History NightmareFuel / AFrozenHeart

** Despite Hans' best efforts to please him, the king saw him with nothing but utter contempt, seeing his twelve older sons as much better than him, [[AlwaysSecondBest as while he is smart and intelligent]], [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter they are far more skilled in his eyes]], causing Hans to [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex feel less than his prodigious older brothers]] and develop an obsessive desire to prove his father wrong that he's not an underdog. Plus, his father frequently gave DisappointedInYou and WhereDidWeGoWrong speeches and tirades to Hans, berating and chiding him for his failures.

* It's implied that most of Hans' brothers don't get along with each other as well, as the king encourages violence within his big family to force them into accepting his SocialDarwinist mindset. Plus, he manipulated and psychologically abused them to the point that they've become emotionally dependent on him, and even their abuse of Hans or their wives stems from a desire to make their father favor them for showing no "weakness" or mercy. For example:
** Due to being the heir to the throne and [[ParentalFavoritism the king's favorite son]], Caleb seems to have become a [[RoyalBrat Royally]] SpoiledBrat. Both Lars and Hans think he [[ManChild would be inept for the job]] when their father kicks the bucket, doesn't care much for his family or the kingdom he's going to inherit, and whenever the king asks him for war or political strategies, he behaves as if it were a board game or a royal rumble with his brothers at the stables.

* It's possible that his mother may have tried to stop her husband from abusing their 13 sons at some point, [[DomesticAbuse but the fallout was so bad]] [[ExtremeDoormat that she simply gave up]]. Being weak from constantly siring many children, and barely helping the king with ruling their big kingdom, she could only acknowledge Hans with weak smiles. It's very likely that his father and brothers [[MarriageOfConvenience married for convenience's sake]], [[AltarDiplomacy political]] [[ArrangedMarriage reasons]], and to maintain the Southern Isles' bilateral relations with other countries; to them, their wives are nothing more than {{Trophy Spouse}}s who should StayInTheKitchen. Hans often muses how these unhinged brutes managed to woo these women to their side, [[AwfulWeddedLife but chose to neglect them once they're married,]] and as a result, [[EvenEvilHasStandards he secretly despises them for their abuse]].

** At one point while fighting Marshmallow during the assault on Elsa's ice castle, Hans notes that the {{Snowlem}}'s aggressiveness pales in comparison to his father, who is implied to have a violent and explosive temper.
** It's possible [[WouldHurtAChild he may have been physically abusive]] towards Hans when he was a small child, especially when he fell for the fake "ransom note from a certain 'King Gotya' who will only 'release' one of his brothers if he ran around the entire castle three times in just his underwear" prank. ''Even though'' it was his brothers who set it up, he still beat him up nonetheless.
* Except for Lars, most of Hans' brothers are brutish thugs and take sadistic joy in punishing Hans in whatever methods they can, ranging from practical jokes and painful "accidents", to downright physical abuse. Their rationale for bullying Hans is to show him how he's looked down by them for being meek and docile, failing to meet or even exceed their extremely high but cruel standards, his inability to conform to siblings who are high-achievers in the eyes of their father, and to remind him of his lowly status in the familial pecking order. For example:

** Hans often hated attending any event that involved his entire family. For example, when he was required to attend his mother's birthday, he is visibly scared of going there, as even a tiny amount of time with them often ended with him being the laughing stock. As such, he idly stands outside the door for 20 minutes, and when he finally appears, his father scolds him for being a no-show, while his brothers ridicule him for being a MommasBoy and daydreaming. Also, as he exits the room, Rudi and Runo toss objects such as bread and ''glassware'' at him. Plus, one of the scenes show Hans self-injuring himself by running his fingers along the rough wood of an old table, seeing that the pain the splinters cause to be oddly better than the constant emotional turmoil his family puts him through.

** Due to being the heir to the throne and [[ParentalFavoritism the king's favorite son]], Caleb seems to have become a [[RoyalBrat Royally]] SpoiledBrat. Both Lars and Hans think he [[ManChild would be incompetent for the job]] when their father kicks the bucket, doesn't care much for his family or the kingdom he's going to inherit, and whenever the king asks him for war or political strategies, he behaves as if it were a board game or a royal rumble with his brothers at the stables.

* The king's BigFancyCastle. First-time visitors often mistook it for a giant, black sea monster or serpent, but it's actually made of rocks and stones only found in the kingdom. Being that the desolate kingdom is smack in the middle of a large expanse of sea like Britain or Japan, the king built it to not only show how it stands off against the harsh environment, salty odor or rocky surroundings, but as a way to intimidate his subjects. And while most thought it was beautiful and jaw-dropping, Hans saw every nook and cranny of the castle and kingdom as an ugly prison, with his father and brothers as corrupt jail wardens.
* The Southern Isles' political system as a whole. Its government is a corrupt and totalitarian dictatorship in which violence and brute force are used to keep the citizens in line and beat them into total submission. Methods such as [[KangarooCourt kangaroo courts]], [[EvilDebtCollector unfair taxes]], [[{{Unperson}} forced disappearances]], [[CensorshipTropes censorship]] and [[PoliceBrutality torture]] are common in totalitarian regimes regardless of political orientation, and the Southern Isles is one, given that the king abuses his power by taxing his subjects to absolute poverty while killing and/or torturing criminals, delinquent taxpayers, and dissenters.

** High taxes, political repression and rampant corruption within the government are usually big grounds for a rebellion, and who knows if Hans' actions in Arendelle might be the catalyst for one to occur? Also, given that the king has sired thirteen sons, who knows if Caleb's role as future king might be challenged by one of his brothers once the the crown is vacated, since he was widely known to be an incompetent slacker who often neglected his duties as heir to the throne? And could this mushroom into a full-blown civil war? What of a potential coup d'etat by renegade noblemen or military officers, who felt disillusioned with or [[EvenEvilHasStandards secretly despised]] the way the king was abusing his power of authority and thought it was the right time for change by overthrowing him?

** High taxes, political repression and rampant corruption within the government are usually big grounds for a rebellion, and who knows if Hans' actions in Arendelle might be the catalyst for one to occur? Also, given that the king has sired thirteen sons, who knows if Caleb's role as future king might be challenged by one of his brothers once the the crown is vacated, given that Caleb was widely known to be an incompetent slacker who often neglected his duties as heir to the throne? And could this mushroom into a full-blown civil war? What of a potential coup d'etat by renegade noblemen or military officers, who felt disillusioned with or [[EvenEvilHasStandards secretly despised]] the way the king was abusing his power of authority and thought it was the right time for change by overthrowing him?

* While it's obviously known that Hans wanted to secretly escape his abusive family and prove himself worthy to his father, it's unknown if there are other reasons for him to settle down some place else permanently and quietly. It's possible if he foresaw or overheard rumors of a potential peasant uprising brewing in the kingdom somewhere during the time he spent working for his dad but refused to tell him about this, given that the Southern Isles is a very unstable PoliceState, combined with the fact that Hans [[EvenEvilHasStandards secretly despised his family for their unnecessarily and wanton violence towards their subjects]].

