#frozen: polar nights

[trixterdark]

I am very pleased that the blacksmith and her wife have appeared in Frozen canon once again

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Frozen novel naming scheme rant

I'm finishing up listening to Frozen 2: Forest of Shadows (so far it's fairly good, at least I really vibe with the prose.....it has.....some hiccups but......maybe I can review it later).

Before I even talk about the book....can I just say....Frozen Novel Naming schemes? Fucking ass. TT0TT Not a braincell was conjured for them I swear. orz A blind monkey could write a better title!

Frozen Twisted Tales: Conceal Don't Feel/Let it Go (US/UK titles respectively)......neither title fits the theme of the book kaljflkdsf CDF is more mysterious, LiG is more iconic....but the novel should've been titled "For the First Time in Forever" TT0TT Nothing is being let go, nothing is being concealed (at least to the extent of the OG story, in fact the whole story is trying to UNCONCEAL something). FtFTiF makes more sense bc FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FOREVER they can reunite TT0TT

Forest of Shadows isn't even an F2 book....IT TAKES PLACE BEFORE F2! TT0TT A month but STILL????? It's a prequel. Where tf does it get off being titled "Frozen 2: FoS"???? Just drop the 2 you wet nugget!

Then there's Polar Nights and....MKDLSJFDLSJF THAT'S THE ONE THAT'S A SEQUEL TO FROZEN 2!!! BUT IT LACKS THE FROZEN 2 IN THE TITLE????!!! WHY???? Is2g Disney I'm going to break into your house and rearrange your furniture so it actually makes fucking sense I hate it here TT0TT

[frozen10fanzine]

As Promised....

8 people, 8 months, 3 social media accounts, and 23 contributions later, we present to you...

Our Love Letter to Frozen, for the 10th Anniversary (if a tad late).

Anna & Elsa have discovered new memories in Ahtohallan - our memories, the fans of Frozen. They found it as the Fifth Spirit. As Sisters.

You can find them here.

As a free, downloadable PDF.

Thank you for all your love and support,

the Water Has Memory Team

[ashleytheartist]

polar nights was so cute

[ericmicael]

I love that Elsa canonically has this opinion in “Disney Frozen Polar Nights: Cast Into Darkness”, but the fandom that doesn't want her to have a relationship simply pretends that part doesn't exist and only remembers her saying she wants to be a "cool aunt" in the future for Anna's children as if that nullified something lol

[justfrozenthings]

They’re so in love, I love it for them ❤️

Polar Nights Cast Into Darkness by Jen Calonita and Mari Mancusi

[bigfrozenfan]

The History of Arendelle: A FROZEN Timeline

The History of Arendelle is much more than just a recap of Frozen I & II. In this video timeline we'll dive deep into Frozen lore that spans novels, comics, podcasts, and more! This video is made in close association with the Arendelle Archives, a group of Frozen superfans who've mapped out the lore and history very well. Find links to download some of their resources below! This video is also made in collaboration with ModernMouse and Josh Taylor plays a new in-universe Frozen character, named Josh Taylorson, a Royal Historian of Arendelle.

TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Introduction 1:44 ch. i - How the Timeline Works 4:30 ch. ii - The 1790s: Arendelle's Grand Reinvention 6:23 ch. iii - April 1812: The Battle of the Dam 7:51 ch. iv - 1812-1840: Dangerous Secrets - The Story of Iduna and Agnarr 11:03 ch. v - 1830-1840: Arendelle's Dark Years 14:05 ch. vi - July 1843: Frozen 17:19 ch. vii - July 1843: Once Upon a Snowman 17:39 ch. viii - December 1843: Olaf's Frozen Adventure 18:49 ch. ix - June 1844: Frozen Fever 19:54 ch. x - 1846: The Joe Caramagna Graphic Novels 22:21 ch. xi - September 1846: Forest of Shadows 24:24 ch. xii - September/October 1846: Frozen II 27:44 ch. xiii - December 1846: Polar Nights - Cast Into Darkness 29:17 ch. xiv - Spring 1847: Forces of Nature - Season One 30:44 Conclusion

ARENDELLE ARCHIVES RESOURCES: Annals of Frozen 2nd Edition The FrozenVerse - A List of All Official and Licensed Works Frozen Canon Talk 4th Edition Maps & Geography Anna and Elsa’s Lost Family Members

Download a high-quality PNG of the Frozen Timeline on Patreon

[true--north]

[greatqueenanna]

Your take on Queen Rita? I'm curious 😎

You know how some fans will often say that the writers tend to ignore the fact that Iduna and Agnarr made bad choices? And that the films just have the sisters give their parents nothing but praise? (I mostly disagree, but I get where they’re coming from).

Well, that’s how I feel about Queen Rita. She shows up in two books, Dangerous Secrets and Polar Nights, and in both the authors try to paint her as a wonderful person and mother who was this beautifully tragic figure.

I really don’t agree. At all. I think she was incredibly selfish for abandoning her son and leaving him with a cold father. She literally erased her memories of him so she wouldn’t feel bad about leaving him behind. I literally can’t with this woman.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if she showed up as a villain I’m F3? Kidding, kidding. Mostly.

[hafanforever]

Bad Blood

Frozen and Frozen II shows two generations of the Arendellian royal family tree. While most of these past and present rulers were/are good, decent, benevolent people, there is one person who stands out from the rest of them in terms of personality and deeds: Runeard.

The third act of Frozen II reveals that Runeard was not at all the kind, giving, generous ruler that his granddaughters and the Arendellians believed he was. Elsa learns this when she comes upon a manifestation of him in Ahtohallan, during which his memory figure reveals his abhorrence of magic, distrust of and bigotry towards the Northuldra because they follow magic, and that the dam he built in the Enchanted Forest was to ruin them, not help them as he claimed. Dangerous Secrets revealed more about Runeard regarding the depths of his cruelty and how distant he was towards his family. And now Polar Nights has uncovered even more of Runeard’s evil ways: he lied about the circumstances surrounding the death of Princess Sissel of Vesterland, saying that she was murdered by her Inger, her younger sister, because she was jealous and wanted the crown for herself, and it all had to do with him making sure he could build the dam and ruin the Northuldra.

With the film, the two novels, and the film’s novelization uncovering the malevolence of the former king of Arendelle, I wish to write one more essay discussing his villainy, and how his nature makes him stand out from the rest of his family, making him the bad blood in his family tree. 😉

Lying King, Drama Queen

I’ve said this countless times in my analyses about him, but with what Polar Nights has revealed about him in terms of his malevolence, I will say it once again. Though he appeared to outsiders as a noble, kind, generous, peaceful king, Runeard was truly a cruel, hateful, selfish, dishonest, bigoted, paranoid tyrant who was so obsessed with his power and status that he prioritized it over everything and everyone else. In his position, he arrogantly believed he was the smartest and best person of all in society, and prejudicially considered everyone else who was below him in status to be inferior to him in every way. Such people included his family, soldiers, servants, and even his people and other peasants. Runeard was so dead set on preserving his power at all costs that he wouldn’t tolerate anything he perceived as a competition, challenge, or threat to it, especially magic and beings who had any connections to magic. If anyone got in the way of his schemes, he would try to get rid of them (not excluding murder), though in subtle, secret ways to cover his dark motives and avoid having his people uncover his his good facade. When he and his kingdom met the Northuldra, indigenous peasants who lived far north in the Enchanted Forest with elemental magical spirits, Runeard pretended to accept and make peace with them. In truth, however, he feared their magical ties meant they would try to defy and overpower him, maybe even take over his kingdom, so he refused to take a chance in trusting them and orchestrated a plot to eliminate them. But being fearful of what the spirits’ magic could do if he tried using direct force, Runeard decided to take a more subtle approach by building a dam to ruin the Enchanted Forest and eventually the people. He knew the adverse effects a dam has in a natural environment, and in his arrogance, he knew his people, and assumed the Northuldra, would not have this same knowledge, allowing him to fool all of them into believing his lie that the dam would be built as a gift of peace.

