Elsa

Queen Elsa of Arendelle is the deuteragonist of Disney's 2013 animated feature film Frozen.

She was the older sister of Princess Anna and was next in line for Arendelle's throne until her powers over ice and snow led her to become the famous Snow Queen, ruler of winter. She was voiced by Idina Menzel.

Along with Anna, Elsa is set to become the 13th official member of the Disney Princess line-up.

She was the cousin of Yesenia Campbell.

Her story

At a young age, Elsa realized that she holds an ancient ability over ice and snow, and often used her abilities to play with her younger sister, Anna.

Elsa shared a close bond with her free-spirited younger sibling and the two were the best of friends.

They often at night would make it snow in the royal ballroom. However, one night while the two were playing in the ballroom, Anna falls down from the high snow slopes Elsa had created.

Elsa tries to save her by using her magic, but accidentally strikes her sister instead. Their parents, the King and Queen immediately seek aid for Anna by visiting the legendary trolls whose leader a shaman named Pabbie is able to stabilize Anna's condition since it had only affected the head, not the heart which would have been fatal.

To be safe, Pabbie removes Anna's knowledge and memories of magic, much to Elsa's despair. Pabbie takes the time to explain the true strength of Elsa's abilities, telling her there's not only beauty in it, but danger and that she must learn to control them at all cost or fear will be her enemy.

While the King promises to help Elsa control her powers, the incident leaves Elsa traumatized by them. As a result, the King and Queen order the gates to be locked for Elsa and Anna's safety.

From then on, Elsa forcibly spent the rest of her life distanced from the kingdom including Anna, trying to keep her powers from growing out of control and harming those she cares about.

Even so, the persistent Anna tried time and time again to spend some quality time with her sister, but failed at every turn, leading her to eventually believe Elsa despised her.

Throughout the years, Elsa's only true human contact was with her parents who calmly helped their daughter control her abilities, teaching her to remain calm for fear and stress would only cause chaos.

To help further, the king bestowed upon Elsa a pair of gloves which were able to suppress her powers (teaching her to conceal it, don't feel it, don't let it show), making life much easier though still heavily fearful.

And despite better control, Elsa still refused to contact Anna, truly terrified of harming her yet again. One day, during Anna and Elsa's teenage years, the king and queen left for a trip and though Elsa was torn about their parting, she bid them farewell as they were off.

However, this would be her last time with them as the royal parents die during a powerful storm. A funeral was held though Anna was the only one of the sisters to attend.

Elsa, instead, too afraid to even go to the funeral out of fear of hurting someone with her powers, stayed within her bedroom, mourning for the loss of her parents, alone.

Because of her devastated emotions, her powers corrupted the bedroom, freezing everything inside and reflecting the sorrow of the event.

With the passing of her beloved parents and contact with Anna, her only family left, still deemed too dangerous, Elsa was now truly alone.

Three years later, Elsa is chosen to be crowned the new queen regnant. To celebrate the momentous occasion, Arendelle invites royalty from far and wide to join in the festivities such as the dashing Prince Hans and the pompous Duke of Weselton among others.

Whilst Anna, the citizens of Arendelle and the visiting royals couldn't be more excited, Elsa is beyond reluctant, fearful the major contact with the world will lead to the discovery of her powers.

Even so, she accepts that it's all merely for a day and tries her best to conceal her emotions though the task proves to be difficult.

At the cathedral, Elsa's crowning takes place, but because she must wield the traditional scepter and globus cruciger without her gloves, her abilities are nearly revealed.

Fortunately, she's able to withstand the near exposure and the festivities commence with a nightly ball.

There, Elsa and Anna are reunited for the first time in years and they share their very first conversation for quite some time, with Elsa leading the way.

Both sisters appear to be very joyous to finally share some time together and although Elsa's enjoying herself and quality time with Anna, Anna's open desire to have moments like the occasion at hand frequently causes Elsa to become reserved once again, reluctantly telling Anna her wish simply cannot be and without any further explanations, breaking the younger princess' heart and prompting her to leave.

Meanwhile, Elsa continues on with the party, meeting visiting dignitaries for a while before Anna returns, but with Prince Hans by her side.

After a small introduction, the two announce their newfound engagement and asks for Elsa's blessing upon the marriage. Elsa's baffled by the shocking news, but Anna and Hans couldn't appear more excited, going on to ramble about the wedding arrangements.

Elsa ceases the sudden rambling by denying the marriage, much to Anna's heartbreak.

The queen asks to speak to Anna alone in private, likely to finally confess her abilities and why it's not wise to marry a total stranger without causing a scene that would surely get her true magical nature exposed, but the younger princess refuses any private conversation, stating whatever Elsa has to say can be said to both her and Hans.

Becoming frustrated, Elsa outright forbids Anna of marrying someone she just met, indirectly telling the princess she knows nothing about true love, causing Anna to hiss back, telling Elsa all she knows is how to shut people out.

