Headscratchers / Frozen II

WARNING: Headscratchers pages are for post-viewing discussions and thus have unmarked spoilers. Tread carefully!

Fridge Logic questions for "Frozen Fever" are here. The "Olaf's Frozen Adventure" page is here. And the page for the first movie is here.

Note: Headscratchers pages are "sincere questions, and discussing Fridge Logic," not complaints.

If Iduna was the one who rescued Agnarr, then how come it was ever a mystery who she was?

• Why didn't Iduna tell her family that she had done this?
  • Two theories: a) Iduna came to Arendelle concealing her Northuldra heritage for some time, presumably because of the hostilities between them. We can assume she did reveal it was her once some time had passed and she could guess that Agnarr wouldn't reject her for being Northuldra. So in this theory, by the time he tells the story to his daughters, he already knows and is possibly planning to reveal that Iduna was the girl who saved him during another bedtime story. Theory b) Iduna didn't think such a thing would be worth mentioning because it was so long ago she may have forgotten it or not realised Agnarr still remembered it. In this theory, Agnarr doesn't know while he's telling the bedtime story and it's only his bringing it up that makes Iduna realise she should tell him. In short, there's very little revealed about their courtship when they became adults - so we can fill in the gaps however we like.
  • Iduna likely didn't tell her family that she did it for the same reasons Elsa didn't tell Anna or anyone about her ice powers — they were both afraid of how people would react if their secrets got out, and with good reason. The Northuldra just killed this country's previous king, and in real life, that kind of thing always stirs up a ton of xenophobia in a country, no matter who actually started the fight. And given that none of the human characters at this point in the story know who did start it, it would be very dangerous for Iduna, Elsa, and Anna to talk about their heritage. As suggested above, when she did tell Agnarr, it was probably after enough time had passed that she could guess that Agnarr would take it well. Before that, though, Agnarr was the king of a country that had recently been at war with her nation, and had lost his father in such a battle. Many people in his position, sadly, would hold her heritage against her, and he also had the power to make her life miserable or even kill her. Even once she knew intellectually that he wasn't like that, it would likely take some time for her to feel safe coming out about it.
  • Personally, I always assumed that Agnarr did know that Iduna was the one who saved him and he just kept that from the girls at the time because he was worried that they were too young to understand why people may not be comfortable with a Northuldran queen.

So... uh... what was the point of the dam?

• The castle pre-dates the dam, and it's coastal, so it's not like this was a water level issue. The tribe didn’t want it. The kingdom isn’t short on water. It wasn’t generating electrical power. Nobody made use of the available land after the waters drained, post construction. Sure, the grandfather could be a raging ***, but dams aren’t exactly easy undertakings, and usually have a really big economic up-side to justify. We’re pretty much left with: “He did it for the evulz.”
  • He was scared of the Northuldra. It may not have been the smartest idea, but that's part of the point. People make bad choices when they're mad or scared or stressed, and don't underestimate just what people will do when they're scared.
  • It is possible the official reason for the dam was to get the Northuldra an easily accessible water reserve, and to prevent floods. Even with friendly spirits to help them, a nomadic tribe like the Northuldra may have had to move periodically to follow the river's whims, avoiding floods in spring, and finding more water in summer, so a dam would appear as a way to avoid all this running around by replacing the wild river with a tame lake. From an Arendellian point of view this can be clearly seen as making life much easier (the Northuldra may have been more sceptical as moving was part of their lifestyle). Now, for the actual purpose of the dam, it allowed Runeard to make sure the Northuldra would always remain in an easy to find location. Also, by shrinking their available territory, it made them more vulnerable and dependent on external help. So it was not so much an economic advantage than a strategic one that Runeard was aiming for, with the bonus of giving him good publicity in Arendelle. The fact that destroying the dam threatened Arendelle was probably a calculated risk on his part (also, probably his belief that the Northuldra would never be able to achieve it, which was somehow correct).
  • Remember that the tribe loved the dam at first; it wasn't until the spirits started getting angry that they realized it might be a problem. And even then, apparently only the chief knew, and assumed it was an honest mistake.

Elsa, where's your crown?

• The movie takes place three years after the first one. Yet why doesn't Elsa sport a crown? She didn't see fit to retrieve her coronation tiara from Marshmallow? Or at least make an ice duplicate of it?
  • I don't know about in the Frozen universe but in real life a Queen doesn't sport a crown 24/7. Only for very special occasions-like Coronation for instance. Or during supper time (in the 1912-1920s) in Britain the only time acceptable to wear a tiara was 1)at supper time and 2)after you were married.
  • Not to mention it's kind of a running theme that Elsa only gets dressed up when she's doing her phenomenal cosmic power thing.
  • The crown was a symbol of restriction to her, which is why she literally lets go of it, along with her gloves and fabric cape, in "Let It Go." She's unlikely to wear another crown again, just like she's unlikely to wear gloves or a cape not made of ice again.
  • Note that, for example, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II wears some very nice hats, but is hardly ever seen in a crown or tiara. She has commented that the state crown she has to wear for ultra-formal occasions weighs a ton.
  • Basically the movie is averting the Ermine Cape Effect.
  • If we take into account what going on during "Some Things Never Change", it's some kind of festival celebrating the coming of winter - and Elsa is being very active during the party, dancing with her sister and entertaining the children. So if she was planning on doing all that, she may have gone without a crown for practical reasons. The dress she wears for the party is nice but rather simple, as opposed to the elaborate finery she wears at her coronation in the first film.

Iduna's crown

• Another question - where is Iduna's crown at the beginning of Frozen II?
  • Perhaps gifted later on?
  • It was probably lost when the boat she was on sunk in the first film.

Into the unknooooowww- shut up Elsa!

• How did she manage to sing Into the Unknown without waking anybody up?! Especially the memed balcony scene?
  • Arendelle has heavy sleepers.
  • Maybe this is why everyone's up, somewhat dressed, carrying candles, and on the street within one second of all the crystals falling to the ground.
  • A closer look shows that when Elsa is getting loud, she's singing up the fjord, facing mostly away from the town. Also, even the most powerful singer is unlikely to be waking people up by singing at them from over a hundred feet away. She might have woken up some people in the castle whose rooms happened to be on that side, but nobody in the town would have heard her unless they were already awake and had their window open.
  • When taking the Musical World Hypothesis of the two Frozen movies into account, Into the Unknown and most other songs go into the “Adaptation” category, which means that it’s most likely a musical reconstruction of what actually happened. Elsa likely wasn’t actually singing in reality during this scene.

How is Elsa so energetic?

• How can Elsa be so fit to do things like battle the Nokk horse or do advanced ice pillars? She spent her pre-teen and teenage years mostly cooped up in her room.
  • Both Anna and Elsa are quite energetic on their own. And may have super-strength. Remember that Anna was able to throw a very heavy bust across a room in "For the First Time in Forever", and Elsa was able to make it several miles on foot to the summit of the North Mountain in the span of one night.
  • Probably a bit Rule of Cool, a bit A Wizard Did It. Plus, she was cooped up in the castle, not her room, and we know the gates encompass a rather large courtyard, so it's not unthinkable she had some opportunity to exercise during that time. And it's been three years since she started going out of the gates. It would probably still take some Rule of Cool to explain that level of fitness with that background, though.
  • It's worth noting that Elsa at the very least doesn't seem to feel the cold, so the Nokk horse fight isn't quite as ludicrous as it seems (even if she's a suspiciously good swimmer all of a sudden).
  • Hasn't it been three years since the first film? Plenty of time for her to get fit. And in that, Elsa did walk all the way up the North Mountain by herself with minimal help from her powers. Basically there are plenty of ways for Elsa to get fit from inside the castle (she may have had dance lessons as expected of a princess, and dance is very exerting).
  • Elsa tells the Duke of Weselton in the original movie that she doesn't dance.
  • "I said I didn't. Never said I couldn't."
  • Not wanting to dance with other people doesn't mean she didn't have lessons, but even if she didn't, as said above, there are plenty of ways to exercise in a castle, and it's been three years since the gates re-opened.
  • It is quite likely that the reason Elsa did not dance in the first film was that she feared to freeze her partner, not that she does not know how to.

Elsa going barefoot.

• Why is Elsa running into the ocean in bare feet? It's shown that she's doing this so she can create ice while running on the water, but it was shown in the first film she could create ice and snow through her feet with shoes on just fine.
  • Probably going for minimum weight and maximum balance. She's dealing with a moving, unstable surface, after all. That sort of thing is why bareback riders standing on the horse tend to be either barefoot or in their stocking feet, allowing their feet to flex and conform to what they're standing on.
  • Elsa might also have worried about shoes weighing her down; the kind of footwear worn when travelling up a mountain and through a forest probably isn't suitable for going into the water. And when material gets wet, it gets heavier.

Did Agnarr really become king straight away after his father's death?

• Agnarr, Elsa and Anna's father, was only 14 years old when this was said to have happened. Both Anna and Elsa had to be 21 years old to rule Arendelle.
  • In most monarchies, child heirs legally become the king/queen as soon as the previous one dies, but with extra limitations on their power until they come of age. In the meantime, a regent is usually appointed to run the kingdom on their behalf. So when Agnarr officially becomes king and when he can actually rule and/or have his coronation are different things.
  • It's also possible that Agnarr changed Arendelle's rules of inheritance so his daughters wouldn't have to deal with the pressure of running a nation at a young age, as he had.
  • His coronation portrait shows him as an adult, so it's likely that he didn't have his coronation until adulthood and that there was a regent. Elsa is also referred to as a queen before her coronation ("The queen has come of age; it's Coronation Day!"), so it seems that Agnarr and Elsa both legally succeeded to the throne the moment each of their predecessors died. Even when an adult is the one succeeding to the throne, there is usually quite some time before real life coronations to allow for planning and periods of mourning before the monarch is officially crowned, but they are still legally monarchs during that time. Same thing with child monarchs, who officially become monarchs before their coronations. How much power and responsibility they actually have before coming of age is a different story.
  • Let's look at some real-life examples, mostly English Kings. Henry VI was just a baby (nine months) when he became a monarch. Despite the fact Edward V never got crowned he was a mere child when his father Edward IV died. Edward VI was also was a mere child when his father Henry VIII died. Richard II was only 10 when his grandfather died, his father having died a year before. Here’s two Scottish examples as well. Mary, Queen of Scots was only 6 days old when she became Queen of Scots. Her son James VI was 1 year old when he became King after the abdication of his mother.