To build the dam, Runeard needed the financial contributing of neighboring kingdoms, one of which was Vesterland, and he invited the heir princess Sissel and her little sister Inger to Arendelle to discuss their patronage. Being an avid environmentalist and aspiring scientist, Inger realized the crushing effects the dam would have to the ecosystem of the Enchanted Forest. It would also lead to the extinction/migration of animals, which would deprive Vesterland of food sources. While Runeard knew the negative consequences of what the dam would do to the forest and to Vesterland, as Sissel said, he just didn’t care. This shows just how selfish and uncaring Runeard was about how his actions affected other things and other people, unless it suited himself. Despite Inger’s persistence, Sissel feared speaking up against Runeard, worried that doing so would lead to him punishing their kingdom by preventing them from receiving food, medicine, and other tradable supplies, since he controlled the port. Inger finally managed to talk some courage into Sissel, who agreed to request a new audience and tell Runeard that Vesterland would not contribute in funding the dam’s construction. In doing so, the sisters could have also told other kingdoms that the dam would actually harm, not help, the forest and convince these kingdoms not to help with building it, either.

Without enough funds needed to construct the dam, the project would never get off the ground, and Runeard’s true sinister intentions could have been exposed to outsiders. However, it was seconds later that tragedy struck when Sissel was swept into the nearby river by a flash flood and drowned as Inger looked on helplessly. Inger and Stig Petter, a shepherd boy who was the sole witness to Sissel's death, went to Runeard to report the accident. Even with Sissel dead, Inger would have never stopped fighting to make sure Runeard could not build the dam. Seeing an opportunity to be permanently rid of a vocal opponent of the dam, and to ensure its construction got off the ground, Runeard blackmailed Stig into lying that Inger killed her sister for the crown. If Stig didn’t do it, Runeard said he would tell people Stig helped Inger do it and face imprisonment, or face an even worse punishment. Though Stig tried to stand up for himself by outright telling Runeard he would tell other people about these threats, Runeard laughed scornfully in his face and said that no one would ever believe the word of a poor shepherd against that of a king. This confirms what I have theorized that Runeard thought lowly of shepherds and other such peasants, meaning his bigotry extended to classism. Fearing for his life, Stig relented and testified in court that Inger had murdered her sister, and Runeard then rewarded Stig for his lie with bribe money. Though he used this money to buy a home in the village outside of Harmon and no longer had to be a shepherd, Stig was too ashamed to ever face the outside world again for what his lie had caused. Runeard then sent Inger on a ship to the gallows so she could be hanged.

Being so mad with power and protective of it, Runeard did not even care about his own family. He only wanted a child because he needed a successor to rule Arendelle when he passed away, and he got married because it was the only legal way for him to produce an heir. Furthermore, he married Rita because she was a princess in another kingdom, and he saw marriage to another monarch as just another way to increase his status and power, not to mention using the alliance between their kingdoms to his own advantage. To Runeard, Rita and Agnarr were mere assets to his image and their kingdom instead of people to love. Outside of their own royal ranks, Runeard otherwise saw his wife and son as obligations and burdens for whom he did not want any true responsibility. Having been in an arranged married with Rita, he showed her no love or freedom during the years they were married. While Runeard gave her every kind of material good he thought she could ever want, this was the only kindness (albeit superficial) he showed Rita; all other times, he was cruel, neglectful, and verbally abusive to her and refused to treat her as his equal partner. One of their most infamous disagreements was the fate of Inger following Sissel’s death. Rita believed that Inger was innocent since she had gotten to know both sisters during their visit. But being set on destroying the threat he thought the Northuldra posed to him, Runeard was bound and determined that his plans to construct the dam came to fruition, even if it meant lying and getting rid of innocent bystanders who got in his way. When Rita tried to speak up for Inger in court, he silenced her and sent her to her chambers (and most likely locked her in to keep her from interfering) once she became a liability. With another obstacle to his scheme out of the way, Runeard had Inger wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to death. However, when the prison ship that was to carry Inger to the gallows set sail, Inger was not on it. What Runeard didn’t know was that Rita defied him by secretly arranging a way to help Inger escape by paying several men to take her off the ship and giving her safe passage to another.

As the years went by, Rita did find one source of joy from her union with Runeard, that being their son, Agnarr. She spent a lot of time caring for him and playing with him as he grew, and she even made him the puffin doll known as Sir JorgenBjorgen. However, Rita eventually became so depressed from missing her home that she spent all of her time in her room, lying in bed and crying as she pined for the life she left behind. Unable to understand how she could be so sad when she had everything she could ever desire, Runeard grew impatient with her and accused her of being ungrateful. After enduring years of nothing but mistreatment from her husband, and knowing that he would never allow her to leave otherwise, Rita finally broke down and went to the trolls in the Valley of the Living Rock. She begged Pabbie to erase her memories of her marriage and life in Arendelle just so she could have the free will to leave. After Rita vanished, Runeard was unwilling to accept he had been an awful husband and publicly blamed it on evil spirits. He also sought to remove all evidence of Rita's existence by locking away all her things and banishing anyone who would so much as even speak her name.

Besides feeling superior to other people, being king also made Runeard a very self-righteous, delusional person who believed he could never do any wrong. As a result, he refused to ever take responsibility for his own mistakes and problems that occurred in Arendelle and instead took the easy way out by using scapegoats, but particularly magical spirits since magic cannot defend itself. The best example was when Runeard blamed magic for Rita's disappearance since he refused to believe that he alone drove her away. Runeard cultivated undeserved xenophobia towards magic and its users in his kingdom so often that he successfully manipulated his people into doing the same, in which they would blame their own problems on magical spirits and see magic as an evil entity that is only meant to be feared. This shows that he was a direct influence over the kingdom's distrust of magic and anyone with ties to magic for decades, even long after his death.

Though Dangerous Secrets and Polar Nights are the only sources that have provided anything about Rita, albeit only a small bit, what they unveiled about her paints a portrait of a good (as in better than the kind of person her husband was) yet flawed woman. Polar Nights reveals that she took a big risk when she went against Runeard’s orders and secretly helped Inger escape Arendelle to avoid being executed for a crime she never committed. This proves that Rita was a good, kind, selfless woman who believed in doing what was right and helping those in need, especially the innocent. However, Dangerous Secrets shows she had a selfish side since she left Agnarr behind when she fled Arendelle. Though she had wanted to take him with her, she realized that there were too many risks in doing so, not simply for herself, but for him. If she fled into the night with Agnarr, Runeard would hunt them down just to get him back, though it would have out of him not wanting Rita to get away with taking his heir rather than out of genuine concern for Agnarr’s wellbeing. The worst possibility that he would start a war with Rita’s home country and thus endanger many innocent lives, including Agnarr. While some of my closest friends and I argue whether she was selfish or selfless to abandon Agnarr, I see it as both. Yes, it was selfish for her to just up and leave him, but I felt that for those first five years of Agnarr’s life, he was her only motive for staying; in other words, she loved Agnarr so much that she couldn’t bear to not be in his life. Perhaps she also stayed because she wanted to shield him from Runeard as much and as often as she could so that Agnarr’s nature would never be influenced by that of his father. When Rita finally left, however, I believe that she didn’t take Agnarr because by then, she felt inadequate to care for him all by herself. Perhaps she thought she was no longer a good mother to him and thought he was better off without her. While it still sounds selfish of her since she clearly knew Runeard would never be there for their son, maybe she felt Agnarr had a greater chance of living a good life in Arendelle with the good influences of their servants than with her if she abruptly left and dragged him with her into the unknown.