Although Elsa is visibly hurt by this, Elsa continues to refuse and the argument only worsens when Elsa orders the guards to end the party and close the gates.

But the heartbroken Anna confronts her sister, completely terrified of living life imprisoned within the castle again.

With that, Elsa suggests that she leaves the castle so she can be happy. Things take an ultimate turn for the worst when, out of blind fury from Anna's constant questioning, Elsa's powers are finally revealed, causing ice shards to rise from the ground, nearly striking Anna and the other guests.

Terrified by what she's done and the reactions it receives, Elsa flees though Anna, Hans and the Duke of Weselton chase after her.

Elsa retreats into the fjords, successfully escaping her pursuers and as she does, everything in the land begins to freeze, beginning with the entire body of water in the fjord, trapping all the ships before spreading throughout the rest of the kingdom.

Having fail to retrieve her, Anna and Hans returns to the castle courtyard, where the guests have gathered.

The Duke of Weselton begins to panic as it eerily begins snowing, declaring they must take action and put an end to Elsa's curse, but Anna refuses and volunteers to seek out Elsa herself and make things right, feeling its her fault for pushing her.

With Hans being left in charge of the kingdom, Anna heads off on her horse to begin her search for her sister.

“I'm never going back, the past is in the past!”

―Elsa as she throws her crown

Meanwhile, that same night, Elsa has since arrived at the Northern Mountain, miles upon miles away from Arendelle.

At first, she's still dreadfully downhearted by all that's just happened. The loss of her sister, the abandoning of her kingdom and subjects, the pain of her past consuming her now that the public saw her as a demon for her winter magic.

However, oblivious to the storm she caused, she starts to embrace her powers now that she was alone, letting them roam free and finally unleashing the beauty aspect that Pabbie told her about years ago and in turn, this makes the new queen happier than she's ever been in years.

Now that she's living without fear of harming those she cares about, Elsa has ultimate control over her abilities and creates herself an ice castle and a stunning gown out of her magic, establishing herself as the Snow Queen and officially abandoning her place as queen of Arendelle, declaring she's never returning to her kingdom now that she's finally happy and completely free to be who she is.

During her spectacle, Elsa also recreates Olaf, the snowman she built with Anna as a child, but unknowingly imbues him with life.

And with his new enchantment, Olaf heads off into the world, eventually stumbling upon Anna and leading her to Elsa's castle sometime afterwards.

From that day forth, Elsa lives peacefully in solitude until one day when Anna enters her castle.

While Elsa becomes slightly elated that Anna had come to visit her, she's still hesitant to return to Arendelle as rekindle her bond with Anna, still fearful of harming her.

Elsa advises Anna to return home where she's safe, wanting her to be happy in Arendelle, but Anna refuses to do so just as Olaf rushes in, reminding Elsa of the whimsical childhood the sisters shared.

It was enough to bring a smile to the queen's face until the memory of nearly killing Anna haunts her again, prompting Elsa to turn away, bidding farewell to her sister.

Anna accidentally increases the discomfort and stress upon mentioning the kingdom's in danger, Elsa being horrified to learn that she had placed a curse upon it.

Overcome by fear and guilt, Elsa unleashes her powers by accident once again, but this time, she inadvertently hits Anna in her heart.

As Olaf and Kristoff (Anna's companion who offered to help guide her through the mountains to find Elsa) run to try and aid Anna, Elsa demands for them to leave her as Anna belongs in Arendelle and she does not.

While Anna still insists that she come back with them, telling her that she won't leave any other way, Elsa is forced to create a gruesome snow beast known as Marshmallow who throws the trio out of the castle.

Afterwards, Marshmallow becomes Elsa's official bodyguard, given that Elsa truly wants nothing more than to be alone and disguises himself as snowy rocks outside of the castle to keep away any and all visitors who may harm her majesty in any way.

Meanwhile, within the walls of the once beautiful ice castle, Elsa has shown to have, despite desperately trying to conceal her emotions, lost control over her powers once again as the fear of endangering Arendelle has completely overcome her, causing ice shards to fill her castle, giving it a darker and fearful design, matching the monster Elsa fears she has become.

Meanwhile, Anna becomes weak, with Kristoff correctly believing it's due to Elsa striking her.

To find a cure, Kristoff leads Anna and their companions to the Valley of the Living Rocks where Pabbie returns and informs them that unless Anna is able to perform an act of true love, Elsa's icy curse would eventually freeze her, killing her.

To save herself, Anna and the others rush back to Arendelle to find and receive a kiss from Hans before it's too late, believing true love's kiss is the act that would break the spell.

Meanwhile, back in the mountains, Hans and a group of soldiers arrive to find Anna and arrest Elsa after believing the Snow Queen had Anna captive.

Marshmallow immediately leaps into action and Elsa, upon hearing the commotion, flees inside and tries to hide.