Bring Your Kid To War Day

• Why did Runeard bring Agnarr along that day if he planned on attacking the tribe? Wouldn’t it have made more sense to leave him in the castle? Or did Runeard want to accomplish his goal so badly that he was willing to have his son become hurt/possibly die in the process?
  • Maybe he thought having his son with him would make them look more trustworthy. It's also possible he didn't expect that much fighting. Based on the ice memory, it seems probable he killed the Northuldra leader because the leader was starting to catch onto the fact that the dam was more harmful than helpful. He might not have expected to fighting to break out that day.
  • This is supported by the fact that in one of ice memories, we see that Runeard was using the ceremony to evaluate the "enemy" population. He wasn't planning to attack then. Note also that his soldiers all seemed rather surprised to be in a fight, and indeed, outmatched—this wasn't a planned ambush.
  • He may have also thought that it would be a good way for his son to get some combat experience.
  • Where in the movie was it said that Runeard planned on attacking the entire tribe? His goal was to submit them to his authority stealthily by building the dam, and he planned to kill their leader in private so that no one would know about it. I don't remember anything suggesting that he'd planned on going to war.

Runeard and Matthias

• Did Matthias know about the attack? Or was he just being a good man and protecting Agnarr as he was told? Did any of the soldiers, aside from the one Runeard spoke with, know of the attack on the tribe?
  • Matthias and his band of soldiers didn’t seem to know, as they only seemingly only reacted when the Northuldra attacked them in response to Runeard’s actions.
  • Based on their reaction to Anna explaining to them what happened, he probably wasn't told before. It's impossible to tell how many of the soldiers Runeard brought along with him that day knew, though.
  • Given how dishonorable his actions were, he would have good reason to keep only his most trusted in the loop. I doubt he intended a real fight (though he did make a point that he wanted a full guard with him, so he certainly considered it a possibility).

The dam and the Northuldra

• Given that the Northuldra didn't appear to like the dam and their leader reported it was weakening them before he was killed, how come none of them thought to destroy it themselves?
  • Either the guards prevented them, or the Northuldra are aware that destroying the dam would destroy Arendelle, and they are not that consumed by vengeance to wish that.
  • It doesn't seem it ever occurred to Agnarr that the dam wasn't actually helpful, Elsa needs it spelled out for her, and Anna only figures it out after Elsa sends her the statue of Runeard attacking the Northuldra leader. The Northuldra initially accept it, and Runeard attacks when the leader shows he realizes the gift isn't good. And the leader is unarmed during that conversation, too, indicting he wasn't suspicious yet and Runeard was worried they were starting to catch on. So it's possible that like most of the Arendellian characters, most of the Northuldra didn't realize how harmful the dam was, either, and the leader knew because as the leader, he'd done research into it and/or their problems it was causing. The giant magical upheaval and war right around when the leader was noticing the problem and trying to talk to Arendelle about it wouldn't help, either.
  • The Northuldra are in tune with the spirits of nature, and a dam that size presumably took a long time to build. So why did it take so long for the Northuldra to notice that the dam was a problem? You'd think that the spirits would throw a fit before it was halfway finished, and you'd think that the Northuldra would notice that.
  • There probably were some who were suspicious right away, and some who were okay with it at first but changed their minds by the time it was finished. Realistically, any major project like that would have both supporters and detractors, and it's very possible there were Northuldra criticizing it from the beginning and had their objections overruled. Such things happen a lot in real life, and one doesn't have to look far to find similar examples of real-life constructions like the dam that were built over objections to the cost to the environment and to the people living in the surrounding area, with the justification that their builders argued it'd be good for commerce and trade (and the concerns about the environment and the people living nearby sometimes written off as "exaggerations").
  • And given the size of Arendelle's army, the Northuldra might have been anxious about rejecting a gift given personally by the King of an opposing nation. Simply turning the gift down could have been a dangerous move from a political point of view.
  • I don't know how they would've destroyed it without the spirits' help. And considering Arendelle's guards took up arms against Anna when she was leading the spirits to tear it down, they certainly wouldn't have been more accepting of the Northuldrans they think are enemies trying to do the same thing.

Elsa freezing

• So what exactly caused Elsa's powers to turn against her in the end and turn her to ice like Anna was in the first movie?
  • It seemed Ahtohallan froze Elsa rather than her powers acting against her. Remember, the lullaby warned anyone who went too deep into the river would drown. Elsa got the answers she was seeking, but wanted more, so she impulsively jumped into the darkest/deepest area of the river. Freezing was how she "drowned".
  • The spirits were out of wack and unnaturally aggressive, it's likely this includes the Ahtohallan. Most people would have likely frozen and drowned long before that point, with it only being Elsa's powers that kept her going that long.
  • Could be why Elsa goes back at the end: now that the balance of nature is restored, maybe the bottom of the glacier is safe for her and she can learn more.
  • The lullaby implies that people who go too far ending up drowning is usual, though. Iduna learned that lullaby before the balance was upset. Maybe Elsa goes but now avoids that room because she now realizes where the limits are? Or maybe she's banking on another selfless or compassionate act of her family to save her again if she makes the same mistake?
  • She did almost drown, falling through the ice into water right after she thawed. The ultimate answer probably depends on whether or not the "floor" exists independently of the balance; if the lullaby refers to literally drowning, there's a fair chance that it's perfectly safe for Elsa now... though it's probably best for her to conjure stairs instead of jumping this time.
  • It should be noted that the symbol of the 5th spirit was made with the four others', but when Elsa steps into her power, she hadn't tamed the Earth spirit and is saved after Anna does it.

Elsa at the end

• Why exactly would Elsa choose living in a forest with strangers instead of her sister? What is this role as 5th spirit? Does it require magic? What does it entail? What does it mean in Northuldra culture? If she’s gonna guard the Forest, what is she protecting it from? And can't she do that while also still being queen of Arendelle?
  • As Elsa spells out to Anna, they are both the 5th spirit. Because they’re a bridge, one side needs to remain in Northuldra, who know and understand magic better than Arendelle, and one has to be in Arendelle.
  • It's fitting to have the magical side of the bridge in the Enchanted Forest and the human side living outside it, but it is implied that it's a choice Elsa makes, too, instead of something she has to do. Honeymaren asks her if she wants to stay, and there's no indication that she has any obligation to do it. Her choosing to stay and Anna accepting that choice and the queenship demonstrates their character growth. Elsa no longer is trying to fill the expectations she grew up with, and Anna has faith in her ability to rule alone and for Elsa and their relationship to still be okay even with distance. Elsa has always valued freedom more than relationships, including platonic ones. Note her pure joy in "Let It Go," despite being more isolated than ever. She tells a concerned Anna in the reprise of "For the First Time in Forever," "Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free." It makes sense she'd prefer living with the magical people in the forest than be queen in town, where she'd have more responsibilities. It probably isn't an official position in their culture, though, since Honeymaren didn't seem to associate Elsa's ice powers with it when she talked about it. What exactly Elsa's job is with them, I don't know, but with her ice powers, it'd be easy to find something for her.
  • But Elsa's still the more dutiful/reserved one of the two, and her "leave your problems behind" arc was fully realized and concluded in the first movie. Her need for freedom came from her fear of her powers and of not being accepted, but once she figured out how to control them, she embraced her duty as queen, and the kingdom embraced her in return...and now she's just going to quit the throne, leave her people and YOLO off into the wilderness? Makes sense thematically because "Snow Queen," but that kind of thoughtlessness seems more than a little OOC for her just based on what we see of her in the first movie, the animated shorts, and this movie prior to "Into the Unknown".
  • Elsa's the more reserved of the two, but Anna's not any less dutiful than Elsa is, so that part shouldn't be a problem. And Elsa's reservation doesn't necessarily make her better at being queen, a job that requires a lot of interaction with people. That very reservation is part of why Elsa would prefer living in the forest instead of being queen. It's also implied she's not just taking off without explanation to avoid her problems like she did in the first movie, but actually talking to people first and passing the crown on properly this time.
  • Interacting with lots of people is hardly the most important trait a queen or king needs. Just because someone has social anxiety doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be able to do certain jobs - that mental hurdle might get in the way but it is only as big a barrier as you make it. Elsa proved that you can get over it. Hell, Elsa spent her coronation party actually mingling with other dignitaries while Anna was busy running around interacting solely with Hans.
  • No one said Elsa "can't" do it, just that she would enjoy it less than the path she chooses at the end, one that makes her happier than being queen did. Heck, it's implied that Anna has social anxiety, too, although she's much more interested in human interaction - which is a major part of being a ruler in any kind of monarchy.
  • Also, Anna spends the time mostly with Hans because he's the person who pays her attention. "For the First Time in Forever" makes it clear that if other people wanted to talk with her, she'd be thrilled to do so.
  • Add in, there have long been myths of the King and the land being one, and one must be where he is meant to be. Elsa could always have been fated to live with the Northuldra. Elsa shows more compassion and empathy now than she did in the beginning of the first movie. She can understand the needs of the spirits who live nearby, allowing her to commune and make sure misunderstandings don't happen again.
  • Elsa admits early on that she doesn't entirely enjoy being settled and safe, and that there's a pretty intense wild side hidden underneath. She might have been running away from her problems, but she sure seemed happier up in those mountains. There's also the fact that Anna is much better with people, and Elsa is much better with spirits and magic. Isn't Elsa better off with spirits and magic? No jobs, no more responsibilities, no more hard decisions that involve the wellbeing of others, free to play with her magic all day, ride her magic horse to wherever they please?
  • Anna may be better with people, but just being a social butterfly doesn't make a better ruler. Being queen requires more than that.
  • Sure, but it's enough to explain why Elsa left. They'd both do a decent job, but Elsa would enjoy it less and would prefer living as a free spirit in the forest.
  • Makes sense from the "mythic" perspective, and on second viewing, Elsa's definitely happier in the north. But there's more to queenship than just socializing. Anna is certainly more personable than Elsa, she’s also significantly more impulsive. She just kind of says and does whatever she's feeling at the moment, and that doesn't really work when it comes to diplomacy or statecraft. And she literally wanted to marry a man she just met.
    • Elsa isn't much better when it comes to impulsiveness. She jumped into the deepest part of Ahtohallan, knowing full well it could kill her, and the only reason she wasn't dead before that are her powers fixed every event that could've killed her. Anna had to stop her from following the earth giants. She also impulsively leaves the room where she and Anna had fallen asleep together and leaves the castle to chase after a disembodied voice she knows nothing about just on the hope that it could possibly lead her to learning more about her magic. Even in the first movie, she refused to at least listen to Anna when Anna came to her castle and forcibly ejected her (partially out of guilt, but still). If Elsa can learn better, so can Anna.
  • Where is everyone getting the idea that Anna can't make important decisions? Sure she accepted Hans's proposal instantly but she learned from that. As soon as the eternal winter struck Arendelle, Anna immediately took charge of the situation - guessing that the best way to reverse the magic was to appeal to Elsa as a sister, finding suitable provisions and a guide to take her up the unfamiliar terrain and leaving someone in charge until she returned. Throughout this film, it's Anna who's advising Elsa to do the responsible thing (calling her out for endangering herself recklessly multiple times). Just because she sometimes struggles with responsibility doesn't mean she's unable to take it on; a queen wouldn't just rule blind, she'd have advisors and a cabinet to help her as well.
  • She has made other mistakes, too, like setting out without proper gear in the first place, but it's true that she learns from them. That's pretty important, especially for a ruler. No one's perfect, which means even the most competent rulers will make mistakes - and for them, because they're rulers, those mistakes will be hard to live with for most people. The best person for the job is someone who would able to handle their own mistakes while still having the empathy to care and keep putting in the effort anyway, who learns from what's gone wrong and then tries to fix it. That does sound like Anna.

