Prince Adam/Beast

Beast is the male protagonist of Disney's 1991 hand-drawn animated film, Beauty and the Beast and its direct-to-video midquels. A prince by birth, he was cursed by a mysterious Enchantress as punishment for his selfish and cruel nature; only by loving another and earning their love in return can the Beast free himself and those affected by the spell before time runs out.

The film is based on the traditional fairy tale of the same name by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont.

Background[]

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.

Development[]

The earliest versions of the Beast were intended to closely parallel the character in the original fairy tale; originally, the Beast was planned to be humble, gentleman-like, and had a generally welcoming personality, with only an occasional temper. As the film's development progressed, 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."

The Beast's design went through many changes during the film's production; at first, most of the initial sketches were little more than humanoids with the head of an animal attached. Desiring a more unconventional model, the filmmakers began brainstorming more unique designs, including a mantis-like version. Chris Sanders was responsible for helping come up with the basic design of the Beast. He went from insect forms, avian forms, and fish forms until he finally got the right design Glen Keane, the supervising animator for the Beast, then studied various animals to modify the design and base it around real-life creatures as opposed to alien. Ultimately, Keane was inspired to make the Beast a combination of the variety of animals he studied, feeling that this design truly represented the character he envisioned.

In fear that Keane would design the human Beast to resemble his voice actor Robby Benson, then-Disney Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg did not allow Keane to see Benson during production of the film. However, according to the filmmakers, not a lot of effort was put into the Beast's human design. The creators claimed that regardless of what he looked like, they felt the majority of those who watched the film would likely end up not liking his human appearance, simply because he no longer felt like the character whom the viewers bonded with through the film.

Personality[]

From his first introduction, the Beast appeared to be irascible, ungenerous and short-tempered, and came off as very unfriendly, even towards his servants in the first place. Yet he also had a very bitter outlook on his life, and he was quick to become frustrated and pitch a fit when things didn’t work his way, showing a spoiled side to his personality. Though those sides of his personality seemed contradictory, they both stemmed from his upbringing as a prince, since his privileged life made him selfish and inconsiderate during his youth, and also led to his curse in the first place when he refused to offer hospitality to strangers. The Beast's dire situation only exacerbated his temperamental nature further but introduced a deep sense of insecurity and shame because of what his past actions had cost him.

The Beast's greatest conflict was dealing with his hideous appearance and the retention of his humanity. Although he desired to break the curse, the Beast's dual nature made him truly uncertain of ever becoming human again, especially when many could not even recognize him as once being human. The Beast was ashamed of the monstrous aspect of himself; it was a reminder of both what he had done and what he had become. His shame held a strong hold on him, where often the first thing that often set off his temper was when others reacted to his appearance or his inhuman instincts. These cases had adverse effects, as the Beast would also end up reacting with a vicious behavior accurate to what others proclaimed. Despite appearing infuriated when this became an issue, it was indicated that he could feel guilty for his behavior afterwards; his first interactions with Belle left him feeling morose believing she would only see him as a monster, and later on when his temper got the better of him that he unintentionally scared away Belle, which only supported his doubts, so much so that he saves her life afterwards to make up for his earlier behavior.

Though the Beast is hard-headed and lacks manners, he is not without a kind side; the Beast can care for others but he has a hard time overcoming his own flaws to express empathy. In addition, his temper belies the Beast's naivety with the world and how to display his feelings towards it. He is best described by his animator Glen Keane 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". His softer nature was hinted at during his first appearance, when he appeared to feel genuinely regretful towards Belle after he sent her father away without letting her say goodbye. Though seemingly aloof, the Beast is not completely apathetic, as he was able to also empathize with Belle and her own misery from his past experiences as a fellow outcast.

And despite his bestial mannerisms, the Beast is not completely brutish as his shape or personality suggests. As shown in the battle with Gaston, the Beast did not attack Gaston outright, instead, he relied on bold risks, patience and cunning to avoid Gaston's attacks and gain the upper hand.

