Ever since Frozen came out in late-2013 it has been widely regarded as one of the best new Disney films. Children were flocking to the theaters, with their parents in tow, to see Elsa, Anna, and the rest of the gang battling both their inner demons as well as an unforeseen foe. This tale about two sisters that had drifted apart for years due to circumstances beyond either of their control but eventually found their bond again after many obstacles managed to capture the hearts of many. And not only because of the great story about love, family, and accepting one's self.

But what you may not know is that there were some seriously dark but fascinating things that went on behind the scenes of the film, as well as some themes placed within the film itself that will have you questioning if it was completely suitable for children in the first place.

While many kids were singing along to 'Let It Go,' there was actually way more going on than just Elsa becoming who she truly is and embracing her powers. Of course, not all of those things are as easily noticeable when you're watching for the sake of the kids in the theater or in the room, but that's why I'm here to show you all of the things you missed in the movie, not to mention some creepy facts that happened before production even began.

24 Villainous Elsa

In the early production days of Frozen, Elsa was to originally be played as the villain of the tale. After many many years of trying to adapt Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, they finally started production.

At first, they had plans for Elsa to be a villain with short and spiky blue hair and light blue skin.

They even included her having a coat made out of living weasels. She and Anna weren't even related, either. Anna was just a peasant who came to the evil Snow Queen to ask her to freeze her broken heart. All of that inevitably changed, of course, into Elsa being a hero in her own right after her own trials and tribulations due to her powers and the loss of her parents.

23 A Compelling Theory

Disney has a very enthusiastic fanbase. They always have and for a very good reason. But that also means for certain fans, they will theorize and tie things together that may or may not always be connected. Case in point: the theory that Elsa and Anna are actually related to Rapunzel. And that their parents were on their way to see her upon her return when their ship went down. And in turn, that is the ship that Ariel sees in The Little Mermaid that is now in ruins.

Yeah, I know, it seems quite far-fetched that one Disney film could connect three different ones with each other using only one scene regarding Anna and Elsa's parents. But maybe the powers that be at Disney are way better at making little connections between films than we give them credit for.

22 Bad Romance

Fan Fiction is a large part of most fanbases. For those who aren't as familiar with Fan Fiction, it’s basically a way of either continuing where a movie or television show left off or writing a story detailing a romance between two different characters from two different cinematic universe’s.

Of course, there's a lot of middle ground between those two different forms of Fan Fiction, but the latter is the case in this fact.

And that is because there is a rather large fanfiction community who pairs Elsa with Jack Frost from 'Rise of the Guardians’.

Most of the stories typically are not of the PG variety, mind you, which may seem kind of odd to a lot of people, but like I always say...to each their own.

21 Unexpected Relative

Speaking of fan theories, this one has gained a lot of traction and it’s easy to see why. The theory started after Chris Buck, one of Frozen’s directors, made this statement about Anna and Elsa's parents:

“They got washed up on a shore in a jungle island. The queen gave birth to a baby boy. They build a treehouse. They get eaten by a leopard…”

Sounds suspiciously just like how Tarzan got his start. Does that mean Elsa and Anna have a little brother by the name of Tarzan? And will they ever meet their baby brother in the future? Who knows, maybe he'll even come to Arendelle and learn the ways of being a real Prince. I guess we’ll have to wait until Frozen 2 to find out…hopefully.

20 Keep It In The Family

This one is definitely one of the more disturbing hidden messages hidden in the film and it all has to do with Kristoff and Sven's seemingly perfect companionship. See, if you look closely enough at the outfit Kristoff is wearing throughout the movie, you’ll see the whole thing is made out of reindeer pelt. That’s awkward enough seeing as Sven is Kristoff’s best friend and is also a reindeer.

But to further make this an awful situation, people believe the pelt was made of Sven’s mom after she was sacrificed to make sure our favorite ice-harvester kept warm throughout the winter. Furthermore, they theorize that that is precisely why Sven is so close to Kristoff. Because he can still smell his mother's scent on his pelt that he's wearing. And suddenly, their relationship makes a little more sense.

19 Adapting A Classic

Frozen was never an original tale, meaning that it is based on the classic tale by Hans Christian Andersen: The Snow Queen. The story itself was published in 1845 and was a fairy tale detailing an evil witch’s quest to destroy a kingdom. And just how do you think she accomplished that? Why, with an eternal winter, of course. Which is how the idea of Frozen came to be in the first place.

