For all you Disney fans out there, we’re giving you the best Disney Princesses of all time, each of whom have a special way of empowering girls and women — everyone, really — to dream of better futures for themselves and others around them. Although we're aware of some problematic messages and stereotypes behind Disney Princesses in the past to minimally address, Disney has made big strides over time to improve Disney Princess representation and messaging to let these characters and their cultures really shine.
From Disney Princess’ wide range of unique personalities to how they handle all the obstacles thrown their way, to how they show up for others, every Disney Princess has been an inspiration to both young and old fans alike. Fans are always looking for the top 10s, so this list has been narrowed down to just 10 total rankings, despite having 13 official Disney Princesses at the time this was written. We must apologize for leaving three magical (and still amazing) Princesses off of this list, as it was no easy feat! Not to mention, there’s another possible Princess coming to Disney from the upcoming movie, Wish, so we can't wait to see what magic this character brings to the latest Disney release, (coming to theaters Nov 22).
10. Aurora (Sleeping Beauty)
For the majority of Sleeping Beauty, Princess Aurora lives in a forest cottage with the Three Good Fairies, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, who address her as Briar Rose to protect her against Maleficent, who curses her to die after pricking her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel after the sun sets on her 16th birthday. Despite the fairies’ best efforts to keep her safe, once they returned Aurora to her castle, she was hypnotized by Maleficent to fulfill the curse anyhow, only to fall asleep until she’s woken up by true love’s kiss instead of dying per Merryweather’s blessing.
Aurora is considered one of the most iconic Disney Princesses known for her grace and beauty, but even more than that, she possesses a great imagination, dreaming of her future and sharing those dreams with her friends — even if they’re woodland animals. Still, her falling victim to a curse that could only be broken by true love’s kiss has been questioned in recent years by critics.
9. Moana
As the daughter of the chief of Motunui, Moana never dreamed of falling in love with a prince or any other guy, nor did she need saving from anyone. The ocean chose her to reunite a mystical heart with the Polynesian goddess of nature, Te Fiti, as an infant, and took on the initiative as a teenager when a blight struck her island as a result of Te Kā’s darkness poisoning the island and the ocean. She finds the shapeshifting demi-god Maui to accompany her to return the heart to Te Fiti since he stole it a thousand years ago to give humans the gift of creation. Moana figures out that Te Kā is the corrupt form of Te Fiti, and returning her heart turns Te Fiti back to her original form, saving the ocean and Motunui in the process.
Despite seeking the help of a demi-god, Moana is praised for her independence, bravery, and determination to get what she wants — all the traits of an empowered young woman. Her voice actor Auli‘i Cravalho even called Moana a role model for everyone, not just girls.
8. Cinderella
Abused by her stepmother and stepsisters into becoming a maidservant in her own château after her father’s untimely death, Cinderella remains humble and kind while tending to their whims and caring for the mice and birds that live there, especially Jaq and Gus, whom she protects from Lady Tremaine’s cat Lucifer. When Lady Tremaine forbids her from going to the ball to meet the Prince and her stepsisters rip her dress apart, Cinderella gets a glow-up from the Fairy Godmother, complete with a dazzling ballgown and glass slippers that disappear at the stroke of midnight, but not really because she still had one glass slipper on. The one shoe proved helpful when the Duke, upon reaching the château with the other shoe she left at the ball, accidentally breaks it and she pulls out the one in her possession, making her a match for the Prince.
Critics considered Cinderella too passive and one-dimensional when her movie first came out, but she’s not too helpless. She told her animal friends to rescue her from her confinement instead of relying on a prince to come save her. Her ballroom outfit, glass slippers and all, made her a fashion icon. Also, did you know? Disney changed the color of her dress from silver to baby blue for girls’ costumes so that little girls don’t look like child brides.
7. Ariel (The Little Mermaid)
A poster child for teenage rebellion, Ariel dreams of being a part of the human world instead of spending the rest of her life under the sea. So much so that she disregards her father King Triton’s strict rules against visiting the surface and fills up an entire grotto with things either humans lose to the ocean or Scuttle gathers around on the surface for her (jewelry, silverware, artwork, books, etc.), and rescues Prince Eric from drowning in a shipwreck, falling in love with him in the process. She went to great lengths to become a human and be with him, signing away her voice to Ursula and gaining legs under the condition that she kiss him within three days lest she revert to mermaid form and become Ursula’s prisoner — only to find out later that Ursula was using her to steal Triton’s trident and rule the ocean. She got help from Eric, Sebastian, and Flounder to defeat the sea witch and married the man of her dreams.