As a side effect of the curse, he was somewhat primal and had a habit of animalistic behavior, from serious social regressions like growling and roaring when angry to arbitrary, slightly humorous traits like forgetting his table manners. These traits also likened him to that of an untamed animal towards strangers. According to the film's producer Don Hahn, the Beast's spell is not just physical but psychological as well. The longer the Beast is under the spell, the more feral he becomes (meaning if he stays a beast longer, he becomes more like an animal). If Belle had never arrived at the castle, he would have eventually stopped speaking, walking upright, wearing clothes altogether, and would have gone to live in the woods among the wild animals to fend for himself.

The film's commentary also implied during the wolf attack scene that he was suicidal, or at least did not value his life too strongly, due to the hopelessness of ever breaking the curse. This was further supported in the Marvel Comics where the Beast, after saving Belle and Chip after they were trapped in a very serious snowstorm, thanked Belle for saving his life, as her presence caused him to realize his own life was not "meaningless" after all.

Once the Beast begins to care for Belle after rescuing her from a pack of wolves, he becomes more agreeable and gentle. He even attempts to become civilized again for Belle's sake, relearning table manners and feeding birds, despite his beastly mannerisms. In turn, Belle's acceptance of him despite appearance begins to show his more positive side and he becomes progressively selfless. Learning to care for Belle also reveals a fiercely loyal side to him, as he was willing to give anything and everything to protect Belle and keep her happy, even if it meant sacrificing his own happiness by letting her leave him, even before the spell can be broken.

Physical appearance[]

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. He also has blue eyes, the one physical feature that does not change whether he is a beast or a human.

Originally, 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 rescues 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. In the climax, he is shown wearing a mixture of the above, tattered pants, his red cape, as well as a white undershirt.

The Beast's human form is that of a tall and slender young prince (though not as tall as the height of the Beast). He has long auburn hair, and soft cream colored skin while also retaining his bright blue eyes. Other than the immediate aftermath of regaining his human form (wearing the 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.

Powers and abilities[]

Beast form: Owing to his savage, bestial nature, the Beast has animalistic fighting powers in his beast form:

Enhanced Strength: The Beast possesses tremendous strength, as he is able to pick up and carry full grown men like Maurice and Gaston and not only lift but also throw large oak wood furniture when enraged, such as banquet tables and Forte's keyboard and allowing him to leap several feet in a single bound in terms of height and distance. He also was able to destroy furniture in a single chop, especially when he was enraged. Similarly, his strength was also such that slamming a door can cause destructive waves to occur several feet away, as evidenced by his reaction after Belle refused to dine with him: After Beast stormed back to the West Wing, he slammed the door to the hallway with enough force to actually cause portions of the ceiling to collapse above Lumière, Cogsworth, and Mrs. Potts. His forcefulness of opening a door can also cause powerful gusts that can extinguish the flames in a fireplace, as evidenced by his on-screen debut after the prologue when he burst into the room Maurice was in.
Enhanced Speed and Agility: The Beast is able to move faster than ordinary humans. He has been seen running into the woods on two different occasions and arriving just in time to save Belle and is able to climb and evade punches and blows from weapons dealt from Gaston.
Enhanced Durability: He is slightly more durable than normal humans, as seen when he has taken attacks from a pack of wolves, being shot by Gaston's arrow, and been blasted by Forte's magical energy, although feeling great pain and being knocked down from these attacks.
Enhanced Healing: The Beast is able to heal faster from minor to moderate injuries than ordinary humans, such as bites and claw scratches from a pack of wolves within a few days and being able to survive being in icy cold water and walking back to his castle in cold winter weather within a few hours.
Enhanced Senses: All five of his senses are animal keen, and enabling him to track down Belle in the woods when she was in danger by scent and listening in on conversations from several feet away from other people. However, even his enhanced senses, or at least sight, smell, and hearing, can be drowned out by a particularly deadly blizzard, as evidenced by his being unable to find Belle in a particularly severe blizzard in one of the Marvel Comics until a bushel of hollies hit him in the head and allowed him to trace her location in time.
Claws and Fangs: The Beast possesses razor-sharp claws and fangs that enable him to rip through thick rugs and curtains as well as smash objects such as oak furniture to splinters when enraged, climb up and down the stone walls of his castle and bite down and hold objects. These, however, also proved to be a weakness, as his razor-sharp claws also resulted in books being shredded whenever he attempted to read them, as evidenced in New Adventures of Beauty and the Beast, when he attempted to read some poems, only for the pages to be shredded quickly.
Stealth: The Beast was shown to be adept at stealth, keeping himself hidden without anyone being able to detect him in time. This was especially apparent when he managed to ambush Belle just after she discovered Maurice in the dungeon and confronting her again when she was just about to touch the enchanted rose, as well as easily surprising the pack of wolves pursuing Belle. He also managed to sneak up on Gaston by posing as a gargoyle, though the latter managed to detect the attack and strike back.

