The Beast is the male protagonist of Disney's 1991 hand-drawn animated film Beauty and the Beast and its midquels. As the film is based on the traditional fairy tale of the same name, the Beast is based on the corresponding character from that fairy tale.
The Beast is voiced by Robby Benson in all of his appearances.
It is stated in products licensed by Disney (such as the 1998 video game The D Show which was developed by Cyberflix) that Adam is the Prince's name; however, it's been stated in the directors' commentary included in the Beauty and the Beast DVDs and Blu-ray as well as the Disney.com FAQ and D23.com that the character has never had an actual name; he is only referred to as "Beast" or "the Prince". Regardless, the name Adam is still used for Disney Prince/Disney Princess merchandise as the name has gone completely viral.
Background[]
Appearance and Personality[]
In the original tale, the Beast is seen wanting to be kind-hearted for the most part, and gentleman-like, with only an occasional tendency to be hot-tempered. In Disney's variant of the tale, the Beast originally appeared to be constantly and/or easily angry, pessimistic and spoiled. As opposed to his original counterpart, the creators gave him a more primal nature to his personality, which truly exploited his character as an untamed animal. The commentary also implied during the wolf attack scene that, because of the hopelessness of his even breaking the curse, he was also suicidal.
To reflect his early personality in the movie, the Beast is seen shirtless, with ragged, dark gray breeches, and a ragged reddish-colored cape with a golden colored circular-shaped clasp. Despite the actual color of his cape being a dark wine red color, the Beast's cape is more often referenced to be purple. The reason for this change in color is unknown, although the most likely reason is because the color purple is often associated with royalty. After the Beast saves Belle from a pack of wolves, his dress style changes, reflecting a more refined personality. His dress style becomes more disciplined, and the most referenced form of dress is his ballroom outfit, which consisted of a golden vest over a white dress shirt with a white kerchief, black dress pants trimmed with gold, and a navy blue ballroom tail coat trimmed with gold, worn during the film's ballroom dance sequence. Upon his reform under his love interest Belle, his personality changes to refined, but naive about the world at the same time. In the climax, he is shown wearing his white undershirt, his black pants and his same red cape.
Prince Adam, the Beast's true human form, is that of a tall and slender young man (though not as tall as the height of the Beast). He has auburn hair, and soft cream colored skin while also retaining his bright blue eyes. Other than the immediate aftermath of his regaining his human form (wearing the same clothes he wore as the Beast at that time — all except for the cape, which came off during his transformation), he is only ever seen in a more "human" version of his ballroom attire, simply with a pair of added dress boots.
Supervising animator Glen Keane describes the Beast as "a twenty-one-year-old guy who's insecure, wants to be loved, wants to love, but has this ugly exterior and has to overcome this."
According to the commentary from producer Don Hahn, the spell is not just physical but psychological as well. The longer the Beast is under the spell, the more feral he becomes. If Belle had never arrived at the castle, he would've eventually stopped speaking, stopped wearing clothing altogether, and would've gone to live in the woods. His primary source of food comes from hunting. This also explains the appearance of the West Wing and why he seems to have lost most of his ability to read and use eating utensils.
Official Description[]
- Cursed by an enchantress because he has no love within his heart, a prince is transformed into a terrible beast. The fearful spell can only be broken when he truly learns to love - and can earn the love of another. But who can love a beast? All seems hopeless until fate brings Belle into his world. Angry and despairing due to his long enchantment, the Beast tries to capture Belle's love with fear, not kindness. Then slowly, through her courage and compassion, he begins to discover the secrets of his own heart and learns that even a beast can be loved.
Design[]
Chris Sanders is responsible for helping come up with the design of the Beast. He went from insect forms, avian forms and fish forms until he finally got the right design. The Beast is not of any one species of animal, but a chimera, a mixture of several animals. He has the head structure and horns of a buffalo, the arms and body of a bear, the eyebrows of a gorilla, the jaws, teeth, and mane of a lion, the tusks of a wild boar and the legs and tail of a wolf. He also bears resemblance to mythical monsters like the Minotaur or a werewolf. In the original versions, he was described more like a cross between a lion and a mythical animal. He also has blue eyes, the one physical feature that does not change whether he is a beast or a human.
Appearances[]
Beauty and the Beast[]
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The Beast emerges upon realizing there's a stranger in his castle.
The unnamed prince (Adam) was a handsome young man, who lived in a luxurious castle in a far away land of France. He was albeit selfish, unkind and spoiled, despite having everything he wanted in his royal court. One winter's night (on Christmas Eve in Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas), his kindness was put to the test when a beggar woman came to the castle and pleaded for shelter from the bitter cold, with a single rose as payment. Repulsed by her appearance, he sneered at the simple but beautiful gift and orders the old woman to begone. The woman then warns the Prince not to be deceived by appearances, saying that the beauty is found within. When the Prince did not believe the beggar woman and shuns her for being repulsive again, her ugliness melts away and then reveals her true form as a beautiful and powerful Enchantress.
