to see that the settlers were not dangerous as John Smith treated her raccoon friend, Meeko, with kindness. Her curiosity also drew her to Smith, allowing her to bond with over their different customs, where the two eventually started a romantic relationship.
In the sequel, Pocahontas seems to have grown after hearing of John Smith's assumed death. She keeps her independent spirit and playfulness, but is much more mature and self-assured than she was in the first film. When she meets John Rolfe, she does not appreciate and sometimes bickers with him at first, but as time goes on, she develops romantic feelings for him. During her stay in England, she nearly loses herself in the hustle and bustle of this new world and is turned into someone she's not. But in the end, she bravely intends to sacrifice herself for her people's safety and returns to her homeland, finding herself, and romantic love, once again.
Physical appearance[]
Pocahontas is a young woman with tan skin, long, raven-black hair, and twinkling, dark brown eyes. She has a tall, slender, statuesque figure with broad shoulders and narrow hips and goes around barefoot in the first film, whereas in the sequel, she wears flat moccasins. Unlike the other "modern" Disney Princesses of the period, such as Ariel, Belle, and Jasmine, as well as the others created after the Disney Renaissance such as Rapunzel, Anna, Elsa, and Moana, Pocahontas is drawn with her eyes and face less rounded and more angular and refined, as well as drawn with a head more similar to an adult's in proportion to her body similar to that of the first three original Disney Princesses, such as Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora, giving her an appearance of maturity which Pocahontas represented.
Trivia[]
- Pocahontas is the first Disney protagonist to be of Native American descent (Powhatan, in Pocahontas' case), with the second being Kuzco, the third being Lilo, and the fourth being Kenai.
- Even though many European settlers commonly describe Pocahontas as an "Indian Princess", most Native American tribes never had royalty, and most chieftains were elected (like the President of the United States, for example) rather than inherited. When Chief Powhatan perished in real life, Pocahontas would have never inherited his role regardless. It was her uncle, Opechancanough, who became the paramount chief after Powhatan's death.
- Pocahontas is also the first Disney Princess to be considered a princess by reputation, despite being the daughter of a chief.
- Pocahontas is one of the few Disney protagonists to be based on a genuine historical figure rather than a traditional fairy tale or folktale. Mulan is also amongst this group, albeit she comes from a less reliably documented setting in history while Matoaka was well documented.
- Despite being both the daughters of a chief, unlike Moana, Pocahontas was actually considered a princess, both in history (via her real counterpart) and in her respective sequel. Moana was never considered a princess by others, including herself (except for Maui, but it was in a joking manner).
- Irene Bedard, who voiced Pocahontas, later portrayed her mother in New Line Cinema's 2005 film The New World.
- Pre-production of the first film in a Disney magazine promoting it showed there was a title card that featured an early version of Pocahontas who looked a lot like Tiger Lily. It showed her head held up high, eyes closed, arms folded, and surrounded by a few forest animals. Therefore, it seemed it's actually this same Tiger Lily and not just someone who resembled her but under a different name.
- Despite the events depicted in Pocahontas II, John Smith is still Pocahontas' official love interest, since most media, including the Disney Princess franchise, keep them as an official couple, completely ignoring John Rolfe. This is due to the fact that the franchise is mainly based in the Disney Animated Canon.
- In real life, Pocahontas did marry Kocoum. It occurred a year after John Smith returned to England due to his injury from gunpowder. However, she did not stay with him and eventually married John Rolfe instead.
- Pocahontas shows up in the early concept art of Disney Infinity; thus, it can be inferred that she was considered to be in the game at one point.
- Pocahontas, Moana, and Raya are the only Disney Princesses who did not appear in the Sofia the First series nor the live-action series Once Upon a Time. The reason why Pocahontas did not appear on the former was that the creators of the show found it very hard to do a story with her that worked.
- Pocahontas is one of the first Disney Princesses to have had no children in Descendants.
- Pocahontas is currently the only Disney Princess to have more than one love interest - in her case, she has two: John Smith (from the first film) and John Rolfe (from the sequel).
- Pocahontas is currently the only Disney Princess to have a tattoo (the symbol on her right arm) and the only one to wear one outfit throughout her entire film.
See also[]
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