History YMMV / AFrozenHeart

* EsotericHappyEnding: Because we see the story from the perspective of Prince Hans, the ending, which follows that of the original ''Frozen'' film and has Hans sent back home after his plot is exposed, doesn't feel completely happy in this book. Our heroes are completely unaware they just sent him to a living Hell on Earth.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: This book makes it clear that what Hans did was terrible and inexcusable, but it manages to humanize the most well known BaseBreakingCharacter of ''Frozen'' by giving him a clear backstory. It explores his FreudianExcuse, giving Hans [[EvenEvilHasStandards has his own standards]], and showing him not starting out evil.

* JerkassWoobie: Hans was already considered this in the film due to WordOfGod confirming his family was awful to him, but this book goes further. Behind his seemingly suave and smug attitude was a young man who wanted to be loved by his abusive father while trying to leave his home for a better life. Unfortunately, years of his father's cruel criticism and most of his brothers bullying him to make their father happy made him too desperate to get what he wants. So much so he decided to become what he hated, and as a result, it's made his life worse with little to no chance of things getting better.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The book has a TimeSkip of three years early, from the time Hans learns the King and Queen of Arendelle have died to the start of the movie, and then the book from there covers the events of the movie. This means that the vast majority of Hans' [[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain descent into evil]] occurs offscreen, which could've been fascinating to read. (Probably too dark for the intended age group, though, given that he's ''heavily'' implied to have been forced to kill people for his father.)

* FanficFuel: Hans' siblings and family life are given more detail here than in any other official media. [[SchrodingersCanon It's unknown if Disney will deem them canon]] once ''Frozen 2'' comes out (if they're referenced at all), but many fans don't care if they're semi-canon or not and create much fanwork exploring the Southern Isles and its inhabitants as written in ''A Frozen Heart''.

* WhatAnIdiot: Hans misses the opportunity to have a good happily ever after with a princess who genuinely likes him. He throws away a chance to become a part of a loving family where he would have been taken in with open arms, just to prove a point to one which (except Lars and his mother) is abusive.

* WhatAnIdiot: Hans misses the opportunity to have a good happily ever after with a princess that genuinely likes him. He threw away a chance to become a part of a (potentially) loving family where he would have been taken in with open arms, just to prove a point to his family (except Lars and his mother) who can’t stand him.

* FanficFuel: Hans' siblings and family life are given more detail here than in any other official media. [[SchrodingersCanon It's unknown if Disney will deem them canon once ''Frozen 2'' comes out (if they're referenced at all),]] but many fans don't care if they're semi-canon or not and create much fanwork exploring the Southern Isles and its inhabitants as written in ''A Frozen Heart''.

* BrokenBase: Fans were in dispute over whether or not the book was written to be in canon with the films, with arguments for and against it.

* CounterpartComparison: Hans's character and backstory as portrayed in this book bring to mind [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Prince Zuko]]. Both are the abused son of an evil dictator who treats them poorly for not living up to such high but cruel expectations while regarding their siblings as better than them, [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas genuinely care for their mothers]], frequently manipulated and bullied by siblings (Hans' brothers towards Hans, Princess Azula towards Zuko) at their expense, were once {{Wide Eyed Idealist}}s but now have a [[JadeColoredGlasses jaded and]] [[TheCynic cynical view]] of the world, and [[UsedToBeASweetKid were once good people]] but [[WellDoneSonGuy are now motivated solely by a nigh-impossible goal of gaining their father's love]], even if it means being enemies with the main characters. Even more so in {{Fanon}}, which often gives Hans fire based magic despite showing no such magic in film or in any tie-in material and rumors of a HeelFaceTurn, matching Zuko even further.
** The abuse both Zuko and Hans suffer from their fathers brings to mind [[ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} Kalibak, who is treated horribly by Darkseid]]. The three are regarded as TheUnfavorite sons of cruel dictators and have severe DaddyIssues, yet want to prove themselves worthy of earning their father's respect.
** This also reminds us of the abuse [[Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame Quasimodo suffered from Frollo]]. Even if Frollo is the ParentalSubstitute for Quasi, both Hans and Quasi were abused to the point that they felt lonely and isolated, alongside being manipulated to think the outside world is cruel. Add to the fact that both Hans and Quasi have [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer been reviled by others for being ineffectual and ugly, respectively.]]

