The Snow Queen Saga: Birgit's Story Trilogy

*The Snow Queen Saga: Birgit’s Story*, is a hand drawn animated film series of three animated high fantasy adventure films, serving as a trilogy. The films are based on the small book/novel ”Birgit's Story”, made by Disney themselves, which that serves as small children’s anthology book about one of the characters from the hand drawn animated ”Snow Queen” franchise of the 90’s, which itself was based on the tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen. Added with large portions of the trilogy inspired by elements from some of HC Andersen’s stories. which expand on the story told in *Birgit’s Story*, as well as new material and characters written especially for the films. Together they act as a prequel to the 1993 hand drawn animated *The Snow Queen*, by Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise. Not only that but with Disney characters from the other Disney animated HC Andersen films added in the trilogy, making them a part of the Disney HC Andersen animated Cinematic Universe.

The Birgit’s Story movies, consist of three movies: A New Beginning (2014), Alvaldi’s Domain (2015), The Battle for Scandinavia (2016)

The films take place in the world of Scandinavia, Europe (in Sweden), years before the beginning of *The Snow Queen*, and follow the young preteen girl Birgit (Mackenzie Foy) and her childhood friend Hedvig [, who are convinced by a traveling King from Denmark who’s none other than King Brian (Liam Neeson) [from The Princess the Pea, albeit younger, way long before his son Christian was born] to accompany a huge group of Arendellians, led by future Queen Sonja (Jennifer Lawrence), on a Quest to reclaim their home Arendelle, from the Titan Demon Alvaldi (Benedict Cumberbatch). and the heroes' pursuit by dark humanoid warrior (and Satan’s followers) Drugo and Fenris, who seek vengeance against Sonja and her people.

The films expand upon certain elements from the small children’s book and other source material from HC Andersen, such as the King Brian’s investigation at the Devil’s Grotto about the dark overlord’s whereabouts. The film trilogy primarily covers the events from the obscure Disney story/book “*Birgit’s Story*”, but also features various elements and characters that were both in Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise’s “The Snow Queen” and Jennifer Lee’s “Frozen”, hence making the Birgit trilogy serve as a continuity bridge between the two film franchises, permanently linking them.

All three films were hand-drawn animated, primarily due to the 1993 Disney film being hand-drawn, instead of being CGI-animated like the 2013 Disney film “Frozen”.

Characters/Voice Cast for the trilogy:

* Mackenzie Foy as Young Birgit (with Jodie Foster returning as the adult version of the character in the prologue and epilogue)
* Jennifer Lawrence as Sonja
* Liam Neeson as Brian (A character originally from the Disney 2006 animated film “The Princess and the Pea, who’s a king and a father to Christian in that movie)
* Sophia Lillis as Young Hedvig (with Elizabeth Perkins returning as the adult version of the character in the prologue and epilogue)
* Jamie Lee Curtis as Annelie
* Alec Baldwin as Gustav
* Zoë Saldaña as Lovisa
* Michelle Rodriguez as Valeria
* Chris Pratt as Holger
* Ryan Reynolds as Helmer
* Cole Sprouse as Ivan
* Dylan Sprouse as Ivar
* America Ferrera as
* Woody Harrelson as
* Jason Statham as
* Kate Winslet as
* Tobey Maguire as
* Jack Black as
* Awkwafina as
* Keke Palmer as
* Quvenzhané Wallis as
* Benedict Cumberbatch as: • Drugo (The main antagonist of the trilogy and Sonja’s archenemy. He was the one who killed Elsa in battle, thus setting Sonja’s hatred for the foe through the trilogy) • Alvaldi (The large demon who is the main antagonist in “Alvaldi’s Domain”, and the one responsible for taking over Arendelle and leaving all it’s inhabitants homeless) • Ingemar (One of the Arendellians, whom is a part of Sonja’s company) • The Devil/Satan (The mostly unseen almighty entity whom both Drugo and Fenris follow as their master. This character is heavily based on the •

*Tv Tropes*:

*Actionized Adaptation*: In expanding a slim and obscure Disney book (based on Disney’s own adaptation of *The Snow Queen*) across three movies, the trilogy adds a lot more action scenes, including a longer fight with the living tree creatures, a chase scene with a pack of goblins and trolls, and one vicious chase with the giant kaiju demon.

Actor Swap: Well, in terms of voice acting as animated movies go. Since this is a prequel to The Snow Queen, the parent characters (Birgit, Hjalmar, Hedvig & Nick) Sigrid (the original Snow Queen herself from the 1993 film, seen as the princess here) & Nora (Katrine’s mother who appears in The Snow Queen 2 and later appearances, seen as a young robber girl here during the riddle scene with two other fellow robbers) are seen in their younger forms (ranging from preteens/low teens (the girls) to teenagers [mid-teens] (the boys).

* Mackenzie Foy replacing Jodie Foster as the role of Birgit, which makes sense since this prequel take on Birgit is a lot younger during her preteens (12-13 years old) - though Jodie Foster does play as her older post-Adventure self during the prologue where she narrates the beginning events and a scene where
* Same thing with Hedvig. Sophia Lillis plays the younger Hedvig, where as her adult self was played by Elizabeth Perkins in the original film. Though like Jodie Foster mentioned above, Perkins got to play the adult Hedvig in the prologue and epilogue.
* Willow Shields as the young teenage snow princess Sigrid, replacing Naomi Watts from the original film.

