Becoming the highest-grossing animated movie of all time upon its release, Disney’s Frozen swept up the hearts of viewers everywhere. With two spunky princesses, a lovable snowman, a goofy reindeer and a charming outdoorsman, there’s always been a lot to love about this film.
It actually took Disney over 70 years to adapt Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, but we’re sure glad it became reality in 2013. Frozen took over pop culture and scored itself a slew of Academy Awards and Grammys. While sometimes it got tiring to see every little girl dressed as Elsa and hear “Let It Go” at every event, the movie was still one worth talking about. Five years later, its lasting mark on culture and the world of animation is still evident. With a Frozen Broadway show having landed on the scene this year and a full-length sequel being released next year, there’s a lot more of this franchise to come.
While the writers of the original movie did a good job of tying it all together, Frozen super fans have managed to come up with a few overlooked details. Being that Frozen runs under two hours, there are some things the writers didn’t have time to explain. While a later movie might answer some of the plot holes, it probably won’t solve them all. And until the sequel comes out, we’re left here wondering why the movie left some things for us to figure out on our own.
So with that in mind, here are 25 unresolved mysteries and plot holes Frozen left hanging.
25 How Did Elsa Get Her Ice Powers?
While we do know that Elsa was born rather than cursed with her powers, we still don’t know why. Why her? Why not her sister?
In Tangled, we find out that Rapunzel has magic hair because of the magical flower that her mother had to consume in order to conceive her. In Frozen, we don’t get an answer as to how Elsa acquired her icy abilities. That being said, Elsa’s father is the one who knows that they need to head to the trolls. He also knows that Elsa needs to wear gloves in order to conceal her powers.
This makes it very possible that Elsa inherited her ice powers from her father’s side of the family.
While we don’t for sure know the answer to this one yet, perhaps it will be revealed in Frozen 2. Right now, the sequel to Frozen is scheduled to be released on November 27, 2019. While few details on the new film have been released, Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel will be reprising their roles as Anna and Elsa respectively. Maybe we’ll get a deeper look into the backstory that shaped Elsa and her magic. Until then and perhaps even after then, we’ll have to simply accept that Elsa has always had her powers just because.
24 Were The Princess Related To Rapunzel?
During “For the First Time in Forever,” Flynn and Rapunzel from Disney’s Tangled are seen walking through the kingdom on Elsa’s coronation day. It’s easy to recognize their few-second cameo as Rapunzel has the same short brown hair she had post-chop in Tangled and the guy next to her shares a profile with Flynn. While the pair could have been attending the wedding as fellow royals, it is also possible that Rapunzel and the girls are cousins. This popular theory claims that Rapunzel’s mother and Elsa and Anna’s father were siblings. With similar hair color, skin color, and eye shape, this is possible.
If Rapunzel’s mother was indeed Norwegian, it would make sense for her to be married off to a German king. It would also give us more of an explanation as to why the king knew how to handle Elsa’s magical powers; His sister’s daughter already had experience with magical hair powers of her own.
Another popular theory is that Elsa and Anna are related to Tarzan.
This theory claims that the queen and king were actually shipwrecked and ended up raising their newborn baby in the jungle before being eaten by a leopard. This theory was made popular by co-director Chris Buck. If it were true, it would mean that Tarzan is Elsa and Anna’s brother. While the king and queen bare some resemblance to Tarzan’s parents, they still appear to be different people.
23 Where Were Anna And Elsa’s Parents Heading?
Although the movie never specifically mentions where Anna’s and Elsa’s parents were headed when their shipwrecked, many fans have theorized that they were headed to Flynn and Rapunzel’s wedding. This theory is pretty strong, being that Tangled was released three years before Frozen and the parents’ ship sinks three years before the main events in Frozen take place. Frozen writer and director Jennifer Lee said herself that Elsa and Anna’s parents were headed to a wedding. If they were indeed related, it makes even more sense. Being that Norway and Germany, which are the films presumable locations, are just a trip across the sea, it is possible.
A supporting theory is that the king and queen’s ship sunk off the coast of Denmark while headed to Germany for Rapunzel’s wedding. Denmark is the presumed location of The Little Mermaid, and the sunken ship that is seen in this film bears striking resemblance to the one Anna and Elsa’s parents were in. Being that there are many references to various other films in Disney movies, this isn’t too far of a stretch. As aforementioned, Rapunzel and Flynn were at Elsa’s coronation, so who says a boat from The Little Mermaid couldn’t appear in Frozen as well?