See, Walt Disney had been trying since the 1940’s to adapt this story into a Disney film to no avail. He just could never get the story how he wanted it. But all of that changed and eventually, Frozen was finally released in 2013. With a few changes here and there, to say the least.

18 Elsa’s Dramatic Turn

Early drawings were released of what one artist thought Elsa should look like and the differences are quite clear between the Elsa we’ve come to know and love and the villainous Elsa they were originally planning on. This artist, Claire Keane, had a specific vision of her being haunted by her powers that were capable of harming others, with or without her control.

And she drew her inspiration from none other than the late Amy Winehouse.

Amy Winehouse was an incredible singer but with a checkered past that continued on until she passed at the young age of 27. While Elsa had a very different ending than that, you can still see it in both her physical characteristics as well as her mental and emotional sides that built up who she was inside and clearly shows the inspiration behind this artist's take on her.

17 Intriguing Metaphors

In a panel with the storyboard artists of Frozen, we learned that there were many changes made during the production of the film. Including the scene where Hans and Anna confront Elsa about their new engagement. What we didn’t know was that not only was Hans a visual representation of the rift between Anna and Elsa, but we also get a couple of other pieces of imagery that are very important metaphors.

They said specifically that the closed door represents Anna’s loneliness, while the gloves represent Elsa’s “emotional repression." And while those are two very dark themes to have in a Disney film, they are also very real themes that children will probably learn about at some point anyway. But since they are children, there is a pretty good chance they didn't notice those themes in the first place.

16 Terrifying Trolls

In the original tale, The Snow Queen, the devil comes in the form of an evil troll. He has made this magic mirror that "distorts the appearance of everything that it reflects." They then try to carry the mirror into heaven to make a fool out of God as well as the angels, but eventually, they make a mistake and it slips from their hands. It proceeds to fall back to Earth where it shatters into billions of pieces.

This causes it to freeze people's hearts and eyes, making it so they only see the bad and ugly in people.

Luckily, the Frozen filmmakers decided to go a different route rather than stick to Andersen’s idea of what a troll should look and act like. But the origins of the trolls as well as the original illustrations are beyond creepy if you ask me.

15 Cover Your Eyes

Imagine taking your young children to see the new Disney movie everyone’s raving about, and as you sit down to watch Frozen, you see a very graphic, and very grown-up film come on instead. And that is exactly what happened to parents who took their kids to see this movie at a movie theater in Florida during a screening of the film.

The theater played two full minutes of a much more 'grown-up' movie than Frozen until they finally corrected their mistake. I'm sure at that point the damage was already done for most parents and children in attendance. And to be honest, I'm not exactly sure how you even begin to apologize to everyone after that. Of course, it was an ‘accident’ but seriously…yikes.

14 Warding Off Evil

All throughout Frozen, there are images that many fans have captured of Hexagrams. They are shown both in the ice and snowflakes that Elsa creates. Hexagrams are known to control demons and spirits, so it’s definitely an interesting thing to include in a children’s movie. And it would also make a lot of sense, seeing as Elsa has magical powers, so maybe she also has control of demons and spirits.

Hexagrams are also able to control supernatural elements as well through their magic.

Which would be the perfect explanation for how Olaf was able to be brought to life. Also, even though it is very difficult to fully see many of the hexagrams shown in the snow falls and such, some fans were able to capture what looks like intertwined triangles that apparently were used to represent other supernatural elements that were said to have been shown all throughout Frozen.

13 Ancient Expletives

The filmmakers decided to hire a professor of Old Norse and Scandinavian mythology at UCLA by the name of Jackson Crawford to infuse a lot of Norwegian accents and phrases into the script. And also probably a lot of ancient swears, apparently. It has been thought that there were some ancient curse words interweaved within the film with very few people actually noticing.

That is probably because not many people are aware of what Norwegian curse words even are, let alone ancients ones. And while it is somewhat amusing that they were able to fit them into the animated movie, it still seems a little bit odd to have to include them in a children's movie. But maybe they were just going for authenticity. But still...not-so-suitable for children, it seems.

12 A Treasonous Plan

We learn towards the end of Frozen that (spoiler alert!) Prince Hans of the Southern Isles is not all he seems to be.

He wants to take the throne for himself, planning to marry Anna so he could finally be front and center after many years of being in the shadows. The thing is, he is the thirteenth son of the King and Queen of the Southern Isles, meaning that he'd never be in line to become King, at least not really.

