It’s hard to talk about the Disney Princesses without talking about their main relationships.
While not all of them end up married at the end of their movies and some don’t have a romantic
relationship at all, the connections that these princesses form with their co-leads can be both an
interesting means of character development as well as just really sweet in general.
…Mostly. With that being said, you have to wonder who has the healthiest relationship of them all.
I’m Caleb with WickedBinge, and this is Disney Princess Relationships: Healthy to Toxic.
As said above, while the focus of this video will be on the official Disney Princess line,
not all of these princesses have a romantic relationship. But hey, there’s nothing wrong
with focusing on friendship, especially when those can range from healthy to toxic as well.
As always, we’re going to be starting with the healthiest pairs before working our way
down to the relationships that could use some work. These pairs are the Healthy.
For our Gold Medal of Healthiness, we’re giving it to Eugene and Rapunzel. If you include the Tangled
TV series, these two have not only had the most screen time out of all our Disney Princess pairs,
but have also had the most development. Now yes, they did technically start out using
each other - with Rapunzel wanting Eugene to take her to see the floating lights and Eugene being
willing to do anything to get his satchel back. Within just a few scenes though, the two of them
began to not only bond but also genuinely trust each other. They like each other for who they are,
and are able to help each other grow. What’s more, they’re willing to do anything for each other. We
see this in the film’s climax, where Rapunzel was willing to give up her freedom for Eugene’s life
while Eugene was willing to die so that Rapunzel would no longer be a prisoner. Their relationship
only gets better in the TV series, as we see how patient and supportive Eugene can be when
it comes to postponing their engagement. For as protective as he can be of her,
Eugene also trusts that Rapunzel can take care of herself. As for Rapunzel, she continues to
be supportive of Eugene, and the two of them are continually shown to be a loving power couple.
We really couldn’t think of any Disney Princess pair that’s better than these two.
Getting our Silver Medal of Healthiness is the land and sea couple, Ariel and Eric. Although
getting a man was never Ariel’s main goal, being more interested in humanity in general and just
wanting to be on the surface, it really didn’t take long for the two of them to fall in love.
Thankfully, it wasn’t too shallow of a love, managing to develop quite well over the three
days they were together. Even if she didn’t seem like the girl of his dreams at first,
Eric still did all he could to help Ariel out and show her a good time.
Even when she did stuff that was strange, Eric never looked down on her or made fun
of her. The two also protected each other during the wedding and the final battle with
Ursula. We couldn’t give them the top spot, since Ariel doesn’t do quite as much work as Eric, but
we still felt that these two were another great relationship example.
Moving onto the Bronze Medal of Healthiness, it’s going to the royal couple of New Orleans, Tiana
and Naveen. Similar to Rapunzel and Eugene, these two didn’t exactly start off on the right foot,
and it took a bit longer for them to bond too. Tiana tended to sort of look down on Naveen
for being a “spoiled little rich-boy” while Naveen just saw her as bossy and strict. Thankfully,
once Naveen was willing to not be so lazy and Tiana loosened up a little, the two were able
to bond and see different sides of each other. Their affections towards each other grew - who
could forget that beautiful dance sequence in the swamp? - and before long, they were willing to
give up their own goals for each other. Being willing to sacrifice and being supportive are
both great traits in any couple, and these two former frogs have plenty of examples of this.
We’ve now come to a slightly more obscure Disney pair: Princess Kida and Milo. As the
heroes of Atlantis, these two are another great power couple. It helps that both of them care
deeply about the City of Atlantis, and pretty much the moment Milo arrives in the city he’s willing
to help Kida learn more about her people’s ancient history. Though, this may have also
been because Kida had healed him earlier, showing him the kindness of the Atlantean people. Still,
the two of them work together well, and the attraction they have towards each other is very
clear, though they don’t let this attraction distract them. Milo continues to help Kida
throughout the first Atlantis film, rescuing her and being willing to stay by her side in the end.
Even if this couple doesn’t get a ton of attention these days, it’s still really sweet.
Next up, we have Cinderella and Prince Charming. Now, you may be surprised to see these two
so high up on our list. After all, in the original Cinderella film,
the two only spend a couple scenes together - scenes that are really sweet, but admittedly
a bit shallow. Well, what really boosts these two up in our ranking is the Direct-to-DVD film,
“Cinderella: A Twist in Time”. In that film, we see just how willing the two of them are to
fight for each other and their relationship. Sure, it may rely on the “Love at first sight” cliche
(or “love at first touch” in this case), which is why we couldn’t rank it any higher.
But even with that, their love is still incredibly strong - with Cinderella being willing to risk
getting arrested in order to try and get back her prince, while Charming not only chased after
Cinderella but jumped out a window for her! The support, love and protectiveness these two have
for each other is just incredibly sweet, and of the three original Disney princess movies,
Cinderella and her prince definitely have the strongest relationship.
After them is Moana and Maui, the first of our strictly platonic pairs. But even without
the complication that is romance, these two definitely had a rough start. Maui tricks Moana,
trapping her in a cave and not really caring what happened to her, and then continuing to
dismiss her or try to get rid of her when she gets out. Moana can also be pretty pushy when
it comes to getting Maui to help or teach her, as well as when she pushes to know Maui’s backstory.
