Queen Elsa

**Queen Elsa of Arendelle** (also known as the **Snow Queen**) is the deuteragonist of Disney's 2013 animated feature film *Frozen*. She is the firstborn daughter of former monarchs Agnarr and Iduna, older sister of Princess Anna, and the contemporary ruler of Arendelle. Her powers over ice and snow ultimately led her to become the Snow Queen at adulthood. Elsa is loosely based on the titular character of "The Snow Queen", a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, and to a much lesser extent, Kai from the same story.

## Personality

As the queen regnant of the kingdom of Arendelle, Elsa appears calm, reserved, regal and - unlike her sister - graceful and poised. Beneath this cool and collected appearance, however, Elsa is quite turbulent; in truth, the Snow Queen was, for a majority of her young life, troubled by her abilities, a feeling which stems from a traumatic incident as a child. When she was younger, she had cared strongly for Anna and, despite being the more mature and cautious of the two sisters, Elsa was still quite playful and used her magic to have fun and goof off.

However, after witnessing her magic nearly cause her sister's death, Elsa lived in fear and trauma for a great amount of her life as she became too terrified to let her powers overdevelop. She consequently chose isolation from everyone she cared for, including Anna, out of the presumption that her isolation would protect them from her power. This would eventually result in years of loneliness, misery, bitterness and grief. Regret would gradually take its toll on her as well when tragedies struck throughout her life from the accident with her sister to the death of her parents, leaving them both to mourn and grieve alone.

Elsa's damaging experience through the crucial stages from childhood to adulthood caused her personality to shift. She became reclusive, lonely, insecure, emotionally unstable, and genuinely depressed. For Elsa, her powers and nature grew more restrained as the years passed, slowly molding her into the cold-hearted queen others saw her to be. When given the chance to rest and relent, however, as seen on the night of her coronation, Elsa's true persona, one that is warm, kind, fun loving, and innocently mischievous, came about - but only briefly, and with restriction.

Elsa also has an altruistic disposition that contributes to the compassion towards her people. Throughout the entirety of the film, the Snow Queen's actions are driven by the desire to protect her kingdom, and more importantly, her sister, Anna. Unfortunately, that comes with a price, as Elsa's upbringing would lead her to believe that, for the safety of her loved ones, and for the sake of remaining true to who she is as a gifted person, she is a living disaster that must be removed from society. Even with Anna's persistence to help end the curse, Elsa's method of solving the problem - enforced isolation - would remain prevalent. Her determination to solve her problems through singularity is Elsa's greatest flaw, driven by her anxiety and traumatic childhood experiences.

Though a benevolent and giving person, Elsa suffers from emotional instability due to years of keeping her emotions bottled up. When her strong emotions are triggered, Elsa often loses control over her emotions which can create dangerous situations for herself and others around her. An example of this is when Anna informed her that she had unknowingly plunged Arendelle into an "eternal winter", she began panicking as she realized she had brought harm upon her kingdom, which made her lose control of both her emotions and powers, resulting in ice bursting from her chest and striking Anna in the heart. But perhaps the prime example of this was when the Duke of Westleton's guards attempted to assassinate her and Elsa realizes she has no choice to fight back, and, unable to control her fury, goes from self-defense to fighting back more aggressively, nearly pushing a man off the edge of her ice palace and pinning another to the wall with icicles.

During "Let It Go", however, Elsa reveals a liberated side to her personality. Without stress or the fear of hurting others, the queen is strong and unafraid, yet with an air of elegance still surrounding her. Based on this facet, she has confidence in her abilities and accepts them as a part of her, no longer worried or daunted by her restraints. In the segment, which was entirely about letting go of her fears and embracing herself, Elsa decides to abandon what she was made to be so that she can be free to be herself. While expressing this, Elsa proves that she is notably creative and strong in geometry (her ice palace is made entirely out of geometric figures), and a daring young woman willing to reject her own fate as Arendelle's queen for the choice of her own freedom as well as to protect the people in Arendelle from her powers.

Following her return to power as Arendelle's reigning monarch, Elsa's original personality, not dominate since childhood, makes a return. With a warm, welcoming aura, Elsa rules her kingdom with a genuine smile and spends most of her spare time using her abilities for the pleasure of herself, her sister, and the entire kingdom. As seen in *Frozen Fever*, this aspect of Elsa's personality has not only remained, but strengthened, as the short heavily showcased Elsa's lighter side as fun-loving, and extremely devoted to her sister, yet retained her sense of elegance, vibrancy, and compassion. However, she has also become a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to planning events.