22 What Happened To Kristoff’s Parents?
Kristoff is arguably the most unexplained character in all of Frozen. While we briefly see a scene of him as a kid, it fails to explain where he came from. Further, it begs so many other questions. How did Sven and Kristoff team up? How did he get into the ice business? Where did Kristoff live before the trolls took him in? According to Frozen’s director, Jennifer Lee, on Twitter, Kristoff is an orphan.
It still makes us wonder how he became one.
While the movie doesn’t mention Sven and Kristoff’s meeting, Frozen: The Essential Guide does. According to the book, Kristoff rescued Sven as a reindeer fawn. Since that meeting, the two have become the closest of pals. This makes him unique to most Disney princes as usually, they don’t have animal companions. Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid does have his dog, Max, and Flynn from Tangled later becomes buddies with Maximus, but this is still pretty rare. Kristoff appears to be the only “prince” who has a lifelong friendship with Sven similar to the friendship Disney Princesses like Ariel shared with Sebastian and Flounder and Pocahontas shared with Meeko and Flit.
Kristoff is also one of the only blonde Disney “princes.” While John Smith could be considered a Disney prince, he doesn’t actually ever marry Pocahontas, so Kristoff might be considered the only one. He marries Anna in the TV series Once Upon A Time and Frozen's sequel could also make this happen.
21 How Did Olaf And Marshmallow Come To Life?
Elsa has ice powers, not life powers – right? It’s a little hard to tell, being she create Olaf and Marshmallow, the giant snow monster. Once again, the movie doesn’t explain how Elsa’s ice powers allow her to do this. Elsa actually acts surprised the first time she meets Olaf in her ice castle as if she herself doesn’t realize she has the ability to create life. While we see her spin him together, we don’t see him with a personality until this scene. Minutes later, she uses this newfound ability to create Marshmallow in order to keep Anna and Kristoff away from her dominion.
While Elsa didn’t originally realize that he has what appears to be life-giving powers, Olaf still managed to have the personality she gave him as a kid. He talks about liking warm hugs, which is what Elsa told Anna he liked when they originally built him together.
Regardless of whether Olaf gained a soul through Elsa or some other means, he is still one of the most lovable Disney Princess sidekicks of all times. After all, who wouldn’t want a goofy, cheerful snowman following them around?
Last November, Olaf got the opportunity to star in his own short film, Olaf’s Frozen Adventure. It premiered before Pixar’s nineteenth full-length animated film, Coco.
20 Who Took Over Rule Of The Kingdom After The Shipwreck?
Three years pass between the king and queen's death and Elsa’s coronation. So what happened during that time in between?
Who was in charge? The movie doesn’t introduce us to anyone else taking control of things.
Although presumably, someone had to rule over Arendelle. The kingdom would have fallen apart on its own.
Being that the movie doesn’t introduce us to anyone else, it is possible that Elsa automatically became queen after her parent’s end. That being said, perhaps her actual coronation was delayed a few years due to age restrictions or other undiscussed royal matters.
The other option is simply that regents or some other party related to the king and queen took over until Elsa was 21. While we don’t really know who the guy who crowns Elsa queen is, maybe he had some position of power before Elsa got to take over.
Finally, while it doesn’t make as much practical sense, it’s also possible there was no formalized ruler for the three-year period before Elsa came of age. After all, if the castle gates were closed for an extended period of time, not much business could be happening in there, right?
Being that all the sequels to Frozen are moving forward and not backward, we’ll probably have to continue to theorize about what happened during those skipped-over years.
19 Could Elsa Actually Live In An Ice Castle?
Elsa’s seemed to think she could just run away to the North Mountain and be okay with it. But realistically, she was going to have to eat, right? Was there somewhere for her to sleep? How was she going to get water? Clearly, our queen didn’t think this one through.
In original concept art for Frozen, Elsa's ice palace contained more rooms.
The bedroom and throne room the creators came up with would have made living a bit easier for her.
Additionally, it’s not likely she would have ever been thirsty. All she had to do was melt some ice, and she would be set. In terms of food, Idina Menzel said during a Frozen Facebook Q&A, “Elsa eats soy ice cream sandwiches” in her ice castle. While this doesn’t sound practical or very tasty, it comes from the woman herself, so it has to have some validity.
Realistically, Elsa probably wasn’t thinking long-term. After all, she ran away from the castle on a whim’s notice. When she woke up that morning for her coordination, she probably didn’t imagine herself scurrying off to the North Mountain by the evening. Things went a little wrong, and she just went with it. Had Anna never shown up, Elsa might have come to the conclusion that she couldn’t have stayed there forever on her own. Then again, I guess we won’t ever find out.
