#and it has Bruni and possibly also olaf?
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Your favorite Elsa lover finallyyyyy bought an Elsa doll after like a decade lol
#I’ve almost bought one so many times#I was gonna try to get a high quality limited edition one#but it got to a point where I was like okay I’m not gonna spend THAT much and I want one lol#I got a frozen 2 dolllll#it has her show yourself dress and her like normal outfit#and it has Bruni and possibly also olaf?#I can’t remember but I’ll post it ❄️#Elsa#frozen 2
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GreatQueenAnna Tid-Bits # 8
Why Anna is the Fifth Spirit with Elsa
Wanted to make a quick Tid-Bit analysis on why it makes perfect sense that Anna was also written to be the Fifth Spirit.
In Frozen 2, there was this concept of Elsa taming the spirits to prove to them that either she was the magical person that they were waiting for, or possibly that she was worthy of their respect. We see her tame the Water, Fire, and Wind Spirits - all of which make sense to her character. Ice basically comes from both wind and water, and can overpower fire (not to mention that Bruni's fire is a bit more purple than red or orange, which is Elsa's color). I could go on as to why Elsa connects more deeply to these elements, but I want to focus on Anna.
If we take this idea and apply it to Anna, we see that she does the same things with different elements.
Anna in F1 -
Tames Elsa Herself - By fighting the elements, pushing to reconnect with Elsa, and sacrificing herself for her, Anna pretty much proves to Elsa that she loves and accepts her. Love and acceptance, regardless of differences and alliances, is a huge deal to Ahtohallan.
F2 -
Anna Tames the Earth Spirits - Anna challenges the Earth Giants and is able to use their powers to destroy the dam. This makes sense, since as the human aspect of the Fifth Spirit, Anna is more grounded, or coming from the Earth (many myths/religions connect humanity to dirt, dust, clay, etc.) You can also see this within her costume designs (she always wears Earthy tones, Green, Yellow, Black, etc.)
Anna Destroys the Dam - In line with her fairy tale role, Anna proves herself as the utmost example of humanity by sacrificing herself (she almost falls to her death) and her human-authority (the castle) in order to right the wrongs of the past. She humbles herself and puts the needs of everyone as a priority.
Now, let’s get into the Judaeo-Christian themes a bit. This seems a bit left-field, however, there’s actually this article that relates Elsa and Frozen 2 to having a biblical themes. The author has written a few articles on this subject. The article does mention Anna and adds her to the theme of the Fifth Spirit, but since the article focuses specifically on Elsa, I wanted to add on this other element that wasn't brought up.
There's a famous act within the Gospels, The Cleansing of the Temple. Within this story, Jesus expels, in a famously grand and angry way, the merchants and businesses from the holy Temple in Jerusalem. He then accuses the Temple authorities for stealing and causing the death of many people because they were taking resources away from the poor to sell them - going against the morals of God and his people. He then confidently states that he can destroy this Temple that took 46 years to built, and build it back up in 3 days.
Does this kind of sound familiar?
Anna does the same thing. Runeard and his dam were going against the morals of Arendelle - causing the pain and genocide of a group of people for power and authority.
Anna: That's my grandfather, attacking the Northuldra leader who wields no weapon. The Dam wasn't a gift of peace. It was a trick. Olaf: But that goes against everything Arendelle stands for. Anna: It does, doesn't it? I know how to free the forest. I know what we have to do. To set things right. Olaf: Why do you say that so sadly? Anna: We have to break the Dam. Olaf: But Arendelle will be flooded. Anna: That's why everyone was forced out. To protect them from what has to be done.
Here, we see Anna and Olaf talking about Arendelle's morals and what they need to do. Anna needs to 'cleanse the temple' and build it back up again. While in the movie Arendelle doesn't actually fall, there is a thematic change that happens when Anna is willing to do it, and then represents this cultural change when she has the statue of her parents built. She is willing to cleanse Arendelle and bring it back to its morals and beliefs and peace and the good for all.
We'll always live in a kingdom of plenty, that stands for the good of the many.
In this deleted scene, with the concept of Anna actually succeeding in destroying the castle, Anna also proclaims confidently that she can rebuilt the castle to be a better version of itself.
"We'll rebuilt the castle. New. No secrets. No deceit. New rules even." - Anna, deleted Frozen 2 Scene.
TLDR: Anna being the Fifth Spirit as well makes sense within the narrative, thematically, and shows how Elsa and Anna are connected and their roles are important to the balance of human and nature. They are both the bridge.
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And the new episodes of "Frozen Podcat" have arrived:
5 - UNREST IN THE ENCHANTED FOREST
It's finally lunch time for the soldiers, but they want to hear the story
At the fire Disa tries to think of a plan to solve the fire, but Elsa uses her powers which again makes Disa amazed when she sees the Snow Queen
While Elsa contains the fire, Anna and Disa find Bruni and the Snow Queen calms the salamander in the same way she did in F2, and with that done the fire goes out
At Arendelle Castle, Mattias reports on the current situation of the kingdom after all this confusion, and in the end he praises Kristoff for his role as leader, leaving the blonde embarrassed
Wolfgang while helping to collect the debris laments Magnus's disappearance, until suddenly Gale returns. The Duke's nephew has to be calmed down by Olaf and Kristoff, and the Lord himself consoles Astrid, the other magpie
Wolfgang once again mentions Kristoff's proposal to become an industrialist, even talking about when he himself would inherit the Duke's titles, but his cousin Albert stole his place and he says that this is the first lesson he will teach Kristoff: be careful with Albert
Astrid, on Wolfgang's orders, begins to help collect the debris, but takes Olaf's arm instead and takes some time to return it, but the snowman doesn't take it personally
And then a rain of frogs begins in the kingdom
Back to the soldiers Mattias explains how a "rain of frogs" is just a situation where frogs are carried by the wind which gives the impression that they are falling from the sky like water, etc.
In the Enchanted Forest, the trio of women find pieces of scorched metal and just seeing one of them irritates Bruni, confirming that they are the cause of her outburst. The pieces are also made of copper like the mechanical spider. Elsa believes that the automatons are visitors from Arendelle that Anna allowed to enter the kingdom, she fears that she will not be able to deal with it and that she needs to understand this situation, but Anna supports her and they promise to deal with it together
The women find a trail of pieces and eventually the automaton that Anna finds very similar to Wolfgang's mechanized lamps, but before they can continue talking the Earth Giants awaken.
6 - MAGNUS' RETURN
The soldiers are very interested in the Earth Giants, which makes Mattias want to tell his story about them, F2, but returns to the current story
Elsa has difficulty sensing the giants and Disa even considers using the vibrations of the ground to find them, but eventually they manage to find them just by looking. They are afraid that the giants will arrive in Arendelle, they don't know if it is possible, but Elsa doesn't doubt it. Disa questions if Elsa can control them, but she just says that she can figure out what's bothering them and fix it. Anna cites the destruction of the dam as an example of the strength of giants
They notice a mechanical reindeer near the giants and, to save it, Elsa creates an ice rink and the three women go skating to get there quickly. Disa even questions why Elsa doesn't move like that normally, but Elsa says that Nokk is faster. But they don't arrive in time and the reindeer is crushed and to the trio's surprise the giants seem to have calmed down and return to the forest
They cut open the reindeer discovering that it had raw copper, implying that it was mining the material, which makes them openly suspicious of Wolfgang. The sisters fear that Kristoff and Mattias could be in danger because of Wolfgang, and even though they believe that Magnus could be a spy, Anna sends a message to Mattias warning him about Wolfgang
At the castle, Astrid laments Magnus' absence while Kristoff coordinates the removal of the frogs. Olaf ends up getting in the way as he adopted some frogs and told him his secrets, but the frog runs away from Olaf
Kristoff laments that Anna cannot see the rain of frogs that he identifies as Gale's actions. As Wolfgang questions Mattia about not going to protect Anna, the conversation soon turns to Kristoff and his idea of making him an industrialist. Wolfgang advises Kristoff to hire bodyguards and official tasters to deal with the dangers of being an ice collector, but Kristoff denies the advice. The ice collector believes that being an industrialist would make him focus only on work, which he doesn't want in life. Wolfgang understands his thoughts, but as he speaks he seems to talk more about himself than about Kristoff
Sven arrives, and soon after the people of Sankerhus who are distraught without their queen. Following Wolfgang's advice, Kristoff goes to talk to the population, but ends up getting complicated, Olaf doesn't help, and ends up being saved by Mattias, who has more leadership capacity.
They return to find Wolfgang playing a musical instrument and enjoying popcorn and cappuccino? (I was confused about it but I think it was cappuccino) Mattias helps himself and so does Sven after some confusion
Mattias praises Wolfgang's musical performance and the Duke's nephew says that his dream was music and opera, but he ended up becoming a man in the industry. He even tries to end the conversation, but Kristoff shows interest, which surprises Wolfgang who talks more about his dreams and desires about music and opera until Magnus arrives. Magnus brings a letter from Anna which he refuses to hand over until Wolfgang intervenes, the letter reveals the discoveries about Wolfgang's machines in the Enchanted Forest which leads Mattias to order his arrest, but the Duke's nephew pleading innocence and orders his birds to collect evidence to prove your innocence
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3D Character Design Research - Appealing Secondary Characters (Companions)
If there's one thing I've noticed in lots of films (mainly Disney) it's that the secondary characters/companions of the main people are, more often than not, the stars of the show. This could be due to a number of factors such as their iconic designs, their appearance, and their screen time.
Bruni - Frozen
Bruni (the fire spirit) is a blue salamander who makes his appearance in the film 'Frozen 2'. He is 1 of the 4 spirits found in the Enchanted Forest and right from his first appearance on screen the audience falls in love with him. The reason for this is that the animators' goal was to make him 'as cute as possible'. His appearance also plays a big part in his cuteness as his tiny legs, wide mouth, and large eyes are the main features that make this character so adorable and appealing. His colour is an interesting one though, as he is blue yet he is the spirit of fire, so you would think he should be orange or red.
Olaf - Frozen
Unlike the other companions, Olaf is the only secondary Character who is not an Animal, he is a snowman. Olaf was created and brought to life by Elsa, but he is a symbol of Anna and Elsa's love for each other as well as the strong sisterly bond they had when they were kids. Olaf may not have been the main character in the Frozen films, but he certainly stood out from the crowd with his energetic and always happy personality. Although his design (being a snowman) is very simple, it's the way in which he was animated that brought his unique personality to life.
Pascal - Tangled
I really like how the creators of the Disney film 'Tangled' gave Rapunzel a companion because otherwise, she would have been incredibly lonely being completely on her own in the tower almost 24/7.
Pascal (as seen in the image above), is a green chameleon who, although he doesn't have much screen time in the film, is a big part of Rapunzel's life. I really love how his Character was designed as he has all the features of a real-life chameleon whilst also being a cartoon. Similar to Bruni, he also was designed with very large eyes in comparison to his head, and I believe it's the size of the eyes that contributes to making a character look more cute and appealing.
Niffler - Fantastic Beasts
Niffler is the companion of Newt Scamander, who, unlike the above Characters, was designed and created for a 'live-action' film, therefore, he isn't as cartoon-like as the characters listed above, as he was designed and textured to look like a creature who existed in the real world amongst humans. Although Niffler is a mythical creature, his character design was inspired by the young of an Echidna (otherwise known as a 'Puggle'). Niffler may not have large eyes compared to the other characters I looked at, but his naughty personality and thieving nature within the film are what help this cute and adorable creature to be so appealing to the audience.
Overall, I can conclude that it isn't just the appearance of a character that makes it appealing (such as having large eyes), but also the nature and personality given to that character within Animation that brings out their unique self in a film. Which also makes each character different and stand out in its own way.
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Princess Protection Program
Throughout the two main Frozen films, part of Elsa and Anna’s bond of love is shown with how they desperate they become to protect one another. However, the ways that they protect each other are true polar opposites.
In Frozen, Elsa thinks that to protect Anna, as well as everyone else, she must stay as far away as possible, without any sort of physical contact made between them, especially by Elsa first. But in Frozen II, Anna thinks that to protect Elsa, she must stay by Elsa all the time and never let Elsa out of her sight, while also making as much physical contact with her as possible, even if Anna is always the one to make the first move.
In Frozen, young Elsa demonstrates her way of protection after she accidentally strikes Anna and nearly kills her. Following this, Elsa becomes crippled with fear over the instability of her powers, believing that they are only dangerous and harmful. So she consequently chooses isolation from everyone she loves, including Anna, presuming that being completely isolated would protect them from any further harm her magic could do. As she spends 13 years trying to control her magic with little success, Elsa refuses to have any sort of contact with Anna, especially physical contact, since she fears that she might accidentally harm or kill Anna if another disastrous event occurred.
Once her coronation day arrives, Elsa is not only determined to suppress her powers to protect Anna, but also her people in hoping that they won’t discover she has been keeping such a big secret. After they are accidentally revealed following an argument with Anna, the first thing Elsa does is run away, and she keeps on running once more Arendellians discover her secret.
Although this is an excellent example of showing how running from problems don’t always, if ever, work, Elsa feels she has no other choice. She is unique for having these ice and snow powers, but she doesn’t know anyone else who has them, has answers about them, or can teach her to control them.
Therefore, Elsa doesn’t know any other way to solve her problem except to entirely remove herself from society and live all alone.
When Anna discovers Elsa at her new ice palace, the sisters are briefly happy to see each other. But Elsa rebuffs Anna’s suggestion at mending their bond, saying it is because she is only trying to protect Anna and tells her to stay away for her own safety. Upon Anna saying that Arendelle has become trapped in an eternal winter, Elsa panics and accidentally strikes Anna in the chest. Realizing that she has harmed Anna again, Elsa continues to insist that Anna leave, and when Anna refuses to go without her sister, Elsa resorts to creating Marshmallow in order to forcefully throw Anna out.
Then when Hans captures Elsa at her palace and brings her back to Arendelle, she insists that she must be set free since she is a danger to the kingdom, though she in unable to remove the winter. Not knowing that Hans plans to frame her for treason upon learning that Anna is dying from her frozen heart, Elsa breaks out of the dungeon and tries to flee back to the mountain. She ends up getting caught in the whiteout caused by her increasing fear, and when Hans appears and tells her that she can’t keep running away, Elsa only pleads with him to take care of Anna.
