Moments between these in-laws are rare, but they're there!
I believe I speak for everyone when I say we want more scenes between these two. Maybe we can take their wholesome hug at the end of Frozen 2 as a good sign.
In the meantime, let's enjoy these illustrated interactions between Elsa and Kristoff from the comics, storybooks, and more (well, except the novels, of course)!
Let's start with the best one: Kristoff asking for Elsa's permission to propose to Anna. She looks so happy! (Kristoff's Secret)
Elsa asks Kristoff for help in dealing with Anna who just suggested that the Frohana put on a show by dancing. But Kristoff knows all too well that there's no point in arguing with Anna. (Arendelle Ice Calamity)
Elsa giving Kristoff advice to help him win an ice-cutting competition against Oaken by "becoming one with the ice" (it was Anna's idea) (Anna & Elsa: Sisterhood is the Strongest Magic - The Great Ice Engine)
Riding shotgun together! (Reunion Road)
How sweet, they're falling to their deaths together! Luckily, Elsa's got this.
Okay, that was a lie, because it was just an alternate artwork. Elsa didn't "got this." Don't worry. They're okay!
Now, they're—*takes a deep breath*—lost in the woOooooDs! But Kristoff insists they're not.
Stressing out about what to gift Anna for her birthday! (Elsa's perfect plan + The Most Special Gift)
Elsa wanting to lend a helping hand in Kristoff's ice-cutting. (Easier Said Than Done)
Kristoff was gonna gift Elsa some carrots for a party, but... (The Surprise Party)
The two rushing to the North Mountain because Elsa had a "bad feeling" about something. Long story short, luckily, she was wrong! Everything's A-OK! (A Lucky Encounter)
Elsa demanding Kristoff "Reindeer Man" Bjorgman to tell her where Anna is! (Once Upon A Time)
Elsa and Kristoff debating about whether or not they should go looking for Anna, who has taken on a journey outside Arendelle. (Behind the Castle Walls -Anna's Adventure Journal)
And, finally, the "latest" (at least for this list), our two ice bros planning together a surprise for the one-year anniversary of Queen Anna's coronation! AWWWW. (A Special Anniversary)
May Frozen III and IV give us more!
—A huge thanks to my fellow members in the Arendelle Archives for allowing me access to these stories! <3
An Ride Into Arendellian Railways and Its Historical Counterparts
With the limited presence of rail infrastructure that is shown in the Frozen verse once being a spinoff short Operation Puffin and a short comic of a queens journey to a foreign country we take a deep dive look into truly one of the most unique aspects of Frozen but not because of its greatness of the material shown as soon we'll find out.
Operation Puffins: The Regional Express
An unique short film to have featured the presence of a completed Arendelle railway that is the scene throughout most of the film.
Although the train is shown in Lego form it was easy to have match to its real life counterparts considering there was strong details and features throughout the train that made it uniquely identical to its historical counterparts. As a disclaimer the designs may have been truly inspired and use as reference but this analysis is based on resemblance and characteristics.
Arendellian Steam Locomotive - Type 14a 4-6-0
The steam locomotive featured in the short is identical to an American descent locomotive that had operated on the Norwegian railways in the late 18th century and has a rich history during its days of operation.
The Type 14a 4-6-0 was a series class of locomotives that operated on the Norwegian State Railways was unique as it was the rare few locomotive in their fleet to had been designed and built in the United States but serve their time in the country. They were built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1879 and then were shipped over, mind you as fully built complete locomotives overseas. The locomotive featured in the film has very classy design characteristics just like its real life counterparts made them most American style locomotives to have operated on the Norwegian railways.
The biggest identifical feature is the plow mounted on the locomotive which featured a grilled design which was a style only found on American trains of their time along with the headlamp style standardized by the United States Railroad Administration (USRA). There was only four of this class of locomotives ever made each given their own uniquely name the "America", "Washington", "Leiv", and "Baldwin" with three being retired from service in 1925 and the last one "America" final retirement in 1934. Unfornuately none were preserved in a museum but historical records still are archived such as drawing and blueprints. A little concidence on the filmmakers part to include an American style locomotive in Norway but opened up a rich and unique history of a not so far distant era of Norwegian railroading.
A photo of the cab and controls of a similar Baldwin engine the same era.