Human form:

Skilled Hunter: In his human form, the Beast also was skilled with firearms and was presumably a hunter, at least according to New Adventures of Beauty and the Beast, although his actions during hunting were closer to poaching than true hunting due to specifically targeting a fawn (baby deer) until a crow (implied to be the Enchantress in disguise) interfered with the shot.
Learned Reader/Scholar: When he was a human, at least according to New Adventures of Beauty and the Beast, he was shown to be extremely studious and a gifted reader, with his even once admitting that at one point books meant more to him than anything else in the world. However, when he became a Beast, due to the psychological nature of the curse, he largely forgot how to do so, and was left unable to physically handle books due to his claws shredding the books.
Horseback Riding: As a child, the Beast also shown to be skilled at horseback riding, frequently using Thunder to ride around. However, he was unkind and cold to his steed, eventually resulting in Thunder escaping.

Appearances[]

Beauty and the Beast[]

The unnamed prince was a handsome young man, who lived in a luxurious castle in a far away land of France. He was selfish, unkind and spoiled, despite having everything he wanted in his royal court. One winter's night (on Christmas Eve or the night of Christmas Day 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 Prince tries to apologize. But it is too late, for she has seen in her disguise that there was no love in his heart. As punishment for his cold heart and cruelty, she turns him 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, wolf-infested 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 as his only window to the outside world, given to him by the Enchantress.

The rose the Enchantress had also given the Prince was enchanted, and it would bloom until his twenty-first year. She had told him that if he could learn to love another and earn her love in return by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken, but if the he 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. In his first animated appearance (set some time before his twenty-first year, as evidenced by the rose not having bloomed fully yet), he also scratches a portrait of his human self in anger and shame.

Years later, the Beast discovers Maurice, an old man from the village and an inventor of machinery, inside the castle and accuses him of trespassing (not knowing that Maurice was actually allowed inside by the servants for shelter, despite the servants trying to vouch for him). Maurice's stare at the Beast only provokes the Beast's fury, and he proceeds to "give [Maurice] a place to stay" by imprisoning Maurice in the dungeon. Sometime later, Maurice's daughter, Belle, arrives on her horse Phillippe to find him, but soon confronts the Beast herself and pleads with him to let her father go, offering herself as a prisoner instead. The Beast, astonished by Belle's offer, ultimately accepts, under the further condition that she remains in the castle forever, as well as heeding her request to step into the light to reveal himself to her, horrifying Belle once she sees his monstrous form. 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 dungeon (both at Lumière's suggestion and due to feeling some guilt at Belle's sadness from his prior 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 negative comments about him with the Wardrobe, Armoire, and her implication that she would never fall in love or have anything to do with him.

