King Runeard

**King Runeard** is the main antagonist of the *Frozen* franchise. He is the tyrannical, xenophobic, and ruthless former King of Arendelle who thought that ambition is more important for a king than the peaceful co-existence with the magic world.

He is voiced by Jeremy Sisto.

## History

He was a great and noble yet in secret a brutal, tyrannical, and xenophobic royal leader of Arendelle, who was also its first King. Long ago, he arranged a marriage between himself and Rita, a woman from another kingdom, and she became Arendelle's Queen. During their marriage, Rita gave birth to a son named Agnarr. However, Runeard never cared about his wife, as he would never give her the things that she desired above all else: the freedom to go back to her own kingdom and being given true love by Ronsard. Instead, he gave her shallow gifts, and when she cried after locking herself in her room, Runeard simply grew impatient, becoming more wrathful to her over time, as he couldn't understand why she would still be upset after this.

Having had enough of the treatment he gave her, Rita fled Arendelle for good and had the trolls wipe out her memories of her marriage with Runeard. The only two reasons why she didn't bring Agnarr with her are that she knew that if she did, Runeard would spark a war between Arendelle and her own kingdom, which would've resulted in many lives lost, and plus, he would've hunted down both her and Agnarr in the process. After her disappearance, Runeard locked away all of her possessions and banished anyone who would dare mention her name. He went on to lie to Agnarr that evil spirits captured her, causing Agnarr to be unable to sleep for an entire week, as Agnarr would keep praying that she would come back and was left terrified of being captured by evil spirits as well. Runeard even shamed him for weeping over his mother leaving, which caused Agnarr to lock himself in his own room for years.

Eventually, Runeard encountered the mysterious Northuldra tribe and immediately hated them because of their association with magic, even though they did nothing wrong, having a dam built for many years against the magical creatures of Northuldra. However, the dam was used also for draining magic and destroying it. Runeard was also disgusted and filled with hate when he saw the Northuldran children playing together with the magical spirits, something Yelena picked up on. Following this, Runeard's unnamed second-in-command told him that there was no reason why they can't trust the Northuldrans; Runeard affirmed to him that because they follow magic, they can never be trusted. During the day of the celebration, where not only Northuldran but also Arendellian everyday citizens and children were present, Runeard asked his soldiers if they were ready for the "festivities", foreshadowing his war on the Northuldra. The Northuldran chief expressed concern with the dam, so King Runeard told him that they would discuss the problem. While the chief was having tea, Runeard murdered him in cold blood with a sadistic smirk.

King Angarr disagreed with his xenophobic methods to rule a kingdom, and he attempted to execute Angarr. However, a young girl saved Angarr from his death trap.

Runeard even went on to lie to his soldiers that the Northuldrans attacked him, thus sparking a battle between Arrendelle and the Northuldrans to force the latter to his despotism. Many people died on both sides and Runeard killed at least dozens of Northuldrans, and despite the fact that not only Northuldran but also Arendellian everyday citizens and children were present, Runeard was completely uncaring that he was putting them all in danger as he was only focused on conquering the Northuldra. However, Runeard was killed by a Northuldran who threw him off a steep cliff, but the wicked Arendellian king dragged the Northuldran down with him, killing both of them. This battle angered the elemental spirits so much that they cursed the Enchanted Forest with an enchanted mist, and as a result, Agnarr was wounded so badly that he was bleeding out, and would've died if not for Iduna.

It is because of Runeard's influence that after the battle, a squad of Arendellian soldiers desired to smite any Northuldrans in their path, eventually interrogating Iduna and preparing to harm her, though she was saved by a merciful Arendellian named Lord Petersson who claimed that she was the child of two dead Arendellian soldiers, named Greta and Torra. The number of deaths that resulted from the battle was explicit enough that many, many children were left orphaned and taken into the Arendellian orphanage, which caused it to be overcrowded. As a result, additional funds had to be made to expand the orphanage and pay for more food.

Runeard as an evil spirit then tried to fight Elsa with his men, however, the goodness at the end lead him to his ultimate demise. Later, Anna and her lieutenant Mathias managed to break the dam between the magic world and the humans, by convincing the earth giants to throw rocks onto the dam. Elsa becomes the fifth spirit after Runeard's legacy is ruined.

## Personality

Though it may seem he was ultimately a ruler who was willing to go to great extremes to protect Arendelle by weakening the Northuldra, being aware that magic is not natural and can harm others, it is revealed in the novel *Dangerous Secrets* that the true motive behind Runeard's actions was that he refused to take responsibility for his own actions, as blaming it on the nature spirits was easier than taking responsibility because "they can't exactly defend themselves", which slowly delved into his hatred for magic. He is also responsible for psychologically abusing his own wife named Rita and his own son named Agnarr, even banishing anyone from Arendelle who dare mention Rita's name, and locking away all of her possessions. He also shamed Agnarr for weeping over his mother's disappearance and lied that she was taken by evil spirits. Ultimately, Runeard's motivations were selfish rather than truly redeeming nor sympathetic.

## Trivia

* Before he turned out to be the film's main villain, many people theorized that Hans or The Duke would reprise their role as the main antagonist of the movie.
* He is considered as the darkest *Frozen* villain as his xenophobic ambitions make him even darker and more ruthless than The Duke (the central antagonist of the first movie).