Ursula is a dangerous witch living deep in the ocean, and heaven help the poor unfortunate souls that crosses her path. She joined the pantheon of Disney animation villains in Walt Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Using her cunning, Ursula manipulates the mermaid princess Ariel and tries to use the girl to get what she’s really after: the undersea kingdom.

Ursula’s Story in The Little Mermaid

Her Disney incarnation was created by Ron Clements and John Musker, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s Sea Witch. But unlike the minor role in Andersen’s Little Mermaid tale, the Disney movie gave her a meatier part.

Ursula lives in what she would consider unfavorable circumstances, cast away from fellow sea dwellers. Her only companions are a pair of slithering eels and the beings she has captured to gain more power. She wants nothing more than to take King Triton’s throne and rule the ocean.

A plan forms when her eel companions witness Ariel, King Triton’s daughter, obsessing over a human that she has fallen for and her desire to become human. Ursula offers to make Ariel human for three days to get Prince Eric to fall in love with her too. If she is successful, Ariel can stay human with Eric, but if she fails, she will belong to the sea witch. The catch is that Ariel must woo Eric without her beautiful voice.

In the end, Triton offered to take Ariel’s place, so the sea witch turns him into a polyp and declared herself the Queen of Atlantica. Once she grows to a massive size, Eric impales her with ship and she dies, freeing all of the beings she had enslaved.

Developing Ursula for the Movie

Casting Ursula was a dramatic process with several names in consideration for the part. The directors wanted Bea Arthur, while lyricist Howard Ashman hoped for Joan Collins – both women rejected the part. Broadway star Elaine Stritch got the role, but she ended up getting fired. Pat Carroll then stepped in to voice Ursula, deepening her vice for the part. Sshe based Ursula on a combination of Shakespearean actors and car salespeople.

The team behind The Little Mermaid went through a few designs for Ursula, including a manta ray and scorpion fish. They landed on using the octopus, though she was only given six tentacles instead of eight to trim down on the animation cost. The human part of her appearance was based on drag queen Divine (who starred in director John Waters’ Pink Flamingos).

Once the movie reached theaters, Ursula was quickly praised for her delightfully wicked ways. Critics praised the way she was frightening and funny, asserting that she was the best Disney villain in years. Now she is considered among the best Disney villains.

Ursula has made several appearances in comics, including Disney’s The Little Mermaid one-shot in 1990. She was in issues of The Little Mermaid series published by Disney and Dark Horse. In 2026, Ursula was given her own miniseries in Disney Villains: Ursula.