King Triton, also known as the Sea King, is a major character of Disney's 1989 animated feature film The Little Mermaid. He is the ruler of Atlantica, an undersea kingdom inhabited by merpeople. As king, he wields the all-powerful trident that grants him control over the oceans. By his wife, Queen Athena, he is also a widowed father to seven daughters, the youngest of which is Ariel, whose rebellious spirit often clashes with Triton's authoritative rule.

As stated above, the handsome, feisty, and sassy Triton rules the underwater kingdom of Atlantica, though his power has been implied to spread across the entirety of the sea. He is a muscular merman, the husband of Queen Athena, and the widowed father of Attina, Alana, Adella, Aquata, Arista, Andrina, and Ariel. The king's magical trident appears to be made of gold. It emits a glowing light and a typical sound when in use. Besides his trident, he has a crown and two armbands, which also appear to be made out of gold.

His archenemy was Ursula, the sea witch who was once a senior member of the Court of King Triton. For many years, she had been seeking a way to exact her revenge upon him for banishing her from the kingdom.

The reason for his constant clashes with Ariel, as told by directors Ron Clements and John Musker, is that he is very strong-willed and independent like his daughter. Despite this, Ariel is said to be Triton's favorite child because as a child, he also had red hair and he sees himself most in Ariel. The strong resemblance between Ariel and her mother, Athena, probably also plays a role in his favoritism.

The prequel film The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning, initially depicts Triton as a devoted and loving father and husband. After his wife's death, Triton becomes extremely strict due to the grief he suffers, but he eventually comes to terms with the incident, allowing music back into Atlantica after previously banning it in the wake of the tragedy.

The television series, set before the events of the original film, shows Triton as a wise ruler. He is prejudiced towards humans, possibly due to the death of his wife, even though her death was an accident. Although he is constantly at odds with Ariel regarding humans and her dangerous adventures, he has shown to have a large feeling of guilt and remorse for upsetting his beloved daughter.

In the original film, Triton is a flawed yet caring father. He is a strict disciplinarian whose overprotective nature towards his daughters has been the source of conflicts between him and Ariel, especially due to her obsession with humans. He is extremely short-tempered and it was also implied that he did not care if humans ended up drowning, as seen when arguing with Ariel shortly after discovering that she saved Eric.

When Ariel tried to explain that Eric could have died if it was not for her, Triton unmovingly stated that it was "one less human to worry about", despite confirming that he does not even know Eric at all. His eruptive nature, when pushed far enough, was also shown to lead to violent acts, like when he destroyed most of Ariel's human artifacts as a way to "get through to her" after the possibility of losing his daughter to the human world was brought into play.

Despite this, Triton immediately expressed remorse afterward, as his angered expression softened to one of despair. After Ariel becomes human and goes missing, he blames himself for the situation. He tirelessly spends his time searching for her, unable to rest, until she is safe at home, proving that he is able to admit when his actions have gone too far. Earlier in the film, he also confides in Sebastian out of the fear that he may have been too strict with Ariel, proving that he struggles in both keeping her safe and being a loving father.

By the time of the sequel, Triton has become more rational and accepting of humans. He is still presented as a very wise ruler, although he now has much better control over his temper. But his aggressive nature still remains in times of crisis. He has a soft spot for his first granddaughter, Melody, and greatly values her well-being. When Ariel declares that Melody is to be raised as a normal human for her own safety from Morgana, Triton is noticeably upset as he had hoped to get to know his granddaughter, but lets Ariel decide, proving that Triton has learned to trust Ariel's choices, even if he does not agree with some of them.

Triton's supervising animator in the original film was Andreas Deja. King Triton is a large, handsome elderly merman with fair skin and a massive, well-muscled physique. He has long white hair, a thick, matching beard and mustache, a widow's peak hairline, and bushy, gray eyebrows. As a child, he had freckles and his hair was originally red but turned auburn (the same color as his daughter Attina's hair) when he was a young merman. Like his daughter, Ariel, Triton has blue eyes (which are olive green in Ariel's Beginning), though they are more of a grayish hue compared to hers. Because he is a merman, Triton's lower body is a navy-blue fish-like tail with cyan, translucent fins and a matching, fish-lip waist-line. Triton also has three signs of his royal status; he wears gold gauntlets with borders on the edges and five studs around the middle on his forearms, stopping just below the elbow, a golden, five-pointed crown resembling a sea star, and, most important of all, wields the legendary trident, a golden, three-pronged weapon with vast magical powers and abilities.

