I'm going to make this a series of polls and the Elsa riggers will probably be too lazy to rig them all, hopefully.

They didn't even develop Elsa's personality, let alone how she grew at one. She just controls her fears and powers at the last minute because the plot says so. With Ariel, while she's not one of the most well-developed Disney Princesses, has at least a distinct personality and a defined identity. I think she does learn what she's done is wrong and that she made a mistake because what kind of heartless idiot wouldn't when their father was turned into a plant and the ocean was taken over by a psychopath? If people still don't think Ariel learned her lesson after that, they're really letting their hatred for her blind their judgement (if you still hate her than please use other reasons besides this). I'm not the biggest fan of Elsa, but I still admit that she does admit that she made a mistake. But the problem is that even after that, she continues to run away from her problems and be completely oblivious to the fact that when she does that and freaks out, things only get worse. Elsa is a very flat character and Ariel is somewhat developed but could have been better. I can think of a lot of characters that are more well-developed than them. But I know that an Ariel hater is going to respond to my criticism of Elsa and my defense of Ariel, especially since most Ariel haters are Elsa lovers. So I'm just going to ignore any comments that are response to that or criticize Ariel.

I will admit that Ariel's character development could have easily been improved if they had, had Ariel apologize to her father after the climax or even after he was turned into a plant, or even both. I don't think when she said she was sorry was being all like "I'm sorry! Please don't punish me," but I guess I can see how people would see it that way, even though I completely disagree. Another way is if Ariel was the one who defeated Ursula, showing that she knows that she made a mistake and decides to fix it because she knows it's her fault. The best of all would be if they did both and maybe then she couldn't get as much hate. But then again, Merida apologizes to her mother for her mistake and Melody both apologizes for her mistake and saves the day, but both actually get more hate than Ariel does.

If you were to ask me.

Ariel doesn't grow or change at all. She wants something, she dives headlong into danger to get it, her friends and family and prince rush into said danger to bail her out, she learns nothing, she gets what she wants. The end.

That said, Elsa's character development is very stilted and inconsistent, but it's there. It took her sister getting frozen over, but she FINALLY learns to stop letting her fear control her, embrace her powers, accept her sister's love, and feel more confident on the whole.

Elsa learns very little. At the beginning, she 's told not to expose herself and her powers. She runs away from people after her powers are exposed. She builds a hideaway and sings a song about staying alone and completely removed from all people. Anna and Hans both have to struggle to knock some sense into her thick head about assuming RESPONSIBILITY. Elsa never ADMITS to her mistakes. Elsa never apologizes to Anna for freezing her heart, nor does she say she was sorry for sending a snow monster after her sister. Furthermore, Elsa never apologizes to the people of Arendelle for causing a near mass economic disaster from a freak weather manipulation which she brought upon them. She doesn't learn much, save "love" somehow lets her control her powers... Nevermind, those instances where she can control them just fine without love. Elsa learns very little in her story arc, because she is mostly a static character overall.

Ariel is dynamic. She's reckless, she makes mistakes, she ADMITS that she made the huge mistake in question, she goes after her goals, she maintains her relationships the best way she can. (Let's see if Elsa would have done a better job in her circumstances if she had to become a mute, huh?) Ariel shows empathy for people who are in troubled spots: she saves Flounder from the shark, she saves Sebastian from the dinner table, she saves Eric, and she indirectly saves her father, too. Much more happens as Ariel evolves from a dreamy girl with a penchant for becoming a human--- to a more mature person who is willing to remain a mermaid sitting on a rock, and watch Eric wake up again on shore without her. Ariel lost her naivety over the course of the movie and actually grew up. Elsa doesn't really learn much of anything save that "love, not fear, can intermittently let her control her ice powers."


There was more development in Ariel's character arc than in Elsa's.

@8804 The thing is, all that you are saying Elsa doesn't do, is the same thing for Ariel, so you are completely undermining your own argument while not bringing up the main points of Elsa's character arc.

