Why exactly does neither Tip nor Dash recognize King Triton as the King of the sea? He is literally the king of 70% of the earth. It makes a sense a human who has been deliberately locked away from the sea has never heard of him, but they are surrounded by fish and merpeople all the time. How can they not possibly know who lives in the giant sea palace?
They aren't surrounded by fish and merpeople all the time. They live in the Arctic or Antarctic waters, and the only other sea creatures we see them interact with before meeting Melody are a bunch of other penguins and a shark. Atlantica is located much further to the south/north.
Daddy could have joined us....
With regards to the ridiculous rule about banning the ocean, if Ariel knew she was going to miss Triton so much, why didn't he just appoint Attina (his oldest daughter) the new ruler of Atlantis, transform himself into a human and live with Ariel, Eric, and Melody?
Just because Triton will miss his daughter doesn't mean he's going to give up his responsibility as the king. He knows he has an important job. And he may not be sure of Attina's leading ability.
That idea is just too stupid. The best he could do to is to stay in contact with his daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter by using his magic to create a communication sound in a shell. That way, once they've captured/killed Morgana, they will be informed ASAP and Melody will be able to safely visit her grandfather whenever she wants. Unless it's possible for Ursula to return one of these days, but not as herself...
Plus, even though he's accepted humans, that doesn't mean he wants to become human himself.
This question also presumes that Triton would miss Ariel more than he would the six daughters he leaves behind to go and live with her. It’s not very easy for a parent to make a decision like that.
You're acting as if that would be an easy decision to make. Becoming a human would require Triton to abandon his responsibilities, family, and body, along with leaving his beloved kingdom in the hands of someone else. A complete (and possibly permanent) lifestyle change wouldn't exactly be the first thing you think to do.
Banning the Sea
Why didn't Ariel and Eric just tell Melody why she couldn't go into the sea? Not only would Melody know why they have a giant wall, but then she'd know that there is a threat out there, and wouldn't be putting herself in danger everyday by going into the sea, and not knowing. If they kept the locket at the beginning (or told Melody when she found it), she'd believe them. Is it because they don't trust her with the truth? They seem to trust everyone else in the kingdom to keep a secret, so they should with their own daughter, especially since this whole thing concerns her.
Would you be comfortable telling a child that someone powerful and dangerous wants to kill them? Maybe they hoped Triton would find Morgana before they had to give Melody the news.
Ariel didn't even know that Melody wanted to go into the sea so badly until she found her with the locket. Then, right after the argument they have about it, Ariel immediately regrets it and decides that she'll tell Melody everything at the next opportunity, because "it's time I trusted her." The problem is that Melody shipped off to Morgana's just before Ariel could find her and explain it.
Morgana using the trident
When Morgana had the trident in her hands, why didn't she use its power to achieve One-Winged Angel and grow into a giant enemy monster version of herself like her sister did before???
Maybe because it’d be idiotic and stupid to try that when she already knows how it worked for Ursula??? Growing herself to a gigantic size also makes her a gigantic target — any other benefits are ones the trident can compensate for on its own. Plus, the film establishes that, with the exception of Eric and Melody, all of her enemies are confined to the water. She builds herself a huge ice fortress so she can attack them from the high ground where they can’t reach her.
Well, that and she hates her sister. She would never do something that Ursula did.
The Doylist answer is that it allows for character development on the part of Melody. Having spent the whole film wishing she could be a mermaid, Morgana puts herself in a position where Melody is only able to stop her thanks to her human legs - by climbing up the structure. The Watsonian one? Eric had a ship and prow, which is how Ursula died, and Morgana would have been very easy to hit if she were bigger.
Morgana's punishment
Another one. Sure, Morgana's ultimate punishment was a Fate Worse than Death combined with And I Must Scream, but, wouldn't it have been better to blow her up to tiny squid bits to get rid of her once for all?.What if some random idiot (or worse,another villain) finds her and releases her from her icy prison?
How is anyone going to release her, though? She sank to the bottom of the ocean right off the coast of Antarctica, while frozen inside a block of ice. Even if someone manages to swim down there and find that needle in a haystack, I’d love to see them thaw her out without the trident. Don’t you know how cold it gets down there?
And even if someone could thaw her out, for what reason would they want to? She doesn’t have anything to offer them. Her only magic is apparently what she got from her sister, and she had to rely on a tiny fish, two stingrays, and a naive 12-year-old to do everything for her when she was alive. If someone desires her extremely minimal resources, then it’s better to leave her where she is and take them from her unguarded lair, assuming Triton didn’t destroy it at the end of the movie.