Powers

Abilities

Weaknesses

In the original film, Triton is prejudiced toward humans and Ariel's fascination with humans casts a strain on their relationship. According to Triton, contact between the human world and the merworld is strictly forbidden.

Triton first appears at a concert in Atlantica, presented by the seahorse serving as the host. After Sebastian the crab, the distinguished royal court composer, and Triton's loyal servant are presented, Triton and Sebastian have a discussion about how they anticipate the concert due to Ariel, Triton's youngest daughter, is supposed to make her musical debut. But Ariel turns out to be absent, much to Triton's extreme fury. After an initial argument with Ariel over her latest trip to the surface, Triton orders Sebastian to keep an eye on her. Sometime later, Triton notices a change in Ariel's behavior, and becomes pleasantly surprised when his other daughters tell him that Ariel is in love.

When Triton summons Sebastian to ask him the identity of Ariel's crush, whom he assumed to be a merman, he learns that Ariel saved the life of a human being she has fallen in love with, and losing his temper and determined to turn Ariel over to his views of humans, destroys her collection of human things, completely ignoring his daughter's protests. In the aftermath, Triton, instantly horrified and remorseful over his actions, leaves a tearful Ariel alone in her grotto in shame.

Later on, after Ariel runs away from home in search of the sea witch Ursula, and Triton sees she disappeared, he orders a search for her to apologize to her for his actions, unaware that she has accepted Ursula's deal and become a human with Eric. He asks Seahorse Herald if any sign of Ariel and Sebastian and he replies that they searched everywhere and no found traces of them and Triton orders them to keep looking and no one in Atlantica sleeps until they return home safe and sound and he sadly does so. Triton is seen suffering extreme remorse over what he had done, blaming himself for his daughter's disappearance.

Triton appears later in the movie, confronting Ursula after Sebastian had informed him of Ariel's deal with the sea witch. Ariel apologizes to her father, who attempts to destroy the contract between Ariel and Ursula to no avail (as Ursula points out the contract is legal, binding, and unbreakable even for Triton himself). To further twist the knife and add to Triton's guilt, Ursula begins to turn Ariel into a polyp to add to her garden as her latest victim of it alongside all of Triton's citizens who failed to uphold their deals with Ursula. Upon learning that Ursula may be willing to exchange Ariel for someone even better, Triton willingly takes his daughter's place, despite knowing the cost of his choice. Unable to bear seeing Ariel become a polyp and be trapped in Ursula's garden forever, and knowing this is all his fault to begin with because of his prejudice against humans and his anger, Triton uses his trident to overwrite Ariel's signature on the contract, replacing it with his own to save Ariel. Ariel is quickly restored to her mermaid self with the change in the contract's signature, while Triton is transformed into a polyp in her stead and thus, loses his crown and trident, much to Ariel's anger and sadness, but after Ursula is destroyed and her tyranny over the ocean barely slips from her grasp, he is restored to his true form and regains both his crown and his trident, as well as his regal status. All his citizens who also made deals with Ursula are restored as well with her death and spells being broken.

By the end of the film, Triton has softened his attitude and realized that he had made a mistake by thinking humans were vicious and that he had been wrong in doing so and finds Ariel about to bid a tear-stained farewell to the surface world. Upon noticing how much Ariel loves Prince Eric (who had destroyed Ursula and subsequently not only saved Ariel's life but also the entire kingdom of Atlantica) as much as she is loved by Triton, as well as considering Sebastian's statement "Children got to be free to lead their own lives", Triton transforms Ariel into a human once again, this time permanently, allowing Ariel to be with Eric; Triton and Sebastian are inevitably the only two witnesses to their first kiss. He is later seen at the wedding of Ariel and Eric, where Ariel forgives him as she gives him a heartwarming hug, telling him that she loves him, and accepts Eric as his son-in-law; when Eric bows to him, smiling, Triton returns the smile as though thanking him for saving his life, his daughter, and the kingdom of Atlantica. After saying goodbye, he then uses his trident to cast a beautiful rainbow over the sky, before watching the wedding barge depart with Sebastian and Flounder.