Which is why he came up with his sinister plan to become King of Arendelle. But when his plans slowly start to backfire, he plans to end Anna by helping her progress to a hypothermic state and then goes off to end Elsa as well. Double Whammy.

11 So Long, Parents

Almost every Disney film seems to have a similar premise, and part of that premise is to end the lives of one or both of the parents of the hero or heroine of the story. This movie is no different. We see Elsa and Anna’s parents on a ship that eventually goes down and we can only assume that they didn’t make it. Unless you believe the Tarzan theory, but even then they still eventually perished.

I, like many other Disney fans, have never understood the blatant need to end the lives of a parent or parental figure in the lead character's life. I have always felt that they could easily overcome many other obstacles, but it seems that Disney feels a lot differently about this subject. Just leave the parents alone, Disney!

10 A Looming Threat

When Elsa decides to finally ‘Let It Go’ and take control of her own powers and life, she starts to build an ice castle. Quickly, Arendelle goes from being a joyful and summery place to having an eternal winter. That means all throughout the kingdom of Arendelle, the people are becoming dangerously cold with very little resources to help them stay warm.

Residents of Arendelle are definitely under threat of hypothermia all throughout the movie but we as the audience barely notice it because we're too wrapped up in the drama between the sisters, as well as what Prince Hans is up to. Even Elsa doesn’t seem to realize just how dire the circumstances are until its almost too late.

But maybe that's because the cold never bothered her anyway.

9 Medieval Inspiration

Before actual production began on Frozen, filmmakers went to Norway to get inspiration from architecture and their culture for the film. The castle that was featured in the movie was actually based off a real-life medieval castle in Oslo named the Akershus Fortress.

It was originally built as a way to protect Oslo and was also used as a residential palace. But the somewhat frightening thing is it has also been used as a prison. Which, in a way, is kind of fitting seeing as Anna and Elsa were both prisoners in their own home at the start of the film.

Still…a little creepy. But many viewers of Frozen probably were never meant to do the research to see what the castle's inspiration actually was, to be fair.

8 The WHAT!?

As previously discussed, there were many magical and supernatural elements that were seen in the film. Some were more prominent than others, of course, but there may have been even more going on than we realized.

For those who believe in the supernatural and furthermore, The Illuminati, there are several images throughout the movie that shows a triangle shape, which is a symbol of The Illuminati.

The triangle shape is used in magic and spells to bring spirits over from the other side. Which would, again, also explain how Elsa brought Olaf to life. While we are forever grateful that Olaf became a big part of Anna's journey in Frozen and that Elsa brought him to life in the first place, it does seem a little strange to put references to The Illuminati in Frozen, of all places.

7 What’s In A Name?

It has been said that the names of four of the main characters from Frozen were named after Hans Christian Andersen. Hans obviously would be the first, then Kristoff, Anna and finally, Sven. If you say all four names fast enough, it may make more sense. But I digress.

The thing is, while many regard the author as a pure and innocent man, he is thought to have had different sides to him, including going to grown-up places and then going to home to engage in some self-gratification.

Aside from that, many of his ‘fairy tales’ were actually quite grim. There were themes of pain and details of morbidness. Some were outright disturbing, in fact, but nonetheless, he was a fantastic writer. Naming four Disney characters after him is a bit...different, though.

6 An Interesting Reference

People who are film and television aficionados tend to notice things that are referenced to other productions when watching new movies and tv shows faster than the average person.

So, a lot of those people have noticed that in Frozen there are a couple different references to Arrested Development.

Which is a show that is decidedly more on the not-so-family-friendly side of things.

If you are a fan of both Arrested Development and Frozen, you may have immediately noticed the "chicken dance" the family does throughout the series done by none other than the Duke of Weselton in Frozen. He also later states that Elsa is a "monster" and says it in a way very similar to Buster Bluth.

Of course, the references themselves weren’t too risqué by any means, but it’s still an interesting and more grown-up show to have references from in your Disney film.

5 A Sweet Rescue

This is definitely on the lighter side of dark, but still a scary situation. About a year after the film’s release, a young girl was stuck in an elevator. She was absolutely scared out of her mind, and rightfully so. But luckily, the firemen who were trying to save her knew the words to her favorite song. It was none other than ‘Let It Go’.

They then proceeded to sing the song to her to calm her down and then eventually were able to rescue her. Even though this song has been known to grate on the nerves of many parents due to the sheer amount it has been played, it's nice to see that the song was able to help save a young girl's life.

What started out as frightening turned into a beautiful rescue.