[AladdinsGenie]

I personally think she knew. She was pretty fed up at that point, so I think she was willing to take that risk as long as she didn't have to go back to a life she didn't feel she was meant for.

I think when said "I didn't know" it was "I didn't know she was going to use me to get to you".

[APK]

When she signed Ursula's contract? The shriveled merpeople were trying to stop her and she was creeped out by them, which made me think she didn't realize that they were former merpeople. But then again, Ursula did imply in her song Poor Unfortunate Souls that merfolk in the past came to her to fix their problems and couldn't repay her, so it ended badly. Not only did she say it through song but she showed it through pictures. So what do you think? Was Ariel just naive and impulsive and didn't realize she was signing away more than just her voice? Surely, she knew what kind of reputation Ursula had? Or was she aware but just wanted to be human that badly? If she knew, that makes me like Ariel all the more because Disney wouldn't dare to do something that dark and three dimensional these days.

Keep in mind though that towards the end of the movie, when Ursula shows Triton the contract, Ariel does say, "Daddy, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I didn't know!" Which reminds me that she was so scared when she signed the contract that she didn't even read it and looked away while she was signing it. Which makes me think she knew there was a risk Ursula was going to pull some shady stuff but didn't want to find out what it was.