Tropes regarding the first movie (A New Beginning):

Action Prologue: Birgit narrates a description of Alvaldi’s takeover of Arendelle at the beginning of the movie.

Genre Blind: The line "The worst is behind us". Oh boy...

Info Dump: The first half hour of the movie is basically an exposition. But made fun and simple.

Not the Fall That Kills You…: Played straight in the Forest Woods (which is near the three robbers hideout), when Birgit, Hedvig and another fish creature fell a long distance down to the ground. Birgit and Hedvig survived with only a few bruises thanks to a cluster of giant mushrooms and a pile of leaves that absorbed their fall when they should have been in much worse conditions. The fish humanoid creature was barely alive since he landed onto the hard ground, leaving him easy prey for Nora, and the two male robbers alongside her, Lennart (whom the former was the secondary antagonist in the original 1993’s The Snow Queen) and Bertil (whom the latter was the main antagonist of the sequel “The Snow Queen 2”).

*Heartwarming Moments*:

* It felt good to see Birgit, Hjalmar, Hedvig, Nick, Kai & Gerda again after so long. Especially Kai & Gerda.
* What's even better is that the camera pans away from the adult Birgit and over to some stairs in the hall, where some viewers probably expect the scene to transition in a flashback to the plot proper where younger Birgit might emerge from the frame. But instead, completely unexpectedly, out steps little Gerda. Sweet girl saying hi to her friend Kai outside.
* Some Heartwarming in Hindsight; consider that the Arendelle story Birgit relays in the prologue of the film is mostly seen through Sonja’s perspective. Sonja must have told Birgit everything, including her mother Elsa’s flawed shortcomings and her difficulties after Arendelle fell, and Birgit took that all to heart when she began writing the story of her own adventure.

Tear Jerker Moments:

* The plight of the Arendellian People is one horrid tearjerker after another. Not only do they lose Arendelle and all the priceless relics and riches within, but The Enchanted Forest and some other strongholds familiar and allied to Arendelle, began to fall one after another. This would be hard for any people to endure, but Arendellians and the Northuldra people in particular value their ancestral homes and allies in a way few humans can comprehend.
	+ True, her pride and arrogance caused the whole disaster, but it is honestly heartbreaking to see poor Elsa as the enormous Alvaldi attacks her and her sister Anna’s home, stealing all the wealth and everything they amassed over the years during their & their family’s rule and taking away her heart's desire. What’s worse is that the Arendellians who never escaped and came out in time, they probably got slaughtered and burned by Alvaldi. You really do have to feel sorry for her.
	+ And in addition to losing Arendelle, the beginning of Sonja’s grudge against the higher ranks and authorities from other countries, starting with Jorgen. Jorgen shows up with his army, but when he sees there's nothing they can do against Alvaldi, he retreats. (Some viewers have criticized him for this, but really, what was he *supposed* to do against an entrenched demon, let alone a Kaiju-sized demon from hell?) It's not as if he doesn't care, though; you can see by the look on his face that he *hates* having to do this. Unfortunately, you can also see the look on Sonja’s face, thus witnessing the despair and utter betrayal that Jorgen caused to her and her people, and it doesn't help that Sonja probably mistook Jorgen’s stoic and serious look of seriousness for a brief sinisterness and arrogance. Poor Communication Kills, indeed. Now keep in mind, this was Jorgen before his full Face-Heel Turn villainy in *The Snow Queen*, so what he did to the Arendellians wasn’t fully out of malice but more to the fact that he didn’t want to risk his people against a truly enormous monster like Alvaldi.
* Seeing Gerda and Kai in the beginning, being with their parents during the scene. They both look so happy and innocent and you cannot help but smile at them. But then you’re reminded that in ”*The Snow Queen*”, where Kai and his parents take a trip up north and.…well, he gets seperated from his parents in that movie. From here on out, it's all downhill for him. He'll never be the same again once he experiences and gets his first meeting with Sigrid. Though he still carries hope and kindness, especially when Gerda goes her own journey to find him in that film.

Tropes regarding the second movie (Alvaldi’s Domain):

Achilles' Heel: Only a special Swedish-made multicolored “cannonball” with magma power, shot from a special large cannon could pierce a large creature’s hide. Per and his father (Nick’s grandfather) had five such balls, four of which were used. While they didn’t immediately take out Alvaldi, the last of the blows created a hole into the heart (the source of the demon’s weak point), leaving a weak point in his hide.

Cliffhanger: A huge one. King Brian is captive in Satan’s domain, Drugo’s armies are on the march. Hjalmar is in a jail cell, and Alvaldi flies over the mountains and is on his way to destroy the Swedish folks & their town and none of our heroes is in a position to do anything about any of it. Birgit’s final line and her genuinely terrified reaction to all this, from this movie made it very clear that Sonja made a fatal mistake provoking the demon out of Arendelle, in Birgit’s part:

**Birgit:** (Terrified) Sonja..…what have you done? (Movie ends, leading to the end credits)

Darker and Edgier: Than “The New Beginning”, being more serious and foreboding in tone. Parallels the change of tone in the book as the narrative progresses, though it happens earlier than in the book, (for example) the book introduction of the Sami woman (before she moved up to Lappland to her people) was a whimsical example of the group’s “Guile Hero”-qualities; in the movie, they just barge right in pursued by a large snow golem, who happens to be Elsa’s own creation “Marshmallow”. The creature, whom after Elsa’s death, was left to roam in the wild until he encounters the old Sami woman. Same thing with it’s sequel “Battle for Scandinavia”.