...So what does Elsa do now?

• What exactly are Elsa's duties as one half of the fifth spirit? The other four guys seem to act as actual guardians of the forest while the fifth one is just there to maintain balance. What does she do in her free time? After spending all her life trying, trying to be a good girl, trying to be a good Queen, what happens now that she doesn’t have to do that? After her way of life for so long no longer matters. She’s free to do whatever she wants, but what is that, exactly? Her questions have been answered. Her destiny revealed. She’s seemingly gotten everything she wants. So, after a few months, does she get bored? Now that the structure of her royal life is gone, does she also flounder?
  • One possibility would be that she is learning to control her powers. Grand Pabbie had told her that her powers would only grow, and in the very beginning she confirms that her powers keep growing. So it is possible that she was afraid this growth would eventually surpass the control she had over it (she does freeze her hands to a railing when startled in the beginning of the movie). Maybe Ahtohallan is the only place where she can learn how to really master her powers or feel at peace with them. In essence, this is what she wanted to do in the first movie in her ice castle, only now she is really in her place and has ensured she left her kingdom in good hands.
  • It's implied she's moved in with the Northuldra. Her ice powers allow for a lot of possibilities and she can probably use them to do all sorts of odd jobs, from constructing buildings to entertaining children, whatever she feels like doing at the time. She'd probably love the flexibility.
  • I just assumed she'd be their leader and help them rebuild their society after 34 years of instability.
  • They don't seem to be in need of a new leader. It seems that Yelena is theirs, although the film leaves it ambiguous, but if they do need new one, they'll probably give the position to someone who's been living with them longer and is more familiar with their culture and situation. Anna mentioned something about "protecting the forest" in her letter. Maybe Elsa's joined a guard group of theirs, which probably includes the people who confronted the Arendellians when they randomly showed up.
  • She may be acting as two ambassadors of sorts. The human link between the spirits and the Northuldra, and also the Northuldra ambassador to Arendelle. So while Yelena may be the official ruler of the Northuldra, Elsa might have some important work to do as well.
  • It's likely that, as the "Bridge" she acts as the voice for the Spirits, carrying messages from their world to the human one. And as the half of the "Bridge", she also acts as Northuldra's emissary to Arendelle, and by proxy, the world at large.

A question of ontological inertia

• Why was Olaf the only one of Elsa's creations to fall apart when she froze? The ice on the castle in Arendelle remained, and The Stinger seems to show that all her other snowmen are still around.
  • It's probably a good Reddit question for Jennifer Lee, but maybe Olaf is more of a familiar whereas the others are more just random creatures with not that much sentience and self-awareness.
  • Also, in a sense, Olaf is intrinsically a part of Elsa herself. Marshmallow and the others were meant as guards and servants, whereas Olaf is essentially the personification of Elsa's fond memories of the childhood love between her and Anna.
  • Also maybe Elsa rebuilt all of them later. I'm sure she or at least one of the other characters would remember them and want them revived. Like Olaf, Marshmallow and the snowgies also came from her emotions, and the snowgies were also an another accident.
  • Another possibility why Olaf disappeared was because of his Permafrost, which kept him from melting in warmer weather including the cave, was more dependent on Elsa being alive. As Marshmallow and the Snowgies were likely in the colder Ice Palace, they may have been unaffected by Elsa’s apparent demise.
  • The post credits scene has Olaf explaining the plot to Marshmallow with particular focus on his own death and resurrection, saying he lives with Marshmallow echoing the sentiment. So the movie does seem to address this...if not in any way explain it. I guess Elsa just revived all of them. No idea about the ice on Arendelle though. That doesn't make sense any way you look at it. In either of the two possible scenarios for Marshmallow and co (either A they never died or B they were revived) neither of them work for Arendelle. It it would have melted quicker than Olaf and Elsa would have no reason at all to reapply it in her desperate rush to save the city.
  • Could she have reapplied it afterward?
  • The castle's ice decorations are visible when she creates the wall. We know Elsa's able to create snow and ice in places where she isn't anywhere near, so it's possible she was able to reapply the decorations with only a thought while riding the Nokk toward Arendelle.
  • Maybe because Olaf is inherently magical - a talking, thinking snowman - while the ice decorations on the castle are more natural. Elsa cast one spell to create them and there they are, whereas her magic is continually keeping Olaf alive. Since it's late Autumn when the film starts, maybe the ice decorations would have melted in warmer weather.

The Dam's Destruction

• The King didn't explain it but how did it weaken them?
  • Dams can be pretty destructive to an ecosystem. For one thing, it led to the flooding of an entire valley, reducing the Northuldra hunting or foraging grounds and their elks grazing grounds. If they were dependent on the river, the dam also disrupted its flow quite heavily. It's basically the equivalent of building a superhighway in the middle of the small city, with no access to the city itself.
  • Nature's power comes from its natural flow. "Tame" it through ill-conceived engineering, and it becomes unbalanced; water stops flowing, air currents get disrupted, the earth becomes unstable, fire blazes out of control.
  • Look closer. It's a dam without any holes or release mechanisms, like modern dams have. No water is getting through. Any fish in that river won't be able to migrate. If too much snow falls upstream, the whole thing will overflow and crack. And if it doesn't crack, the forest will turn into a marsh as it's forced to accept way more water than it ever has before. Architecture has to have an organic, reactive design if it's going to be safe. You can't just slap a basic wall into one of the harshest climates on Earth and expect it to stay there forever.

Iduna's heritage

• Iduna is a Northuldra? Why is she so much more light-skinned than the others?
  • The real world reason is because her CG model was made before her character was decided to be Northuldra/Sámi. In-universe, she might've had a parent from Arendelle or simply looks that way. The genetic origin of the real-life Sámi is difficult to trace, but is estimated to be Finnish mixed with some Eastern European and Northeast Asian groups.
  • Plus there are many Sámi who look mostly or ENTIRELY European. Such as... Kristoff, who is a Sami character.
  • Iduna looks like a pretty typical member of real life Sami people, who are indigenous to Northern Europe and are often pale-skinned. The general look of the Northuldra of the sequel is modeled to conform more to American expectations of what indigenous people look like.
  • To be honest, Iduna shares some characteristics with Ryder, who also had reddish brown hair and blue eyes.
  • They could have made all the Northuldra light skinned. It doesn't even seem all that far away from Arendelle judging by the fact that the dam could directly threaten it with a tidal wave.
  • Northuldra and Arendelle had had friendly relations for a while, at least long enough to build a giant dam. It's likely there was at least some intermarriage over the years.
  • Also the Northuldra are a nomadic people who likely spend more time outside, while the people of Arendelle are a settled people who likely spend more time inside. The two groups aren't located that far apart and wouldn't be that far off genetically. A large part of the difference in skin tones of the two groups could from the Northuldra being tanned, and Iduna's tan would have faded living in Arendelle until her skin seemed to match everyone else's.
  • Tanned? After 35 years without ever seeing the sun?
  • The real-life Sami can be pretty visually diverse, with some looking like Kristoff, some like Iduna, some like Honeymaren and Ryder. It seems unlikely that we've seen all of the Northuldra, and it's quite possible that the same situation applies to them and there are others who look like Iduna and/or Kristoff and could pass for Arendellian. Given the themes of the story and the overall franchise (mainly the theme about embracing people who are different), it makes sense that the movie would focus on the ones who are visibly different. Having Iduna be paler than most of the other Northuldra shown also helps keep The Reveal of the identity of Agnarr's Northuldran rescuer and the sisters' heritage more of a surprise.

Post-game free roam: new content in Ahtohallan?

• Save for making a really cool ending shot, there doesn't seem to be any real motive for Elsa to go back. She knows who she is, she's explored every chamber, unlocked the full potential of her powers, discovered her parents' and her grandfather's backstories... is there anything else left to do?
  • The Ahtohallan is suggested to contain the memories of the entire world, or at least the memories of the waters that flow around it. That's an enormous amount of stored knowledge.
  • Given how Elsa is at least partially the reincarnation of an ancient nature spirit, and how the chambers and structures within Ahtohallan had many similarities to the ice palace she built in the first movie, I got the impression that perhaps Elsa lived there in her previous life. Hence she would want to return to learn more about who or what she used to be.
  • I don't remember there being any reference to reincarnation? But as said above, it seems there's unlimited magic and memories stored in there, and that's what drew Elsa away from Arendelle in the first place.
  • Elsa has a brief moment where she looks positively ecstatic at riding back there, so whatever she was going to look for there, it seems to be quite enjoyable. She seemed very happy to see all of her memories the first time she went there, so possibly she went to relieve some more. She may also be looking forward to get some knowledge there like someone eager to find a good book.
  • Reincarnation or not (which seems unlikely unless it's clearly stated), Elsa is a bright young woman who just happened to find the collective repository of mankind's memories, lore and knowledge from ancestral times to yesterday, and who's possibly the only being getting a free pass into it. And such a place is exactly where anyone would go to know better the world and herself.

The fifth spirit and the voice

• So, who was the fifth spirit before Elsa (and Anna)? And for that matter, what exactly was the voice, and why did some Northuldrans (and Agnar) hear it also?
  • There don't seem to be any (present) Northuldrans who've heard the voice. What Agdar heard was Iduna calling out to Ahtohallan, the fifth spirit, to help them; she was rewarded for saving his life by gifting one of her daughters with Ahtohallan's magic. So with the glacier's power inside her, Elsa later hears it repeating the memory of that call, compelling her toward it to discover who she is and lift the curse.
  • Given Elsa says that she and Anna are the fifth spirit (rather than simply having the spirit's powers) I took it to mean some kind of reincarnation had taken place. Hence why the structures inside Ahtohallan recall Elsa's own castle, and how Elsa seems to know just what to do when she gets there, that she was getting some kind of memory from her previous self. In turn we find out that the one ultimately who was calling Elsa was Elsa herself (as the voice of her mother implies in the song), some memory or fragment of who she was before she became Elsa that was seeking to complete the plan that had the spirit choose to become Elsa and Anna to begin with. Presumably the fifth spirit was originally a being similar to the others we see. This may be going too far into theory though, but it was my impression when I watched the movie.
  • Honeymaren says there are tales of a fifth spirit, but she also doesn't seem to make the connection with Elsa's ice magic, suggesting the spirit is known but not known well. Its existence may be sporadic, coming into existence only when the others deem it appropriate.
  • One could argue that ice is the fifth spirit, which occasionally incarnates as a guardian like Elsa (in the same fashion as Gale) when the time is right.
  • It may be that there didn't USED to be a fifth Spirit, because there wasn't a NEED for one. In the past, there weren't kingdoms growing, and so the Spirits simply could get by without interacting directly. But as people expand, the Spirits come into contact with them more, so they need a bridge. They need two hearts that share a connection, children of both worlds to connect them with the people that they now must interact with.