In Frozen II, Elsa still occasionally tries to protect Anna, but this time, Anna is the one with a goal to protect her sister. This is first displayed when Elsa makes up her mind to find the voice calling her by going to the Enchanted Forest. When Anna objects to Elsa going alone, Elsa initially refuses to let Anna come, saying that her powers can protect her, but Anna does not have that advantage. Before they depart, Pabbie tells Anna that he fears Elsa’s powers may not be enough to help her, and Anna vows not to let any harm come to Elsa.
From that point on, Anna remains determined never to let Elsa out of her sight, showing that she feels that she must remain by Elsa’s side at all times in order to protect her. When the group finally reaches the entrance of the Forest and the mist covering it, the sisters take hands and Anna makes Elsa promise that they do their journey together. During another attempt to propose to Anna, Kristoff stumbles over his words, including saying “In case we die...” This causes Anna to panic, and she hurries to find Elsa, saying out loud that she promised she wouldn’t leave her sister’s side. Once she finds Elsa, Anna rushes to her, asking if she’s all right. Soon afterwards, the group is swept up in Gale’s tornado, then she keeps Elsa in her vortex while she drops the rest. Anna shouts to Gale to release Elsa, and then she again makes sure her sister is all right after Elsa stops Gale and makes the ice sculptures.
Shortly after meeting the Northuldra tribe, and Lieutenant Mattias and his soldiers, Bruni appears and sets the Forest ablaze. Elsa rushes to put it out, and Anna follows her, endangering her own life when she starts inhaling and choking on the flames. When Kristoff is riding Sven and calls out Anna’s name upon seeing her in danger, Elsa hears him and sees where her sister is. So she puts out enough flames to create a clear path for Kristoff and Sven. The duo immediately race over and Kristoff pulls Anna up into his arms, then Elsa calls out to him “Get her out of here!”, after which Anna objects and calls back to her sister. (Now this moment shows me that Elsa very much trusts Kristoff to protect Anna and get her to safety whenever she (Elsa) is unable to do it herself.) After Elsa settles and befriends Bruni, she reunites with Anna, and they briefly chastise each other for putting the other person at risk and not being careful.
Later, as the sisters and Olaf continue north, they discover the remains of their parents’ wrecked ship and that they were on their Ahtohallan when they died. In the following scene, the girls’ different ways of protecting each other comes into play. While both realize that Ahtohallan is the next stop on their journey since it holds all the answers about the past (as Iduna told them years ago and sang from “All Is Found”), Anna says that they go to Ahtohallan together...but Elsa disagrees.
Like I said in “Split Decision”, Elsa decides that she must go to Ahtohallan alone, and that Anna cannot come with her because of the risks that would come with both of them crossing the Dark Sea. Anna objects to this, pleading with Elsa to remember their promise to do it together, particularly because of the “All Is Found” lyrics warning that one will drown by going too far into Ahtohallan, and that she wants to make sure Elsa won’t meet that fate. Though they tell each other that they can’t bear to lose one another, and Elsa understands why Anna wants to come, she refuses to change her mind since Anna would be more at risk trying to cross the sea (which, again, alludes to her earlier line that Anna does not have powers to help/protect her). So much like when she created Marshmallow to throw Anna out of the ice palace and stay away from her (Elsa) for her own safety, Elsa again resorts to forcing Anna away to safety by putting her (and Olaf) inside an ice boat creation and making a path on which the boat can slide.
The difference between these moments, though, is that Elsa does not do this out of believing that her powers make her a danger to Anna, but because she fears that Anna would have a greater chance of dying while trying to pass through the Dark Sea. And Elsa is proven right when she herself gets knocked down by the waves, struggles to swim in the rough, choppy waters, and uses her powers to overcome other obstacles. When the Nokk appears, things get more complicated for Elsa when it attempts to drown her, which forces her to use her magic to fight back until it finally calms down.
As I said in the aforementioned analysis, Elsa facing the Nokk while crossing the sea proves that she was correct about why she and Anna could not go together, and what she said before about her powers being able to protect her while the same could not be said for Anna. Elsa would not have been able to take care of herself by working to get past the big waves and fighting the Nokk if she had to do it with Anna, too. Because Anna lacks powers of her own, successfully crossing the Dark Sea and taking on the Nokk at the same time is not something she would have been able to do at all.
Now Elsa and Anna’s methods of protecting each other differs primarily, of course, because Elsa is magical, so it makes the most logical sense for her to protect others by isolating herself from them. Pushing that aside, it is also due to the fact that the two sisters have opposite personalities; therefore, they have opposite ways of displaying protection towards other people.
Like I’ve said before, Elsa is an introvert. She is reserved, closed in, and reluctant to talk about her feelings. She is somewhat antisocial and prefers having more of her own personal space. She is sometimes uncomfortable having intimate physical contact with people unless it is people she loves and to whom she is very close. As an introvert, Elsa is also very independent and individualistic. When she makes up her mind to go to the Forest, find the voice, and restore Arendelle, she wants to do it on her own, not merely because she doesn’t think anyone can help her, but because she wants to achieve what she needs to do and not let anything distract, hinder, or prevent her from doing so. She does not want to worry about being responsible for others in case any danger could occur. This would explain why she initially refuses to let Anna come along, with the argument that Anna doesn’t have her own powers for protection. It’s not that Elsa simply wants Anna to stay behind where they both know it is safe, but she doesn’t yet know what dangers she will have to face. So she did not want Anna tagging along since Anna could cause distractions or slow her (Elsa) down if she got in any danger since Elsa would have to protect her.
On the other hand, Anna is an extrovert. She is very open, expressive, and does not hide her feelings or anything else about herself. She is very gregarious, social, and thrives being in the company of other people. She loves to talk and befriend people, and never hesitates to make physical contact with them, particularly hugs. As an extrovert, Anna also actively depends on people and seeks to help them with their problems. When she makes up her mind to come with Elsa to the Forest, she wants to help because she doesn’t think Elsa should try or will be able to do everything entirely on her own. She doesn’t care, or at least is not afraid, about what dangers the trek will bring because she has proven what kinds she has faced without any magic of her own. While Elsa thinks that Anna coming along would distract her or slow her down from accomplishing her mission, Anna instead thinks that she could help accomplish the mission a lot faster than if Elsa went alone, not to mention they should go together to protect each other from any danger.
Essentially, the way Elsa and Anna protect each other is just how they would want to be protected themselves based on their personality types. Elsa likes to have her own space, so she protects her sister by giving Anna enough space where she can be safe, away from her (Elsa). But Anna likes to be in the presence of people, so she protects Elsa by staying with her as much as possible so she can personally make sure she is with her if danger strikes.
In the end, both girls learn important lessons about how they protect each other and their own personal limits. Although she likes to be independent, Elsa accepts that she can’t do everything on her own, that she does sometimes need help, specifically from Anna. Likewise, although Anna still wants to help people, she accepts that she always can’t always do so by being by their sides, that she needs to give people their space and boundaries, specifically Elsa. They both realize how much they need each other, even if they can’t be together all the time.
Despite being apart for the last part of their journey, Elsa and Anna still resolved the conflict between Arendelle and the Northuldra together, just as Elsa promised they would. 😉😊❤️
#Frozen analyses#Frozen 2 analyses#Disney#Disney Frozen#Disney Frozen 2#Frozen#Frozen 2#Elsa#Anna#safety#protection#my stuff#mine
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Chapter 02 - The plan
Links: Chapter overview, Character list, Map, Glossar Rating: M over all Publishing cycle: each Friday on (link)
Remarks: all my chapters contain carefully selected music tracks. It’s your own decision if you want to use them or not while reading. The purpose is to musically support the respective mood of the plot. If you can please use a browser for reading (not the Tumblr app) due to the text formatting.
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Honeymaren stepped outside and quietly walked away from the kota, leaving the two alone. This was a deeply private moment, she felt instinctively. When she raised her head and looked around, she saw only sad faces and bowed heads. Yelana stood nearby and gently took her in her arms as she passed, knowing that Elsa was also very close to Honeymaren's heart.
The sun had set a few minutes ago and the first campfires were lit in the village. No stars had been seen in the sky above the Enchanted Forest for more than thirty-four years. But now the first of them appeared in the rapidly darkening firmament, and many of the Northuldra stared up in awe. Even though it had been a while since the magical fog had disappeared around the forest, it was a miracle for most of them to experience it.
It had become very quiet now and except for Kristoff and the others from Arendelle, nobody was standing in front of the kota anymore. No one spoke a word, not even Olaf. Then sobbing from inside could be heard and the flap of the hut opened. Anna stepped outside with her head down, tears in her eyes. Kristoff rushed towards her and gently put his arm around her shoulders. He felt her body tremble and wondered what was really wrong with Elsa. No one had told him anything, no one knew more.
Anna raised her head and looked into his eyes. Then she began to speak in a fragile voice and the others curiously came a bit closer. “Elsa is ... she ... ”, she broke off and began to sob again. “Kristoff, my sister has ... she didn't recognize me! She doesn't know who I am! She ... I talked to her, told her about me and Arendelle, about our parents, about Olaf, about all of us and about our experiences here in the forest too. The Spirits and Bruni, who she liked so much. Even about Ahtohallan and who she was afterwards, who we both were. The bridge. Of the fact that together we both freed the forest and the Northuldra, that she made me Queen of Arendelle.” She paused and took a deep breath. “Kristoff, she doesn't know anything anymore. Nothing at all! She ... she's forgotten all of us ... including me.”
Then Anna just couldn't take it anymore and collapsed. Anna slipped out of his grip to fall to the floor in front of him and screamed, “Elsa!”
She began to cry unrestrainedly and her body shook with helpless sorrow. Kristoff immediately knelt beside her and tried to comfort her in some way. Mattias watched helplessly as his queen let it all out. Halima took his hand and sobbed. Many Northuldra had rushed by the noise and watched in dismay. Olaf looked sadly over from Anna to the kota. He could not understand what was going on. Then he made a decision, walked towards the entrance of the hut and entered the inside.
It lasted only a few moments then a scream came out of the kota. “Ahhh ... get out! Help me! Get this thing out of here! Don't touch me! Get away! Get out of here!”
All heads went around startled and even Anna stared at the hut in disbelief. Seconds later the entrance opened and Olaf came out backwards. He turned around with his head down, walked a few steps and abruptly dropped to the ground. Then he started to move his body slowly back and forth. Over and over again.
Snowmen can't cry but with Olaf everyone had the impression he did now.
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Anna grabbed Kristoff's hand and he helped her to rise. Then she went over to Olaf and took him in her arms. He needed comfort now, more than ever, and she hoped a warm hug from his best friend would help him. At first he did not react. His pain was just too great. Then he nestled his head on Anna's shoulder and began to speak softly.
“I don't understand this, Anna. How can Mom forget me? She's never yelled at me before.”
Again tears began to stream down Anna's face and she squeezed her eyes shut, hugging Olaf a little tighter. Olaf had never called Elsa that before! But he was right. Elsa had never yelled at anyone before. Never! Something had changed her. It wasn't just her memory loss or the fact that her skin was so unusually warm. It was almost as if she had become a different person.
Mattias gently squeezed Kristoff's shoulder and pulled him aside. “Let's leave the two of them alone and calm down a bit first. We need to talk.”
Kristoff nodded and they sat down together with Halima at the next campfire. “How could all this have happened. What can we do?” Kristoff looked at both of them for help.
Mattias hadn't known Elsa and the others for very long, so he was the only one in the group who could see the events emotionally at a distance and remained calm and composed. Not least because of his age and his background.
“I experienced something similar once before, with a soldier with a severe head injury. He couldn't remember anything afterwards, not even his own name. It took a very long time and was a difficult healing process, but little by little his memories came back.”
Kristoff started to answer when Yelana came out of the darkness to her crackling fire and sat down between him and Mattias. Everyone looked at her eagerly.
“You want answers and you are seeking for a solution. Unfortunately I cannot give you one. Even our healer has never experienced such a thing and is at the end of her abilities. But I can tell you what happened before you arrived.” And so she told them everything she knew and left out no detail, including the disappearance of the spirits and that Elsa's magic was apparently gone as well.
“We must take Elsa back to Arendelle. The more things she sees there from her past, the sooner her memories will hopefully return,” Mattias noted at the end of Yelana's report. “However, we should be careful that as few people as possible become aware of this. This whole thing could leave us vulnerable if details get out beyond Arendelle's borders.”
“Vulnerable?” wondered Kristoff.
Mattias looked at him with a serious look, “Elsa's magic and her status as Fifth Spirit. If it became known that she no longer possessed either, then ...”, he left the sentence open.
Kristoff couldn't imagine exactly what Mattias was thinking about, but nodded slowly. It was probably best to keep everything as secret as possible for now.
“I will ride back to Arendelle with Halima in the early morning and bring back a few reliable men and an inconspicuous means of transport. I will think of a reason for this and also bring a suitable disguise for Elsa. There's nothing we can do at the moment, so perhaps we should get some sleep.” At this, he looked questioningly at Yelana.
“I have already made sure that everything is prepared. The two kotas over there will be at your disposal for the next few days.” she replied and pointed in that direction.
Finally they all rose together and Kristoff looked over to Anna who was still cradling Olaf in her arms.
“Oh Anna!” he whispered and slowly walked over to her.
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Kristoff managed with a lot of feeling and gentle words to get Anna and Olaf to go to one of the provided kotas for the night. He opened the flap and held it open for them. Inside the kota there were two very comfortable looking beds, which were covered with plenty of furs. Anna had to pull up her nose involuntarily when she entered and an intense reindeer smell hit her. She was used to Kristoff's odor, but this was different and almost took her breath away at first.
Kristoff didn't seem to mind when she turned to him, and he just closed the flap behind him with a motionless expression.
“Can you ... ,” she asked and nodded towards the entrance.
He raised his eyebrows, but then understood. “Uh ... yes of course. Sorry, I hadn't thought of that.” He fastened the flap to the outer sling and then came back in. A gentle night breeze blew through the inside and let Anna breathe a sigh of relief.
