Queen Elsa


 * “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 Agnarr and 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 the deuteragonist. She is also known to be the reincarnated host of Elizabeth Artemis.

Personality
As the queen regnant of the kingdom of Arendelle, Elsa appears calm, reserved, regal and--unlike her sister--experienced in grace and poise. Beneath this elegant appearance, however, Elsa is quite complex; in truth, the Snow Queen was, for a majority of her young life, troubled with her abilities, a trait that stems from a traumatic incident as a child. When she was younger, she had cared strongly for Anna and, despite being the more mature and cautious of the two sisters, Elsa was still quite playful and used her magic to have fun and goof off. However, after witnessing her magic nearly cause her sister's death, Elsa had lived in fear and trauma for a great amount of her life as she became too terrified to let her powers overdevelop. She consequently and willingly chose isolation from everyone she cared for, including Anna, out of fear that she could hurt them. This would eventually result in years of loneliness, misery, bitterness and grief. Regret would gradually take its toll on her as well when tragedies struck throughout her life from the accident with her sister to the death of her parents.

Elsa's damaging experience through the crucial stages from childhood to adulthood caused her personality to shift. She became reclusive, lonely, insecure, emotionally unstable, and genuinely depressed. For Elsa, her powers and nature grew more restrained as the years passed, slowly molding her into the cold-hearted queen others saw her to be. When given the chance to rest and relent, however, as seen on the night of her coronation, Elsa's true persona, one that is warm, kind, fun loving, and innocently mischievous, came about—but only briefly, and with restriction.

However, during "Let It Go", Elsa reveals a liberated side to her personality. Without stress or fear of hurting others, the queen is strong and unafraid, yet with an air of elegance still surrounding her. Based on this facet, she has confidence in her abilities and accepts them as a part of her, no longer worried or daunted by her restraints. In the segment, which was entirely about letting go of her fears and embracing herself, Elsa decides to abandon what she was made to be so that she can be free to be herself. When expressing this, Elsa proves that she is incredibly artistic, and a daring young woman willing to reject her own fate as Arendelle's queen for the choice of her own freedom as well as to protect the people in Arendelle from her powers.

Elsa also has an altruistic disposition that contributes to the compassion towards her people. Throughout the entirety of the film, the Snow Queen's actions are driven by the desire to protect her kingdom, and more importantly, her sister, Anna. Unfortunately, that comes with a price, as Elsa's upbringing would lead her to believe that, for the safety of her loved ones, and for the sake of remaining true to who she is as a gifted person, she is a living disaster that must be removed from society. Even with Anna's persistence to help end the curse, Elsa's method of solving the problem—enforced isolation—would remain prevalent. Her determination to solve her problems through singularity is Elsa's greatest flaw, driven by her anxiety and traumatic childhood experiences. Through Anna's continuous act of giving love, however, Elsa would learn the key to finally gaining control over her abilities, and learns that she can be accepted by others while being true to herself.

Following her return to power as Arendelle's reigning monarch, Elsa's original personality, not dominate since childhood, makes a return. With a warm, welcoming aura, Elsa rules her kingdom with a genuine smile, and spends most of her spare time using her abilities for the pleasure of herself, her sister, and the entire kingdom. As seen in Frozen Fever, this aspect of Elsa's personality has not only remained, but strengthened, as the short heavily showcased Elsa's lighter side as fun-loving, and extremely devoted to her sister, yet retained her sense of elegance, vibrancy, and compassion. However, she has also become a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to planning events.

Physical Appearance
At 21 years of age, Elsa has a tall, slender build, with long platinum blonde hair, blue eyes, a small nose, and very pale skin with a light dusting of freckles (a trait she shares with her sister Anna, though less prominent). Her face is the mirror image of her mother, as during her coronation, she bore a striking resemblance to the previous queen, albeit with a different hair color (her mother is a brunette).

