Elsa the Snow Queen

“*In Arendelle's fair kingdom, a ruler did appear*
Born with a secret power so great, alone, she stayed in fear

Although the force was hidden, one day she let it go

And all the land was covered in eternal ice and snow*”*

―*Frozen* trailer's narration
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 King Agnarr and Queen 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. While the character from the original fairy tale was neutral and, to some degree, villainous, Elsa was rewritten as a tragic heroine.

## Background

### Official Description

*From the outside, Elsa looks poised, regal and reserved, but in reality, she lives in fear as she wrestles with a mighty secret — she was born with the power to create ice and snow. It's a beautiful ability, but also extremely dangerous. Haunted by the moment her magic nearly killed her younger sister Anna, Elsa has isolated herself, spending every waking minute trying to suppress her growing powers. Her mounting emotions trigger the magic, accidentally setting off an eternal winter that she can't stop. She fears she's becoming a monster and that no one, not even her sister, can help her.*

### Physical appearance

At 21 years of age, Elsa has a tall and slender build, blue eyes, rosy cheeks, thin pink lips, a small nose, long platinum blonde hair, and very pale skin with a light dusting of freckles (a trait she shares with her sister Anna, though less prominent). During her coronation, she bore a striking resemblance to her mother, only with platinum blonde hair, unlike her mother who is a brunette.

Before her coronation, Elsa's casual outfits have consisted of a dress with a long-sleeved vest over blouse and bodice favoring a blue-black color scheme. Ever since the accident with Anna at age eight, Elsa wears white gloves to contain her powers. As she grew older, she started wearing darker clothes with purple colors thrown in.

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, a black long-sleeved turtleneck blouse with red and teal crystal-shaped prints on it, a 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. For her gloves, she wears longer, cyan gloves with teal prints on, that go with her outfit. Her eyelids have a dusting of purple eye shadow and wears 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 (roughly 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 a long transparent floor-sweeping cape of sheer ice decorated with large snowflakes attached to the back of her bodice. 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 eye shadow 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 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 her 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 wears dark emerald green ice kitten heels and a long transparent floor-sweeping dark emerald green cape of sheer ice decorated with flower and leaf designs with pink flowers stuck on is attached to the back of her bodice. Her eye shadow is now a light pink and she wears dark pink lipstick.

In *Olaf's Frozen Adventure*, Elsa wears a midnight blue off-the-shoulder sleeved gown - displaying a return to her use of dark colors - that incorporates her signature Snow Queen style. The dress has a velvet texture though it has a large fur collar with small stones inside, and a small V-shaped cut at the center that exposes a purple undershirt. Fitting her regal status, Elsa's outfit features a transparent blue cape; however, this one is slightly less transparent than the previous capes. She wears dark blue ice kitten heels, similar to her first Snow Queen outfit. On the chest, cape, and rims of the outfit are diamond-shaped crystals scattered across, with some forming the lower half of her Snowflake emblem on the neckline and a larger pattern on the back of the cape. She wears a small winter berry wreath-pin in her hair.

* Elsa weighed seven pounds when she was born.

* During renovations of the Walt Disney Animation Studios building, beginning in 2014, Elsa was one of the character silhouettes featured on the wall mural.
* Elsa might suffer from PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). This is seen when Anna tries to convince her that they can be as close as they were when they were kids. Although Elsa seemed to consider the idea, she becomes frightened after having a flashback of the night she'd accidentally hurt her sister with her powers.