## Physical Appearance

At 21 years of age, Elsa has a tall, slender build, long platinum blonde hair, blue eyes, a small nose, and very pale skin with a light dusting of freckles (a trait she shares with her sister Anna, though less prominent). Her face is the mirror image of her mother, as, during her coronation, she bore a striking resemblance to the previous queen, albeit with a different hair color (her mother is a brunette).

For the coronation, Elsa wears a teal dress with a sweetheart bodice with bronze trim and dark teal, maroon and purple rosemaling on the skirt and bodice, black long-sleeved turtleneck blouse with red and teal crystal-shaped prints on, magenta cape, a gold tiara, dark brown flats with gold outlines and teal stockings (which disappear after her transformation) underneath, and her hair woven in a French braided crown twist bun held together with a blue ribbon. Ever since the accident with Anna at age 8, Elsa wears white gloves to contain her powers, but at her coronation, she wears longer, cyan gloves with teal prints on, that go with her outfit. Her eyelids have a dusting of lavender eyeshadow and magenta lipstick.

In her Snow Queen state, Elsa wears her hair in a loose French braid that is swept over her left shoulder, tied with a hair band with a crystal-like snowflake on it. It is woven with snowflake incrustations, and wisps of her bangs slicked back on top of her head with a smaller piece resting down on her forehead. Her hair appears to be thick, although this may be so because she has much more hair (400,000 strands) than the average human (100,000 strands). She wears a crystal-blue, off-the-shoulder dress made out of ice with a right knee-high slit, a crystallized bodice, and translucent, powder blue sleeves. She also wears ice-made kitten heels and, attached to the back of her bodice, wears a long, transparent floor-sweeping cape of sheer ice which is decorated with large snowflakes. Elsa still wears the same makeup as at the coronation, however, due to the change in lighting, the magenta lipstick becomes a dark pink, and her lavender eyeshadow becomes a shiny, purplish-pink.

In *Frozen Fever*, Elsa wears her hair in her signature French braid (tied with a hair band with a pink flower on it in place of a snowflake) woven with small pink flowers and a larger pink flower on the right side of her head. She also wears an emerald green, off-the-shoulder dress made out of ice with a right knee-high slit, just like her Snow Queen dress. Unlike Elsa's ice dress, her *Frozen Fever* dress has a sweetheart bodice which is covered in teal ice crystals that are patterned to resemble leaves and light green, translucent, short sleeves. Her sleeves and top of her bodice are decorated with pink flowers. She also wears emerald green ice kitten heels and a long, transparent floor-sweeping emerald green cape of sheer ice decorated with flower and leaf design (with pink flowers stuck on) is attached to the back of her bodice. Her eyeshadow is now a light pink and she wears dark pink lipstick.

## Relationships

### Family

#### Anna

Since the two were young, Elsa and Anna have always been the best of friends and loved each other dearly. The two enjoyed playing together, and Anna loved it when Elsa used her magic to create a winter wonderland. However, after Elsa accidentally hit Anna with her ice magic and almost killed her, Elsa became too scared to go near Anna out of fear her powers could harm her again, even when she later became all the family she had left when their parents died. While Elsa's desire to stay away from Anna was out of her love for her, Anna felt distanced from her and constantly tried to reconnect with Elsa without understanding or knowing about Elsa's powers, as the troll king removed all magic including memories of magic to revive her. During the coronation party, the two seemed to temporarily reconnect as they enjoyed themselves and Anna expressed her wish that they could always be close like this. Elsa, caught up in the moment, sincerely agrees but knows why they must keep their distance and closes herself off again, which they are both saddened by, though Anna was not aware of Elsa's feelings. They also seemed to reconnect by their love of chocolate, after Elsa saying what is that amazing smell and they both sniffed the air to the delight of finding it was chocolate.