18 Why Did Anna Go To Look For Elsa Alone?
As a princess, I’m sure Anna had lots of people available to her in the castle. She probably had guards and soldiers and lots of other officials equipped to escort her to Elsa. So why did she go alone?
Hans argues with Anna that it’s too dangerous to go alone and even offers to go with her. Anna tells him he needs to stay behind and take care of Arendelle (which doesn’t make a lot of sense, but we’ll question it later.)
Anna feels responsible for Elsa’s problems, so that’s why she decides to chase after Elsa solo.
Being that she had little experience with the outside world though, she probably realized partway through that it would be easier with some assistance from a mountain man like Kristoff.
While it seems it would have been easier for Anna to take someone with her originally, more than likely it would have led to Elsa’s demise. People were angry at Elsa for her “sorcery” and likely wouldn’t have been as kind to Elsa as Anna was when she ran into her. And furthermore, had Anna brought the Duke of Weselton or someone with her, she might have never run into Kristoff, Sven or Olaf. What's Frozen without these fun additions?
17 Why Was Everyone Okay With Anna Putting Hans In Charge While She Was Gone?
She just met the guy, and he has no relation to Arendelle that we know of. So why didn’t anyone question his place? Logically, whoever was running the kingdom in the three years between the king and queens demise and Elsa’s coronation should have taken things back over (assuming the person running the kingdom wasn’t Elsa). Being that we don’t know who said people were, it probably made the most movie logic for Hans to take the position he did. In real life though, all his charming good lucks and sneaky smiles just wouldn’t cut it.
As it appeared, Hans was simply royalty visiting to celebrate Elsa’s coronation.
Being that he was the youngest of thirteen brothers, he probably didn’t have half the knowledge he should have on running a kingdom. He was qualified as the princess’s fiancé and nothing else. Having known Anna for less than a day, she could have used a little more logic in her decision making.
Anna could have also chosen to stay behind and rule the kingdom, sending someone else to chase after Elsa. That being said, this would have changed the entire trajectory of the movie. Frozen is about love between sisters and letting Elsa run away would have been the opposite of this.
16 What Happened To Elsa’s Clothing After She Made The Ice Dress?
During the famous “Let It Go” scene, Elsa pulls down her braid and creates her famous icy blue dress with a flick of her hand. This causes us to ask, what happened to the rest of her clothing? We see her throw off her crown and cape, but what about the dress she was wearing? Does it vanish? Did it simply morph into her notorious blue getup?
The problem with her dress actually being ice is that it would have been ridiculously cold. While this doesn’t seem to bother Elsa, her dress moves naturally as if it’s been made out of fabric.
It’s not stuck in place like Anna’s dress was stuck after she took an accidental dip in some icy water. If her dress isn't actually ice though, how did she create it?
Does Elsa now have the powers of ice, life-creation, and fashion? After all, Elsa also manages to redo her hair and put on some more makeup during "Let It Go."
Elsa’s dress has to be made up of some ice as we can see snowflakes on it.
While we might not ever know what became of Elsa’s dress, we do know what happened to her crown. The after-credits scene in Frozen shows Marshmallow finding the crown somewhere in Elsa’s ice palace.
15 How Did Elsa Get To The Mountain So Quickly?
When Elsa storms away from the castle on her own, she seems to get to the North Mountain relatively quickly in movie time. Anna doesn’t waste time and leaves right after her, getting to the North Mountain over a day later. Anna even rides a horse there. We know Elsa has ice powers, but we didn’t think she had teleportation powers; So how did she get there so fast? Although Anna does get sidetracked and unlike Elsa is bothered by the cold, the timeline doesn’t add up.
The most reasonable answer to this is that Elsa can move quickly through the snow.
When we see her running from Anna, she freezes over the lake and runs across it effortlessly. She could have also created staircases and other snow-creations to aid her travel as she needed. Anna, on the other hand, didn’t have these things to help her. Additionally, she had to figure out how to get where Elsa was heading and unlike Elsa, she wasn't choosing her destination. Anna had to figure out where to go first, which took additional time. Also, listening to a snowman sing a song, convincing Kristoff to follow her, and getting chased by wolves couldn’t have helped Anna save time either.
14 How Did Anna Remember Building Olaf As A Kid?
When Anna visits the trolls as a kid, they erase all of her memories of magic and Elsa’s icy powers. So how would she remember creating such a lovable snowman with her sister when she runs into him as an adult?