Seeing her beauty and realizing her power, the horrified Prince tries to apologize for his insults. But it is too late, for she has seen in her disguise that there was no love in his heart: a cold heart. As punishment, the Enchantress turns the Prince into a terrifying Beast. She also casts a ghastly curse on the entire castle, transforming it into a dark, foreboding place, its lush green grounds into dark, misty woods, and the good-natured servants into anthropomorphic household objects to reflect their different personalities. Ashamed of his new appearance as the Beast, the Prince conceals himself inside his castle with a magic mirror, given to him by the Enchantress, as his only window to the outside world.
The rose on which the Enchantress had also gave him was enchanted, and it would bloom until his twenty-first year. She had told the Prince that if he could learn to love another and earn her love in return by the time the rose's last petal fell, then the spell would be broken, but if the Prince failed, he would be doomed to remain a Beast forever. During the passing years, although he is aware of the Enchantress' prophecy, the Prince fell into despair and lost all hope for who could ever learn to love the Beast.
Beast meets Belle.
Years later, when the Beast locks Maurice, an old man from the village who is an inventor of machinery, in the dungeon for trespassing (not knowing or caring that Maurice was actually allowed inside by the servants for shelter, and despite the servants trying to vouch for him), his daughter Belle confronts the Beast and pleads with him to let her father go, offering herself as a prisoner instead. The Beast accepts, under the further condition that she remains in the castle forever. He then brashly throws Maurice into an enchanted coach to take him back to the village he came from without letting Belle say goodbye to her father first.
The Beast eventually decided to give her an actual room other than the tower (both at Lumiere's suggestion and due to feeling some guilt at Belle's sadness from his actions). He further warns Belle not to go into his chamber, the West Wing, although he gave her expressed permission to visit the other areas of the castle. He then "invites" her to dinner, although it was closer to a command than an actual request. He later waited for Belle to join him for dinner, although because of her residual anger towards the Beast for his earlier actions and grief towards her father being released before she said goodbye, Belle did not join him, citing as an excuse that she wasn't hungry, incensing him and later causing him to despair upon overhearing Belle's comments about him with the Wardrobe, Armoire.
Although he had specifically forbidden her from visiting the West Wing, she does later on out of curiosity, much to the Beast's fury, especially when his enchanted rose was almost destroyed by Belle. His rage caused him to destroy much of his chambers while roaring at Belle to get out. Although after he calmed down, he realized that he hadn't inadvertently ruined his chances by scaring Belle into fleeing the castle and pursued her into the forest, saving her from a pack of wolves and getting injured in the process.
Beast and Belle share a waltz.
The Beast later comes to appreciate Belle when she tends to his wounds, and strikes up a friendship with her when she thanked him for rescuing her. The next day, after being suggested by Lumiere on the fact that Belle is obsessed with books, the Beast gives her the library as a surprise. She then teaches him to become more civilized. Eventually, he falls in love with her, placing her happiness before his own. That night, after their dinner and a dance in the ballroom, Belle worriedly misses her father, and the Beast brings her to the West Wing, instructing her to use the magic mirror in order to find anything she can see. When Belle discovers Maurice becoming sick while on a desperate journey back to the castle to rescue her, the Beast releases her to tend to her father (and to make up for his harsh treatment of him).
Belle finds Maurice and returns him back to their cottage. Soon enough, a lynch mob comes to kill the Beast, led by a rival suitor and hunter named Gaston (with Belle, albeit unintentionally, instigating the mob by exposing the Beast's existence to save Maurice from getting transported to the asylum as a ransom for Gaston's need of her hand in marriage). While the servants chase the villagers away in the battle, Gaston eventually finds the Beast in the West Wing, and pushes him out through the window, sending him tumbling down the castle's rooftops. Despite taking a brutal beating from Gaston, initially, the Beast has no will to fight, still in a state of depression from Belle leaving. Just as Gaston is about to lay the finishing blow, Belle returns with Maurice, having escaped from confinement in their cellar thanks to Chip, who stowed for a ride with her. Upon hearing Belle's voice as she calls for Gaston to stop, and seeing her on her horse, Phillippe, he suddenly stands and fights back with a renewed vigor in knowledge that Belle truly does love him. As the fight continued and Belle entered the castle in an effort to break it up, Gaston continued to blather about his superficial beliefs that he is Belle's true love, and the Beast is nothing more than a monster whom Belle would never love. Fed up with Gaston's arrogance over Belle, the Beast overpowers him and holds him by the throat over the edge of the castle. A frightened Gaston finally drops his pride and begs for mercy, to which the Beast ignores at first, but upon realizing that he was turning into everything that represents Gaston himself, instead spares his life, ordering him to get out. Just then, Belle arrives at the West Wing's balcony and calls out to the Beast, who turns around to see her and climbs his way back up toward her. Reuniting with Belle, he happily embraces her, but is then stabbed in the back by Gaston, who is refusing to accept defeat. Before he could stab him more, Gaston loses his balance from dodging the Beast's swinging arm and falls off the castle to his death, while Belle quickly manages to grab hold of the Beast and pull him onto the balcony.