Banning the Seas II
Similar to one of the above questions, how did Ariel conclude keeping Melody ignorant of her heritage was best? Not allowing her into the sea is one thing, but where was the harm in telling her about Ariel's origins?
She probably thought knowing mermaids existed would make her want to go in the ocean more, since it'd effectively be telling her there's an entire country full of sentient beings who love swimming as much as she does. Or she might be worried Melody will notice the Generation Xerox and think she's a hypocrite. There's also the possibility the knowledge there are other beings down there will make her view the ocean as safer than she should (e.g. "I'll be fine; the mermaids will protect me").
Especially since Melody is only turning 12 when the main plot of the film takes place. It's implied that Ariel may have told her some stories about Atlantica when she was younger (Melody mentions she always regarded them as "just an old fish tale"), but she may have feared telling her anymore than that because 1.) putting that much strain on a young child isn't exactly the best thing to do, and 2.) many young children can be quite difficult to reason with, and Melody was already pretty headstrong as a preteen. It's probably that, if Morgana continued to elude capture, Ariel and Eric had plans to tell Melody the truth when she was old enough to understand and take it in. (Eric even says before Melody runs away that he and Ariel had known that this day would come, meaning they clearly did anticipate having to tell her and were just waiting for the right time to do it.)
They also may've become worried at some point that if they told Melody she was descended from actual mer-people, she straight-up wouldn't believe them. They probably didn't expect her to become so enamored with the sea when she was just a baby, and by the time she had developed a thorough interest in it, she could've written off the "mermaid" explanation as them making something up to keep her out of the water.
Let's not forget that Melody had spent years in the dark not knowing about her heritage. If they had said something, she might have blown up big and gotten real angry with her parents for keeping her in the dark for so long, and ran off out of spite. That would have left her even more easy to manipulate, and Ariel knows a bit about that all too well...
The situation also seemed to be that Ariel was hoping Morgana would be found and dealt with sooner rather than later - meaning she was envisioning the threat being gone by the time Melody was old enough to understand things. But years went by with no mention or sight of Morgana, making it harder for Ariel to make a decision.
Arguing over the Trident
Melody's argument with her mother and Morgana over the trident seems quite odd to me...I can understand why she's upset with Ariel on a personal level, but as far as Melody knows, Ariel had no role to play in the "theft" of the trident from Morgana, so Melody really shouldn't have been using it as a means of payback for lying to her. To add to that, Ariel never once tries to explain why the trident really is personal to her, instead opting to merely shout about how Morgana is lying without ever explaining the underlying reason for this.
The Trident is, metaphorically, the ultimate way of sticking it to Ariel because it's going to get Melody what she wants, and what she knows Ariel has been keeping her from: The sea. Giving it to Ariel means going back to her normal life, no matter if the trident is stolen or not. It is an understandable means of payback because this anger at Ariel would have never been if Ariel had been honest from the beginning. As Melody says, "it's too late" for apologizing and revealing the truth now that it's already been exposed. It is a personal issue for Melody regardless of whether the Trident truly is Morgana's because in her head, whoever she hands it to will determine the future of her life. On one hand, the woman who has lied to her her whole life, or a woman who has given her everything she wanted.
It's still incredibly foolish for both of them in that A.) as far as Melody knows, Ariel has no connection to the trident, so it should occur to her to ask why she wants it so badly, and B.) Ariel never simply tells Melody that Triton is her grandfather and that she was trying to keep her safe from Morgana all those years. Also, parents keep things from their kids all the time - it's just an incredibly stupid move for Melody to trust a complete stranger over her own mother.
Melody thought that Ariel wanted the trident because it was the only way that Melody would be able to remain a mermaid forever, and she gave it to Morgana because she thought she would hold out her end of the bargain. She trusted Morgana because she'd led her to believe that she was helping Melody just out of the goodness of her heart, turned Melody into a mermaid without asking for anything in return, and only wanted the trident because it was rightfully hers and the only way she could make the spell permanent. (And she was stoking Melody's anger at her mother besides, telling her how upset she should be over being lied to.) As for Ariel, she was probably about to tell her that Morgana was the problem, but her explanation was cut short because Melody refused to listen and just handed the trident to Morgana.