When Anna meets Elsa at her ice palace, she reminds Elsa that he’s just like the snowman they used to make. How would she remember this? There are only two ways to explain this. It is possible that during snowy months as a kid, Elsa and Anna went outside and made snowmen that looked like Olaf. But with ice powers as awesome as Elsa’s, this is highly unlikely.
Based on the scene where Grand Pabbie removes to be all Anna’s memories of magic, it actually appears that Anna remembers the fun she and her sister had but under different circumstances. Her memories of building a snowman were morphed rather than removed. While these few seconds are easy to miss, they are critical to understanding why Anna feels a void when her sister stops hanging out with her. She’s lonely because she remembers what it’s like to not be lonely. This scene is also critical for understanding Anna’s memories of Olaf.
13 Why Didn’t Elsa Just Tell Her Sister About Her Ice Powers?
If Elsa had told Anna early on about her ice powers, Anna would have realized that her sister wasn’t standoffish; She was just scared. Anna could have helped Elsa figure out what to do. Perhaps Elsa was afraid that Anna’s help would have been a hindrance, but it would have been worth a try.
Elsa was probably just obeying her parents.
This begs the question though, why were the queen and king convinced that Anna couldn’t know about Elsa’s powers? If we’re looking for someone to blame, we can accuse the lead troll of telling Elsa’s parents that her powers had to be forgotten by her sister. But why did they believe this was the best option?
Maybe all of Elsa’s secrecy was actually just a big misunderstanding. While the trolls had good intentions, it later backfired on the comfortable life Elsa was supposed to be living. The trolls later offered up another suggestion that also backfired when telling Anna she needs an act of love to thaw her heart. They quickly rush to “true loves kiss” as being the answer. Anna believes them and searches for Hans who doesn’t even love her. And while maybe true loves kiss would have done the trick, it turns out sisterly love is just as good if not better.
12 How Did Hans Get Back To The Castle Before Anna?
During the second half of the movie, Anna is with the trolls when she realizes she has to get back to the castle to kiss Hans before she freezes. She and Kristoff jump on Sven and start rushing back. The next scene shows Hans and his men approaching Elsa’s ice palace with a whole bunch of rage and arrows. Right after that, we see Hans back at the castle with Elsa in handcuffs. And that’s when the movie once again shows Kristoff and Anna quickly making their way to the castle. Why don’t they make it back first? How does Hans have time get to the North Mountain and make it back to Arendelle even when Kristoff and Anna leave first? The most reasonable explanation for this is that the trolls’ dominion wasn’t on the return trip. It’s possible that the ice palace was closer to Arendelle whereas the trolls’ place was further out. After all, this would make sense because the scenery is filled with a lot more greenery and a lot less snow.
It’s also possible that Anna is simply less capable of getting places in an abbreviated amount of time. Elsa beat her there earlier in the movie, and Hans beat her back later. While this theory is a little more out-there, specifically because Anna had the help of Kristoff, it’s still possible.
11 Why Did Elsa’s Parents Teach Her To Fear Her Power?
Grand Pabbie tells Elsa as a kid that fear will be her enemy, yet Elsa’s parents do everything they can to keep her from revealing her ice powers. Rather than treating it as a gift, they treat it as a problem. They cover her hands with gloves, make her stay away from people, and seclude her from the world. For crying out loud, they even close the gates to the castle.
Why do they do this when they were so clearly instructed to not do this?
The best explanation is that the parents, in trying to do what was best for their daughter, actually made some wrong decisions. They seemed to think Elsa would learn to control her powers at some point, but in actuality, all their help actually just caused her more harm. It wasn’t that they didn’t love Elsa – it was just that they were misinformed. Sometimes it takes some trial and error to figure out what’s best. Had they not died in a tragic shipwreck, they might have come to their senses and decided to try something else. Maybe they would have even taken another trip back to the trolls to sort things out. It probably would have been best as Elsa’s life wasn’t going to get any better the way things were.
10 Why Did Anna Have To Forget Her Memories About Magic?
The trolls tell Anna’s parents that it is best for all of her memories of her sister’s powers to be erased, but they never explain why. The king and queen don’t even question it. Why couldn’t she have known about Elsa’s powers?
Potentially, her parents didn’t want Anna as a younger sibling to encourage Elsa to use them. Anna’s a little mischievous, and she might have convinced Elsa to continue to use them for fun like they did when they were kids.
Furthermore, Elsa’s powers were growing stronger.
If Elsa messed up again, she could have injured Anna even more. As Grand Pabbie explained, the heart is more challenging to deal with than the head. Anna’s revival might not have been so easy.
