Ursula (The Little Mermaid) she can ultimately replace the mermaid's father King Triton as ruler over Atlantica. Created by directors and screenwriters Ron Clements and John Musker, Ursula is based on the sea witch character who appears in the fairy tale "The Little Mermaid" by Hans Christian Andersen. However, her minor role was greatly expanded into that of a much more prominent villain for the film. Disney had struggled to cast Ursula for a year, during which the role was well sought after by several coveted television actresses at the time. Clements and Musker disagreed with lyricist Howard Ashman about who should voice the
Ursula (The Little Mermaid) "The Gospel according to Disney: Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust" author Mark I. Pinsky, Ursula became "the most grotesque characterization Disney ... have created for a female villain" at that time. Having animated previous Disney villains, Keane was originally approached to be the supervising animator of Ursula, but declined in favor of animating Ariel because he longed to do something different. Thus, Keane was replaced by Ruben A. Aquino. The character was originally drawn with a full set of eight tentacles similar to a real-life octopus, which were eventually reduced to a more manageable six because the original amount would