He let her choose one of the beds and Anna sat down on the front edge of one of them. Olaf pulled down one of the furs and lay wordlessly at the foot end. Anna looked over at Kristoff, who stood there undecidedly. Finally he sat down opposite her. For a moment there was an uncomfortable silence.
Then Anna said softly, “Remember when we talked about my past as a child?” He confirmed with a nod.
She let out a long sigh, “Well, I thought of that because of the similar situation with Elsa now and that I still can't remember by myself what happened to me that night when Grand Pabbie simply took away my childhood memories with Elsa's magic. Elsa told me everything a few years ago and helped me to visualize it. For that, I am infinitely grateful to her.”
Kristoff nodded, “Yes, I understand very well what you mean. I remember that it was pure coincidence that I followed this ice track that one of your parents' horses pulled behind it and that I was hidden behind a rock when I watched everything. I mean, I grew up with the trolls, but I had never seen this ability with Grand Pabbie before or known about it. To witness what he did with you and to see his visions about Elsa scared me a lot.” Kristoff was caught up in his memories for a moment. Then he shook his head. “But let's stop thinking about it. We better should go to sleep now.”
Anna quietly agreed, “Yes, you're certainly right. Let's better go to sleep.”
~~~
Kristoff lay awake for a long time, pondering her words and today's events. Pale moonlight flooded in from above and enveloped the kota in a diffuse light. Anna had a restless sleep as he could tell by the creaking of the bed. He looked over to her. Anna rolled back and forth, her breath went in jerks, her body twitched in her dream. Then she screamed out loud. Kristoff jumped out of bed and hurried to her.
“Anna!” He wiped away a tear with his thumb and stroked her cheek. She woke up, still breathing heavily, and looked at him.
“Please stay with me tonight,” she whispered and moved aside a little. He hesitated a moment, but then lay down next to her gently. Anna snuggled up against him.
“Thank you,” she breathed.
“Sorry to wake you, but you had a bad dream and you even screamed.”
Anna hesitated a bit before answering him, “I dreamed about the cave. Where Olaf had dissolved in my arms. At that moment I believed ... I knew that Elsa hadn't made it, that she had gone too far. Everyone I loved had left me. I felt so lost, Kristoff. I don't know where I found the strength to get back up again. Honestly, nothing was the same anymore. I was so alone. It felt like I was the last person in this now-desolate world.” She paused, and Kristoff heard more than he saw in the dark, that she was crying again. “The way Elsa is now, it feels worse for me, as if she had died!” Kristoff swallowed hard. He was afraid of the next two days and how they would change his Anna.
“My bright star has gone. I have lost her,” she mumbled softly after a few moments before falling asleep again.
~~~
The next morning brought light rain and it had become quite cool. The sky showed grey clouds and the usually so friendly looking forest lay in grey shadows. The camp was quiet and not many of the Northuldra were on their way yet. Mattias was just about to saddle the horses when Kristoff, Anna and Olaf stepped out of the kota. Halima stood next to him and they talked quietly together.
Anna immediately cast an uncertain glance over to Elsa's cabin, while Kristoff walked over to the two as soon as he noticed them.
“Good morning, General ... Halima,” he said and nodded to them.
“Well, it could be a little better, Kristoff,” Mattias replied with a grin and wiped the raindrops from his face with one hand while holding the reins of the two horses with the other one.
“Morning, Kristoff. How is Queen Anna doing?” asked Halima and looked over to her.
“She's fine, but her sleep was restless,” Kristoff replied. All three looked over to her now and Mattias noticed the direction in which she still was looking.
“Take good care of our queen, Kristoff. All this has taken quite a toll on her and she now needs rest and someone to comfort her with attention. I'm convinced, you are the best man for that.”
“This of course is, General Mattias, thank you. Take good care of yourself on the way back. I'll see you in about two days.”
Mattias gave Kristoff a friendly slap on the shoulder. “We will. We'll hurry.” Then he helped Halima into the saddle and led both horses over to Anna and Olaf. He bowed respectfully to Anna. Halima did the same from the top of the horse. Anna looked at them and the horses in astonishment.
“You are leaving us already?”
“Good morning, Your Majesty, excuse our behaviour, but yes, we don't want to lose any time and want to be back here as soon as possible. Last night we all agreed that we want to bring Elsa back to Arendelle. Unfortunately there's not much we can do for her here now, but the doctors at home will surely find a solution. Kristoff knows all the details of our plan. Rest now, and don't grieve. Kristoff, Yelana and Honeymaren will take care of everything you need. Please do not worry. We'll be back in two days.”
Anna nodded wordlessly and he got on his horse in relief, turning it towards the big clearing. Then they both rode off, waving goodbye one last time. Kristoff stepped beside Anna, put an arm around her and they watched the horses disappear between the trees.
“It's gonna be all right, Anna.”
~~~
---
I hope you have enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a comment if you liked the story, I would be pleased to read your opinions, even criticisms. If you want to be tagged as soon I publish the next chapter please let me know.
Tagging: @karma26 @whether-near-to-me-or-far @annaofthenorthernlights
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Iduna, Elsa, Anna, and the 4 spirits
After several days of contemplating the story line of Frozen 2, I think I finally get the whole story. Well… this is still categorize as theory though, but as always, I will share my thoughts here.
I think Iduna and Gale’s roles are very important as the base story for Frozen 2
And I’m amazed how the animators managed to portrayed the spirits as ‘human’ as possible, with their distinctive recognizable traits.
Spoiler… spoiler….
Iduna, as a Northruldan, seems have a very close relationship with Gale, the wind spirits. (Gale seems like the kinder, easy going and friendlier spirits, who also very agile, and loves to play). We can see how they played around in the past sequences. Gale even help Iduna saves a boy, who actually was the “enemy”, and pushed them to safety, out of the forest border (I think the ‘ah-ah-ah’ calling voice is how Iduna ‘talks’ to Gale). I believe, even tough Gale was also trapped inside the forest, being “a” wind, he (I assume the spirits are all a “he” for my convenient writing purposes, btw) able to check on Iduna from time to time. Thus he can sense that Iduna has 2 daughters, one of whom, possessed the special “keys”, to lift the curse, as a gift for the good Iduna has done in the past. Gale didn’t exactly know which of the two daughters has the power tough.
Now the movie itself didn’t show how Iduna and Agnarr met, but from the trailer, we did see that Gale seems also playing with Agnarr. I presume, from that brief interaction, Iduna could tell that Agnarr was different from his Father (more on the curious side, rather than on the fear side, when interact with magic), and Gale agreed with her. Now, for the sake of drama, what if Iduna was the daughter of the Northuldran leader that was killed by Agnarr’s father? This will emphasize Iduna’s good deed even more, IMO. I wished the movie would showed us a little more of Iduna and Agnarr encounter. Anyway, from those tiny tidbits we get from the movie, I could assume that Agnarr didn’t remember who his saviour was. And Iduna choose to keep silent and prefer to build their relationship the ‘slow burn’ way. And of course (for the sake of the story) at the end, Agnarr choose Iduna to be his queen.
That until the first Frozen incident, that make Elsa need to be isolated. As the mother, Iduna have always known that Elsa is special. And obviously it really pained her to see her eldest daughter “suffer” because of her power, instead of embracing it. But even though she’s a Northuldran, it didn’t make her understand what the spirit’s good deed right away. I even think that Iduna actually forgot and never thought of it. Until the night her husband decide to tell a story about an Enchanted Forest, and she was asked to sing an old lullaby, that the “eureka” come to her mind, The brief scene of memories at Athohallan, where Iduna finally want to confess something to Agnarr, which he reply with ‘I’m listening’, make me believe that it was Iduna’s idea for them to travel North, to find Athohallan, in order to understand Elsa’s power and what purpose it held, so that Elsa will not suffer anymore. Because I believe, deep down in her heart, Iduna knows that whatever power Elsa has, is for great and good purpose. And of course, as every mother in this world, she only want the best for the daughter, and if to understand the purpose of Elsa’s power she have to travel North and face danger itself, she will do it. As good husband, of course Agnarr won’t let his wife travel alone, and went with her.
Unfortunately, the Nokk didn’t feels them worthy to step foot at the Athohallan, and drowned them. (I see Nokk as the more powerful, strict, by the book, will perfectly do his job, as the guardian of Athohallan. Thus only they who managed to survive his brutal test are allowed to step foot at Athohallan). But, being the place for spirits, Iduna’s spirit managed to get there in a way. And she finally understand what Elsa’s power is needed. Then her spirit wait, and in one way, start to send ‘voice signal’ to call Elsa to go to Athohallan.
The message was never delivered though, as Athohallan was a mystical place. That is until, Elsa unleashed her power in large scale (the eternal winter, the “Let it go” sequence). Such enormous power can be sensed by the spirits. And Gale might be the one to take action. After all, I presume he can sense Iduna’s call (the very same, very familiar ‘ah-ah-ah’ call). And starting from the end of Frozen 1, in 3 years time, he keep pushing the call towards Arendelle, hoping it was heard by whomever the message was sent for. Somehow, I feel Gale did this behind other spirit’s back (particularly Nokk, whom I see as the “leader” and the most “strict” of them all).
Thus he always checks from time to time, whether someone answered Iduna’s call. Somehow he can senses Iduna’s daughter. And because Anna is portrayed to inherited more of Iduna’s trait, I think Gale assume Anna would be the one who answered the call. There’s a scene where a wind carries a maple leave tickles Anna’s shoulder, when she was walking towards Olaf. And then the wind also whirled around Olaf. I think, it’s Gale sensing the two daughters of Iduna. (With Olaf carrying Elsa’s ‘magic’ sense), And that he is expecting someone to react to the call.
And then, one night, finally Elsa answered the call, and activated the rune crystals (Into The Unknown sequence). This summoning of the runes outside of the enchanted forest, enraged the spirits, and they intent to find whomever responsible for conjuring the runes, outside of the forest, without full knowledge of how to respect/use the power of the runes. On the other hand, Gale sense this as the sign he was waiting for. And being the spirit himself, he actually knows what need to be done to repair the past mistakes (destroying of the dam), and what will be the consequences (destruction of Arendelle). Considering his friendship with Iduna, and that those people lived in Arendelle were her beloved subjects, he took action. Unlike other spirits who immediately retract their powers, Gale pushed all living being outside of Arendelle (we clearly see him pushing Sven out of his stall), towards the higher ground.
Somehow, I think the one Elsa sensed as good (”Whoever calling me was good. My magic can sense it”) was Gale that has been delivering Iduna’s call. Elsa’s magic could sense Gale, because it came from the same source. Much grander, and different kind than Grand Pabbie’s, which make him didn’t managed to decipher the signs, even from Frozen 1, despite his good intention. But Pabbie’s managed to understand how grand the scale is, which leads him to warn Anna.
Then the main cast embark to their journey, and arrive at the forest’s border. The barrier open upon Elsa’s touch, under the spirits’ command. I guess, the spirits’ want to know who dare to conjure the runes, at the same time curious as why the person outside of the forest managed to do so, at the same time they want to test whether the person worthy of such power. Because, they must already know about the ‘bridge’/ the fifth element, that was needed to repair the past.
The first spirit to greet the group is of course, Gale, who’s very excited to finally able to ‘meet’ Iduna’s daughters. He even pushed the group to walk faster, cause he can’t wait any longer to greet them. Upon viewing that there’re actually 5 of them, he’s confused to decide which one of them possess the ‘key’. We can see how curious he is, as he often come and go near the group. Gale is not alone at this time. Bruni is also shown to be very curious at this outsider who step foot in their forest (and of course the Northruldan also sneaking around them). For a moment, these spirits move around Olaf, cause he’s the one ‘radiating’ magical sense for being an animated snowman. (Yes, including Nokk. As stoic as he is, he can’t stop his curiosity to see who are these people. But when he was met face to face with Olaf, he’s so surprised that he neigh and fled XD)
At certain point, Gale became impatient,and decided to swoop them up in a tornado, making this his ‘trial’, to see who actually hold the special ‘key’. I can see that Gale meant no harm when swooping the group up. The branch that nearly hit Anna wasn’t meant to hurt her. And lucky for him, at this time Elsa’s react to protect her sister, and thus confirming that she’s the one Gale’s been searching for. Thus he ‘spat’ the other party, and start the real “trial” to see how strong Elsa is. While at the same time, he’s trying to give as many message as possible to Elsa, which leads to the making of ice statues. Gale redeem Elsa’s worthy immediately of course. She’s Iduna’s daughter after all :) We can see his friendly trait right after the ‘trial’ has finished. He prank Kristoff, Sven, and Olaf, did an extra prank for Anna (whom he see really looks like Iduna), and did tiny prank to Elsa (cause he respect her).
During this time, Bruni was watching from the side. Then the gang encounter the Northruldan, and explain to them. He watched all the scene before him as quiet as possible. But then, Yelena said ‘We only will accept what the nature choose’. This clearly surprised him. (It’s kinda like “when you’re dozing off in class then suddenly the teacher point of you” kind of surprise) Thus his power blow out of control. Bruni panicking. And it cause the flame to grow even larger. I see Bruni as the ‘youngest’ of the spirit, and thus has less control of the flames, even more so when his emotion are not in control. Kinda like Elsa was in frozen 1.
Elsa senses this in away, and even though perhaps she thought this is the trial of the flame (which I think Bruni will said so if asked, so that he doesn’t look like he didn’t have full control of the flame), she accept the challenge, and put down the flames and even run after Bruni until he was trapped and has nowhere to go. But then, Bruni see that Elsa meant no harm, and in certain way, understand his current position (often misunderstood). And even further, Elsa’s the only one who could hold him (and her hand felt nice and cold). He befriend Elsa immediately. And so are the Northruldan.
During the camp, at night, we see how the Earth Giant came to the camp. From the conversation, this event is unusual. That’s because the Giant also sense Elsa’s power, and curious to see what cause the disturbances in the soil of Enchanted Forest. Somehow, I see the Giants as the slower type of spirit (slow in movement, and slow in deduction ability, just like the trait of earth). He’s slow in sensing Elsa’s power entering the forest, and slow in reacting to it, and couldn’t care less when at the end he didn’t managed to find the source, that they went off just like that.