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 nearly destroyed by Belle. His rage caused him to destroy much of his chambers while roaring at Belle to get out. Although calming down afterwards, he realized that he had inadvertently ruined his chances by scaring Belle into fleeing the castle and pursued her, arriving just in time to rescue her from a pack of wolves and getting injured in the process. After Belle uses Phillippe to help her to take him back to the castle, she starts tending his wounds, but the two then enter another brief argument about who is at fault, with Belle effectively winning the argument. As Belle, having conquered the Beast's ferocious temper, continues to tend to his injuries, she thanks him for saving her life, to which the Beast, realizing the deed he has just done while noticing her kindness, starts feeling good inside himself.

The Beast, who has never felt considerate before, wants to do something for Belle. At Lumiére's suggestion, he shows Belle the castle's enormous library, which strikes her interest so much that he gives her the entire library. She then in return helps him become more civilized, from breakfast, to bird-feeding, and to dancing in the ballroom after dinner. Eventually, he falls in love with her, placing her happiness before his own. That same night, 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 in the forest 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 the castle to kill the Beast, led by a rival suitor and hunter named Gaston (with Belle, albeit unintentionally, instigating the mob by exposing his existence to prevent Maurice from being taken away 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, including his little partner Lefou, Gaston eventually finds the Beast, and initially, the Beast has no will to fight, still in a state of depression from Belle leaving. Just as Gaston is about to bring the final blow, Belle returns with Maurice, having escaped from confinement in their cottage's cellar (caused by Gaston and his henchmen to keep them from interfering with their plans) with the help of Chip, who stowed for a ride with her earlier. Upon hearing Belle's voice as she calls for Gaston to stop, and seeing her on Phillippe, the Beast suddenly stands and fights back with a renewed vigor in knowledge that Belle truly does care about him.

As the fight continues, Gaston brags about his superficial beliefs that he is Belle's true love, and the Beast is nothing more than a monster whom Belle will never love. Finally fed up with Gaston's taunts and arrogance, the Beast overpowers him and holds him by the throat over the edge of the castle. Gaston finally drops his pride and begs for mercy, to which the Beast initially ignores, but upon realizing that he is turning into everything that represents Gaston himself, instead spares his life and drops him on the roof surface, ordering him to leave the castle and never return. Just then, Belle arrives at the castle's balcony and calls out to the Beast, who turns and climbs his way up toward her. Reuniting with Belle, he happily embraces her, but is then stabbed in the back by Gaston, who is refusing to accept his defeat. This attack triggers a sudden twinge of excruciating pain, causing the Beast to rear backwards. Before Gaston could stab him more, the hunter loses his balance from dodging the Beast's swinging arm and falls off the castle to his death, while Belle quickly grabs hold of the Beast and pulls him back to the balcony surface.

Only Lumiere, Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts arrives too late to see Belle gently laying the temporarily-unconscious Beast on their back. The Beast, waking up, smiles at seeing Belle, who tries to reassure him that everything's going to be fine, but he knows all too well that his time is coming, telling her how grateful he is to have a chance at seeing her one last time before succumbing to his wounds. Upon losing him, Belle begs him not to leave her and, breaking down into tears, admits her love for him, mere 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 colorful comets fell from the sky and hit the balcony 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, and 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; the tail also disappeared at that time. 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 was done, the fog then 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 when the fog disappeared, which made her move back and see that he is alive. Slowly but immediately, he gets up which made the rest of his cape slide down before 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, that further breaks the additional spell the Enchantress had placed on the castle and its inhabitants: the castle is restored to its original, shining state, and all the Prince's servants, including Lumiére, Cogsworth, Chip, and Mrs. Potts, are transformed back into humans. The film ends with Belle and the Prince dancing in the ballroom, surrounded by his servants and her father watching them happily.

In the Special Edition, his role is unchanged, except for a small scene that was added where we see the Beast's struggle to read, a trait he knew as a human but was taken away after his transformation. This is during the song only included for the Special Edition DVD, "Human Again".

