Family Ties
In my previous analysis “Distant Relative”, I discussed the relationship between Runeard and Agnarr and what hints there were that it was a poor one. While the prologue of Frozen II barely features any scenes of them together to suggest this, it is this same part in the film’s novelization that is more implicating of Runeard not having been very personally interested or involved in his son’s life, with his only interest in Agnarr being related to the latter’s role as the prince and future king of Arendelle.
Now in the film, while telling Anna and Elsa about the Enchanted Forest, Agnarr mentions his father’s act of “gifting” (to his and everyone else’s beliefs, anyway) the dam to the Northuldra as a peace offering and symbol of unity between them and Arendelle in a positive manner. What he says and how he says his words about Runeard made it sound like Agnarr respected and held his father in high regard.
However, Agnarr speaks of his father doing his “good” deed just as the king of Arendelle that he was. He never goes into more specific details about what Runeard was like as a father, or as a person in general. Like I mentioned above, and in the aforementioned analysis, the first couple of pages in the novelization’s prologue chapter insinuated that Runeard and Agnarr hardly had any kind of relationship other than a royal, professional-like one. Agnarr’s feelings of dejection following his father ordering him to stay with Mattias and leaving him behind suggest that there was almost no father-son bond, and a loving one at that, between them. In Runeard’s case, he may have prized Agnarr just for being his heir and part of the legacies for himself and his kingdom. So the only times Runeard most likely ever paid attention to his son was whenever Agnarr had or would have any significance in affecting his father’s image and for that of Arendelle.
Moving on, if Runeard was far more invested, to the point of obsessed, in his royal status, power, and legacy, with any attention he ever gave his child being related only on his own royal status, then I don’t think he would have had any familial, much less any kind of personal, interest in Iduna, or even in Elsa and Anna. If Runeard viewed Agnarr as nothing significant to him, other than as the one to follow in his footsteps as Arendelle’s ruler, he likewise would not have seen Iduna, Elsa, and Anna as his family, as people that he would/should have cherished, loved, and cared about unconditionally and unquestionably. Rather, Runeard would have thought of them just as his assets, as his successors, as his heirs and descendants, whose main, if not sole, purposes to him would be to keep the legacy he started going, to ensure that it and his kingdom never fell.
(Now the content in these next couple of paragraphs are all based on “what if” scenarios, none of which would have likely happened anyway if Runeard had never initiated the war between his soldiers and the Northuldra, but I just want to consider the possible alternate concepts for now, anyway.)
Based on his assumed obsession with his kingly power and legacy, I believe that if he had lived long enough to see Agnarr grow up and come of age to get married, Runeard would have wanted his son to marry either a princess or a queen; in other words, he would want Agnarr’s wife to ONLY be a woman who was born into royalty. Reading his quote from the novelization’s prologue chapter, “Remember, Agnarr - you represent Arendelle”, makes me believe that Runeard would have wanted to uphold the royal image of his kingdom by having his heir marry another person of monarchy. Therefore, it’s my opinion and headcanon that he would have COMPLETELY disapproved of the idea of Agnarr marrying a peasant, a commoner, or anyone born of a much lower social class than his and Agnarr’s royal ones. Perhaps Runeard’s fixation was to such an extreme that he would have considered it insulting that his son married Iduna, a woman who came from peasantry, the very opposite of monarchy. Perhaps he would have thought that his son marrying someone who wasn’t another royal figure would tarnish, or dirty, the Arendelle’s royal blood lineage, since Runeard’s grandchildren and all other future descendants would not contain "pure” royal blood.
But the icing on the cake here is, while Runeard would definitely have been displeased with the concept of Agnarr marrying Iduna, it wouldn’t have been just because she wasn’t born royal...but because she was a Northuldran! If he had survived the forest battle and somehow discovered that Iduna was a Northuldran, then Runeard WITHOUT HESITATION would NEVER have accepted her! On the total contrary, he would have been ENRAGED that his son was saved by, befriended, and then married a member of the very tribe of people he detested!