In the sequel, The Little Mermaid: Return to the Sea, Ariel gave birth to a daughter named Melody, who dreamed of living life as a mermaid. This made Ariel the first and only Disney Princess to become a mother.
6. Tiana (The Princess and the Frog)
Hailing from Jazz Age-era New Orleans, Tiana is a no-nonsense woman who lives by the virtue of hard work, holding down two jobs to save up enough money to fulfill her promise to her father, who died in World War I, and to turn a rundown sugar mill into a restaurant. Her tireless work ethic leaves her with no time for rest or anything else — until she turns into a frog after kissing Prince Naveen, whom her wealthy best friend Charlotte was hosting a masquerade ball for, hoping to reverse the amphibian curse placed on him by the voodoo witch doctor, Dr. Facilier. During their journey to find a spell to help turn them back into humans, Tiana teaches Naveen how to be more responsible instead of expecting everyone to tend to his every whim, which is how his parents cut him off from the family fortune in the first place. True to her word, she rejected Dr. Facilier’s offer to magically make her dreams come true in exchange for the talisman with Naveen’s blood in it, breaking it and sending him to the underworld with his so-called friends on the other side in the process.
The Princess and the Frog installed Tiana as the first African American Disney Princess. She’s also considered a feminist business tycoon, not backing down from her dreams until she’s achieved them.
5. Belle (Beauty and the Beast)
Belle is an intellectual and independent young woman who wanted more out of life than living in her French provincial village. She gets her chance when she finds out her inventor father, Maurice, gets imprisoned by the Beast in his enchanted castle. Not wanting to see her father suffer, Belle offers the Beast her freedom in exchange for his. After learning the curse placed on the Beast, who’s actually a prince, and his servants by an enchantress will be broken if he learns to love and be loved in return by the time the last petal from an enchanted rose falls, Belle gradually learns to love him despite his grotesque appearance, even professing her love for him as he lay dying in her arms and restoring his human form at the last possible moment.
Belle is one of the first modern Disney Princesses to break the stereotype of how princesses behave, preferring to read and gain knowledge of the outside world instead of pursuing a man for love and marriage — a vision her screenwriter Linda Woolverton accomplished during the making of Beauty and the Beast. Her constant rejection of Gaston’s request to marry her for her beauty alone (which she isn’t aware of) says as much, making her a feminist icon.
4. Rapunzel (Tangled)
Rapunzel spent 18 years of her natural life locked away in a hidden tower by Mother Gothel, who kidnapped her from her castle as a baby so that she could use the magic of the golden flower flowing through 70 feet of her hair to keep herself young and beautiful forever (not to mention maintaining the appearance of Cher) under the guise of protecting her from the outside world. She saw her chance to leave the tower to see the floating lanterns the kingdom of Corona lights up on her birthday when Flynn Rider, who’s real name is Eugene, unknowingly intrudes the tower and gets knocked unconscious by her frying pan. After sending Mother Gothel on a three-day journey to get her paint as a birthday present, Rapunzel strikes a deal with Eugene to take her to see the lanterns in exchange for returning the crown he stole from the castle — not realizing until later that the crown is actually hers and that the lanterns are lit every year to guide her back to the kingdom.
Rapunzel from Tangled has grown to be one of the most popular Disney Princesses in the last decade and some change because of her ability to fend for herself, find creative pursuits, and use her hair for other purposes aside from healing injuries and reversing aging; like climbing down from high heights, swinging from one place to the other, and lighting up dark places. These traits make her a clever and educated princess, trumping every bad thing Mother Gothel said to her otherwise.