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 the Christmas tree back from the black forest. 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 of the lake when Forte's piccolo accomplice, Fifi, accidentally frightens Phillippe into shattering the ice with his whistle, despite not wanting to kill her.

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, on Fifi's instructions, 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[]

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 opens 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, the 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 he's 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. The 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.

Live-action appearances[]

Beauty and the Beast (2017)[]

The Beast appears in the 2017 live-action remake, played by Dan Stevens. In this version, Beast is kinder and wittier and has a very dry, English sense of humor. Also, unlike his animated counterpart, who was turned into a beast by the Enchantress for his selfishness, unkind and spoiled nature, the prince was turned into a beast by the Enchantress for his arrogance, as well as making an explicit reference to his old fixation on beauty above all else. The storyline also expands on his backstory; a flashback confirmed that his kind-hearted mother died when he was a child, leaving him to be raised by his crueler father, giving him his cruel nature as a result. However, he still hints at a strong interest in literature when he shows Belle his library, and is later found reading the book King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. The film also features an original song for the Beast, "Evermore", sung after Belle departs to save her father, where he mourns his belief that he will never find love while aware that Belle's memory will be with him forever. His appearance here, as opposed to combining features of various animals, is instead more explicitly an anthropomorphic lion, but with a pair of large, antelope-like horns.

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. He appears in two of the three story arcs of the first issue. In the first arc, "Bewitched", he is roaring in an apparent tantrum, scaring the other staff members. Eventually, they arrive at his quarters, and Beast merely asks them where his Music Box was, with Mrs. Potts telling him that it was likely in the library, with it being revealed that his tantrum from earlier was due to being unable to nap from not finding the music box. The story proper also covered Beast's backstory, which Mrs. Potts relayed to Chip. Specifically: He was shown as a child to be very bratty, and got irritated when an apparent old crone stopped traffic, resulting in his hitting her and Lumière and Cogsworth scolding him before attempting to apologize by the then-long disappeared woman (who had secretly turned into a crow and flew off). The prince later noted that she was most likely a witch (it would later turn out he was right in more ways than one). It later showed his time as an adult, where he was on a hunting trip and was about to target a fawn, despite Lumière's suggestions against it, although a crow (strongly implied to be the enchantress in disguise) managed to interfere with the shot. They then covered some positives to the prince, namely he was kind to Chip as a toddler, and he was a gifted learner and scholar. In the third arc, Bewildered, the Beast had learned to be educated in an attempt to become nicer at the behest of his servants, which included trying to read poetry (despite Beast insisting that the curse robbed him of his ability to read any books, let alone poetry). Fifi (identified as Marie in this comic) and Lumière also attempted to give dating advice to the Beast, although it didn't work due to his accidentally shredding the pages, resulting in Beast accidentally destroying his cherished toy, the music box, during one of his rages. 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).

In the second issue, he appeared in both story arcs. In "Elsewhere", he appeared very briefly in the end when panning away from Maurice and Belle returning to their village. In "Elsewhen," starting where Elsewhere left off, the Beast, having clearly given up hope of ever becoming human again (with it being implied that the rose had just started to wilt), decided to try living in the wild, although this resulted in his falling off a cliff and being knocked out, with Chip and Sultan discovering the Beast's unconscious body during a thunderstorm due to his absence. He was ultimately saved by the servants after Chip had Sultan warn them of the Beast's current status, eventually lashing out against his servants, although he managed to save Chip from being destroyed when he revealed he was the one who saved the Beast's life, also sleeping with Chip on his hand. In both stories, there was foreshadowing to the events of the film.