King Triton also appeared in The Little Mermaid TV series. According to the cartoon series, Triton was the son of Poseidon and the grandson of Neptune, of whom he had many fond memories. As a child, his nickname was "Red" for his red hair.

Although his anti-human sentiments remained, he could sometimes be persuaded to recognize his mistakes, such as when he apologized to Ariel for scaring her so much that she failed to return home after a human charm bracelet was accidentally locked around her wrist or when he was persuaded to help Ariel rescue a man trapped in a submarine at the bottom of the ocean (Implied at the end of the episode to be Hans Christian Andersen, who wrote the original tale).

He does seem to have some confidence in his daughter's abilities, as he once allows her to go and explore the source of a trail of pollution. He would later travel to the surface (said to be one of the first times he had been there), using his trident to create storms to drive the last bit of pollution away.

Triton's rule of Atlantica is also shown in some detail. Besides Sebastian, he also confides in an elderly sea turtle named Dudley, who serves as an advisor.

In the 1992 Disney Special "Sebastian's Party Gras", Sebastian and his performing friend, Sam Wright, are back for another spectacular show at New Orleans Square in Walt Disney World! Kids at home are invited to "Twist And Shout", join a "Conga Line", and do the "Limbo Rock"! Combining colorful animation and engaging live entertainment, "Sebastian's Party Gras" introduces the Little Mermaid's father, King Triton, who urges Sebastian to conduct his concerts under the sea only! But through the magic of music, the King changes his tune, learning that when you "Give A Little Love", "Life Is A Magic Thing" indeed!

Triton appears in this sequel. He seems to trust humans — or at least his son-in-law, Eric — by the time of this film. Upon the birth of Ariel and Eric's daughter Melody, he attends a celebration of her birth that takes place at sea. As a gift, he gives Melody a special locket that reveals a picture of Atlantica. However, his love for his granddaughter proves to be a weakness, which is exploited by Morgana, Ursula's younger sister. Morgana attacks the ceremony, desiring to avenge Ursula, and demands Triton's trident in exchange for Melody's safety. While Ariel and Eric are able to foil Morgana's plot, Ariel makes the decision to withhold all knowledge of Atlantica and mermaids for Melody's safety, and Triton orders a search for Morgana and no one will rest until she is vanquished; he even orders Sebastian to remain in Eric's kingdom to keep a close watch on Melody. A sea wall is put up around Eric's kingdom, sadly cutting Triton off from his daughter and granddaughter.

Twelve years later, Triton is met at sea by Eric and Ariel, who explain that Melody has gone missing. Triton transforms Ariel into a mermaid to assist in the search. Triton and Ariel eventually find Melody with Morgana. With Melody ignorant of her true heritage, Morgana had convinced the girl that Triton had stolen the trident from her. Melody had been transformed into a mermaid and tasked with retrieving the trident, as only Triton or one of his descendants could remove it from its resting place. Despite Ariel's protests, Melody gives the trident to Morgana, resulting in an epic battle.

Eventually, Triton is able to retrieve his trident after Melody steals it back, and then throws it to him. Triton states that neither Morgana nor her family will threaten his family ever again before using the trident to freeze Morgana in a block of ice, which sinks to the bottom of the sea. He then offers to allow Melody to become a mermaid permanently. However, she instead requests that he remove the sea wall, reuniting the humans and the merpeople. He gives Melody the honor of doing it by using his trident to carry the deed out.