* By the time he's a young adult, Hans not only suffers from clinical depression and possible SelfHarm, he believes that ''abuse is normal'', as while he practically gave up fighting back, this only increased his father's emotional abuse, claiming that he should "learn a thing or two" from his brothers and "stop pretending he's smarter than them". No wonder he's got so many issues, as being the proverbial BlackSheep and [[ExtremeDoormat laughing stock]] of his family and growing up the smallest and most forgettable of his clan wound up becoming his FreudianExcuse.

** Despite Hans' best efforts to please him, the king saw him with nothing but utter contempt, seeing his twelve older sons as much better than him, [[AlwaysSecondBest as while he is smart and intelligent]], [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter they are far more skilled in his eyes]], causing Hans to [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex feel less than his prodigious older brothers]] and develop an obsessive desire to prove his father wrong that he's not an underdog. Plus, his father often gave DisappointedInYou and WhereDidWeGoWrong speeches to Hans, berating him for his failures.
** [[TheSocialDarwinist The king also believed that the strong should pick on the weak]], and often encourages his 12 older sons to gang up on Hans for failing to meet his harsh standards of ruling their kingdom and for the sake of politics. From his twisted perspective, any son who doesn't live up to his very high but extremely harsh expectations, and goes soft, is a weakling, so to counter this, the wimp must be forcibly "toughened up" by being [[TykeBomb told that only the toughest survive from a young age]]. As a result, Hans being against his violent methods of controlling the kingdom and not fighting back has relegated him to being the SpareToTheThrone.

** It's possible [[WouldHurtAChild the king may have been physically abusive]] towards Hans when he was a small child, especially when he fell for the fake "ransom note from a certain 'King Gotya' who will only 'release' one of his brothers if he ran around the entire castle three times in just his underwear" prank. ''Even though'' it was his brothers who set it up, the king still beat up his youngest son regardless.
* Except for Lars, most of Hans' brothers are brutish thugs and take sadistic joy in punishing Hans in whatever methods they can, ranging from practical jokes and painful "accidents", to downright physical abuse. Their rationale for bullying Hans is to show him how he's looked down by them for being docile, failing to meet or even exceed their extremely high but cruel standards, his inability to conform to siblings who are high-achievers in the eyes of their father, and to remind him of his lowly status in the familial pecking order. For example:

** Hans often hated attending any event that involved his entire family. For example, when he was required to attend his mother's birthday, he is visibly scared of going there, as even a tiny amount of time often ended with him being the laughing stock. As such, he idly stands outside the door for 20 minutes, and when he finally appears, his father scolds him for being a no-show, while his brothers ridicule him for being a MommasBoy and daydreaming. Also, as he exits the room, Rudi and Runo toss objects at him.

** Due to being the heir to the throne and [[ParentalFavoritism the king's favorite son]], Caleb seems to have become a [[RoyalBrat Royally]] SpoiledBrat. Both Lars and Hans think he [[ManChild would rule with slackness]] when their father kicks the bucket, doesn't care much for his family or the kingdom he's going to inherit, and whenever the king asks him for war or political strategies, he behaves as if it were a board game or a royal rumble with his brothers at the stables.

* It's possible that Hans' mother may have tried to stop her husband from abusing their 13 sons at some point, [[DomesticAbuse but the fallout was so bad]] [[ExtremeDoormat that she simply gave up]]. Being weak from constantly siring many children, and barely helping the king with ruling their big kingdom, she could only acknowledge Hans with weak smiles. It's very likely that Hans' father and brothers [[MarriageOfConvenience married for convenience's sake]], [[AltarDiplomacy political]] [[ArrangedMarriage reasons]], and to maintain the Southern Isles' bilateral relations with other countries; to them, their wives are nothing more than {{Trophy Spouse}}s who should StayInTheKitchen. Hans often muses how these brutes managed to woo these women to their side, [[AwfulWeddedLife but chose to neglect them once they're married,]] and as a result, [[EvenEvilHasStandards despises them for their abuse]].
* The princes (including Hans himself) also basically act as the king's enforcers and musclemen — at one point, Hans ([[EvenEvilHasStandards despite his objections]]) was sent to "talk" with a peasant who was bad-mouthing the king, and it's very likely that violence was involved. In another case, the army confiscated a farmer's livestock and burned his farm down to the ground for mysterious reasons. And God help those that are behind on their taxes — they are forcibly collected, and if anybody refuses to pay up, it's implied they're killed on the spot immediately as a warning to others — [[EvenEvilHasStandards even Hans was visibly unnerved and shaken by these acts of violence towards his father's subjects]]. Knowing firsthand how his father rules as an exceptionally barbaric autocrat and cruel totalitarian, Hans decides that a king should rule with fairness rather than beating everyone else into submission, [[MoralMyopia even if he takes unscrupulous methods to gain control of Arendelle.]]

* The kingdom's BigFancyCastle. First-time visitors often mistook it for a giant, black sea monster or serpent, but it's actually made of rocks and stones only found in the kingdom. Being that the Southern Isles is smack in the middle of a large expanse of sea like Britain or Japan, the king built it to not only show how it stands off against the harsh environment, salty odor or rocky surroundings, but as a way to intimidate his subjects. And while most thought it was beautiful and jaw-dropping, Hans saw every nook and cranny of the castle and kingdom as an ugly prison, with his father and brothers as corrupt jail wardens.
* The Southern Isles' political system as a whole. Its government is a corrupt dictatorship in which violence and brute force are used to keep the citizens in line and beat them into total submission. Methods such as [[KangarooCourt kangaroo courts]], [[{{Unperson}} forced disappearances]], [[CensorshipTropes censorship]] and [[PoliceBrutality torture]] are common in totalitarian regimes regardless of political orientation, and the Southern Isles is one, given that the king abuses his power by taxing his subjects to absolute poverty while killing and torturing criminals, delinquent taxpayers, and dissenters.
* From the looks of it, the Southern Isles is an incredibly desolate, harsh and unpleasant place to live in. A farmer makes a minor mistake in supplying the government, fails to meet their production quota or doesn't provide enough food? [[DisproportionateRetribution The army burns his farm down and seizes his livestock]]. Insulting the king? [[PoliceState The critics are]] [[PoliceBrutality brutally "silenced"]]. Anybody behind on their taxes? [[EvilDebtCollector A prince is sent to forcibly collect the taxes]]. Refuse to pay taxes? YouDoNOTWantToKnow.
* While it's known that Hans wanted to secretly escape his family's abuse and prove himself worthy to his father, it's unknown if there are other reasons for him to settle down some place else quietly. It's possible if he foresaw a potential uprising brewing in the kingdom, or that he heard rumors of a possible peasant revolt somewhere during the time he spent working for his dad but refused to tell him about this, given that the Southern Isles is a very unstable PoliceState, combined with the fact that Hans [[EvenEvilHasStandards secretly despised his family for being unnecessarily violent towards their subjects]]. High taxes, political repression and corruption are usually big grounds for a rebellion, and who knows if his actions in Arendelle might be the catalyst for one to occur?