Description Cut: Alvaldi boasts proudly that no weapon can pierce him... cut to Hjalmar & Nick carrying a multicolored cannonball.

Divided for Adaptation: One of three movies adapted out of a single children’s book. This is the middle chapter of the films.

Dude, Where's My Respect?:

* Despite warming up to Birgit in the first film, and also despite the girl’s enormous help in getting to Arendelle, Sonja treats her unfairly at times. Lampshaded by one of the Arendellians (specifically Annelie) & Alvaldi, of all characters. Though Sonja clearly has more faith in Birgit than she did previously, trusting her to rescue them from Jorgen’s men, her attitude is less that Birgit is useless as in the first movie, but that one life is less important than their quest.
* Per, Hans and the latter’s twelve brothers blame Sonja’s mother Elsa in different ways possible. Per blames the former Queen for her supposed arrogance of the treating of her allies from the other countries and for not managing to kill Alvaldi and hold Sonja in contempt for her mother’s failure. Hans and his brothers blame the former Queen for the way she treated Hans and his brothers. Which makes it more clearer why in *Frozen*. In that movie, Elsa rejected Anna’s engagement (by True Love) to Hans, many, many years ago when she told her that there would be no marriage nor would any of the brothers would be coming or be welcome. Hans remembers all the words Elsa said to him and uses the unwelcomed words as proof of the mistakes she did through her life, making even the Swedish inhabitants believe their full words, even if they never once knew or were aware of what really happened between Hans and his grudge against Elsa. And yet despite the accusations, Sonja surprisingly agrees with, but more like that she was aware of some of her mother’s sins and mistakes in the past. Hence why Sonja supposedly promises a better kingdom and alliance after she reclaims Arendelle with reward to give the Swedish people, though as how it happens in the next movie.…these things never came to be.

Meaningful Echo:

* In the middle of the film, Birgit humanizes their hosts when some Arendellians about then by saying that "The dad’s name is Per, and the son’s name is Nick”. Later when Sonja is insisting that she will not risk their quest for the sake of one girl, Annelie reminds Sonja that “Her name is Birgit”, giving her an identity and admonishing Sonja for her callous brushing off of Birgit’s face. This is especially meaningful because of whom Annelie paraphrasing — Birgit whom they once believed would likely be useless and only took on at King Brian’s insistence, has now become a valued member of the party, to the point where the wisest of the Arendellians respects the advice.
* Also when Hjalmar took a blade and a functioning shotgun (which are known to be made by his kin and ancestors) from Holger and Helmer, he called one of them a liar and a thief. Those same words were used by Alvaldi to Birgit.

Mêlée à Trois: Happens during the river escape sequence. Jorgen’s soldiers (excluding Hjalmar) wants to recapture Sonja’s company, Fenris and his mooks want to kill them, and the Arendellians are trying to escape *both* of them. Of course, Jorgen’s men are soon focusing on the trolls and goblins (led by Fenris), since they won't tolerate such an intrusion in their turf/army compound.

Might Makes Right: Alvaldi sees himself as the rightful king and owner of Arendelle and everything in it because he alone was strong enough to take it by force.

Missing Mom: Per’s wife and the mother of Nick and all his younger siblings (brothers and sisters) who apparently died sometime prior to the film. Annelie makes the mistake of bringing her up when she tries to persuade Per to transport them to a nearby village on the way.

Never Trust a Trailer:

* Trailers for the film build up the idea that Jorgen offers the Arendellians aid but they're unsure if they can trust him. Actually, Jorgen’s offer for aid is met with the verbal equivalent of Sonja spitting in his face, after which they're imprisoned and escape. The exchange in the trailers where it seems they're discussing if they can trust Jorgen, they're actually discussing Per.

Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:

* Probably the wolves, lynxes, bears and giant spiders would have found the Company *anyway,* but Birgit certainly didn't help by strumming the webs she found like a freaking guitar string, meaning the spiders could tell where they were, with the mammal carnivores following the spiders. And she did it *twice*.
* This trope encompasses pretty much the entirety of Sonja and the Company's actions once they get to Arendelle. Nice job waking up a huge, unstoppable killing machine and then massively pissing him off, not to mention letting it slip to this psychopath that the people of Nick’s town helped you and you care about them. Birgit at least realizes just how badly Sonja screwed up.

Not So Stoic: Jorgen maintains a steady, calm demeanor throughout the film... save for when Sonja rages at him for refusing to help the refugee Arendellians, and turning his back on them. He actually looks taken aback — that or pissed off, which quickly leads to him ranting at Sonja in turn.

Pardon My Klingon: Or Pardon My Sami — Sonja refuses Jorgen’s offer to let the expedition go in exchange for "something that belongs to [him]" from Arendelle with a string of Sami that, if Jorgen’s reaction and Sonja’s tone of voice are anything to go by, probably wasn't anything very nice. Some have translated what he said as "Die a death of flames!"

Saying Too Much: One of the many names Birgit introduces herself as is “Barrelrider”. This tips off the demon that the people of the village are involved (as barrels are made there) and that Birgit is working with Arendellians.

Staring Down Cthulhu: Birgit does this with Alvaldi because running would earn her instant death, so she uses flattery to stay alive.

The Villain Knows Where You Live: Hans gives the old "we know where you live" threat to Per, who calmly responds that it's a small town, so everyone knows where each other lives. Including Per and his family who knows where Hans and his brothers live.