Passenger Train coaches - BR Mark 1 Coaches
We travel back to Europe for this comparison as the passenger coaches featured on the Arendellian train are of descendants of a turning point of United Kingdom Rail history. In the early 1950s UK rail system known as British Railways (BR) begin the era of mass standardlization the rail coach featured in the images above will be known as the BR MK 1 indicating first designs of mass standardization of railway carriages these would be introduced in 1951 and begin to fall out of service until the 1974 when later modern designs took over. Alot of these coaches offer a vintage atmosphere old fashioned style interior with wood glazed paneling and curtains which should sounds similiar to a certain "Castle interior design" :). With these coaches serving British Railway along with an alternative universe (Frozen) they were designed for speeds up to 100~110 Miles Per Hour (MPH) and came with electric lighting and heating, Yes! you heard that right Arendelle being a kingdom in the 18th century has trains that can go up to high speed up to 100 miles per hour and electric innovations! mid 19th century railroading in a 18th century universe timeline.
The resemblance is incredibility remarkable although unfortunately I couldn't find a artwork or paint job that matches similar to how the train was designed in the short film although I will bring these specific train coaches back in a later discussion.
Frozen Comic Anna Souvenirs: A Train of Revolution
The train featured in this comic is the upmost special out of them all and also is the most realistic with the Frozen universe (Particularly pre Frozen 1). Although the version featured in the comic is one less wheel than the original its inspired by a range of locomotives built by Robert Stephson a famous UK engineer of his time in 1835 these direct descendants was the first locomotive to ever exist in Europe and marks the age of the birth of rail transport innovation. This particular steam locomotive model featured in the left image named "Adler" was also the first locomotive to ever operate in Germany which fits the language of this comic coincidentally. With the train featured in this comic being a more generic outline there is not right or wrong exact answers of which exact model of locomotive it can be but rather a hint at of a diverse range of locomotives made by the same manufacturer in the UK of a revolutionary era.
A Very Derailed Timeline
The Frozen timeline shares its inconsistency but truly the railroad spectrum is a wild one with each type of Frozen media having its own representation of what historical timeline is followed it seems. Operation Puffins features the most futuristic trains out of all the time media with passenger coaches from a FULL century ahead of the canonical Frozen timeline which the film implies that alot of technological advancements and innovations had rapidly take place all within a short timeline in the Frozen realm to put into perspective of how out of place if would be for the timeline to follow historical account using Operation Puffins as a basis the United Kingdom would introduce the world's first High Speed intercity train known as the Class 43 in 1975 being the fastest train of its era which would only put it in 1867 in the Frozen universe considering the 24 year difference (21 after Frozen 2). Although the more realistic outcome would be using Frozen 2 that shows early construction of a railroad system along the Arendelle hillside and the one comic that featured the earliest form of rail transportation.
The Class 43 High Speed Train Introduced in the UK in 1975 featuring the "Dynamics Lines" livery ownership of the First Great Western Railway. This was introduced only 24 years after the train coaches featured in Operation Puffins
Arendelle Stream Falls Scene
A Union Pacific freight passing at the scenic location Multnomah Falls in State of Oregon, United States where tourist can view the falls from the bridge oversight. A relevant image to this post because it features a train but most importantly this scenic location was used as inspiration for the bridge waterfall scene near the ending of Frozen 2 even the bridge design is incredibility identical.
#3 TRYING TO MAKE SENSE OF THE ARENDELLE CASTLE CONVOLUTED ARCHITECTURE
It's time to talk about Arendelle's castle biggest mystery: the north balcony (or the "Into the Unknown" balcony if you prefer).
First, a bit of history about this balcony... that didn't exist in F1.
That's right! Even though we don't see the north side of the castle much in the first movie, the balcony just doesn't seem to exist at all, instead we have a roof and wooden walls, just below the triangular stained glass:
Also, F2 makes it clear that the north balcony depends on the Council Chamber, which already had windows in F1:
Seems to match, right? So far, so good. Only one problem: the balcony appears a lot smaller compared to later in F2 at the end of "All is Found":
How can we tell it's supposed to be the same balcony? They both face north, and we can't see any other balcony above this one. Also the room behind is the same.
Sure, there's a balcony below, but no windows, and it's too low for Elsa to see the fjord:
We can still verify on OFA and FF screencaps:
See? No ITU balcony here either. So we can deduce the 2 north balconies were built AFTER Frozen Fever.