Don't forget that Ariel swims into the scene, and this is the first time Melody has seen her as a mermaid. So in addition to the other lies, she's found out that her mother was a mermaid herself too. So having been presented with another lie her mother gave her, she opts to believe Morgana, who has appeared to be more trustworthy. Don't forget that Melody is only twelve, and has just found out that her entire life is a lie. For all she knew, Ariel could have had the power to make her a mermaid too and refused to do so.
Breathing underwater
The beginning of the movie shows that Melody can hold her breath for extremely lengthy amounts of time underwater - why is there even an issue when she transforms back into a human later on?
There's a BIG difference between "holding your breath for a long time" and "holding your breath indefinitely". The former just means you'll take longer to die.
True, but she was only underwater for a few minutes in the end before Tip and Dash rammed through the ice and saved her.
Assuming Melody is an average human, she could only hold her breath for about a minute. Tip and Dash took FIVE minutes to return to Morgana's lair. Melody died.
It may have been a few minutes in film time, but in-universe time it was likely longer, hence why she fell unconscious.
And in the beginning, she's only swimming recreationally. When she turns back into a human, she's very aware that she's not going to be able to surface and that she's made a balls of the situation. A panicked twelve-year-old might not be able to hold their breath very long in such a situation.
The thing about holding your breath is that you need to have air in your lungs to draw oxygen from in the first place. As a mermaid, Melody had been breathing oxygen straight out of the water. There was no air in her lungs, and if anything she's lucky she didn't succumb to dry drowning once she transformed back.
"Watch over Melody!"
Why does Triton tell Sebastian to watch over Melody? I thought Sebastian was supposed to be a court composer; why would he be appointed what amounts to a babysitter for 12 years? Also, in the last film, he didn't even come to Triton about what Ariel had done until it was obvious that Ursula was working to rig the deal, so why would Triton want to put him in charge of similar circumstances again?
Sebastian was only made court composer shortly before the events of the first film (remember, music had been outlawed in Atlantica for years). Up until that point, Sebastian was the "Chief of staff" while Marina Del Ray was the glorified babysitter of Trident's daughters. When she was imprisoned, it seems Sebastian took over all three roles. Babysitter, Chief of Staff, and Composer. As for why Triton trusts him, Sebastian DID come to him when they found out Ursula wasn't playing fair by attempting to marry Eric. Sebastian put heart over duty by allowing Ariel to chase her dreams as opposed to living in misery, but when things got out of hand, he contacted Triton immediately, so Triton trusts him to do what is right for Melody regardless of what Ariel or himself thinks.
I don't think Sebastian would have been in the mood to go right back into babysitting a rebellious teen, especially as he spent many years watching over one already. Every crab has his limits.
Isn't being responsible for the safety of the princess a far more prestigious job than court composer?
Transformation inconsistencies
When Melody transforms into a mermaid only the top of her outfit is there and it is shorter exposing her belly button but when she returns to normal her bloomers appear and her shirt is now the same length as they were before and are combined now.
Perhaps Morgana is simply better at transforming spells than Ursula was. She can do flesh and fabric.
Melody's top doesn't actually change at all - the ruffle trim is actually the waistline on her pants, explaining why it disappears when she's a mermaid. If you pay attention during the climax, there's a shot during the struggle with Morgana where Melody's midriff is exposed, showing that her pants just have a really high waistline.
Holding Ariel hostage
This isn't something that stuck out to me until I'd rewatched the scene as an adult, but why does Morgana hold Ariel captive in her tentacles after getting the trident from Melody? She doesn't really hold any bad blood with her. It's not as if Ariel knows some secret to defeating Morgana that she has to keep her from revealing. And she's never used as a hostage to make Eric or King Triton back off. (Which would be pointless anyway, since Morgana has the trident and can make them back off.) I think the only relevance this has is that it allows Ariel to be there to save Eric when he gets pulled underwater, which they could have had her do as she was escaping the ice cave if she'd been left with Melody. What was the point to having her get captured?
Morgana said she was bitterly jealous of Ursula and Ariel was the one who Ursula "let get away". Maybe if Morgana defeated Ariel, it would prove that she was better than her sister.
Telling Stories
Another thing I don't understand: Ariel told Melody stories about Atlantica as she was growing up, but didn't mention anything about King Triton or his magic, not-stolen trident?
Melody says Ariel claimed they were only "old fish tales". Ariel likely didn't tell her anything true and just embellished the stories to entertain her daughter.