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, black long-sleeved turtleneck blouse with red and teal crystal-shaped prints on, 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. Ever since the accident with Anna at age 8, Elsa wears white gloves to contain her powers, but at her coronation, she wears longer, cyan gloves with teal prints on, that go with her outfit. Her eyelids have a dusting of lavender eye shadow and 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 hairband 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 (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, attached to the back of her bodice, wears a long, transparent floor-sweeping cape of sheer ice which is decorated with large snowflakes. 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 hairband 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 also 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 Elsa's 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 also wears emerald green ice kitten heels and a long, transparent floor-sweeping emerald green cape of sheer ice decorated with flower and leaf design (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.

Powers and Abilities

 * “Listen to me, Elsa. Your power will only grow. There is beauty in it... But also great danger! You must learn to control it. Fear will be your enemy.” ―Pabbie


 * Elsa is most iconic being the Snow Queen, and as such, she has complete and total control over cold temperatures and the element of ice and snow (also known as cryokinesis and frigokinesis). With her abilities (that she was apparently born with), Elsa can conjure up and shape various things from snow flurries to blizzards. Most of her powers are unleashed via her hands, and controlled by her emotions. If she's happy and at peace, her powers would be under her complete control, but if she's stressed or fearful, she will lose control and cause great harm to those around her. Near the end of Frozen, it appears that she has gained more control over her powers.


 * Some of what her powers can do are seen throughout the film. In the beginning, she was able to turn the entire castle's ball room into a winter wonderland. She is also able to create enchanted snowmen (both large and small), ice structures such as her ice palace, deadly blizzards as mentioned above, and more. She's also been seen being able to move ice structures at will. It also appears that her control extends to almost all forms of winter weather, as she was able to create a snow cloud for Olaf at the end of the film, and manipulate windstreams to some degree. Interestingly, it would seem that nearly her entire being can conjure ice and snow, as seen when she flees across the fjord - the water immediately starts to freeze the moment her foot touches it.


 * Her powers are most prominently featured during "Let It Go"in which Elsa frees herself from the fear and stress she held, allowing her abilities to run wild. In the sequence she created her ice palace, astairway for entrance, Olaf, as well as her ice gown. During the song, she even points out that her powers protect her from the effects of cold.


 * It is also shown that despite not having any formal training, she is capable of being a fierce fighter with her magic. When the Duke's thugs attack her midway through the movie, she is able to hold them both off on her own.


 * It's also interesting to note that in times when Elsa is truly frightened, her powers might act on their own in order to protect her. In the attack by the Duke's men, an arrow is shot at her from a crossbow. Almost instantly, a wall of ice forms as a shield to intercept the arrow before it would otherwise lodge itself in Elsa's head. So it's possible her ice powers may have a will of their own to some extent, where they respond to whatever Elsa feels. This possibility could explain why she is able to create Olaf, Marshmallow and the Snowgies. Theoretically, in having a mind of its own, it would make sense if the ice powers split part of its sentience off into these external shells created by Elsa, each of whom represent a certain aspect of Elsa's personality. It also appears that her powers depend on which emotion she feels; if she is in sorrow, all the snow particles in the air stand still as if in a state of suspended animation, while anger creates a similar effect to fear but with an offensive direction instead of chaotic versatility.
 * The only way thought to conceal her powers is initially by wearing gloves on her hands, which appeared to negate her icy touch on other objects. However, it's possible this is nothing but a psychological mindset that helps to keep her anxiety and any icy outbursts under control all her life. Because it is her father, one of the few people she trusted, that claims that wearing them will stop her abilities, Elsa believes it to be true, so by wearing gloves she thinks truly stop her powers, as a result of said belief, they do. This is supported by the fact she is able to freeze through the hand shackles in Arendelle's prison cell, in her desperation to get away, proving that covering her hands does not actually stop her power, but rather, sheer force of will and belief.


