With Raya’s induction and the introduction of Asha who might meet the same fate as the former induction-wise. This got me thinking of the other princess in fairy tales, folktales, and myths that might be included in the princess line up that would fit right in and narrowed it down to several that I would like to share with you all if you don’t mind.
Cleopatra
Cleopatra VII was the last of the great pharohs of Egypt before being taken over by the Roman Empire. Cleo was cunning as she was drop dead gorgeous able to use her bewitching good looks to get what she wants. She was able to seduce Julius Ceasar onto her side.
After Ceasar had been murdered, Cleopatra setted her sites on his closest friend, Marc Antony, and soon started to fall in love with him for real. Soon, Marc began to neglect his duties to Rome to live with Cleo in Alexandria. But, Ceasars’ nephew, Octavian, didn’t like this at all because he could use his help in the war against Pompey. And, was also jealous that Ceasar gave Antony Egypt making him one step closer of making him emperor instead of him (so, take your pick).
At any rate, Marc was forced to leave Egypt leaving a pining Cleo behind. But Octavian decides to kill Marc anyway so he can be emperor of Rome. Marc realized what a power-hungry slimeball Octavian was and civil war broke out and the independence of Egypt hanged in the balance.
Seeing that he can’t win, he decided to kill Cleopatra, thinking she had turned against him. In order to win him back, Cleo sent a message saying that she had killed herself. Unfortunately, this backfired horribly as Marc killed himself in his grief. With Egypt on the verge of being conquered and facing usurpation, Cleo killed herself by being bitten by a poisonous snake ending the golden age of Egypt.
It’s high time for an egyptian princess to enter there ranks. Being a Disney film, I believe they would tone down Cleopatra’s seductive nature in favor of her intelligence being a key factor to her character. As for her choice of relationship with either Julius Ceasar or Marc Antony, I would go with Marc for the entire play was made between and being a major role in that play rather than Julius’ and would a better fit for Cleopatra (plus, there was a whole play on this so there’s that as well).
Isis
After tricking the sun god, Atem, into telling her his true name (which is Ra), Isis, the goddess of magic, became queen of Egypt along side her husband and brother (cause you know the Egyptian gods, like most myths, have a very confusing family tree) Osiris, the God of agriculture and would soon be the God of the dead. Together, Isis and Orisis usher in an era of peace thoughtout the land.
However, their brother, the god of chaos, Seth, wasn’t all too happy about this. He devised a plan to seize the throne and bring in era of distruction. Seth tricked his brother into getting into a coffin, sealed him inside with molten led, threw the coffin out the window and into the Nile, drowning Osiris. After hearing the news of her husband/brother’s fate, Isis scoured Egypt to find his coffin.
Eventually she did and tried to resurrect him but Seth, also being the god of violence, hacks Osiris’ body into pieces and scattering them. Isis, not losing hope, searched the pieces gaining two new allies in the process, her son Horus, the god of the sky, and Anubis, the god of mummfication and child of Osiris and her twin sister, Nephthys, after he had mistaken her for Isis. Together, they brought Seth to justice and she regained her title as queen of the gods.
For Isis, she already exhibits qualities in a disney princess, a compassionate go-getter that knows what she wants and would do anything for happiness even if it means finding the pieces of your dead husband/brother (I know, that cannot sound any prettier). I suggest that they get of the whole in a friendlier term marrying your realitve and most of the gory stuff (such as Seth hacking Osiris) and badda bing! badda boom! you got yourself a good old fashion Disney love story.
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Amaterasu
After escaping Yomi (the Japanese underworld) in an attempt to rescue and angering his wife/sister Izanami (a long story), Izanagi washed himself off in a nearby river. The moon god, Tsukuyomi, came out from one of Inzangi’s eyes and from the other, the sun goddess, Amaterasu and when he blew his nose, the god of storms, Susanoo was born (i swear, i couldn’t make this up if I wanted to). Taking notice of her radiance, Izanagi made Amaterasu queen of the heavens. She ruled Japan with compassion bringing light to all of Japan. However, like most mythologies, there was family drama. Amaterasu didn’t get along with her brothers very well, Susanoo to be more specific. The temptermental storm god kept making life hard for the people of Japan ticking off his sister.