* BetterThanCanon: Even if this book's events are retconned in a future story, some readers prefer its depiction of Hans more than the film, as it gives him backstory and humanizes without going the DracoInLeatherPants route, making him a more interesting character.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Readers greatly enjoy Lars for being the only brother who cared for Hans and there is art of the character on Tumblr despite no information on what he might look like. As a result, if Hans returns in ''Frozen 2'', Lars is the character that readers will hope to see.
* EsotericHappyEnding: Because we see the story from the perspective of Prince Hans, the ending of ''Frozen'' feels less happier. Our heroes are completely unaware they just sent him to a living Hell on Earth.
* FanficFuel: Hans' siblings and family life are given detail for the first time in official media. It's unknown if Disney will deem them canon once ''Frozen 2'' comes out (if they're referenced at all), but fans don't care if they're semi-canon or not.

* TearJerker: Hans often gets the short end of the stick in his family, as his father usually dismisses him in favor of his older sons due to seeing Hans as too ineffectual, and enables his 12 sons to sadistically torment him for the sake of "good politics." Though Hans gets along with his mother, her interactions with him are limited to weak smiles of acknowledgment, and she does little to stop his abuse at the hands of the older members of the family. Except for Lars, his brothers regularly bully and even humiliate him during political meetings, and their rationale for doing this is to show him how he's looked down by his entire family for being seen as weak and inability to conform to siblings who are high-achievers in the eyes of their father. The abuse slowly causes Hans to develop self-esteem issues, [[WellDoneSonGuy become obsessed]] with winning the respect and love of his extremely distant father and abusive brothers, and to corrupt his morals.

* MoralEventHorizon: The king of the Southern Isles willingly had his other sons torment Hans, seeing his youngest son as a "weakling" who needed to be "toughened up" through violent and cruel means. And because Anna and Elsa wanted Hans out of their lives ASAP, they have no idea just what kind of person they sent him back to, meaning [[KarmaHoudini the king continues to make Hans's life a living hell]].

* TearJerker: Hans often got the short end of the stick in his family, as his father usually dismissed him in favor of his older sons due to Hans being too ineffectual, and enabled his 12 sons to sadistically torment him for the sake of "good politics." Though he gets along with his mother, her interactions with him were limited to weak smiles of acknowledgment, and she did little to stop his abuse at the hands of the older members of the family. Except for Lars, his brothers regularly bully and even humiliate him during political meetings, and their rationale for doing this is to show him how he's looked down by his entire family for being weak, inability to conform to siblings who are high-achievers in the eyes of their father, and to remind him of his low status in the familial pecking order. The abuse slowly causes Hans to feel less than his brothers, develop self-esteem issues, [[WellDoneSonGuy and forces him to become obsessed]] with winning the respect and love of his extremely distant father and abusive brothers. But it also drove him to corrupt his morals, and he's now living in miserable conditions in the hellhole he wanted to escape in the first place. And if the rumors are wrong and he does not pull a HeelFaceTurn in ''Frozen 2'', this will be his fate from now on.