Maybe she told stories about how King Triton ruled Atlantica, but Melody wouldn't know what he looked like.
Melody would have to be pretty dense not to put together that the crowned old merman living in the palace and bossing all the guards around was the king, though.
Sabastion going after Melody
Why didn't Sebastian go after Melody when she took the rowboat and ran away? He stays behind only to tell Ariel and Eric that she's out on the open sea, when they probably would've put the pieces together themselves before long. If he'd stuck with Melody, he could've talked her into going home or at least warned her about trusting Morgana. And even if he'd wanted to alert her parents, he could've just sent some other sea creature to tell them in his place.
Maybe he'd have trouble catching up to Melody if he tried going after her? After all, Sebastian's body isn't exactly designed for high-speed swimming.
And at that point, Melody has nowhere to go. She doesn't get approached by Undertow until after, and Sebastian probably thought it better to tell her parents as soon as possible where their daughter went so they could find her before she got into serious trouble.
They were capable of coming off, but we don't know why, whether Ariel took them off or they slipped loose in the open water. In this instance, he had two giant stingrays clinging to him by his boots tightly enough to tug him down through the ice. It's not inconceivable that his boots would've stayed on in that instance when they came off once in a completely different one.
Melody's choice
Why did Melody no longer want to be a mermaid in the end?
It's not that she didn't want to be a mermaid anymore. She just didn't want to have to choose between being a mermaid and being with her mom and dad, especially since, with Morgana gone, there's no reason to keep the two worlds apart.
Melody possibly also realised that she needed to rebuild her relationship with her mother. She didn't necessarily hate being a human; she just didn't like having to sneak around by swimming. With the wall taken down and Morgana taken care of, there's nothing that benefitted her as a mermaid she couldn't do as a human, save staying underwater for longer periods of time. She possibly also respects that her mother had good intentions to keep her out of the sea, and might defer to Ariel until she's older and can experiment with living in both places.
Because of character development. As a human, Melody was a socially awkward tomboy with absolutely no self esteem and felt nobody could relate to her. Naturally this made her desperate for acceptance and once she discovered mermaids are real, she wanted to become one so she could be everything she wanted. But when she finally got to interact with teenage merpeople, she discovered that she was the same person she was on land and so her enthusiasm started to dwindle. When Ariel confirmed that she's not defined by her species, Melody realized that she should start dealing with her problems rather than fleeing them.
Finding Melody
In the sequel, why did Ariel search for Melody underwater when she ran away in a boat?
The reason she's turned back into a mermaid in the first place is "because she knows these waters." She hadn't been in those waters for 12 years (plus the pregnancy, plus however long she was a human before that), there's no way she'd know those waters better than all the merpeople who'd been searching for Morgana all those years. Not like if she did know those waters, she'd even know where to look to find Melody (which she didn't).
I thought Melody went out of range of her waters so she wouldn't have been familiar with them - Maybe Ariel assumed Melody was still within the range of Triton's influence, stuff she was more familiar with?
Mobility. Melody did run away in a boat, but she could catch the boat and get Melody to turn around and go home (or take her home herself — numerous reasons, probably.) instead of a ship. Plus, she's a mother who lost her daughter - She'd probably feel worthless waiting around at home or riding in a ship with Eric when she knows she can swim if she were a mermaid again. I could also say she could describe Melody to other fish, but I imagine that Triton more or less had his daughters and kingdom on the lookout already. Although it could also probably because she really wanted to go swimming again since she spent about 12 years behind a wall with limited sea access, so impulse.
She knows her daughter and her interests quite well. She's probably figured that Melody is out somewhere in the ocean trying to find a way to become a mermaid, so it's best not to take any chances and give herself a means of getting to her quick, especially if Morgana finds her.
She knew Melody had gone to see Morgana and based on her own experience with Ursula, she probably thought that Morgana would try winning Melody over by giving her what she wants. And since the ocean is what Melody wants, Ariel most likely deduced that her daughter either had become a mermaid or was on her way to become one.
None of the above is actually true. At the point where Ariel becomes a mermaid again, she had no reason to think that Melody knew who Morgana was. She may have expected that Morgana would get her hand on her eventually, but she definitely didn’t “know” that’s where Melody was headed.