Beast after being turned back to his human form.
When Lumiere, Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts arrives too late to see what was happening, Belle comes to tend to the Beast's wounds, trying to reassure him that everything's going to be fine. But the Beast, knowing all too well that his time to pass is coming, tells her that he was happy to have a chance at seeing her one last time before succumbing to his wounds. Upon losing him, Belle begs him not to go and cries, admitting that she loves him, seconds before the last petal falls from the enchanted rose. As Belle continue sobbing over the Beast's loss with the servants mourning him, bright and colorful comets fell from the sky and hit the balcony's floor, creating small explosions of sparks around Belle and the Beast, and creating a blue fog. To Belle and the servant's amazement, the fog's gravity levitates the Beast's body to the air and wraps him in his own cape (except for his head and shoulders) until his arms — controlled by the magic — frees him, invisibly snapping off the clasp and detaching the cape in the process. While the Beast is still being surrounded by his now-claspless cape, his fore-paws respectively changes into human hands with energy building up and shooting out golden light beams from his fingers; the same thing happened to his hind-paws which turn to human feet, extending his legs and pulling his pants from his ankles to his knees, while the tail also disappeared at that time; and even his two-horned, furry head transforms back into a human head of the Prince with the rest of his body shrinking to human-size and golden light tattering his clothes from shooting out all over: in other words, he is returned to normal.
Once the transformation is completed, the fog slowly places both the Prince and his cape back to the balcony's floor. When Belle walks up to have a closer inspection, the Prince started to move as the fog disappeared, making her move back and see that he is alive. Slowly but immediately, he gets up on his feet, with the rest of his cape sliding down and falling off his back (never to be seen again, for it's unknown whether the whole cape is still under the Prince's feet, or magically de-materialized). And after looking at his hands to see if he's really human again, the Prince turns to Belle and convinces her who he still really was. Belle initially looks at him skeptically before recognizing him by his blue eyes (despite the point that he is no longer a Beast). The Prince and Belle share their first kiss, a kiss of true love, that further breaks additional spell placed on the castle and its inhabitants: the castle is restored to its original, shining state, and all the Prince's servants, including Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Mrs. Potts, are transformed back into human. Even Sultan and Chip are changed back to normal as well. The next day, a ball is held to celebrate their victory.
Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas[]
Beast in Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas.
In the midquel, which takes place not long after the Beast rescued Belle from the wolves, much to his frustration, Belle wants to celebrate Christmas and throw a real Christmas party. The Beast hates the idea of Christmas, for it was the very day when the Enchantress cast the spell on him and the entire castle ten years ago - he also was ungrateful for his gift that day, a storybook. While the Beast sits most of the preparations out, a treacherous servant plots to have Belle thrown out of the castle: Forte, a court composer in the form of a pipe organ, since he is far more appreciated by the Beast while under the spell.
Unknown to the Beast, Belle writes him a special book which he doesn't see until later on. She also meets Forte later on in a chance meeting. Forte tells her that the Beast's favorite Christmas tradition when he was a child... was the Christmas tree. Belle becomes frustrated, for no tree she has seen on the grounds has been tall enough to hang ornaments. Forte lies to Belle, saying that a perfect tree can be found in the woods beyond the castle. Reluctant to go against the Beast's orders that she never leave the castle again, Belle leaves nonetheless in order to find the perfect tree. When Belle does not arrive to see the Beast's Christmas present to her, he begins to suspect that she isn't there at all. When Mrs. Potts explains that the household cannot find her, the Beast becomes enraged. He goes to Forte's room and gazes upon the magic mirror which shows Belle on an assignment to bring back the Christmas tree. Believing Belle is running away once again, the Beast gets more furious than ever. Forte then lies to him that Belle has abandoned him. The Beast finds Belle in the woods and saves her in time from drowning, since she fell through thin ice.
Still believing that Belle disobeyed him by leaving the grounds for the second time, the Beast ruthlessly throws her into the dungeon, telling her that she will rot in there forever. But when Forte goads him into destroying the rose to end his suffering, the Beast finds Belle's book in the West Wing and reads it, coming to his senses and realizing that all Belle wants is for him to be happy. Releasing Belle from the dungeon, the Beast prepares to join in the Christmas festivities. But Forte doesn't give up and even goes as far as to attempt to destroy the entire castle with Beethoven's 5th. Fortunately, the Beast finds him in time and destroys his keyboard with Franz Schubert's Symphony No 8. Losing his balance (and his pipes), Forte falls from the wall he is leaned up against and is silenced forever. Despite his intentions, the Beast mourns Forte's death with Belle comforting him. When he and the other servants are returned to normal, the Prince and Belle give Chip, Mrs. Potts' son, a book to read, which he loves. As the Prince and Belle come out to the balcony, he gives her something too: a rose.