* At times, Hans acknowledges that he's the odd one out in his family, and while mentioning to Anna about three of his brothers pretending he was non-existent, it's clearly visible that he despises them for being abusive towards him. The closest to support he had were Lars and his mother, but neither of them were close enough to help him get through life.
* As Hans grew up, the abuse he got has slowly corrupted him to the point that he sees [[ManipulativeBastard people as objects]], [[CrapsackWorld thinks it's a dog-eat-dog world out there]] [[TheSocialDarwinist with only the fittest surviving]], and [[LoveIsAWeakness views love as an exploitable flaw]] that's relegated to the weak-willed (namely Elsa and Anna), and it also really shows how warped his mind has become over the years, [[EvilCannotComprehendGood rendering him unable to understand or even experience love]] thanks to a [[TykeBomb harsh upbringing]].

* By the time he's a young adult, Hans not only suffers from clinical depression and possible SelfHarm, he believes that ''abuse is normal'', as while he gave up fighting back, this only increased his father's emotional abuse, claiming that he should "learn a thing or two" from his brothers. No wonder he's got so many issues, as being the proverbial BlackSheep and ExtremeDoormat of his family and growing up the smallest and most forgettable of his clan wound up becoming his FreudianExcuse.

** Despite Hans' best efforts to please him, the king saw him with nothing but utter contempt, seeing his twelve older sons as much better than him, [[AlwaysSecondBest as while he is smart and intelligent]], [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter they are far more better in his eyes]], causing Hans to [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex feel less than his prodigious older brothers]] and develop an obsessive desire to prove that he's not an underdog. Plus, his father often gave DisappointedInYou and WhereDidWeGoWrong speeches to Hans, berating him for his failures.
** [[TheSocialDarwinist The king also believed that the strong should pick on the weak]], and often encourages his 12 older sons to beat up Hans for failing to meet his harsh standards of ruling their kingdom and for the sake of politics. From his twisted perspective, any son who doesn't live up to his very high but extremely harsh expectations, and goes soft, is a weakling, so to counter this, the wimp must be forcibly "toughened up" by being [[TykeBomb told that only the toughest survive from a young age]]. Due to this, Hans being against his violent methods of controlling the kingdom and not fighting back has relegated him to a low status in the familial pecking order.
** By the time he's an adult, [[ExtremeDoormat Hans has practically chosen to give up fighting back, but this only enabled his father and brothers to abuse him even more]], effectively making him the laughing stock of the family.

** Hans also mentions in passing that [[WouldHurtAChild his father may have been physically abusive]] towards him when he was a small child, especially when he fell for the fake "ransom note from a certain 'King Gotya' who will only 'release' one of his brothers if he ran around the entire castle three times in just his underwear" prank. ''Even though'' it was his brothers who set up the joke, the king still beat up his youngest son regardless.

** He's lost countless fistfights, thrown off moving carts, and shoved in the mud numerous times despite pleading with his brothers to stop it.

** Hans believed it when he received a phony "ransom note" from a certain "King Gotya" who will "release" one of his brothers, but only if he ran around the entire castle three times in just his underwear. [[WouldHurtAChild It's implied his father beat him up harshly]] for this, ''even though'' it was his brothers who pulled the prank and he was only ''four'' years at the time.

* It's implied that most of Hans' brothers don't get along with each other as well, as the king encourages violence within his big family to force them into accepting his SocialDarwinist mindset. Plus, he manipulated and psychologically abused them to the point that they've become emotionally dependent on him for favors, and even their abuse of Hans or their wives stems from a desire to make their father favor them for showing no "weakness" or mercy. For example:

** Hans often hated attending any events that involved his entire family. For example, when he was required to attend his mother's birthday, he is visibly scared of going there, as even a tiny amount of time often ended with him being the laughing stock. As such, he idly stands outside the door for 20 minutes, and when he finally appears, his father scolds him for being a no-show, while his brothers ridicule him for being a MommasBoy and daydreaming. Also, as he exits the room, Rudi and Runo toss objects at him.

* Except for Lars, most of Hans' brothers are brutish thugs and take sadistic joy in punishing Hans in whatever methods they can, ranging from practical jokes and painful "accidents", to downright physical abuse. Their rationale for bullying Hans is to show him how he's looked down by them for being docile, failing to meet or even exceed their extremely high but cruel standards, or his inability to conform to siblings who are high-achievers in the eyes of their father, and to remind him of his lowly status in the familial pecking order. For example:

* The princes (including Hans himself) also basically act as the king's enforcers and musclemen — at one point, Hans ([[EvenEvilHasStandards despite his objections]]) was sent to "talk" with a peasant who was bad-mouthing the king, and it's very likely that violence was involved. In another case, the army confiscated a farmer's livestock and burned his farm down to the ground for mysterious reasons. And God help those that are behind on their taxes — they are forcibly collected, and if anybody refuses to pay up, they're killed on the spot immediately as a warning to others — [[EvenEvilHasStandards even Hans was visibly unnerved and shaken by these acts of violence towards his father's subjects]]. Knowing firsthand how his father rules as an exceptionally barbaric autocrat and cruel totalitarian, Hans decides that a king should rule with fairness rather than beating everyone else into submission, [[MoralMyopia even if he takes unscrupulous methods to gain control of Arendelle.]]

* The castle. First-time visitors mistook it for a giant, black sea monster or serpent, but it's actually made of stones only found in the kingdom. Being that the Southern Isles is smack in the middle of a large expanse of sea like Britain or Japan, the king built it to show how it not only stands off against the Isles' harsh environment, salty odor or rocky surroundings, but as a way to intimidate his subjects. And while most thought it was beautiful and jaw-dropping, Hans saw every nook and cranny of the castle and kingdom as an ugly prison, with his father and brothers as corrupt jail wardens.
* The Southern Isles as a whole. Its government is a corrupt dictatorship in which violence and brute force are used to keep the citizens in line and beat them into total submission. Methods such as [[KangarooCourt kangaroo courts]], [[{{Unperson}} forced disappearances]], [[CensorshipTropes censorship]] and [[PoliceBrutality torture]] are common in totalitarian regimes regardless of political orientation, and the Southern Isles is one, given that the king abuses his power by taxing his subjects to absolute poverty while killing and torturing criminals, delinquent taxpayers, and dissenters.