The Stinger:

Tropes regarding the third movie (The Battle for Scandinavia):

Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: Once it starts about mid-way through the film, the eponymous battle lasts for most of the rest of it, but is often broken by quiet breather scenes where characters are in momentarily protected places and have time to talk and plan as the battle rages on nearby.

Asshole Victim: Hans’s twelve older Brothers, whom they all get crushed and blown up by Alvaldi as he falls to his death, landing on the ship while sailing down the river with it, loaded with gold and kicking others (well, Hans) out.

Babies Ever After: The ending of the film follows a list of moments through Birgit, Hjalmar, Hedvig & Nick’s time to their adulthoods, their each own marriages, and of course.…their each child of their own. Nick and Hedvigs’s son Kai is born first off-screen, and then a year later, Birgit & Hjalmar’s daughter Gerda is seen being held in her mother’s arms. Hence the start of Kai & Gerda’s everlasting friendship that holds through the events of ”The Snow Queen”-films. You also have the last scene in Birgit’s house as the moment before the beginning of the scene in the 1993 animated film.

Back for the Finale: In a meta sense. Celine Dion, who helped writing songs for ”The Snow Queen” in the 90’s, wrote and recorded the song for the end credits.

Big Bad: Since the devil himself has fled Scandinavia and Alvaldi dies early in the beginning, Drugo becomes this for the rest of the movie.

Big Brother Instinct: You really don't want to threaten Nick’s family consisting of the very many younger brothers and sisters, even if you’re a huge demon or an army of goblins and trolls.

Bittersweet Ending:

* Alvaldi is dead, there’s piece between the former Arendellians and the Swedish people, Drugo and his son Fenris are dead and their armies have fallen, the Devil has fled entirely from Scandinavia, and Birgit & Hedvig returns back home to Helsingborg with their new friends and future husbands (Hjalmar & Nick). However.…Arendelle is destroyed and hundreds of people have perished, many more also died during the attack on close and nearby towns and terrains with thousands more that follow during the great battle for Scandinavia: Sonja, Freja and Per are dead, and Sigrid is left as the last living person with snow & ice power, though she later becomes *the* Snow Queen. However, Sigrid did find a place where she could rule on her own.…which is in Lappland at North of Sweden, thus ending the reign of Arendelle for good. And the Arendellians who is now without their Queen, decides to become more normal folks in Sweden.

Blatant Lies:

* Hans claims that he tried to stop his brothers from fleeing with the treasury. Absolutely none of the swedish residents believe him and he comes very close to being torn apart by an angry mob before Hjalmar shames them out of it.

Boring Return Journey: In adherence to the novel, the journey to Arendelle, takes up the entirety of the first film and about half of the second, but Birgit & Hedvig’s return to Helsingborg, is shown in a short montage of them and their new friends (Hjalmar & Nick) and Hjalmar’s then trusted captain Jorgen, travelling serenely through beautiful Swedish countryside, meeting some characters from the first Birgit movie. Justified in that all of the enemies who were pursuing them before are gone.

Call-Forward:

* The multicolored luck bracelet that Birgit wears through the entire trilogy ever since she first found it on her journey, is the exact same one that she would give to her daughter Gerda in “The Snow Queen”, when she goes on her journey to find Kai.
* At the ending, Pabbie suggests to Sigrid that she should go to Lappland, to an ice castle where one of her parents once ruled. And in the 1993 film, she does indeed make it as her permanent home. While on the subject of call-forwards, Pabbie also tells her that a future boy might be a greatly gifted child, with the foregone potential of Nick becoming a very great dad in the future. Cue the 1993 Disney classic, where that boy is none other than Kai himself.

Foregone Conclusion:

* Anyone who's seen the 1993 Disney film ”*The Snow Queen*”, knows that Jorgen will survive this movie go full on ”villain” mode as the main antagonist in that movie.
* Birgit, Hjalmar, Hedvig, Nick & Sigrid all face life-threatening situations, but we know they'll survive this movie since they all appear in The Snow Queen. With the parents bringing out adventures to a new generation (Kai & Gerda) & Sigrid becoming the OG Snow Queen we all love and remember back in 1993.

Grand Finale: The film serves as the finale of the trilogy, as well as (in the Tearjerker context) the final Disney’s “Snow Queen”-related animated film (and animated film in general) with both actor Alan Rickman as Jorgen, (due to his passing from pancreatic cancer on January 14, 2019 at the age of 69, one month before the film’s release) and film composer James Horner (due to his untimely death on June 22, 2015, when his airplane crashed near Santa Barbara, California, at the age of 61, more than half a year before release) The film was dedicated to them. The film's tagline represents this, paraphrasing a quote from Sonja:

**Sonja:** Are you with me... one last time?

Heroic BSoD: Birgit has one after Per’s (Nick’s father) execution by Fenris and a total breakdown after Sonja dies.

Horrible Judge of Character: King Brian, Jorgen and especially Hjalmar really should know better than to trust Hans with anything *remotely* important.

Humble Hero: Hjalmar, Nick and Hedvig. Best shown when all the townspeople revere them for killing Alvaldi and Hjalmar seems bemused by all the attention.

Immediate Sequel: The movie begins right after the ending of the previous film after Alvaldi broke out from underground and flies to wreak havoc on the villagers hiding in the town.

Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Several main characters suffer this throughout the battle, along with many other unnamed combatants on both sides.