 * It is shown that if she casts her magic on a living being directly, the victim will not only freeze to death, but slowly transform into an ice statue, and the process only hastens if they are in cold conditions. While the curse can be removed if the magic affects the mind, the heart is the most vulnerable and if this is the case, the victim can only be cured by an act of true love. While Elsa had thought she cannot undo the frosty effects she creates, it is revealed that that she is capable of removing such curses through her love for others, as it is the warmest emotion of all.
 * One interesting thing to note is that when the animators were creating her character, and coming up with ways for her to use her abilities, they came up with a Signature Snowflake for her. This snowflake can be seen multiple times throughout the film on almost everything she creates. Such instances are when she slams her foot into the ground to create the floor of her ice palace in "Let It Go", the pattern on the doors that led to the balcony of her ice palace, and it is the snowflake shown within the "O" in the in-movie logo.


 * It is also shown that Elsa's ice can change colors in accord with her emotions, as shown with her ice palace: it is blue when she is happy, red when she is frightened, purple when she is sad and amber when she is angry. Also, in Frozen Fever, she is shown to be able to create emerald green ice.


 * In Frozen Fever, she can use her powers to create precise effects other than manifesting ice and snow, as she made several color changes to her and Anna's dresses, using flowers that were in the room at the time, and integrated them into their gowns using crystalline ice. She was also shown to create ice sculptures out of thin air and reshape them in any way she wanted.

On Yen Sid's Team
Two years after Elsa mastered her powers and after Anna's Birthday, Elsa figured that everything was back when it used to be, when everyone was happy as Anna and Elsa spend time together, and everyone were enjoying their time for they have their Queen now. But one night, when everyone was asleep, Elsa heard a noise from the courtyard.

As she and Anna saw that there were creatures in the palace, another figure came in with four more figures that helped the girl fight the others. Once the creatures were gone, she thanked the leader of the strangers for saving her. But as the leader figure revealed to be a girl, Elsa started to blush hard than she ever had. The figure introduced herself as Andrea Garcia, and introduced the others as Danny Fenton, Raven Queen, Tinkerbell, and Hiccup Haddock.

As Andrea and the others were about to leave, Elsa asked if she needed anymore members of her team. When Andrea stopped in her tracks, she made a deal with her: If Elsa and her sister would join their team to save kingdoms and lives, then she, Andrea Garcia, will have one of her shape-shifters to take her place so everyone won't panic that the Queen and Princess are gone, in addition, the clones will have memory of everything from Elsa and Anna's past. Elsa accepted the deal, and both she and her sister have been turned into simple rulers to heroines of Yen Sid's Team of Heroes and Heroines.

But, once Elsa knew that she and her sister will be on Yen Sid's team, she promised herself that she and Andrea will have time together. And the worse from Elsa, her sister knows that she has a crush on Yen Sid's daughter; her, Queen Elsa of Arendelle, falling in love with a girl, Andrea Garcia, she just met, even though she said 'You can't marry a man you just met.'

Trivia

 * In all the songs she sings, her powers are present too.
 * "For the First Time in Forever" - freezing jewelry box and candle-stick.
 * "Let It Go" - creating her ice palace and Olaf.
 * "For the First Time in Forever (Reprise)" - accidentally freezing Anna's heart.
 * "Making Today a Perfect Day" - changing the look of her and Anna's dresses and creating the Snowgies every time she sneezed.
 * Elsa is 21-years-old by the time of her coronation, according to Jennifer Lee, the Junior Novelization, and the age difference between her and Anna is at least 3 years (Anna is 18-years-old during the coronation).
 * According to Jennifer Lee and Disney, Elsa's birthday is December 22, the Winter Solstice. Given that the film takes place around the summer, Elsa would have turned 22 by winter.
 * Also, Frozen Fever confirms Anna's birthday to be a year after the film, and the potential year it takes place (1840), indicating that Elsa should have turned 23 that year.


 * Elsa's name (a variant of Elizabeth) is Germanic for "noble". It could also be a reference to Eliza, the heroine of another one of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales, The Wild Swans.


 * From Andrea and Yen Sid, she has Ice Powers like some of the teammates in Yen Sid's Team, like Mizore, Jack Frost, Danny Fenton, and so forth.