Hans

“*I've been searching my whole life to find my own place. And maybe it's the party talking, or the chocolate fondue.*”

―Hans

“*Oh Anna, if only there was someone out there who loved you.*”

―Hans

## Background Information

### Appearance

Frozen (2013)Big Hero 6 (2014) (cameo)

Frozen Fever (2015)

Frozen II (2019)

### Fanfics

The Medical Emergency (upcoming)Trapped & Disappearances (upcoming)

## Character Information

### Occupation

**Film:** Prince of The Southern Isles**Fanfics:** Medical student (The Medical Emergency)

College student (Trapped & Disappearances)

### Home

The Southern Isles (film)**Fanfics:** Sapphire Bay (The Medical Emergency)

Crawley, West Sussex, England (Trapped & Disappearances)

### Family

The King and Queen of the Southern Isles (parents)Twelve unnamed older brothers

### Pets

Sitron (horse, in the film; German Sheppard dog, in the fanfics)

### Friends

**Fanfics:** Anna, Elsa, Kristoff Bjorgman, Sven, Olaf, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Toothless, Astrid Hofferson, Ruffnut and Tuffnut Thorston, Snotlout Jorgenson, Fishlegs Ingerman, Jack Frost, Rapunzel, Merida DunBroch, Flynn Rider, Eret Eretson, Nicholas St. North, Toothiana, Sanderson Mansnoozie, E. Aster Bunnymund, Tintin, Captain Archibald Haddock, Snowy, Thomson and Thompson, Barnaby Dawes, Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine, Allan Thompson, Hiro Hamada,Cass Hamada, Baymax, GoGo Tomago, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, Fred Frederickson

### Enemies

Anna, Elsa, Kristoff Bjorgman, Sven, Marshmallow

### Likes

Power, admiration, respect, tormenting his foes, getting what he wants, chocolate fondue, champagne

### Dislikes

Disrespect, being ignored or looked down upon, his brothers, his father, the Duke of Weselton's nagging, not getting what he wants

## Character's Bio

### Full name

Prince Hans of The Southern IslesHans Westerguard (fanfics)

### Nicknames

Hans, Hans Westerguard, Prince Hans, Prince Hans of the Southern Isles, Prince Hans Westerguard of the Southern Isles

### Nationality

Southern IslanderSouthern Islander-Australian (Trapped & Disappearances)

## Physical Apearance

### Status

AliveIncarcerated

**Prince Hans of the Southern Isles** is the main antagonist of Disney's 2013 animated feature film, *Frozen*. He is the youngest of thirteen sons, burdened with the inability to ascend his family's throne in the Southern Isles. Desperate for power and recognition, Hans plots to instead rule Arendelle as king through means of marriage and regicide.

Hans is loosely based on the Devil Troll Mirror from the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale *The Snow Queen*, while also subverting the "Prince Charming" archetype with his villainous nature.

## Appearances

### *Frozen*

Once the Southern Isles is given word of Queen Elsa's coronation, Hans is the royal representative that attends in honor of his kingdom. He arrives on the day of the event with his horse Sitron, whom he accidentally runs into Princess Anna. Using his grace and charm, Hans immediately woos the lovesick princess. Their little flirtation is cut to an end, however, when they hear the bells for the queen's coronation. As Anna runs off, Hans realizes he has found the perfect tool for his plot to obtain kingship. Moments later, Hans attends Queen Elsa's crowning, waving to Anna as he watches alongside the other visiting royals and dignitaries. Later on that night, a ball is held in honor of the new queen, and Hans appears at the celebration party. There, he invites Anna to a romantic waltz after "coincidentally" bumping into her once again.

The romantic dance leads to an entire "date". During their time together, Hans learns of Anna's longing of having someone special in her life, as her sister apparently developed a dislike of her. To Anna's relief, Hans promises to never shut her out, unlike Elsa. By the end of their date, Hans works up the courage to propose, which Anna immediately accepts. They then return to the party to ask for Queen Elsa's blessing. Elsa bluntly refuses, stating that Anna should not marry someone she just met. Heartbroken, Anna confronts her sister, but this causes the queen's powers over ice and snow to be revealed, much to Hans's surprise. To protect the kingdom from her powers, Elsa flees. In her haste, she accidentally sets off an eternal winter. Anna volunteers to go after Elsa, but Hans is not too fond of the idea, knowing that his plot would be ruined if something were to befall Anna as they weren't married yet. Anna insists that Hans stays behind to rule during her absence, to which the prince immediately agrees.

It isn't long before Arendelle becomes an icy wasteland, with citizens becoming weak due to the frigid temperatures and also for being unprepared for the winter weather. Hans takes advantage of the situation to endear himself to the people, serving as a dependable ruler by offering blankets and hot food. The Duke of Weselton scolds Hans for his actions, believing the kingdom's attention should be focused on taking action against Elsa and ending the curse. When Hans reiterates Anna's specific orders, he's met with more suspicion from the Duke, who openly believes Anna to be conspiring with Elsa to doom the land, which angers Hans to the point of threatening the Duke with arrest for treason against the crown. Suddenly, Anna's horse rushes into the city, riderless and in a panic. Hans is able to calm the animal and quickly gathers that Anna's absence is a sign of danger. Needing Anna in order to complete his plot, Hans calls forth an army of volunteers to travel into the mountains in search of the princess. The Duke volunteers his two bodyguards to join the expedition, with orders to "put an end" to the winter by slaying the queen.