Belle's Magical World[]
Beast in Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World.
In the final entry of the franchise, made up of four segments from a presumably failed television series, Belle teaches the Beast a thing or two about life itself, consideration and manners. He appears only in the first and fourth segments, and in a cameo in the third.
In the first part, The Perfect Word, the Beast and Belle have a bitter falling out at dinner when the Beast demands that Cogsworth open the windows to cool him down, despite the fact that he is the only one hot and there is a cold wind, and angrily strikes his servant, Webster, a long-tongued dictionary. Despite Lumière and Cogsworth's please, Beast refuses to apologize for his behavior, until Webster, Crane and LePlume forge a letter of apology from the Beast to Belle. All is settled, until the Beast realizes that it was a forgery. He furiously banishes Webster, Crane and LePlume from the castle, but Belle brings them back from the woods, and the Beast soon learns to forgive them, as their intentions were good.
In the fourth (and final) part, The Broken Wing, the Beast loses his temper with Belle again when she brings an injured bird into the castle, as he dislikes birds. As he tries to chase the bird out, however, he falls over on the stairs and hits his head hard, knocking him unconscious and later stripping him of his hatred for birds. However, his selfishness still remains, and he locks the bird in a cage in his room, demanding that it sings for him whenever he demands it. The bird, terrified, refuses, until Belle teaches the Beast that the bird will only sing when happy. The Beast lets the bird out, and learns to consider others before himself.
Earlier on, in the third segment, Mrs. Potts' Party, the Beast makes several cameos sleeping in his bed in the West Wing. Dialogue between Lumière and Cogsworth shows that he had spent the entire previous night mending leaks in the castle roof, and is still resting. An argument between Lumière and Cogsworth about Mrs. Potts' favorite flowers lead to them having to hide several bunches of flowers around the Beast's bed. At one point, the Beast begins to smell one of the flowers and almost wakes up, but it is removed just in time, and he falls asleep again.
House of Mouse[]
Beast in House of Mouse.
The Beast made recurring cameo appearances in the animated series House of Mouse, again voiced by Robby Benson. One of Beast's most notable appearances is where The Angry Villagers perform the song Let's Slay the Beast. After the performance ended, Beast (hiding under a table) asks Belle if it's over. In "Not So Goofy", the Beast was seen struggling to scratch his back until Goofy arrived and scratched it for him. In "The Stolen Cartoons", the Beast turning from his human to beast form was used as a visual reference when Daisy noticed the crowd getting ugly. Unusually in the episode "Max's Embarrassing Date", Beast was seen having affairs with Cruella De Vil. In the episode "Goofy for a Day" the Penguin Waiters fancily prepare Beast for fine dining during the song Soup or Salad, Fries or Biscuits, Extra Olives, Donuts.
The Beast was also a secondary guest character in the film Mickey's Magical Christmas as well as Mickey's House of Villains where Donald Duck tries to scare him but he scares him back.
Other animated appearances[]
The Beast as one of the Sultan's figurines in Aladdin.
The Beast makes a cameo appearance in Aladdin as one of the Sultan's toys. This is pointed out in a Toon Disney short.
The Beast and Belle were featured in one of the Disney parody trailers for Lilo & Stitch. Here, Beast and Belle are having their famous ballroom dance when Stitch was seen above on the chandelier, when it suddenly plummets to the ground. The Beast is left looking confused as an enraged Belle storms off to her room.
The Beast made a cameo appearance at the end of The Lion King 1½ in the form of a silhouette alongside Belle and other Disney characters.
The Beast is mentioned by Belle while singing to Sofia in the Sofia the First episode "The Amulet and the Anthem" and is shown in a clip from the song "Human Again".
The Beast makes a cameo appearance along with Belle in the Mickey Mouse episode "The Adorable Couple", where Donald Duck accidentally bumps into them while dancing, angering Beast and prompting him to beat up the duck.
Live-action appearances[]
Once Upon a Time[]
In Once Upon a Time, the complex Rumplestiltskin serves the role of the Beast.
The role of the Beast in Once Upon a Time, rather than being a prince who is cursed, is actually Rumplestiltskin (Robert Carlyle). He had gained Belle (Emilie de Ravin) in a trade for saving her kingdom from an army of Ogres who were invading. Originally having intended her to be his servant while living in his castle, the two form a bond similar to that of the original fairy tale. Their bond would only grow stronger when Belle would speak with the man about the son whom he lost. Though unlike in the original fairy tale, the two would not end up together due to an argument. Though despite going their separate ways he would still hold strong feelings for her, keeping a special chipped tea cup as a reminder of her.
Descendants[]
Beast is set to appear in the upcoming Disney Channel original film. Here, he and Belle are the rulers of a modern-day kingdom inhabited by various Disney characters and the parents of a young prince, named Ben. He will be played by Dan Payne.