In the prequel film, an opening prologue shows King Triton's wife, Queen Athena. The pair had a loving relationship. However, Athena was crushed to death by a pirate ship while trying to save the music box King Triton gave her as an anniversary present. Triton was so broken-hearted by her death that he banned music from Atlantica and forced everyone—even himself—to follow a strict daily schedule. Her death is also a possible reason why he hated humans so bad and as a widower he raises his daughters very overprotectively. Ariel's free-spirited personality is what casts a strain on their relationship in this film too, and he is particularly angered when he discovers that the leader of the (illegal) Catfish Club is, in fact, Sebastian, throwing his confidante into prison for this. He also forbids his daughters from ever leaving the palace, especially Ariel. Soon, the two get into another argument; Ariel asks Triton why they can't have music, but Triton avoids her question and declares that the discussion is over. Ariel tries to persuade him saying that she loves music, only for Triton to scream at her that he will never have music in his kingdom. However, he starts to realize that he was doing things wrong, especially when Ariel mentions that Athena wouldn't have wanted this.

After his argument with his youngest daughter, Triton looks at the statue of him and Athena, and as he starts to miss his late wife, he feels guilty for what he did to Ariel and Sebastian.

The next day, when Triton finds out from Benjamin that Ariel and Sebastian have gone missing, he immediately goes to look for them.

Triton eventually finds Ariel and the Catfish Club, and gets shocked when Ariel is risking her life to protect Sebastian from Marina. As he holds his unconscious daughter and the music box she found during her journey, Triton comes to see the error of his harsh decisions. When Ariel wakes up, Triton apologizes to her for not listening.

After Triton, Ariel, and the Catfish Club return to Atlantica, Triton lifts the ban on music, and appoints Sebastian as his court composer at the end of the film.

In the film, Jim Cummings took over as the voice of Triton since his original voice actor Kenneth Mars was unavailable at that time due to health problems - Mars died three years after the prequel film's release.

King Triton made a few cameos in the series House of Mouse. In "Jiminy Cricket", he was seen sitting alongside Rafiki, Grandmother Willow, and Merlin. In "Salute to Sports", when Mickey said he wanted the audience to do the wave, Triton summoned an actual wave. In "Pete's House of Villains", Ursula was in charge at the reservation desk in Daisy Duck's place and refused to let Triton in the club. Instead, she morphed him into a polyp again, and directs the transformed Triton to "The Poor Unfortunate Souls" section of the club.

King Triton made a small cameo appearance in The Princess and the Frog as a float in Charlotte's and "Naveen"'s (Lawrence in disguise) Mardi Gras wedding.

King Triton appears in the 2022 live-action Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers movie, being part of Sweet Pete's bootleg movie "The Small Fish Lady". However, his bootleg form is almost true to his original appearance.

He also appeared in the Lego animated special LEGO Disney Princess: The Castle Quest, where he is trapped in a giant fish tank by Gaston. Ariel needs to save her father with the help of some of her princess friends (Snow White, Tiana, Moana and Rapunzel).

Triton appears as a minor character in the novel by Serena Valentino. It's revealed that Ursula is his long-lost sister who was raised by a human fisherman after Triton abandoned her. When Ursula brings destruction to her old village to get revenge for them killing her father, Triton appears and tells her of their blood relation to each other. He brings her back to his kingdom, but he is disgusted by her cecaelian form and tells her she could only live in his palace if she was in mermaid form, which adds a further strain in their relationship. He is shown to have no sympathy for any human because humans eat fish, and even tells Ursula explicitly that her adopted father deserved to die. When Ursula tells her story to the Odd Sisters, they grow a deep hatred of Triton and they agree to help Ursula plot his downfall. Later he is seen with Ursula giving up his freedom in exchange for his daughter's. After Ursula's death, he comes to realize that he treated her harshly and decides to make things right with Ariel and turn her into a human permanently.

Part of Your World (A Twisted Tale)

In this alternate reality, Ariel was unable to reclaim her voice in the depicted 'final' confrontation with Ursula although she was able to retrieve the trident, with the result that Ursula spends five years as ruler of Eric's kingdom while Ariel is made to act as ruler of Atlantica, her sisters declaring this as her punishment for failing to save their father (although really because none of them wanted the responsibility). After one of Scuttle's grandchildren witness Ursula keeping the still-polyp Triton prisoner, Ariel is able to retrieve her voice and ally with Eric to try and oppose Ursula, as they learn that she intends to sacrifice Triton to gain more magical power that she can use away from the sea. Eventually, Ariel defeats Ursula and Triton are restored, initially appearing on land as a human before he and Ariel return to Atlantica and Triton retakes the throne. Acknowledging Eric's assistance in their fight against Ursula, Triton concedes to Ariel's request to become an ambassador to the humans so that she and Eric can explore their relationship while he resumes the throne

A Twisted Tale Anthology: The Secret Exchange

In the end, King Triton using the trident transform Eric into a merman.