Kristoff's new title

• Is he a prince consort, king consort or full-blown king? The fandom seems to be split on this one.
  • It depends. King consorts aren't unheard-of, but are rare. We'd need to find out more about Arendelle's culture and what Anna and Kristoff want. It's possible for there to be a Victoria-and-Albert situation, where Anna would want to name him king and another branch of the government wouldn't allow it. It's also possible they would have a choice about it but Kristoff wouldn't care enough for them to bother. (Disney governments do seem less finicky about this sort of thing.)
  • Was Iduna a Queen? Because if so, that would imply the spouse of the Queen/King is a full-on King/Queen, but I don't remember if she was called that way onscreen.
  • Not necessarily. British female consorts have been titled 'Queens' for centuries, but the male consorts of ruling Queens rarely get the same treatment, some going by Prince Consort (Victoria's husband, Albert) or another lesser title (Elizabeth's II husband Philip as Duke, for instance).
  • In the Broadway musical during its preview period in Denver in November 2017, the Duke of Weselton mentioned the possibility of Elsa getting a "king." He does so in the A Twisted Tale take on Frozen, too. Neither is a definite canonical answer, but it suggests Disney would probably want to keep things simple and name the queen's spouse as "king." There's room to headcanon it otherwise, though.
  • Well the only reason Queen Victoria's government wouldn't allow Albert to be king was because he was a foreigner. But I don't think that Anna and Kristoff got married quite yet at Anna's coronation. BTW Queen Elizabeth's husband is a "Prince Consort" as well because he's called PRINCE Phillip. Not Duke Phillip. The duke is one of his other titles.
  • There are two kinds of Queens. There are Queen regnants (like Elsa and now Anna) which mean they inherited the throne from the previous monarch (or the previous monarch abdicated like Elsa did). The other kind of Queen are the Queen consorts, or those who married into the line (the Evil Queen, Ariel's mom, Jasmine's mom was a Sultana^note which is an Indian or middle-eastern version of Queen consort, and same is true for Nancy Tremaine, Merida's mother Eleanor, and of course Iduna)
  • And Queen Elizabeth's husband Prince Phillip is also foreign-born. It does seem that in England at least, men who marry into royalty don't usually take the masculine equivalent of their wife's title, though. But Kristoff being from Arendelle instead of a foreigner like Albert or Phillip should help if Anna wants to have him named king (and if he wants such a thing). Plus, this is Disney's Fantasy Counterpart Culture to Norway, so Norwegian rules are probably more influential, and Disney would probably be okay bending them for storytelling reasons anyway.
  • In real life, countries have had different rules regarding titles for husbands of Queen Regnants. Usually the title was Prince consort, but some cases in the Middle Ages and a bit later had Jure uxoris kings, which were husbands of Queen Regnants who were considered co-rulers, but they usually were of royal or noble birth themselves. Hans seemed to think marrying Anna and killing Elsa would have made him king, so he was probably thinking he would be become co-ruler. The title of king consort was used twice in different times.
  • So in short, he'll become whatever Anna names him as. If he's uncomfortable with too high a rank, he could just be recognised as Prince Consort and be a mere figurehead while Anna has all the authority.
  • Queens can't always choose their husbands' ranks, depending on whatever councils/parliaments/customs they're dealing with. We really can't tell for sure what Kristoff's rank will be, because it varies by culture. Knowing Disney, though, they'll probably want to keep the rank system simple and just have his title be "King" because that's what a lot of the audience would assume, especially in America.
  • Sweden, at least, has had a "prince consort" who'd married the reigning Queen in the 18th century. He eventually became Sweden's full-blown king, but only because his wife abdicated in his favor.

The Northuldra are clueless about the dam

• King Runeard builds the dam to disrupt the spirits of nature and weaken the Northuldra; he says this explicitly. But the Northuldra don't suspect anything's wrong until the project is finished. How could they be so clueless? They're in tune with nature, after all. You'd think that the spirits would throw a fit before the dam was even halfway finished, and you'd think that the Northuldra would notice that. How does Runeard apparently know more about disrupting the balance of nature than the Northuldra leader, when Arendelle has no experience with spirits or magic?
  • It's quite possible that some of them did suspect something wrong, but had their objections overruled by people who were excited by the promised benefits. Realistically, it seems most likely that people would be split on whether it was a good thing or not. As for the spirits, their whims throughout the movie seemed a bit contrived, but it seems as if they waited until actual violence broke out. Outright fighting may have bothered them more than the dam.

The dam disrupts nature, but the spirits don't care

• If the dam disrupts the balance of nature, why don't the spirits do something about it? The earth giants are quite capable of destroying the dam once Anna goads them into it, so why didn't they do that on purpose several years ago? Why didn't the water spirit make an appearance during the dam's construction, or at the celebration? You'd think that the water spirit, of all spirits, would be upset about a dam. All that happens is a weird fog traps everybody in the area, but see the next question for more about that.
  • The spirits don't seem to be all that intelligent, at least in the enraged/primal states they were in until Elsa calmed them to the point of communication becoming possible, until then they were more like angry animals than sapient beings. You can actually see the earth spirits react with perplexed surprise when they realize the effect destroying the dam is having.

The fog

• Where did that fog come from? Who decided to trap everybody in the Enchanted Forest? Apparently it happened in response to the dam, since destroying the dam lifts the fog. But none of the spirits seem to actually care about the dam, despite the whole "disrupting the balance of nature" thing. Was it the Fifth Spirit that caused the fog? If so, was there some other Fifth Spirit before Elsa/Anna? Whatever caused the fog, why didn't it kick in earlier, when the dam was half-built? (And why didn't it do something to actually destroy the dam instead of enforcing a Closed Circle for no obvious reason?) Was the Arendelle/Northuldra battle just the last straw for some reason? But even then, apparently it took a couple hours for the fog to turn on, because Elsa's mom left the area with Agnarr before the fog happened.
  • Pabbie speaks of the events as if they are some kind of mystical chain reaction due to a wrong that needed to be righted. One might assume there isn't necessarily a lot of logic/rationality to it.
  • The fog seemed to be more of a response to the fighting than to the dam. Fighting is more of a direct and immediate threat than the dam, and one more likely to be prevented by physical separation than the problems caused by the dam.
  • If the fog was caused by the fighting, you'd think that peace would drive the fog away. But at the end of the movie, it's not solved by some new peace agreement between the Arendellians and the Northuldra; it's solved by the dam getting destroyed. And "physical separation" didn't much serve to stop the fighting anyway; both sides were trapped together. That could well encourage them to fight more! If the fog wanted to end the fighting, you'd think it would put the Northuldra on one side and the Arendellians on the other, with the fog in between.
  • Although some Arendellians got trapped on the Northuldra side and at least one Northuldra girl got trapped on the Arendellian side, they were still roughly split up. The potential violence was still reduced. The spirits' whims do seem kind of contrived, but there wasn't really a peace agreement we saw before the dam was destroyed, more of a truce. The dam's destruction was proof of willingness to take responsibility for the wrongs of the past and do something about them.
  • Right after the dam is destroyed, we see the symbols of the spirits, with the symbol of the fifth in the centre, appear in the sky above Ahtohallan, exactly like Elsa saw them first during "Show yourself". This may mean that Anna was accepted as the second part of the fifth spirit precisely at that point, just like Elsa had been before, thus finally completing the bridge between the spirits.
  • My interpretation was that the fog was created as a result of political tensions between Northuldra and Arendelle, not from disruption of nature. The dam is a thing created out of Arendellian resentment of Northuldrans that, due to the disruption, has generated Northuldran resentment of Arendellians. Anna luring the earth giants to break the dam is a gesture of genuine peace and goodwill from a representative of Arendelle, and the fog, accordingly, would lift because it means the two peoples are on good terms once again (if they ever were on good terms in the first place).

"I awoke the spirits of the Enchanted Forest"

• Right after Elsa sings "Into the Unknown", she casts some sort of spell which causes ice-crystals to hover in the air. Then a bunch of weird earth/air/wind/fire things happen, and everyone evacuates. Elsa tells Anna "I awoke the spirits of the Enchanted Forest". Wait. Were the spirits asleep for some reason?
  • Maybe they were already awake inside the fog, but now they have influence outside of the fog too?
  • At the very least Elsa seemingly enabled the spirits to be more active, as they apparently hadn't done much of anything in the years since the forest was sealed.
  • Elsa may simply have misjudged the situation when she said that. What happened at the end of "Into the Unknown" may have been her involuntarily "outing" herself as the fifth spirit, drawing them toward her. So they may not have been so much sleeping as roaming purposelessly so far.
  • It's said that the spirits did what they did so the people would evacuate, making it possible to destroy the dam without people drowning. They were probably waiting for Elsa to answer the call and decide to take the journey for answers that would lead her (and Anna, who tends to go where Elsa goes) to the dam.
  • This one is the right answer. Elsa says she "awoke" the spirits, because that's the way Agnarr put it when telling her and Anna the story, but Agnarr had a limited perspective. In reality what Elsa did was answer the call. She starts by matching her "Into the unknoooown" tune with the Voice's tune, and ends the song by directly asking, "How do I follow you into the unknown?" Immediately she gets her answer with the spirits' arrival in Arendelle. We know the spirits aren't actually asleep, because the Northuldrans still fear them (for example, Yelena tells Elsa not to go north until dawn, because of the earth spirits.)
  • Just like Elsa's powers can sometimes be unconscious, it seems those of the spirits can be as well. Elsa may have caused their powers to awaken and cause the evacuation unconsciously.

