 SPOILER: Lena is never seen recovering her voice; theres confusion  as to whether the character remained mute for life or whether it  should be assumed that she received her voice back. In the original  Hans Christian Andersen tale, the little mermaid makes the ultimate  sacrifice, death, for the prince she loved, to make this version  softer for younger audiences, the sacrifice might have been  simplified to the loss of Lenas voice.