Once Rita was gone, Runeard was left alone with Agnarr. Not wanting to be responsible for his son’s welfare himself, he apparently left him in the care of the staff, at some point assigning him his own personal guard in Lieutenant Mattias. In the little seen of their relationship through Frozen II, its novelization, and Dangerous Secrets, Runeard was just as neglectful and abusive to Agnarr as he was to Rita. He was hardly involved in actually raising him, and whenever he did give Agnarr his attention, he treated him as an official (and expected him to always act as such) rather than a son. When he informed Agnarr that Rita was gone, he lied to him about it, saying she was carried off by evil spirits and wouldn’t come back. Of course, Agnarr spent many nights in his room, crying for his mother and wishing for her to come back. In response, much like he did with Rita when she spent so much time wallowing in grief and homesickness, Runeard was not sympathetic to his son’s grief. He grew annoyed with Agnarr’s continuous weeping and yelled at him for it, presumably telling him things like “Just get over it. She’s never coming back, and crying isn’t going to help.” Although he obviously couldn’t banish Agnarr for mentioning Rita, there is no doubt that Runeard otherwise refused to let him talk about her or let the staff talk about her if Agnarr tried to ask them questions. In doing so, Runeard persistently refused to let Agnarr have any memories of Rita, and if Gerda hadn’t hid away Sir JorgenBjorgen, he would have surely disposed of the toy. Whatever callous, harsh words Runeard told Agnarr then made him repress many of his emotions growing up, which especially came into play when he was thrust into unofficial kinghood following Runeard’s death and Lord Peterssen taught him the “Conceal, don’t feel, don’t let it show” mantra.

When the dam was finally finished, a celebration was held in the forest to in honor of the union between the two groups of people. Once the two groups came together, Runeard flicked Agnarr under the chin and ordered him to stand tall and be regal before telling him to stay with Mattias. Agnarr watched dejectedly as his father walked off with the soldiers and some of the tribe members, knowing Runeard did not want him around and wanted him to act like a prince, not like a child. A short time later, Runeard and Agnarr had their last interaction with each other during which the king harshly scolded his son for wandering off and exploring, then did so again when the latter voiced his fascination with the magic of the forest. Runeard angrily reminded him that magic is not to be admired but feared, and when Agnarr tried to apologize and explain himself, his father callously dismissed him without even saying goodbye. Later in the day, while many of the people were watching a reindeer riding event, the leader of the Northuldra confronted Runeard on his realizations that the dam was hurting the forest instead of helping it. Worrying someone else could overhear, Runeard suggested they meet privately on the fjord to discuss the matter. Once the two men were alone together, the evil king snuck up behind the leader and mercilessly murdered him, all just to prevent him from telling anyone else the truth about the dam. Immediate following the murder, Runeard claimed it was “For Arendelle”, though in reality, it was all just for his own selfish, sinister desires.

Knowing that the Northuldra would eventually discover their leader’s absence, Runeard panicked and diverted suspicion from himself by instigating the war with the tribe. He led his soldiers to believe the Northuldra had betrayed Arendelle and had attacked first. But since Runeard carried out this act on impulse, he showed negligence by not thinking about how his actions would affect everyone else, though at worst, if he did think about it, he obviously did not care. This whole move was his final act of blaming something to avoid taking responsibility for his own sins, and in doing so, he committed several more despicable acts, a few of which were even done posthumously:

His actions caused the two groups to fight meaninglessly, endangering many innocents and causing dozens of casualties on both sides. This undoubtedly proved that Runeard’s obsession with his kingship was so great that he had complete disregard for the lives of others around him and how what he did affected them.

His final act of neglecting Agnarr was putting him in great danger upon starting the war. While Mattias tried to protect him, the prince still got caught in the worst of the battle, ultimately being launched into a boulder and slipping into unconsciousness. Had Iduna not rescued him, Agnarr surely would have died, which would have Runeard’s bloodline entirely.

He indirectly trapped both the surviving Arendellians and Northuldra in a magical mist for decades to come, forcing them all to suffer due to his own xenophobia and wrath.

By painting the Northuldra as traitors who started the battle, Runeard made the Arendellians think that the tribe were a hostile group of people who would attack when/if given the chance, causing their hatred of them to grow to the point that they would kill any Northuldra who came upon the kingdom, forcing Iduna to hide her heritage for most of her life in Arendelle.

The Prince and the Pauper

Despite an unhappy childhood and being forced into early unofficial kinghood, Agnarr grew up to be a good man. This was most likely due to the (short-lived) good influences of his mother, Lieutenant Mattias, and his servants (including Kai and Gerda), and the fact that Runeard was hardly ever involved in raising him in the first place. Shortly after the battle in the Enchanted Forest, Agnarr met and befriended Iduna, who, unbeknownst to him, was Northuldra and the person who helped him escape the forest. By the time they were teens, they had become best friends and then fell in love, though they were worried that the differences in their social classes would keep them from being together forever. As the years grew closer for Agnarr to finally officially ascend to the throne, the council of Arendelle began pressuring him to consider marriage with another royal in order to create a political alliance (which is the kind of marriage his parents had) for the good of the realm. Agnarr felt such a transition would be difficult, as he didn’t think he could love another woman as much as he loved Iduna, and that other women couldn’t compare to her.

By this time, Agnarr had discovered the truth behind his mother’s disappearance. He and Iduna decided to visit the trolls for answers, and they learn from Pabbie that Rita married Runeard only out of duty to her own kingdom, and that she had her memories erased and left when she could no longer live with her homesickness and being trapped in a loveless marriage. Although Agnarr initially feels contempt at the revelation that Rita had left him behind, this quickly turns to sadness when Pabbie explains that she felt that it was the best option for him since there were too many potential bad repercussions if she took him with her.

However, Kai and Gerda had done their homework and discovered there was no law in Arendelle that said its reigning monarch must marry another monarch. They revealed this news to Agnarr and told him that they didn’t want to see him end up like his mother. When Gerda revealed she also saved Sir JorgenBjorgen and returns it to him, Agnarr tearfully looked at the stuffed animal and finally recalled the few happy memories he had of Rita. He believed that if his mother could see him now, she would encourage him to marry Iduna because he loved her, rather than marry a princess just for the good of Arendelle, since he was now at the same crossroads she had been when she had been forced to marry Runeard.

Like I said in “Family Matters”, Agnarr vowed to be a better man, husband, father, and king that his own father had been because of his genuine love for Iduna and from learning that his mother was abused and mistreated by Runeard just as he had been. From what both movies and the rest of Dangerous Secrets reveal, Agnarr managed to make good on that promise, with a lot of help and encouragement from Iduna. While he was surprised upon discovering Elsa was born with magic, he accepted her regardless and saw her as his daughter first rather than simply his heir. Though due to the Arendellians' hostility towards magic, Agnarr decided to keep Elsa's powers subdued and hidden from the kingdom as she was growing up.

After the accident with Anna, Agnarr vowed they would protect Elsa and help her learn to control her powers. Iduna initially questions if separating the girls and locking the gates is a good idea. Agnarr assures her that it will just be temporary, and that he wants to do it to protect the girls from the Arendellians’ potential reaction to Elsa’s magic, especially if they knew she had harmed Anna with it (even though it was a genuine accident). Following ten years of keeping the girls separated and no success in helping Elsa control her magic, Iduna finally reveals her Northuldra heritage to Agnarr and while he is initially shocked, that doesn’t stop him from still loving her. And when she tells him about Ahtohallan and that it might hold the answer to Elsa’s powers, Agnarr does not hesitate in accepting Iduna’s proposition to find it. Him saying, “I would go to the ends of the earth to help her” proved that his love for Elsa was unconditional, despite potential risks.