When it comes to Agnarr’s reaction about Iduna’s past and her being his savior, there are a few various possible outcomes, but they would still be drastically different than those of his father. Now while growing up and for years after they married, Iduna never told Agnarr the truth about herself because he held negative feelings about her people, with believing the Northuldra attacked the Arendellians first and were indirectly responsible for his father’s death. If Agnarr learned in his childhood that Iduna was the one who rescued him, he may have still had these feelings towards the Northuldra, but he would no doubt have been eternally thankful to Iduna for saving his life! As I said in this analysis, one memory Elsa sees in Ahtohallan is of her parents together, with Iduna wanting to come clean to Agnarr about her history, and he assures her “I love you” before she says this, then further with “I’m listening” after she says it. The earlier revelation of them traveling to Ahtohallan on their last voyage is crystal clear confirmation to me that she did tell him the truth, because as a Northuldran, Iduna was the SOLE person in Arendelle who knew Ahtohallan was real and where it was. We can only speculate how Agnarr reacted to the truth, but I have no doubts that even then, while he would most definitely be stunned about her heritage and origins at first, above all, he would have been so grateful to Iduna that his love for her wouldn’t have ended, but intensified.
But with Runeard, it would have been just the contrary. Part of it would relate to the implication that he had little to no consideration over Agnarr’s well-being during the battle. After he killed the Northuldra leader and lied to his soldiers that he was attacked first, Runeard’s next move was to attack other Northuldrans rather than look for Agnarr and bring him to safety. (Since Mattias was the one who had concern for Agnarr while Runeard is fiercely engaged in combat with another Northuldran, it reinforces my belief, which I mentioned in “Distant Relative”, that he wanted nothing to do with the responsibility of Agnarr’s care and have it fall entirely in someone else’s hands.) If Runeard managed to escape the forest with Agnarr and Iduna, and discovered that she was his savior, I think he still wouldn’t have even been reflecting on Agnarr’s safety first, if at all! He would only been thinking about his fury that his son was saved by a Northuldran! However, if he was still attempting to preserve his false image and keep his true nature under wraps at that time, perhaps Runeard would have concealed his fury and unconcern over Agnarr’s welfare by “thanking” Iduna for her heroism and displaying false worry over Agnarr following the battle.
Still, whenever or however Runeard would/could uncover Iduna’s true roots, such a discovery means he not only would have never approved of her, he consequently wouldn't ever accept Elsa and Anna, either, just because they BOTH have Northuldran roots! But his bigotry would have been aimed more towards Elsa because she has magic, which was the only other thing that he detested!
Now I’ve said this before, but I want to say it again to make my point about this very clear: yes, I firmly, unquestionably, undoubtedly, and truly believe that Runeard would never have accepted Elsa for being magical.
And just WHY do I believe this, you may ask? Well, it’s all based on everything he says about it, which reveals his true nature when Elsa comes upon the memory figure of him in Ahtohallan.
I mean, look at Runeard here in this moment. Just LOOK at his face! Like I said in "Pride and Prejudice" and “King Runeard, the Lying Hater”, the way he looks when he shakes his head and scowls deeply, and the way his voice sounds while he speaks the final words of his sentence, most especially “of a king!”, clearly portrays him as being EXTREMELY hateful and bigoted towards magic! Thus, it’s crystal clear to me that Runeard was totally definite, final, and conclusive in his prejudiced beliefs about magic, that he was so consumed by his hatred and paranoia of it that it made him too stubborn to think otherwise, that there was NOTHING that could be said or done to make him change his mind, much less even make him reconsider his views, EVER!!!
So with taking all of that in mind, does THIS really look like the face of a man who would love Elsa, his own family, his own grandchild, unquestionably, completely, and unconditionally? So much so that he would have the ability to overlook the very thing that makes her unique and accept it just because she is his granddaughter? And likewise, would he love both of his grandchildren unconditionally enough to ignore the fact that they are part Northuldran?
NO, I DON’T THINK SO!!! 😠😡
So since Runeard’s interest in Agnarr did not extend outside the fact that the latter was a major part of his own monarchal legacy as his heir, then I think disowning and never acknowledging Elsa as his descendant just because she is magical would have been a very possible chance, and an easy one, for him to do. And since both sisters have Northuldra roots, I think there is a good chance that Runeard would have disowned Anna, too. 😔
When it comes to Elsa and Anna’s feelings towards their grandfather, the story Agnarr told them with Runeard’s supposed gift of the dam, and presumed other stories they were told about their grandfather as Arendelle’s founder and first king, apparently made them hold a lot of respect and admiration for Runeard while they were growing up. But only moments after Elsa discovers his true feelings towards magic and the Northuldra, why he built the dam in the first place, and that he murdered the leader in cold blood, which she relays off to Anna, both girls’ feelings towards their grandfather rapidly and permanently change. Once they learn of his heinous crimes and treacherous actions, Elsa and Anna are appalled, heartbroken, and instantly furiously abandon all respect they once had for Runeard, and show no hesitation in deciding to end his evil reign by breaking the dam to free the forest and everyone in it from the mist imprisonment.
