15 most empowering female Disney characters of all-time

15 most empowering female Disney characters of all time

By Andi Ortiz | Oct 30, 2019

Magical and larger than life, Elsa is the perfect mythic character—but she can’t help but wonder why she was born with powers. What truths about the past await Elsa as she ventures into the unknown to the enchanted forests and dark seas beyond Arendelle? Featuring Idina Menzel as the voice of Elsa, Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Frozen 2” opens on Nov. 22, 2019. © 2019 Disney. All Rights Reserved. /

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Photo: Beauty and The Beast 25th Anniversary Edition.. Image Courtesy Walt Disney Studios In-Home USA/Canada via Image.net /

6. Belle

Belle may be a gentle, kind-hearted bookworm, but that doesn’t mean she won’t say exactly what she thinks. Her town? Provincial. Gaston? Primeval. In fact, the idea of being married to Gaston is so disgusting to her that she literally scoff-sings about it. And it’s exactly what young girls – or honestly, girls of any age – need to see.

You can be bookish; it doesn’t make you odd. You can want adventure in the great wide somewhere. You can want more than they’ve got planned.

Even when she was a prisoner, Belle had exactly zero problems with telling Beast exactly what she thought of his behavior. She taught him to control his temper, reminded him of the fun in life, and reignited his love of stories with her reading.

Much like Jasmine, the live-action version of Belle made the character even better. The 2017 version made just a few changes, but they were just enough to make fans fall in love with Belle even more.

This Belle was a bit more like her father, inventing things to make her life easier, and working with tools to get out of sticky situations. She might’ve even been the first Disney princess to pick a lock with a hair pin.

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