History Headscratchers / FrozenII

* 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 no 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?

** Right. As uncomfortable as Elsa might be with being TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask, Anna would downright suffocate - she's naturally too much of a TomboyPrincess for that.

** No debate about how unhealthy the whirlwind courtship was, but the way Elsa handled it? [[https://wgac.colostate.edu/support/relationship-violence/a-guide-for-supporting-a-friend/ 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 mental 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.

*** 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.

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).

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.

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.

*** [[{{Film/Enchanted}} "I said I didn't. Never said I couldn't."]]

*** 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.

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.

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.

*** 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.

* 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 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?

*** 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").

*** 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.

*** 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.

*** 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.

* It's implied she's moved in with the Northuldra. Her ice powers [[ImaginationBasedSuperpower 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.

* 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 King didn’t explain it but how did it weaken them?

*** 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.

*** Tanned? After 35 years without ever seeing the sun?

* 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.)

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,[[/note]] 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. [[https://www.rd.com/culture/reason-prince-phillip-isnt-king-england/ 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 FantasyCounterpartCulture to Norway, so Norwegian rules are probably more influential, and Disney would probably be okay bending them for storytelling reasons anyway.

* 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.

* 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.

*** 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).

*** 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.)

*** 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 TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask, Anna would downright suffocate - she's naturally too much of a TomboyPrincess 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? [[https://wgac.colostate.edu/support/relationship-violence/a-guide-for-supporting-a-friend/ 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 mental 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).

*** 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.

*** 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.

*** 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.

*** 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 [[SchrodingersCanon 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 ([[IntroversionTropes 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 [[Literature/FrozenIIAForestOfShadows A Forest of Shadows]] as [[SchrodingersCanon 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 EldritchAbomination 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 EndlessWinter, 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 HeroicSacrifice proves to be the ActOfTrueLove 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.

*** Anna is referred to as Queen, suggesting she succeeded to the throne. Then again, co-monarchs were a thing in real life.

*** 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.

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.

*** 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.

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.

*** 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.

*** True, but he planned his proposal earlier than that.