Seventh scene: The Ice Castle
Well, things start getting really interesting in this scene. I am using the screencaps from www.animationscreencaps.com for this analysis, but since some things happen really fast here I will also use the Youtube clip (I highly recommend watching it in slow motion).
As the rescue team approachs the Ice Castle, Hans looks amazed at the building.
The castle is magnificent. An impressing demostration of Elsa’s powers. As Hans dismounts his horse, he reminds the men on his command their objective (we are here to find princess Anna) and gives them a very clear order not to hurt Elsa, refering to her as “the Queen”. He looks at the Duke’s guards, he obviously doesn’t trust them.
Surprise!! Here’s Marshmallow.
Far from running away, Hans confronts the monster.
Marshmallow identifies him as a threat and attacks, but Hans manages to dodge the monster’s attack.
Marhsmallow seems to be planning a second attack on Hans, but the Arendelle guards, as well as the Weselton men, attack him to defend the prince.
As Marshmallow turns around, he sees the Weselton guards shooting their crossbows and identifies them as the attackers. After a terrifying roar, he strikes back, pushing the guards into the snow .
The Weselton guards see Elsa watching the fight from the castle’s door…
Elsa then closes the door. Of course we the audience know and love Elsa, but for the Duke’s men she is a witch who just closed the door not caring if her ice monster killed her own guards!!
A second attack from Marshmallow ends with Hans on the floor (and some Arendelle guards flying).
Hans then notices the Weselton men are going into the Ice Castle.
Inside the castle, Elsa tries to scape but the Weselton guards catch her. She asks them not to hurt her but one of them shoots his crossbow.
Elsa instinctively raises her arms in a defensive gesture… and a thin wall of ice appears, stopping the arrow and saving her life.
Elsa then realizes she can use her powers to defend herself.
Meanwhile, outside the castle a distracted prince is almost stepped on by an ice monster.
He narrowly scapes and cuts one of Marshmallow’s legs.
Apparently not caring about Marshmallow anymore, he orders the guards to enter the Ice Castle.
As he’s falling into the pit, Marshmallows tries to prevent Hans entering the castle with a last attack. Hans, although he is scared, is eager to reach the castle…
… and it almost costs him his life.
The guards have to help him to get on the stairs again.
Meanwhile, Elsa is fighting the guards. Guard number one, you better don’t move…
With one of the guards immobilized, Elsa focuses on guard number two…
She disarms him with an ice shot, then creates an ice wall and pushes the guy away…
If she keeps pushing, the guy will fall and die while his partner watches in horror.
And Elsa is not stopping.
As Hans and the guards enter the castle, he has to assess the situation very quickly. Notice how some of the guards are looking at him, as if expecting his orders (he was very specific about Elsa. They won’t attack her if is not ordered by him).
What’s happening here? Elsa is defeating the guards. She has immobilized one of them, and is about to eliminate the other.
What is Hans supossed to do in such a situation? Help the guards? Defend the sorcerer queen? What can he do? He finally lets out a sentence:
Queen Elsa! Don’t be the monster they fear you are!
What a sentence my friends. Let’s analyze it and try to find out why it has such a big impact in Elsa.
First of all, Queen Elsa. Hans, for the second time, refers to Elsa as Queen in front of her guards. Well, this may not surprise us (the audience) but remember, Elsa has spent years in isolation. Her own guards barely know her. She has turned out to be a witch with scary magical powers who has cursed the land with an eternal winter. She made an ice monster who attacked them and almost killed Hans. She is very powerful and is about to kill a man from their group. So if you thought the loyal Arendelle guards entered the Ice Castle willing to defend their Queen from the treacherous Weselton men, you better think again.
Don’t be the monster. Well, they attacked first. She went away from Arendelle, wanting not to hurt anyone but they came looking for her. She told them to stay away but they kept on trying to kill her. She’s only defending herself. Of course the Arendelle guards don’t know all of this but Elsa, with her adrenaline high, can’t think of that on this moment.
They think you are. They. Not me. This means “I trust you”. And suddenly Elsa, who was fighting for her life, seems to be moved and totally lets her guard down. She doesn’t look powerful and scary anymore, but vulnerable and scared.
Hans seems to be moved too.
He then realizes something.
The Weselton guard who is pinned to the wall is about to shoot Elsa.
If you have watch the scene in slow motion, the guard seems to start raising his crossbow in 2:10, while Hans is still assessing the situation.
He’s in this position 10 seconds later, when he’s definitely going to fire his crossbow.
So either a. Hans didn’t notice it at 2:10 or b. The Weselton guard, seeing how the guards entered the castle, waited to see what happened or c. both a. and b. are true. Don’t know. But now Hans notices it, and has to do something about it. Fast.
Many in the Frozen fandom think Hans tried to kill Elsa here. But that only makes sense if you are watching the movie with your “Hans is evil” glasses on.
First of all, it happens too fast. According to people who has this theory, Hans sees the Weselton man is about to shoot, looks up, sees the chandelier, thinks “oh great I can make it look as if I’m trying to save her and kill her and the same time” and then runs to the guard to deflect the arrow. Even if you are watching the scene in slow motion, it just happens too fast. I think Hans realizes the guard is about too shoot and decides to run to him to deflect the arrow. He instinctively looks up , because the safest way to deflect the arrow is upwards, and he’s trained to do so. He could hurt someone if he tried to deflect the arrow in another direction.
Second, the chances the arrow hits the base of the chandelier are slim to none. Specially since he doesn’t have such a precise control of the crossbow (he’s not the one holding it and has no control of the trigger). He’s doing all he can do: using both hands to deflect the arrow upwards.
(By the way, notice how the guard in the left looks surprised with Hans’ reaction. Why not let the Weselton man kill the witch?)
Elsa scapes the chandelier and falls unconcious.
Then we have a big plothole and can only speculate what happened until the next scene.
First post of these series here.
Screencaps from www.animationscreencaps.com
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