* While not a sharp weapon, Hjalmar and Nick’s multicolored cannonball finds its mark blowing up his heart on the inside, and brings Alvaldi down immediately.
* Per receives the deadly and literal end of the stick, by the spike of Fenris’s mace.
* This is also how Sonja and Freja die, one being impaled by Drugo’s blade and the other by the spike on Fenris’s mace.
* Drugo suffers this fate towards the end of the film after doing the same thing to Sonja.

Karmic Death:

* Hans’s twelve older brothers receive this when their ship are blown to smithereens by the huge falling dead demon that they abandoned the Swedish people to.
* Hans gets killed when a gold piece falls out of him onto the launching mechanism of the trebuchet he was hiding in and launches him into a troll's mouth. With him dead, that’s where the entire royal bloodline of the Southern Isles permanently ends.

Legally Dead: When Birgit & Hedvig finally gets home to Helsingborg after a long journey (with Hjalmar and Nick as two new friends and newly inhabited folks), they return to find their people have declared them dead and are auctioning off their stuff, much to Hedvig’s annoyance. Some folks initially pointedly refuse to even recognize them as alive without official proof. It wasn’t until when some kids easily recognize them and are happy to see them after a very long time.

Once More, with Clarity: We see a flashback to the previous film where Birgit does see the Fjord Crystal on the floor but has to use Luck Amulet and the broken piece of the mirror glass when the demon Alvaldi sees her. Except we now see Birgit pocket the crystal when she was out of reach while the demon was ready to breath out his fire.

Prepare to Die: Alvaldi says this to Hjalmar, Nick and Hedvig as he advances on the tower that the boys and girl’s stationed in.

Sacred Hospitality: Extended by Birgit to all her friends towards the end:

**Birgit:** If you ever come to visit is in Helsingborg, lunch’s at twelve, tea’s at four, and dinner’s at five. There’s lots of stuff at home, and you all are forever always welcome anytime…oh and don’t bother knocking at the door.

Secret-Keeper: Downplayed, but implied when Birgit asks Annelie, Gustav and several Arendellians about if hypothetically giving the Fjord Crystal to Sonja, would snap her unhinged fever. From their reactions and responses, it's implied they’ve deduced the girl found the crystal/jewel, but they don’t confront Birgit on (nor do any of them pass this onto Sonja, as Annelie rightly concludes, it'll only make things worse). Even before then, Birgit shows the crystal to Hedvig and remembers what Alvaldi said about Sonja’s subtle & psychological insanity, might be true. So they swore not to tell Sonja about the Crystal until a more perfect moment.

Sequel Hook: Since this is a prequel, we already know where it all leads to, but nevertheless the epilogue scenes of the movie shows that Birgit, Hjalmar, Hedvig and Nick did indeed built a greater family of their own. Hedvig and Nick would be parents to Kai, while Birgit & Hjalmar would be parents to Gerda.

Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Hjalmar throws his sword into a troll to save Sonja.

Ungrateful Bitch: Sonja herself refuses to reward Hjalmar or even thank him for killing Alvaldi.

What the Hell, Hero?:

* Hjalmar condemns Sonja for the fact that her actions (and her actions alone) caused Alvaldi’s destruction of the villages from the other side of the mountains, and the deaths of hundreds — or even thousands — of innocent people.

Prequel: Although the source material *Birgit’s Story* (the children’s book) from Disney, was made after *The Snow Queen* (the Disney movie), it wouldn’t take until 21 years later when the basic small story was finally adapted to a trilogy of hand drawn animated films (from 2014 to 2016) and features elements that lead up to the “The Snow Queen” films.

Stock Scream: The Wilhelm Scream is used in all three films: The first film when one of the Arendellians (Lovisa) shoots one of the fish creatures with a gun during a chase in the water caverns, the second when Sigrid slashes a goblin with her ice blade during a fight against Fenris in the town, and the third where Hans meets his Karmic Death, when he gets catapulted to a troll’s mouth during the battle in the terrains of Arendelle.

Adaptational Heroism: Due in part thanks to her

Classical Anti-Hero: Though by no means unprotagonistic. She initially starts as a cowardly girl who reluctantly tags along with the many, many Arendellians she first meets, on their quest. She does evolve into a proper hero. Later on in the films, she openly admits to Hedvig, Hjalmar, Nick, Jorgen and King Brian that she’s grown very fond of Sonja and the Arendellians.

Cowardly Lion: Although she does get braver and more effective at fighting through the adventure, she still believes that she's not really a hero or a warrior or even a burglar, just a girl from Helsingborg and adventurer, who decided to stick by her friends and who generally prefers to avoid fights whenever possible.

*Deadpan Snarker*: When she needs to. It can even be in a humorous sense.

Heroic Spirit: Birgit is The Determinator and isn't the type to give up. It's her determined spirit and bravery that ultimately saves the remaining Arendellians’s lives, even though it came with great costs of Arendelle itself being destroyed by Drugo’s armies and Sonja dying in Birgit’s arms after the Queen succumbed to her wounds.

I Did What I Had to Do: When it comes to preventing a costly and unnecessary war between the other factions of Scandinavia, she readily admits to secreting away the Fjord Crystal from Sonja’s grasp. By this point, all the other Arendellian members can see how bad their leader's greed is getting and stays on Birgit’s side.

I Should Write a Book About This: She's the original author of the book about her adventures.

Nice Girl: Benevolent, humble, and sincere, Birgit doesn't have one bad bone in her body.

Scheherezade Gambit: She keeps the male robbers (Lennart and Bertil) from attempting to steal from her or kill her by proposing one of them a game of riddles. Nora (who’s along with the robbers) is the only one who trusts Birgit and Hedvig and she’s the only sane one that sees Birgit’s riddles as fair and square. Birgit tries the same thing on Alvaldi, which doesn't go as well.