WHICH is where we could start to find an explanation. Remember in my previous post, we could never define clearly what was behind the West balcony windows (since we established we only see it briefly at the end of "Love is An Open Door" and the balcony at the beginning of the song is in fact Anna and Elsa's parents bedroom.
WHAT IF the council chamber was originatelly located on the west side, explaining also why dignitaries would retire there during the ball? The windows do seem to match:
So no balcony on the north side until F2, which required one for the plot of Elsa being called by Ahtohallan. Which means it was built later, and the Council Chamber was moved there.
SURE, but doesn't explain the change in the balcony's size, right?
And why has the wooden structure disappeared? It should be right below the balcony! Sure, it could have been removed between FF and F2, but yet it appeats on F2 wide angle shots during the flood:
Weird, right?
Well... I wouldn't be so sure!
See, it's easy to assume the charades night happens the same evening as the harvest festival. But in fact, we never get a CANON confirmation it does. Even "Forest of Shadows" remains vague about it. They say they want to restablish the game night tradition and them BOOM! epilogue.
Ok, there's this Kristoff line which says "are you telling me TONIGHT you're gonna get down on one knee". But maybe Kristoff didn't find the right time or already tried to ask to Anna without success (would become a leitmotiv!) So what if they removed the wooden structure to facilitate the work, rebuilt the balcony in the week between (timeline according to FOS) and replaced the wooden structure, all with help of a little magic of course? Would also give more time for Elsa to hear the voice, giving more impact to her dilemna!
So there! Problem resolved 😂 I'm fully aware all the things I mentionned previously were probably mistakes from the animators, because this is a hard job and we should never blame them for that, even more in a franchise so rich in its environment as Frozen! These people are working hard to bring our beloved Arendelle to life and they've done an awesome job in its wordbuilding. My goal was only to make all these mistakes explainable lore-wise, especially considering it's a universe where things get built and destroyed easily (the castle, the dam, Elsa's ice palace).
BONUS : ANNA ON THE BALCONY
We face another continuity problem as soon as Anna arrives on the north balcony. Not in the number of windows or the size of the balcony, but in the background which isn't the Council Chamber anymore, but Elsa's room:
And yes, fair enough, she could be on Elsa's room balcony. Alas! the windows don't match:
Could be the West balcony I guess? If we follow my theory that the Council chamber has been displaced between F1 and F2, we don't know what's behind it now, and if it hasn't been reshaped as well!
This scene seems to have been reworked multiple times, because in the first teaser trailer the background DID match the Council Chamber... but with the old shape of the West balcony. AAAAGH!
But considering the teaser was mostly animated only for Internet according to the making off, we can pass on that.
But then, if Anna opens the West balcony, then she teleports on the North side: you can spot her (but only if you zoom closely) standing there looking at Elsa when her sister turns back and crashes the crystals:
Yet "Forest of Shadows" tells us Anna opens the balcony of Elsa's room (with Iduna's scarf btw) and we know for a fact it was written during the film's production, so maybe they couldn't decide which balcony Anna would stand on and they mixed up the two.
At first I don't get why everyone wanted Elsa to back home, now I get it. Bring back my icy lesbian queen with her sunshine lesbian baby sister queen.
Half the fandom when new Frozen content drops but it’s mostly Anna-only and no Elsa in charge: ‘guess I’ll just shut up then before someone says I hate Anna’
Some of you need to understand this: Frozen works because it’s about the sisters. That’s why so many people don’t vibe when the narrative sidelines one of them (which the comics did *coughs) because it kills the very thing that made Frozen iconic. Nobody wanted “half a Frozen,” and nobody came for “heroine plus boyfriend” stories.
People came for Anna and Elsa together.
And let’s be real: a huge chunk of Frozen’s global popularity does come from Elsa. That’s not shade, that’s just facts. “Let It Go,” her character arc, her powers, her relatable characteristic of being mentally ill and textbook PTSD; she’s a cultural phenomenon. Pretending otherwise doesn’t make Anna shine more; it just ignores why Frozen blew up in the first place.
You can’t just swap one sister for their love interest and expect the same impact; it’s not gonna hit the same. That chemistry, that yin-yang bond, that is the core of Frozen.
Reality check: the sisters are the cultural reset, not the romance subplot.
Even adults don’t care for that swap-out, because without the dual energy of Anna and Elsa, the story just doesn’t spark the same magic.