When Elsa's powers are revealed to the kingdom after the two got into an argument about Anna's engagement to Hans and how Elsa always shuts everybody out, Elsa runs away and Anna, knowing it wasn't Elsa's fault as she was the one who pushed Elsa, volunteered to get her back, saying "She's my sister. She would never hurt me." When she got to Elsa's palace, she tried to get Elsa to come back home with her and fix the eternal winter Elsa had cast on the kingdom together, but couldn't persuade her as Elsa didn't know how to fix what she had done and was too afraid of, and distressed at, hurting others. Elsa's negative emotions explode unwillingly, striking Anna's heart. Nonetheless, Anna's love for Elsa prevailed and proved to be the thing Anna held most dear to her, shown best when she chose to not get saved by Kristoff but instead ran in front of Elsa to protect her from Hans' killing strike, freezing to solid ice and sacrificing her own life in the process.

This demonstrates just how deep Anna's love for Elsa is and that no matter what happens, their sisterly bond is the most important thing to her. This act of true love is also ultimately what saves Anna from Elsa's curse, as Olaf makes the connection that Anna's actions were an act of true love, which teaches Elsa how to finally thaw winter and control her powers, allowing her to restore her bond with Anna. Elsa and Anna truly care and love each other and while Elsa was too scared of hurting Anna to get close to her and Anna was at times somewhat pushy and insistent on helping Elsa (which could at times make things worse) the two will always love each other and do anything for the sake of the other's happiness.

In *Frozen Fever*, Elsa is excited to celebrate Anna's birthday and plans to make it a perfect, meaningful, unforgettable moment to compensate for all the past birthdays she had missed due to forced isolation and to show how much she loves her dear sister. While spending the day with Anna, Elsa catches a cold, and Anna becomes increasingly concerned for her sister's health as it worsens. After a successful birthday celebration, Elsa allows Anna to take care of her in bed, an opportunity Anna states as her best birthday present ever, to which Elsa smiles, deeply touched by her sister's sweet remarks.

### Friends

#### Kristoff

Although she had little interaction with Kristoff (including after she struck Anna in the heart with her powers, and at the ending), it is enough to show that although she was scared and wary to see him at first, as she was with pretty much everyone else, she soon comes to accept him after knowing what he did for her sister. When Kristoff attempted to confront Hans for trying to kill the two sisters, Elsa seems touched by Kristoff's protectiveness over her and Anna. She even gives him the title "Official Arendelle Ice Master and Deliverer," so he can be with Anna. In the storybook app of the film, it is revealed that Elsa approved of Anna and Kristoff's love for each other.

And in the storybooks taking place after the film, it is shown that Elsa and Kristoff have a very good friendship, which is made stronger by their love for Anna and also for ice.

In *Frozen Fever*, Elsa and Kristoff are shown to have a bond following the events of the film, with Kristoff partially acting as Elsa's confidant.

#### Olaf

Olaf was based on a snowman Anna and Elsa created when they were young and has a powerful connection with Elsa, as he is not only her living creation, but also the physical representation of Elsa's happiness and desire to be with her sister again like they were when they were children. Thus, Olaf's desire for summer is Elsa's desire to rekindle the warmth between her and Anna. Olaf describe her as the most nicest, gentlest and warmest person ever. When Elsa first saw Olaf alive, she was surprised, as she did not know she had imbued her beloved snowman with life. At first Elsa was happy, as he reminded her of the fun that her powers once brought the two sisters, but this also brought back the painful memory of how the fun times came to a tragic end when Anna was hurt by Elsa's powers. As a result, she tried to isolate herself from Olaf and Anna again to keep them away from her and her powers, but due to the latter's persistence, she had to use force by creating Olaf's younger "brother" Marshmallow to throw them out of her palace.

However, Elsa saw the error of her ways when she realized how powerful her bond with Anna was, as Olaf was the one to realize that Anna's act of true love for Elsa thawed her frozen heart. Thus, Elsa learned that love was the answer to ending Arendelle's winter. When Olaf started to melt, due to the return of summer, Elsa saved his life by rebuilding the almost-puddle snowman and giving him his own flurry to keep him cold. In the end, he enjoys summer and helps Anna to skate with Elsa, much like when the three skated together in their earlier years, showing that Olaf loves both the sisters.

### Crossovers

#### Royals

##### Princess Merida

She and Merida have a few things in common, like they are the oldest sibling, they are the next heir of their kingdom, and they have a nact for what they like to do. Merida and Elsa whould be like sisters, but some people pair these two together for love to one another; this ship is called Merelsa.