Time-Shifted Actor: Well, in terms of voice-acting. For example, Jodie Foster plays the adult Birgit in the prologue and epilogue of the *Birgit’s Story* trilogy, as well as in *The Snow Queen* films, where she's a mother. Mackenzie Foy plays the younger Birgit in the main story of *Birgit’s Story* trilogy.

Tropes regarding Hedvig:

*Childhood Friends*: As revealed in this trilogy, both Birgit and Hedvig are very good friends, even during their younger years. Which makes it more rewarding that they both get to live and tell the adventures they had. They also get each their own love interest (Hjalmar and Nick), which each would become future husbands to the two ladies. She’s also a girl from Helsingborg like Birgit is.

*Damsel in Distress*: In “Alvaldi‘s Domain”, Hedvig becomes this after being wounded by a small magic icicle spike thrown by Fenris at her. Thankfully, Birgit gets her into safety in the barrels. Talk about a true friend saver.

Tropes regarding Sonja:

The leader of The Company of the surviving Arendellians, set out to reclaim Arendelle from Alvaldi. As the eldest daughter of Elsa, she is the rightful Queen of Arendelle, and the aunt of Sigrid, who is the daughter of her younger sister Freja.

Action Heroine: As the token super of the main cast, using her superpowers to blast ice at things is her main method of problem-solving. She especially uses her ice powers in combat against enemies. She does also uses her ice sword to slice even the larger monsters she faces. And given that she’s an action-oriented character played by Jennifer Lawrence, one could say she’s like a Snow Queen version of Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games franchise.

Adaptational Attractiveness: Sonja is portrayed more younger-looking (like a young adult in her low 30’s) in the movies than she is in the book/small story where she kinda looks like in her 40’s. She is played by Jennifer Lawrence, after all.

Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Sonja is notably much more stoic and grim in the movie version, compared to her book characterization.

Adaptational Backstory Change: In the book/games, Sonja is basically a Snow Queen of her time whom Birgit happened to be accompanying and to have her loyal subjects as her company. In the movies, Sonja’s characterizations and backstory got changed and expanded big time. She is the eldest daughter of Elsa (yes, the exact same Elsa who’s one of the main characters in Frozen as Anna’s older sister and the one who once put Arendelle on an eternal winter.) the niece of Anna and just like her mother, she’s an older sister to Freja, and the aunt of Sigrid. Basically, this means that Elsa was Sigrid’s grandmother.

Adaptational Jerkass: This Sonja here, is a lot more aggressive and rude than she is in the books. Her almost holding Birgit with her ice powers, nearly ready to freeze her, when suspecting she was lying was added by the films.

*Age Lift*: The oldest one in the original books, but here she looks younger than some of the other ones.

Arch-Enemy: Drugo is the main enemy of Sonja, whose mother Elsa was killed by him in battle, where Sonja also cut off his hand. Following Sonja throughout the films and leading the goblins and trolls to take Arendelle at the Battle for Scandinavia, it is revealed that Drugo is working for the satan/devil himself, but he is pursuing Sonja on his own incentive. They end up performing a Mutual Kill.

*Brainy Brunette*: She is brown-haired and also very wise, smart and takes her goal to reclaim Arendelle, very seriously. She isn’t without her humorous and fun moments though.

Dark and Troubled Past: Poor Sonja is hit by this, and had a pretty rough life. During an age in her low 20’s, the kingdom was taken by an enormous demon the size of a Titan, that either killed most of the Arendellians in the initial attack or forced them to flee to distant lands; much of her life afterwards was spent working in menial, dead-end jobs that brought little respect from the humans around her; and then, when her people finally tried to retake another known kingdom they know, Sonja not only witnessed the mass slaughter of her fellow Arendellians in battle but also the literal backstabbing death of her mother Elsa at the hands of the evil dark warrior Drugo, and the disappearance of her aunt Anna, whom she never sees again. Very little seems to ever go right or come easy to the poor girl.

Deuteragonist: Although Birgit is the viewpoint character, within the scope of the movie itself, Sonja is the most important member of the party, because she's the reason they were gathered in the first place.

Died in Your Arms Tonight: Sonja dies in Birgit’s arms due to succumbing to her wounds done by Drugo stabbing her. Though she does die with dignity, knowing that Birgit was always good and reassures that the girl will have a great future.

Emotional Powers: Like her mother and sister, Sonja’s powers are connected to her emotions. When she's feeling better she creates snow and ice in a more soothing and safe way. When she gets angry, she becomes insanely powerful that it could kill an enemy or push someone with her ice wall.

Fantastic Racism: Sonja *really* doesn't like certain royals with high class-ranking authorities, though she does respect some exceptions, when those are intended to help her people on her quest.

Fire-Forged Friends: With Birgit, after Birgit rescues her from being beheaded by one of Drugo’s mooks. They become even closer as the films progress with Birgit repeatedly saving Sonja and her remaining Arendellians, as they near and finally reclaim Arendelle.

Generation Xerox: Sonja kinda is a little bit much like her mother Elsa for her own good. They both have ice powers which got more stronger and stronger as their years go by, they also both try fighting Drugo, which ultimately leads to their deaths, though Sonja successfully makes a kill shot at Drugo in the end, before she dies.

Hand Blast: She shoots her magic primarily from her hands.

