Created in 2000 to meet a demand for franchise merchandise (such as dresses for little girls), the list of Disney Princesses currently includes twelve heroines: Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Arie, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tiana, Rapunzel, Merida, and Moana. It has evolved over the years and now meets a list of more or less unofficial criteria, which you can discover below.
#1 A Princess is a human being
All Disney Princesses are human. Even Ariel, from The Little Mermaid, gets legs at the end of her story, making her a true human. Tiana, from The Princess and the Frog, spends most of the film as a frog, but she also returns to her human form at the conclusion. Tinker Bell was removed from the franchise in 2005 when the Disney Fairies franchise launched, but she was originally part of the roster.
#2 A Princess is a Hero
To achieve the rank of Disney Princess, you must play a key role in the story, and the story must be an animated classic—not a movie. in live action, which explains the absence of Gisele from Once Upon a Time. Even if she is not the main character, like Jasmine from Aladdin, she must have an importance in the story, and not just serve as "decoration".
#3 There are several ways to reach the rank of Princess
The most obvious is birth, several Princesses being daughters of Kings, but there is also marriage to a Prince which can allow one to acquire this status. Now, the daughters of chiefs can also claim the rank of Princess, like Moana or Pocahontas. The only exception is Mulan, the fierce Chinese warrior who masquerades as a man in order to save her country from a barbarian invasion. It is assumed that she was elevated to the rank of Princess thanks to her bravery, which raises the legitimacy of other courageous heroines like Megara, who sacrifices herself for Hercules.
#4 A Princess Can't Show Up in a Sequel
Have we ever heard of a Princess who only appears in a sequel to a Disney cartoon? Never, and that's why Simea, Moana's little sister, should never be included in the list, and the three daughters of the Emperor of China, Ting-Ting, Su, and Mei, cannot claim to join Mulan either.
#5 A Princess is bankable
And here you might wonder why the Princess of Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Kidagakash, aka Kida, doesn't appear on the list. The sad reason is that the film wasn't a box office success when it was released in theaters in 2001, even though over time it has become a cult classic among Disney fans. The same goes for Princess Eilonwy from The Cauldron of Sorrow, a little-known Disney movie with a dark atmosphere that's hard to sell in terms of merchandise for little girls.
#6 The list of Princesses is evolving (never say never)
The absences of Anna and Elsa, the two sisters from Frozen, and most notably: the young women meet all the criteria, and they're so popular that the third installment of the trilogy dedicated to them will be released this year in theaters. However, it's likely that Disney didn't include them in the Disney Princess franchise because they have their own lucrative franchise, and don't need to be included in another one. Others were included for a time, before being removed, such as Esmeralda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (whose dark content is a hard sell to children) and Alice.
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