Later on in the film, tensions rise again when Maui gets angry at Moana, blaming her for his
hook nearly getting destroyed and saying that the ocean chose the wrong person. Though he may have
said this out of anger and didn’t mean it, it was still pretty harsh. But despite all this conflict,
the two are still shown supporting each other and encouraging each other during their lowest points.
Maui even sacrifices his hook for Moana. In many ways, these two are almost like siblings - they
don’t always get along, but when it gets down to it, they’re truly ride or die for each other.
After that, we have what could be considered a fairly controversial pair, Pocahontas and John
Smith. Yeahhh, even when putting aside actual history and focusing just on their fictional
portrayals, it’s still hard to completely ignore - especially when John Smith spends a whole scene
telling Pocahontas that she and her people don’t know any better. Thankfully, John Smith isn’t
arrogant enough to ignore Pocahontas’ teachings, and is willing to admit that he was wrong.
Both of them try to work together in order to get their respective people to stand down,
and while their secret relationship did inadvertently lead to the death of Kocoum,
it wasn’t completely their fault. Easily boosting their ranking is how protective they were of each
other in the climax of the film, as well as how much John Smith cares about not only Pocahontas
but her happiness as well - hence why he nearly sacrifices himself to save her father. The two of
them being willing to live apart for each other’s sake also speak volumes about their love. Maybe
their relationship is idealized, but we felt it still deserved a spot in the Healthy tier.
Next up, we have Princess Aurora (aka Sleeping Beauty) and Prince Phillip. Though not a couple
that’s incredibly deep or as developed as some of our earlier pairs, there is still stuff to
like here. For one, the two of them are able to fall in love without knowing who each other is.
You don’t always see a prince that’s willing to give up an engagement to a
princess for a peasant girl, after all, nor do you usually see a prince that’s willing to fight
a dragon for a girl he’s just met. Aurora doesn’t show as big of a romantic gesture,
but the attraction is still there, once she starts to believe that they had met before in a dream.
Honestly though, there’s not much to this couple due to how little screen time and development they
get. Still, we felt there was enough love there to just barely get them into the Healthy tier.
At the bottom of Healthy is the royal Agrabah couple, Aladdin and Jasmine. Yeahhh,
any relationship that’s technically built on lies is gonna be fairly low on our list.
Neither of them started off very honest, but it was Jasmine who dropped them in an attempt to
save Aladdin from the guards. Aladdin, meanwhile, kept the lies going throughout the entire film,
even after Jasmine encouraged him to just be honest with her. Not helping is how he started
off the sequel, “Return of Jafar” ALSO lying. You think this guy would have learned, and he does…
eventually. Honestly, all this would have been enough to push them down into Grey,
but the other aspects of their relationship are thankfully enough to overshadow the dishonesty.
They have a strong connection outright and are able to see each other for more than just
their status. As such, they’re also incredibly supportive of each other and will fight for each
other - hell, Jasmine was willing to kiss someone like Jafar for Aladdin. Now THAT was a sacrifice.
So, with this couple at least, the good parts outshine the questionable parts.
We’ve now come to the pairs that could use some work.
These are the grey relationships. We only have a couple pairs here, with the first one being:
Anna and Kristoff. Let’s get this out of the way first: as sweet as these two can be,
it really does feel incredibly one-sided at times. Yes, the attraction is mutual,
as is the care afnd love they have for each other. But due to Anna being so hyper focused
on the well-being of her sister, Kristoff kind of ends up left in the dust a lot of the time.
Nowhere is this clearer than in “Frozen II”, where Anna tends to act dismissive of Kristoff,
even as he’s trying to propose, and doesn’t even think to tell him where she’s going when
she goes with Elsa. Yeahhh, these two don’t really have the best communication skills.
Not helping is how it’s almost always Kristoff making the effort - whether he’s helping her
through an icy tundra, saving Anna’s life or helping her destroy the Arendelle Dam. Still,
we’re cutting this couple a bit of slack as, even if Anna doesn’t always put as much
effort into their relationship, she still loves Kristoff. She supports his career,
and lets him know at the end of the sequel that she doesn’t need him to be a traditional prince
and prefers him how he is. For this, we’re willing to put them in the upper half of Grey.
Following them is probably the most famous Disney pair, Belle and Prince Adam AKA The Beast. Now,
we aren’t going to go into the whole can of worms that is the infamous “stockholm syndrome theory”,
but even putting that aside, these two have quite a few issues. Adam of course has his
infamous anger issues, often snapping at Belle early on in their relationship.
