Discussion Fridge / Frozen2013

One piece of "fridge brilliance" mentioned on the main page is:

• The ice harvesters at the very beginning of the film sing about how beautiful and dangerous ice is, but nevertheless that its "frozen heart" is "worth mining," showing that they have a greater appreciation of ice than the average citizens of Arendelle. Kristoff's line of "Now that's ice; I might cry" upon seeing Elsa's castle wasn't just because he grew up with trolls and was accustomed to magic; he had spent some time with the ice harvesters too as a child, and their appreciation of ice had rubbed off on him.

Am I the only one who thought the second meaning mentioned, not the first, was the obvious one?

Is this fridge brilliance? The movie makes it explicit that Elsa was afraid of accidentally hurting people with her magic well before she became queen, as any decent person would be, whether or not they were the kingdom's ruler. What not just anyone would do is take the approach Elsa did, including isolating themselves in the mountains to live freely without hurting anyone, "where I can be who I am without hurting anybody" (the movie's a little ambiguous as to whether Elsa thought she could come back and rule without hurting other people or whether it was safe for her to do so). But that doesn't seem to be connected to her status as queen. You could say that being such a public figure limited her options if she wanted to avoid people, but is it connected to her being appointed the kingdom's protector? You also don't have to have understood the exact words used in the coronation ceremony to realize that as queen it was her particular responsibility to keep the country safe.

• One of the things that some readers fail to realize about Elsa –- but this is a vitally important point – is that in her flight from Arendelle, she is, in fact, fullfiling the primary oath that she took when she was crowned monarch: and that is, to be the “protector of her dominion.” According to the novelization – in the film, this speech is uttered in Old Norse, so for this we need to refer to the novelization – the bishop proclaims Elsa to be "The undoubted queen, protector of this dominion," as he bestows upon Elsa the crown jewels. And Elsa – whose sense of responsibility and self-sacrifice always supplants any concerns for her own well-being or happiness – takes these words very seriously and, by her actions, fulfills them. Why does Elsa leave the kingdom? Because she becomes a danger to it. It is precisely because of the oath that she took – the oath to be the “protector of this dominion” – that she exiles herself. She is literally defending the realm by removing herself from Arendelle, because she herself has become the biggest threat to Arendelle.