Although they made mistakes in having Elsa conceal her powers and keeping their daughters separated in struggling to help Elsa, Agnarr and Iduna still had good intentions and did what they thought was best for the girls. They put their daughters before their kingdom, ultimately proving that family truly came first for the former king and queen.

Arendelle: The Next Generation

While Agnarr and Iduna cherished and loved both their daughters, Anna and Elsa had unhappy childhoods since they were five and eight, respectively. Following the accident of almost killing Anna with her magic, Elsa was plagued with post-traumatic stress disorder and struggled to control her powers for 13 years. Likewise, Anna experienced loneliness and longing for Elsa after never being told why they had to be separated. Yet despite being somewhat damaged from their childhoods, Elsa and Anna grew up to be utterly kind, selfless, giving, loving people who care more about others than themselves, making them virtually devoid of all the flaws their grandfather possessed. They never show any true care or obsession for the power or status they possess as monarchs, nor do they see other people as being below them. They accept everyone they meet and treat them as equals rather than inferiors, regardless of their differences, including their servants, people, and even outsiders.

While Elsa has magical powers, both she and Anna share a common strength of unconditional love and a selfless desire to do what is right, especially for the good of others around them. When they discover their grandfather’s true motives for building the dam, they aim do what is right by destroying it to free the cursed mist on the forest. In doing so, they work together to bring a real union of peace between Arendelle and the Northuldra, effectively tarnishing Runeard’s legacy forever.

Final Thoughts

Though all the past and present king and queens of Arendelle were flawed, all of them but Runeard were ultimately good people and benevolent rulers. This makes Runeard stand out from the rest of them, almost like a black sheep (or even like a “big bad black sheep” instead of calling him a big bad wolf 😆). While his descendants do contain some of his flaws, like Anna possibly inheriting some of his extreme stubbornness, it’s clear that they otherwise nothing like him, and the good in them was passed down from their parents and Rita (and most likely Iduna’s own deceased parents).

In summary, for every effort he made to heighten the sovereignty of his reign, protect his power, and obliterate the Northuldra, Runeard’s reckless actions ultimately were his undoing. He got himself killed, almost got his son killed, and put Arendelle in danger due to an architectural oversight (the dam was built on the very fjord where Arendelle sits). Furthermore, Runeard also caused his worst fears to become reality, since his son married not a princess but a Northuldran (the very race he hated and wanted to eliminate) and had two children, the oldest of whom was born with magic (the very thing Runeard detested most), who rectified his crimes and formed a true alliance with their people and the Northuldra.

First image here is a fan art of the first Arendellian royal family, made by my dear friend @greatqueenanna. 

[virtual-winter]

Even though I’ve been an avid reader/consumer of different Frozen-related Tumblr-blogs since Christmas of 2015 (iirc), I never felt the desire to enter the platform as an active user until early summer this year. Until now, my main fandom platforms have been Reddit and Discord and stepping into any new social app is always a big process for me. I want to send a big thank you to my friend Yumeka who recommended me to make a blog of my own! 🤗

I knew right away that I wanted to use this blog not only to make better connections with other Frozen fans but also to make it a place to showcase some projects, works and edits that I’ve produced during my years in the fandom. I also knew I wanted to use it to share insights and observations about lore, trivia and other things that are presented to us both in the official animated releases but also from sources outside of the movies. Something along the lines of a “quote of the day” or “prompt of the day” type of blog, only perhaps not as frequent 😉

When it comes to making little fandom projects of my own I tend to be, how should I phrase it, not amazingly fast or efficient. Very much like a certain Snow Queen, I just want things to be “perfect”. So when it comes to creating new stuff, I usually take plenty of time. However, thanks to having almost 9 years of fandom “experience”, I feel there are a lot of older goodies made by me and other fans that deserve to be revisited and remembered. So you can expect plenty of reblogs of other awesome works by talented people!

This blog will also be something of a trip down memory-lane for myself as I intend to revisit and share my own Frozen memories and experiences.

So, here is what you can expect to see from me:

I will attempt to keep content somewhat categorised, but the exact definitions may be subject to changes in the future.

Showcasing Frozen fan projects Posts that highlight analyses, compilations, lists etc. Both from Arendelle Archives (see below) and other sources (e.g. other Tumblr-users and Reddit).

Arts and edits Deep-dives into both new and old pieces that have inspired me and plenty of self-made edits and cover art!

Frozen observations Presenting lore and trivia from the extended Frozenverse (i.e. movies, shorts plus all other Frozen-content).

Frozen memories Personal stories from the fandom and moments that helped shape me and my “Frozen experience”.

My Frozen library What’s on my bookshelf? Could also include some collector items and non-Frozen things.

Admin stuff Blog updates (like this one) and other content that isn’t exclusive to Frozen including  photos, personal messages, things like that.

In the coming week(s), I will have plenty to do presenting the fan project “Arendelle Archives” which is a reincarnation of a supposed 19th century Arendellian royal institution that recorded and preserved important historical and natural events in the world of Frozen. It was started by my friends Saiten and FrozenHeart with their impressive timeline project “Annals of Frozen” in 2021. More on that later.

That's it for now! I hope I can contribute more to the fandom on this platform. There are plenty of Frozen observations to be made!

See ya

[allseeinganalyst]

Frozen II Novels - Review

It's been a while since I reviewed or analyzed anything here. This blog was made for that exact purpose, but I've posted one half-hearted review-ish thing about Mob Psycho and the Nanoha look-back is taking a while.

Part of that is due to being that I find myself in weird mental spaces more often than I'd like. The internet is a hell-hole, but it's also one that's borderline impossible (and certainly very impractical) to actually just sever ties to. I've ditched Twitter and I don't use TikTok (except to look at videos my partner sends me), but I still get, somehow, hit with a lot of LOUD, SHOUTY voices that seem to make it impossible to enjoy anything.

After about three-to-four midlife crises about things (i'm 30 this November), and a chat to my partner, I've managed to get the mental TARDIS that is my mind up and running again, ready to tour the fictional universe and enjoy what is has to offer, getting back into the things I love, without getting bogged down in the screeching of fandoms and social media.

Gods, that was a very long way of trying to say "I read a cool Frozen book."

Frozen 2 - Forest of Shadows and Frozen: Polar Nights - Cast into Darkness are two original novels set in the world of Frozen (Duh.) Forest of Shadows was released in 2019 and I actually read it back then, while Polar Nights was released in 2022, and I picked it up from Target and read it in march of 2023.

To get this out of the way, while it does sometimes throw people off, I am actually a big fan of Frozen. I've loved it since the first movie. It's not my favourite Disney film (that would be Tangled, and whoo-BOY, will we get to Tangled related media at some point on this blog!), it's probably a close second. I love the animation, I love the songs, I love the characters and I love the world. I was even sad when the hype for Frozen died down, and no, I don't think Enchanto is better - That's another LOUD SCREECHY OPINION that I'm not sad to hear less of.

These are obviously not the only Frozen novels out there. I do own "A Frozen Heart", which I've really got to get around to, because apparently it contains some Hans backstory, and Hans is a character I'm really interested in learning more about, and obviously there is a slew of additional Frozen media. Frozen-Mania gripped the world in a chokehold not seen since the god-damn Shrek movies, and it had an effect on our media and culture so great that no doubt, someday there will be an essay on youtube by Super Eyepatch Wolf explaining and analyzing the overwhelming impact of a Disney movie from 2013 and the INSANE fandom that sprung out of it - which I was a part of from very early on, and quite honestly you can use it as a self-contained example of how fandom has changed since then... BUT I'M DIGRESSING.

