Ursula's Cauldron



Ursula's Cauldron is a magic stone cauldron used by the evil sea witch Ursula within her lair to cast wicked spells, create fantastical illusions, and brews potions.

The cauldron also enables Ursula Remote-Viewing via Flotsam and Jetsam's glowing yellow eyes to project received images onto a crystal ball-bubble floating above her cauldron used spyglass for Ursula to keep a watchful eye on others.

During the song "Poor Unfortunate Souls", Ursula is able to create spectral imagery with just waves of her hands, and manipulate them at will. However, when Ursula wants to create powerful magic, she will use the many ingredients she keeps in her potion cabinet to create these spells, such as when she needs to turn Ariel into a human, or when she needs to a create a disguise of her own.

Ursula used her cauldron the last time to spy on Ariel and Prince Eric and was angry when Ariel was about to kiss Eric and complete the spell to make herself human forever. Ursula then brews potions into the Cauldron and used her magic on her nautilus to create her perfect disguise in the form of the human woman Vanessa as she takes matters into her hands.

Appearances in other media
Ursula's Cauldron serves the exact same purpose in The Little Mermaid TV series, the only difference is that Ursula often plays around with the bubble; bouncing it as if it were a ball. In the episode "Ariel's Treasures", Ursula is able to transfer magic over through the bubble onto the projected object within, like when she used the whirlwind spell to possess Ariel's collection. Later in that episode, Ariel destroyed the crystal bubble which disrupts the magic of Ursula's cauldron.

Ursula's Cauldron made an appearance in the videogame adaptation of The Little Mermaid. During the first phase of the final battle with Ursula, she uses the cauldron as her primary form of attack. From it, she summons various sea creatures to attack Ariel. Ariel must throw them back at her to defeat Ursula.

During the "Poor Unfortunate Souls" scene in Ariel's Story Studio, Ursula's cauldron acts as a minigame of sorts. Flotsam and Jetsam will instruct the player, in riddles, to put 3 different colored potions into the cauldron. The correct combination will reward the player with scenes from the movie, redubbed by the original actors, with new music as well. The combination will change every occassion, for different scenes.

The scenes featured are:

1) The Dining Room conversation with Eric and Grimsby.

2) Scuttle

3) King Triton worrying about Ariel.

In the first Kingdom Hearts game, the cauldron is seen being used by Ursula to project images of the Sora and his friends.

Though unlike in the original movie, the spy images are projected from the inside of the cauldron instead of a bubble on the outside. But like the original movie, she can project these images from out of the cauldron and manipulate them. King Triton describes the cauldron as the source of Ursula's power, and gives hints telling that the cauldron is her weakness. Then, during the boss fight with Ursula, she will throw potions filled with elemental magic into the cauldron, which Sora must counter with spells on his own. Should Ursula manage to get enough potions of her own in the cauldron, the party will be hit with a devastating attack. However, should Sora manage to put enough of his spells into the cauldron, the magic will backfire on Ursula, stunning her, and giving Sora the opportunity to strike.

Ursula's Cauldron and her Grotto are never seen in the second Kingdom Hearts game.

Trivia

 * In Ariel's Story Studio, because Grimsby's voice actor Ben Wright has passed away, he was replaced with a new actor to redub his conversation with Eric in the dining hall.
 * In a certain artwork of Ursula's lair, one can see that the cauldron is inside a sunken pit in the middle of the main hall. It was revealed in the deleted scene involving a skinny merman named Harold, that Ursula would use this pit as a spa which she would fill with magic cauldron water.