Beauty and the Beast Marvel Comics[]

This 13-issue series of comics, similar to the midquels, took place sometime between Belle's imprisonment at his castle (presumably right after Beast gave Belle the library) 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 the 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 canceled 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, the Beast, as a suggestion by some of the servants, decided to accompany Belle on a walk on the Castle grounds. Because of the 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 Lumière ended up overestimating it with this action and sent letters to the 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 Lumière 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). The Beast eventually decided to admit on the advice of his staff to Belle that he could not 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. Lumière then offered to have the 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 next issue.

In the seventh issue, the Beast witnessed Belle and Chip playing in the snow, wishing he could be out there with them. In the eighth 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 was not "meaningless" after all. In the ninth issue, the Beast felt a lot of guilt for Belle and Chip nearly being killed in the snowstorm. He also had breakfast served to Belle in bed, although her recovery and meeting the Beast downstairs made this unnecessary. Eventually, after Lumière and Cogsworth arranged for Belle to have a portrait done for her, the Beast managed to find it after they unveiled it. Although impressed, he initially guessed that she was sad before correcting himself and saying she was pensive (although Chip's later comment about the painting implies that "sad" was in fact the true emotion Belle was expressing in the painting).

The tenth issue takes place the day afterwards, with the Beast briefly roaring. Beast almost shuts Cogsworth and Lumière out, although because Lumière persisted, he explained his problem: Despite his second analysis, he realized Belle was indeed sad in the painting, and was caught in a conflict of how to make her happy. He then at Lumière's suggestion decided to go outside to converse with Belle, which he did after a delay where Belle accidentally hit the Beast in the snout with a snowball. However, upon hearing Belle express a desire to find hollies, he left to try to locate holly bushels in the forest, and managed to decorate the castle with them. The Beast then, after dinner, showed Belle the bushels inside the castle.

In the eleventh issue, set some time afterwards, the Beast and Belle were reading in the library again. When Belle felt chilly, the Beast removed his cloak in an attempt to keep her warm, although Belle moved out of the way when she discovered the cause was from the window being ajar. When Belle was devastated that her favorite book was ruined, Beast attempted to cheer her up by stating that there were thousands of other books, also unintentionally and obliviously hurting her feelings when telling her it was a "silly book." The Beast eventually realized his error when Belle did not come down for dinner, and his servants told him about her being hurt by his earlier comment. He also decided (from Chip's suggestion) to have the book fixed.

In the twelfth issue, taking place where the eleventh issue left off, 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 the 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 the Beast eventually supplying Belle with a carriage as a present during the winter as a suggestion from Chip, after he had initially had an angry outburst to Belle.

Disney Adventures Magazine comics[]

Some of the issues of Disney Adventures Magazine included comic stories for the film, either reprint of the Marvel series or entirely new stories to tie into new releases of the film.

Although he doesn't appear in the story "Time Flies!", he is mentioned by Cogsworth, as he panicked at the possibility of the Beast entering a rage due to the preparations for dinner apparently being late (unaware that it was actually only a few hours away and it was at the wrong time due to Lumière stealing his winder as a prank).

The Beast has a direct appearance in the story "Sittin' Pretty!". In it, Beast is going through one of his rages again, particularly how he can get Belle to love him due to his hideous appearance. Lumière then gets the idea of giving the Beast a spa makeover, with Cogsworth, Chip, and Fifi chiming in. Eventually, Belle comes in and notices that Beast looks ridiculous, as well as adorable, catching Beast off-guard.

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.

Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Royal Wedding[]

In the short story following the events of the film, Belle and the Prince prepare for their upcoming nuptials. Belle is fitted for her wedding dress while the Prince returns to Belle's village to get her the perfect gift for the wedding. After searching around, the Prince finds a flower shop and requests for roses, as they were Belle's favorite.

Eventually, the wedding day arrives for the young couple. During the ceremony, the Prince proceeded to give Belle a book as his gift so they could "write their adventures together." Belle then reveals her surprise: she invited all the villagers to the wedding. Because the Prince spent most of his life unloved, Belle wanted to show the Prince how loved he is by the kingdom. The Prince loves the gift, and the two embrace as the festivities commence.