Hypocrite: Sonja says that Hjalmar is too uncaring to know what honor is (Though in actuality, Hjalmar does care for the people he saves, including his friends like Birgit and so forth). But Sonja herself is just as uncaring, having little trust towards other royals or individuals with high class-ranking authorities such as Jorgen and his men (justified in the latter since he and his army abandoned them when Alvaldi took Arendelle for himself at their darkest day). Hjalmar throws that back at her.

**Sonja:** Tell me this, Hjalmar the Demon Slayer. What do you genuinely know about true honor?

**Hjalmar:** More than you do, in fact. All you and your mother knew how to do is to shut people out. Do we mean nothing to you anymore?

It's Personal:

* In *A New Beginning*, Arendelle is being taken by
* In Alvaldi’s Domain, Sonja vows to take back Arendelle from Alvaldi by any means necessary.

Meaningful Name: "Sonja” is Greek for “Wisdom”. which alludes to her high intelligence and high status as a queen of Arendelle.

Ms. Fanservice: Like the usual Disney female protagonists, and the Snow Queens before and after her…she’s a beautiful and youthful character whose looks are never tarnished.

Near-Death Experience: In the first film, she is almost murdered by Drugo and his mooks (who was close to execute her if Birgit had not interfered, and in the second movie, Alvaldi let out a devastating firebreath, with flames engulfing an area where Sonja was close to, almost burning her travel-coat. Luckily she takes it off in time before the flames would get her. It wasn’t until the third movie where Sonja eventually does die after succumbing to her wounds done by Drugo when he stabs her, though Sonja does get the chance to kill him once and for all before that.

Nice Girl: She is caring, protective, and benevolent to her people and friends (especially Birgit, Hedvig and so forth). Even in her Stoic moments, she is still human and does everything in her power to protect her friends.

Nice to the Waiter: At the beginning of Alvaldi’s Domain, when some young kids (a boy and two girls) inside a little pub/restaurant somewhere in Gothenburg, brings Sonja her meal, she thanks them very politely, and with a kind smile. She probably made the kiddies's days...

No Sense of Direction: She loses her way when trying to find Birgit’s House. Luckily the musical number sung by all the Arendellians, was loud enough for her to know where it comes from.

Strong and Skilled: Fits perfectly for Sonja. Unlike her mother Elsa, who had little control of her powers growing up…Sonja learned to master her own powers and strength during her lifetime without ever worrying about them. It comes very much in handy when attacking enemies though her ice powers (as powerful as they are) has no effect on Alvaldi…a huge demon who is immune to being frozen.

Team Mom:

True Blue Femininity: Nearly every outfit Sonja wears in the movies, is mostly made of blue.

Winter Royal Lady: A regal Ice Person queen often dressed in blue.

Tropes regarding Hjalmar:

Badass Boast: Upon asked by one of Nick’s terrified younger sisters, if the approaching Alvaldi will kill them all:

**Hjalmar:** Not if I kill him first.

Nice Guy: He's the least prejudiced amongst many of Jorgen’s men/soldiers, and basically the only one willing to treat the Arendellians like equals. Though at first Hjalmar didn’t like when Holger & Helmer carried his weapons and they desperately justifying their claims to them. And in the third film, while he never ever blames the Arendellians as a whole for Alvaldi’s attack at the village, he does only blame Sonja for letting that monstrous beast out to cause destruction. Justified in that case since by that point, Sonja is being unhinged and arrogant due to the sickness that Arendelle brought on her by the influence from Alvaldi.

Only Sane Man: He comes across as the only one soldier, who actually seems to realize the importance of the Quest that Sonja & the rest of the Arendellians prioritize.

Relationship Upgrade: His relationship with Birgit starts out good already as friends, when she spent time with Hjalmar before rescuing her friends. Through near the end of the third film, they become a couple and then as adults, they get married.

Tropes regarding Sigrid:

Disappeared Dad: Her father was killed by Fenris, in

Lady of War: As much like in “The Snow Queen” films, Sigrid remains graceful even as she wages war.

One-Woman Army: Her performance in fights points her this way. Especially in the scene where she wipes the floor with random trolls and goblins thrown at her way. Fenris is the only one who becomes a tough opponent for Sigrid.

You Can't Go Home Again: When the battle's done and the mourning starts, Sigrid tells Grand Pabbie that after all that's passed between the family and him, she can’t stay in Arendelle in any way. Pabbie suggests that Sigrid should go to Lappland (in Sweden). He even says to her that Per (Nick’s father) was a good father to his son and that Nick himself could be a great one in the future to his own son. Sigrid asks Pabbie about the potential son’s name and he answers her that while he may not exactly what it will be, but assures her that the boy might be a greatly gifted child. Even though Pabbie never mentioned a potential name to Sigrid, it’s rest assured that in ”The Snow Queen”, that boy is otherwise known as Kai (like a Call-Forward moment).

Tropes regarding Freja:

Tropes regarding the entire Arendellians (Sonja’s Company):

Tropes regarding Annelie:

Age Lift: The film presents her as one of the older ones in the group, like a middle-aged veteran to the Company in her late 50’s, in contrast to the book in which he's almost around the same age as Sonja.

Cool Old Lady: One of the oldest and most good-natured Arendellian of the party, still a capable fighter, and the voice of reason for Sonja.

Doomed Home Town: Arendelle.