Some childish Anna stans already sprinting to Pinterest to make a moodboard about how she’s the greatest Disney princess ever, or cooking up another comparison chart against Elsa (not that Elsa stans don’t do the same; every stan group messy in their own way. Clowns are universal, ya know?). Relax, baby girl, it’s not that deep.
Anna is amazing. She’s the embodiment of unconditional love. She loves Elsa exactly as she is, no matter what anyone else says and that’s powerful. She’s brave, persistent and the reason their story even holds together. She never once tried to change her, only to reach her. Anna just wants her sister.
But Elsa is equally important. She represents self-discovery and identity and she gives Anna space to shine in her own way. That’s the beauty of their bond. Elsa reminds Anna that she can’t stay frozen in grief forever, no matter how heavy it feels; she has to keep moving.
And Anna reminds Elsa that even when the path is isolating and painfully cold, there’s still love and family waiting to pull her back.
Elsa inspires Anna and Anna grounds Elsa.
They complete each other’s arcs that’s literally why the franchise works.
So yeah, we can hype Anna all day, but pretending she’s enough without Elsa (or vice versa) misses the entire point of Frozen. It’s about the two sisters together. End of story.
(P.S. y’all with the endless “but Anna suffers more than Elsa” / “no, Elsa suffers more” debates… how about we just admit both sisters suffer, just in different ways? One’s pain doesn’t cancel out the other.
Anna goes through abandonment, rejection, and literally fighting tooth and nail for family.
Elsa goes through isolation, fear of herself, and the crushing weight of responsibility.
At the end of the day, it comes down to which kind of suffering you personally relate to more not some weird competition scoreboard. Frozen isn’t about “who had it worse,” it’s about two sisters carrying different burdens and still choosing love anyway.)
“Hans is a prince. He is a Disney Prince, but he’s more than a Disney Prince. He is many things. And there are a lots of secrets and twists and turns that we take with Hans.”
"A lot of the scenes I recorded did not end up in the movie"
Santino Fontana on Hans.
From Admiral Westergaard to Prince Hans of the Southern Isles
As you will already know, Frozen is an adaptation from the tale “The Snow Queen” by danish author Hans Christian Andersen. Disney had been trying to adapt “The Snow Queen” for decades. Different ideas were developed and a lot of changes were made in the process (you have a really interesting post about Frozen’s development by @greatqueenanna here).
We know that at some point, when Elsa still was a villain, the idea for Hans’ character was a nameless “Admiral Westergaard”, who was Anna’s love interest.
Evil Elsa deleted scene
Elsa was then changed, from a villain to a villain who had a redemption thanks to Anna, while Admiral Westergaard became a surprise villain.
Fast-forward to the final act: Elsa creates an army of snow monsters to attack our heroes while Kristoff has “a Han Solo moment” and comes to help Anna. To halt Elsa’s attacking army, the two-faced Prince Hans triggers a massive avalanche — not caring that the avalanche also puts Anna, Elsa and all of Arendelle in jeopardy. Anna realizes Elsa is their only hope, so she convinces her to use her powers to save the kingdom (...) Elsa’s heart is then unfrozen allowing her to love again.
At some point, Admiral Westergaard was changed to Prince Hans of the Southern Isles. This is a strange change for a villanous character if you ask me: they not only made him a Disney prince by birth, but also gave him the first name of the author of the original tale. Besides, keeping in mind that the names of the main characters in Frozen are meant to be a Hans Christian Andersen reference (Hans Kristoff Anna Sven), prince Hans would somehow be the most important, because he’s the one who was given the author’s first name. Makes sense, doesn't it?
Oh, but maybe it's just a coincidence.
Besides this, there is the fact that the kingdom’s name, Arendelle, is based in the norwegian town of Arendal. The isles located south of Arendal are, in real life, Denmark. And Hans Christian Andersen was danish. So they gave prince Hans not only the name but also the nationality of the author.
Also a coincidence?
Disney gave us a huge, very important clue with the Frozen Fever map.
This picture was originally posted by @wrath-of-zirro. A lot to analyze here.
On the top left corner there is a map of real Arendall with Denmark on the south; and the Frozen Fever map on the right. It is clear "The Southern Isles" are the danish isles of Fyn and its surroundings.