Spirits prompting the evacuation of Arendelle

• Near the end, we're told that the spirits messed with Arendelle in order to prompt an evacuation so that the dam could be destroyed without killing anyone. Seems like some good foresight from the spirits there. Except for one thing: none of the spirits actually bothers to destroy the dam! Anna has to trick them into doing it! So the spirits set up an evacuation in preparation to destroy the dam...and then somehow forgot about the whole "destroy the dam" idea. What?
  • Pabbie says there is a wrong that needs to be righted, so perhaps the spirits destroying the dam on their own volition would not have counted in restoring the balance, i.e. people from Arendelle had to willingly enable the dam's destruction. Or possibly the earth giants (apparently the only ones with enough power to destroy the dam) lacked the intelligence to do more on their own than add their power to the list of elements running rampant through Arendelle.
  • What would the spirits destroying the dam themselves have accomplished? It's possible Arendelle would have interpreted it as a direct attack on their city from the resulting destruction, and another war with the Northuldra could have broken out. Think of it like the ocean choosing Moana to return the Heart of Te Fiti. The ocean possibly could have returned the heart on its own, but the way things happened in the film enabled Moana's people to rediscover their voyager traditions. Relations between Arendelle and Northaldra have to be mended, while the Arendellians must know of their past - and by the end they are also ruled by two sisters descended from both their people.
  • Likewise, the spirits could've simply said (in their own way): "Hi, chosen ones, welcome to the forest. Go north til you hit the ocean, and our friend the magic horse will take you where you need to go. Make sure to stop by the shipwreck on the way." But they don't. They fight first - but they more or less throw the fight and allow Elsa to win, fighting only just hard enough to make it a challenge. All this is because the spirits are acting like puppetmasters. They're arranging things so that Elsa, Anna, the Northuldrians, and Arendellians all learn some very important lessons on their own. They're probably testing Elsa and Anna as well. The earth spirits don't lack intelligence - they stop heaving rocks as soon as the dam breaks. The spirits intended all along for things to happen the way they did, because if they'd acted like a deus ex machina in any way, the people wouldn't have learned what they needed to learn.

Letting Elsa go

• The main conflict between Anna and Elsa in this movie is that Elsa keeps putting herself in danger and Anna keeps telling her not to do that. Then Elsa goes off to Ahtohallan alone and nearly dies, which (temporarily) kills Olaf too, and Anna sings a whole song about her grief. Then, after the dam is destroyed, Elsa goes off to live in the forest, and Anna is ok with this. Um...what? The last time Elsa went off on her own, she nearly died, and Anna had to save her. You'd think that this would make Anna feel more protective of Elsa, not less.
  • Anna was protective of Elsa when she was pursuing an unknown voice in dangerous territory. Now Elsa simply wants to live in the forest with their mother's people. The potential dangers are simply not the same.
  • Plus Elsa is more powerful than ever at this point, with extremely powerful allies in the other spirits. She's reasonably safe provided she doesn't overuse the memory river again. And instead of shutting her loved ones out she has agreed to maintain regular contact.
  • Thematically, the story's main conflict is that Elsa needs to go somewhere where Anna can't follow in order to learn about herself, while Anna is anxious that she won't be able to support her sister and terrified of losing her again. The ending gives the two a way to support each other in their respective calling, despite their physical distance.
  • And living in fear of a loved one dying is valid, but it's important that if such a thing happens, the survivor must continue on with their life. "The Next Right Thing" is about Anna choosing to still go on, even though she's grieving. She's accepted that Elsa may be lost to her forever, but there is still work to be done. In the end, she also accepts that she may lose Elsa again, but will not let it interfere with her own life - while still doing her best to preserve their relationship despite all the changes.
  • Learning to let your loved ones go and recognizing that it's not the end of the world is a recurring theme in the movie not just between Anna and Elsa. Just look at Kristoff's subplot: he and Anna go their separate ways halfway through the movie, and both seem to treat it as a sign that maybe they're growing apart and don't belong together. But when she needs help during the climax, Kristoff turns up again and is there for her, and the two of them reconcile, reaffirming their love for each other and realizing that the fact that they left one another behind wasn't the big fuss it was made out to be.

Elsa's signal

• Just before Elsa gets frozen stiff in Ahtohallan, she raises a hand skyward and shoots some magic. The next thing we see, Anna and Olaf are lost in some caves when suddenly a light shines and shows them the way out. What's going on here? Did Elsa cast some sort of "Show Anna how to escape the caves" spell? Or a "Inform Anna of my location" spell? Because neither of those things really fits with the concept of "ice powers". She's not an all-around wizard with a variety of spells; she just has the power to freeze things. I could grasp the idea of her making an ice sculpture at a distance, but she doesn't even know where Anna *is* at this point. (Remember that she put Anna on an ice-boat and sent her down a cliff, and then Anna sent the boat in a new direction which led to the cave and then they got lost in the caves.) So apparently she can send magic to Anna without first knowing where Anna is? Or is she homing in on Olaf somehow, since he's an ice-person? I don't understand.
  • Elsa sent the water memory ice sculpture to Anna, not the location of the way out. As for how she was able to target Anna, it was magic, possibly fueled by her love of her sister and Olaf, plus their connection to each other as the fifth spirit.
  • Elsa was able to awaken the four spirits from afar, not knowing where they were or even what they were at the start. When answering the call from Ahtohallan, she sent out her magic and the spirits responded. "Show Yourself" does show Elsa getting a handle on these powers, as evidenced by her costume change, so she must have worked out how to control that aspect of her power.
  • Elsa's magic isn't limited to the ability to freeze things. She was able to lift locked-in water out of the wood in the shipwreck, using the "water memory" feature to depict their parents in their last moments. In "Frozen Fever", she could not just create ice sculptures, but change them. So, she has the ability to manipulate water itself, as long as it ultimately ends up as ice or snow. She also has the ability to force water to take the shape of something that she couldn't possibly even know, as long as the water itself has that memory; additionally, sometimes her creations appear in ways she would never have intended (she would never consciously create a cake topper that looked like a dead, frozen Anna.) They do, however, act in ways that reflect her subconscious. When Elsa fights off the Duke of Weselton's guards, she doesn't want to kill them, and so one of them is pinned to the wall by icicles, but none actually impale him. All this adds up to the following: At that moment, Elsa, with every conscious and subconscious fiber of her being, wants to get the message to Anna about Runeard. Elsa isn't sure how that'll happen, but she can create the message. Anna was carried to the cave by water, so the water knows where Anna is, and Elsa's magic knows what Elsa wants.

A bridge has two ends

• At the end, Anna says that Elsa is the Fifth Spirit, the bridge between magic and humans, but then Elsa says "Actually a bridge has two ends, and our mother had two daughters". So...are they both the Fifth Spirit? What does this mean, in a magical sense? Elsa's the only one with powers, after all. Does Anna have some parallel role in keeping the balance of nature, despite her lack of powers? Or maybe Elsa was just trying to give her a compliment, and Anna's not really the Fifth Spirit in a mystical sense?
  • Elsa is a powerful magic user, and Anna is a particularly strong willed and compassionate human. Both are perfect representatives of the magic and human world. Anna is the human part of the bridge, representing the best human qualities, which makes her the logical choice to lead Arendelle.
  • It's also Anna who engineers the dam's destruction, which she does without magic.

Queen Anna? Really?