Now while it’s not officially confirmed in the film, I genuinely believe that Anna and Elsa told their people, and the Northuldra, that Runeard was the culprit behind the war. Of course, specifically because of their grandfather’s murderous deed, but also due to all of his lies and cover-ups about the dam’s true purpose and the Northuldra attacking the Arendellians first, there’s no question that the girls would be ashamed of that “bad blood” in their family.
I have been thinking about this and wondered if one reason why Elsa and Anna would be initially scared and reluctant to tell everyone about their grandfather’s betrayal is because this revelation could make other people think the girls and their parents are and were, respectively, actually like him, too. What I mean is, Runeard successfully fooled everyone in his kingdom (except for the second-in-command officer), from his own staff to his entire guard to the Arendellian citizens, into believing he was a benevolent, peaceful ruler when he was truly a malevolent, murderous tyrant. Consequently, the revelation of such a deep, dark secret about the former king of Arendelle could potentially make some Arendellians and Northuldrans believe that the rest of the royal family were/are lying about themselves and hiding dark secrets of their own behind closed doors and away from prying eyes. If so, nearly all fingers could be pointed squarely at Elsa since she has magic and it singles her out from the crowd. It could be like a near-identical scenario of when she accidentally revealed her powers the day of her coronation. For years and up until that day, the residents of Arendelle were completely oblivious to Elsa’s secret. Then once her powers were exposed, their feelings towards their new queen instantly turned from love and admiration to confusion and fear. The Duke of Weselton especially became so paranoid about Elsa that he tried to have her killed, and he even believed that Anna was secretly concealing magic powers of her own and simultaneously conspiring with her sister to destroy Arendelle and everyone in it.
However, by the end of the film, thanks to Anna’s undying optimism, love, and faith in her sister, Elsa begins to finally gain confidence in herself and her powers when she removes the winter weather. Her people see this and begin to understand the good things she can do with her magic, and so they start to accept her for them. By the time of Frozen II, Elsa has become a highly respected, beloved queen who is adored by her people, presumably most so because of her gift. So after three years of ruling with Anna by her side, I think the Arendellian citizens would be able to see just how benevolent both women truly are to realize that they don’t have any bad bones in their bodies like their grandfather did. I also think Elsa and Anna would push their worries aside and tell everyone else the truth regardless because they are so good, so selfless, benevolent, and caring, that they would know it wouldn’t be right to keep the whole truth a secret from their kingdom and the rest of the Northuldra. They would want their people to know that the Northuldra were completely innocent and never did anything wrong all those years ago. Telling both sides the whole truth would be the best way to end the decades-long feud between them.
Now of course, there is a good chance that, once they learned what really happened the day the forest fell, Yelana and her people might initially again become hostile towards Mattias and the rest of the soldiers because they had been wrong about the Northuldra all along. Since the person who started the conflict was someone from their side, that might still make them distrustful of the Arendellians, that they might even accuse the soldiers of secretly conspiring with their former king. But Elsa and Anna being who they are, they would be sure to peacefully settle any potential feuds between them, knowing full well and assuring everyone that Runeard alone was the mastermind. And besides the fact that the Northuldra welcomed the girls into their tribe upon learning they are half Northuldran from Iduna, I think they would realize that they can trust them completely. They could see just how much they are nothing like their grandfather since they went so far to do the next right things (sorry, but as always, I just can’t resist using these puns when they are so apropos! 😆) to break the mist and free their forest home.
So in the epilogue, the statues of Agnarr and Iduna as children have been constructed to represent the reconciliation of and the unity between Arendelle and the Northuldra. I see them as a strong indication that Elsa and Anna did tell everyone the whole story about Runeard and the past conflict, because if the Arendellians and the Northuldrans didn’t know about it, then it wouldn’t make any sense to have the statues created in the first place. With both sides knowing just who was really at fault, the statues were erected to establish a new beginning, and a true unity of peace, between the two groups. They represent a whole new start and legacy which actually officially began with Agnarr and Iduna’s marriage, followed by Anna and Elsa’s own respective births, and to effectively show that their Runeard's terrible legacy is over for good.
With their statues’ purpose to symbolize the union between their respective original lands and groups of people, Agnarr and Iduna’s marriage and bond of love also means that, besides their daughters, their future grandchildren and all other descendants will always have both Arendellian AND Northuldran roots, meaning that the link between these two peoples is forever. 😊
