Isabella Hartley, also known as Bella, is one of the main characters in the third and final season, in the Australian television series, H2O: Just Add Water. Bella discovered her powers after a trip to the Sea Caves of Ireland.
Biography
Becoming a Mermaid
Bella became a mermaid when she was nine years old. She lived with her parents in Ireland at the time, but they were too busy at work, so she explored the area a lot. She found a sea cave with a pool, and when she jumped into it on a Full Moon night, she went through metamorphosis. Bella found a dark blue crystal at the bottom of the Moon Pool where she became a mermaid. She tied this crystal on a brown string and has been wearing it ever since.
Her Arrival
Isabella "Bella" Hartley is the new girl in town and appears after Emma has left to travel the world with her parents. When a mysterious Water Tentacle attacks the girls and captures Rikki, Bella sees a part of Rikki's tail, and Cleo jumps into the water to save Rikki. Bella is shocked, but also jumps into the water quickly after Cleo jumped in. She reveals her tail to Cleo and saves Rikki together with Cleo from the water tentacle. The next morning, the girls and Lewis McCartney discuss Bella's tail and Bella shows them her powers on Lewis' drink. Bella can turn water into a gelatin substance. After that, the girls ask Bella to join them, and she agrees. She has also been described as bringing something to the group that they've never had before.
Bella also applied for a waitress job at a café called Rikki's. But meanwhile Bella was making a drink for a customer, Sophie Benjamin changed the drink by adding a chili pepper in the drink while Bella wasn't paying attention, so it would look like Sophie indeed was suitable for the job, instead of Bella. Bella didn't get the job, but she continued to work at the café as the lead singer in Nate's band.
After the Events of Season Three
In the spin off series, Mako: Island of Secrets, Bella is not mentioned by Rikki, who appears in the show. Rikki reveals that her two friends (Emma Gilbert and Cleo Sertori) eventually moved from the Gold Coast after graduating from high school. It is unknown what happened to Bella.
Personality
Bella is a bit withdrawn and sensitive because she's a mermaid, meaning that she's afraid to reveal herself. But deep from the inside, she but cares deeply for her friends (especially Will Benjamin, because of her feelings for him). Bella is also described as being a bubbly ball of energy that is easy to talk with. She always enjoyed walking around in the Ireland fields while her parents were both at work. Later she became a fun lovely girl with her two new friends.
Physical appearance
Isabella Hartley was a teenage mermaid when she first arrived at the Gold Coast by the events of Season 3.
She has honey-blonde hair that fall straight down past her shoulders. Her hair also seems to have a naturally wavy texture, which you can see when she wears her hair loose, tough sometimes it gets straighter, probably due to its weight or humidity. She sometimes wears a side braid or a ponytail, but mostly wears her hair down, sometimes having tiny braids throughout. Bella's eyes are ocean blue, and her skin has a honey-bronze color. She is not quite as tan as Cleo Sertori but not as pale as Rikki Chadwick and Emma Gilbert. She seems to be the shortest of the mermaid trio at 5'2". Bella has a slim but curvaceous figure. Bella is the one who wears the most dresses in the mermaid trio. She wears colors that reflect more earthly or ocean inspired tones, such as blue, purple, white, yellow, aqua, green, black, and flower designs. If Bella wears swim clothes, they mostly have a flower design. Bella is never seen without her blue necklace with the exception of her mermaid form. Later in season 3, her friends also get the same necklace made by Will.
As a mermaid, her hair is let down and she has an orange-scaled tail with a matching orange-scaled top.
Mermaid Powers
Like Cleo and Rikki, Bella possesses the ability to transform into a mermaid ten seconds after physical contact with water. Once her body is completely dry, she turns back into a human along with the outfit she was wearing before the transformation. As a mermaid, Bella has the ability to swim at a super speed, and dive at depths no human being is capable of, completely protected from its cold and water pressure. She is also capable of holding her breath for at least fifteen minutes.
Entering the Irish Moon Pool alone, Bella was gifted with the powers to turn water into a jelly-like substance and to harden water into another substance similar to glass. When she recently turned into a mermaid, Bella found a crystal at the bottom of the Irish Moon Pool and handcrafted a crystal necklace herself and wears it ever since. It is unknown if she still wears it or not. As a hatchling back in the late 1990s and a recently-turned mermaid, Bella mastered the Moon Spell Control by herself much before her arrival at Mako Island back in 2009.
Weaknesses
Before her transformation, Bella had all the typical weaknesses of a human. When she transformed, she now is susceptible to all the weaknesses of a mermaid.
Loss of Power Control
Bella is allergic to Will's aftershave, and it causes her mermaid magic to go out of control. Every time she sneezes, her gelidkinesis involuntarily comes into play and turns any liquid in the room or nearby into the jelly-like substance.
Relationships
Will Benjamin
Bella and Will kissing underwater
See the main article: Bella-Will Relationship
Bella develops feelings for Will as soon as she arrives in town. Because Will often asks Bella about what he "thinks" he saw, Rikki tells Bella to stay away from him to keep their secret safe. As they become closer, Will starts to have feelings for Bella. On one day, Will accidentally drops water on Bella's chin when he wants to kiss her, and she is forced to run into the ocean before she transforms into a mermaid. Will then becomes curious and intentionally throws a glass of water on Bella's hand, forcing Bella to jump into the water. Will follows her, and sees what she really is. Although he's shocked at first, he agrees to keep her secret. But Bella lies about Cleo and Rikki when Will asks her if they are also mermaids.
Bella often hears Will talking about mermaids and the magic, and begins to think that he is only interested in her because of her mermaid magic, and she stops their friendship. Eventually, they become friends again after Will finds out that Cleo and Rikki are mermaids as well. In one of the episodes, she mistakenly hears Will asking Rikki to a party and she decides to go with Nate to make him jealous. At the party, they solve the misunderstanding and officially become a couple.
Behind the scenes
She was portrayed by actress Indiana Evans and by Jamie Ellen Ewing back in her childhood.
Name
- Isabella is an Italian name and means "God is my abundance". It is an alternative form of Bella, Elizabeth or Isabel.
Trivia
- Bella's full name is Isabella Hartley. This is revealed in the last episode, "Graduation".
- She is the first ever hatchling to be shown in the series. The second being Neptina.
- Bella's name is misspelled in season 3 Media Kit as "Isabel Hartley."
- Bella, Ash and Lewis are the only main characters whose houses were never revealed in the series.
- Bella actually never met Emma in the series, but she might have after Emma came back (though that's unknown).
- Bella was turned into a mermaid in the Sea Caves of Ireland, unlike Emma, Cleo and Rikki. How Bella got her powers and tail is shown in "Revealed".
- Bella's favorite color is aqua. She also wears clothes based on gemstone colors similar to her power.
- The show never shows us Bella being affected by the full moon, unlike Emma, Cleo, Rikki and Charlotte but she might had the same problem as the trio before she moved to the Gold Coast.
- Bella tells us in the series that she always moved from country to country because of her parents jobs, so it's not clear which she was born in but it's most likely that she's Australian because of her accent, and the fact that her parents stayed at the Gold Coast.
- Bella's home and parents were never shown in the series. It is unknown if she has any siblings or if she is an only child.
- Bella's father works in hotel management.
- Bella didn't have a lot of friends in the past because she moved from country to country all the time.
- Bella got her powers and tail when she was nine years old, and this makes her the oldest mermaid in the series, but she's also the youngest who ever got powers in H2O: Just Add Water.
Gallery
- Main article: Isabella Hartley/Gallery