The point I was trying to make here is that, most of the media released post the original Frozen movie is fairly generic. Baring one or two things, and of course, the animated shorts, a lot of it is standard kids stuff - Storybooks, Quick Reads, Junior novels, picture books, etc. Some of it is really fun, and the art was almost always either a wonderful, bright cartoonish 2D style, or a painterly, soft style that's really pretty to look out - But not a lot of is espeically unique. It's got a "Frozen Flavour" to it, but it's all very standard. If you changed one or two things, you could swap out Elsa and Anna for Rapunzel, or Ariel, or any other number of Disney Princess characters and the stories would be more-or-less the same. Stuff that mum and dad can give to their kids to let them have their Frozen fix without having to endure "Let it Go" one more time. (Side note: If you do happen to be one of those people who're bitching about how over saturated that song is - Fuck you, I'm going to play it again on purpose.)

The point I'm getting around to is that these books, cheep target paperbacks they may be, are not that. There's a distinct world and continuity here, and it's even possible to place a timeline.

These books (I believe there may be a third between them for a reason I'll get too shortly) have recurring characters, direct continuity and callbacks. All of them expand on the world of Frozen, moving away from the generic Disney-Princess storytelling of kingdom mishaps and "oh-no! character X is lost/upset/lost a precious item/wants to do something special/has a special occasion/etc" and into a deliberately constructed world, with a soft but distinct influence from Nordic and Sandenavian folklore.

They are not perfect, but they are worth talking about. Spoilers abound below, for those of you who are interested!

I'm not going to summarize the plots. I want to talk what I find interesting, annoying, curious, fun or frustrating about these books. These reviews are intended as a form of looking after my own mental health anyway. If you're interested, I've given names and pictures of the covers. Go look them up. Or better yet, read the books yourselves and tell me what you think!

The coolest (pun 400% intended) part about these books is they are clearly on a timeline. They're designed to slot very nicely into Frozen canon, and do so very tightly I might add. The timeline that we can establish is:

Frozen > 3 YEARS > Forest of Shadows > Frozen 2 > Polar Nights.

Forest of Shadows leads directly into the events of Frozen 2, even referencing the scene where Elsa wakes up the spirits at the end, while Polar Nights is explicitly stated to be a matter of 2-3 months since Anna took the throne.

During that 3 YEARS period there, you can obviously slot in Frozen Fever, Olaf's christmas special and probably one or two of the storybook stuff released post Frozen. If the (hilarious) "Olaf Reenacts Disney Movies" shorts are in ANY way canon (and... They MIGHT be to some degree, I'll get to this later...) they almost definitely slot in between Frozen 2 and Polar Nights. Again, I'll get to why later.

I believe I am missing a novel or story somewhere that fits into the same timeline as Polar Nights references an event that's a bit too specific to not have been depicted in some form of media, but I can only work with what I find locally. Although I am in no uncertain terms a fan, I only have so many resources and time to put toward things, and Frozen isn't at the top of that list. If a novel appears on a store shelf, I'll buy it. If it doesn't, I go without.

While my thoughts are mostly focused on Polar Nights, because I read Forest of Shadows over 3 years ago. I'm talking about both novels for the most part.

They are decent in size. Small enough for kids to read with no trouble, but more than a short story. Both tell full length, original stories.

These books paint a slightly wider view of Arendelle and it's surroundings than what we see from the movies. Neighboring kingdoms are mentioned by name (including Corona - Rapunzel's kingdom from Tangled. - Again, I'm going to get back to this later), and there are several named, recurring characters like Tuva and Ada, lesbian blacksmith wives (explicitly mentioned as being married) or Sorensson, the Astronomer who lives far outside of Arendelle and is introduced in Forest of Shadows, then plays a small but significant role in Polar Nights. There's recurring references to Aren of Arendelle, the founder of Elsa and Anna's kingdom, and a secret room or passage discovered in one book is referenced and used again in the next. It's really consistent and it makes it feel rewarding to read these novels. I very much doubt that any future Frozen visual media will reference their events, but if the stories themselves can keep a continuity across writers, then that's good enough for me to feel like I'm really in a bona-fide expanded universe.

There's some stuff in these books that I have personally wanted to see since the first movie. Things like finding out how Anna never recovered the original memories the trolls took from her, or finding out what Elsa spends a lot of her time doing in Ahtohallan...

(conjuring ice memories, apparently. Yeah, seems like while she's not going to "drowning depth" again, she is using her magical ice powers to pull up home-movies of her parents... Gotta wonder if she didn't accidentally pull up one of their date nights and then shattered the whole thing into ice shards in a panic once her dad put on the Barry White music.)

The books ALSO give me something that I have held in my head since the very first movie - Anna cracking jokes about her past and her mistakes.

I've always loved the idea that Anna doesn't seem the type to get all "Shell-Shocked PTSD Veteran" over her traumatic memories. That's Elsa's job, so I've always imagined she makes a lot of jokes and lighthearted fun out of it. Like, she seems the type to go: "OH HEY! That's a great statue of me! And I'd know! I've been a statue! Made of ice! Wanna see me do the pose?"

And while we don't get that exactly, we do get her ribbing Elsa about having Marshmallow throw her out of her ice castle, grumbling about how "Hans isn't actually THAT good looking", and generally having a sense of "oh no, I remember what happened LAST TIME..." about her. It's not as explicit as I'd like, but it's there and it helps with that feeling of the world being alive and moving. These characters do remember what happened yesterday. They are actively learning their lessons and trying to avoid the mistakes of their past.

The stories are compelling enough. While not groundbreaking, edge-of-your seat page turners, they both offer an adventure that's very much on brand for Frozen, effectively utilizing the characters and the world. This isn't a story where you could change a few names and slap Aurora or Belle or Ariel in instead. These stories feel tailored to Elsa and Anna. Unfortunately, there's a bit of an issue that I assume arises from being an author hired to write your own original entry into a carefully curated, multi-million dollar franchise, owned by the real world's full on Mega-Corp.

See, while I love the connected, constructed world these novels build around the movies - They do in-fact, happen to be being built around the Frozen media franchise, and Disney have been notoriously strict with this before.

If you were a part of the early Frozen fandom (again, I was), you might remember the sheer excitement around when it was announced that Elsa and Anna, as well as Arendelle and a number of other movie characters would be coming to Once Upon a Time, flinging the universe of Frozen into unexpected live action.

I'm not going to get into my thoughts around OUAT, because... YEAH I'm trying to be focused and that is worth a WHOLE other blog post - which I don't have any REAL desire to write out unless someone BEGGED me to do it, but long story short, given that the show explicitly is alternate continuity for ALL Disney's franchises, it had a lot of leeway in what it could do with it's regular cast... But not the Frozen characters. Although the writers did get to play around creating new backstory and lore, and chopping and changing a bit, there was a strictness to what they could and couldn't do with the characters. They couldn't give Elsa a love interest. They couldn't dramatically change anything from the movie. Characters had firmly fixed personalities that were absolutely not allowed the usual "flex" of OUAT - No extra edginess snuck in, nothing out of character.

(They did have incredible costumes though. Way better than any other live action projects that I've seen).

My point in all of this is, that was explicitly in an alternate universe. OUAT had NEVER had any bearing on any of the franchises it pulled it's roster from, and was marketed to a whole different audience.

These books are NOT. They are marketed toward the same audience as the movies, and are intended to fit alongside it. And it is painfully obvious that Disney holds a tight leash when it comes to ways for writers to interpret their billion-dollar characters. Obviously this is pure speculation, but I would imagine the writers for these novels were given dedicated character bios of characters like Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Olaf and not allowed to deviate or even go into much depth beyond what was listed in those bios.