• I'll give Anna credit, she's demonstrating more and more leadership skill, but why does Elsa leave her as Queen? Is it the best job for her? She still seems a bit too bubbly and impulsive for the throne, even for a Disney movie.
  • Monarchies are hereditary. Elsa had no children. Henceforth Queen Anna (the younger sister).
  • Is bubbliness a bad thing for the job? The impulsiveness is, but Elsa's not any less so, so that concern probably wouldn't have affected her decision to abdicate.
  • We don't quite know how royalty works in Arendelle, and it is very likely there are some advisors around to help the Queen. For that matter, we never saw Elsa do much ruling, apart from appearing on public occasions. If the job of the Queen is mainly to wave around and smile, Anna should do just fine.
  • There's bits and pieces of important stuff in the background, like breaking off ties with Weselton. We've seen Elsa's Renly side... but can Anna do Stannis?
  • Anna’s real issues would primarily be in the day to day stuff. She’s a smart person and yes, is very popular with the people, but being queen is about more than that. Anna's like Percy Jackson and his ADHD. Percy, like Anna, is a great person, friendly, and in times of battle or emergency is definitely the first person to call, like with Anna's actions in the first film. But when it comes to things like technical work or work that really requires hours of simply sitting down or having to deal with complicated concepts, he’s not as effective because it’s simply not his area of expertise. Anna may not be hopeless as queen, but...it’s not really her element where she thrives. She is a much better person at socializing with people then her sister, I'll give her that, but that’s not all there is to a queen's job. The role of the monarch also involves the long, difficult, and often complicated work that’s done behind the scenes to keep her kingdom thriving. And that’s not really the best area for Anna’s talents as a person.
  • Right. As uncomfortable as Elsa might be with being Queen, Anna would downright suffocate - she's naturally too much of a Tomboy Princess for that.
  • It's also hinted in places that Elsa spent a lot of that lonely childhood in the library, which would at least have set her up for the analytical part of rulership. And she may have been cold in a lot of ways, but her refusing Anna permission to marry in the first film was the exactly correct response for a monarch in those circumstances. Anna, on the other hand, is a sentimental romantic; she may well have good advisers, but if she screws up a choice and gets a bad adviser, or runs into a manipulative foreign diplomat, they may well put one over on her.
  • But it's also hinted in places Anna spent a lot of her own lonely childhood in the library. There doesn't seem to be anything in the movies about how much time either sister spent there, but the Broadway show (which shares several writers with the movies) brings it up in regards to Anna a couple of times, including a part about her spending "hours and hours on end" by herself in it.
  • No debate about how unhealthy the whirlwind courtship was, but the way Elsa handled it? Textbook case of how NOT to help a friend in such a situation. She simply told Anna she "can't" do it, and decided shut down the gathering and kick out a bunch of visiting dignitaries. Understandable given her issues, but hardly proof she's more fit for the job. Especially because she decides in the sequel to chase down a disembodied voice she knows even less about than Anna did Hans, so she's hardly less impulsive or susceptible to manipulation. She believed Hans in the first movie, too, despite having even less reason than Anna did.
  • More to the point, there's no reason for Elsa to believe Anna wouldn't do as good a job as queen as she herself would. So far every concern mentioned is either purely Fanon (there's nothing in the movie about how good either sister is with paperwork) or something that applies to both sisters (making the wrong choice in trusting Hans).
  • There's another question to ask, and that's "Would Anna want to be queen?" Because there's a few things she's going to hate about this job:
    1. The workload. The role of the Queen is not an easy job. It’s basically being a fancy politician and head of state. As queen, Anna's days are going to see her have to adhere to a very tight schedule where she has to be inside all day, stuck doing tons of paperwork, and rarely allowed to play or go out into town. She’s spent her whole life in the palace not being allowed to go anywhere without a royal escort, so being once again constricted to the building due to her title seems like something she’d hate. She likes having her freedom and autonomy that the idea of having even some of that stripped of her would no doubt be painful. Not to mention she won’t even be able to be with her sister on the few bits of downtime she does have.
    2. Image. Being queen requires a level of decorum and scrutiny that I don't think Anna would like. Anna seems like someone who enjoys being herself and not having to worry about what others think of her. While she isn’t slovenly, I doubt she’s going to enjoy the insane image she'll need to maintain as queen. Plus, she’ll have everything she does placed under a magnifying glass, from the way she acts and the things she says to her relationship with Kristoff, and even past decisions. Her impulsiveness in getting engaged to Hans seems like one thing that her critics are going to use to paint her as not suited for the job. Anna's going to hate having so many aspects of herself and her life being judged.
    • On the other hand, Anna is FIERCELY passionate about helping EVERYONE she can, so the work might not bother her as much as it might seem, because she's getting to do what she always wanted, which is to help her people. And with the image, perhaps part of what Elsa wants is to change the image of the Queen. Instead of simply some distant, inhuman figure (perfect, regal, and serene), Anna will make the monarch HUMAN. She will be a Queen that isn't simply a good leader, but a beloved one. Instead of simply ruling from the palace walls, she'll be a presence among her subjects, someone they know and love. Instead of being someone that's seen as perfect and without flaw, Anna brings a very personal, human touch to the throne. She's goofy, outspoken, and makes mistakes, but ALSO is able to not be terribly hurt by those who might speak ill of her.
  • All they really need to do is just fit the role to Anna. She'll have plenty of loyal people to do the day to day ruling, leaving Anna free to socialise, negotiate and play the part. She's headstrong, smart, dedicated and charismatic, the throne could do a lot worse.
  • Advisors can do that. But they can only do so much, though - remember that 1843 is just two decades after Napoleon, a decade before the Revolutions and the Irish Potato Famine, and three decades before the Ems Telegram. Not saying there's a Bismarck or a famine or angry mobs looming over Arendelle, but Elsa seems to have been the better politician of the two, and now she's off in Northuldra. Don't suppose a diarchy is on the table?
  • What suggests that Anna would be any worse at dealing with such issues than Elsa? Elsa did choose to leave her in charge.
  • It's true that neither of the sisters have a very good track record when it comes to crisis management. That said, Elsa was at least somewhat groomed for the throne; Anna, even in canon, was the spare. Only time (or the inevitable sequel) will tell if Anna can rise to the challenge and both can be happy, or if Elsa just took the easy way out.
  • The point of being a spare is that Anna should be able to take on the job if Elsa doesn't, though, so it's likely that she received a comparable education.
  • That's possible...if not for the fact that the movies and the books show another story. Between the first movie, the animated shorts, and the books, we see Anna sleeping late (10:00 am), waking up HOURS after Elsa, then spending her days strolling into town without a care in the world. And even as a child she was outside playing while Elsa studied.
  • The only part there that's actually canon is Anna being more of a night owl while Elsa is more of a morning person, and what does something like that have to do with the question? And the other parts mentioned ("spending her days strolling without a care in the world" and playing while Elsa studies) don't come from canon at all, but even if they had, it wouldn't mean that Anna didn't get an education, and that Anna feeling like she doesn't have enough to do and wanting more responsibility plays pretty well into her taking up the job while Elsa pursues a path that allows her more freedom.
  • Elsa would likely have the same issues with the workload and image as Anna. Probably more - both sisters were restricted and lonely growing up locked in the castle, but we see in "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" that for Elsa, her main issue was restrictions caused by her not being able to control her powers, while for Anna, her main issue was loneliness and rejection. Elsa spends the first movie and sequel longing for freedom and values it over relationships, while Anna actively seeks out responsibility and relationships throughout the first movie, the short, and the sequel. Being judged is rarely fun for anyone, but people who are used to being ignored, like Anna, are usually the ones most likely not to mind. In fact, they're the ones most likely to act out in desperation for any kind of attention, finding even negative attention better than none at all. Elsa, on the other hand, grew up with a lot of expectations and pressure, which is part of why she longs so much for freedom. Anna might enjoy having her sister living with her in Arendelle and ruling as queen instead of her more than the situation she finds herself in at the end, but she'll probably enjoy being queen more than Elsa did, and be happy that Elsa's happy.
  • All excellent points, but Anna's also spent most of the movies and shorts taking the day off. Elsa may have privately hated the paperwork and intrigue and decorum (who wouldn't?), but she was at least used to it, and knew it was expected of her. Arendelle's already lost a king and had a queen abdicate in just three years, so the last thing they need is "Queen Anna the Unready."
  • Anna spends most of the movies and shorts volunteering for responsibility. The main plot of the first movie revolves around her trying to find and help Elsa after Elsa impulsively exposes her powers and then runs away to the mountains. Frozen Fever is about Elsa throwing a party as an attempt at a birthday celebration/thank you/apology for Anna, while Anna tries to convince Elsa to put the party on hold so Anna can take care of her. In the Christmas special, Anna goes looking for traditions after seeing how sad Elsa and Olaf are about not remembering having one, and later volunteers to go looking for Olaf with everyone after he goes missing. Frozen II is about Elsa wanting to leave Arendelle to go discover herself and Anna volunteering to go in order to help Elsa and make sure she's safe. It might not be the best time to switch monarchs, given all of the upheaval Arendelle's recently had. But more to the point, Anna's eagerness for responsibility and Elsa's eagerness for freedom help explain Elsa's decision. This fits with their different traumas, Anna growing up neglected and Elsa growing up under a ton of pressure.
  • The thing is, judging only from the movies and the shorts, we have no idea how much work being ruler of Arendelle actually entails. A lot of the work Elsa had to do as Queen comes either from the supplementary material or Fanon, neither of which was taken as canon by the writers (even the shorts were apparently of dubious canonicity). What have we seen the rulers of Arendelle do in film? The most proactive one was Runeard, with some... dubious results. Agnar was mostly seen ordering all gates to the castle closed. Elsa severed all trading ties with Weselton (something which may have not been entirely good for Arendelle by the way), created an ice rink in the castle courtyard, organised a birthday party for her sister (and then almost died from ignoring her sickness or overindulging with cough syrup), and organised a Christmas party for the whole city (then discovered everybody was busy). There is very very little onscreen evidence of all the hard work people like to imagine Elsa doing as a competent and dedicated ruler. In fact, if not for Anna putting Hans in charge of the country, we could even imagine that royalty in Arendelle is more like a constitutional monarchy, like in the UK, with the ruler having only an honorific role. And throwing parties, smiling and waving is probably something Anna is just as skilled at, if not more, than Elsa.
  • Per the shorts, Frozen Fever and Olaf's Frozen Adventure, Elsa is overseeing celebrations because watching Elsa doing paperwork would be extremely boring to kids. But the book Forest of Shadows notes that Elsa has a very busy job where she's basically a workaholic. Elsa works from 6am to 10pm nonstop. She goes back in the office to work after dinner too, and barely has any time to spend with Anna. She does her own paperwork cause no one else could. Kai and Gerda try to assist her, but they can’t help her do her job. They mostly remind her of her appointments and take orders. And when Elsa sticks her nose out of the castle, she gets assaulted by citizens asking for her attention. There's a scene where Kristoff has to distract the villagers so Elsa can run and spend some time with Anna, alone. So anyone who says Anna will be fine doing Elsa’s job because Elsa’s job was easy is wrong.
  • No one's claiming the job must be easy - just that actual canon leaves the actual difficulty level ambiguous, because it never shows or addresses it. The canonicity of Forest of Shadows is dubious, but it would just explain why Elsa leaving the throne to Anna even more. Much of the book shows that Elsa doesn't like responsibility and that Anna wants more of it. Elsa's an introvert (a highly misunderstood term which doesn't mean what you might think, but rather that she finds solitude energizing and socializing draining - and it's not a flaw to overcome, but rather a personal preference that she should be allowed to indulge in with this decision because it's just as valid a preference as extroversion and extroverted behavior) - she wouldn't like being "assaulted by citizens asking for attention", but Anna would be thrilled. She's an extrovert who's insecure about being wanted and useful, something that's heavily explored in that book. The first sentence of its official summary is "Anna of Arendelle wants nothing more than to be helpful to her older sister, Elsa." It'd be difficult for either sister, but there's one who would enjoy it more, and it makes sense for the one who doesn't enjoy it to leave the job and the one who would to take it up.
  • In fairness to Anna, if you take A Forest of Shadows as canon, then it's also canon that Elsa is constantly terrified during meetings, to the point of never speaking and that her fear/nightmares creates an Eldritch Abomination that almost destroys Arendelle until Anna saves the day. Admittedly, Anna is portrayed as somewhat impetuous, but Elsa trusts her enough that she planned on putting Anna in charge of Arendelle while Elsa went on her world tour. Admittedly, Forests of Shadows canonicity is dubious, but if you're going to say that it's canon, it's all canon and based on that, there's no reason Anna couldn't be a great Queen in her own right.
  • Elsa doesn't like responsibility (no one does), but she knows she has to bear the responsibility because someone has to. If Elsa really felt like she did not fit in the position, she always had an option to abdicate before her coronation and pass the title to Anna from the very beginning. Anna was there all the time to be Queen of Arendelle, and Elsa could abdicate before coronation. Yet she crowned herself. So she must have decided that she would be able to perform the duty. After the Thaw, the main reason of her anxiety was gone was that Elsa had the support of her sister and her people and it looked like she was fine to be a queen. And having issues with anxiety and/or being more reserved in your interactions with others does not preclude someone from being a great ruler. George VI was one of England’s most beloved kings. He suffered from a severe stutter but he pushed himself to overcome his insecurities and become a source of strength to his people when they needed it most in World War II. He wasn’t a natural born leader. He had to work at it and that honestly is a way more inspirational story than someone who just effortlessly succeeds at it.
  • Which is exactly the point of Anna learning that, despite her anxieties and insecurities, she is capable of being a leader like her sister. And we see her fight to do that, expressing a ton of anxiety and insecurity throughout the movie, yet finding the strength to struggle through that and her overwhelming grief in order to do "The Next Right Thing." Everyone in Arendelle expected Elsa to be this great queen, and she seems to have lived up to it. The movie makes it clear that she's doing fine in "Some Things Never Change." There is no hint that she's not good at the job or even that she's unhappy, just that she has a preference for something else. Elsa's arc is primarily about realizing that just because she's a capable ruler and people expect her to rule, that doesn't mean she's obligated to, and she's free to pursue a path she enjoys more if she so chooses. Her problem isn't that she thinks she's bad at the job, just that she's not finding it so fulfilling for her, given her personality and personal preferences and passions. Anna's arc is primarily about learning to find her own strength and leadership skills instead of boxing herself into a supportive role.
  • Anna only came of age recently, and although Elsa appears to be a capable ruler, Elsa learning that she doesn't have to fulfill the role set out for her at birth and to trust in her little sister's ability seems to be part of her own character arc. And while having Anna's support is obviously helpful (and Anna clearly values Elsa's presence just as much), that doesn't necessarily mean they have to live together for the rest of their lives. The ending implies that Elsa does still choose to visit when she wants to. If she ever feels anxiety and like Anna is the only one in the world who can help, she probably just rides the Nokk back to Arendelle.
  • "That doesn't necessarily mean they have to live together for the rest of their lives" may be true of normal siblings who grew up in normal households, but not for sisters who were separated for a good chunk of their childhoods.
  • Being separated growing up doesn't mean that they suddenly forget how to function without each other after reconciling. While the way the separation happened does leave Anna with some abandonment issues, part of her arc is her working on that so she can get to a point where she learns to define herself outside of her role as Elsa's supportive sister.
  • Even with just the movies and shorts though, ceremonial rulers don't have authority over trading rights - and given what we know of the Duke of Weselton, that specific one was likely a good call (and not just because his guys tried to kill her, but because they kinda insinuated that he was a rather shady character in general when it came to trade deals). I'll concede the "irresponsible" part, but Anna's definitely going to have a tougher job than the Disney royalty that came before her.
  • Mattias may be advising her. The ending implies he could become some kind of trusted advisor (he is a General and helps Anna unveil her parents' statue, so he has some official role).
  • Going by Anna's development throughout the franchise, especially in "The Next Right Thing," that the job isn't what Anna grew up expecting and is going to challenge her is probably part of the point. Anna starts off defining herself by her relationships, especially with Elsa. In the first movie, she offers Elsa her help thawing the Endless Winter, but doesn't think that she could find the answer by herself. She also starts off thiking she needs someone else to show her affection to be savable herself, only to find that her own heart is her salvation when her own Heroic Sacrifice proves to be the Act of True Love that breaks her curse. In the sequel, her main goal is once again to help Elsa save the day. She expects that "if anyone can save Arendelle," it'd be Elsa, and comes along to give Elsa protection, once again not expecting to be the hero herself. She's the one to figure out that Elsa's a gift from the spirits, but doesn't realize that she is a gift, too. When Elsa dies, Olaf dies, Kristoff's left, and even her home is lost, she learns to rely on her own strength and leadership skills instead of assuming a supportive role. "How to rise from the floor / when it's not you I'm rising for." The story's challenging her to grow, and she does.
  • Worth noting is that we don’t actually see or hear Elsa abdicate/renounce her title. It's possible that Elsa is still technically queen, just that her first role is as a ‘protector of the realms’ of sorts, and a queen second- whereas Anna is acting as a regent in some form.
  • Anna is referred to as Queen, suggesting she succeeded to the throne. Then again, co-monarchs were a thing in real life.
  • I'm sure someone has said all of this already, but we have just as much evidence that Elsa would make a suitable queen as we do Anna. (You could say that Elsa was raised to be queen, but Anna was next in line after her; it's unlikely she wouldn't have received any training or tutoring.) Anna being bubbly and outgoing doesn't relate to her capacity as a leader, and in fact it would probably make her more popular with people since she's more likely to make public appearances and engage with them. She's not nearly as impulsive by the end of this movie as she was at the start of the first one, which really demonstrates how much she's changed. She spends most of this story being the calm and rational one who talks Elsa out of acting brashly. There's hardly an objective reason to consider her unfit to rule, especially since she'll probably have advisors to help her deal with things and can always write to her sister for her advice.