Hours after their departure from Arendelle, Hans and his army find Elsa's ice palace, and are almost instantly attacked by Elsa's guard, Marshmallow. Hans battles against the snow beast, and manages to slice Marshmallow's left leg clean off, causing the creature to stumble into a chasm. With him out of the way, Hans and the others rush inside to find Anna, but she is nowhere to be found. Instead, they find Elsa seconds away from killing the Duke's bodyguards. Hans is able to stop her, but one of the thugs attempts to strike her with his crossbow. Hans interferes and causes the bolt to shoot upward to Elsa's chandelier, causing it to crash down, and the impact knocks Elsa unconscious. Captured, Elsa is imprisoned in Arendelle's dungeon. With the winter curse spiraling out of all control, Hans visits Elsa and pleads for her to bring back summer. Elsa confesses that she doesn't know how, and begs to be released for the safety of Arendelle. Hans only claims he will "do what he can".

In the parlor, Hans prepares to head back into the mountains to search for Anna, still needing her marriage to legitimize his hold on the throne. Just then, Anna suddenly returns—weak, cold, and white-haired. She explains that she was struck in the heart by Elsa and can only be saved by "an act of true love"—a kiss. With a sadistic smirk, Hans rejects Anna, and instead plots to use her imminent death as reason to execute Elsa. Hans extinguishes any source of warmth within the room to quicken Anna's death while smugly explaining his matured plot to become King of Arendelle. With his control over the throne all but assured, Hans leaves Anna to die by locking her within the room to prevent her from escaping. Hans, with feigned grief, then returns to the other dignitaries and announces Anna's death at the hands of Elsa. Hans also adds that he and Anna were able to say their marriage vows before the latter's passing, thus leaving the kingdom in his hands.

Now in total command of Arendelle, Hans charges Elsa with treason and sentences her to death. Alongside the royal guards, Hans makes way to the dungeon, where they find that Elsa has escaped. Furious, Hans decides to take matters into his own hands and goes into the storm to confront Elsa and end the winter himself. When he finds her on the fjord, Hans breaks the news of Anna's death (despite his "efforts" to save her) and blames Elsa for the tragedy. Devastated, Elsa falls onto her knees, which provides Hans with the opportunity to end her. Before Hans is able to give the killing strike, however, Anna blocks the prince's blow and freezes over just before the sword strikes her. The shockwave caused by the curse shatters the blade of Hans' sword, knocks him off his feet, and renders him unconscious.

Following Hans's downfall, Elsa discovers the means necessary to undo her eternal winter and uses it to thaw Arendelle. As Hans finally regains consciousness and struggles to his feet, Kristoff moves in to attack him, but Anna stops him to confront Hans herself. The sight of Anna still alive confuses Hans, prompting him to ask how she had survived the frozen heart curse — to which the princess responded by saying that Hans is the only one with a "frozen heart" and punching the prince in the face, knocking him into the waters of the fjord. Humiliated and defeated, Hans is arrested and imprisoned aboard the brig of a French ship by the royal guards. The French dignitary aboard the ship assures Kai that Hans will be returned to the Southern Isles, where he will face an unspecified punishment at the hands of his brothers.

### *Frozen Fever*

Hans makes a brief appearance near the end of the short. Part of his punishment is revealed to be working at the royal stables of the Southern Isles, shoveling manure.

When Elsa sneezes into an over-sized bukkehorn, a giant snowball is launched from Arendelle, all the way to the Southern Isles, where it nails Hans right into a cart of manure, burying and humiliating him as the horses take notice of this and laugh at him, much to his annoyance.

### *Frozen II*

Hans is mentioned and alluded to several times. His actions (more specifically, his crimes against Anna) are the subject of ridicule by the other characters. During a game of charades, Anna acts out the role of a villain, prompting Olaf to guess Hans. This leads to rounds of insults by Olaf, Elsa, and Kristoff at the prince's expense. Later, Anna recounts having to save Elsa from Hans while trying to convince Elsa not to go alone on the journey into the Enchanted Forest, in which she refers to him as her ex-boyfriend. Later, when meeting the Northuldra, Olaf introduces the group by recounting the events of the first *Frozen*, including the part where Hans betrays Anna. This comes as a great shock to Lieutenant Mattias. Finally, when Elsa is traversing Ahtohallan, snowy manifestations of figures from Elsa's life appear. Upon seeing Hans' depiction, which is when he and Anna first meet, complete with Hans bowing to her as he introduces himself, Elsa gives a look of disgust and uses her powers to crumble the figure out of spite.