Printed material[]
The New Adventures of Beauty and the Beast[]
This two-part comic series released by Disney Comics took place a few years prior to the first film. In it, the Beast had learned to be educated in an attempt to become nicer at the behest of his servants. Fifi (identified as Marie in this comic) and Lumiere also attempted to give dating advice to Beast, although it didn't work. This plot element would later be reused for an episode of House of Mouse, specifically when they tried the same with Goofy with similar success (or lack thereof).
Beauty and the Beast Marvel Comics[]
This 13-issue series of comics, similar to the midquels, took place some time between Belle's imprisonment at his castle and the curse being lifted in the original film.
In the first issue, he had a dream where Belle restored him to his original form, but ended up enraged upon seeing he is still a monster upon waking up, resulting in him causing an uproar that was scaring the other servants (who already were having a hard time preparing for the wardrobe's surprise birthday party). After being confronted by Belle regarding Beast's recent behavior, he admitted his rage was due to the nightmare he experienced upon waking up. He then agreed to hold the surprise party, albeit reluctantly.
In the second issue, he ended up becoming impatient due to the wardrobe taking too long. He eventually chowed down on a meal (albeit in an animalistic fashion), and eventually nearly cancelled the party due to the wardrobe not arriving. However, they eventually managed to get the party under way after Belle agreed to try out one of her dresses to make her feel better (as she was upset that she, a former opera star, was forced by the spell into becoming a wardrobe and thus be less than useful). Beast ended up participating in the resulting festivities, but left due to feeling that Belle will never love him, largely because of his appearance.
In the third issue, Beast, as a suggestion by some of the servants, decided to accompany Belle on a walk on the Castle grounds. Because of Beast's skulking around, however, this resulted in disaster due to them arguing. After making up, they then continued with their walk. The fourth issue continued with this, where Lumiere ended up overestimating it with this action and sent letters to Beast and Belle for the Grand Harvest Festival. However, the Beast, because he no longer knew how to read thanks to the curse, burned the letter, which resulted in another near-disaster. Belle eventually confronted him on this (having overheard Lumiere and Cogsworth's argument about the former's botching of the event due to Chip opening the window for Belle to hear while she was reading). Beast eventually decided to admit on the advice of his staff to Belle that he couldn't read the letter, with her promising to teach him.
In the fifth issue, the Beast, true to his word, attempted to learn how to read, but he ended up getting frustrated at his lack of progress, causing Belle to think she may have misjudged him. The Beast realized he may have messed up, and believed her to have been the object of many men's desires at her village and thus further fueling his self-loathing and doubts. Lumiere then offered to have Beast compose a poem. However, the Beast got the wrong idea and had him finish it under his name after giving a few inputs to the letter. Belle eventually saw through this and attempted to have him learn to read and write by himself.
In the sixth issue, the Beast witnessed Belle and Chip playing in the snow, wishing he could be out there with them. In the seventh issue, after demanding to know the commotion behind the servant's panic, learned that Belle and Chip got lost in the blizzard. He then consulted his magic mirror to locate Belle near the snowman that Belle and Chip had created earlier and immediately rushed out to find them. Unfortunately, the blizzard was becoming extremely thick that he couldn't find them. He eventually managed to find them when Belle's bouquet of Holly bushels were blown towards him. After locating them both, he managed to get them back into the castle, and tended to her side. He then thanked her for saving his life, as because of her, he began realizing his own life wasn't "meaningless" after all.
In the twelfth issue, as a result of guilt from his earlier insensitivity towards the ruining of Belle's favorite book due to a storm, Beast attempted to have the book rebound immediately, as well as trying to rehearse, to his own discomfort, how to deliver the book. Taking Mrs. Potts' advice regarding being himself once the book was rebounded, he then attempted to surprise Belle with the book, but he ended up dissuaded after the Wardrobe gave an opera performance before he could even give the book to her, feeling the majestic performance outclassed his attempt at fixing the book. However, when Belle came to see him and he explained what happened, he then gave her the book.
In the final issue,the Beast reflected on how things might have turned out differently had he let the old woman in. He eventually snapped when the footstool dog escaped and attempted to enter the West Wing due to disturbing him, causing even Mrs. Potts to have doubts about whether Beast can ever break the curse. He eventually came down to dinner and had a meal with Belle. However, the planned dessert ended up ruined by the footstool dog who kept jumping out and back in. Despite this, he was touched that Belle made the dessert and wasn't upset about it being ruined. They then shared a moment near the fire. In addition, a flashback was shown giving hints to the Beast's childhood prior to the curse. His parents spoiled him immensely, and they even threw an extravagant party, yet he ended up bored by it. In addition, he formerly had an Arabian horse named "Thunder", whom he frequently rode yet never gave him any love and compassion. When about to ride him one instance, the horse fled, with the prince ordering everyone to retrieve it. Deep down, he missed the horse and presumably felt remorse for his treatment of it. Thunder eventually was adopted by an enchantress who gave it love.