Are we just going to ignore everything the tidal wave destroyed before reaching Arendelle?

• Evacuating Arendelle is all well and good...but surely there are dozens of other villages between Arendelle and Northuldra fully stocked with people. Along with tonnes of wildlife that was all completely eradicated when the dam broke. Dams upsetting the balance of nature is all well and good, but blowing one up is going to do a hell of a lot of disruption too. Unless we're to assume Northuldra is just a mile or so away from Arendelle. Which the travel montage would seem to suggest isn't the case (then again we also see a map of the entire area and Ahtohallan seems to be within visible distance of the shore once you get over the waves so maybe this entire area is ridiculously small). How far can a tidal wave from a dam breaking even travel while maintaining that kind of force? I'd have thought it would disperse laterally pretty quickly.
  • It seemed that the wave was travelling along some sort of canyon, so it is possible that it was simply contained between two cliffs until it reached the fjord. This would explain why Arendelle was the only inhabited place threatened (along with whoever was living across the fjord) and also why the wave kept its strength intact along the way.
  • Seeing as the spirits went through all that trouble to shoo Arendelle's citizens out of it, it's possible that any other people and wildlife got the same treatment.

How Did the Fighting Start?

• So King Runeard murders the chief of the Northuldra because the chief is catching on to the fact that the dam isn't as advertised. But by the time Elsa and her entourage arrive, no one, Arendellian or Northuldran, seems to know how the fighting between the two groups started. But if the Northuldrans don't know about the murder, why did fighting break out in the first place? Whether there was a direct witness or the chief's body was found after the fact, how did the witnesses/finders rally their kinsfolk to arms without anyone who survived the first skirmish knowing why?
  • Even though Runeard insists on a private meeting, it was probably going to be difficult to hide that he'd run the leader through with a sword. Someone - likely a member of the Northuldra - probably walks in, or possibly sees him trying to dispose of the body, or something along those those lines. (Runeard's plan does not seem well-thought-out, but that might be part of the point, with the whole 'Don't let fear control you' theme.) That someone attacks Runeard, and then people notice a Northuldran and the Arendellian king fighting, and probably assume that their side is in the right and that the other side attacked first, as usually happens in international conflicts. Under that assumption (or even not), they rush to try to defend their side by attacking the other.
  • Just watched that piece of the movie to make sure. King Runeard was attacking a Northuldran at the edge of a cliff, and they both went over it together. It's quite likely that the unknown fighter was the one who saw the murder and/or came upon its coverup. Whether it was that specific person (who now actually has a good emotional reason to be willing to sacrifice himself to kill his enemy) or someone else, the Northuldran(s) who knew what happened probably died in the brutal fighting, along with any of the Arendellian soldiers who actually knew their king's plan... leaving behind a couple of groups who don't know why anybody was fighting and weren't inclined to start something in the first place. Thus making total sense that the two groups are actually fairly friendly with each other when Anna and Elsa come upon them decades later.

How exactly did Elsa unfreeze?

• I only noticed the camera shifted back from Arendelle.
  • The spirits unfroze her so she could stop the wave from hitting Arendelle when the dam broke.
  • An alternative explanation would be that Anna destroying the dam counted as an act of true love (at the political level: she was sacrificing her kingdom to do the right thing), which, as per the first movie, was required to thaw a frozen heart.
  • A Call-Back to the Act of True Love requirement to thaw a frozen heart would make sense, but is Elsa's heart frozen, and is what Anna does sacrificing her kingdom? The spirits had already made it uninhabitable.
  • The kingdom was uninhabitable, but still there, and apparently it was still possible to go back to search for supplies there (the sisters evacuated it in their nightshirts and carrying absolutely nothing, but when they set off to follow the voice they are fully equipped and clothed for a long travel - and it is unlikely they found such equipment outside of the city). The wave washing over Arendelle would have effectively destroyed most buildings and washed away most of the belongings and supplies to the sea.
  • Elsa became frozen because of the literally and figuratively chilling realization that her grandfather plotted to murder the Northuldra leader and destroy his people's way of life. That chill was countered by a new, warmer memory: that of how Runeard's granddaughter was just and compassionate enough that she was willing to sacrifice her home city to make amends for those crimes.

Making the trip to Ahtohallan

• As we all know, the Enchanted Forest is trapped within the barrier of magical mist. Elsa later has the bad ass scene on the beach where she tries to cross the stormy seas, then battles and tames Nokk on her way to Ahtohallan. Except... clearly Ahtohallan and the massive stretch of ocean between it and the beach aren't within the mist barrier. So how did Elsa apparently get out of the mist so she could cross the sea to Ahtohallan? They made a point of showing how the gang couldn't go back out through the mist once they crossed through. Elsa even shoots the mist with a beam of magic and the mist reflects it back at her. Now, one could theorize that perhaps the northern side of the forest had no mist, but that would make no sense for two reasons. 1) Olaf wonders how Agnarr and Iduna's ship got in through the mist, suggesting there is mist on the northern side (it'd be nonsensical dialogue if there was no mist for the ship to go through), and 2) if the mist at the entrance of the forest is just a wall (instead of surrounding the entire forest), that seems a lot less impenetrable and inescapable than is clearly the intent.
  • The parents were coming from the southern side, where Arendelle is, like the sisters were. Olaf is confused because their shipwreck is in an area where Anna and Elsa had to go through the mist to get to, so the more northern Ahtohallan and the Dark Sea are probably within the bounds.
  • The mist isn't impenetrable to inanimate materials; if it was, the forest would've flooded from accumulated rainfall being trapped inside. The ship's presence confused everyone because they hadn't known Agnar and Iduna were trying to find information about Elsa's powers by crossing the Dark Sea, but rather, had been sailing off to visit some foreign land in the other direction entirely. The vessel foundered at sea, killing everyone on board, and its empty hulk washed up on shore, unimpeded by the mists.
  • Elsa could pass through the mists' opposite edge and approach the sea because the enchanted forest wanted her to do so, same as it'd wanted her to enter, yet be balked from going back towards Arendelle, in the first place.
  • It is possible the mist stops on the shore of the Northern Sea, but only in a narrow space (the beach where Elsa goes to cross the sea to Ahtohallan), and the sea there is wild enough to fulfil the same function as the mist on land. In fact, Elsa is washed ashore at first when trying to cross, just like people rebounding on the mist, and when she forces her way through the Nokk attempts to drown her, so the barrier is just as effective (and more lethal). Conversely, the mist barrier may be in the middle of the sea, and Elsa manages to cross it because she's riding the Nokk.