The sisters saw this from different perspective, and decided that to not endangered the Northruldans, they decide to continue their journey right away. Lead by Bruni and Gale. Gale then showed the sister, the wreck of their parent’s ship. And by Elsa’s power, they finally know what happened to their parents, albeit a very horrifying truth that is. This leads Elsa to go and challenged Nokk by herself, and pushed Anna to ‘safety’.
The Nokk trial is, IMO, the most difficult and brutal trial Elsa have to conquer. Afterall, he’s a perfectionist, and very confident in his prowess, that he even ‘look down’ towards Elsa.
Never before we saw a ‘princess’ being drowned, thrown, splashed by giant waves, and dragged around under the sea, like Elsa before. And I love how badass Elsa was portrayed in this scene. (Apparently this scene already thought from the very beginning by the story creator, and what shaped the whole movie story. Amazing!). And when Elsa managed to tame the Nokk, is the moment that Nokk acknowledge her power, and thus pledge his loyalty to serve Elsa in fulfilling her destiny, and keeps her safe. After the trial, Nokk accompanies Elsa and help her reach the Athohallan, bow, and wait for her. (Horse is a very loyal animal after all). When Elsa’s thawed and thrown to the sea, he immediately took action and took Elsa to safety. This picture really shows Nokk loyalty towards Elsa (he deliberately keep Elsa’s face above water, so she wouldn’t get drown. But unfortunatelly this concept art didn’t make it to the movie). And then Nokk gives all his power to take Elsa to Arendelle as fast as he can, so that Elsa could stop the tidal wave. This Nokk development is my favorite :D
Meanwhile, Anna’s encounter with the Giants make her the ‘conqueror’ of the earth element. After standing up from her grief (which is my favorite Anna moment in the whole movie, that make me really proud of her), she took action by ‘manipulating’ the Giants to fulfill her goal. Now the Giant’s reaction is interesting to see. At first noticing Anna, his reaction was like “oh, so this is the one disturbing the peace! Get out! Get out!!”. Thus the Giants chase Anna (and Kristoff and Sven) around, throwing boulders. They even target Anna when she was standing at the dam. But noticed that the moment they understand what Anna make them do, and see that they nearly put Anna’s life in danger, they stop. Being one of the spirit, they must’ve known that the dam need to be destroyed, to restore peace and fixed the past. They really stop mid-throwing. And the look at their faces, it’s like “Oh…. ooohh… so that’s what you’re trying to do…. Oops… didn’t meant to hurt you”. (Like I said, they’re slow ^^;). And by the end of the movie, when Anna reunited with Elsa, we saw the giant standing there with his ‘guilty’ face, bowing towards the sisters, as if saying “Sorry……” (Awww…..)
I love how subtle the connection between Iduna’s past, the sisters bond, Elsa’s power, and the characterization of the nature’s spirits being portrayed in this Frozen 2. Even tough I need more time to contemplate this connections (and certainly the younger kids wouldn’t be able to grasp yet), which make Frozen 2 “harder to chew”, this make me love the movie even more. I think I’ll watch it again in the cinema XD.
anyway, if you managed to come to this end, Thank you for reading my super hella long theory. Sorry for grammar mistakes. I hope you understand what I’m trying to say, and hope to hear more from you and all Frozen fans out there :)
#frozen2#frozen 2#elsa#anna#spirits#frozen 2 spoilers#frozen2 spoiler#spoilers#spoiler#theory#analysis#my analysis
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Frozen III plot / fanfic
I have read many opinions about Frozen II in the last half year, many of them very contradictory and almost dividing the Frozen fandom. So it took me a while to put everything together to form a personal overall picture. Many people know that I’m an F3 supporter and after a post from yesterday about Elsa’s humanity and how the makers of Frozen see her, an idea came to my mind. This idea would solve many problems and questions and finally bring Elsa back to Arendelle and to Anna. Furthermore, this idea holds a lot of fuel and possibilities for a full-length film with many flashbacks and plots for really every one of our beloved characters. Everyone would get their money’s worth without it getting boring at any time.
It’s been a long time since I tried writing and I’m not good at it. But the form of a ficlet seemed to me to be the most suitable to convey an F3 plot idea with much tension in it. Maybe one of my favourite writers or anyone who would like to dare to take up my idea and write a real fanfic with several chapters. I would be the first who would like to read it!
I hope you like my idea.
Big thanks to @fericita-s for beta reading and correcting my text and also for making me aware of a big logical problem that i had overseen! After one sleepy night i solved this issue and now my movie plot idea is even better than before :-)
The story takes place shortly after the events of the reunion and afterwards in the Enchanted Forest…
Of course it had taken a while until the people of Arendelle understood everything, until they accepted the new friends in the far north and the abdication of their queen. It has taken a while before Anna herself was ready to take on the mantle.
In her new role as Fifth Spirit, accompanied by Gale and Nokk, Elsa was quickly accepted by the Arendellians. Most were grateful after witnessing the rescue of the castle. Some of them, however, were afraid of so much power in their midst.
Elsa noticed this very quickly and decided to limit her future visits to what was necessary and to enter the castle without being seen.
The official coronation took place in the castle chapel, where all the kings and queens had been crowned. When the choir finished singing, the bishop carefully put the new crown on Anna and she received Arendelle’s insignia from the velvet cushion. Then she turned to her people with pride and dignity.
Elsa was in exactly the same place where Anna had been during her own coronation. Anna was calm and composed during the whole ceremony. Fear had almost overwhelmed Elsa. She saw in her memory the ice that slowly formed on the scepter and orb as clearly as if it had been yesterday.
As the applause broke out she smiled at Anna. She was so proud of her little sister. Anna looked over at her for a moment and smiled back in relief. Then she carefully put the insignia back on the pillow. She had made it through. She was now Queen of Arendelle.
As they left the chapel in a royal recessional past an overjoyed looking Kristoff, the enthusiastically clapping people of Arendelle, the invited guests and dignitaries, Elsa involuntarily drew a comparison. There seemed to be far more people present than at her own coronation. Some representatives of the Northuldra were even present including Yelana and Honeymaren in their traditional colourful festive dress, now bowing to both of them. The people loved Anna. And Elsa was happy to have made the right decision for both of them and for the kingdom.
The Coronation Ball in the evening was cheerful and exuberant. Every dignitary paid respects to the new queen. She was glad that the Duke of Weselton was not invited this time and that she did not have to dance with him. This time she could choose her own dance partner and she chose Kristoff. As a precaution she had arranged for Kristoff to get some dance lessons a few weeks before. She still remembered too well how Weselton stepped on her feet back then and Kristoff was a good deal bigger and heavier.
***
Anna, with Elsa’s help, had commissioned the royal sculptor to create a large bronze statue. She wanted to show her parents at a young age, as a monument and eternal symbol of the peace between Arendelle and the Northuldra. Elsa would not be able to be present in person, but she gave her promise to visit regularly.
Anna’s second official act was to appoint Lt. Destin Mattias as General. He had been loyal to Arendelle all his life and was instrumental in helping her break the curse of the mist. Ultimately, it was Mattias who reached for her hand at the very last moment to save her from falling into the depths of the breaking dam, saving her life.
Together with Kristoff, of course, and that brought Anna to her next thought. She had been overjoyed to accept Kristoff’s marriage proposal and that would be the next big event in Arendelle. Her own wedding. But first she wanted to unveil the monument. The sculptor had promised her that it would be finished very soon.
***
Peace had returned to the Enchanted Forest. The Northuldra lived their lives as before, in harmony with the Spirits of Nature. The giants helped the inhabitants over abysses, Nokk helped a bit with fishing, Gale, playful as she was, helped to convert creative ideas into stone sculptures, and Bruni was content to help start cookfires and clear areas with fire as needed for growing food or reindeer herding.
Elsa had her own kota in the village, but she spent most of her time in Ahtohallan to learn and find out more about the past and about herself and her magic. She even finds out more about Kristoff's past. The only thing she knew about him was that he has been raised by trolls and learned to be an ice harvester. But now she knows everything. About his parents and what happened to them, and also the circumstances around why Kristoff ended up among the trolls.
One balmy early summer evening she sat with Honeymaren and a few others around the campfire in the village and told them a little bit about Ahtohallan. Everyone was quite curious about it because not one of the Northuldra living today had ever seen it.
At first she decided to reveal only a little of the deeper secrets there and limited herself to the description of the place itself. She wasn’t sure if this would anger the spirits but assumed that she would quickly notice when trouble was approaching. The Northuldra hung on her every word while she talked and now and then someone asked her for more details. But Elsa left out the pictures in the memory hall and the deeper levels of Ahtohallan with the living ice sculptures of her own past. That was a bit too private and perhaps risky.
Now that she had accepted her ability and her new task as Fifth Spirit, she hardly thought back to her old life in Arendelle. In the beginning she was there every Friday and sometimes stayed over the weekend to be with Anna and help her with her new duties as Queen, but she had changed. Something had changed her. And it became rarer and rarer for Elsa to visit the castle.
Eventually it even became rare to find her in the forest.
The Spirits were appeased and there were no threats and no strangers in the forest. Everything was calm and in harmony. It was almost as if it had never been otherwise. Many peaceful weeks passed.
Until that one day in the early hours of the morning, when one of the Northuldra men was about to go fishing and he found a human lying at the beach motionless half in the water. The man ran back to the village to get help.
A short time later he returned with Yelana, Honeymaren, and a healer. They took in the sight before them and drew back in shock. In front of them lay Elsa, motionless and without any clothes.
The healer was the first to kneel down next to her and check if she was still alive. She confirmed it to Yelena with a relieved nod and together they carried her back to the forest.
When they arrived in the village there was excitement and a small group discussed gesticulating and pointing towards the lichen meadows and other directions. The only thing they understood in the tangle of stories was, that the spirits had apparently all disappeared and were no longer helping anyone as they always did.
Yelana immediately linked the two incidents and came up with the only possible explanation. Elsa was on her way back to them when all the Spirits suddenly disappeared, and so did Nokk. So Elsa must have swum almost all the way from Ahtohallan through the Dark Sea. A wonder she could survive that at all. If the magic disappeared, this could only mean one thing.
***
Meanwhile, Anna was seriously worried in Arendelle. It had been more than a month since Elsa’s last letter and since then Gale hadn’t shown up either.
Even Olaf had been acting very strange lately, insisting they remove the ice embellishments from the castle and find more “Anna” decorations. He was also uncharacteristically calm. He didn’t visit Sven as often anymore and his curiosity and jokes had become rare.
Anna made a decision. If Elsa did not come to her, she would have to travel to the Enchanted Forest herself. She asked Kristoff to gather all the necessary material and asked General Mattias to accompany her. He agreed as long as he could bring Halima.
Anna agreed and the next day they all left very early in the morning for the north. Sven pulled the wagon, Kristoff sat in the front and Olaf sat in the back next to Anna. Mattias and Halima rode side by side on two of their own horses behind them. Since there was peace between the Northuldra and the Arendellians, they declined a retinue of guards. It was supposed to be a comfortable trip with a reunion of old friends in the Enchanted Forest.
Late in the evening they reached the four big monoliths at the edge of the forest and the sun was already setting. They got out of the wagon and Mattias helped Halima dismount. Everyone was in a good mood and grabbed the contents from the wagon. There were presents for the Northuldra and specialties from Arendelle for a small feast in the village. They had barely finished when a few Northuldra with serious expressions ran towards them and asked them to hurry. Something bad had happened. Anna held on to Kristoff in shock and said only one word. “Elsa!”
When they entered the village there was an oppressive silence and many lowered their eyes as they passed by. Honeymaren ran towards Anna, bowed briefly to the queen and took her hand.
Anna’s lips trembled as they looked into each other’s eyes for a brief moment. Finally Honeymaren pulled Anna gently behind her towards Elsa’s kota and said softly to her that Anna had to be strong now. They entered the low and gloomy dwelling. Then Anna saw her sister lying on a bed lined with furs, her eyes open. Anna rushed towards her, kneeled beside the bed and grabbed Elsa’s hand. She was unusually warm, but did not return her gentle grip. Elsa just looked up and did not react in the slightest. Anna laid both hands on Elsa’s cheeks and gently turned her head towards her. Their eyes met.
“Elsa! What has happened? What is the matter with you?”
Agonizing seconds went by.
Elsa blinked a few times and then tightened her eyebrows.
Her voice was weak and sounded fragile when she finally replied, “Who are you?”
***
—
Ok, there were or are some difficulties for me to bring some facts together and explain them conclusively. One of them is the loss of Elsa’s powers and what would happen to her creations. Olaf, the Snowgies and Marshmallow in particular. It was simple and easy to do with Elsa’s ice decorations at the castle (if it should be Elsa’s suggestion or Anna’s decision as new Queen i’m not sure about). Arendelle and especially Anna must not notice in the story too early that Elsa is now a “normal” person. But the other thing? That Ahtohallan is the reason should be clear, after all that was the source of Elsa’s power. But what happens when all the magic vanishes? Would Ahtohallan have a remaining residual magic to ensure the continued existence of Elsa’s living creations? Or would Elsa possess some kind of residual magic that she can no longer use willingly, but is still a deep part of herself? The other thing is how would it be possible to bring back the magic or to "heal" Ahtohallan? Would this be permanent? Would it be wanted? Questions over questions and this time Ahtohallan doesn't know (pun intended...LOL).
Well, the rest of the story remains to be determined…
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It's really impressive that Elsa used magic on Anna three times in the movie without being scared about it for a second. Like, she has come FROM SO FAR, I'm so proud.??
She shot a floating branch (when Gale attacked) that was super close to Anna's head without thinking about possibly hurting her; she slammed her foot and shot a huge beam of energy forward to save Anna (when Bruni attacked) without thinking about accidentally freezing her in the process; and when she sent Olaf and Anna away on that ice canoe, she didn't even have to check either the canoe or the slipping track - she locked eyes with Anna the whole time as a sorry.
Also she did those 3 things effortlessly. WE STAN CHARACTER GROWTH AND HEALING
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Me, two days ago: I’m so sad, man. Not sure if I’ll EVER MAKE FROZEN STUFF AGAIN. Old Frozen Fandom Favs: We gotchu, fam. Me, through grateful tears: THANK YOU.