The only odd thing about this idea is that the trolls knew just what to do when Kristoff brought Anna to them years later. When Anna’s heart was struck, the trolls were eager to say that an act of true love could solve things. Why didn’t they bring this up then? Why couldn’t that have been a backup?
Maybe, because they jumped to the idea of a true love’s kiss, they didn’t think of many options for Anna as a kid. They probably didn’t realize themselves that there were more ways to make things work out for her.
9 Why Did Anna Get Engaged So Quickly?
Sure, it’s a Disney movie. Most princesses have unrealistically perfect fairytale loves, so why couldn’t Anna have had the same? While I would usually agree with this, it’s not normal in Anna’s world to get married at the drop of a hat. While the trolls think that quick marriages are the norm as they are later seen pushing Anna and Kristoff together, it’s hinted at that Arendelle has the same ideas on love that our culture has: You can’t marry someone you’ve just met.
Both Elsa and Kristoff think Anna’s crazy for getting engaged so quickly.
Perhaps Anna’s loneliness in the few years prior to Elsa’s coronation made her susceptible to Hans’ charm. She sings about meeting someone in “For the First Time in Forever,” so clearly her mind is on love and not practicality. Also, if Anna never went out past the gates, she’s probably lacking some social skills. She might not have realized that in real life, love takes time. We get a glimpse of the library in the Arendelle castle, so with lots of books and many hours to waste, Anna could have easily gotten herself lost in storybooks instead of the real world. The entire movie focuses on Anna’s adventure to learn about love, so naturally, her idea of it at the beginning is a lot more juvenile.
8 How Did All Of Arendelle Become Frozen And How Did Elsa Not Realize It?
Elsa had her ice powers for years, but as soon as she ran off with them, it seemed to overtake the entire land. As she journeyed across the mountain, she could see the wild blizzard she was creating. Why did she believe nothing was going on elsewhere?
Elsa seemed to figure that her problems were only going to affect her. But in the real world, it doesn’t work that way either. Just because she didn’t see how her fear affected everyone else doesn’t mean they weren’t being affected by it.
Despite this, what did Elsa expect Arendelle to do with her gone? How did she expect them to survive in an eternal winter? If she really didn’t want to hurt anyone, why didn’t she want to try to fix things?
Elsa probably thought she’d just mess up Arendelle more if she tried to make things better. She told Anna she didn’t know how to reverse it, and she probably believed she couldn’t. While her long-term thinking wasn’t on point, at least she was honest with her sister. It just took a little extra work for them to find out what to do. After all, the constant encouragement from her parents to conceal her powers couldn’t have helped her learn to accept them at all.
7 Why Does Everyone Believe Hans And Anna Got Married?
Hans said that Anna was killed by Elsa when really, she had been locked in a room and left to freeze to death by himself. He explained that before she died though, he and Anna exchanged marriage vows, which would make him the King of Arrendelle due to Elsa’s uncontrolled state. This is just what he wanted, especially since he was thirteenth in line to his own throne. What we’re all wondering though, is why did the Duke of Weselton and the others with him believe Hans? What validity would they privately exchanging wedding vows actually have on who was next in line to the throne? If there was no minister or documents, would it even count?
Potentially, because Anna left Hans in charge of Arendelle while she chased after her sister, they assumed that Hans was qualified to continue to lead Arendelle. Another explanation is that because in the moment there was no time to find someone else to lead, these officials automatically looked to Hans to figure out what to do.
Thank goodness Olaf helped Anna escape her room otherwise the story might have ended very differently. Hans acquired far too much power in such a brief amount of time.
6 Why Did Anna Conveniently Freeze When Hans Tries To Destroy Elsa?
If Anna hadn’t frozen in time, Elsa would have had a knife in her back. But why was the timing so perfect?
If Anna had frozen earlier while still locked in the room or before reaching her sister, Elsa’s fate wouldn’t have been a positive one. That being said, Anna might have still been alright. Kristoff loved Anna, so as long as he didn’t run into trouble with Hans on the way, he could have made it to her and kissed her so that she melted back to life.
Had Anna made it across the frozen-over lake before she froze herself, she would have likely kissed Kristoff and had enough time to get to Elsa before Hans did. That being said, the team would have had to find a way to deal with him. Elsa probably could have found a way to harness her powers and take him out. This ending would have defeated several themes in the movie, though. If the movie is about girl-power and non-romantic love, a kiss from Kristoff at the end would have made the movie cute but cliché. The perfect timing of Anna’s freezing allowed it to be a whole lot more realistic in terms of emotions even if it wasn’t realistic in terms of timing.