* His father is a SocialDarwinist who often views him with utter disgust and contempt, comparing him to a "weakling" and an incompetent coward against his older sons, so in his view, Hans being beaten up by his older sons is a sign of "strength" and "good politics". By the time he's a young adult, he not only suffers from clinical depression and possible SelfHarm, he believes that ''abuse is normal'', as while he gave up fighting back, this only increased his father's emotional abuse, claiming that he should "learn a thing or two" from his brothers. No wonder he's such a sociopath, as being the proverbial BlackSheep and ExtremeDoormat of his family and growing up the smallest and most forgettable of his clan wound up becoming his FreudianExcuse. Even Hans sometimes acknowledges that he's the odd one out in his family, and while mentioning to Anna about three of his brothers pretending he was non-existent, it's clearly visible that he despises them for being abusive towards him. The closest to support he had were Lars and his mother, but neither of them were close enough to help him get through life.
* As Hans grew up, the abuse he got has slowly corrupted him to the point that he sees [[ManipulativeBastard people as objects]], [[CrapsackWorld thinks it's a dog-eat-dog world out there]] [[TheSocialDarwinist with only the fittest surviving]], and [[LoveIsAWeakness views love as an exploitable flaw]] that's relegated to the weak-willed (namely Elsa and Anna), and it also really shows how warped his mind has become over the years, [[EvilCannotComprehendGood rendering him unable to understand or even experience love]] thanks to a [[TykeBomb harsh upbringing]]. To counter the abuse he gets, [[WellDoneSonGuy Hans tried to emulate his brothers by becoming the king's gofer]] before setting off to Arendelle in the hopes of surprising and upstaging his family by getting a throne more quickly and effectively by himself, and with this newfound power, he hoped to transform Arendelle from a backwater country into a power capable of fending off external threats. But his hasty desire to become king and get the respect of his family backfires on him, and he's now back in the same Hell he wanted to escape in the first place. And with what he did in Arendelle, the tiny amount of respect Hans began to earn from his father is most likely gone for good, as he still saw his youngest son as [[DisappointedInYou a total disappointment and a worthless spare in his eyes]].

** [[TheSocialDarwinist The king also believed that the strong should pick on the weak]], and often encourages his 12 older sons to beat up Hans for failing to meet his harsh standards of ruling their kingdom and for the sake of politics. From his twisted perspective, any son who doesn't live up to his very high but extremely harsh expectations, and goes soft is a weakling, so to counter this, the wimp must be forcibly "toughened up" by being [[TykeBomb told that only the toughest survive from a young age]]. Due to this, Hans being against his violent methods of controlling the kingdom and not fighting back has made him the proverbial BlackSheep and TheUnfavorite of the clan.

* Except for Lars, most of Hans' brothers are brutish thugs and take sadistic joy in punishing Hans in whatever methods they can, ranging from practical jokes, to painful "accidents", to downright physical abuse. Their rationale for bullying Hans is to show him how he's looked down by them for being docile, being the BlackSheep of the Westergaard clan, failing to meet or even exceed their extremely high but cruel standards, inability to conform to siblings who are high-achievers in the eyes of their father, and to remind him of his lowly status in the familial pecking order. For example:

** Three of his brothers pretended he was "non-existent" for ''two'' straight years.

** He even fell for the old "present in an oddly scary room down in the catacombs" prank several times.

* The castle. First-time visitors mistook it for a giant, black sea monster or serpent, but it's actually made of stones only found in the kingdom. The king built it to show how it not only stands off against the Isles' rocky environment, howling winds, roaring water or salt-like odor (due to the fact that the kingdom is smack in the middle of a big sea, like the British Isles or Japan), but as a way to intimidate his subjects. And while most thought it was beautiful and jaw-dropping, Hans saw every nook and cranny of the castle and kingdom as an ugly prison, with his father and brothers as corrupt jail wardens.

** At one point while fighting Marshmallow during the assault on Elsa's ice castle, Hans notes that the {{Snowlem}}'s aggressiveness pales in comparison to his father, who is implied to have an explosive temper.

* It's possible that Hans' mother may have tried to stop her husband from abusing their 13 sons at some point, [[DomesticAbuse but the fallout was so bad]] [[ExtremeDoormat that she simply gave up]]. Being weak from constantly siring 13 sons, and barely helping the king with ruling their big kingdom, she could only acknowledge Hans with weak smiles. It's very likely that Hans' father and brothers [[MarriageOfConvenience married for convenience's sake]], [[AltarDiplomacy political]] [[ArrangedMarriage reasons]], and to maintain the Southern Isles' bilateral relations with other countries; to them, their wives are nothing more than {{Trophy Spouse}}s whose role is to sire more heirs to the throne. Hans often muses how these brutes managed to woo these women to their side, [[AwfulWeddedLife but chose to abuse and neglect them once they're married,]] and as a result, despises them for their apathy.
* The princes (including Hans himself) also basically act as the king's enforcers and musclemen — at one point, Hans ([[EvenEvilHasStandards despite his objections]]) was sent to "talk" with a peasant who was bad-mouthing the king, and it's very likely that violence was involved. In another case, the army confiscated a farmer's livestock and burned his farm down to the ground for mysterious reasons. And God help those that are behind on their taxes — a prince is sent down to forcibly collect the revenue, and if anybody refuses to pay up, they're killed on the spot immediately as a warning to others — [[EvenEvilHasStandards even Hans was visibly unnerved and shaken by these acts of violence towards his father's subjects]]. Knowing firsthand how his father rules as an exceptionally barbaric autocrat and cruel totalitarian, Hans decides that a king should rule with fairness rather than beating everyone else into submission, [[MoralMyopia even if he takes unscrupulous methods to gain control of Arendelle.]]

* From the looks of it, the Southern Isles is an incredibly desolate, harsh and unpleasant place to live in. A farmer makes a minor mistake in supplying the government or fails to meet their production quota? [[DisproportionateRetribution The government burns his farm down and seizes his livestock]]. Insulting the king? [[PoliceState The critics are]] [[PoliceBrutality brutally "silenced"]]. Anybody behind on their taxes? [[EvilDebtCollector A prince is sent to forcibly collect the taxes]]. Refuse to pay taxes? YouDoNOTWantToKnow.

Notably, [[KnightOfCerebus anything involving Hans' family isn't funny]]. Every time they're mentioned, the humor level drops.
* Besides being neglectful of Hans, his father is an extremely stone-cold tyrant and violent dictator who not only rules with an iron fist, but also ruthlessly and brutally suppresses all criticism towards him via DisproportionateRetribution in an incredibly harsh manner, while his mother is weak from constantly reproducing and giving birth and can barely help her husband with ruling. And despite Hans' best efforts to please him, the king saw him with nothing but utter contempt, seeing his twelve older sons as much better than Hans, [[AlwaysSecondBest as while he is smart and intelligent]], [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter they are far more skilled, effective and managed to woo eligible maidens much quicker than he was]], something which Hans agrees on, and as a result, [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex developed a massive inferiority complex]]. Also, [[TheSocialDarwinist Hans' father believes that the strong should pick on the weak]], and often encourages his older sons to beat up Hans for failing to meet his family's harsh standards of ruling their kingdom. From his perspective, any son who doesn't live up to his very high but extremely harsh expectations, and begins to display a softer side is a weakling, so to counter this, the wimp must be forcibly "toughened up" by being [[TykeBomb told that only the toughest survive from a young age]]. And from his POV, Hans being against his family's violent methods of controlling the kingdom and not fighting back has made him the proverbial BlackSheep of the Westergaards. By the time he's an adult, [[ExtremeDoormat Hans has practically chosen to give up fighting back, but this only enabled his father and brothers to abuse him even more]]. And at the end of ''A Frozen Heart'', [[GreaterScopeVillain his father's]] [[TheCorrupter toxic influence]] has slowly poisoned Hans into becoming an unfeeling and ruthless man, driving him to dehumanize everyone (including Elsa, Anna and the Duke of Weselton) in his quest for power. Having been born into a family that believed in SocialDarwinism, MightMakesRight, MiseryBuildsCharacter and MeeknessIsWeakness, it really shows how Hans goes from UsedToBeASweetKid to a power-hungry ManipulativeBastard.
** At one point while fighting Marshmallow during the assault on Elsa's ice castle, Hans notes that the {{Snowlem}}'s aggressiveness pales in comparison to his father, who is implied by him to have an explosive temper.