### Other appearances

Hans makes two cameo appearances in the 2014 animated feature film *Big Hero 6*. He is first seen on a "Wanted" poster at the San Fransokyo police station, behind the desk of Sergeant Gerson. Later on, a statue of Hans is briefly seen in the garden of Fred's mansion, which is eventually destroyed by Baymax during a testing session for his rocket fists.

An emoticon version of Hans appeared in the *Frozen* and *Frozen Fever* entries of the *As Told by Emoji* short series. During the curtain call for the former, he appeared alongside the rest of the cast, but in chains. In the latter, he had a humiliating cameo after the credits.

## Personality

“*He's a chameleon who adapts to any environment to make the other characters comfortable.*”
―Animator Lino DiSalvo describing Hans' character in *The Art of Frozen*
Hans is a proud and extremely ambitious prince with a hunger for admiration and chivalrous honor. Despite his desirable appearance and seemingly opulent background, Hans is a victim of severe abuse at the hands of his brothers. This troubled upbringing developed Hans into a remorseless man, bent on bettering his life by acquiring power and the respect that comes along with it.

Hans is a physical representation of a silent killer. With a noble demeanor, he presents himself as someone others can trust and confide—a best friend, a significant other, or a reputable authority figure. By establishing himself as someone of virtue, Hans is able to observe his opponents and examine their deepest insecurities, which he would later use against them as a means of advancing his goals. These false impressions won over Anna, and the entirety of Arendelle, thus allowing Hans to seize the throne without giving any premonition of regicide.

Hans has several motivating factors to his schemes. Firstly, he has a selfish sense of entitlement, remorselessly believing it is his right to be king even if it means usurping someone else's throne. Secondly, he genuinely craves respect and recognition, having been denied both as a child. Lastly, Hans is power-hungry as he covets kingship and gets a twisted sense of pleasure from having someone's submission—as was the case with a vulnerable and deathly ill Anna.

Hans' most powerful asset is quite possibly his vast intelligence and incredible ability to lie, dissemble, and manipulate. He is proven to be quick-thinking, resourceful, and extremely diligent. However, unlike many Disney villains, Hans constantly has to change his plot accordingly with the shifting events that take place in the film without letting loose his villainous nature. This is indeed an interesting challenge for a Disney villain to tackle, thus adding to his level of intelligence, as he comes dangerously close to achieving his goal in spite of unstable circumstances.

Cold and cruel, Hans has a sympathetic origin, but lacks any characteristics one could call redeeming. Instead, he apathetically views others as mere stepping stones to his grand plans, and will callously lie, cheat, and kill his way into a position of sole power, regardless of the casualties made along the way.

## Physical Appearances

### Films

Hans is of moderate stature and generally good-looking. Whilst he is well-built, he is not as broad-shouldered or as muscular as Kristoff (despite being older than him), though he is definitely physically accomplished, as he was able to defeat the hulking Marshmallow in single combat. He is well-versed in horsemanship and has tremendous sword fighting skills. It is also shown that he is skilled in using crossbows, or at least capable of diverting their fire when needed.

Hans has fair skin and a light dusting of freckles across his nose, auburn hair, sideburns, and "dreamy" green eyes. Throughout the film, he wears navy blue trousers, black boots, a magenta cravat, blue shirt, indigo vest, black epaulets, gold aiguillette, and a light gray-and-black blazer with patterns. This is reminiscent of a naval uniform and would be traditionally in keeping with royal siblings of lower birth entering military service.

During the day and night of the coronation, Hans dons a lighter version of his formal wear. It is a cream blazer with a yellow shirt underneath and red sash, with black boots, white stockings, red and golden designs and patterns, gold and red colored epaulets with golden fringe, and a matching cream ascot. This lighter-colored suit reflects Anna's warmer-colored clothing in turn. It is also worth noting that Hans is seen wearing this lighter-colored suit for a longer time period than his traditional suit, mainly due to him wearing it for the entirety of the coronation day and night, which features him most prominently in the movie.

While he is in control of the kingdom, to protect himself from the harsh winter, Hans dons a cloak resembling the castle guards' uniforms. However, as the patterning differs from the decorations on the Arendelle guardsmen cloaks and instead resembles the decorations on Hans' own gray tailcoat, and the Arendelle crocus emblem isn't seen anywhere on it, it's likely it's his own coat he brought with him from the Southern Isles. It's a dull, gray cloak with wavy patterns and a purple interior. In Elsa's palace, however, it appears to have more of a green shade.

### Fanfics

In *The Medical Emergency,* Hans wears a white doctor's coat, pale teal shirt, dark blue sweater, khaki trousers, white socks and brown shoes.

In *Trapped & Disappearances,* he wears a brown leather jacket, teal polo shirt with white collars, light brown trousers and brown shoes.

## Fanfics

The Medical Emergency

Anna, Elsa, Kristoff and Hans were appeared in The Medical Emergency as the medical students. Anna and Elsa tells the Cliftons and the Bains about Principal Sakharine.

Trapped & Disappearances

Hans was appearing in the second fanfic alongside the Anna, Elsa. Kristoff and the other Arendellian-British people. He was portrayed as the Southern Islander-Australian. He lives in Crawley, West Sussex, England.