(Spoilers, obvs.)
...
Every date book, ledger, almanac, and to-do list in the castle has Fridays marked off in the brightest red ink that Kai could procure; the bold red text is also accompanied by some hard-to-decipher sketches, as Olaf has been dabbling in Realism, of late, and insists on practicing portraiture whenever and wherever possible.
(Much to the chagrin of Gregers, who is in charge of maintaining the main floor parlors. I appreciate the generous offer, Olaf...but, no, we cannot relocate the portrait of King Hakon the First to make room for your...ah, hrm...art.)
Anna regards the collection of papers on the desk with a smile, because out of the corner of her eye, she can see the bright red letters nearly crowding out the date marker.
FAMILY GAME NIGHT!
Olaf shuffles in, a bundle of papers tucked under one twig arm, his snowy brow furrowed.
“Any luck this time?” Anna asks brightly, already knowing the answer.
Olaf tosses the stack of papers on top of the other papers on the desk, and Anna chuckles, rolling her eyes as she scoots them off to one side.
“Gregers just can’t appreciate my vision,” he explains with a dramatic sigh, before throwing himself on a nearby chaise. “He doesn’t understand that I use the cathartic release of creative expression to cope with my bludgeoning maturity and creeping existential dread.”
Anna sifts through the stack of drawings, taking time to examine each one thoroughly, “Artists are often unappreciated in their time,” she tells him. “...I think you mean burgeoning.”
“Oh, right!” Olaf exclaims, hopping upright, all moodiness forgotten. “Burgeoning, of course.”
“Oooh, I like this one!” Anna extracts a still-dripping painting that is an interesting collection of swirled colors and...some oddly-shaped dark lumps in the middle.
“You have an excellent eye,” Olaf says, smoothing his previous exuberance into an exaggerated air of refinement. He clasps his stick hands behind his back and saunters over, gesturing to the runny paint. “It’s a commentary on planned obsolescence in industry and economics.”
Anna squints.
“...It kinda looked like a family portrait, to me.”
Olaf hops up on the desk, and squints with her.
“Oh, yeah,” he says after a moment. “This is my scathing indictment on the waste hierarchy,” he gestures to another equally drippy drawing. “That one’s a family portrait. You can tell because Sven’s right there!”
He indicates one of the larger blobs, and Anna nods.
“Thought so.”
“I’m gonna go show Kristoff!” Olaf declares, reaching for the pile. It’s then that Anna sees the paint trail that Olaf has left behind him, and thinks of poor Kai.
“Um, maybe we should let them dry a little more, Olaf,” Anna suggests, gathering her skirt and stooping to try and rub out a puddle of blue paint. She panics a little as she makes it worse, and decides to slide the rug over the offending spot. “You can show Kristoff later tonight. And Elsa, too!”
Olaf gasps excitedly. “Elsa!” He exclaims, leaping from the desk. “Is it Friday already?! It haunts me...the passage of time...” He intones, before beaming broadly. “Is she bringing Bruni?”
“Proooooobably not,” Anna says, taking a seat back at the desk. Olaf waddles over and reaches out his arms, a silent request. Anna obliges, pulling him up so that he’s seated on her lap, and can look at the date book when she pulls it over. “Kai...didn’t appreciate what Bruni did to the dining hall wall hangings.”
Olaf giggles at the memory.
“That fire was huge.”
“A ‘colossal conflagration’,” Anna agrees, smiling as Olaf excitedly repeats the phrase, vowing to add it to his vocabulary...maybe ‘sprinkle it into casual conversation.’ He’s going to share it with Elsa tonight, certainly.
He goes on, and Anna listens, though admittedly her mind is wandering...thinking of the strange new shape their lives have taken. It’s a good strange! ...Most of the time. She loves the challenge that each new day brings--new problems to solve and new people to talk to. She marvels at how easy it was to slip into the role of Queen--something she’d never even considered, and yet...feels like such a natural fit.
But of course. Some days drag. Some challenges feel less like mountains to scale, and more like storms to be weathered. It frustrates her--she’ll pace and ramble and, Kristoff, can you beLIEVE these tariffs? Maybe we could live without salt. We could do that, right? Wait, no, how would we pickle anything.
Which is why she loves Fridays--she can take a break, spend the afternoon with Kristoff, critique Olaf’s latest artistic endeavor...and of course, as the shadows grow longer, and the lamplighters take to the town square, there’s the promise of game night, and with it?
A visit from Elsa.
And speaking of...Anna can hear the window panes rattle as a breeze blows through. Not just any breeze, though.
“Gale!” Olaf says, wiggling his way off of Anna’s lap and onto the floor. He hurries to the window and grins in greeting at the swirl of leaves. “So good to see you! How’ve you been? What are your thoughts on Turner’s use of light as relates to his preferred subject matter, namely, big boats?”
Anna shakes her head, and leaves Olaf to talk to the...leaves. She finds Kristoff already out in the hall, Sven close behind.
“Hey, have you seen the hourglass anywhere?” he asks as they head for the stairs. Sven grunts, seeming to echo Kristoff’s question. “It wasn’t in the study, and Sven said he didn’t take it down to the stables.”
“I’m pretty sure it ended up in the southern courtyard,” Anna tells him. Kristoff slowly nods.
“Oh...right. After it went through the window.”
“Uh-huh.”
It had been...a very intense game of charades.
Kristoff and Sven turn down another hall, heading for the courtyard. Anna approaches the main foyer, and waves Kai off, who is already halfway there.
“I got it, I got,” Anna assures him, as she does every week. He smiles and steps back, allowing the queen to pass, and open the doors wide.
“Els--” Anna starts to say, “...Uuuuhhhh?”
“Hi, Anna,” Elsa waves in greeting.
Or. At least. Anna...thinks it’s Elsa. It certainly sounds like Elsa, but.
“What. What am I looking at, here?” Anna asks, and she can hear Kai guffaw behind her.
Elsa looks down at herself, and Anna thinks maybe she’s wearing a sheepish expression, but it’s hard to say.
Hard to say, because Elsa is covered, head-to-toe, in brightly-colored autumn leaves.
“Oh. This?”
“What do you mean oh this? Of course this!” Anna says, but she’s laughing, circling her sister, taking in every inch of the outrageous sight before her. “What did you do? Bring the whole North Woods with you?”
“Bruni and I were exploring this morning,” Elsa explains, trying to shake off some of the offending foliage. Anna can just about see an elbow in there. “There was a...bug.”
“A bug.”
“That we hadn’t seen before.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And. We followed it.”
“Into a pile of leaves?”
“Well, no.”
“No?”
“The leaves came later.”
“Ah.”
Elsa’s still trying to get rid of the leaves, but to no avail. Anna smiles and helps, but not before shaking her head in wonder.
Because so many things have changed--and not just any changes. Big, intimidating changes.
But the little things. Like Kristoff’s large, calloused hand around her own, when they walk along the mountain trails together in mid-morning, like Olaf’s delighted laugh when Sven steals his carrot nose at the dinner table...
Like Elsa’s boundless curiosity, and her warm, welcome, hugs.
Those things never change.
(...Well. Elsa’s hug is quite a bit leafy, this time.)
#stranger writes#frozen fic#long post#frozen 2#frozen 2 spoilers#anna#elsa#still don't know how I feel about this movie#but I DO know that I love these characters#so here we go
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Frozen drabbles
It was well established that every Friday night was game night. Charades was still a favorite (at least for Kristoff and Olaf), though they also enjoyed pictionary and various card games. This particular Friday was no different. Anna had sent a letter that morning (as she always does) reminding Elsa of game night and that they would be having dinner before. She got a letter back shortly, thanks to Gale, stating she would be there and was looking forward to it. A winter storm had begun to pick up mid day; and this time it was not due to Elsa’s magic. Anna looked outside, worried, but tried to brush it off to quickly finish paperwork. As the day wore on, the storm began to get much worse. Nearly all of the citizens had taken shelter indoors. Kristoff found Anna staring out the window and nervously bouncing her leg.
“She’ll be ok.” He said gently.
“How do you know that?” She nearly screamed; she hadn’t intended to come across so angry but she had been getting worked up the whole day.
“She literally ran off into a storm worse than this...and built a palace...and stayed there.”
“That was different; that was a storm of her own creation. She could control it; even though she didn’t believe she could...she was in control the whole time.”
“She’ll be fine. She has Gale, and Nokk, and Bruni.”
Anna didn’t feel like keeping the argument up any longer and continued to stare out the window.
Dinner had quickly come and gone. Anna refused to eat anything despite Kristoff’s gentle begging. Olaf began questioning where Elsa was as well.
“Where could she possibly be? She’s never late. Maybe she is just scared of being beaten again.” Olaf cheerfully replied. Anna simply bit her lip. They had retired to the study at this point. Kristoff suggested they begin to play a game, certain that Elsa would arrive soon. (and hoping to take Anna’s mind off of the worry.) The storm continued to grow; outside was completely dark and the snow was falling so hard you wouldn’t be able to see your hand in front of you. Anna simply stayed by the window and watched silently. No matter how hard she tried to fight it, sleep eventually caught up to her. She was pulled into a nightmare. All she could see over and over was Elsa...frozen solid; and she was never able to reach her sister in time. She began to cry out in her sleep, which woke Kristoff who was quickly by her side.
“Shh...Anna, it was just a dream.”
“Is she here? Where is she?” Anna asked. Kristoff looked down.
“She hasn’t made it yet. I’m sure she just got caught up in something and decided to wait out the storm.” Anna quickly got up and headed towards her room.
“Where are you going?”
“Out to look for her.” she stated matter-of-factly.
“Woah...no. I am not letting you do that.” he responded as he stepped in front of her.
“I’m the Queen. I can do as I wish. Now, as the Queen...I order you to move.” Though she had always been feisty, Kristoff had never seen this side of her; even when they first went after Elsa 3 years ago. He stayed firmly planted in front of her and gently grabbed her shoulders trying to calm her.
“Kristoff...move!” it came out more forceful than she had intended; but nevertheless she wanted to be sure he knew she was serious. He simply picked her up and sat her back down...despite her kicking and screaming.
“Anna...I love you. I will not let you go out there. Sven and I will go search for Elsa. You stay here.” with the realization that he was being recruited to go out into the storm, Sven gave Kristoff a frustrated glace.
“Oooh! I’ll go too! I’m made of snow...so, it won’t bother me!”
Anna sat frozen. She knew she was no match to force past Kristoff. Suddenly silent tears began streaming down her cheeks.
“Hey….it’ll be ok. I promise.”
“You can’t promise that!” She screamed. “Our parents promised they would return in two weeks! I never saw them again Kristoff!” She finally gave into the tears. Kristoff simply held her.
“I’ll find her, Anna.” The only scene that kept replaying in her head was being alone in the cave...and the nightmare of seeing her sister frozen.
While Kristoff was preparing to leave, Anna was already planning how to sneak out herself. Suddenly, there was a commotion Anna saw out the window in the Fjord. Elsa and Nokk slowly came into view. Anna ran as fast as she possibly could to meet her sister; despite the storm slowing down, the temperature was well below zero.
“Elsa!” Anna ran so hard and so quickly she crashed into Elsa, nearly knocking her over.
“Anna! What are you doing out here?” Elsa noted that in addition to not being outfitted in any winter gear, Anna was also barefoot. Kristoff heard the commotion and led the girls inside.
Anna was silent when they finally were safely within castle walls. She kept her back toward Elsa the entire time.
“I am so sorry I missed dinner and game night. The storm came in so suddenly; I had to help everyone seek shelter and get to safety. It took much longer than intended. I came as soon as I was sure everyone was safe.” Anna continued to stay silent. “Anna?”
“You could have died.” Anna’s words were firm and laced with both hurt and anger.
“Anna...” Elsa’s voice was quiet as she took in her sister’s words. Anna quickly turned around to face her.
“You could have died! AGAIN! What were you thinking?! No, wait, you weren’t.” Elsa opened her mouth to speak but was quickly cut off. “You promised you’d be careful. You promised you’d be on time.”
“Anna...I’m ok. It doesn’t bother me, you know that. Everything was fine.”
“That’s what Mama and Papa said!” Elsa was taken aback by the sudden anger; though it was becoming clear this was rooted so much deeper than her being late. She slowly stepped towards her sister.
“Do you have any idea?! All I could see was you freezing and me unable to reach you no matter how hard I tried. Do you have any idea what that feels like?!” Elsa’s eyes revealed a knowing glance and Anna immediately realized what she had just said. She hung her head; still filled with fear, hurt, anger, and guilt. Elsa continued towards her and just wrapped her arms around her younger sister.
“I do, Anna.” She whispered and pulled her in tighter. “And I’m so sorry you have felt the same. I am so sorry I scared you.” Anna’s eyes filled with tears as she began to finally feel the grief that she had been pushing down for so long. Even though Elsa was fine, the thought of her being gone was something that still haunted her...she had never fully processed it. Elsa simply held her as she sobbed.
“I’m so sorry, Anna.” When she finally felt like she had run out of tears, Anna looked up to face her older sister.
“I’m sorry...for getting angry. I know you were just doing your duty...you were protecting everyone; just like I did.” Elsa shared a sad smile.
“You can’t keep this all bottled up. It’s ok to be angry; it’s ok to be scared; it’s ok to be sad. But trust me….keeping this all inside will slowly destroy you.” The girls continued to hug; finally beginning to be able to process all that they had been through; together.
#frozen#kristoff#Anna#elsa#disney frozen#frozen 2#frozen 2 spoilers#im so sorry#queen anna#olaf#queen elsa
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Frozen 2: first impressions
Hello friends! As you know, Frozen was a HUGE part of my fandom life ~back in the day.~ So of course I saw the sequel opening night and of course I have thoughts after ruminating on it for 24 hours. I’m sure there will be many things I forget or don’t cover--after all, I’ve only seen it the once. And I make no guarantees that my thoughts are coherent or consistent. (If I contradict myself, I contradict myself-- I am large, I contain multitudes.) I’m also sure my opinions will evolve upon rewatch. Lord knows they did last time.