After turning Ariel back into a human, he using the trident to create paths to help the trapped souls on the Isle of Serein (including Eric's mother Queen Eleanora) return to their homes. He is seen again at Eric and Ariel's wedding three years later.

King Triton plays a recurring role in the Kingdom Hearts video game series, again as Ariel's overprotective father who openly berates the worlds outside the ocean floor. In the original game, he appears to have an impressive knowledge of the worlds outside Atlantica, despite said worlds supposedly being a secret. Triton also shows awareness of the Keyblade and its lore, proving he's been aware of the events of the Kingdom Hearts universe even longer than the protagonist Sora.

Triton makes his first appearance in the series' flagship installment, Kingdom Hearts where he forbids Sora, Donald, and Goofy from interacting with his world in their quest to find and seal the keyhole, knowing Ariel's fascination with worlds outside of Atlantica would lead her into trouble during the trio's mission. However, after Ursula causes havoc in search of the keyhole, as well, Triton leaves it in the hands of Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Ariel to stop her, eventually revealing the keyhole to be within Ariel's grotto.

In Kingdom Hearts II, the king's worries are switched from Ariel's obsession with the worlds outside of Atlantica, to the human world above the sea surface. To revert her mind from it, he asks Sora, Donald, and Goofy to help Ariel instead focus on Sebastian's concert, in which she's set to sing in. Things take a turn for the worse when Ursula returns and attacks, taking over the sea and transforming Triton into a polyp. However, due to the actions of Prince Eric, the heroes are able to save the day, and the king, teaching Triton the surface isn't all bad, thus allowing his daughter access to the surface, as well as Eric's hand in marriage.

King Triton is a playable character in Disney Heroes: Battle Mode. King Triton is a Mid-Line Control role hero. Triton uses his trusty trident to create whirlpool on the battlefield, this sucks enemies to the centre of the whirlpool, dealing to them damage. Triton also uses trident to blasts enemies, dealing more damage, his attacks are more powerful against shielded enemies. Triton's Blue Skill Turn The Tide allows him to rise a tide, healing himself and allies and making everyone Precise.

King Triton's friendship campaigns are with Ariel and Hank & Dory. He also has friendship campaign with Wade Ripple.

In the stage adaptation of the film, Triton's role is similar to that of the original. However, it also adds in a twist that Ursula is his sister (based on a deleted concept from the original film). It also reveals that the reason why he banished Ursula was that of her attempt to gain the Trident when she was inherited with the Nautilus. He also has his own musical number in a reprise of "World Above", where he forbids Ariel from pursuing Eric and the human world as a whole.

In The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure, King Triton can be seen as an audio-animatronic at the end of the ride, celebrating Ariel and Eric's wedding.

Triton also appears in the Disney California Adventure parade Paint the Night.

For the interactive attraction, Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, King Triton has his own spell card known as "King Triton's Trident".

Triton also appeared in the SpectroMagic parade with a lit-up Trident.

In Voyage of the Little Mermaid, King Triton makes a vocal appearance at the beginning of the show confronting Ariel about humans, voiced by Corey Burton. Triton reappears in animation on-screen speaking with Sebastian about letting Ariel go as he did at the end of the original film.

In Magic, Music, and Mayhem, King Triton is called forth by Fairy Godmother to join the celebration by bringing the magic of the sea. Triton later battles Captain Hook when he crashes the party.

At Disney's Art of Animation Resort, Triton's likeness can be found alongside other Little Mermaid characters as a 35-foot tall statue seen in a courtyard themed after the film.

Jupiter from the animated series Legend of the Three Caballeros bears a striking resemblance to King Triton.

• King Triton (The Little Mermaid 2023)
• King Triton (Ariel)

• King Triton on Kingdom Hearts Wiki