Banning the Sea III
Ariel and Eric want to keep Melody out of the ocean because of Morgana and they want to keep her safe and so forbid her to go into the sea, right. So why do they decide to live right next to the freaking sea?! if her safety was that important then they would have moved somewhere where the sea was nowhere near them. Its not like they wanted to stay close to Ariels family seeing as they swore to sever all contact with them so why didnt they get her away from the sea instead of living right next to it and hoping that a wall would keep her from going in? They must have known that living right next to something but forbiding it would make it all the more likely she would get an interest in it, especially seeing as Ariel was rebellious herself and should know exacly how Melody would feel and what she would do?
Probably because Ariel doesn't want to cut herself off completely from her family. We see from the scene where she feels the water under her feet that she misses it. It's probably selfish on her part but she probably still wanted to be somewhere where her family could contact her. Also she may have assumed that Morgana would be easily found and didn't see the necessity of moving.
In the first movie, Ariel was established as being pretty selfish, so it wouldn't surprise me if that affected her decision, even when it came to her daughter's safety.
I doubt selfishness was the reason. Ariel is a very different person than she was in the first movie. Perhaps she forgot that she was once a teen (it happens) or didn't realize Melody could go under the wall. Most parents don't imagine their sweet babies growing up to be rebellious teenagers.
No, selfishness is not the reason. Ariel lying to Melody was a very misguided way of trying to protect her. She was completely fine with Melody knowing her heritage until Mogana showed up, and things went downhill from there. Also, it may be implied that she didn't want Melody making the same mistakes she made.
The same thing can be said about King Triton. If he hates humans so much, why does he live so close to them instead of moving his kingdom? From what we have seen, Atlantica seems to be a short swim from Eric's palace. Why not move to the middle of the sea where humans will most likely only venture in passing to other places?
Pride. A king doesn't move his kingdom just because some upstart walking apes happen to be nearby. You might as well ask why the English didn't move away because they hated the French so much.
The above also applies to Eric's kingdom, though likely not out of pride, as he seems like a pretty humble guy. Rather, his responsibilities as prince (possibly soon-to-be king) compel him to remain in his kingdom. He can't just move away somewhere without causing a massive political scandal.
Another way of reading all of this is that Ariel (and Eric) are mimicking Triton's mistakes from the first movie, though, without intending to. Moving away from the sea wouldn't have helped as Melody would likely be always drawn to the sea in some way shape or 'nother and, eventually, she would've encountered the sea/the related. Likewise, on that subject, boats exist so Triton would have encountered them anyways.
Melody's Choice II
At the end of the film, why do they indicate that Melody's choice would be permanent, I mean Triton seems to be able to change people merpeople into humans and vive versa pretty casually, she could alternate between Atlantica and... wherever she lives without restraint.
He probably just didn't want her constantly shifting back and forth as casually as changing clothes. As a king, he has better things to do than being on his granddaughter's beck and call.
Well, he could probably easily put a spell in place so when she's on dry land, she's human, but the moment she becomes immersed in saltwater she becomes a mermaid-considering all the other things he's been capable of, I see no reason he couldn't do that, both for her and her mother and even her father, if he wanted to come visit his wife's homeland.
It may have been a test of character, to see if Melody had actually learned to be responsible, or something like that.
Similar to the person above, I thought it was a Secret Test of Character. The way I saw it, Triton wanted her to take the walls down now that there was no longer a risk of an evil sea witch wanting to come for her, so he wanted to see if she was willing to leave him behind, or her birth family, when really, he wanted her to Take a Third Option and destroy the walls.
We don't really know how far away Atlantica is from Eric's castle - maybe it's not close enough for Melody to make the trip between them regularly, especially since she'll probably have a much more politically active life as she grows older. Ariel could afford to move to the surface world because she was the youngest of seven sisters; as her and Eric's firstborn and only child, Melody doesn't have that luxury.
I'd say it was a secret test of character for different reasons. Melody became a mermaid in the first place because she wanted to run away from her problems - strained relationship with her mother, not being able to fit in. Triton is asking her secretly if she wants to keep running from her problems or face them head on. Melody had gone through the Character Development that meant she was no longer afraid of her human life. With her knowing about her heritage, she and Ariel can repair their relationship, and the threat of Morgana gone means that she can swim in the ocean freely without the need for secrecy. Triton recognises this from when he drove his own daughter to run away from her home and only granted her the power to remain on land when she proved it was what she really wanted. Melody didn't really want to be a mermaid per say; she just wanted her mother to stop smothering her.