As Marshmallow defends against the attack, two soldiers sneak past him and enter, searching for Elsa in an attempt to kill her as per the Duke's orders, defying Hans' orders to not harm her.

They soon corner her and Elsa is fearful at first, but eventually, after becoming very provoked, uses her abilities against the two, willingly, and comes close to killing them, completely furious at the harm they've brought upon her and her home, as well as destroying her vow to keep her powers from harming others.

Outside, Marshmallow continues to battle, but Hans brutally injures him and causes him to go plummeting into a chasm to his apparent death, leaving Elsa devoid of protection and allowing Hans and his henchmen access into the castle where Elsa has gained the upper hand against the Duke's goons.

Just as Elsa was about to murder the two, Hans appears and stops her, telling her not to prove that she's the monster they believe she is.

Elsa settles down a bit at Hans' words, realizing the demon she was becoming and halts her magic.

However, one of the soldiers aims his arrow at Elsa, still following the Duke's orders and just as he is about to shoot her, Hans intervenes, causing the arrow to cut through Elsa's chandelier which then plummets towards the ground.

Elsa tries to escape the collision, but is knocked out in the process. Hans and the soldiers then capture her and head back to the kingdom.

“No...what have I done?”

―Elsa as she looks at the disaster that she has brought to Arendelle

Elsa soon awakens to find herself within the castle dungeon. She tried to move around, but her chains were stuck to the floor.

Chained down in shackles, the snow queen finds herself trapped as she looks out the cell's only window, finally witnessing the disaster she's brought upon her former kingdom.

Just then, Hans arrives to speak with her. Elsa asks for Anna's whereabouts, but Hans explains she hasn't returned, much to Elsa's concern.

The prince pleads for the queen to end the curse, telling her it'd make things better. but she regretfully denies, telling Hans that she's unable to.

With that, Hans takes his leave, just before Elsa begs for freedom which Hans claims he'll do what he can.

Once he's gone, Elsa's powers suddenly get the better of her chains and are able to destroy the cell, allowing her to escape.

Elsa flees the castle and heads back home, but her fearful emotions cause a deadly blizzard to consume Arendelle, making her retreat that much more difficult, just as Hans learns of her escape.

Needing to put an end to the winter, Hans heads out to kill Elsa, believing her death would not only free the kingdom, but earn him praise and admiration, selfishly wanting to rule the land as a beloved king.

“Your sister is dead! Because of you!”

―Hans to Elsa

Meanwhile, with Hans having betrayed Anna and revealing himself to be a ruthless murderer, her curse becomes stronger and her death process is nearly complete.

Olaf informs her that Kristoff is the one that truly loves her and that he's the one she must kiss to save herself.

Anna and Olaf retreat to find the mountain man, just as Hans confronts Elsa not too far away.

Elsa pleads to be left alone and asks Hans to take care of Anna for her which Hans responds by telling her about the curse she accidentally put upon Anna and that she died from it despite his efforts to save her.

Devastated by the heart wrenching news, Elsa collapses and mourns the death of her sister, ceasing the blizzard and giving Hans the chance to finally eliminate her, as she's now vulnerable.

Hans slowly approaches the Snow Queen from behind and draws his sword, ready to decapitate her.

However, Anna arrives on the scene and although she was freezing to death quicker and quicker, she jumps in front of Elsa as her curse takes full effect, turning into an ice statue the second Hans' sword hits, causing him to fall back unconscious just before Anna's last dying breath is lost.

Elsa recovers and sees her sister's fate, causing her to weep and clutch on to the statue while blaming herself for bringing this upon her.

However, Anna's saving Elsa was an act of true love and thaws her frozen heart while bringing Anna back to life.

“Love will thaw.”

―Elsa

Elsa is overwhelmingly joyous at the turn of events, shocked by the fact that Anna risked her life to save her.

Anna responds by telling Elsa that she loves her and Olaf explains the act of true love was Anna's sacrifice and that's what thawed her heart.

These words from the snowman give Elsa the realization that the curse can be lifted and that love is the key to doing so.

Realizing that love enables her to control her powers, Elsa is able to use this and focuses herself, removing the icy curse from Arendelle and bringing summer back to the kingdom.

With peace restored, Elsa rekindles her bond with Anna and is praised by her people for freeing them from the curse, having learned she's far from a monster.

Elsa resumes her position as queen, uses her abilities to give Olaf a snow cloud to prevent him from melting, cuts off trade with Weselton, deports Hans, the Duke and his men for their attempted assassinations, names Kristoff the Official Arendelle Ice Master and Deliverer and creates a rink in the castle courtyard for the people of Arendelle to enjoy.

Elsa declares that they'll never close the castle gates again now that she's finally accepted and makes a pair of ice skates for Anna.

The two sisters joining the celebration of harmony, having the fun they used to share together at long last.