Aside from the main serial, Issue 5 of Disney Comic Hits had Beast eventually supplying Belle with a carriage as a present during the winter.
Disney Adventures Magazine comics[]
Some of the issues of Disney Adventures Magazine included comic stories for the film, either reprints of the Marvel series or entirely new stories to tie in to new releases of the film.
In one story, the Beast ended up becoming bitter even more than usual, although he later worked with Belle and the others to save Chip after he got lost in the forest during a blizzard. The story also implied that, prior to Belle, there was a blond woman he was betrothed to, but she had disappeared, eventually resulting in his bitterness.
Weddings[]
The Beast appears in his human form in this novelization, set shortly after the events of the film. In it, he visited Belle's old village alongside Belle as a vacation of sorts. While there, the Bimbettes ended up swooning over him, similar to their behavior towards the then-recently deceased Gaston.
The Beast Within: A Tale of Beauty's Prince[]
The Beast appears in the novel as the main character, written by Serena Valentino. Detailing the Beast's past when he was a prince, it is explained that he used to be good friends with Gaston and was beloved by the court and villagers. However, when he discovered that a woman named Circe (whom he was betrothed to) was in reality a farmer, he was quick to reject her despite being at first smitten by her looks. When she returns disguised as a beggar woman, the Prince showed no mercy towards her wish to forgive him, and so she and her three sisters cursed him with the spell that would turn him into a monster. Soon, the Prince's fear gets the better of him and he decides to marry a princess named Tulip in hopes of loving her. Unfortunately, as the castle begins to endure more phenomenons, he becomes infuriated and throws Tulip out when he believes she has deceived him into thinking she loved him. Eventually, his transformation finishes and with it the dissipation of memories of his past life as he slowly descends into an animalistic mindset. When he does meet Belle, however, he comes to love her. The sisters attempt to prevent the Beast from breaking the spell by manipulating the arrival of Gaston and the mob, and nearly the Beast's death. However, Circe brings the Beast to life and restores him to human form, allowing the Prince to live happily with Belle while having gained the true meaning of love.
Video game appearances[]
The Beast has appeared in a number of video games. Most of which are based off his film. Some of the titles that features the Beast are Beauty and the Beast, Roar of the Beast, Beauty and the Beast: A Board Game Adventure, and Disney Princess Enchanting Storybooks.
Roar of the Beast[]
In this game, the Beast must travel through different levels (based on locations from the film) to rescue Belle from the villainous Gaston, and prevent the villagers from attacking his castle.
Kingdom Hearts series[]
The Beast is a recurring character in the Kingdom Hearts series. He plays a major role in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II as an ally to Sora and his friends.
His story prior to Kingdom Hearts is basically the same as in the movie. During the time he and Belle were getting to know each other, Belle was captured by the Heartless, and the Beast's world, along with all of his servants, was swallowed by the darkness. In a rare occurrence of most Disney characters in the game, Beast appeared outside of his homeworld due to its demise, but was able to escape to Hollow Bastion because of his love for Belle. However, he is confronted by Riku when he learns that Belle is within the castle, and is harmed by the boy when he demands her returned to him. However, the Beast finds an ally in Sora and aids him and his friends with fighting the Heartless and Maleficent. When the Princesses of Heart, including Belle, finally awaken, the Beast happily reunites with her. After Sora's victory over the darkness, Beast and Belle are able to return to their restored home.
The Beast appears in a minor role in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories as an illusion of the real Beast, crafted from Sora's memories of him. Like before, he tries to rescue Belle but is cruelly rejected by her (although she was only pretending in order to fool Maleficent). Despite this, the Beast states his own feelings for her, which moves Belle to sacrifice her own heart to save his when Maleficent tries to steal it. Maleficent's defeat restores Belle's heart, and the two reconcile.
In 358/2 Days, the Beast makes an appearance back in his homeworld, but is met with constant attacks from the Heartless, forcing him to keep fighting them which places stress between him and Belle. He finally stops when he realizes that his servants and Belle are safe. However, the Beast is contacted by Xaldin of Organization XIII soon after, who begins to turn the Beast against Belle in a plot to turn him into a Heartless with his Nobody as a weapon for the Organization. Continuing into Kingdom Hearts II, Xaldin had nearly completed his plan, while the Beast had grown aggressive towards both his staff and Belle. The return of Sora, Donald, and Goofy manages to bring the Beast back to his senses and decides to help his friends confront Xaldin after learning that the Organization member was using him. After Xaldin escapes, the Beast tries to fix things with Belle. Things take a turn for the worse when Xaldin steals the enchanted rose, sending the Beast into despair. The Beast tells Sora and the others to leave the castle believing he will never be able to break the curse, but Sora convinces him to fight back, giving Beast the courage to reclaim the rose from Xaldin. However, Belle is kidnapped by Xaldin with the rose, with Xaldin forcing the Beast to choose between her and the rose. Although the Beast chooses Belle, Belle takes action and escapes from Xaldin, taking the rose with her. The group is able to defeat Xaldin, where afterwards, Beast asks Belle to stay with him, which she accepts, much to the Beast's joy. At the end of the game, the Beast appears to have turned back into a human, indicating that the curse was broken.
