Here is the problem with most people on Merida: she's selfish and wanted to change her mom. I can agree with that yes, but she changed and genuinely apologized in the end. Now I'm not going to bring up Ariel, they are very different but comparing them makes me look desperate. You're free to disagree, we all have opinions.
Though yes. I'm aware an article like this has just been written but the author is fine with it, I've been writing this for the past two days.

I used to hate the idea of Brave and Merida herself. I thought there was no possible way she would become my favorite or beat Rapunzel, but apparently she did. At first I thought she was a horrible character, 'Why can't she just listen to her mom and deal with it.' But just imagine yourself in her place....having every single day scheduled, having to become what you don't want to be. Every single minute you're being patrolled by your mother. People complain that she complains too much, what kind of sixteen year old wants to have her life planned out? No one, unless on the rare occasion.

To start off, here is the list of a couple problems with Merida:
Stubborn
Selfish
Ugly/homely (Which in matter of fact is opinion so I can't argue with that, but you really shouldn't dislike someone for looks)
Spoiled
Shows no affection

I can argue with all of those, some of you guys are not accepting the before-show of her make over. The before show is done. She became a changed person near the end and basically that's all that really matters to me.

Stubborn
She could be stubborn at times, yes. But would she really want to put up with marrying a stranger. Please, I would have complained and whined, that's what a normal person does. Merida is like a normal person and to be honest one of the most relatable. She wants to do her own thing, she's considered average, she's not perfect at everything. Can you relate to Rapunzel, yes, she's relatable, but are you good at everything you do? Don't get me wrong I love Rapunzel. Are you like Belle, sure, I don't know you well, so I could be wrong but the average person is failing often but tries to get back up. She doesn't want to put up with what her mother is saying, I can agree that she's stubborn but aren't we all?

Selfish
She was pretty selfish at first to be honest. I'll let that out, and yeah. All she wanted was to change her life and was willing to change her mom to reach that goal. I don't think she may have been wanting to change her mom, I think she only wanted to change her mom's mind on the marriage. But some people go throwing around the idea of Merida wanting to change her mom into a bear. What evidence do they have? None, but supporting that she didn't want to change her mom into a bear, easy. She said she wanted a spell to change Elinor, not to turn her into a bear. The old witch lady didn't give the correct information about the potion, Merida only thought it would change her mom's mind. Which is really obvious.

Homely appearance
This isn't something I can really argue with, though to be honest I think she's unspeakably gorgeous. She has very underrated beauty. I certainly think the "fat" face shape has nothing to do with making her uglier that the others.Her face shape fits nicely with her hair. Oh, and let's be honest, she's the only princess not even wearing make-up which is probably one of the couple of reasons her beauty is underrated. But the hair, oh the hair, I think she has the best hair out of all the Disney Princess' hair.
Back to the point, I think saying that a reason for not liking her as being unattractive (some of you not all of you) is pretty stupid. It sounds like another excuse to back up for reasoning not to like her. We never said we would respect your opinion.

Spoiled
Okay, I said I wouldn't bring Ariel up, it makes me look desperate but this is going to help back this up a lot. Anyways, Merida isn't spoiled, she was actually happy with her life at times, she loved her brothers and dad, even her mom she just hadn't realized it. But seriously, how is she spoiled? She is having her everyday being planned out so she can become her mom, getting married at the age of sixteen to a total stranger, not to mention, she's expected to be happy about this, where as Ariel on the other hand, she had all the freedom she wanted just to show up for concerts and not to go the the surface. Though she acted like her dad gave her no rights. Her mother was killed by a boat and Triton only wants Ariel to be safe, but Ariel doesn't listen. Now I could go on and on about Ariel, but this is a Merida article, I don't want anymore Ariel vs Merida arguments. But just because you're a princess doesn't mean you're spoiled, and I think she well deserved her happy ending.

Shows no affection
This is actually the easiest for me to prove wrong, so easy. Please, when Elinor turned into a bear she was determined to change her mother back even though she pestered her mother about the marriage when her mother was feeling sick- now that's pretty selfish. She took her mom out of the castle, risking deserts for a year. Not to mention when they went fishing there was emotional background music and Merida realized that she actually loved her mom more than she thought she did.
When Merida sneaked back into the castle she heard the clans declare war- then she stated, "They're going to murder eachother!" In a worried manner. Backing up to the selfish part she clearly states, "I know how a selfish act can turn the fate of the kingdom."
Then she accepts responsibilities to marry a young lord, until her mother realizes that she was wrong too. Then she does get her way actually, she gets to stay single and cleans up the messy relationship with her mom. Which she deserved, saying she didn't deserve her ending is saying she shouldn't have had become closer to her mom. Then saying she should have went off and married a stranger. People are always complaining about women marrying men they just met in Disney. But yet they change their mind whenever it comes to Brave.

Some flaws
letting the servants, or as I like to call, castle assistants clean up after her messes. But hey, she's only limited to small freedom and wouldn't you be pretty excited? Though still, it was rude to just stomp on candles and barge through walking people on Angus-Now what's that? That's her before she changed. So yup, that's what she changed. She's more affectionate now. That's not very much I had written about because, I always judge by the ending that's how it's been left off. As Elsa said, "The past is in the past."

In conclusion I think Merida is underrated and there are many things that cause her to act the way she does because hey, she's a normal person.

Boom

My other defense article:
link