I say this for a couple of reasons - The most notable of which is the dialogue, and to a lesser extent the character actions. Characters have an unfortunate tendency to sprout stiff, unnatural dialogue, based on certain things that were mentioned in the moves.

Nowhere is this more egregious than with Anna and chocolate. The movies mention her having it as her favorite treat, and she has like two memorable moments involving it in the first movie, but the books treat it like it is NEVER off her mind. If the books mention Anna wanting to do ANYTHING, most of the time, it involves chocolate in some way. She brings it with her on expeditions. She can't wait to get back to the castle and eat some. She has a "choco-versary" with Kristoff, the anniversary of the first time they ate chocolate together. It comes off as a weird obsession, instead of the favorite food it was in the movies. Similarly, she's mentioned as having "Sandwiches" as her favorite meal a few times. Not only is this FRUSTRATINGLY non-specific, it also seems PURELY based on her one line in "Love is an Open Door" and it's callback during her conversation with Kristoff in the first movie... Although to be fair, this did also get a call back in Frozen Fever where we see her be enthusiastic about one, so... whatever.

It gets stiff with dialogue between characters too. Almost every conversation with Elsa and Anna seems to drift towards "we were seperated, but now we are together again, and I love you and am so proud of you!". They'll discuss the plot, and they do have some genuinely great moments (like Elsa talking about the trolls and Anna pointing out, somewhat sadly, that "no, sis, I can't remember, they took my memories as a child...") but a lot of it is re-hashing their end-of-movie "sisterly bond" stuff. It's a real shame especially in Polar Nights, because that is set AFTER Frozen 2. We could have had scenes of Anna asking Elsa for help ruling as Queen, or Elsa observing how Anna does things differently from her, but we learn nothing more about how these two interact than what we already knew.

The other problem that I assume crops up from Disney's strict oversight is that it's obvious the writers are not allowed to affect the world too much. They can play with the figures in it, but can't change the landscape dramatically. This is understandable, as it's unlikely the Mega-Mouse wants some kids novel throwing out a detail that might force them to change how they write the next movie. They're not going to kill off Kristoff, or suddenly give us a Hans redemption arc - As interesting as that would be, the writers need the all clear from Disney, and Disney won't want some hired novelist to make a major change to their giant money making machine which is no doubt shaped like Elsa's head.

This means that, although the stakes do feel real for the books themselves, there's a sense that nothing that happens within really affects the world that much. Characters don't learn a vital lesson or change in any significant way, and those that do are new characters, constructed for the book, who can easily be ignored by the wider narrative - Polar Nights has a whole segment with a pair of sisters, obviously designed to parallel Elsa and Anna, who's past and backstory, and the mysteries and mistruths thereof, form more-or-less the basis for the entire plot, but our ACTUAL sisters can't have a chat more complex that "boy I'm glad we're not separated anymore, also we're proud of each other!"

The result is - and this is kind of what I've been driving toward this entire time - these books give me a VERY distinct feeling, and it took me a while to identify what it was. I didn't catch it when I read "Forest of Shadows", but it WAS there, and Polar Nights has it there in full force.

These novels feel like FILLER.

Traditional, ACTUAL, filler.

SIGH - Quick sidetrack.

The term "Filler" is thrown around a lot these days, often by people that I don't think realized the term originally had a more specific meaning - At least from what my experience is.

"Filler" was primarily a term used by the anime community, referring to episodes of a show that were not adapted from the original manga. This practice was done as most anime, especially Shounen anime like those pictured above, ran almost continuously, and when your airing an episode a week which is sometimes able to adapt multiple chapters from the manga, you're going to close the gap pretty quickly.

This meant that things would be done in the episodes to stretch them out. Anything from lengthening fight scenes, to additional dialogue, all the way up to - perhaps most famously - whole new arcs created purely for the anime. These arcs had to tell their own stories that were entertaining, but obviously couldn't massively shake up the status quo, as they had no idea what would be coming next for these characters and this story. They relied on events distanced, often entirely unrelated to the plot at large (in-fact, rather infamously, Bleach once went to a year long filler arc in MID-SWORD-FIGHT BETWEEN CHARACTERS). Often they would invent new characters, new powers, and often draw on events of the past, or spotlight background characters to create an unobtrusive narrative.

These arcs can, and have, been good. There's nothing inherently wrong with filler, but as TV Tropes says: "These arcs can, and have, been good. There's nothing inherently wrong with filler, but as TV Tropes says: "At their most extreme, absolutely nothing that happens in a filler episode will affect things going forward, even if it seems like a character developed or grew in some manner."

Filler's definition has expanded a lot, and was never really as fixed as I tended to take it, though I still see it used incorrectly. If an episode of a show had the characters sitting around talking, with the plot not advancing at all, but we still learn things about the characters that matter, and have an impact or call back later, or their relationships change in SOME way, then it's NOT filler. In the words of my Media Teacher: "Just because it didn't feature a car chase and a shoot out, doesn't mean it doesn't matter." - Filler doesn't matter. Slow paced slice of life episodes can matter a LOT.

As a side note, to this side note, Filler in it's most traditional sense is dying out, and has been largely, though not entirely, gone from anime by the mid 2010's. Anime have switched over to the "cour" style of episode production, with a season consisting of usually around 12-or-24 episodes (a little leeway in either direction is common, like having 26 or 10 episodes), which focus on tightly adapting one arc or novel or portion of the story. They then take a break, and return with the next season whenever, picking up where they left off. This is why you don't really see stuff running for 200+ episodes in a row anymore, and why something like, say, Attack on Titan has five seasons. This has allowed for MUCH reduction of filler, and virtually eliminated the need for the filler arc. They do still pop up, but notice how today's "big shots" like My Hero Academia and Demon Slayer have multiple seasons instead of just running for a billion episodes like shows such as One Piece, or Naruto.

Though speaking of that, apparently some new shows are determined to carry on the traditions laid by their parents... *side-eyes Boruto*

AHEM. I really need to drop this topic and get back on track. QUICK, what's an appropriate Frozen-related GIF to use to move on?

I fuckin' told you I was gonna play it again.

ANYWAY, so my point is that - despite feeling like we've really entered a living, breathing world, with its own history and people, it feels like we're never allowed to see that world DO anything.

This wasn't too bad in Forest of Shadows, because even though it couldn't do anything massive, it could create the illusion of movement, by transitioning characters from their Frozen selves to their Frozen 2 selves, laying down hints of what would be fully realized in that move, but it is REALLY on display in Polar Nights - The set up involves exploring Anna's first major kingdom event as Queen, and yet, we really don't get any meaningful detail about that. We don't get a sense of how it feels for her to suddenly wield all this power and responsibility when, not just a few months ago, she was more or less the spare princess that could spend her days having picnics with snowmen. I mean sure, there's mention that she's nervous, but it really doesn't go into much detail. She's just "Queen Anna", the same way we saw her at the end of Frozen 2.

(Elsa's also still referred to as Queen - sometimes she gets directly called "The Snow Queen" - but this is a detail I like. It's not like the people forgot or disavowed her as their monarch. The two are called "The Queens of Arendelle" at one point. It's an interesting touch.)

The events of Polar Nights involve a lot of things happening (including major characters losing their memories of each other), but it all amounts to a problem that's easily resolved with Sisterly Love, and by the end of the book, everything's normal. I know these books are not going to affect the movies, but one of the cool things, as I mentioned, was that they did have continuity between each other. Sorensson was introduced as a man of science in Forest of Shadows, and then in Polar Nights, Anna and Elsa go to him for help with something they want a scientific explanation for. While some of these characters might pop up again to be mentioned in the next novel, it's hard to believe it'll focus on Anna dealing with the fact that... Say Dragurs are real, and exist out there, and that things like grudges and nasty legends and rumors can bring unwelcome power.

