Kidagakash "Kida" Nedakh is the deuteragonist of Disney's 2001 animated feature film Atlantis: The Lost Empire. She is the only daughter of Kashekim Nedakh, King of Atlantis and the former princess of Atlantis, ascending as queen of Atlantis following her father's death. By the end of the first film, Kida had married Milo and became the daughter-in-law of Augustus and Lucille Thatch and the granddaughter-in-law of Thaddeus Thatch.
Quick Answers
What role does Kida Nedakh play in Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire?
Who are Kida Nedakh's parents in the Atlantis movie?
How does Kida Nedakh's status change throughout the Atlantis movie?
Who does Kida Nedakh marry in Atlantis: The Lost Empire?
What makes Kida Nedakh stand out from other Disney princesses?
Background
Development
From the beginning, the filmmakers wanted Kida to stand out from other Disney Princesses both in appearance and in personality. So as not to appear as another damsel in distress, they created her to be a warrior woman with the strength to overcome hostility.
The supervising animator of Kida was Randy Haycock. Randy further wanted to develop a unique appearance for Kida that made her different from the other Disney Princess. Going through various magazines and looking at models, he drew her with a slightly wider nose and full lips. He also wanted to play the character's personality of being stoic and firm while also having a soft, playful side that is left out when she meets Milo.
Cree Summer provides the voice of Kida. Cree was excited to finally get to voice a character in a Disney animated feature after having been in the business for over fifteen years by that point. Haycock noted how he felt intimidated by Cree's wild and unique personality the first time he met her and drew inspiration from that into developing scenes where Kida and Milo first meet. Natalie Strom voiced Kida as a child in the film's prologue, which was added in late in production, while Cree would reprise the character in the sequel.
Personality
Kida is a warrior princess, making her strong and very skilled at combat. It is mentioned that several thousand years ago, Kida would have killed outsiders on sight. By the present time, however, Kida has become so curious about Atlantis' past that she is willing to let in outsiders hoping that they could help her rediscover Atlantis' history, even as far as taking a liking to Milo. She is shown to love her father and husband very much. Although she can seem quite forceful, violent, and aggressive at times, she has a kind heart and general respect for all creatures.
She is enthusiastically curious about the modern world, which is perhaps emphasised by 8700 years trapped underground. She is also driven to learn about her own culture and technology, which had been repressed by her father for fear of repeating another cataclysm, however, not knowing this, she is instead frustrated by the treasure trove of knowledge right in front of her that she doesn't understand. Kida was kept uneducated by her father out of fear, yet she is still highly intelligent, capable of understanding new languages from brief exposure to them; she is also adaptable from intuition and observations, as well as being quick to learn.
Kida is direct and blunt, making potentially insulting observations about people she meets, however, she intends neither insult nor considers their flaws as faults. While being a strong fighter herself, she doesn't inherently admire physical strength, as she was able to become close to Milo out of admiration and respect for his intelligence and knowledge, as well as his compassionate demeanour. Similarly, Kida is compassionate and generous, however, will react aggressively to threats to her people.
Physical appearance
Kida is a tall girl with a very slender build and a slightly muscular physique. She has white long hair and brown skin like all Atlanteans. She has blue-colored tattoos (which represent teardrops), which appear to change slightly after she becomes Queen and large blue eyes. She also wears a shard of the crystal around her neck. With the power of the Atlantean crystal, Kida and the other Atlanteans are given abnormally long lives. Though Kida is roughly 8,500 - 8,800 years old (according to Milo), she physically resembles someone in their mid-late 20's.
Her attire changes when she transitions from princess to queen, with her clothes going from being very revealing to being elaborate. As a princess, she wears only a simple blue bikini, the top being a strapless bandeau and the bottoms are covered with sarong type skirt, gold jewelry being an earring on her right ear, a band on her left arm, an anklet on her right ankle, and she goes around barefoot. In the sequel, her dress is a strapless dark turquoise dress with two slits on either side and a gold chevron pattern on the hem, with a red sash at the waist and a dark blue cape with a gold underside attached to the rear. In the short story "Milo's Rescue Mission", Kida can actually revert to her princess outfit even as a queen.