Video games[]

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.

Beauty and the Beast: A Board Game Adventure[]

The game was basically the plot of the original film adapted into a video board game, although it was mostly based on the ending of the film. In addition, Beast also makes a brief appearance in the commercial for the game, where he pops up from behind the Game Boy Color and yells at Lumière and Mrs. Potts to shut up after the latter two entered an argument due to Lumière causing things to set on fire due to his wild movements while presenting the game. Robby Benson reprised the role in this brief appearance.

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. The Beast then 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, the 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, the 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.

Musical[]

In the stage adaptation of the film, the Beast 's role in the story, in addition to his character development, is expanded considerably. The role was originated by Terrence Mann, while the final performances of the Beast were portrayed by Steve Blanchard. The stage version, at the start, portrays the Beast as more physically abusive and mentally unsettled.

Unlike the film, where the singing performance of Beast was only utilized during "Something There", several new songs were written for the Beast, including "How Long Must This Go On?", where the Beast reflects his mistake in turning away the Enchantress, and his longing for forgiveness. In "If I Can't Love Her", the Beast contemplates on his decaying humanity and the hardships of the curse that befell the castle. This was driven out of physically harming Belle prior, though he admitted harm was not his intention, revealing the curse has begun overtaking his physical actions. He is also given a reprise of this song, shortly after releasing Belle from the castle.

Like the film, Beast and Belle are shown to bond through books, though the stage version elaborates on this further. After being read a book aloud, Beast discovers the power of literature, and how it can take him to a world of fantasy, and be used as an escape from the pressures and despair of his cursed life—something Belle openly relates to.

Disney Parks[]

The Beast appears in the Disney Parks as a meetable character in both his beast and human forms. Also, his likeness is commonly featured throughout the theme parks as well, specifically in the Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland, which, notably, features his castle.

Disneyland Resort[]

At the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, the Beast can be seen in many shows, parades and special events. These include the yearly ongoing Very Merry Christmas Parade (1987–94), A Christmas Fantasy Parade (1995–present), Beauty and the Beast: Live on Stage at the Fantasyland Theatre (formerly Videopolis) in Disneyland Park, and the original version of World of Color at Paradise Pier (currently Pixar Pier and Paradise Gardens Park) in Disney California Adventure Park (formerly Disney's California Adventure Park).

For meet-and-greets, he can sometimes be found at the Disneyland Hotel.

Walt Disney World Resort[]

The Beast can be seen alongside Belle during the Festival of Fantasy parade at the Magic Kingdom.

In Disney's Hollywood Studios (formerly Disney MGM Studios or simply the Disney Studios), he can be spotted during Fantasmic!, and stars in the Beauty and the Beast live stage show.

For meet-and-greets, the Beast is usually only found at the Be Our Guest Restaurant at dinnertime and during special events, but occasionally appears at the France Pavilion in Epcot.

Tokyo Disney Resort[]

The Beast first appeared in Tokyo Disneyland's 10th anniversary daytime parade, Fantasy on Parade (1993–98), and are prominently featured during the Once Upon a Time castle show at Tokyo Disneyland.

Disneyland Paris[]

During Lumière's segment of Mickey and the Magician, Beast and Belle are introduced after the candelabra's performance of "Be Our Guest", where they share a ballroom dance to "Beauty and the Beast".

Hong Kong Disneyland[]

In Hong Kong, Beast appears in The Golden Mickeys. He also makes a brief appearance during the finale of Mickey and the Wondrous Book.

Shanghai Disneyland[]

In Shanghai, Beast is featured on the Beauty and the Beast display in Voyage to the Crystal Grotto. There is also a statue inside of the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel depicting Beast and Belle ballroom dancing.