Kinect Disneyland Adventures[]
The Beast appears as a meet-and-greet character near The Matterhorn in Fantasyland. One of the tasks that the Beast gives to the player is to find lost pages for one of Belle's books. Right after, Beast asks the player to find red crystals so he can create a crystal rose and place it on the cover of Belle's book as a gift. Once the book is prepared, Beast becomes nervous pondering on the possibility of her not liking her gift so he asks the player to take it to her instead.
Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion[]
The Beast is among the "still popular" Toons that gets captured and pulled into Wasteland by Mizrabel. He is the first toon Mickey manages to rescue.
Disney Parks[]
The Beast in live form, as seen in The Golden Mickeys.
The Beast appears in the Disney Parks as a meetable character, in both his beast and human forms. Not only that, his likeness is commonly featured throughout the theme parks, as well, specifically in the Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland, which notably features his castle.
Some entertainment entities featuring Beast includes the Festival of Fantasy parade, The Golden Mickeys, and the Beauty and the Beast live stage show at Disney's Hollywood Studios.
The Beast is also featured in the popular nighttime attractions; Fantasmic and World of Color.
For meet and greets, the Beast is usually only found on special events, but occasionally appear at the France Pavilion in Epcot, the Disneyland Hotel, and Fantasyland in Disneyland Paris.
The Beast also was featured in a TV commercial where he again morphs, only this time into a gruff father who is annoyed at having to take his family to Disney World, showing the father's personality is akin to the Beast. However, like Beast's transformation into Prince Adam, the dad enjoys the trip to Disney World and is glad to be with his family.
Trivia[]
- The Beast is the first male character in a Disney fairy tale to have a role that is equally as significant as the female protagonist's.
- Though the Beast's official age is not mentioned in the movie, it is strongly indicated by the narrator's statement that the rose "would bloom until his 21st year." As the rose has already begun to wilt by the time Belle enters the castle, it is very likely that the Beast is 20 years (i.e. on their 21st year) of age by this point.
- During the song "Be Our Guest" Lumiere states "for ten years, we've been rusting", implying the spell that had changed them all had been active for that amount of time. This, along with the statement the rose would wither by the Beast's 21'st birthday, would imply he has been stuck in the form of a beast since he was 11.
- Not counting his brief lyric in "Something There" (which he didn't actually sing, but rather thought), Beast is one of only three characters in the film to not sing (the others being Chip and Maurice). He does, however, have some musical numbers in the Broadway version.
- The Beast's actual name isn't revealed in the film nor its sequels, although it was given in both the Broadway musical and the film's tie-in CD-ROM Game "D-Show."
- The Beast (in his human form) is the only Disney Prince to be a redhead as his natural hair color is a light auburn.
- The Beast is also the first prince to not be a human for a major portion of his life.
- The Beast is the first male protagonist to not "save" his female counterpart near the film's climax. He does, however, save Belle from a vicious wolf attack roughly at the film's turning point.
- The Beast is the first Disney Prince to be cursed. Naveen is the second.
- Casting of the Beast was a true challenge, considering the fact the directors were searching for someone who could alternate between a deep, gruff and rather uninviting voice to a soft, prince-like tone. When Robby Benson surprisingly auditioned for the role, the casting directors were both shocked and pleased, and immediately cast him. Critics claim Benson did the role so well that they couldn't even tell it was him.
- The Beast in the original fairy tale had a generally welcoming personality, unlike in the film version. The directors felt changing this aspect would help add dimension to the Beast, but also promote the film's primary moral: "True beauty comes from within."
- Several animals were used during the process of designing and animating the Beast, such as wildebeests, bears, lions and wolves.
- The Beast is the first Disney Prince to be wounded by the villain. After him would follow John Smith, who was shot by Ratcliffe, arguably Li Shang who was knocked out by Shan Yu, Naveen whose blood was drawn from him twice by Facilier, and finally Flynn Rider who was stabbed by Mother Gothel.
- He is one of the rare Disney characters whose blood is shown, including Tarzan (twice), Mulan, Quasimodo, Naveen and Flynn Rider.
- During the fight with Gaston, the Beast says only two words to him: "Get out."
- Beast is very similar to Stitch from Lilo & Stitch (coincidentally, both characters were designed by Sanders):
- They are both monsters judged by their appearance, but also true monsters at the start of their films.
- They both met and befriended an outcast (Belle and Lilo), who gradually became their close friends.
- Both started to develop feelings of compassion over time with their female companions.
- Both received a chance to show to others they were not monsters and were accepted (Beast was turned back into a human after showing his love for Belle, and was accepted by the villagers; Stitch was allowed to stay on Earth after displaying sentience to the Galactic Federation and accepted into Lilo's family).