Map of real life Denmark with Fyn (Funen) in red from Wikipedia. Compare to The Southern Isles in the Frozen Fever map.
Hans Christian Andersen was born in Odense, capital city of Fyn.
In the bottom of the picture we see the Egeskov Castle in Fyn, whose tower reminds of the one we see in The Southern Isles in the Frozen Fever map. It looks like it the castle was still under construction in the Frozen Fever map (there are 13 princes, so they need a huge castle I guess!). It's quite hard to me to think all of this is just a coincidence.
But that is not the only Andersen reference. Hans having twelve older brothers reminds of Andersen's tale The Wild Swans. That tale is about a princess who has eleven older brothers. The princess is named Eliza, which reminds of Elsa and, not unlike her, she is taken for a witch and is almost killed for that reason.
It is also known that Disney planned to make a movie about the danish author's life which started developing in the 1940s (the same time period in which they started trying to adapt The Snow Queen).
The Life of Hans Christian Andersen was a biography-style film based on the life of the Danish author in question that The Walt Disney Compa
That project was later abandoned. Nevertheless, Disney has adapted many of the danish author's tales.
So... could it be that when Frozen was finally made, the creators decided to pay homage to the danish author by making him a Disney Prince?
But wait... there is more.
Thanks to @thelittlehansy I knew Hans Christian Andersen himself appeared as an animated character in an episode of The Little Mermaid animated series, called "Metal Fish". So, if Disney already had an animated character design for H.C. Andersen, and Prince Hans was a tribute to the author, it would make sense they would look alike, wouldn't it? They just had to redesign the character to make him look young, regal and handsome. Let's have a look at how did the animated version of the danish author look like. I found the episode in swedish language on Youtube:
Part 1
Part 2
They look pretty similar to me. Ginger, big nose, large chin, with sideburns, wears a vest and, in the last scene, a tailcoat. Even the fringe is similar. If you still think all of this is a coincidence I have to disagree. As the Duke would say: The can be no doubt now.
Frozen Fandom: But that's not posible! Making the author a villain, not very important for the story, and the center of silly jokes?! That would be so disrespectful!
Well, I have spent two years trying to prove Frozen makes perfect sense withouth Hans being a bad guy. Santino Fontana said a lot of the scenes he recorded weren't finally included in the movie, so it's safe to think we miss a lot of information about the character. The movie is not badly written; it's too well written in fact: the plotholes are part of the plot.
Frozen Fandom: But Hans is the villain!! He plotted a whole plan to take over the kingdom, took advantage of Anna's vulnerability, leave her to die when she needed him the most and let's not forget almost decapitate Elsa after lying to her about her sister's death.
*Sighs in frustration* All you can accuse Hans of is being a jerk to a dying Anna, being in a very stressfull, life-or-death situation. But let's deny these accusations one by one.
Lying to Elsa about Anna's death: Technically, he wasn't lying, as Anna was dying because of ice magic and Hans though (because of Anna's own words!) Elsa willingly attacked her.
Almost decapitated Elsa: Already explained in the 11th post of this analysis.
Leave Anna to die: Hans was sure there was nothing he - or anyone else - could make to save Anna, and let's not forget the overall situation: people in the kingdom was in inminent risk of dying because of the winter (remember the Duke's words: if we don't "do something" ( = kill Elsa) soon, we all will freeze to death), and he was really shocked (see 9th post of this analysis) to know Elsa had attacked Anna.
Plotted a whole plan to take over the kingdom: The only evidence for this is his own "villain monologue", which I don't think we should take seriously for reasons already explained in the 9th and 12th posts. Telling Anna he wanted to marry her and then arrange "a little accident" of Elsa is more him being a jerk than confessing an evil scheme.
Took advantage of Anna's vulnerability: I have to disagree. I think he manipulated her a bit, but not all of the time. If we look at their "date" from an objective point of view, we realize that for the most part he was just being friendly. Dancing, taking a walk, eating something is not something particularly romantic.
There were not ardent love expressions, he didn't even tell Anna he loved her. Can we really say he "seduced" her? The shoulder bump is romantic? It's more a friendly gesture, that is coded later in the saga as a "sibling thing".
We are led to see the scene in a subjective way, through Anna's eyes. But if we rewacht the scene from an objective point of view, all we see is a friendly interaction.Things don't get really "romantic" until "Love is an Open Door". And let's not forget it's Anna who begins it and this is Hans' first reaction:
Then he basically plays along with her, and at the end of the song - when he proposes to her - that's where the manipulation begins.