Differences from the source material[]

While the Beast keeps much of his original character continuity from the French fairy tale version by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, there are quite a few differences to be accounted for:

The Beast's curse had no time limit in the original version, and only required that he learn love and gain a woman's love in return to break the spell. In addition, in the original tale, Beast alone was cursed, not anyone else, and also took care of his property by himself.
The Beast's confrontation with Belle's father was a lot more tame in the original version, simply telling her dad to trade his daughter for his life. In addition, in the original version, he only became angered when Maurice tried to steal a rose, and in fact was implied to have allowed him to stay at the castle generously.
The rose had no direct link to the curse in the original version.
Originally, the Beast permitted Belle to leave under a time limit to visit her family instead of actually freeing her to save her dad.
Beast's death was not caused from a rival suitor knifing him in the back, but from a broken heart from Belle being late in returning due to her wicked sisters manipulating her into staying past the deadline.
As noted above, the Beast's personality was, while somewhat gruff, also more kind and simple to begin with.

Several of these actually were included in the Original Screenplay, but ended up cut due to Jeffrey Katzenberg demanding a rewrite.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

In the original 1991 version of 'Beauty and the Beast' the Prince was 11 years of age when he was cursed. The original idea for age was going to be 7 years old and he was going to be shown onscreen being turned into the Beast, however Howard Ashman believed that it would deliberately gain the audiences sympathy, so they changed his age to 11 and the prologue was shown as a stain glass window.
According to the first stained-glass window featured in the film's opening sequence, the Prince's family motto is "vincit qui se vincit" (lit. "He Conquers Who Conquers Himself"), which is rather ironic, seeing as the Prince, who comes from this family, is a character who needs to learn to master himself and learn self-restraint.
Although the Prince and Belle are technically co-protagonists of the film, various members of the production staff, including Howard Ashman, considered Beast the protagonist.
The Prince is the first male character in a Disney fairy tale to have a role that is equally as significant as the female protagonist's.
The Prince 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.
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.
Several animals were used during the process of designing and animating the Beast, such as wildebeests, bears, lions and wolves.
During the fight with Gaston, the Beast says only two words to him: "Get out."
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.
- Ironically, one of the "Beautiful & Beastly Mail" correspondences in the second issue of the Beauty and the Beast Marvel Comics actually requested for a crossover between the two beasts, with Barbara Slate stating that, while one isn't in the works, if they do have one, expect "fur to fly."
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.
As mentioned above, because the viewers of the film grew more attached to the character's beastly form, most merchandising featuring the Beast tries to aim for the use of this form, not his human form. This is also why Beast's human form rarely ever appears as a Meet-and-Greet Character at the Disney Parks, as most patrons prefer to interact with the Beast.
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 suit very 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.
One of the considered voice actors for the Beast during development was Laurence Fishburne.
Other than the opening prologue to the story, the Beast was never actually identified as a prince during the events of the first film.
Originally, when he was planning dinner, the Beast was to bring in a carcass of a slain deer and explicitly chow down on it in front of Belle in a more animalistic manner. However, the scene ended up deleted because the writers realized such a scene would actually have the audience view the Beast with disgust instead of sympathy. Nonetheless, the Beast hunting for his food in a more animalistic manner is still implied in the film with the presence of a rotting ribcage being seen briefly in the West Wing.
In the Special Edition of the film, because of the addition of "Human Again", the scene where Beast roars in despair at having to let Belle go was slightly altered to include glass shattering to imply that Beast, while still filled with despair at having to do this, ended up smashing up the then-recently restored West Wing in order to have the song connect better with the main film where it was still tarnished during the climax.
According to Alan Menken, in the 2017 adaptation, one of the new songs written for the film "Evermore", sung by the Beast after he lets Belle go, is a love song to effectively takes the place of "If I Can't Love Her" from the musical.
The Beast's death scene originally had a more cheery underscore, as heard on the first soundtrack, the Special Edition credits, and a DVD bonus feature, but the film itself had a more somber underscore, which had been retained on the Special Edition soundtrack.