Some of the dialogue and phrasing is just plain awkward too. A lot of the time, when Anna spoke to Kristoff, it felt very bland, and forced-romantic, rather than their natural, more banter and warm interactions in the movies. We don't even get a call-back to "I prefer you in leather ;)" - Although that may have been pushing the biscuit. If they went any further with how Anna feels about that, the LOUD SCREACHERS might lose the ability to pretend she was being 100% wholesome and child-friendly with that line...

There's another line where Elsa's narration indicates she wants Anna and Kristoff to have kids so she can be "the cool aunt, literally" - A line that exists purely for that one lazy joke, since no other mention of them having children exists that I can remember.

(Though I am borderline certain that Frozen 3 will focus on their child, but again, that's getting distracted)

Polar Nights also avoids any direct appearances of Northuldra. No Honeymaron or Rider or anything - The only other significant characters that appear from Frozen 2 are Mattias (who fills a bit of a generic "general/captain of the guard" role, but that's his job so it's fine), as well as Gale and Burnie and the Water Nokk, who do have roles to play, but relatively minor ones. They are mentioned, but even when we see the Enchanted Forest, it's purely featuring the cast from Frozen, plus the wind and the new plush mascot lizard. Again, it's a shame because beyond: "Elsa loves the fact that she is living free" and "Elsa spends time pulling up home movies made of snow", we get nothing about how the former Queen is living as a spirit. Okay, I don't expect the book to explain about how Elsa hates needing to pee in a bush now or something absurd like that, but when you go from living in a castle to living in tents and caves, you've got to feel more than just "free" right? We don't even see how she interacts with the Northuldra. How do these people, who revered the spirits, interact with one who can speak to them in their language? Who can sit and chill out with them? Who can pop round for dinner? We get none of that, and it's sad, because it would have been nice.

Polar Nights features a mystery story between two sisters, one of whom is said to have outright murdered the other, several fights between Elsa and a Nordic zombie wraith that mimics her powers at one point, a Pirate Queen and her fleet sitting menacingly at Arendelle's borders, at one point escalating to firing on royal ships during a massive storm in an eternal night, Anna and Elsa traveling to a whole different neighboring kingdom, and Anna's fiance explicitly losing his memory of her, and anything they ever did together...

... and somehow it comes off as less compelling and impactful than Frozen 2, where - and I don't want to downplay or insult Frozen 2 because I think it's amazing and obviously it's themes run far deeper BUT - the main antagonist force boils down to "Dam that a bastard-man built one time".

(On that, Polar Nights is intent on reminding everyone that King Runeard was a Bad Man™ and every single character essentially goes "BOO! HISS!" whenever his name comes up. And yeah, the dude was an absolute bastard, and he only gets revealed to be worse in Polar Nights but you would think Anna and Elsa would have more complex feelings than "hate that guy" to their granddad who they believed was a bit of a legend up until the events of the second movie. Still, maybe they genuinely don't and at any rate, unpacking those feelings might be a bit more complicated than a novel intended mostly for kids is willing to get into.)

There's more that could be said, but I worry I've been sticking to the negative for too long. Yes, these novels do feel like anime filler. Lots of stuff happens, but it doesn't really impact anyone. There's new characters introduced and side characters discussed and all sorts of things that really don't mean that much to the world in the long run, and no doubt will be forgotten by the time Frozen 3 rolls around BUT...

BUT

The books are an enjoyable read. They let me return to the world of Frozen and explore a bit more of the land these characters live in. Yes, I wish the book featured a conversation between Anna and Elsa that didn't just feature them rehashing what they've learned in the movies, but it is STILL good to see them together again. It's heartwarming to know that Elsa still stays in the castle, that Anna let her keep their parents bedroom, that the people of her former kingdom still call her "Queen".

It's great to see side characters mentioned, and not just appear once. It's great that these books are allowed to look outside of the generic fairy-tale fare and bring up things like Dragurs and Huldrefólk and, while I do think the Sisterly Love being the solution to Polar Night's problem isn't the best ending, it does FIT with the themes for the franchise and it isn't a re-hash of Anna and Elsa, instead holding up a mirror to them and showing them what they could have been had their lives been but a tiny bit different.

They're good books, and I would rate them:

A solid B

Was originally a B-, but upon writing this out, I re-evaluated and I wanted to stress that I actually really do like them, and I hope they make more. I really want Frozen to be that thing that winds up having 20 different novel series, six comic books, two original TV series and a line of successful movies. It'd make me happy.

That is just about all I have to say on this topic except for:

OKAY SO YOU KNOW HOW I HAVE BROUGHT UP TANGLED A COUPLE OF TIMES AND I'VE BEEN SAYING I'LL GET BACK TO HOW I THINK IT INTERACTS:

Well - We all know Frozen featured Rapunzel and Eugene visting Arendelle and, ignoring some of the crazy and common fan theories (they're cousins I swear it still works if you squint), that suggests that there is a shared universe and I believe these books CONFIRM that when taken in conjunction with other evidence...

Consider that, Corona is directly mentioned in Forest of Shadows, and that would seem to confirm it, but I've still seen that, and the Tangled character's cameos waved off as cheeky Easter Eggs, BUT... REMEMBER THOSE FUCKIN' OLAF SHORTS? The ones where he re-enacts disney movies?

YEAH WELL, in the Tangled one, he has a bit of extra dialogue where he goes something like "this one is for one of my favorite people in the world, Rapunzel" or SOMETHING LIKE THAT THAT SUGGESTS HE'S MET RAPUNZEL PERSONALLY, and...

AAAAAND...

Polar Nights reveals that he and the others HAVE stayed in the Enchanted Forrest before, which gives him a timeframe where he could plausibly tell these stories in universe, AND AND AND AAAAANNNNND:

He also has a short where he re-enacts "The Little Mermaid" which IS CHEEKILY IMPLIED TO BE A BOOK THAT ANNA LOVES in Polar Nights, so Olaf has a REASON to know that story, AS A STORY--

AND BASICALLY THIS CONFIRMS THAT FROZEN AND TANGLED ARE SET IN THE SAME UNIVERSE AND THE FRANCHISE IS GOING TO CONCLUDE WITH AN ULTIMATE CROSSOVER THAT puts Avengers to shame and I SWEAR THAT IT'LL BE SO AWESOME AND--

The Analyst has been dragged off into the night by sensible people. Please ignore his ramblings.

[azurascottage]

Next I’m going to read Polar Nights, Dangerous Secrets, or Conceal, Don’t Feel!

[frozen10fanzine]

Elsa has discovered new memories in Ahtohallan

Release: July 1, 2024 ❄️

But for some reason, she can’t access them.

She's tried everything! Her own magic, the assistance of the spirits, even Northuldra wisdom! Nothing works!

But Elsa has a feeling.

It’s the same feeling that told her to trust the voice that brought her north to Ahtohallan. It’s the same feeling that told her the spirits of the Enchanted Forest are good. Now, that feeling is telling Elsa to talk to her sister.

Anna, the Queen of Arendelle.

The sisters don’t quite know it yet, but those memories they are about to find are yours.

Introducing...

A fanzine, for fans, by fans! Created and shared for 6 months!

Elsa and Anna will descend into the depths of Ahtohallan to find our memories of Frozen. You see, Elsa and Anna together are the Fifth Spirit. To see these memories they need to work together to part the ice. As they do, they will find more and more memories through each year, through a whole decade! They will find everything—the movies, the books, the spin-offs—and our memories too!

Those memories are your creativity!