Another reason against Hans being a villain would be his facial expressions. He only has facial expressions that could be labeled as villainous in a few scenes (already explained in previous posts). I find it very telling that when he sentences Elsa to death, creators chose to give us a close-up of his face expressing sadness - when a smirk would be more fitting, since this happens after the betrayal scene. It's like they wanted to tell the audience: "No, Hans is not happy to sentence Elsa to death; he is devastated".
Frozen Fandom: He`s faking to the Duke and the dignataries.
It could be, but it's unusual for Disney characters to fake to the audience. Gaston makes villanous expressions since he first appears, so the audience can easily identify him as a villain... but everyone in the town think he's a great guy!
And Mother Gothel... think how interesting would it be if the audience wasn't given the backstory at the beginning of Tangled. But still in that case, we would be able to analize her expressions and realize they are different from those of a worried parent.
Frozen Fandom: well, so who do you think is the villain then?
Simple: there is no real villain in Frozen. But there are two fake villains. This pair.
Before we continue we have to make the following question: who is this Elsa?
But was she the cursed princess to be saved, or the wicked witch to be vanquished? And what was his role in this story? (A particular understanding, by @fasadi)
Elsa: A witch in distress
While most of the audience identifies Elsa as a princess, making Frozen a "two princesses movie", this is only half truth. Anna is "the princess" and real protagonist in Frozen, while her sister shares some traits with other kind of classic Disney characters. Let's see: Elsa...
Is older than the princess
Has magical powers
Lives isolated
Has a position of power (she's the princess heir and becomes the Queen)
Wears heavy make up
Wears purple clothes (her coronation cape) and uses purple eyeshadow
Curses the princess and the kingdom
Her actions have a huge impact on the plot
Has a great (villain) song
Is (almost) killed by the prince
The 13th Disney princess shares these characteristics with these ladies:
From my point of view, the Evil Queen from Snow White is the one that has had the biggest influence in Elsa's look. I found the following description of the Evil Queen on the Disney fandom wiki very fitting for Elsa:
"From the outside, the Queen appears to be calm, regal, and sophisticated, but in reality, this collected and stately facade hides an extremely sadistic, hateful, cold and sinister person" (Elsa's facade is similar and also hides her real self)
"The Queen is an icily beautiful woman with a serene, unfeeling face and a slender figure. She has pale skin, red lips, green eyes, and seemingly penciled-on eyebrows"
They both wear a long cape with a pendant. You can't really blame the Duke for thinking Elsa was "a wicked witch conspiring to destroy us all", can you? After all, this is a fairy tale. There has to be a witch!
(Full comic here. A very fun comic showing Hans has all the traits of a classic Disney Prince. I'd love to see something similar with Elsa as a classic Disney Witch!).
At the end of the day, Elsa mortally attacked her sister and almost killed her whole kingdom because she had a massive anxiety attack. But even if she is, technically, a Disney witch and the villain of the movie (in the sense her actions are those of a villain) Elsa is not evil. Her thoughts, feelings and motivations are very different of those of a villain. She can't control her powers and feels unable to cope with the problems she has created, so her response is to run away.
This learned helplessness makes her another classic character: the damsel in distress. Elsa has to be saved from those who want to kill her to end the eternal winter and save the winter. She is first saved by Hans, who risked his own life entering the Ice Castle to save her from the Weselton guards and was able to stop her with a sentence that basically meant "I trust you" (whole analysis in the 7th post) and later saved by Anna. And, just like Hans saved Elsa from killing two men, Anna saved Hans from killing Elsa.
But, just because the audience "knows" Elsa they fail to identify her as the witch of this tale. They fail to understand that the Duke's reaction and prejudices against Elsa were, in fact, quite logic and understable. They fail to understand that (almost) everyone in Arendelle feared Elsa and wanted her dead, so the curse disappeared. The audience has all the information they need to realize Elsa meant no harm but... do the audience has all the information they need to understand Hans' character, and his sudden change at the end of the movie? I'm pretty sure we miss essential information.