Appearances
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
At a very young age, Kida is present when a gigantic tsunami threatens the central city of Atlantis. She watches in tears as her mother is suddenly chosen by the Heart of Atlantis to save the city, leaving the young child behind. Her father quickly covers her eyes so as not to look but neglects to do so himself.
Centuries later, Kida leads a small group of hunters and gathers through the earth's many caverns and catacombs when they notice a large group of outsiders approaching their city. They keep watch on them, with her believing that their being able to find Atlantis could mean that they could be of help. When the expedition desperately escapes an attack from fireflies, they come upon a lone member who is injured. Kida decides to help heal the outsider before taking off.
When the expedition eventually finds Atlantis, Kida and her group confront the expedition. When the man she had just healed reveals that he can speak Atlantean, she opens up to them and immediately takes them to her father. However, her father demands that they leave without explaining why. When left alone, she gets into an argument with her father regarding how their way of life is dying while he believes it is being preserved.
Unconvinced, Kida singles out the man who is named Milo Thatch. Realizing that she does not even know how to read the Atlantean written language, he agrees to help her as they explore the city. They come to a pond where underneath are numerous writings she has him translate. He is able to figure out information regarding the Heart of Atlantis, which is the power source keeping the city alive and was what took her mother away.
Upon surfacing, they find that the rest of the expedition plan to steal the Heart of Atlantis and sell it on the black market. Their leader Lyle Rourke forces Milo to cooperate by having a gun pointed at Kida. Kida watches in horror as they ransack her father's chamber, which is followed by the leader striking her father down before he figures out where the Heart of Atlantis is hidden. Inside the Crystal Chamber, she is called upon by the crystal and she bonds with it before being encased within a container.
Kida remains inactive as a battle ensues for her. Milo successfully rescues her, bringing her back to the city in time for her and the Heart of Atlantis to raise the giant stone guardians from their slumber and create a force field to protect the city from an awakened volcano. Kida is released from the crystal with the city saved and leaves her with a bracelet of hers that her mother held onto when called upon previously by the crystal.
Because of her father's death, Kida becomes the Queen of Atlantis. Milo stays behind, having fallen in love with her and helping the civilians rediscover their lost culture. Among her first acts is for a stone effigy of her father to be constructed to join the other stone effigies of the past kings orbiting the Heart of Atlantis that now hovers over the city.
Atlantis: Milo's Return
Kida, as Queen of Atlantis, is working with Milo, who is now her husband, to use the Heart of Atlantis to rebuild the civilization. They are unexpectedly visited by their comrades from the first film. They learn that a creature called the Kraken, which is presumed to be an Atlantean defense mechanism, is attacking a town. Kida and the others travel and are able to stop the creature.
While Kida adjusts well to the outside world, she feels guilty because there could be more Atlantean machines wreaking havoc. Kida and the others travel to Arizona, where they find a town with a statue that appears to be of Atlantean origin. They are also forced to confront the coyote spirits who oppose them. A Native American man is able to serve as a median, and Kida learns that she has the power to choose Atlantis' destiny.
Later, Kida and friends travel on a search for the Gungnir, a mythical spear of Atlantean origin. They track the thief, a man named Erik Hellstrom, to the Nordic Mountains. There, he presumes Kida to be his daughter (Erik believes himself to be Odin) and kidnaps her. Hellstrom intends to end the world by bringing about Ragnarök and creates various beasts. Kida is able to retrieve the spear after Vinnie provides a distraction.
As a result of the adventures, Kida learns about the power of the Atlantean crystal and comes to believe that her father was wrong for hiding it. She combines the Heart Crystal with the spear and uses its power to raise Atlantis to the surface. It should also be noted that unlike in the first film, Kida, for some reason, does not have the extra tattoos obtained on her face from her wedding to Milo/coronation as Queen.
House of Mouse
Kida appears briefly in the episode "Donald Wants to Fly". She is flying on a Ketak, an Atlantean vehicle carved in the shape of a fish.
Once Upon a Studio
Kida appears where she prepares to leave in disappointment after Goofy breaks the camera that was to be used to take a group photo to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Walt Disney Animation Studios. However, she pauses when Alan-A-Dale starts playing "When You Wish Upon a Star", lifting everyone's spirits where they are able to successfully take the group photo.