Elsa never ADMITS to her mistakes.

Honestly though, I have no idea where you are getting this. Through the whole song of for the first time in forever reprise Elsa is coming to copes with how no matter how hard she tries something will always ruin her chance for freedom and being who she is. Elsa flat out ADMITS that she acted like a fool and flat out ADMITS that she can't control the curse.

Elsa doesn't apologize for *Inserts actions that if you watch the movie you can clearly see Elsa wasn't aware of here*

Here, you are completely undermining your own argument. Ariel never apologizes for getting Sebastian into the situation he was in, Ariel never gives a LEGITIMATE apology for how she almost had the kingdom ruled by a giant sea-witch because of her own actions, Ariel never apologizes for missing the concert for the billionth time, Ariel never apologizes for getting Flounder almost killed by a shark, Ariel never apologizes for teasing Flounder about his fears, Ariel never apologizes for how she treated her father and friends. The list can go on. ELSA, however, asked Anna a bunch of times for her to leave her castle politely but she refused. Elsa sent marshmallow that as Disney wikia describes him is: "Extremely loyal towards duties and does as told by Elsa, the creator. But when triggered by danger, goes off the deep end and gets infuriated." Elsa basically programmed Marshmallow so that he gets RID of Anna and Kristoff. When Anna and Kristoff were gone Marshmallow was leaving until Anna throw a snowball at him and he got infuriated. Even when Marshmallow had Anna and Kristoff in his arms and he could of killed them he says, "Don't ever come back." Just as Elsa's intentions were. So that they could LEAVE. Elsa makes up for what she did to the kingdom with actions, not words. Elsa gets rid of the blizzard, send Duke back home, gets rid of Hans, and builds the kingdom and ice rink and says that she will never close the gates again. Does no one realize that the kingdom of Arendelle never apologized, either? They sent their guards on Elsa and completely condemned her as a monster and pushed her away. Elsa built THEM a skating rink without ever asking anyone for an apology for how they treated her.

Ariel maintains her relationships the best she can
Really, are you saying that the girl that completely left her home for a guy she only knew for three days maintained her relationship better then Elsa, who promised that she would never close the gates again, stays home so she could rule the kingdom, and teaches her sister how to ice skate maintains her relationships better?

Let's see if Elsa would have done a better job in her circumstances if she had to become a mute, huh?
Saying that Elsa was forced into remaining mute by her parents about what she wanted out of life and was forced out of talking with her sister, I'd say Elsa would have been just fine being mute, saying she's introverted anyway.

she saves Flounder from the shark
AFTER making Flounder come with her and teasing Flounder about his own fears and showing absolutely NO CARES that Flounder didn't want to go exploring with her, teasing him about sharks being there, him being a little guppy, etc. Ariel never apologized for this, either.

Saves Sebastian from the dinner table
Which is funny, because when Flounder asks Ariel if she appreciates what he does for, she pats him on the head and never really cares about what Sebastian or any of her friends put on the line for her. HOW is this showing compassion and empathy?

Saves Eric
...From drowning. She's a mermaid, all she did was swim.

Bottom line, Elsa goes through many changes in her movie whilst Ariel didn't. Elsa went from from a depressed girl who let her anxiety get the best of her, into a much more powerful woman who thought it was better taking advantage of her skills then letting it control her, into coming to copes that she may never have a taste of freedom, into understanding that after 21 years of also getting pushed off by people that some people do love her, and her relationship with her sister wasn't broken, just bent. Elsa then fixes every mistake that she made in her movie in about five minutes into a neat little snow flake, and mends bonds with her kingdom that shut her out and gave a solid promise towards her sister that she will never do what she did again.

Ariel, on the other hand, through out the movie acts bratty towards her dad yet lies at his face and doesn't apologize, whines in a song about how crappy her life is, gets flustered by a guy she never met, goes into Ursula's layer out of spite for her father, and in the end, Eric and Triton save Ariel from her own messes and unlike Elsa who then proceeds into fixing her mistakes and staying with Anna, Ariel leaves the kingdom and just hopes that everyone will continue fixing her problems for her. Also, Elsa showed compassion towards Anna at the end with nothing in return, while Ariel didn't say that she loved Triton until Triton gave her her stupid little legs and gave her what she wanted.