The last straw was when he after he lost a contest to Amaterasu on who can make more men making the mistake on not specifying men as in humankind and made five women instead. Susanoo threw a huge temper tantrum flooding crops and destroying her loom killing her hand maids in the process. Feeling disrespected, Amaterasu lock herself in a cave depriving the mortals of her sunlight. All the other gods tried to coax her out but to no avail. One god had the idea of tricking her into thinking that their was someone more beautiful and more powerful than her. Out of her curiosity, Amaterasu took a peek outside finding a mirror hanging on a tree. While she was distracted by her own reflection, the other gods sealed the cave shut so she wouldn’t go back in. She soon forgotten why she was mad and return to the heaven bring sunlight back into the world.
We already have princess from China and southeast Asia, it seems only right that we have one from Japan. After hearing the myth, I found Amaterasu to be vain and arrogant in nature. With these qualities, one can deduce that she would come off as a Mother Gothel ripoff. So, instead I think that they could replace Amaterasu’s vanity with low self esteem to make her more likeable. As for her relationships with her brothers, I think for story sake, they keep that in their being as it’s a major factor in the myth seeing as how disney is now making a fad out of family drama.
Joan of Arc
Joan was a peasant girl living in 15th century France during the Hundred Year War when England tried to take France for their own. It was believed that Joan had receive a messges and visions from Heaven to go help in the war. Naturally, Joan jumped at the chance to help fight for king and country.
At that time and age, as one might guess, the army didn’t take the idea of a women joining the armed ranks too seriously. Unlike Mulan however, Joan would eventually gain their respect without having to dress up as a man. Guided by the voices of the angels, Joan would lead France to victory and drive England away. This would eventually come back to bite her in the butt when she was captured by England and burned at the stake for being consider crazy in the eyes of the church. You know, just another day in medieval Europe.
The rules of being an offical disney princess states that one must one of three things.
- Being born into royalty
- Being married into royalty
- Do a major act of heroism
Joan would be categorized under the third a rare occasion with Mulan being the only princess to accomplish this (wheither Pocahontas, Moana and Raya also qualify for this is a matter of perspective). Anyway, Joan exhibits bravery and determination with the ability to fight social norms and command respect with the odds stacked against her. What makes Joan really stand out from the other war heroes is that she didn’t kill a single person while at war (I know that most of the princesses didn’t kill anyone directly or at all but I feel that this is worth noting) making her the most peaceful and pacifistic princess hopeful out of this list.
Lady Bai
In the famous China folktale, a young man Xu Xian met a beautiful rich woman name Bai Suzhen. They eventually fall in love and got married. That seems like a basic love story but there is one little twist to this tale.
Bai is actually a 500 year old white snake demon who Xu Xian, thinking she was a regular snake, spared her from having her gull bladder removed to make quick cash, unwittingly saving her life. Bai was touched by this act of kindness and a budding romance was born.
As one would guess, officials and monks were skeptical of this union. One monk named Fahai was especially concerned and vowed to break up this relationship. To expose Bai to her fiancee, Fahai gave Xu Xian wine that would expose her to him. He gave Bai the wine and she immediately turned into a giant white snake. Xu Xian was so shocked, that he was stricken with a heart attack and died. Bai and her sister, Xiaoqing (a green snake demon she had saved before meeting Xu Xian the second time) traveled to Mount Emei to find a special herb to revive Xu Xian.
Fahai, seeing that Xu Xian’s love for Bai remained unchanged, kidnapped him in another attempt to separate them. Bai flooded the temple and the surrounding area but failed to save him. Eventually, Xu Xian escaped just in time for Bai to give birth to their son.
In one final attempt to defeat the white snake demon, Fahai track them down and trapped her underneath the Leifeng Pagoda.
Twenty years later, Xioqing, with a better understanding of her power, went forth to defeat Fahai and free her sister. With Fahai driven away for good, Bai was free and she reunited with her husband and son and they all lived happily ever after.
Now, after hearing this story, it put to mind to either Beauty and the Beast or The Hunchback of Notre Dame or a bit of both. Someone falling in love with a monster of some sort seeing there inner beauty rather than what they are (Beauty and the Beast) and some religious nut is out to kill her for being outside the social norm (Hunchback of Notre Dame). The story of the Lady Bai tells us that love can be found even among centuries old snake demons and, as Ariel proved, you don’t need to be all human to be a princess.
If you have any suggestion of a female lead from any piece of literature or myth that you think would be good as a Disney Princess or any questions, comments, or concerns of the ones i have provided. Please don’t be shy, write it down.