There was always one thing that would ring true in Ursula’s mind: she belonged on the throne of the sea. Not Triton, he was lowly, no better than a sea urchin, and should be bowing to her immense power. That dream had no merit in the sea though, she was cast off as a sea witch and left with no one but Flotsom and Jetsam to keep her company. In her solitary, she became powerful in potions and dark magic, further plotting the downfall of his majesty. All of her waiting came together when the youngest daughter of Triton, Ariel, was so desperate for a way out of this world and onto the land. She had the girl lured to her and made a binding contract that gave her more power than she could have dreamed of: Ariel’s voice, and a hold over Triton for his precious child. All seemed according to plan until the girl got close to reaching her true love’s kiss time and time again. At that point, Ursula had to get involved and dragged the girl by force back into the sea and held her as leverage against the sea king. Her plans were in action once more and the sea was in an uproar, until Prince Eric returned to save his princess and seemingly destroyed the witch. She drifted down to her lair in a severely damaged state and once again was forced to plot ways she could take over the sea. Things seemed hopeless, though pathetic mermaids and mermen wandered into her cavern looking for happiness at an alarming rate. It was when a young mermaid spoke of a Wishing Well that everything changed— she had a chance to change her whole life, find her happy ending. Shifting into her human form, Vanessa, she took no time in finding the sacred Well and wishing for everything she could ever want: her rightful rule over the oceans. The next time her eyes opened, she was sitting on the throne, surrounded by merfolk alike, all bowing at their new ruler. Everything was as she wanted, and with her newfound power, she sent chaos into the world above, making the seas attack the land and once again stealing the Ariel’s voice before dragging the princess back into her clutches. Her happily ever after was complete, with the sea at her command and a charming redheaded slave who would never steal her joy again.

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Weird question - when a story comes from a certain culture, should all characters be portrayed by actors from that culture, even if the character isn't? Like I know the Little Mermaid is a Danish story. So the prince and the human characters should be Danish. But the mermaid isn't a Danish girl, she lives underwater and not in any human country. So does it matter for her to be Danish (since obviously we can't get a real mermaid from mermaid-culture...)?

I am certainly in no position to say what should be done.. But I can tell you what would feel more right for me. I will approach this as I would approach the possible Hercules live action. Also, this answer is not hostile, I will just present some stuff in a relaxed fashion and I will rumble a lot because that’s what I usually do :P 

For starters, I would like the characters to be an accurate representation of demographics in this culture/country in that time. If you can get actors from the specific culture it would be even better because actors will talk about how it is to be Greek or Danish and how this mythos/tale matters to their country. The Little Mermaid in Dannmark is like Aphrodite is for Cyprus. The character is like a daughter of the people or a mascot, it’s everywhere. So it would be good for Americans and the rest of the world to dive into that culture. 

As a Danish girl wrote: “TLM was created by Hans Christian Andersen in 1836, since 1836 The Little Mermaid is a figure and character that the Danes hold dear to their heart, she is like a daughter to us. If you ever take a trip to Denmark, you will see TLM regurgitated e v e r y w h e r e over there. You will find TLM merchandise on key chains, T-shirts, tea towels, picture frames, socks etc and you will see Little Mermaid being played as a live production theatre in Odense (H.C.Andersens birth place) by local school children every year and not to mention, Odense has a few H.C.Andersen museums and merchandise shops that is just filled with Hans Christian Andersen stuff, that includes little mermaid stuff being sold, it-is-everywhere. So, in saying that, to us Danes, The Little Mermaid is an identity to us, and because it is something we identify with, it has become a part of our culture since 1836. We are very proud of our roots, including being the birth place of 'The Little Mermaid' story (and Lego).”

So it makes sense that the Little Mermaid would look like the average Dane. If I am not mistaken, H.C. Andersen based TLM on the Undine which is a local myth. But for her phenotype, typical mermaids from sub-saharan African folklore would look Black right? Typical mermaids of Nordic nations would look Nordic for the same reason. 

Literally speaking, her father is Triton, the son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, so the mermaid would at least be part Greek. And, as you know, the overwhelming majority of Greeks are white and Poseidon and Athena were pictured everywhere as Caucasian white. Now, gods don’t have an ID or social security number but they always belong to a people. Imagine Armenian, Chinese and other folklore. Don’t those old deities belong to those lands? Don’t they look like the average people, their main worshipers?