Is that enough disclaimer yet? OKAY. Some of my thoughts are negative! Some are positive! It’s a grab bag! Here we go!
Spoilers under the cut, pals.
IN SHORT: As an expansion on the world and the characters I adore, I pretty much loved it! As an extension of uh Big Capitalism and what it means in terms of real world ramifications... I have questions/comments/concerns!
IN LONG: I think I’ll start with what didn’t work for me and work my way around to fangirling at the end.
the meh
I feel like... part of it is that Disney has just gotten worse and power-grabbier in way more blatant ways in the last few years, and part of it is that I’m ever-more cognizant of these things. And the fine line they want to walk of “We can tell stories about progressive concepts! Princesses are woke now, actually!” without taking a single financial risk when it comes to alienating foreign markets, homophobes abroad or Nazis domestically is just a fundamentally untenable position to be in. You don’t get to retcon Elsa and Anna as being somehow less white than they clearly are and then try to tell a story about reparations in which no one actually gets reparations. You don’t get to get points for that. It’s in some ways admirable to want to try, but all you do when you’re coming at it from the position of being Disney when you tell this story is show the cracks in it.
I can see how, on a purely storytelling level, having Papa King Arendelle Agnarr be of Arendelle and Iduna be of the Northuldra and having their daughters be the bridge between the two communities is a really tempting, tidy, tie-a-bow-on-it narrative. And I also see how creating the backstory of the war and the mist neatly explains the absence of indigenous faces in the first film. But like... come on. Introducing an indigenous group like the Northuldra and then declaring that Elsa and Anna are a part of it is insulting. There’s no other way to say it. It just feels gross. I’m glad that Disney consulted with the Sámi on the movie, and I acknowledge that both real-life Sámi folks and the onscreen Northuldra come in a broad variety of skin tones and phenotypes. But even with the most generous possible reading of the choice-- that it’s well-intentioned, albeit misguided-- falls flat for me. It feels like Disney trying to have their cake and eat it too. And I don’t really see any way around that. It just... gives me tremendous pause, and it’s so core to so many of the things the movie chooses to be that it’s really disquieting and disappointing.
But then again, Disney being racist isn’t exactly news, and there’s still plenty of flaws to tackle even when we put this (massive) issue aside.
This movie is... weirdly allergic to stakes? It’s not like I wanted Elsa to stay dead, or that I expected Olaf to (more on that in a minute). But Anna’s decision to go full Thor Ragnarok and, as @theseerasures jokingly put it to me last night, “throw the first brick at Stonewall” and destroy Arendelle felt right. It felt appropriate to the story they were telling, and it would have had the film put its money where its mouth is re: how atoning for the sins of our forebears requires massive systemic change. So having Elsa charge to the rescue on her water-type Rapidash extremely queer steed daemon Gay Horse and save the city felt cheap. (Also, side note: is Arendelle really just... that one seaside port town and nothing else? Are there only like fifty people in Arendelle?) The citizens had already been taken to safety. The society would live on; they’d all get to rebuild. What was the point of saving the castle, just for saving the castle’s sake? To what end? I don’t see how that’s more inspiring or reassuring or worth it than watching the sisters lead their people from the ground up and starting anew. I don’t understand what they thought was worth protecting, when, again, all of the people were safe. Stories need stakes in order to have meaning! HTTYD has impact because Hiccup loses his leg in his attempt to save his dragon and his people. You know? You don’t get to just... keep everything the way it is and call that restorative justice, and the film clearly wants us to. And I don’t understand why. The only reason that makes any sense at all to me is that they thought it would scare little kids, but like. THIS COMPANY HAS PORTRAYED WAY MORE TRAUMATIZING THINGS THAN THAT. MANY TIMES.
Point in fact: Olaf’s death! Genuinely disturbing! Sad! For the most part I really liked the way it was handled, but it also felt very. Y’know. “Mister Stark, I don’t feel so good.” This is perhaps my most uncharitable nitpick, so I’ll keep it brief, but having Olaf drift away Snap-style just felt like an extremely synergistic, Disney+ nod at Infinity War instead of an organic decision. Which maybe isn’t fair, because it makes more sense for Olaf to become a flurry than for the Snap to make people dust! But nevertheless, the weird wink-and-a-nudge feeling of it totally pulled me out of what should have been an extremely poignant moment. Elsa’s revelation during “Show Yourself” felt similar--like. Not to take away from your moment, Elsa, but the call isn’t out there at all, it’s inside me was already covered by this larger canon, and in a more elegant and eloquent manner.
Which--tbh, the music overall was a bit of a letdown (though ���Into the Unknown” slaps and a boyband of five joshes “Lost in the Woods” was perhaps the best sequence in the whole movie). I respect that they clearly wanted to give everyone a solo this time around in a deliberate way, but the songs felt perfunctory for the most part--describing moments instead of advancing them. This film was such a departure from how Disney normally makes sequels (mostly in a good way, actually) and I couldn’t help but wonder what it would have looked like to make a version of this movie where no one sang at all. It didn’t feel cohesive.
And, though it would kill me to get rid of “Lost in the Woods” because it’s perfect... I kinda wish Anna and Kristoff had gotten engaged at the end of act 1, as I think they pretty clearly did in the first draft of this script. Their relationship drama felt like a hat on top of a hat, and they could still have addressed their codependency/insecurities while being engaged. Leaving the proposal for the end just made it an anticlimax after everyone’s been brought back from the literal dead. And it maybe would have left them with more options than having Kristoff just vanish from the narrative for the entire back half of the second act.
Also Honeymaren should have had at least two more scenes. I can’t justify this on a narrative level; the movie didn’t actually need more of her. But like. If you’re going to go out of your way to keep Elsa carefully single, and even give KRISTOFF a new boyfriend, I feel like the least you can do is let us get to know the obvious throw-us-a-bone offering a little bit better. Like. Literally. the actual least you can do.
anyway. all of that said.
the yay!
I can’t tell you how gratifying it was to me, personally to open with a flashback of the girls that demonstrates as clear as day that Elsa is an ace lesbian and Anna is bi and polyamorous. Thank you, snow action figures.
And like. Overall the way the movie tackled the sisters and their relationship was pure *chef’s kiss.* (And I think for me, the strength in this particular bullet point probably outweighs all of my complaints and concerns from above, in the end. At least from an “I still derive enjoyment from this flawed thing” standpoint, though perhaps not from an “I’d recommend this to anyone without caveats” standpoint.) THEY LOVE EACH OTHER SO MUCH. THEY WERE SO THEMSELVES. I do think part of the fear of any sequel where there’s been a significant amount of time since the last one and you were so emotionally invested in it the first go-around is like... what if everyone feels OOC? What if what I saw wasn’t what was really in them after all? What if they feel like strangers? What if they let me down? And there was none of that, even for a second, with this movie. Their parallel journeys were character-appropriate and impactful. Elsa finally gets the freedom she’s always been looking for. Anna finally gets the responsibility she’s always been ready for. Anna, the caretaker, is positioned to take care of everyone. Elsa, the lesbian, runs away to the forest to hang out with beautiful powerful women. Elsa, the force of nature, is finally allowed to commune with it. The scene at their parents’ ship truly anchors the whole movie in the best possible way. And also, like... this movie showed how fucking weird Elsa is, and I feel so vindicated. SHE’S SUCH A DORK. I can’t believe I never realized that Elsa would totally choose Charmander as her starter, and the way she talked to the fire salamander was literally the most charming thing I have ever seen. “They’re staring at us, aren’t they?” GOSH. [IMDb says the salamander’s name is Bruni, and I’m very sad they never spoke it aloud.] [Someone do a rotoscope of the Tangled short where Pascal and Max almost ruin Rapunzel and Eugene’s wedding by losing the rings but it’s Bruni and Sven at Kristoff and Anna’s wedding, thank]
Anyway. All of that goes double for Olaf, because I really wasn’t sure they could pull off the miracle of him not being annoying twice. And they did! Olaf’s grappling with his burgeoning maturity was adorable and profound in equal measure, and his plot reenactments were sublime. And when he realized to Anna for the first time that he was feeling angry, that he was capable of feeling angry... what a tremendous moment. (Actually, I’ll extend what I said about the boat scene to include the Earth Giants river sequence in total, because. Again. Wow.)
And I have to say... as much as I am given real pause by their execution of the concept, “you just do the next right thing” is such beautiful (*cough* Jewish *cough*) praxis. I love that. In the broader Disney Revival canon of Tiana’s work ethic and Rapunzel’s abuse narrative and how Wreck-It Ralph talked about PTSD and all of the myriad things the first Frozen did, I might love “the next right thing” most of all. What a simple, powerful, evocative message. It’s so lovely. A perfect gem.
Also worth acknowledging that the animation was straight-up stunning. Which I expected, generally, but the water droplets in the ship? The way Elsa just loses it sobbing when she sees her mother’s face in the ice? The tender, shattered way Anna pulls Olaf in closer to her as he fades? W.O.W. And, y’know, while I stand by what I said above about stakes, I will say that the moment we first see that Elsa is experiencing cold, that Elsa is freezing? Genuinely--and please forgive the pun--genuinely chilling.
I love Gail the Gale. I love Mattias and Yelana and Ryder and Honeymaren. But mostly I just... loved the dialogue and these characters and that I got to spend a little more time with them. And I’m sure I’ll do so at least two more times before it leaves theaters.
... apparently this is over 2k words now so that seems as good a place to leave it as any. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
#does#anyone#use#tracked#tags#anymore?#either way#let's stay out of them#that should do it#frozen 2#frozen 2 spoilers#frozen#frozen spoilers#spoilers
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Frozen II thoughts
While there is some good stuff in the movie, it’s sadly held back by the movie’s flaws.
In terms of stuff I liked, well first off, the visual effects are excellent. These are probably the most stunning visuals I’ve ever seen in an animated film. It really shows how talented the animators and artists at Disney are. There’s also something to appreciate about the more epic scale of the story, even if it does come off like Avatar: The Last Airbender or The Legend of Zelda at times. While the songs aren’t quite as memorable as the first film's, they’re well put together (Kristoff’s number aside). Heck, the film has some of the best and most powerful individual scenes I've seen from a Disney movie, including Elsa's number in Ahtohallan and Anna's emotional breakdown in the cave.
Here's the thing though. While the scenes are amazing, it feels as though the filmmakers came up with a whole bunch of ideas they wanted to animate, and then worried about the story to connect it all. Far too often, the movie kinda hinges on coincidences in order for the plot to progress. For example, at the end, Anna just so happens to exit the cave close to the dam, which just so happens to be close to the Earth Spirits who can destroy it. Not to mention, she can only do this because she just so happened to veer off the path Elsa sent her and Olaf down. Oh, and Kristoff just so happened to be close enough to rescue her after she woke them up. Like seriously, talk about overly convenient. And that's just one moment out of several that feels really off in terms of connective tissue holding everything together.
It also makes the story come off as convoluted once the main characters reach the enchanted forest, with the movie introducing pointless characters, jumping back and forth in time too much and having a hard time keeping track of all the characters and their intentions.
Ryder and Honeymaren were completely pointless to the story. The trailers made it seem like they were going to be important, and considering this movie went through 50 rewrites and 12 animated versions, they probably did originally have larger parts in the narrative at one point. Instead, they just sort of interact with the main cast once or twice and that’s it. They didn’t really push the story along. They weren’t a part of the main plot or add anything really.
Same with Bruni the fire salamander. He’s cute, but he doesn’t add anything that Olaf and Sven already did as the cute/funny side characters. Just felt like another merchandising opportunity. If they got rid of those three characters, it would have helped the story feel less messy.
Kristoff was also criminally pointless. He feels like he was put in only because he appeared in the first film. He seriously does almost nothing of note until the very end. In fact, he has a continuous span of 26.5 minutes off-camera between the end of his song and his reappearance with the earth giant scene leading to the dam
The ending was also rushed. It needed like an extra 15 or 20 minutes. And it’s kinda odd that we’ve had three Disney-animated related features in a row (Ralph Breaks the Internet, Toy Story 4 and Frozen II) that have all had the main cast split up.
In Frozen II’s case, while this is not as egregious as something like Ralph Breaks The Internet, it still breaks down when you start to seriously think about it. Like, I don't buy that Elsa would so willingly stay behind, even if she does plan to visit Arendelle every week, nor does Anna immediately becoming queen instead feel like anything other than forced. For one, Elsa was the one who was groomed to be queen, not Anna. Secondly, as the tie-in book Forest of Shadows shows, Elsa has a pretty demanding workload as queen even with Anna there to provide her help, and Anna is going to have that as well. As @l-egionaire has pointed out nicely here in this post, Anna’s going to find herself very overwhelmed and possibly even hate the job. Not only will Anna have such a busy schedule, but she won’t get as much downtime as before, and she will also probably have difficulty maintaining an image of grace in front of her staff, her advisors, her constituents, and foreign dignitaries. Would’ve made more sense for Elsa to return to Arendelle with Anna, Elsa stay as queen while Anna gets duties that give her reasons to go off on adventures away from the castle.
Really, it seems that, in the attempt to make everything bigger and better than the first movie, the writers sacrificed cohesion and proper build-up.
Don't get me wrong though, the movie is arguably one of Disney Animation's better sequels that isn't related to Pixar, so it's definitely not 100% a case of sequelitis. But that just makes it all the more frustrating, because it's this close to being something truly spectacular, only to be brought down by the problems I mentioned above. If the writers had put a little more effort into making sure each scene flowed properly, as opposed to just getting to each scene they wanted to make (which they would’ve been able to do if Jennifer Lee hadn’t started at the end and worked her way backwards), this could have been one of the best out of the Disney canon. As it is though, it settles for being merely "good enough".
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Movie Review: Frozen II (Spoilers)
Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review a couple of days after it first airs in the U.K, so if you haven’t yet seen the movie, and I strongly recommend you do, then don’t read on until you have.
LGBT Representation:
Alright so I’ll get into character analyses shortly but first of all I just want to talk about the LGBT representation in this movie, because my takeaway from it in this movie is completely different to what seems to be everyone else’s takeaway from it. LGBT representation is very important to me particularly in an all-age property so I wanted to spotlight it.