Remember my interpretation of the gloves parallel in the analysis of the betrayal scene? One glove off = fake villain reveal. Now look at the Hans and Elsa dolls. "Hero and villain" series, and there are TWO sets of dolls. The first one: Elsa as the Snow Queen (hero), Hans in his fake villain reveal clothes (villain). The second one: they are in their coronation clothes, Elsa as a Queen who is secretly a witch (villain), Hans as the perfect Disney prince (hero). And the looks of complicity are very obvious.
And if Prince Hans' inspiration was the danish author himself, is there some real life woman behind Elsa?
The answer is Yes.
Hans Christian Andersen's inspiration for the Snow Queen was the most important of his (long) list of imposible loves.
Jenny Lind
Johanna Maria "Jenny" Lind (6 October 1820 – 2 November 1887) was a Swedish opera singer, often called the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she performed in soprano roles in opera in Sweden and across Europe, and undertook an extraordinarily popular concert tour of the United States beginning in 1850. She was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music from 1840.
Yes, I know she doesn't look like Elsa. But still, she was the inspiration for the Snow Queen, and Elsa is inspired on the Snow Queen, so... she somehow "is" Elsa.
From Wikipedia:
She toured Denmark where, in 1843, Hans Christian Andersen met and fell in love with her. Although the two became good friends, she did not reciprocate his romantic feelings. She is believed to have inspired three of his fairy tales: "Beneath the Pillar", "The Angel" and "The Nightingale".[4] He wrote, "No book or personality whatever has exerted a more ennobling influence on me, as a poet, than Jenny Lind. For me she opened the sanctuary of art."[4] The biographer Carol Rosen believes that after Lind rejected Andersen as a suitor, he portrayed her as The Snow Queen with a heart of ice.
One of his stories, "The Nightingale", was written as an expression of his passion for Jenny Lind and became the inspiration for her nickname, the "Swedish Nightingale".[46] Andersen was often shy around women and had extreme difficulty in proposing to Lind. When Lind was boarding a train to go to an opera concert, Andersen gave Lind a letter of proposal. Her feelings towards him were not the same; she saw him as a brother, writing to him in 1844: "farewell ... God bless and protect my brother is the sincere wish of his affectionate sister, Jenny".[47] It is suggested that Andersen expressed his disappointment by portraying Lind as the eponymous anti-heroine of his Snow Queen.[48]
So, to sum up this very long post:
Hans and Elsa
Who people think they are
Who they really are
Conclusion
So... if I'm on the right track, and Disney created Prince Hans' character as a tribute to Hans Christian Andersen, wouldn't it make sense they planned to give him the happy ending he did not have in real life?
Time to analyze the Helsa hints...but that will be in a next post.
Translating the Runes in Secrets of the Magic Makers
Ok, so I already said in my previous post (X) that I love Secrets of the Magic Makers and the runic writing in Frozen in general, but now I’m going to actually talk about the translations of the runes.
Most* of the runes shown in Frozen movies and shorts are historically accurate and translatable. They are Younger Futhark runes, used in Nordic regions beginning around the 9th century. The Younger Futhark alphabet has 16 runes and is a simplification of the Elder Futhark, which had 24 originally. The Younger Futhark alphabet was used throughout Scandinavia in the Viking Age and declined after Catholicism was introduced. (Source: Runes Illustrated by Rachel Newcombe)
* I say most because the runes in Olaf’s Frozen Adventure on the bell are not historically accurate. They are simply a direct English transliteration of the words “Ring in the Season”
Disney worked with Old Norse language expert Jackson Crawford (you can find his YT channel here (X)) to ensure that the runes in F1 are historically accurate.
Ok, history lesson over, let’s actually talk about how these runes are relevant to the Frozen story.
I did not translate these myself, although I have kind of taught myself how to now. These translations come from Panya on this website. If you are interested in the detailed translations, I would highly recommend checking it out, as it is truly fascinating!
Here is the cover of the book. It translates roughly to Runes of Knowledge, but I believe this book to also be Secrets of the Magic Makers (see my previous post for full explanation).
The inside of the book is 9 lines of text, repeated twice. It appears to say something like
Someone (subject is unclear) was turned to stone (ice?) by the power of the moon. The trolls from the dark mountain realm have healing hands. A soul wounded from cold will heal if brought very quickly to the field of them (the trolls). Trolls have such a nature that they can get sorcery out of the body to save it. Such action done in true love is the only one which can thaw a heart stoned (frozen?) very quickly.
