Selénia

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Princess Selenia

Information
Species	Minimoy
Gender	Female
Age	1,000 (appears 10)
Family	King (father) Betameche (brother) Mother unknown

Princess Selenia (or Princesse Selénia in French) is a fictional character from Luc Besson's Arthur and the Minimoys movie as well as its original book series. In both the book series and movie adaptation, she is the princess of the Seven Lands and she lives in the Blessed City.

She is the object of affection for both the main protagonist, Arthur, and the Dark Lord Malthazar. Malthazar however probably only lusts after her beauty and power, which he perceives to be love (because her kiss can cure him of what has tainted his heart). Selenia doesn't return Malthazar's feelings and she constantly rebuffs his advances.^{[citation needed]}

She is a formidable fighter in her own right, and whilst being a noble and good person, she is extremely egocentric and proud. She is aware that she is beautiful, that Arthur is in love with her, and enjoys using her attractiveness to taunt the boy. However, when one of her games goes too far and Arthur steps off a cliff at her command, she is temporarily wracked with guilt before being overcome with rage after realizing he knew he wouldn't die. During the beginning of their journey together, Selenia believed Arthur to be her inferior (in true princess fashion), as the story goes on she comes to respect him, and the two eventually fall in love later on. She kisses Arthur passionately on the lips on the book, which in Minimoy culture is a marital custom just like in the human world, but also seals their marriage. However, this detail is missed out of the US version of the film (though it remained in the original French movie and dubbing to other languages). Many parts of the movie are missed in the English version. English language critics heavily criticized Selenia's romantic involvement with Arthur due to the vast age gap between them, specially due to the voicing of Madonna as the princess. However, in Minimoy years, Selenia is only ten so technically they are the same age. Also, due to the cuts in the US film version, it is not explained that Malthazar wishes the first kiss of the princess; because not only does it have the power to restore him to his former handsomeness, it will transfer some of her powers to him. After learning that Selenia has kissed Arthur already (and in effect sealing her marriage to him), he in his rage and sadness decides to kill the princess, but first he wants to torment her by showing how her kingdom would be destroyed if she would be dead. Some of this footage is cut in the English version, but Malthazar clutching the princess's neck to silence/strangle her is kept in for some reason.

Though she can seem self-centered and arrogant at times, she is of royal blood, as is any princess. She acts as if she were the boss of Betameche and Arthur. Treating them equally would level out duty.

The relationship between Arthur and Selenia is slightly romantic during times, though in some cases, Selenia believes it to be going to far.

In the book, Selenia is determined to get revenge on Malthazar, not only for the pain and death that he has enacted upon her people but also for a perceived slight that is never elaborated upon much in the US version of the movie. However, it may be something to do with the fact that he was chosen to go on the quest to find water during the drought and not her. It is mentioned in the book that Selenia believed she should have led the expedition instead, but Malthazar was chosen because Selenia was too young at the time.

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