Disney Parks
Kida appeared in Disneyland and Walt Disney World when the film was first released, dressed in her queen robes from the end of the film (most likely because her main outfit might have sparked controversy from parents visiting the parks at the time). Kida and Milo also appeared in the Disney Stars and Motorcars Parade in a car designed after a Ketak for the first year of that parade's run.
After a several-year absence from the parks, Kida and the other Atlantis characters made a reappearance at Disneyland Paris during the Disney Dreamers Everywhere events in 2013.
Kida and Milo both made a reappearance during the 2018 Disney FanDaze Inaugural Party at Disneyland Paris and the Disneyland Sweethearts' Nite in February 2023. Kida alone made another reappearance at the Disneyland After Dark Princess Nite event in March 2023.
A portrait of young Kida with her mother and father before the fall of Atlantis is featured at the Disneyland Paris Disneyland Hotel's Royal Banquet Hall.
The scene where Kida prepares to bond with the crystal represented Atlantis: The Lost Empire in the Back to the Past segment of Wonderful World of Animation.
Video games
Disney Heroes: Battle Mode
Kida is the first character from Atlantis: The Lost Empire to appear in the game during a major update in the game, she possesses the same abilities as in the movie besides being a shield and tank and attack hero, her is also present ability to become a diamond.
Gallery
Trivia
- Kida is over 8,800 years old.
- Fans have clamored for Kida to be included in the Disney Princess lineup for diversity purposes, but Disney executives had a feeling that Kida doesn't fit in, possibly because of the film's poor box office performance.
- Kida's dress at the end was only seen completely in a few concept art such as in some character galleries in Disc 2 of the 2-Disc Collector's Edition, and the books Subterranean Tours: Atlantis: A Traveler's Guide to the Lost City and Milo's Rescue Mission (though without a tiara, see above). All other book illustrations showing her in that dress either show only the top half (Play-a-Sound book, Wonderful World of Reading, Dark Horse comic, Atlantis 2002 calendar, etc.), have the train (back part of the dress) cover the front (Read-Aloud Storybook, various coloring pages), or seen from far away ("The Final Stand", "How to Draw", Ladybird book, Kida: The Heart of Atlantis, etc.). Additionally, her face character incarnation at the theme parks depicts her in her queen dress and tattoos, but without a tiara.
- Likewise, her huntress armor when her mask is removed is only seen completely in some promotional artwork.
- The feathers on Kida's tiara at the end (one large pink feather between two smaller blue ones) resemble the ones on José Carioca's tail.
- Kida is the first Princess in a Disney film who became queen by the end of her first film. No other Princess did this again until Elsa when Frozen was released twelve years later.
- The pink chevrons on the dark blue-with-gold outlines sash hanging from the front of Kida's otherwise mostly light blue dress in the ending, from the shoulders down, form a "V", an "X", a "^", (the ones we only see in the film) a "][", a semicircle and another "^" (implied, see above books).
- Though she does not appear until halfway through the film, three tie-in storybooks, Kida and the Crystal, The Mark of a Princess and My Princess Collection: Kida: The Heart of Atlantis, are basically retellings of the film's plot but from Kida's point of view. What's different between those three books is that the first ends during the scene where Milo and Kida are shown exploring the underwater mural, while the last two continues from that point, including her kidnapping and subsequent crystallization by Rourke, her being rescued by Milo and his teammates from Rourke and protecting Atlantis from an erupting volcano, and finally her marrying Milo and becoming Queen (the only difference being that The Mark of a Princess is narrated in third-person, while Kida: The Heart of Atlantis is narrated by Kida herself).
- If you listen very closely, then you can easily tell that Kida has an almost British-sounding accent, otherwise known as "Queen's English". However, she reverts to an American accent (typical of characters Cree Summer has voiced) in the sequel.
- Due to modesty reasons, Kida's artwork promoting the Atlantis 2002 home release showed her in her queen dress (though without her tiara and extra tattoos), as her left arm was covered by the dress's sleeve.