Now the main issue I see is that people are still insisting that the LGBT representation is that of Elsa being a member of the LGBT community. This is something that emerged after the first movie with Elsa being one of few “Disney Princesses” (despite the fact she is a Queen and neither she nor Anna are official members of said brand) not to have a love interest in the first movie or even this movie, outwardly.
Yes, while no one is openly depicted as an LGBT character in this movie, good old Disney, Elsa is still being shown in that LGBT light to some fans because of two or three character traits.
Firstly there’s the theory that her not feeling like she belongs in Arendelle is because she is, sorry for this, the only gay in the village and not knowing how to handle it. Secondly there’s her new outfit which she acquires at the start of the third act in the movie which is white with rainbow accents...fans believe this is a clear nod to the rainbow flag but to be fair it could just simply be to represent the Aurora Borealis aka the Northern Lights.
Thirdly, despite the first teaser trailer giving fans the completely wrong idea about Elsa’s potential love interest in this movie, who turned about to be a young version of her mother, Elsa does get close with new very minor girl Honeymaren. There is no evidence that either Honeymaren is an LGBT character but people have suggested that their cosy chats border on the flirtatious.
However, I personally do not think the LGBT representation is on Elsa or Honeymaren. I think the LGBT representation in this movie is in fact Honeymaren’s brother Ryder voiced by Jason Ritter. I swear he flirts with Kristoff at least three times in this movie for the brief time he is in it.
Of course all of this is just speculation, but the theory of Elsa, Honeymaren and/or Ryder being potential members of the LGBT community is a major plus both for Disney and for this movie.
Characters:
Elsa:
It can’t be not true that Elsa is the best character not only in this movie but also this franchise as a whole. Not only is she the first real instance of the combination between Disney Princess and Superhero, but also there is no denying the journey and the transformation Elsa goes on from care free child to fearful teenager to in-control young woman.
This character development alone is not only relatable and representative for many if not all young girls coming of age, but also she is both stylish, humble and flawed in a realistic sense...as realistic as someone with ice powers can be I mean.
Now by flaws, I am mainly referring to her inept ability at ruling Arendelle, three times now she has effectively abdicated her throne either for her own reasoning or to actually protect the kingdom, I am more annoyed with Anna for these decisions which I’ll get into when talking about her, but it was quite clear from the first movie alone that Elsa never wanted to be queen. She runs away when her powers are discovered by the people, she then goes off to find out the mystery of her past, she finally abdicates completely and makes Anna queen so she can go off and live in the Enchanted Forest amongst the Northuldra people while not exactly joining them.
Having said that, she absolutely does the right thing by her because, not only is it important to both understand and be completely comfortable with yourself, but also this was where she was always meant to be.
Elsa’s fashion in this movie steps up from the first movie not only in colour but also in style. Gone are those heavy, coverall gowns and now we have light, bright and flowing gowns. Also leggings, Elsa is really only the second “Disney Princess” to wear leggings after Jasmine and it is really good to see someone in that “Disney Princess” role be versatile in fashion.
My favourite three outfits of Elsa’s are her vivid pink nightgown, her travelling outfit and her last outfit when she embraces her role as the fifth spirit. Something about Elsa with her hair down and flowing that really added another layer of power to that transformation “Show Yourself” scene.
Her powers are also plused here, the lady gets a freekin’ water horse which she could freeze to ride on water! Seeing Elsa riding her new steed across the water to stop the tidal wave from flooding Arendelle is the most fiercely stunning sequence I have seen in any movie animated or live-action.
Also her crystal manifestation, which emulated the elemental runes, bursting out from her like an outcry after she sings about wanting to know what it all means and then having them all fall to the ground effectively like hail. I thought her creating the ice palace in the first movie couldn’t be topped but her powers are kicked up here.
She even has a sort of attack move with her powers as she was shown to briefly create an ice snowflake to combat the water spirit who later becomes her steed.
When she finally finds Ahtohallan and discovers she is the fifth element and starts seeing all those memories of her past and singing “Show Yourself” with her mother, just watching her literally walk through memory lane with all those frozen versions of her memories and reacting different to different ones, like with the Duke of Wesselton where she laughed and Hans who she instantly crumbled and even her singing “Let It Go” which she reacted awkwardly to, all of this was just splender and made me particularly well up.
Then you have her discovering the truth of the past where her grandfather was revealed to have villainous tendencies, I’m not going to say he’s an outright villain but he did kill the Northundra leader and start the war which hid the Enchanted Forest from the world, the fact she literally went to far down and froze to death just like the opening song foreshadowed was also very emotional.
But on that note of finding out there is that darkness in her family, it did remind me a lot of the Once Upon a Time Frozen arc when they introduced the Snow Queen Ingrid as Elsa and Anna’s aunt who had the same powers as Elsa and who was villainous for being misunderstood. They could have copped out and done a similar story but the fact it was routed into Elsa and Anna’s own history in terms of their family was a nice touch.
However, it did give me possibly my favourite line of the movie which is “Fear is the true enemy” in retaliation to hearing her grandfather say that magic is evil. This line can be true of any type of prejudice, I’m thinking of Homophobia but it can also be racism and even sexism, that for an animated Disney movie rated U to accomplish this level of thought is outstanding.
Idina Menzel may not be the most emotive actress but I love her, and what she may lack in her speech she more than makes up for in her singing. Also the fact that Elsa has such emotive facial expressions and the animation and character designs here are so fluid, that it makes Elsa almost seem like a real person.
Olaf:
Josh Gad as Olaf was definitely something I’ve been looking forward to revisiting especially after Olaf’s Frozen Adventure received a very icy reception. I didn’t really care for it, much like any of the Frozen shorts that have come but I’m really happy with him here.
I really liked the idea of exploring Olaf being a child because, I think with this movie taking place a couple years after the first one, Olaf is really only a toddler, so he acts like a toddler.
The fact Olaf sees the world in such innocence and beauty really resonates with little kids watching this movie and hopefully allows them to get out of it what Olaf gets out of it which is not understanding the world as a child but having to grow up and face reality.
I wasn’t crazy about his song, again like the first movie I feel it wasn’t as grand as the rest of the songs but I did like the message behind it of things not making sense to Olaf now but will make sense when he grows up.
By far the funniest moments of this movie are when Olaf reenacts the events of the first movie for the people trapped in the Enchanted Forest and also at the very end after the credits when he reenacts the events of this movie for Marshmallow and the Snowgies. I just loved again that child-like interpretation and bluntness of events. “Anna and Elsa separated but it’s okay because at least they still have their parents! Their parents are dead!” My screening could not stop laughing at that point.
Speaking of death, there is death in this movie, both what you see and what is open to interpretation. Elsa effectively dies as she is frozen solid much like how Anna is in the first movie, but Olaf’s death came as a consequence of Elsa’s death due to him being enchanted by Elsa. Possibly because this whole thing takes place after the “Show Yourself” scene and Elsa finally being true to who she is and of course because Olaf is the innocent dying, it really made me sad.
I was thrilled he came back, of course I knew he was going to come back. However, I did hear that early scripts had him staying dead but I don’t think that would have gone down very well with audiences and particularly merchandising because after Anna and Elsa merch I know Olaf is up there, although I think he may have competition after this movie...we’ll get to Bruni.
Also in keeping with the idea of Olaf being a child, I found it fascinating that he was experiencing new emotions in this movie such as anger, without actually getting angry he just felt it and didn’t know how to handle it. A little bit like with Groot in the MCU, I do hope we maybe see Olaf age or mature and experience the emotions that everyone experiences growing up. I know snow can’t really age in that way but it would be very interesting to see.
Speaking of the properties of snow, I also found the concept of water having memory interesting. It does play into the Disney/Fantastical element of the almost absurd but in a sense you want it to be true, like Aladdin’s flying carpet or even how woodland animals can help clean.
I’m not so certain about the cop-out of no longer giving Olaf his own flurry, yes they explained it as rather than it being a cloud simply being a kind of coat which was beautiful to see lit-up and everything, but it just seemed like the animators not wanting to animate a snow cloud constantly, even using the excuse that it only appears in hot weather was proven false because it was sunny numerous times in this movie and nothing appeared.
Olaf is still one of my favourite characters both in this movie and in Disney in general, I think he’s fun, I love his innocence and a lot of that is down to Josh Gad’s vocal performance. I can no longer think of Josh Gad without thinking of Olaf but in a way that’s not a bad thing.
Anna:
There was a massive opportunity missed from this movie which was not spotlighting the fact that Anna almost had PTSD from the events of the first movie. She wanted the status quo to remain how it was in the moment at the start of the movie and was desperate to keep her loved ones safe.
I don’t particularly know what purpose Anna served in this movie outside of living in denial of everything going on. Yes it is a noble deed to want to keep your loved ones safe, however, Anna should have known that not only Elsa discovering her origins but also the two sisters finding out about their mother’s history was not only important but I feel necessary. Finding out what happened to their parents, why they went off, even how they met.
But instead we have Anna constantly wanting to be the mother of the group and look after everyone, except for Kristoff. I will talk about Kristoff in his section but seriously these two went from being the ideal couple in the first movie to “Why the heck are you to together?” in this movie.
All of this is why what made her hitting rock bottom after both Elsa and Olaf had “died” so important and her realising that and building herself back up. Again, like Olaf, I didn’t really like her song but I appreciated the meaning behind it.
It was from this point that Anna showed true signs of not only being a leader but also actual competency. I mean once again both Elsa and Anna abandon Arendelle, yes Anna has done it twice in the hopes of saving it which is noble, but she goes from leaving a man she just met and got engaged to in charge without knowing him for more than five minutes, to leaving Rock Trolls in charge. Yes Grand Pabbie is at least responsible for an entire tribe but seriously?
However, after she realises what has to be done to right the wrongs of the past, her selfless decision to destroy the dam and flood Arendelle to free the Enchanted Forest was impressive because obviously the kingdom can be rebuilt and the people were safe in the Rock Troll Valley.
Now of course, everything turned out fine because Anna unknowingly revived Elsa by getting the dam broken down and she stopped the tidal wave from destroying Arendelle, but Anna didn’t know that when she decided to do it and she still chose to it, and made the old Arendelle guard listen to her.
This is how she proved herself as queen, so that when Elsa made her queen so she herself could go and live in the Enchanted Forest, she earned it. She’s queen, she has Kristoff as a fiancé and obviously she and Elsa will keep a strong bond between Arendelle and the Enchanted Forest.
Kristen Bell is Kristen Bell, you know she was born for this type of role and this type of world. Having said that, again she was almost pushed to the background or was making me want to push her to the background because of her constant complaining. But she was still very good and the main core four cast continue to be a big selling point for this franchise.
Kristoff:
I find it ironic that the title of this franchise is Frozen and that he is an ice seller because they effectively fridged Kristoff in this movie.
Kristoff’s role in this movie is pretty much the one-note version of Bernard’s from The Rescuers Down Under, in that his story throughout this movie was trying to propose to Anna and yet constantly failing. Now granted, he goes to greater extravagance to do so than the mouse did but it takes them both the length of their movies to simply learn it’s now how you say it it’s just saying it.
On that note, I felt no chemistry between Anna and Kristoff in this movie. They both think the other one abandoned them part way through this movie and Anna particularly doesn’t really seem to care.
As I said before, when Kristoff and Ryder had their scenes together, I felt more chemistry between them than I did from Kristoff for Anna. Also Kristoff and Ryder are more suited. They both love reindeer, they both talk for their reindeer, and also I got the sense that maybe Ryder actually liked Kristoff in that way, as he seemed upset that Kristoff didn’t ride off with him.
Kristoff did give me one of the best moments of the movie though which was his song in the form of an 80s/90 pop balled video. It was one of the most bizarre choices this movie could have made, but considering you have Jonathan Groff and didn’t let him do what Jonathan Groff is known for doing in the first movie it more than makes up for that.
Once again I don’t feel like he contributed much to the actual story and genuinely felt like he could have been cut and nothing would change, but it is good having a male presence in this movie who is human so I give him credit for that.
Northundra:
I really enjoyed this tribe, the native-american qualities they had really helped separate them from the citizens of Arendelle. Both Native-American and Australian Aborigines I feel were portrayed rather well in the tribe.
Yelena, Ryder and Honeymaren were really the only three spotlighted in the tribe and I felt that is all they really needed.
However, we also know from this movie that Elsa and Anna’s mother, Queen Iduna, was Northundra...which kind of makes sense as a child because she has some colouring, but as an adult she’s Caucasian...and Anna and Elsa are clearly Caucasian.
I mean it’s slightly obvious the Northundra weren’t on the cards in the first movie, however simply having Iduna being of that race would have made more sense.
Speaking of the first movie. The Northundra here have a chant they perform when Elsa and Anna realise they have Northundra heritage, but this sounds like the same chant from the opening of the first movie which leads into “Frozen Heart”. So maybe they were foreshadowed?
Spirits:
Alright so I didn’t know how much there was to talk about the four spirits that seemingly guard the Enchanted Forest and whom Elsa awakened and apparently made angry towards the start of this movie so I thought I would talk about them collectively here in the order they appear in Elsa’s vision during “Into the Unknown”.
Fire:
Two things I love about the fire spirit, the first is that it’s fire form is this very vibrant pink colour and I’m always a fan of fire having different colours, I prefer green but pink works well here I guess.
The second thing I love about it is Bruni, who is the actual fire spirit and I don’t think named ever in this movie by name. However, I have loved Bruni since his one main shot in the trailer, I love how cute he is, I love the fact he’s another reptilian being a salamander, after Pascal from Tangled being a chameleon.
Also, Bruni may have about as much screen time here as Pua the pig from Moana but he is just one of Elsa’s new animal sidekicks and unlike most of the Disney Princesses, this queen has two magical creatures as animal sidekicks. I think the only princess in that category is Mulan with Mushu.
As I mentioned before with Olaf’s merch, I do feel that Bruni is a potential competitor for beating him in merch sales. I think Olaf, Sven and Bruni all have plush toy qualities, but Bruni has that added cuteness and he’s new.