** Hans often hated attending any events that involved his entire family. For example, when he was required to attend his mother's birthday, he is visibly scared of going there, as even a tiny amount of time often ended with him being the laughing stock. As such, he idly stands outside the door for 20 minutes, and when he finally appears, his father scolds him for being a no-show, while his brothers ridicule him for being a MommasBoy and daydreaming.
* It's unknown if he gets along with his sisters-in-law, but it's speculated that even they hold a low opinion of him.
* It's possible that the queen may have tried to stop her husband from abusing their 13 sons at some point, [[DomesticAbuse but the fallout was so bad]] [[ExtremeDoormat that she simply gave up]].

* Besides being neglectful of Hans, his father is an extremely stone-cold tyrant and violent dictator who not only rules with an iron fist, but also ruthlessly and brutally suppresses all criticism towards him via DisproportionateRetribution in an incredibly harsh manner, while his mother is weak from constantly reproducing and giving birth and can barely help her husband with ruling. And despite Hans' best efforts to please him, the king saw him with nothing but utter contempt, seeing his twelve older sons as much better than Hans, [[AlwaysSecondBest as while he is smart and intelligent]], [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter they are far more skilled, effective and managed to woo eligible maidens much quicker than he was]], something which Hans agrees on, and as a result, [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex developed a massive inferiority complex]]. Also, [[TheSocialDarwinist Hans' father believes that the strong should pick on the weak]], and often encourages his older sons to beat up Hans for failing to meet his family's harsh standards of ruling their kingdom. From his perspective, any of his thirteen sons who doesn't live up to his very high but extremely harsh expectations, and begins to display a softer side is a sign of weakness, so to counter this, the weakling must be forcibly "toughened up" by being [[TykeBomb told that only the toughest survive from a young age]]. And from his POV, Hans being against his family's violent methods of controlling the kingdom and not fighting back has made him the proverbial BlackSheep of the Westergaards. By the time he's an adult, [[ExtremeDoormat Hans has practically chosen to give up fighting back, but this only enabled his father and brothers to abuse him even more]]. And at the end of ''A Frozen Heart'', [[GreaterScopeVillain his father's]] [[TheCorrupter toxic influence]] has slowly poisoned Hans into becoming an unfeeling and ruthless man, driving him to dehumanize everyone (including Elsa, Anna and the Duke of Weselton) in his quest for power.
* Except for Lars, most of Hans' brothers are brutish thugs and take sadistic joy in punishing Hans in whatever methods they can, ranging from practical jokes, to painful "accidents", to downright physical abuse. For example:

** Hans believed it when he received a phony "ransom note" from a certain "King Gotya" who will only "release" one of his brothers if he ran around the castle three times in just his underwear. [[WouldHurtAChild It's implied his father beat him up harshly]] for this ''even though'' it was his brothers who pulled the prank and he was only ''four'' years at the time.
** He even fell for the old "present in an oddly scary room down in the castle's catacombs" prank several times.

* It's possible that the queen may have tried to stop her husband from abusing their 13 sons at some point, [[DomesticAbuse but the fallout was so horrifying]] [[ExtremeDoormat that she simply gave up]].
* The princes (including Hans himself) also basically act as the king's enforcers and musclemen — at one point, Hans ([[EvenEvilHasStandards despite his objections]]) was sent to "talk" with a peasant who was bad-mouthing the king, and it's very likely that violence was involved. In another case, the army confiscated a farmer's livestock and burned his farm down to the ground when he failed to meet his production quota. And God help those that are behind on their taxes — a prince is sent down to forcibly strong-arm to collect the revenue, and if anybody refuses to pay up, they're killed on the spot immediately as a warning to others — [[EvenEvilHasStandards even Hans was visibly unnerved and shaken by these acts of violence towards his father's subjects]]. Knowing firsthand how his father is an exceptionally barbaric autocrat and cruel totalitarian, Hans decides that a king should be a kind ruler rather than beating everyone else into submission, [[MoralMyopia even if he takes unscrupulous methods to gain control of Arendelle.]]

* While it's known that Hans wanted to secretly escape his family's abuse and prove himself worthy to his father, it's unknown if there are other reasons for him to settle down some place else quietly. It's possible if he foresaw a potential uprising brewing in the kingdom, or that he heard rumors of a possible peasant insurrection somewhere during the three years he spent working for his dad but refused to tell him about this, given that the Southern Isles is a very unstable PoliceState, combined with the fact that Hans [[EvenEvilHasStandards secretly despised his father and brothers for being unnecessarily violent towards their subjects]]. High taxes, political repression and corruption are usually big grounds for a rebellion, and who knows if his actions in Arendelle might be the big catalyst for one to occur?

* While it's known that Hans wanted to secretly escape his family's abuse and prove himself worthy to his father, it's unknown if there are other reasons for him to settle down some place else quietly. It's possible if he foresaw a potential uprising brewing in the kingdom, or that he heard rumors of a peasant insurrection somewhere during the three years he spent working for his dad but refused to tell him about this, given that the Southern Isles is a very unstable PoliceState, combined with the fact that Hans [[EvenEvilHasStandards secretly despised his father and brothers for being unnecessary violent towards their subjects]]. High taxes, political repression and corruption are usually big grounds for a rebellion, and who knows if his actions in Arendelle might be the big catalyst for one to occur?

* The Southern Isles as a whole. Its government is a corrupt dictatorship whose [[EvilOverlord king]] uses violence and brute force to keep the citizens in line and beat them into total submission. Methods such as kangaroo courts, forced disappearances, censorship and torture are common in totalitarian regimes regardless of political orientation, and the Southern Isles is one, given that the king taxes his subjects to absolute poverty while killing and torturing criminals, delinquent taxpayers, and dissenters.

* While it's known that Hans wanted to secretly escape his family's abuse and prove himself worthy to his father, it's unknown if there are other reasons for him to settle down some place else quietly. It's possible if he foresaw a potential uprising brewing in the kingdom, given that the Southern Isles is a highly unstable PoliceState. High taxes, political repression and corruption are usually big grounds for a rebellion, and who knows if his actions in Arendelle might be the big catalyst for one to occur?

** And when Hans is ordered to attend his mother's birthday, he’s visibly afraid of attending it, as even a short amount of time with his entire family always ended in a debacle, and so, he idly stands outside the door for twenty minutes mentally preparing himself. And when he does finally show up, Hans ends up becoming the laughing stock, as his father scolds him for being excessively late, while his brothers toss objects such as foodware or ''glass'' at him just for daydreaming.