Even after Belle saves his life, we see through films like “Enchanted Christmas”
and “Belle’s Magical World” that he had a couple relapses here and there. Then again,
Belle has her own faults. She showed that she was willing to disregard the Beast’s boundaries
by going into the West Wing. Was it right for the Beast to forbid her from going somewhere,
especially since she was already technically his prisoner? Probably not, but like- it’s still his
castle, he’s allowed to have boundaries. And yeahhh, even if her time as a ‘prisoner’ is
filled with quite a bit of freedom, it’s still just a bit concerning that Adam didn’t consider
letting her go until her father was at Death’s Door. Even so, these two do have moments of
showing respect and affection towards each other, their love eventually being genuine
enough to break the spell. Concerns aside, Adam does sacrifice his own happiness for Belle in
the end while Belle sees him as more than just a beast. Can’t really argue with an Enchantress,
even if we do feel like these two could have used a bit more positive development.
Next up, we have Snow White and Prince Florian. Honestly, what can you even say
about these two? They only have a few minutes of screentime together, and these minutes
aren’t exactly interesting either. Florian is friendly and charming towards Snow White,
the two of them sing together for a bit, and then spend the rest of the film apart, only reuniting
when Florian comes to wake Snow White up. These two don’t even have a conversation, yet they still
end up married by the end of the film? Yeahhh, these two are a textbook example of a shallow,
traditional fairy tale relationship. They may not have any huge conflicts like Belle and Beast,
but kissing someone while they’re asleep isn’t exactly a grand or selfless romantic
gesture. Compare that to slaying a dragon or jumping out a window and chasing after a boat.
Additionally, since they don’t get a Disney sequel expanding on their
relationship like Cinderella and Charming do, we just couldn’t put them any higher.
Following them are China’s power couple, Mulan and Li Shang. Unlike Cinderella and Charming,
whose Direct-to-DVD film helped show their relationship in a more positive light,
“Mulan II” only hurt these two unfortunately. Let’s start with the positives first:
through the first movie, the two of them grew to respect each other and were able to work together
and support each other well. Though Shang was betrayed by her and was angered by her deception,
he refused to take her life and it only took a bit of pushing for him to fight by her side once
again. As for Mulan, she was always supporting Shang in more emotional ways, comforting him and
saying that she thought he was a great captain. Unfortunately, things take a turn for the worse
in the sequel. While it may be normal for couples to fight, their arguments showed just how stubborn
they could be when it comes to their beliefs, being fairly unwilling to actually talk things
out. Shang also showed a level of distrust in Mulan that was, frankly, kind of shocking. Even
if it was partially due to Mushu’s influence, it still just wasn’t a good look. They’re able to
come back together in the end, even being willing to sacrifice for each other, but it’s hard to tell
just how well these two would withstand more adversity or conflict in the future.
Finishing off the Greys are the digital BFFs, Princess Vanellope and Wreck it Ralph. Yeahhhh,
if you’ve seen “Ralph Breaks the Internet”, it’s really not much of a surprise to see these two
this far down. In the first movie, these two were similar to Moana and Maui - very sibling-like,
often being more playful but still supporting each other a ton. Even their brief break-up following
Ralph wrecking Vanellope’s kart wasn’t enough to destroy their relationship, showing just how
strong that connection was. But in the sequel, Vanellope becomes just a bit more self-centered
and dismissive of her friend’s feelings and Ralph goes from protective and caring to incredibly
clingy. There’s a HUGE difference between Ralph wrecking Vanellope’s kart because he thinks
he’s saving her life, to Ralph trying to ruin “Slaughter Race” so that he doesn’t have to say
goodbye or talk about his concerns. It’s honestly just a huge mess and really hard to overlook,
even after Ralph learns his lesson. Still, the two of them being able
and willing to work things out keep them from being considered completely toxic.
Now it’s time for the relationships - or rather, relationship - that may be seen
by others as pretty concerning. Our one and only toxic Disney Princess relationship is:
Raya and Namaari. Although Raya is a Disney princess, some may think that it’s sort of
cheating to put these two in this list at all. Still, given how much the crux of the
movie depended on these two (as well as just the huge shipping community these two garnered
even before the film came out), we felt that we just had to talk about these two. Though they bond
almost immediately, that connection is quickly taken advantage of by Namaari - and that just kind
of sets the tone for their entire relationship. The two are often fighting each other, whether it
be through taunting or actual combat. Things get a lot less playful, however, in the second half of
the film. Despite trying to do things peacefully, Namaari not only refuses to put down her weapon
(or even take her finger off the trigger), but also completely blames Raya for the incident after
Sisu is killed. Whether you think Raya should have trusted Namaari or not, it’s still ridiculous for
Namaari to blame it entirely on Raya simply based on all the conflict they had previously and,
again, she was the one who made it look like she was going to shoot! The trust that Raya eventually
has in her feels more like a last-ditch effort than actual trust given that she didn’t exactly
have much of an actual choice, given that they were completely surrounded by Drunn. What makes
this worse is that Namaari doesn’t give much of an actual apology to Raya for all the betraying she
did or even do much to make up for all the harm she caused, so this relationship essentially goes
from hostile to affectionate yet shallow. Though the movie does have a hopeful outlook on their
relationship, we aren’t ranking these pairs on their potential - only what we see in canon. So,
we felt we had to call Raya and Namaari our most toxic Disney Princess relationship.
But let us know in the comment section if you agree with our ranking,
and let us know what we should cover next! Remember to hit that notification
bell and binge more of our videos! But most importantly, stay wicked!