Water:
Elsa’s other magical animal sidekick is the water spirit known as The Nøkk, who is a mythological Scandinavian water spirit in the shape of a horse...with a waterfall mane.
Not only is this a cool pet anyway the fact Elsa can freeze and ride it is just epic. Who wouldn’t want a water spirit horse.
Earth:
Alright so I can’t remember when the Earth Giants first appear, whether or not they emerge during the earthquake that took over Arendelle or if they appeared in the Enchanted Forest but I did enjoy them.
I don’t exactly know when Elsa tamed them, it did seem that if anyone did Anna did by getting the dam broken.
Air:
I enjoyed Gail, I thought giving what is essentially a tornado that turns into a light breeze a name also gives it character.
But once again, while Elsa broke free of the tornado, Olaf was the one who named it and as such wasn’t he the one to tame it?
I did like how Gail became the messenger for the two kingdoms also.
Songs:
Alright so like always, I’ll be talking about these songs in order of my favourites.
Into the Unknown:
While not as groundbreaking as “Let It Go” but it is powerful, moving and delivered beautifully by both Idina Menzel and AURORA who is credited as “The Voice” that do that “Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah” sound that I want as an alarm tone.
I loved how Idina managed to match AURORA and almost harmonise with it, I love the message of being scared of the unknown but pushing yourself into it, the presentation of the performance was beautiful particularly when she went into that black space with the production going on around her.
It’s my favourite song in the movie and everything about it was just brilliant.
I do also enjoy the Panic! At the Disco version that plays over the end credits, it’s definitely a better pop version of a movie song to Demi Lovato’s version and I feel has a better mainstream future than it too.
Show Yourself:
This song made me emotional, and not many songs do that. I feel maybe it was the build-up to Elsa finally discovering who she was meant to be, the duet with her mother, or the fact she had that walk through her history in ice sculptures, but something welled up inside me and I love it.
The song is about realising who you are and being true to who you are. It’s something I feel anyone can relate to and the fact it’s in a duet with her deceased mother is just the icing, pardon the pun.
Also, this is where Elsa gets her new look, starting off with her taking her hair down and then her updated ice-blue dress transforming into her final white dress with rainbow accents.
Idina Menzel once again dominates with her vocals here but also Evan Rachel Wood matches her quite well.
Lost in the Woods:
I loved Jonathan Groff’s singing in Glee, from “Highway to Hell” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” to “Rolling in the Deep” he had such a range vocally that, despite hating the character, I loved him singing.
This is why it was criminal that the only “singing” Kristoff did in the first Frozen was that “Reindeer are better than people” lullaby song which made a comeback here at the start of this song and made me almost give up on Kristoff completely.
However, when you get passed that and Sven actually singing, you have a rather good song in the style of an 80s/90s pop ballad music video. Instantly I thought of “Everything I Do” by Bryan Adams and, despite not liking that particular song, I loved this and the arrangement of the performance.
Having Kristoff lean up against a tree as a wide shot while having his full face fade in to the side of him was so cheesy, so cringy and yet so good. I couldn’t help but enjoy it.
The Next Right Thing:
Now again, I didn’t particularly enjoy this song but I did enjoy and appreciate the message behind it.
When Anna is at her lowest edge having lost Elsa, Olaf and potentially Kristoff...again she doesn’t really give him a second thought at this point, she remembers advice that both her mother gave her and that Sterling K. Brown’s character enforced and builds up the strength to get herself out of the cave.
It’s a song about reaching rock bottom and figuring out where to go from there, it’s something I can definitely relate to and I am sure others can to, whether or not that’s in school, college/university, work or personal lives.
Kristen Bell is a good singer but for some reason something didn’t click here for me.
When I Am Older:
I love Olaf and thought his song was a very nice and fun sidetrack to the movie, however in terms of it being memorable...”In Summer” was a lot better and had the funny beats of irony to it.
As I said when talking about his character, the song did help define Olaf’s story through the movie of being young and immature.
Also the funny beats to this song of ending it in complete denial of “This is fine” before being crushed by a boulder were great.
Some Things Never Change:
This was possibly the most cringe-worthy few minutes of the entire movie. This happens right near the start originally between Anna and Olaf before become an ensemble piece.
Again, I understand the message behind the song of how people don’t like change but it just came out of nowhere and had no real tie-in to the rest of the movie other than Anna’s unrealised story arc of wanting things to remain how they are.
All Is Found:
As a lullaby this was an okay song, however I don’t think it did much to progress the story despite being the start of the movie. “Frozen Heart” had more of a beginning quality to it rather than this.
Overall I rate the movie a 9.5/10, it’s a near perfect movie but there is still room for improvement as always. I loved the characters, the songs, the animation. It all just felt very Disney.
So that’s my review of Frozen II, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Movie Reviews as well as other posts.
#frozen#frozen ii#frozen 2#disney#disney animation#elsa#anna#Kristoff#sven#olaf#northundra#queen elsa#princess anna#queen anna#rock trolls#grand pabbie#ryder#honeymaren#into the unknown#show yourself#the next right thing#some things never change#when i am older#all is found#bruni#the nokk#lost in the woods
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Ok hear me out, so I've been doing a lot of research towards this theory and it is okay if you don't agree with me, but this is what I believe in. And sorry if this offends you in any way.
In my investigative research towards natural elements, Elsa's ice powers is not considered an element but rather a state of matter (Frozen, Liquid, etc.) She is only, as stated in Frozen 2, a bridge between the elemental spirits of nature and people. As assumed in Frozen 2, Elsa is a spirit, but not an elemental.
Which leads to the question, who or what is the Fifth Elemental Spirit? This is the question that I first asked myself, but then after my research, the question that people should ask themselves is rather who or what are the Fifth AND the Sixth Elemental Spirits?
Now here are the theories I have came up with:
1. Samantha, the Forgotten Fifth/Sixth Elemental Spirit Theory: According to Olaf in Frozen 2, he mentions that "Water has memory" and during one of the scenes in the movie Olaf mentions the name "Samantha", twice. Yes I am aware that the name was improvised by Josh Gad himself and there will be people who will disregard this theory entirely. But what if, this "Samantha" was a forgotten elemental sprit from the PAST? And this also leads to one other question, what is her elemental power? According to both science and alchemy, there are two other natural elements other than the standard four elements; Samantha could have either the elemental power of Plasma (Electromagnetism) or Aether (Life Force). But Samantha having the Aether power is highly unlikely and this leads to my second theory.
2. The Mysterious Reindeer King, another Forgotten Fifth/Sixth Elemental Spirit Theory: In the deleted scenes of Frozen 2, a mysterious character appears in the original beginning scenes of Frozen 2 in which Young Agnarr and Young Iduna sees a person with reindeer antlers and shape shifts to a reindeer. In one of the episodes of "At Home with Olaf" YouTube video series, the "Adventure" episode, he mentions to Bruni that, and I quote, "Self-Proclaimed Reindeer King". The ability to shape shift is one of the many powers other than creating living things and universes that a user of the Aether power can use (refer to the Call of Duty Black Ops Zombies Storyline, specifically Dr. Monty and the Shadowman). But there is still possibility that the Reindeer King can have the Plasma elemental power.
In conclusion, we will never know until later on if there will be a Frozen 3, but one hopes, especially me. Many questions are left unanswered and until then they will be unanswered. But theories like these build curiosity and wonder of the lore of the Frozen universe, but let us remember to take these theories with a grain of salt, because it may not be true.
Thank you for reading this essay to its entirety and if you want I can post my Frozen Fanfiction that takes place after Frozen 2 and applies my theories. 😁👍
#movies#frozen#disney#queen elsa#elsathesnowqueen#frozenmovie#fan theory#film#frozen2#disneymovie#frozenelsa#frozentheory#movietheory#olaf#samantha#me
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Watched Frozen 2
Finally watched frozen 2 and I have some spoilery thoughts so be warned:
First off, this was a pretty good movie but I wouldn't say mind boggling great
First off, the way everything starts
It starts with a flashback of of Elsa and Anna as kids and listening to a story and a lullaby from their parents. Then it moves to Elsa and she just starts hearing this voice. And I didn't really like that very much. It just happens, there's no trigger, no set up, just stars because the movie starts. That problem persists for quite a lot through the movie. Things happen, there's not really a big trigger. Like when the elements attack Arendalle. Why attack now after all this time? Because Elsa sang a song? Because she said now she wants to go into the unknown? That's not a good enough trigger.
There's also the huge amount of songs on the worst places. Don't get me wrong, these songs are the shit and I'll probably be listening to them for years. They're far superior to the soundtrack in Frozen 1 but, that's kinda the problem. I feel, that one of the reasons Let it Go was so popular was because it was levels above the rest of the songs in the movie. Can really put for the first time in forever on the same level as let it go. For the first time in forever was great but it wasn't as huge as let it go and that's because we knew that that was the movie's main song. ( Little Mermaid had Part of Your World and Aladdin had A whole new world). And that's the problem. In this movie, all the songs are on a high level. It's like they were trying too hard to find the next let it go but they tried too hard so there's no one song that stands out from the rest. I don't really see Frozen 2 songs having the same impact let it go had but maybe that's just me. And about that part about putting the songs in the worst places, I wasn't kidding. In the first part of the movie, there's like 3 songs barely 5 minutes apart. In the first movie, they not only had songs that told the story instead of just being random songs, but they also felt like time had passed in between them. Here it just feels like their shoving songs in there. And Olaf's song about understanding things when he's older was put in an incredibly awkward place. This scene had ominous tone with the spirits throwing things out of wack and they thought this was a good time to put a comedy song. I do feel this is a better song than Olaf's frozen 1 song but at least that song was put in a better place of the movie. I think only 4 of them were placed in good places. And lost in the woods just takes us out of the movie. It was a good song but, come on. ( Lullaby, Show Yourself, Into the Unknown, The Next Right Thing )
Another thing that bothered me was Anna and Kristoff's relationship. When reviewers said that Kristoff's whole thing was about proposing to Anna, they weren't kidding. Other than saving Anna a few times, he has nothing to do except try to propose to Anna and he disappears in the third only to randomly reappear. When Anna and Kristoff kept having misunderstandings, all I could think off was how bad their communication was. Like how is it the time to think about marriage. If this was real life, this would have been one short ass marriage. Why didn't they address they? Why couldn't they have had Anna and Kristoff have a small conversation about how they need to communicate more? It doesn't even need to be that long.
I really wish I could have seen more of Elsa's and Anna's mother but oh well.
The animation is great but I wish they'd have showed more settings than just dark settings. But, I'm sure with the advancements this movie made with animals, we'll get more movies with this amazing animation talent and with different settings.
There's also that one scene where Elsa sees parts of the first movie including when she's singing let it go and she seems embarrassed by it. That was an important moment. That was a step in the direction of her being free. Why would the movie make fun of that? Bad idea, such a crazy bad idea.
The movie is way to fast. That has a lot to do with how everything happens because the movie is happening, not because there's an in-universe trigger to start things.
I also didn't really like that destiny thing thrown in about Elsa being the fifth spirit. This is more of what I don't like. I don't really like how destiny pull the character to do something. I prefer if Elsa was just both with these powers and the spirits choose her to be the next spirit based on her actions. But, whatever.
I didn't really like how they were ready to destroy the dam and Arendalle without thinking about the people. I know it had to happen but at least mention that they'll be destroying people homes. And these people didn't do anything or know anything, it was just their ancestors. Actually, it was just the king and a few of his soldiers!
There were a lot of characters that were introduced and had very small roles. Maybe we'll see them in Frozen 3. I believe a lot of these issues are here is because the creators assumed the first movie would be it and they only made a sequel because of good the first movie performed. At least now they know that if their movie does well, the higher ups are probably gonna want a sequel. I'm sure if they make a frozen 3, then they will expand more on the underdeveloped mythology. I'm okay with that with another sequel. I would prefer more original works but I'll take an animated sequel over a live action remake any day.
Now, let's get to something that a lot of people are split about. Elsa is a bad protagonist. Some people say she's great, others say she's emo and has no personality. To be honest, I can see where both are coming from. You see, Disney's characters, especially their princesses, don't have much personality diversity. They all have traits like hopeful and cheerful and often exude a sort of innocent childness. Think Anna, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Auora, Tiana, Jasmine. You can tell when they're happy and cheerful. They're all so energetic. They all have their big smile happy moments. So, when we see a character like Elsa for the first time in Disney, it can be a little jarring or a little unique depending on the person. I do prefer Anna with just how much energy she brings but I am glad Disney made a character like Elsa. It's not your fault, it's not mine. It's just what we've come to expect from Disney.
Also, is Elsa immortal now?
Also, did that part from the trailer where Anna pulls a sword from Kristoff and swings it ever in the movie? If not, what the hell? I would have loved to see it.
How does destroying the dam save Elsa?
Is that voice coming from the ice land ( I don't remember the name) itself?
So, is the horse and Bruni the lizard spirits? And of so, are they causing everything in Arendalle? I'm still so confused about this mythology, it's really underdeveloped.
Was that beautiful autumn Forest scene from the trailer ever shown? Again, what the hell?
And, how bloodthirsty are those Giants? How far are they gonna go to kill one tiny person? Jesus!
But, time for some positivity. I really loved the ending with Elsa staying in the enchanted Forest with the Northuldra. I'm glad that she still felt out of place being the only one with magic. Being the only Muslim in your school, being the only African American in your neighborhood, etc. It's a problem people can face. It's why a lot of people feel less out of place when they're surrounded by people like them. ( Like when they go to their family's home country ) the way they handled it was pretty good. You can be with your own culture and people and still be with people who are different from you. It's a better message than just having the usual "follow your dreams" Disney message. I loved how Anna became Queen. If we get another movie, I'd like to see more of what Anna does as Queen. And a smart way to do this is that Anna and Elsa aren't that far apart in age so I'm sure they've had close to the same amount of training so I'm sure Anna knows a lot on how to be Queen. And I love how Anna and Elsa followed their own lives but still have easy contact. Just like families today.
There is a lot wrong with this movie but there is so much that's good. The music, the animation, the ending, the message. It's done so much that's great. I'd still highly recommend it. I expect that future movies and possible future frozen sequel will have better writing.
Thanks for coming to my thought talk 😘
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