* The princes (including Hans himself) also basically act as the king's enforcers and musclemen — at one point, Hans ([[EvenEvilHasStandards despite his objections]]) was sent to "talk" with a peasant who was bad-mouthing the king, and it's very likely that violence was involved. In another case, the army confiscated a farmer's livestock and burned his farm down to the ground when he failed to meet his production quota. And God help those that are behind on their taxes — a prince is sent down to forcibly strong-arm to collect the revenue, and if anybody refuses to pay up, they're killed on the spot immediately as a warning to others — [[EvenEvilHasStandards even Hans was visibly unnerved and shaken by these acts of violence towards his father's subjects]]. Knowing firsthand how his father is an exceptionally barbaric autocrat and cruel totalitarian, Hans decides that a king should be a strict but kind ruler rather than beating everyone else into submission, even if he takes unscrupulous methods to gain control of Arendelle.

* The Southern Isles as a whole. Its government is a corrupt dictatorship whose [[EvilOverlord king]] uses violence and political repression to keep the citizens in line and beat them into total submission. Methods such as kangaroo courts, forced disappearances, censorship and torture are common in totalitarian regimes regardless of political orientation, and the Southern Isles is one, given that the king taxes his subjects to absolute poverty while killing delinquent taxpayers and dissenters.

* While it's known that Hans wanted to secretly escape his family's abuse and prove himself worthy to his father, it's unknown if there are other reasons for him to settle down some place else quietly. It's possible if he foresaw a potential uprising brewing in the kingdom, given that the Southern Isles is a highly unstable regime. High taxes, political repression and corruption are usually big grounds for a rebellion, and who knows if his actions in Arendelle might be the big catalyst for one to occur?

Notably, [[KnightOfCerebus anything involving Hans' father or most of his brothers isn't funny]]. Every time they're mentioned, the humor level drops.

* Besides being neglectful of Hans, his father is an extremely stone-cold tyrant and violent dictator who not only rules with an iron fist, but also ruthlessly and brutally suppresses all criticism towards him via DisproportionateRetribution in an incredibly harsh manner, while his mother is weak from constantly reproducing and giving birth and can barely help her husband with ruling. And despite Hans' best efforts to please him, the king views his youngest son with nothing but utter contempt, seeing his twelve older sons as much better than Hans, [[AlwaysSecondBest as while he is smart and intelligent]], [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter they are far more skilled, effective and managed to woo eligible maidens much quicker than he was]], something which Hans agrees on, and as a result, [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex developed a massive inferiority complex]]. Also, [[TheSocialDarwinist Hans' father believes that the strong should pick on the weak]], and often encourages his older sons to beat up Hans for failing to meet his family's harsh standards of ruling their kingdom. From his perspective, any of his thirteen sons who doesn't live up to his very high but extremely harsh expectations, and begins to display a softer side is a sign of weakness, so to counter this, the weakling must be forcibly "toughened up" by being [[TykeBomb told that only the toughest survive from a young age]]. And from his POV, Hans being against his family's violent methods of controlling the kingdom and not fighting back has made him the proverbial BlackSheep of the Westergaards. By the end of ''A Frozen Heart'', [[GreaterScopeVillain his father's]] [[TheCorrupter toxic influence]] has slowly poisoned Hans into becoming an unfeeling and ruthless man, driving him to dehumanize everyone (including Elsa, Anna and the Duke of Weselton) in his quest for power. By the time he's an adult, [[ExtremeDoormat Hans has practically chosen to give up fighting back, but this only enabled his father and brothers to abuse him even more]].
* Except for Lars, most of Hans' brothers are brutish thugs and take sadistic joy in punishing Hans in whatever methods they can, from practical jokes, to painful "accidents", to downright physical abuse. For example:

** Hans believed it when he received a phony "ransom note" from a certain "King Gotya" who will only "release" one of his brothers if he ran around the castle three times in just his underwear, and [[WouldHurtAChild it's implied his father beat him up harshly]] even though it was his brothers who pulled the prank and he was only ''four'' years at the time.

** And when Hans is ordered to attend his mother's birthday, he’s visibly afraid of going, as even a short amount of time with his entire family always ended in a debacle, and so, he idly stands outside the door for twenty minutes preparing himself. And when he does finally show up, Hans ends up becoming the laughing stock of his family, as his father scolds him for being excessively late, while his brothers toss objects such as foodware or ''glass'' at him just for daydreaming.

* The king's castle. Anybody visiting the Southern Isles for the first time mistook it for a giant, black sea monster or serpent, but it's actually made of black obsidian rocks only found in the kingdom. The king built it to show how it not only stands off against the Isles' rocky environment, howling winds, roaring water or salt-like odor (due to the fact that the kingdom is smack in the middle of a big sea, like the British Isles or Japan), but as a way to intimidate his subjects. And while most thought it was beautiful and jaw-dropping, Hans saw every nook and cranny of the castle and kingdom as an ugly prison, with his father and brothers as corrupt jail wardens.
* The Southern Isles as a whole. Its government is a corrupt dictatorship whose [[EvilOverlord king]] uses violence and political repression to keep the citizens in line. Methods such as kangaroo courts, censorship and torture are common in totalitarian regimes, and the Southern Isles is one, given that the king taxes his subjects to absolute poverty while killing delinquent taxpayers and regime critics.

* The king's castle. Anybody visiting the Southern Isles for the first time mistook it for a giant, black sea monster or serpent, but it's actually made of black obsidian rocks only found in the kingdom. The king built the castle to show how it not only stands off against the Isles' rocky environment, howling winds, roaring water or salt-like odor (due to the fact that the Southern Isles is smack in the middle of a big sea, like the British Isles, Cuba or Japan), but as a way to intimidate his subjects. And while most of the citizens thought it was beautiful and jaw-dropping, Hans saw every nook and cranny of the castle and kingdom as an ugly prison, with his father and brothers as corrupt jail wardens.

* While it's known that Hans wanted to secretly escape his family's abuse and prove himself worthy to his father, it's unknown if there are other reasons for him to settle down some place else quietly. It's possible if he foresaw a potential uprising brewing in the kingdom, given that the Southern Isles is a highly unstable regime. High taxes, political repression and corruption are usually big grounds for a rebellion, and who knows if his actions in Arendelle might be the big catalyst for a possible political upheaval?

