Merida (Brave) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Merida |
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| Brave character | |
Merida as she appears in Disney/Pixar's Brave
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| First appearance | Brave (2012) |
| Created by | Brenda Chapman |
| Portrayed by | Simone Shanahan |
| Voiced by |
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| Information | |
| Affiliation | Disney Princesses |
| Title | Princess of DunBroch |
| Family | King Fergus (father) Queen Elinor (mother) Princes Harris, Hubert and Hamish (younger brothers) |
| Nationality | Scottish |
Princess Merida of DunBroch (Scottish Gaelic: Mèrida) is the main protagonist of the 2012 Disney Pixar film Brave. Merida was added to the Disney Princess line-up as the 11th princess, on May 11, 2013, becoming the first Disney Princess to be created by Pixar. Merida is also the main character of the games Brave and Temple Run: Brave. Merida also is a playable character in the Disney Infinity series, first appearing in Disney Infinity 2.0.
Contents
Appearances
Brave
In Brave, Merida lives in the mystical Scottish kingdom of DunBroch with her mother, Queen Elinor, her father, King Fergus, and her mischievous triplet brothers, Hamish, Hubert, and Harris. Elinor attempts to convince Merida to be a perfect princess. However, Merida enjoys riding through the Highlands on her horse, Angus, and practicing archery and swordplay; she inherited those skills from her father.
One evening, Merida discovers that the king's allied clan lords are presenting their sons as suitors for her hand in marriage. The lords arrive with their sons, who are not her type. Merida chooses archery to win her freedom. After she wins the competition herself, Elinor forewarns Merida that feuding set right, but Merida leaves and encounters a wil-o-the wisp. A trail of them soon lead her to a witch's cottage. Merida asks the witch for a spell to change her fate. The witch gives Merida a spell cake and she gives it to Elinor, but it transforms her into a black bear. Merida gets Elinor out of the castle, as her father is a bear hunter.
Merida and Elinor, who still retains most of her human senses, arrive at the witch's cottage, where the witch leaves a message in her cauldron, saying that the spell will be permanent by the second sunrise unless she "mends the bond torn by pride."
The next day, Merida and her mother bond together as they help each other look for food. After they do so, Merida gets attacked by a bear which looks identical to her mother but discovers that the bear is her mother herself. A trail of wisps appear and they lead them to the ruins of an ancient castle, where Merida discovers that the prince in her mother's story was the same one who received a similar spell from the witch. The wicked prince had become the dreaded demon bear Mor'du. Suddenly Mor'du attacks Merida but Elinor saves her and they escape. Merida convinces her mother that if they don't break the spell, she'll become a wild bear forever like Mor'du. Merida realizes that "mend the bond torn by pride" would mean fixing the family tapestry, which she had damaged during their arguments.
The two of them rush back to the castle, where they discover Fergus and the lords brawling over Merida, who steps into the great hall and stops the fighting. Merida makes a moving speech, convincing the clans that she must restore their bond and that the lords' sons should marry whomever they choose. The lords reluctantly agree and as they celebrate, Merida and Elinor climb up into the tapestry room to fix the torn tapestry. Fergus enters Elinor's room to tell her about what happened, but finds the room in ruins instead. In horror and despair he enters the tapestry room to find Merida pulling the tapestry off the wall and discovers Elinor in her bear-self. Fergus attacks Elinor, thinking she is Mor'du, but Merida blocks his path and Elinor escapes. Fergus detains Merida and follows Elinor with the other clans. With help from her brothers, who also have transformed into bears by inadvertently eating the spell cake, Merida gets out of her room and rides after her father into the forest while fixing the tapestry on horseback. Merida saves her mother just before Mor'du appears and overpowers the clans. Elinor defeats Mor'du by smashing him against a tall menhir, which topples over and crushes him, releasing the prince's spirit. Realizing what the witch's riddle meant, Merida places the fixed tapestry over Elinor and reconciles with her mother. Elinor is suddenly transformed back into a human along with the triplets and the family is happily reunited.
Video games
Merida appeared as the main character in the "endless running" video game, Temple Run: Brave, a spinoff of the game Temple Run. The game was released on June 14, 2012, a week before the movie was released. Merida & her father King Fergus are the only playable characters in the game. The developers of the game, Keith Shepherd and Natalia Luckyanova noted, "We definitely had some surreal moments while working with them. They're Pixar! They do such a fantastic job of appealing to young audiences as well as adults. Their movies always span the whole range of emotions, from happiness to sadness, to everything in-between. Working with them, I think there was a couple of times where we just had to pinch ourselves and, you know, ask is this really happening?" The game received positive reviews from critics.
MacDonald reprised the role as Merida for the video game version of the film. Merida is also a playable character in Disney Infinity & Lego The Incredibles.
Other appearances
Merida is a very common character to meet and greet at the various Disney parks and can usually be found in Fantasyland. At Disneyland Park, she meets guests near the It's a Small World attraction near a gate used as a parade terminus. She is also seen sometimes at the World Showcase in Epcot.
In 2016, Merida would begin meet-and-greet sessions at Hong Kong Disneyland, as part of the park's 10th anniversary celebration.
Once Upon a Time
On July 11, 2015, the producers of Once Upon a Time announced that Merida will be a recurring character in the series' fifth season. Scottish actress Amy Manson was cast as Merida.
In episode 6 "The Bear and the Bow", Merida rescues her brothers with the help of Belle. In episode 9, "The Bear King", Merida is revealed to have been tutored in the finer points of combat by Mulan and later teamed up with Mulan and Ruby against King Arthur and Zelena, the Wicked Witch of the West on the eve of her coronation as DunBroch's queen, Fergus having been killed by Arthur a few years earlier.
Sofia the First
Merida appears in the third-season episode "The Secret Library" called to aid Sofia via the amulet of Avalor.
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Merida appeared in the film Ralph Breaks the Internet alongside other Disney princesses, as was announced at the 2017 D23 Expo, with Kelly Macdonald reprising her role. The other princesses did not understand her as “she was from another studio”.
See also
In Spanish: Mérida (Brave) para niños
