Speechless

So, I'm watching The Little Mermaid, and it occurs to me that Ursula's choice of payment from Ariel is somewhat interesting.

It makes sense, knowing her malicious intentions, that she would choose to steal away Ariel's voice, due to the fact that it is the one identifying characteristic of Ariel's that Eric remembers. However, I think her muteness is at least partially responsible for their happy ending.

I'm going to ignore the fact, for the time being, that Ariel is a headstrong teenager, and that I don't believe Happily-Ever-Afters tend to happen in the teen years.

I'm guessing this is how she saw him, too.

Seriously, WTF is this?

So, assuming it is Happily Ever After (At least until the horrible daughter 

sequel)...

Remember, when Eric is discovered (conveniently, on the shore just by his castle), his creepy matchmaker manservant accuses him of having ingested too much seawater in response to Eric's tale of a singing sea-woman.

So, needless to say, if Ariel had shown up in their kingdom ranting about "snarfblats" and "dinglehoppers," they would have declared her loony, and typically people don't like obvious lunatics marrying into their royal families. Assuming they didn't chase her out with torches and pitchforks when she started claiming she was the daughter of the sea king, it's pretty safe to say she would not have been marrying her prince. Brushing her hair with a fork is, in this circumstance, acceptably quirky and not quite so disturbing.

Also, Ariel's obsession with Eric, and Eric's own interest in her, is based largely on teenage rebellion and a brief, traumatic first encounter. Not a healthy combination of things to base a marriage on. However, because she cannot speak to tell him she is the lady with the voice, she is forced to spend time with Eric to convince him he really likes her for who she is. In this way, they actually get to know each other, cementing their attraction to one another in actual events.

Like letting the girl with a muted sense of gravity drive over cliffs.

Finally, Ariel's true nature is revealed in an undeniable, definite way. Seeing is believing, as they say. Therefore, no one can call her crazy for claiming to be a mermaid. Then, Eric does something heroic and selfless, making Triton respect him, and actually creating a bond between the kingdoms of land and sea.

Perhaps that makes for a reasonably happy Ever-After, after all.