How bad must Hans' family (especially [[ParentalNeglect his father]] and [[BigBrotherBully brothers]]) have been to him to make him turn out this way? We actually get a few glimpses of it, and ''it's not pretty'':

* Besides being neglectful of Hans, his father is an extremely stone-cold tyrant and violent dictator who not only rules with an iron fist, but also ruthlessly and brutally suppresses all criticism towards him via DisproportionateRetribution in an incredibly harsh manner, while his mother is weak from constantly reproducing and giving birth and can barely help her husband with ruling. And despite Hans' best efforts to please him, the king views his youngest son with nothing but utter contempt. To add to this, he sees his twelve older sons as much better than Hans, [[AlwaysSecondBest as while he is smart and intelligent]], [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter they are far more skilled, effective and managed to woo eligible maidens much quicker than he was]], something which Hans agrees on, and as a result, [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex developed a massive inferiority complex]]. Also, [[TheSocialDarwinist Hans' father believes that the strong should pick on the weak]], and often encourages his older sons to beat up Hans for failing to meet his family's harsh standards of ruling their kingdom. From his perspective, any of his thirteen sons who doesn't live up to his very high but extremely harsh expectations, and begins to display a softer side is a sign of weakness, so to counter this, the weakling must be forcibly "toughened up" by being [[TykeBomb told that only the toughest survive from a young age]]. And from his POV, Hans being against his family's violent methods of controlling the kingdom and not fighting back has made him the proverbial BlackSheep of the Westergaards. By the end of ''A Frozen Heart'', [[GreaterScopeVillain his father's]] [[TheCorrupter toxic influence]] has slowly poisoned Hans into becoming an unfeeling and ruthless man, driving him to dehumanize everyone (including Elsa, Anna and the Duke of Weselton) in his quest for power. By the time he's an adult, [[ExtremeDoormat Hans has practically chosen to give up fighting back, but this only enabled his father and brothers to abuse him even more]].

* The king's castle. Anybody coming to the Southern Isles for the first time mistook it for a giant, black sea monster or serpent, but it's actually made of black stones only found in the kingdom. The king built the castle to show how it not only stands off against the Isles' rocky environment, the howling winds, roaring water or the salt-like odor (due to the fact that the Southern Isles is smack in the middle of a big sea, like the British Isles, Cuba or Japan), but also as a way to intimidate his subjects. And while most of the king's subjects thought it was beautiful and jaw-dropping, Hans saw every nook and cranny of the castle and kingdom as an ugly prison, with his father and brothers as corrupt jail wardens.
* The Southern Isles as a whole. Its government is a corrupt dictatorship whose [[EvilOverlord king]] uses violence and political repression to keep the citizens in line. Methods such as kangaroo courts, censorship and torture are common in dictatorships, and the Southern Isles would count as one, given that the king taxes his subjects to absolute poverty while killing delinquent taxpayers and regime critics.

* While it's known that Hans wanted to secretly escape his family's abuse and prove himself worthy to his father, it's unknown if there are other reasons for him to settle down some place else quietly. It's possible if he foresaw a potential uprising brewing in the kingdom, given that the Southern Isles is a highly unstable regime. High taxes, political repression and corruption are usually big grounds for a civil war, and who knows if his actions in Arendelle might be the big catalyst for a possible political upheaval?

* The king's castle. Anybody coming to the Southern Isles for the first time mistook it for a giant, black sea monster or serpent, but it's actually made of black stones only found in the kingdom. The king built the castle to show how it not only stands off against the Isles' rocky environment, the howling winds, roaring water or the salt-like odor (due to the fact that the Southern Isles is smack in the middle of a big ocean, like the British Isles, Cuba or Japan), but also as a way to intimidate his subjects. And while most of the king's subjects thought it was beautiful and jaw-dropping, Hans saw every nook and cranny of the castle and kingdom as an ugly prison, with his father and brothers as corrupt jail wardens.

* While it's known that Hans wanted to secretly escape his family's abuse and prove himself worthy to his father, it's unknown if there are other reasons for him to settle down some place else quietly. It's possible if he foresaw a potential uprising brewing in the kingdom, given that the Southern Isles is a dictatorship. High taxes, political repression and corruption are usually big grounds for a civil war, and who knows if his actions in Arendelle might be the big catalyst for a possible political upheaval?

** And when Hans is ordered to attend his mother's birthday, he’s visibly afraid of going, as even a short amount of time with his entire family always ended in a debacle, and so, he idly stands outside the door for twenty minutes preparing himself. And when he does finally show up, Hans ends up becoming the laughing stock of his family, as his father scolds him for being excessively late, while his brothers toss objects such as foodware or ''glass'' at him just for was daydreaming.

* The king's castle. Anybody who came to the Southern Isles for the first time thought the castle was actually a giant, black sea monster or serpent, but it's actually made of black stones only found in the kingdom. The king built it to show how it not only stands off against the Isles' rocky environment, the howling winds, roaring water or the salt-like odor (due to the fact that the kingdom was in the middle of a big ocean, like the British Isles), but also as a way to intimidate his subjects. And while most of the kingdom's subjects thought it was beautiful, Hans saw every nook and cranny of the castle and kingdom as an ugly prison, with his father and brothers as jail wardens.
* From the looks of it, the Southern Isles is an incredibly desolate, harsh and unpleasant place to live in. A farmer makes a minor mistake in supplying the government or fails to meet their production quota? [[DisproportionateRetribution The Southern Isles army burns his farm down and seizes his livestock]]. Insulting the king? [[PoliceState The critics are]] [[PoliceBrutality brutally "silenced"]]. Anybody behind on their taxes? [[EvilDebtCollector A prince is sent to forcibly collect the taxes]]. Refuse to pay taxes? YouDoNOTWantToKnow.

* For starters, he had glassware and food ''thrown'' at him just for daydreaming, not to mention being [[ExtremeDoormat losing countless fistfights, thrown off moving carts, being the victim of many pranks or being shoved in the mud numerous times]].

Notably, [[KnightOfCerebus anything involving Hans' father or his brothers isn't funny]]. Every time they're mentioned, the humor level drops.

* Besides being neglectful of Hans, his father is an extremely stone-cold tyrant and violent dictator who not only rules with an iron fist, but also ruthlessly and brutally suppresses all criticism towards him via DisproportionateRetribution in an incredibly harsh manner, while his mother is weak from constantly reproducing and giving birth and can barely help her husband with ruling. And despite Hans' best efforts to please him, the king views his youngest son with nothing but utter contempt. To add to this, he sees his twelve older sons as much better than Hans, [[AlwaysSecondBest as while he is smart and intelligent]], [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter they are far more skilled, effective and managed to woo eligible maidens much quicker than he was]], something which Hans agrees on, and as a result, [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex developed a massive inferiority complex]]. Also, [[TheSocialDarwinist Hans' father believes that the strong should pick on the weak]], and often encourages his older sons to beat up Hans for failing to meet his family's harsh standards of ruling their kingdom. From his perspective, any of his thirteen sons who doesn't live up to his very high but extremely harsh expectations, and begins to display a softer side is a sign of weakness, so to counter this, they must be forcibly "toughened up to the Westergaard mold", that is, to be [[TykeBomb forcibly indoctrinated from a young age that only the best survive]]. And from his POV, Hans being against his family's violent methods of controlling the kingdom and not fighting back has made him the proverbial BlackSheep of the Westergaards. By the end of ''A Frozen Heart'', [[GreaterScopeVillain his father's]] [[TheCorrupter toxic influence]] has slowly poisoned Hans into becoming an unfeeling and ruthless man, driving him to dehumanize everyone (including Elsa, Anna and the Duke of Weselton) in his quest for power. By the time he's an adult, [[ExtremeDoormat Hans has practically chosen to give up fighting back, but this only enabled his father and brothers to abuse him even more]].