But it’s not so much the facts behind it as the origin of the tale and its location. Imagine the folklore of Uganda, Africa. How do you picture the heroes of those tales? White? I don’t think so. There are surely white people there but the average person there is Black and that is the people who most likely created the local tales. I know my share of Greek folktales and I don’t know anyone who ever imagined those characters not looking like Greeks :P

In today’s times, are there Black Danes living in Denmark? https://www.quora.com/Are-there-black-people-in-Denmark

Now, statistically speaking, “In total, there are 5,781,190 people living in Denmark, according to the latest figures from Statistics Denmark (DST) from the first quarter of 2018. [...] 343,805 are immigrants from non-Western countries”. With the most common non-Western nationality in the current population figures being Syrian (35,441) and Turkish (32,924). https://www.thelocal.dk/20180411/heres-where-denmarks-foreign-residents-live-and-where-they-come-from

The Danish girl continues: “I was very pleased with the 1989 Disney TLM version, because they used original concept illustrations from a Danish illustrator named Kay Nielsen for the early stages of production, and if you watch the added features on Disney TLM DVD (or the upload on YouTube) where they talk about how they made TLM and the development of the story and characters, you hear the directors and illustrators reference their material from Hans Christian Andersen over and over again.”

So when Disney created the movie it payed homage to the culture in a way. 

"The Little Mermaid - The story behind the story" where Disney interviewed a Danish person to talk about Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid and how Andersen helped create Disney’s 1989 TLM version. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiR3GvXuXd0&t=156s

More references made by the writers and directors of Disney's TLM 1989 towards Denmark and Hans Christian Andersen's connection and inspiration to Disney's 1989 TLM. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdMMg6OSn1Q&t=594

From here: https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Denmark we get this: The production staff mentioned that they used Southern Mediterranean European nations for the inspiration of The Little Mermaid, and flamingos are seen in the lagoon in the film, which are plentiful in Southern European countries. However, Eric also mentioned a kingdom of Flowerhaven when talking to Grimsby about a failed political marriage that was implied to have occurred recently, with the name being indicative of Northern European countries such as Scandinavia, and the TV series and Return to the Sea both featured near-polar areas with Atlantica being implied to be located near Greenland. In addition, Hans Christian Andersen, aside from writing The Little Mermaid in real life, had also been seen at Eric's Kingdom's docks telling the children about his encounter with Ariel in the ending of Metal Fish, thus strongly implying that its location was actually in Denmark, not the Mediterranean.

And yes, there are palm bitches in Denmark. Denmark does have lovely clear water, white sand and palm tree beaches, much like the Caribbean. Video from the Palm Beach in Frederikshavn, Denmark. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXb0AKF602k

To be clear,  I would also say the exact same things about the TV adaptation of an African tale. Say you want to depict a Nigerian tale. Well, at least have your protagonists look like Nigerians. But at the same time, Black Americans or Africans from Angola don’t have the same culture as the Nigerians. At least have Nigerians involved or Nigerian places and culture so we can feel the tale as it was told. And, I promise you, no one would complain for having a cast full of Black actors. Because it makes sense. 

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To sum up, it would just be... a nice chance for Americans and the rest of the world to be introduced to that culture. Danes are a small cultural (not oppressed) minority in the US and people don’t really know a lot about them. Tbh not even the rest of Europe knows too much about them. It’s a tale that clearly matters to a lot to the people of the culture and by introducing Denmark to people you help them learn about it’s modern society and folklore. 

Não tem nada de #tbt Post atrasado mesmo. Vídeo que minha comadre @vivianemedeiros fez da minha pessoa no @lavandario_cunha_sp_brasil e editado por mim. Euzinha sob o efeito do Sol e das lavandas, com trilha da #Zaz #lavieenlavande #flowerhaven #instamood #cunha #duasou3coisasqueeusei #music

Here is my OC FlowerHaven Sans. This OC is trans so it will be called a she and a he. She usually goes by Haven. 

Once upon a time, there was Eric Barnes. He is twenty-five years old, currently taking year five classes for non magical students, though his biggest challenge at the moment is mastering his sword fighting and combat abilities.

Flowerhaven was a big kingdom that had a much smaller kingdom close by called Atlantica where only few people lived. Luckily for Eric, he was the only child of King Barnes; the ruler of Flowerhaven. This made him a prince, something he didn’t really care for all that much, but still enjoyed due to the pleasures it came with. The only thing that made Eric not want to be king was his father’s idea in uniting both Atlantica and Flowerhaven.