Overall, Elsa is a much more developed and satisfying character for me and does a lot more admirable and developing things over the course of her film, unlike Ariel who doesn't do any of these things.

Elsa is underdeveloped. It's just the power which is developed.

I agree with Leftthetrain regarding Elsa and Ariel.

Elsa doesn't VERBALLY admit her mistakes, but she is shown to internalize them and to try to fix them.

Also, the exact same argument that "Elsa doesn't apologize or take responsibility for her actions" could easily be applied to Ariel, who rarely apologizes despite constantly ditching, blowing off, worrying, endangering, and causing problems for other characters throughout the movie. The few times she's confronted with her actions and/or apologizes, she gives a weak excuses for herself at best, blames others at worst.

- When Triton calls her out on missing the concert, she says: "Daddy, I'm sorry, I just forgot." Problem is, this isn't a first-time offense. Sebastian says at the film's start, "If only she'd show up to rehearsal once in a while." Triton says right before her line, "I just don't know what we're going to do with you, young lady." She's done this many times before, yet she expects to just get let off the hook for saying: "I just forgot." How many times do you "just forget" to be somewhere before it becomes clear that it's not that you can't remember, but you choose not to try because it's just not a priority to you? And Ariel makes it clear it's not a priority. She crosses her arms and makes a wry face when Triton and Sebastian continue to scold her anyway, showing that she's not really sorry, doesn't really feel bad, and isn't willing to accept the consequences of letting everyone down (i.e. getting called out on her irresponsibility).

- After Triton finds out about Ariel's deal with Ursula, she says, "Daddy, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, I didn't know." We see from Poor Unfortunate Souls that Ariel DID mean to swim to Ursula's lair and sign the contract, and DID know the risks, terms, and consequences of agreeing to the deal with the obviously evil Sea Witch. She chose to do it anyway, but now that the outcome isn't what she wanted and she's gotten caught, she's trying to act like she's a blameless victim that got tricked into it instead of admitting and taking responsibility for being a willing party.

- Triton being turned into a polyp before Ariel would be a perfect time for her to reflect and accept responsibility for her actions. I half-expect her to say: "What have I done?" Instead, she glares and attacks Ursula with: "YOU MONSTER!" Showing that she puts all blame onto the sea witch and none onto herself. (Ursula shares blame, but again, she didn't force Ariel into anything. Ariel was even shown having reservations through the whole process, but made the conscious choice every inch of the way.)

I have to agree that when all's said and done, Elsa goes back to her kingdom, fixes the problems she caused, and mends the bond with her sister and her citizens. Ariel gets her messes cleaned up by other people, leaves the sea kingdom, doesn't thank the characters that endangered themselves to clean up her messes for her, and only expresses affection for her dad after he gives her what she wanted.

Elsa goes through a clear character arc and development; learns to stop letting her fear control her, stops running from her problems, stops shutting her sister and kingdom out, learns to control her emotions and her powers, assumes the responsibilities she took at her coronation but fled when her powers were discovered, mends her relationship with her family and kingdom, and becomes more confident on the whole.

Ariel? To quote the Nostalgia Chick: "Ariel wants something, there are obstacles, she gets what she wants. The end."

I don't really see much change in Ariel. She just apologizes to her dad once and voila the happy ending is there waiting for her. She would was developed if in the end she didn't get Eric. She didn't seem to really think about her mistake. Sorry Ariel I do like you but...

Seriously, I don't get it why most of Elsa's fans are sooo offensive toward others' critics...

Elsa doesn't change, Ariel doesn't change either.

By far! I don't think Elsa is well developed at all, especially after her meeting with Anna in her palace.

Elsa seems to have at least some development. Ariel doesn't develop at all.