Establishing Character Moment: When Annelie arrives at Birgit’s home, she’s rather more friendly than her brother Gustav who arrived before her. She has a very sisterly reunion with her brother showing how dearly she cares for her family and friends, and later she guides the Arendellians in organizing the table. As she enters, she also gives Birgit a much more straightforward response to "Good evening" than King Brian did to his "Good morning", fitting since she later proves to be much more personable and encouraging to Birgit in contrast of Brian’s tricky form of empowerment.

The Heart: By Alvaldi’s Domain, she's moved on to being this. She's the one who openly shows concern and care for the group and tries her hardest to keep everyone going.

Parental Substitute: To Sonja in the films since Elsa’s death. Even to some other few Arendellians in the group.

Team Mom: She’s very kindly and supportive. As one of the eldest Arendellians and the wisest Arendellian, she's also the de facto leader when Sonja isn’t around.

What the Hell, Hero?: Annelie calls Sonja’s decision to leave Birgit at the mercy of the awakened Alvaldi, (meaning almost certain death for her) on the grounds that she cannot risk her life and the whole quest for the sake of one girl from Helsingborg.

Action Girl: She’s easily one of the most combative of the Arendellians and is amongst the toughest and bravest of them. She also can easily kick ass even without her weapons. Makes so much sense since she is played by Zoë Saldaña.

Childhood Friends: To Sonja. They are said to have an especially close relationship, growing up together and sharing the bitter air of exile while fighting their way through numerous hordes of Goblins, Trolls and Warlocks.

Cool Big Sis: One of the female Arendellians who acts like a sister figure to Birgit & Hedvig when they get to know each other more during their journey. She sees the two Helsingborg girls as very good allies and friends.

Every One Has Standards: Lovisa is the most loyal member of the company to Sonja, but even she finds the latter’s greed too much after they reclaim Arendelle.

Hates Being Touched: Shows shades of this in *Alvaldi’s Domain*. On two separate occasions, she threatens someone about to touch her. However, since the two potential offenders were Per and one of his sons, one might surmise that Lovisa only objects to being touched by men. Of course, in both situations, she was in a rather embarrassing position (being in a fish barrel at one point, and a toilet the next), and was possibly trying to save face. Another similarly less negative possibility is that she simply doesn't like, and doesn’t trust, touching her. She does later warm up to the people whom Birgit & Hedvig care about, for the two girls’s sakes, leading her to trust Per and the others.

Hot-Blooded: She's more than happy to shank some troll and goblin ass with a variety of her weapons in her person or even her own punches and kicks, and even takes the helm on the chariot shooting during the final battle.

The Lancer: She (along with Valeria) is a very good and loyal friend and member to Sonja and the go-to Action Girl when enemies are nearby and when any of her friends are in danger. She wields many weapons at her disposal but can still fight even without her weapons without breaking a sweat.

O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When even she and Valeria are calling Sonja out, you know things are bad.

Undying Loyalty: Out of all Arendellians, Lovisa is the most loyal to Sonja; she saves her life twice in The New Beginning, (once during the first Troll attack, once during the thunder battle), gets highly offended when Hans and his twelve brothers from the Southern Isles, fail to show Sonja the proper respect, and they are seen fighting or planning together multiple times throughout the first two movies as well as near the end of the third.

Tropes regarding Valeria:

Action Girl: She, along with Lovisa are among the more combative female Arendellians of the group.

Spicy Latina: Well, a character from Spain nonetheless, though with a more American accent. Valeria

Kaiju: The biggest and most powerful character in the trilogy and pretty much the entire Snow Queen/Frozen-franchise. He pretty much dwarfs every other character there is in the movies. He’s so huge that he even crushes through the ground from underground to above the surface when deciding to destroy the village that most Swedish people and some few remaining Arendellians who stayed behind. And since it’s a Disney film, he could even give the Titans from Hercules, a run for the money. He even has wings to fly.

No-Sell: Normal arrows, guns, and regular cannonballs, and pretty much any other projectiles just bounce right off his hide and barely make him flinch (and sometimes they don't even do that). It makes watching archers try to fight him off with ordinary arrows look highly pitiful.

Tropes regarding Satan/The Devil:

Eldritch Abomination: His physical form is only ever shown fully more like a humanoid-like sorcerer. After a while, he appears as a twisting, tendriled cloud of ever-shifting shadows and darkness.

Evil Overlord: The Lord of all darkness and the embodiment of pure evil.

Evil Sounds Deep: The Devil has one of the deepest, if not the very deepest voice out of any Disney Villain imaginable.

Evil Sounds Raspy: An evil voice that is brilliantly delivered by Benedict Cumberbatch.

Expy:

Greater-Scope Villain: In the “Birgit’s Story” trilogy and pretty much so in the entire Disney HC Andersen Animated Universe. Drugo and Alvaldi are the major antagonists, but Drugo works for him, Brian’s reason for helping Sonja is to prevent Alvaldi from allying with the Devil.

Tropes regarding Fenris:

The Brute: He's big, tough, and fights well enough to put the young Sigrid on the defensive.

The Family That Slays Together: He's second-in-command only to his father Drugo.

Hero Killer: Per is slain by him in front of Birgit, Hedvig, Sonja, Lovisa, Valeria, Holger & Helmer’s eyes. Even Nick sees this when his father’s body falls down to the ground. Fenris even kills Freja in front of Sigrid’s eyes as well. Talk about being a Parent Killer twice during the final battle.

The Rival: To Sigrid. Fenris is the first character in the series to fight her to a standstill and make her bleed. The second film ends with Freja (Sigrid’s mother) in hot pursuit of him.