And at twelve, Melody is far too young to keep going back and forth between land and sea. She needs some stability after what she's just been through. When she's old enough to make her own decisions, she can probably experiment with living in both places.
Even with Triton's powers, he may not have a way to give her the ability to change back and forth between human and mermaid at will (as even his powers pale to someone like, say, the Genie). If he did, he would have given such a gift to his own daughter so she can come and visit. It sounds like his powers only let him change them one way or the other, but not give them the means to do so at will.
Stupid Penguins
In the second movie, the penguin's first line upon seeing the trident he's helping Melody to steal is "A fork? We're risking our tails...for a fork?" Even if we accept that Scuttle was just a bit scatterbrained, which would explain why he doesn’t know what a fork is, how would a penguin who seems to live far away from humans know what an eating utensil was?
The second movie takes place at least thirteen years after the end of the first one, and we see Ariel using a brush to straighten Melody's hair in an earlier scene. Clearly, Ariel figured things out, told Scuttle what the real name and purpose of a "dinglehopper" was, and he spread the word far and wide to every creature in the seven seas!
Party Guests
Why did Eric and Ariel let Melody's party guests laugh at her after seeing her talk to Sebastian? Assuming the guests are nobles from the same kingdom and not representatives of foreign royalties, shouldn't they have realized that it's a bad idea to laugh at your future queen even if she talks to marine creatures? Even if they are foreign representatives, why would Ariel and Eric tolerate them laughing at their child?
What exactly were they supposed to do, though?
I don't know. How about telling the guests to show some respect for the royal family?
I don’t think the guests were all laughing at Melody, and Ariel and Eric obviously didn’t know Sebastian was there since they’re surprised when he turns up later. They probably thought that the commotion was due to Chef Louis throwing a fit about something. Besides, it’s not like they had loudspeakers set up, so it would be difficult to be heard over so much noise if they tried to say anything.
Melody’s opinion of Atlantica
Melody’s locket contains an image of mermaids swimming around Atlantica; Morgana claims this is a hint to her “destiny”, which is presumably to become a mermaid. And Melody seems really amazed by visiting Atlantica and learning that it’s not just made up like Ariel treated it. But… If that’s the case, why does she go along with Morgana’s claim that it’s ruled over by a “deranged kleptomaniac”? Why does she think her locket has an image of the kingdom inside it? Would she want to live there after she became a mermaid permanently? If so, wouldn’t stealing from the king put a crimp in that plan? There just seems to be a major disconnect between her awestruck perception of Atlantica and what Morgana sends her to do there. It would be like Hercules wanting to steal from Zeus so he can become a god and live on Mount Olympus — which is ruled by Zeus.
Morgana never told Melody that the "deranged kleptomaniac" was a king and Melody had no idea who King Triton is. She didn't even know how important the trident is to the kingdom, all she knew was that it was magical in nature and wanted to return it to its apparently rightful owner. And when she did see Triton, she did form doubts about whether or not he was a thief because he didn't give off that vibe.
As was said elsewhere on the page, Melody would have to be pretty dense not to put together that the crowned merman sitting on the giant throne and bossing all the palace guards around was the king, though. A steward even calls him “King Triton” while she’s nearby. Then again, by that point, she was probably feeling the pressure to make a complicated decision, and she just happened to choose wrong — not unlike her mother in the first movie. She could have rationalized it later as “Well, I may have to stay away from Atlantica for a while, but at least I’ll still get to be a mermaid.”
As pointed out, Melody was conflicted about the situation. She said herself that he doesn't look like a thief, which indicates that she did figure out he is a king, and she is reluctant to take the trident as a result. On the other hand, she just saw him flip a table like a crazy person, which most likely convinced her that Morgana's description of him was accurate and she started to fear him. Like you pointed out, it was a complicated situation. In her earlier awkward encounter with the teens, she discovered that being a mermaid didn't make her the person she wants to be and after misinterpreting Triton's outburst, she starts to fear him and goes home to reflect on her identity crisis, which indicates that she might not be as enthusiastic about Atlantica anymore, or even about being a mermaid. So at that point, Melody's only motive to stay a mermaid is to be able to explore the ocean, since she would rather be miserable at sea than on land where she's forbidden from exploring the ocean at all. In any case, Melody isn't stupid, she was just a confused adolescent desperate to find a sense of belonging and was discovering for the first time that there are no easy solutions to her problems.