Ahtohallan itself

• What is it exactly? Just an archive of the memories and ancestry of those who enter it, the source of all magic, just the source of Elsa’s magic, some combination of all three, or something else entirely?
  • Ahtohallan is said to "hold all the answers about the past," so it's probably an archive of all history. There's at least one memory we see that doesn't belong to either Elsa or one of her ancestors (Anna meeting Hans), so it's possible the reason the memories we see are so relevant to what Elsa wants is because that's what Ahtohallan wants to show her, but could show her more if it wanted.
  • As for whether it's the source of Elsa's magic, the exact source seems to be a bit ambiguous. Agnarr and Iduna apparently suspected "Elsa's source" was Ahtohallan itself, according to their journal. Yelena and Mattias think "nature" gave the powers as a gift. Yelena asks "why would nature reward a person of Arendelle with magic?" and Mattias, who of course assumes his country was in the right, speculates it was to make up for the alleged wrongdoing of the Northuldra). Anna also thinks a reward is involved, but believes Elsa herself is a reward from the spirits for Idunna's rescue of Agnarr, misremembering Yelena's words and saying to Elsa, "Yelena asks why would the spirits reward Arendelle with a magical queen" and "You are a gift."
    
    Based on the ending and especially the reminder that "a bridge has two sides" and reveal that Elsa and Anna form the bridge / fifth spirit together, it seems to have come from the spirits giving Elsa (the more supernatural side with powers based on water, air, and magic itself) and Anna (the more human side with powers based on earth, fire, and humanity itself) to Idunna and Agnarr to form the bridge. ^note This is not to say that Elsa has no humanity or Anna (referred to as "the magic one" in the finale of the Broadway show, the writers of which all worked on the sequel) no magic. They couldn't function as a bridge if either was purely one or the other. Elsa's strengths just lie more in her being a supernatural ice-powered Action Heroine and Anna's lie more in her human spirit and emotional strength. Because Anna and Elsa are born of love between a Northuldran and an Arendellian, they are in a situation particularly suited to this role of unity. This concept is bolstered by the epilogue, which emphasizes how they connect the two communities: there's a sister living with each group and Queen Anna unveils the statue of their parents to celebrate the people being "connected by love." Thus the sisters serve as a bridge between two nations and between magic and humanity.
  • If Elsa's the magic half of the fifth spirit, and her powers come from Ahtohallan (itself magical and made of ice), then "a combination of all three" sounds like a pretty good answer.

The previous fifth spirit

• So, who was the fifth spirit before Elsa came along? There had to have been one, right?
  • Given the way Honeymaren talks about the fifth spirit, there was at least one instance of the fifth spirit before the sisters took up the mantle, but not for a while. None of the Northuldra seem to grasp the significance of Elsa's powers, and Yelena is outright confused by her possession of them. If the last fifth spirit was in recent memory, someone would probably catch on right away. Unless there was no ice magic involved last time, but that seems unlikely.
  • It's possible that Elsa & Anna are the first time the fifth spirit has incarnated in human form. It might have existed before as a creature similar to Nokk or Bruni, or as an inanimate object like Ahtohallan. Perhaps it was or still is Ahtohallan.

Why ice?

• Having just seen the movie, I fear I might've missed something, but...if Elsa is supposed to be the fifth spirit in addition to the four of them representing air, water, fire, and earth, why does her magic only encompass ice, which is the solid phase of water? Why doesn't she have control over the other elements as well?
  • She does have control over them in the sense that she managed to tame three out of four spirits, in no small part thanks to her powers, while Anna (the other part of the fifth spirit) managed to also control the Earth giants after a fashion.
  • It's been suggested that the powers of the spirits are evenly split between Elsa (air and water) and Anna (earth and fire), who together make up the fifth spirit, although Anna still lacks any magical power of her own, and drawing a line from ice magic to water magic is a bit of a stretch, on Elsa's end. Then again, any attempt to explain is going to be a bit stretchy, since the "fifth spirit" idea came into being well after Elsa having ice powers was conceptualized, when they were intended to be tied to a different origin. (The Saturn-prophecy thing.)

Why kill the Northuldra leader?

• Apparently Anna and Elsa's grandfather killed the Northuldra leader because he was starting to grow suspicious that the dam wasn't as auspicious as it was claimed to have been, but...wasn't it the king's intention for that to be realized eventually? He says he built the dam knowing it would weaken the Northuldra in order to make them subservient to Arendelle's monarchy. And it's not as if he was worried about violent insurgence from the Northuldran leader at their meeting, since the movie spells out that he didn't have a weapon on him at the time.
  • Runeard's plan is a bit hard to follow, but it seems he really intended for the dam to seem beneficial to everyone. And he succeeded, since it took 35 years for someone else than the Northduldra leader to realise it, and it was by watching a memory of him saying so. As for how he expected the dam to weaken the Northuldra without them realising the dam was at fault, I got nothing. Maybe the link would not have been obvious (e.g. animals modifying their migration patterns).
  • Runeard killing him was implied to be a spur of the moment decision made after the leader voiced his concerns about the dam.
  • Yes, but that seems like an odd response considering Runeard built the dam to cause hardships. If he wants to make the Northuldra more dependent upon Arendelle, why not start right then? "I understand your concerns about the dam, and I never meant for it to cause these problems, but we can't dismantle it without risking severe damage to Arendelle. Why don't you allow my kingdom to compensate you for the hardship it's causing instead?"
  • That sounds like a better option, but Runeard was scared, and attacking out of fear when there are other options available is, sadly, a common mistake, and in-character for him.

Did Elsa know Kristoff was planning to propose?

• In the first movie, Anna and Hans go to Elsa to ask her to bless their engagement to each other — makes sense, since she's both the queen and Anna's older sister. So that had me wondering if Kristoff told her he was planning to propose to Anna, possibly to ask for a similar blessing. She doesn't seem all that surprised when he does pop the question, but I don't think the movie ever gave an exact indication as to whether she knew beforehand.
  • Anna and him have been dating for 3 years now, so by then he probably either asked her someday or got her tacit approval. And Elsa was also about to step down in favour of Anna, so her queenly consent was not going to be necessary either way.
  • The end of Frozen, the shorts, and Frozen 2 all show she has no problem with Kristoff, and we see as early as Frozen Fever that they are friends since she trusts him to look after Anna's surprise party. So, even if Elsa didn't know he planned to proposed, she's approved of him for a long time now, so she probably doesn't care about her permission being asked.
  • Most real life monarchies require that members of royal families receive the consent of the ruling monarch to marry. Assuming that it applies here, it's likely that Kristoff asked Elsa's consent before he made his proposal attempts in order to make sure he had the go clear, since it would be rather awkward if Anna accepted his proposal only for Elsa to not give her approval. If it is necessary, that adds more to Anna asking Elsa to consent to her engagement with Hans. It wasn't about her sister approving of her choices, she needed Elsa's official consent for the marriage to be legally valid.
  • Well at the point Kristoff proposes, Anna herself soon becomes queen. So he likely didn't need Elsa's permission at all.
  • True, but he planned his proposal earlier than that.

The spirit didn't know itself?

• If Elsa (and Anna?) is the fifth spirit... how the heck would she not know that? If the spirit is her in human form, how does the spirit not know it's a spirit?
  • How was she supposed to know? She knew she had magic powers, but she didn't know where they had come from. It's never said that knowledge of who or what they are comes to the spirits naturally; after all, none of the others seemed particularly self-aware, and we still don't know what form or role the fifth spirit usually has.
  • In a sense, she does know, or sense something. Like how she's automatically able to communicate with the other spirits, and only she can hear the voice calling. But not having the mythology and folklore explained to her, she didn't know what she was. Once she was told the legend of the fifth spirit, she guessed what she was.

How to destroy the dam?

• Was there no way to remove the dam without posing any risk to Arendelle? Anna definitely seems to treat it as though "Demolish it by throwing boulders" is the only option, but wouldn't there have to be other ways of dismantling a dam than that?
  • Dismantling the dam safely would probably have taken a lot of time and needed a lot of people and equipment, possibly more than what the Northuldra had, in an area crawling with dangerous Earth giants. Since there was no way to bring that equipment and manpower here because of the magical barrier, she made do with what she had.
  • There's also the fact that Arendelle's citizens were forced out of their homes and had to camp out in the forest until the problem was resolved. And sadly, Anna was also grieving the loss of her sister and a close friend, so she may have had some reckless motives in antagonising earth giants to do what needed to be done.

So your King was killed by people who were known to use magic...

• Runeard is established in the story's beginning as a noble, wise and benevolent ruler who tried to establish friendly relations with the Northuldra, even constructing them a dam. During the celebration with the Northuldra, a fight breaks out and he's killed in the scuffle. His son (and future daughter-in-law) barely escape before an enchanted mist falls over the forest, which keeps people from Arendelle out and the Northuldra in. The respect and esteem he's held in is so strong that when Elsa learns (and later reveals to Anna and Olaf) that he cut down the Northuldra leader...it's a genuine shock. His death at the hands of known magic users helps explain why Agnarr and Iduna were desperate to hide Elsa's powers from the outside world. And given that Elsa's accidentally setting off the eternal winter in the first film nearly resulted in her and Anna getting killed, their fears were justified. If that all was the case...why were the people from Arendelle more willing to accept (and even embrace) Elsa's powers at the end of the first movie? Nobody at the time knew what Runeard's intentions were...not even his own son. Them accepted Elsa's powers during the time frame of this movie makes sense. It's been 3 years since the events of the first movie so they've gotten to know Elsa and that she has control. But days after Elsa figured out how to control her powers, they're cheering her on as she creates a skating rink in the palace courtyard and decorating the palace with frozen fractals. Wouldn't it stand to reason that learning their Queen is gifted with the same magic that got her beloved grandfather and (it is believed) several soldiers killed that they'd be less willing to accept her?
  • The circumstances of Runeard's death don't seem to be that well-known to the general populace, even more so if you take into account that it happened around thirty years ago. Also, Elsa is their Queen, not some members of a distant barely known tribe, which can help a lot to get accepted.

Kristoff's Proposal Backfire

• Kristoff's whole goal in this story is to propose to Anna and tries to do so after the charades game but it completely sails over Anna's head as she's worried about Elsa's strange behavior. He decides to try again twice, trying once during the trip to the Northuldra and then teaming up with Ryder (who he's only just met, mind you) for a romantic proposal involving reindeer. Both of these attempts backfire (the first because Anna misinterprets Kristoff's meaning and the second because the Northuldra leader showed up to inform Kristoff that Anna and Elsa had left), which leads to Kristoff having a crisis of faith and singing "Lost in the Woods". The problem is...why does he think these are both great times to propose? They aren't in the forest for a romantic getaway. They're trying to figure out what's going on in both Arendelle and the enchanted forest. Anna is as worried about the circumstances as Elsa is and Kristoff would know that. It makes him look clueless at best and downright inconsiderate at worst.
  • "Lost in the woods" hints that Kristoff may fear that Anna is drifting apart from him, so trying to propose at all costs would be a desperate attempt on his part to reassure himself (which gets even more desperate as his attempts keep failing). Also, since they are in a situation of crisis, Kristoff may want to succeed at his proposal before something bad happens to either of them.