Eurasian bears are brown (like the stuffed trophy bears in the castle), but Elinor in bear form was black, possibly because instead of being a real bear she was turned into a bear by magic. She was directly inspired by one of the pictures of Lady Macbeth from Shakespeare's play Macbeth .

From Disney’s Pixar’s Brave 2012

Elinor insisting they go out with the rest of the family to wave the Lords and their clans off Elinor as a Bear and Merida in a new tapestry Fergus, Merida, Elinor, and Maudie waving goodbye to the Lords

When Queen Elinor (Thompson), her mother, falls victim to a beastly curse and turns into a bear, Merida must look within herself and find the key to saving the kingdom. Merida is the first character in the Disney Princess line to be created by Pixar.

Elinor is horrified that she had been turned into a bear because Merida had seen the Witch, thus, causing Elinor to roar in anger in her face, which somewhat alerts Fergus, the Lords, and their clans.

PLOT: Determined to make her own path in life, Princess Merida (Kelly Macdonald) defies a custom that brings chaos to her kingdom. Granted one wish, Merida must rely on her...

When Merida’s mother, the dignified and elegant Queen Elinor, is transformed into a bear, mother and daughter must work together to find a way to reverse the spell, all the while attempting to placate feuding lords and avoid the kingdom’s most renowned bear hunter—King Fergus himself.

The reason Elinor was turned into a bear is to show how far a mother bear will go to protect her child, as shown in the climax with Mor'du. Similar to Marlin, another Pixar character who is a parent, Elinor also has a rocky relationship with her offspring in the beginning of the film.

Queen Elinor is the main protagonist of the 2012 Disney•Pixar animated feature film, Brave. She is the queen of the Scottish kingdom of DunBroch. Sharing the throne alongside her husband, King Fergus. She is the mother to Merida and three …

Her bear form is a black bear with large brown eyes. At the beginning of the movie, she is wearing her braids on her back instead of her front and is wearing a long, purple dress and blue necklace. At the end of the movie, she is wearing a sparkly blue dress trimmed with gold.