It isn't exactly clear or easy to read, but I think that it tells the story of an ancient Arendellian (possibly Aren, but that’s mostly just a headcanon) whose heart was frozen by some power of the moon. It goes on to say that trolls have the power to remove magic, but that the only way to thaw a frozen heart is an act of true love.
This is VERY interesting as it implies that someone in the ancient past had a frozen heart. It could just be an old story, something that never actually happened. I personally don’t believe there was ever a single person who was the fifth spirit before Elsa and by extension no human who ever wielded ice powers like hers before. Another option is perhaps whoever it was that angered the spirits in some way or ventured too far into Ahtohallan and began to freeze? Or it could be a figurative frozen heart in the sense of a lack of love and compassion. I suppose only Ahtohallan knows this answer.
The other thing that makes this interesting is that it directly says that an act of true love will thaw a frozen heart. Which means that the answer was right there all along. The entire message of love will thaw was summed up here in runes at the very beginning of the movie. This also means that this was part of an Arendellian myth or story at some point and has been forgotten by the time Elsa is born.
So yeah, not really a big revelation or anything, but it is certainly interesting. I would love to know more details about this story and its origin, but again, only Ahtohallan knows. Overall I do think it's fascinating, as it gives us more information about Ancient Arendellian beliefs and traditions that still hold relevance in the time Frozen is actually set. As someone who is OBSESSED with the ancient myths and stories of Arendelle and the surrounding areas, this is so so intriguing to me and I absolutely love it!
what is the real hidden message of frozen 2′s “show yourself”?
so i got the inspiration earlier to finally rewatch that frozen 2 “show yourself” music video on youtube, and i had some thoughts in the middle of doing so.
as a disclaimer, i just want to say that i’m absolutely queer myself. this is not to discredit others’ interpretations of the song, and this is just my own take regarding my life experiences. i’m not claiming to speak for everyone in this post. in fact, i do still believe queerness has a lot to do with the subtext inside of the lyrics.
but anyway, i remember when the movie was in theaters at the end of 2019 and there were plenty of articles written about how “show yourself” has a hidden meaning about accepting the idea of being queer. there are lots of people my age who were new to identifying as lesbian, gay, bi, and/or trans at the time and i thought it made a lot of sense, especially because the headcanon and theory that elsa is a closeted lesbian was so popular at the time. it paved the way to shipping elsa + honeymaren (elsamaren) and made it easy to read frozen 2′s ending with them dating.
and that’s definitely notable ─ i’m not disagreeing!
but something always felt off about how i related to the lyrics personally and i was never sure why.
until i stumbled upon it again today.
in my opinion, i think the song is better heard with autism (or otherwise neurodivergency) in mind. it tells my story of finding the missing piece much better than it does of my realizing that i’m bi + trans, as well as my coming out.
again, i don’t think the LGBTQ+ reading is wrong! honestly i believe it comes down to a mix of both that and the autistic reading. but i see the latter outweighing the former here.
to me, i looked up these lyrics on google and my mind went straight to getting a diagnosis, an answer as to why my social life has always been so wrong:
i've never felt so certain
all my life i've been torn
but i'm here for a reason
could it be the reason i was born?
i have always been so different
normal rules did not apply
is this the day?
are you the way
i finally find out why?
everyone has something different to say about what part of their identity has impacted their experiences the most growing up. for me, it’s being neurodivergent. my sexuality, probably like most people (but of course not for many others), didn’t show up until my teenage years; same with my internal gender and outer presentation. my autism, however, has been present and influenced who i am for my whole life. i felt elsa’s longing and determination to find answers to her lifelong questions about not just who, but how & why she is in her musical journey throughout the ice caves.
i feel like we can all say confidently that who we are, regarding being queer, is something we can answer with the factual statement that we are queer and that’s just that, unless of course we get into the old debate regarding if it exists as nature vs. nurture. regardless, it’s always innate to some degree, and doesn’t inherently determine our personalities, behaviors, or understandings. autism & ADHD both do; it’s literally what defines autism as we know it.
that’s my argument. as i said, i’m not looking to “prove” anything or present my subjective opinion as objective fact. my take isn’t that the neurodivergent interpretation is more important or valid than the queer interpretation, just that i prefer the second option over the first.
either way, elsa is, without a doubt, an autistic sapphic! this is (part of) what makes her a valuable, relatable character to a lot of young people and we should always celebrate that. ♡