3. Jasmine (Aladdin)
Jasmine is just as much a feminist Disney Princess as Belle, only she has a more progressive idea of marriage than her father, the Sultan of Agrabah: marrying someone based on his character rather than his royal status. Before Aladdin came into her life (disguised as an ultra-wealthy prince per his wish to Genie, no less), she rejected every prince that came to her palace, upset by an age-old law that she has to marry a prince by her next birthday. Her rebellion against getting married off roars through in a famous line to her father, Jafar, and Aladdin (as Prince Ali), “How dare you? All of you, standing around deciding my future? I am not a prize to be won!” After Aladdin uses his last wish to free the Genie, the Sultan changes the law to make it so that Jasmine could marry who she wanted, and it happens to be Aladdin because he learned the value of being himself instead of someone he’s not.
Although she serves a supporting role as the love interest in her own film unlike most Disney Princesses before her, Jasmine is a symbol of female empowerment for defying traditions set by the men in her life. She’s also the first West Asian princess in the franchise, credited with introducing racial diversity to Disney’s princess genre.
2. Merida (Brave)
If Jasmine could marry whoever she wanted, royal status be damned, Merida could choose not to marry anyone, period. Throughout Brave, she insists that she doesn’t want to marry the son of one of her father, King Fergus’ allies, wanting instead to take charge of her own destiny. This puts her in constant conflict with her mother, Queen Elinor, who expects her to take a husband and become a proper lady (the latter of which this author deems grossly misogynistic) to strengthen the bond between the DunBroch clan and the other Scottish clans in the kingdom. The mother-daughter conflict rears its ugly head when Merida bends the rules of the Highland games during the archery portion and competes for her own hand as her clan’s firstborn, leading to an argument that causes her to run away and find a witch who offers her a spell that could change her mother’s ways, but turns Elinor into a bear instead. As Merida works to break the spell and fight the ferocious Mor’du, she gets the clans to agree that their firstborns should marry whomever they choose on their own time.
Merida is not only the first Disney Princess from a Pixar movie, but she’s also the first Disney Princess to be single, giving female audiences a break from princesses who are damsels in distress needing to be rescued by men. On top of being an excellent archer, she’s a good sword fighter and horseback rider.
1. Mulan
Mulan was the first Chinese Disney Princess in the lineup whose story is based on a folk tale instead of a fairy tale. Worried about her veteran father’s health and safety after being conscripted to fight the Hun army, she defied her culture’s restrictive gender roles and disguised herself as a young man named Ping to enlist in the Imperial Chinese Army on his behalf. Her quick thinking and fighting skills allowed her to take down over a thousand Hun Army troops by firing a cannon at the mountain, triggering an avalanche. Even after her deception was revealed to Shang and her fellow soldiers, she saved the Emperor from getting killed by Shan Yu, bringing honor to her family and all of China.
Mulan wasn’t born into royalty nor did she marry a royal (although she married Shang, a high-ranking military officer in the sequel), but Disney crowned her a princess nonetheless. They did this to teach girls and women — mostly girls — the importance of persistence, family, and honor, and not confining themselves to archaic gender roles of being subservient to men. In other words, Mulan smashed the patriarchy.
There you have it! There are always top Princesses based on popularity throughout Disney's history, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are your favorites in the end. This list is focused primarily around overall personalities and abilities, however, choosing how to rank the Disney Princesses is always highly debatable and depends on each person's own opinion in the end.
Note: Raya was not an official Disney Princess at the time this list was written. Raya will definitely be a contender in our top 10 when we revisit the list in the future!
More About Disney's Upcoming Movie, Wish
Wish is an all-new musical-comedy by Walt Disney Animation Studios’ welcoming audiences to the magical kingdom of Rosas. Here we'll meet main character, Asha, a sharp-witted idealist who makes a wish so powerful that it is answered by a cosmic force—a little ball of energy called Star. Together, Asha and Star have to work together to save her community from King Magnifico, and prove that when the will of one courageous human connects with the magic of the stars, wondrous things can happen.
Would you rank your favorite Disney Princesses based on nostalgia and storylines? Who's the most badass? Most unique? Best songs? Let us know who your favorite Disney Princesses are and why.
Cristina Alexander is a freelance writer for IGN. She has contributed her work to various publications, including Digital Trends, TheGamer, Twinfinite, Mega Visions, and The Escapist. To paraphrase Calvin Harris, she wears her love for Sonic the Hedgehog on her sleeve like a big deal. Follow her on Twitter @SonicPrincess15.