* TearJerker: Hans often got the short end of the stick in his family, as his father usually dismissed him in favor of his older sons due to Hans being too meek and ineffectual, and enabled his 12 sons to sadistically torment him for the sake of "good politics". Though he gets along with his mother, her interactions with him were limited to weak smiles of acknowledgment, and she did very little to stop his abuse at the hands of the male members of the family. Except for Lars, his brothers regularly bully and even humiliate him during political meetings, and their rationale for doing this is to show him how he's looked down by his entire family for his meekness, 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. The abuse slowly causes Hans to feel less than his brothers, develop self-esteem issues, [[WellDoneSonGuy and forces him to become obsessed]] with winning the respect and love of his extremely distant father and abusive brothers. But this obsession also drove him to do morally unethical things in Arendelle, and he's now living in miserable conditions in the hellhole he wanted to escape in the first place. And if the rumors are wrong and he does not pull a HeelFaceTurn in ''Frozen 2'', this will be his fate from now on.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: This book makes it clear that what Hans did was terrible and inexcusable, but it manages to humanize the most well known BaseBreakingCharacter of ''Frozen'' by giving him a clear backstory. It shows the depths of his FreudianExcuse, reveals that Hans [[EvenEvilHasStandards has his own standards]], and how he didn't actually start out evil even during the events of the film.
* BetterThanCanon: Even if this book's events are retconned in a future story, readers prefer its depiction of Hans more than the film, as it gives his backstory and humanizes without going the DracoInLeatherPants route and makes him a more interesting character.
* CounterpartComparison: Hans's character and backstory, as established here, brings to mind [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Prince Zuko]]. Both are the abused son of an evil dictator who treats them poorly for not living up to such high but cruel expectations while regarding their siblings as better than them, [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas genuinely care for their mothers]], frequently manipulated and bullied by siblings (Hans' brothers towards Hans, Princess Azula towards Zuko) at their expense, were once {{Wide Eyed Idealist}}s but now have a [[JadeColoredGlasses jaded and]] [[TheCynic cynical view]] of the world, and [[UsedToBeASweetKid were once good people]] but [[WellDoneSonGuy are now motivated solely by a nigh-impossible goal of gaining their father's love]], even if it means being enemies with the main characters. Add on that Hans is given fire based magic in {{Fanon}} despite showing no such magic in film or in any tie-in material and rumors of a HeelFaceTurn, matching Zuko even further.

* JerkassWoobie: This book describes exactly why Prince Hans committed his crimes in Arendelle. Behind his seemingly suave and smug attitude was a young man who wanted to be loved by his abusive father while trying to leave his home for a better life. Unfortunately, years of his father's cruel criticism and most of his brothers bullying him to make their father happy made him too desperate to get what he wants. So much so he decided to become what he hated, and as a result, it's made his life worse with little to no chance of things getting better.

** If the aforementioned MEH isn't enough, the king also subjected his 12 older sons with a similarly [[AbusiveDad ruthless and inhumane training]] [[TykeBomb from a young age.]] [[TheCorrupter His corrosive influence]] eventually caused most of them to inherit his LackOfEmpathy, as he only saw them as mere reflections of himself to [[ItsAllAboutMe further fuel his own ego]], but actually has no care for them unless they're useful to him. He also [[DomesticAbuse subjected his wife]] to constant emotional abuse, and may have physically hit her at some point in the past when she tried to stop him from abusing their sons. And besides that, he's also a tyrant who unnecessarily oppresses his people by subjecting them to unspecified but extremely brutal punishments for not providing enough favors or criticizing him.

** If the aforementioned MEH isn't enough, the king also subjected his 12 older sons with a similarly [[AbusiveDad ruthless and inhumane training]] [[TykeBomb from a young age.]] [[TheCorrupter His corrosive influence]] eventually caused most of them to inherit his LackOfEmpathy, as he only saw them as mere reflections of himself to [[ItsAllAboutMe further fuel his own ego.]] He also sees his sons as tools to keep on oppressing his subjects, so that the training they receive will transform them into his sycophantic enforcers over time. He also [[DomesticAbuse subjected his wife]] to constant emotional abuse, and may have physically hit her at some point in the past when she tried to stop him from abusing their sons. And besides that, he's also a tyrant who unnecessarily oppresses his people by subjecting them to unspecified but extremely brutal punishments for not providing enough favors or criticizing him.