I'd say he would marry Vanessa as she had The Voice...

That is a good question.. I actually don't know! Curious to read other peoples' thoughts.

He was about to choose Ariel.

I believe so.

TBH,I think he might have chosen Vanessa and poor Ariel would still not have her voice to tell him otherwise. :(

Even if Ursula hadn't used brainwashing magic, if she still used Ariel's voice in the shell to pass as her own, Eric would have picked Vanessa over Ariel in a hare's breath. The film made it pretty clear Eric only cared about the girl with "that voice," regardless of looks or personality.

Even when he throws the flute in the sea and seems to pick Ariel, he looks like he's clearly settling for less than what he wants, not appreciating what he has. In fact, even before Ursula's magic works its way into his system, he still stops to look back when he hears "that voice." This, when he was supposedly about to confess his love for the girl in the balcony.

In fact, once Ariel regains her voice, the first thing he says is "You can talk! You're the one!" Oh, now she's the love of his life. When she was just a girl "of flesh and blood. One warm and caring, and right before [his] eyes," she was always his second choice. But she has the voice? Suddenly "it was you all the time!"

So, yeah. If she didn't use brainwashing magic but still the voice, Vanessa would have won.

That's a tough question to answer, but I made my decision for similar reason's to the above comment. It's her voice he initially fell in love with, and so as soon as he hears someone speaking/singing with that voice, that's the person he's going to want to marry.

However, if he hadn't fallen for the one with "the voice" in the first place and had to make his decision based on other features (like personality and physical appearance) then I think he would have chosen Ariel. It's only because he is so adamant about finding the girl with "the voice" that I think Ursula could have won him over in her Vanessa form simply with Ariel's voice and without using any additional magic.

Still, very interesting to think about!

He was about to choose Ariel...