* How bad must Hans' family (especially [[ParentalNeglect his father]] and [[BigBrotherBully brothers]]) have been to him to make him turn out this way? We actually get a few glimpses of it, and ''it's not pretty''. For starters, he had glassware and food ''thrown'' at him just for daydreaming, not to mention being [[ExtremeDoormat losing countless fistfights, thrown off moving carts, being the victim of many pranks (especially where three of his brothers pretended he was invisible for]] ''[[ExtremeDoormat two straight years]]''[[ExtremeDoormat ) or being shoved in the mud numerous times]].
* His father is a SocialDarwinist who often views him with utter disgust and contempt, comparing him to a "weakling" and an incompetent coward against his older sons, so in his view, Hans being beaten up by his older sons is a sign of "strength". By the time he's a young adult, he not only suffers from clinical depression and possible self-harm, he believes that ''abuse is normal''; [[DespairEventHorizon he even has already given up fighting back as it just makes their physical abuse worse]], [[ExtremeDoormat but this only increased his father's emotional abuse, claiming that he should "learn a thing or two" from his brothers]]. No wonder he's such a sociopath, as being the proverbial BlackSheep and ExtremeDoormat of his family and growing up the smallest and most forgettable of his clan wound up becoming his FreudianExcuse. Even Hans sometimes acknowledges that he's the odd one out in his family, and while mentioning to Anna about three of his brothers pretending he was non-existent, it's clearly visible that he despises them for being abusive towards him. The closest to support he had were Lars and his mother, but neither of them were close enough to help him get through life.
* As Hans grew up, the abuse Hans got has slowly corrupted him to the point that he sees [[ManipulativeBastard people as objects]], [[CrapsackWorld thinks it's a dog-eat-dog world out there]] [[TheSocialDarwinist with only the fittest surviving]], and [[LoveIsAWeakness views love as an exploitable flaw]] that's relegated to the weak-willed (namely Elsa and Anna), and it also really shows how warped his mind has become over the years, [[EvilCannotComprehendGood rendering him unable to understand or even experience love]] thanks to a [[TykeBomb harsh upbringing]]. To counter the abuse he gets, [[WellDoneSonGuy Hans tried to emulate them by becoming the king's errand boy and gofer]] before setting off to Arendelle in the hopes of surprising and upstaging his family by getting a throne more quickly and effectively by himself, and with this newfound power, he hoped to transform Arendelle from a backwater country into a power capable of fending off external threats. But his hasty desire to become king and [[WellDoneSonGuy get the respect of his family]] backfires on him, and he's now back in the same Hell he wanted to escape in the first place. And with what he did in Arendelle, that tiny amount of respect Hans began to earn from his father is most likely gone for good, as he still saw his youngest son as [[DisappointedInYou a total disappointment and a worthless spare in his eyes]].

* His father is an extremely stone-cold tyrant and violent dictator who not only runs the Southern Isles with an iron fist, but also ruthlessly and brutally suppresses all criticism towards him via DisproportionateRetribution in an incredibly harsh manner and allows his older sons to bully Hans in order to gain his approval at Hans' expense, believing that it's all "good politics", while his mother is weak from constantly reproducing and giving birth and can barely help her husband with ruling. Despite Hans' best efforts to please him, the king views his youngest son with nothing but utter contempt, seeing him as an ineffectual and incompetent "weakling" who doesn't know how to fight back at the taunts his brothers throw at him. To add to this, he sees his twelve older sons as much better than Hans, [[AlwaysSecondBest as while he is smart and intelligent]], [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter they are far more skilled, effective and managed to woo eligible maidens much quicker than he was]], something which Hans agrees on, and as a result, [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex developed a massive inferiority complex]]. Also, [[TheSocialDarwinist Hans' father believes that the strong should pick on the weak]], and often encourages his older sons to beat up Hans for failing to meet his family's harsh standards of ruling their kingdom. From his perspective, any of his thirteen sons who doesn't live up to his very high but extremely harsh expectations, and begins to display a softer side is a sign of weakness, so to counter this, they must be forcibly "toughened up to the Westergaard mold", that is, to be [[TykeBomb forcibly indoctrinated from a young age that only the strong have a right to pick on the weak]]. And from his POV, Hans being against his family's violent methods of controlling the kingdom and not fighting back has made him the proverbial BlackSheep of the Westergaard clan. By the end of ''A Frozen Heart'', [[GreaterScopeVillain his father's]] [[TheCorrupter corrupting influence]] has slowly poisoned Hans into becoming an unfeeling and ruthless man, driving him to dehumanize everyone (including Elsa, Anna and the Duke of Weselton) in his quest for power.
* His brothers (sans one) are all violent brutes and take sadistic joy in punishing Hans in whatever methods they can, from practical jokes and tirades to painful "accidents". In addition to the prank where three of his brothers pretended he was "non-existent" for ''two straight years'', Hans even believed it when he received a phony "ransom note" from a certain "King Gotya" who will only "release" one of his brothers if he ran around the castle three times in just his underwear, and he ended up being beaten up by his father even though it was his brothers who pulled the prank and he was only four years at the time. He even fell for the old "present in an oddly scary room down in the castle's catacombs" prank several times, and at one point, woke up with ink all over his face after one of his brothers quietly dipped his hands in an inkpot while he slept. And when Hans is ordered to attend his mother's birthday, he’s visibly afraid of going there, because even a short amount of time with his entire family always ended in a debacle, and as such, he idly stands outside the door for twenty minutes preparing himself. And when he does finally show up, Hans ends up becoming the laughing stock of his family, as his father scolds him for being excessively late, while his brothers toss objects at him just because he was daydreaming. It's unknown if he gets along with his sisters-in-law, but it's speculated that even they hold a low opinion of him. By the time he's an adult, [[ExtremeDoormat Hans has practically chosen to give up fighting back, but this only enabled them to abuse him even more]].
** The princes (including Hans himself) also basically act as the king's enforcers and musclemen — at one point, Hans ([[EvenEvilHasStandards despite his objections]]) was sent to "talk" with a peasant who was bad-mouthing the king, and it's very likely that violence was involved. In another case, the army confiscated a farmer's livestock and burned his farm down to the ground when he failed to meet his production quota. And God help those that are behind on their taxes — a prince is sent down to forcibly strong-arm to collect the revenue, and if anybody refuses to pay up, they're killed on the spot immediately as a warning to others — [[EvenEvilHasStandards even Hans was visibly unnerved and shaken by these acts of violence towards his father's subjects. Knowing firsthand how his father is an exceptionally barbaric autocrat and cruel totalitarian, Hans decides that a king should be a strict but kind ruler]], even if he takes unscrupulous methods to gain control of Arendelle.

* The king's castle. Anybody who came to the Southern Isles for the first time thought the castle was actually a giant, black sea monster or serpent, but it's actually made of black stones only found in the kingdom. The king built it to show how it stands off against the Isles' rocky environment, how it manages to stand against the howling winds, roaring surf or the salt-like odor (due to the fact that the kingdom was in the middle of a big ocean, like the British Isles) and as a way to intimidate his subjects.