- Both are also known to be rude and bad-mannered, which has been shown in their respective films.
- They also share similar characteristics: claws, fangs, head appendages (Stitch's antennae and Beast's horns), fur, expressive ears, and especially temper.
- Interestingly, the scene of Stitch's "death" in Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch parallels the scene of Beast's death in Beauty and the Beast; both are also subsequently revived by the love of their female interests.
- In the ABC drama, Once Upon a Time, Rumplestiltskin is The Beast in this show, as his true love is Belle.
- The second the Beast transforms back into a prince, while there is still hair on his face, he bears a slight resemblance to Phoebus.
- One of the concept artworks for the Beast bore a large resemblance to the character of the same name from the X-Men series from Marvel Comics. Coincidentally, both characters are now owned by Disney, which acquired Marvel in 2009.
- Beast's Japanese voice actor, Kôichi Yamadera, also provides the voices of Donald Duck, Mushu and Sebastian in Kingdom Hearts. He voiced the same roles, in addition to Genie and Stitch in Kingdom Hearts II, and Jaq in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep.
- The Beast is one of Disney's most unpredictable characters, because at first glance he's a fierce monster but behind the intimidating face is a loving heart, which he displays toward Belle at the end of the film.
- Glen Keane went to the Los Angeles Zoo to study animals for the Beast's looks and personality. When he studied a six-hundred-pound antisocial gorilla, Caesar, and tried to draw him, Caesar charged at him and slammed against the bars. Keane knew this was how Belle would feel when she first caught sight of the Beast.
- In the movie Enchanted, Robert Philip wears a ball gown similar to the Beast's during the ball scene.
- When The Beast is getting his hair cut for Belle, the hair style he is given is the same as the Cowardly Lion's from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.
- While it has been speculated by many fans that the Beast's real name is Adam, this is in fact not his real name as confirmed above. In an interview with Glen Keane, Keane admitted that the Beast never had an alternative name prior to the film's events. In a commentary, it was mentioned the writers and producers forgot to give him a name.
- Both the tie-in CD-ROM game "The D Show" and the musical, however, refer to Beast's human form as Prince Adam.
- Beast has some similarities to Kuzco from The Emperor's New Groove, in that
- Both were spoiled and selfish princes that were transformed into non-human creatures by witches (Adam was turned into a monster by The Enchantress; Kuzco was turned into a llama by Yzma). However, the Beast's transformation was intentional on the Enchantress' part, while Kuzco's transformation was a mistake (Yzma intended to poison him, at first turn him into a flea).
- Their treatment of their servants indirectly led to their transformations (the Beast's insolence to their servants led to him being spoiled, Kuzco's lack of respect towards Yzma led her to conspire against him)
- Both rebuffed simple but wise peasants and ignored (The Beast callously denied the disguised Enchantress shelter, while Kuzco planned to build Kuzcotopia on Pacha's village without showing concern for the villagers' homes).
- Both became better people through interacting with the very type of peasants they disregarded (The Beast through his budding romance with Belle, Kuzco via his initially rocky relationship with Pacha).
- Both entered a dangerous forest (Kuzco entered the jungle out of pride and stupidity, while the Beast entered the forest to save Belle).
- However there are differences. One is that Kuzco is comically conceited and fun-loving while the Beast was bitter and bad-tempered.
- Beast also has several notable similarities to Elsa from Frozen:
- Both are royalty cursed with dangerous abilities (the Beast was a prince turned hideous, Elsa was a princess born with control over winter).
- Because of their abilities, both think of themselves as monsters, and are referred to as such by the misunderstanding townspeople.
- Both wear capes. In fact, their capes share the same colors.
- Both are associated with blue - both have blue eyes, and signature blue outfits.
- Both have isolated themselves from the rest of the world in fear and shame from said curses.
- Crowds have been horrified of them both when they are discovered, despite the films' protagonists trying to convince them that he/she is not. The theme of their stories also plays with the moral of not to judge by appearance, a contrast also played with their respective antagonists (Beast with Gaston, Elsa with Hans).
- Both have been attacked by the villain and a mob for the people's "safety", and were almost killed by the villain in the climax for inadvertently being a major obstacle in their respective antagonists' plans (Gaston's plan to have Belle and Hans' plan to rule Arendelle) before the protagonist interferes.
- Both learn the true meaning of love in the end, and are "cured" of their respective curses (although Elsa still has her powers, she lifts the curse over Arendelle and learns how to control them for good).
- One of the considered voice actors for the Beast during development was Lawrence Fishbourne. Coincidentally, one of the films Fishbourne worked in, The Matrix trilogy, also had the same "appearances can be deceiving" theme as Beauty and the Beast.
- Although there has never been any evidence. However in the 2017 live action movie it was revealed that the Beast's cruel father turned him arrogant after his kind mother died.