Eric learned this when he was in his late teens, it was not something he wanted all that much seeing as he was swept away by a particular red head who had captured his heart; despite never speaking to her before. No matter who Eric wanted to get to know or who he wanted to marry; he was told to pick from the Andersen’s seven daughters to marry. Instead, he opted to take a different route. In exchange for Eric going to the Institute he would think about which girl he would marry and lucky for him; his father agreed. 

It’s been a lonely few months since he had actually moved to the Institute. It was a weird place to be. Where he was no longer pampered but instead trained in combating; something he kind of did as a teen. But he was used to fencing, not using actual swords. In the end it was a big step to transition from a kingdom to a boarding school of sorts and there was a lot he missed; like the red headed girl he’d had his eyes on.

In another universe, he would resemble Darren Criss, but in Flowerhaven he is just another kid. The role of Eric is currently open.

For as long as he could remember, Eric had loved the sea, the way it smelled and the way it lightly sprayed on a summer day. He spent all of his time sailing or being near it, never bothering with his princely duties, especially not finding a princess like Grimsby would have wanted. All of this changed when he was out sailing with his crew when a sea storm ripped through their ship and had him sinking to the bottom of the ocean. The next time he awoke, all he remembered was a blurred vision of a redhead caressing his cheek and a voice that could have stolen the hearts of millions. After that, he became fixated on the idea of finding this mystery woman who rescued him. He avoided his man servent’s nagging to meet with women who actually existed and stop imagining the perfect woman— just when Grimsby had enough of him, they found a beautiful redhead lost on the beach, though it couldn’t be his princess, she lacked the most important thing: a voice. Throughout the next two days they grew close and he hesitantly began falling for this strange woman, forgetting his imagined savior. That is, until one night he heard the familiar tone again and fell under a deep spell, where he was a soulless shell that set off to marry Vanessa. During the wedding, his spell was broken and he saved Ariel and the entire ocean from the evil sea witch. They then got married and lived a happy life on the land, finding true bliss and love in one another. He could never have imagined a better life, and as if the gods were against him, it was stripped from him. One morning, he awoke to find his princess not beside him in bed and outside a storm raged, the sea like a wild animal. Days passed and the storm settled, though he began losing his memory of his happily ever after. He searched the relentlessly for Ariel, though his memories of her were slipping away by the day. At night, he heard a familiar song from the waters, his memories almost completely gone, but he rushed to the beach to find his true love. By the time he got there, there was nothing left to find. His memories had all left him and he stumbled upon a new princess, The Evil Queen, who he instantly fell into a deep obsession with. The second he saw her he fell into a sort of trance, though every night it would break to hear the familiar song calling to him.

Being the youngest daughter of the king of the seas, Triton, Ariel was always prone to rebellious behavior. Instead of attending concerts or practicing the duties of a princess, she preferred spending her time salvaging trinkets off of sunken ships and catching glimpses of humans. She wanted nothing more than for her fins to be replaced by legs so she could lead a life on land. Her father could never understand and became outraged with even the idea, driving his daughter off to visit the sea witch, Ursula. She made an offer that was impossible to refuse, Ariel would have her legs, her prince, and everything she could have ever wanted. All she had to do was have true love’s kiss before the sun set on the third day, without the use of her voice. She agreed, and was, in the end, successful when Prince Eric came to her rescue and destroyed the evil sea queen. When all was said and done, her father was finally able to see the truth and granted her her dream: legs. Her new life was spent on land, she married Prince Eric and they found themselves blissfully happy, often spending time on the beach and exploring the world and all it had to offer. Everything was perfect, until one morning when she awoke in her bed and felt a familiar emptiness, the same one she had felt when she made her original deal. Her voice was gone and outside the window of their castle, lightning shot out of the sky repeatedly and the sea howled, something only Triton could order. She knew something had to be horribly wrong, so she left Eric, rushing out to the waters and in an instant, her legs pulled together, her skin turning once again into green scales as she was dragged into the blue abyss. In the home she used to live in, mermaids and mermen alike were cheering for an unsuspecting figure that sat on her father’s throne— Ursula. There she sat, triton in hand and her necklace containing Ariel’s precious voice. She was now a slave for taking the sea witch’s happily ever after once, but she refused to succumb to her circumstance. At night, she would steal the horrid necklace and rise to the surface, her former melody echoing through the waters in hopes of luring Prince Eric to her once again to rescue her. Every single night she would attempt, returning the necklace just before dawn, hoping with every fiber of her being that he would hear her siren’s song in time to find their happily ever after and make things right.