- However, the original 2002 one-disc home release of Atlantis was the only release of that film to actually feature Kida on the cover art along with her husband Milo and his teammates (Mole, Vinnie, Audrey, and Sweet, Cookie and Mrs. Packard for some reason are both absent). The two-disc collector's edition of the film featured only the Ulysses submarine and its escape pods but no characters, and the Blu-Ray art for some reason although still has the same main protagonist explorers as the original (Cookie and Mrs. Packard are still absent), Kida is nowhere to be seen except as a silhouette at the very top but is obscured by the crystal and the film's title (the second "A" is positioned so that it and the Crystal overlap each other) and the two antagonists, Rourke and Helga are added instead.
- Kida's skin color appears to be very inconsistent depending on the lighting, she is supposed to have lighter skin than the other Atlanteans, but darker skin than Milo's. However, in Milo's Return, Kida for some reason is drawn with much darker skin.
- Kida's title as "princess" was only mentioned near the end of the film when Milo is gathering the other explorers and Atlanteans to save her from Rourke and his minions. In Milo's Return, she is occasionally referred to as a "queen".
- In the various promotions for the film, Kida is the only character that isn't shown, nor does she ever have a biography.
- Kida was originally going to have pale skin and reddish-brown hair. Her final design appears to be an amalgamation of different races, particularly African (brown skin and half-black voice actress) and Polynesian (there are Polynesians with dark skin and fair hair), with some East Asian (shape of her eyes), Native American (shape of her nose), Scandinavian (white hair is a common trait in Scandinavian people), and Caucasian as a whole (white/blonde hair plus blue eyes) elements as well.
- Strangely enough, one of Kida's early concept art didn't even look human.
- Despite not being an official Disney Princess due to the film's lack of success, Kida made a brief cameo in the book The Art of the Disney Princess.
- Kida also made an appearance in the My Princess Collection book series along with the first eight official Princesses as with Alice, Princess Dot, and Jessie the Cowgirl.
- When Kida takes off her sarong, her anklets mysteriously vanish. They eventually reappear when she puts her sarong back on.
- Kida is represented by the colors blue (clothing and eyes), white (hair), and gold (jewelry).
- She is also represented by either her crystal necklace, her tattoos, the Atlantean "A" (a triangular spiral with a dot in the middle), and/or the Shepherd's Journal (her husband's book).
- Kida's name originates from a Kiowa girl's name meaning "raising away the darkness." Coincidentally her voice actress Cree Summer is part Native American, and her first name is also the name of a Native American tribe.
- Kida had actually experienced some magic in her life: a lot of the Atlanteans wear magic crystal shards around their necks, which give them magic powers like immortality and healing abilities, and even merged with the Mother Crystal itself.
- Kida can be seen crying as her mother is "killed" at the start of the film as Atlantis is sunk underwater. Also, according to Randy Haycock, her animator, Kida's tattoos represent her tears.
- Kida briefly twirled as she is drawn upward into the Crystal during her transformation into it. However, since a princess twirl usually ends with something bad happening to them, after her transformation she is locked in a crate by Rourke and Helga.
- Kida's facial structure was inherited from her mother's, although her skin is lighter. She also resembles her voice actress Cree Summer.
- Kida actually fled Milo after healing his wounds during their first encounter, although they really fled from Mole's digger as they heard it and the other explorers approaching.
- The coronation of Kida as Queen of Atlantis at the end of the film serves as a bookend to her film, since Atlantis began with her mother's death during the Great Flood that sank Atlantis, and therefore ending that queen's reign, and ends with her coronation, and therefore beginning her reign as queen.
- Although many Atlanteans treat the Mother Crystal as a deity, it's possible that Kida may have learned about Christianity and to a much lesser extent, Christmas from Milo.
- Kida loses her tattoos in Milo's Return due to budget and how difficult they were to animate.
- In spite of the film's lack of success, Kida could perhaps be considered a cult following and recognized as one of the most popular and better-remembered heroes ever; she is classified as one of the forgotten Disney Princesses and has made appearances in other Disney properties, most notably in House of Mouse, Disney Heroes: Battle Mode, and Disney Sorcerer's Arena, albeit she may not necessarily be qualified to fall under a recognized status.
- The scene where she shields Atlantis from the volcano is similar to the scene in Frozen 2 where Elsa protects Arendelle from the flood after she is released. Interestingly the two films were released within a decade of each other if one does the math.
- Kida is one of the few princesses in a Walt Disney Animation Studios film to be voiced by a professional voice actor.
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