Submissions are closed ❄️✌🏻

We are calling YOU, the fans of Frozen, to share your creativity! Art, poems, photography, non-fiction, short fiction! Frozen has touched so many hearts… what does your heart have to say about it? What year means the most to you? What are your memories?

Let’s show Anna and Elsa together!

If you are so inclined, you can find more information below:

Water Has Memory: A Frozen Decade is a fan project in the form of a fanzine created and shared over 6 months - starting with the 10th Anniversary, November 27, 2023 to April 27, 2024 the End of May 2024.

The fanzine will be in chronological order over the ten years that Frozen has been with us (2013-2023). Each memory that is submitted will be placed in the appropriate year of the contributor's choosing.

At the end of this 6-month journey, the fanzine will be brought together as one PDF.

The submissions period is OPEN. We are accepting submissions for EVERY YEAR. Submissions WILL CLOSE April 12, 2024. Submissions for each year will be open until we reach the maximum submissions for that year.

There will be a maximum of 10 SUBMISSIONS accepted per year.

We are accepting submissions in the form of: Art, photography, short fiction, non-fiction, poetry - Art – All art accepted EXCEPT FOR animatics and longform comics - Photography – All photography accepted except for 18+ content - Short fiction – Fanfiction is welcome! Word count: 1000 words max, 500 words min - Non-fiction – Word count: 700 words max, 400 words min - Poetry – 20 lines max, No shorter than a Haiku

The means of submissions can be found in two places. On THIS TUMBLR and through our email, frozen10fans@gmail.com. When you submit your piece, please include what name/handle you would like to sign your work with, what year (2013-2023) you would like your piece to be placed under, if you so choose your bio of no more than 100 words (to be used when the full fanzine is brought together at the end), and if you so choose an image/character/picture to be used alongside your bio (to be used when the full fanzine is brought together at the end).

Please DO NOT submit a piece unless you are certain you can commit the time and energy needed for the project (i.e. communication, meeting the appropriate standards, punctuality, adaptation to change, etc.)

Please understand that this is a project for fans OF ALL AGES. We are PG-13 here at most. There is no hate for 18+ content, this is just not the place for it. That said: OFFENSIVE CONTENT WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. This includes: - Hate speech - Gore - Bullying/Gatekeeping/Shaming THIS IS NOT AN 18+ PROJECT - No NSFW content - Keep the language appropriate

If you have any more questions, please reach out on our tumblr or at frozen10fans@gmail.com

We look forward to seeing your memories ❄️

[foldingfittedsheets]

Before my beloved and I moved in together they were living with roommates in a place that didn't have a bathtub. Now, a reasonable person might conclude from this that baths would be out of the equation in a home with only one standing shower and no tub.

But these people weren't quitters. Naturopathic doctors and acupuncturists they were dedicated to treating their bodies well and one of the ways they liked to do that was hydrotherapy. Most people are familiar with this through things like polar bear plunges. You sit in a hot tub then jump in freezing water.

It's supposedly good for you and they were way into it. But again, no tub. They'd do hydro showers but it just wasn't the same. These people were not quitters, though. (One of them is the boob soap person, so it really isn't a surprise that she goes hard on everything). So they got what looked like two big metal old timey tubs but which were actually animal food troughs and set them up in the garage. They set up a water heater and god knows how they emptied the tub after, I think there was hoses involved? A pump maybe? I honestly can't remember. Anyway! Voila, hydrotherapy on demand.

I was not aware of this. So when I came over after a long day and my beloved said we should take a bath I was extremely puzzled. I only knew about the one shower. They showed me the garage tubs. I did want a bath and I wasn't really sure about the setup, but honestly I'll try anything once if only for the story, so I agreed.

Fun fact about me though. I haaaate being cold. I've been 0% body fat most of my life with skin barely keeping my bones enclosed. I'm always cold. My favorite activity at the time was sitting directly in front of space heaters. My shower temperatures turn me lobster red and make my beloved cringe. Willingly dunking myself into cold water is the antipathy of my entire deal.

On the night in question I happily submerged into the warm tank, pleasantly surprised by the big silly improvised tub. Which again was meant for livestock. My knees bumped companionably against my beloved as we soaked in the hot water. After a while they rose to go into the cold water. "You don't have to," they told me.

But I was haunted. I wouldn't be doing hydro if I just stayed in the warm tub. Maybe hydro was amazing. It has all these health benefits. I desperately didn't want to but I stood up with them. We were having this nice intimate evening in the garage, just us, I felt safe. I was gonna do it.

They stepped easily into the cold tub, dunking matter of factly into the frigid water. I went to step. I did. I really really tried. My foot went in and I started shrieking, my progress arrested by the total state of shock I entered when my warm toasty foot hit that smug arctic water tension. My beloved started laughing as my pitch ascended the deeper my foot went into the cold water.

I started loudly narrating my discomfort as my foot touched the bottom and I willed my other foot up to join it. "THIS IS VERY COLD," I yelled, "IT'S SO COLD I THINK I MIGHT DIE HOW ARE YOU JUST CASUALLY SITTING IN THIS FREEZING COLD WATER?! I'M DYING- I THINK I'M DYING! I'M DYING BUT WE'RE HERE, TOGETHER! I CAN DO THIS! I CAN DO THESE EVEN THOUGH IT'S SO COLD ALL MY MOLECULES HAVE COMPRESSED INTO A SOLID STATE!"

I ended up with both feet planted in the cold tub, water up to my shins, bellowing and panting while my beloved laughed so hard they couldn't breathe. I hunkered over the cold water, squatting like a frozen gargoyle.

My beloved was trying to psyche me up while I willed my body to obey me. In a sudden jerky drop like a puppet whose strings have been cut I plummeted my body into the cold and let out a shriek that I’m sure could have shattered glass and then leapt up out of the water at a speed relative to a rocket achieving space flight. I didn’t like it.

When we got back inside my beloved's roommates were collapsed on the ground with tears in the their eyes from how hard they'd been laughing. They and probably every neighbor down the block had heard my pterodactyl screeching and narration because the garage was not remotely soundproof.

[ericmicael]

I was researching a little to make the second part of a fanfic wondering what happened after the last episode of the podcast showing what happened on the romantic date that Elsa and Disa arranged, then I remembered that the podcast wasn't the first place that presented the Kingdom of Sankerhus, or rather the village of Sankerhus. In this comic, Sankerhus also has problems with flooding and landslides, but is treated like a small village. The people of Sankerhus ask for help from Arendelle, who helps everyone get out of there, leaving the place to be destroyed by the waters… The Frozen comics are proving to be the least reliable material:

We already had comic adapting a part of "A Warm Welcome", but calling Eldora with the name Chato.

The first Polar Night festival after "Frozen 2" also happened first in a comic that obviously cannot be placed chronologically with the book "Polar Nights: Cast into Darkness".

And even the mobile game that is the only place to date that developed the Northuldra tribe (or Honeymaren and Ryder if you want to be more specific) after “Frozen 2” there's also a moment at a festival that takes place in a comic book that took place after "Frozen 2" and considering that the event in the comics doesn't mention the participation of the Northuldra tribe with Ryder supporting Honeymaren in her attempt to please Elsa or Hans trying to blow up the port of Arendelle with bombs and being stopped by Anna, I will consider that they also do not occur in the same chronology.

The mobile game might even justify it (if you consider that Hans isn't allowed into Arendelle anyway, even the way it happened in the game or he's still recovering from his broken bones in "Frozen Fever"), but damn either the comics really lack morals or the writers of the franchise's extra materials are getting really confused.

This type of confusion isn't new today. We have to come up with big theories to justify why the Eldora dignitary who attended Elsa's coronation didn't tell the Summer Queen Marisol that Elsa has powers.