Frozen 2 (2019)

Thus sing the naively jubilant citizens of Arendelle in the opening minutes of Frozen 2. They are jubilant because the kingdom is prosperous and at peace, but they also are naïve, because the kingdom is soon thrown into turmoil: all the water vanishes, all fire is extinguished, and the ground literally begins to fall out from under their feet. This kingdom-of-plenty is thrown into a national crisis, and the flag-that-will-always-fly is ripped off its pole and sent careening through the air.

But not all is lost, for Arendelle is governed by courageous sisters who are ready to do whatever it takes to ensure a resolution of this crisis. In fact, it is Elsa who, at the beginning of the film, makes a bold promise to her people: “I promise that the flag of Arendelle will always fly!”, and her sister Anna joins her in this promise. Neither understands the depth of sacrifice that this promise will entail, but such is the grandeur of the human soul, to make a promise and not count the cost of keeping it.

These sisters need help in carrying out their resolution, for no one knows why these environmental plagues have come upon the city. So, like the heathen kings of old, they turn to a prophet to uncover the cause of this domestic crisis. Such a prophet comes rolling into their midst in the form of Pabbie the troll, who provides a general outline of the situation:

“The past is not what it seems.

A wrong demands to be righted.

Arendell is not safe.

The truth must be found; without it, I see no future.”

Like many prophecies, this vision from Pabbie contains both doom and hope; like courageous leaders, Elsa and Anna dare to tread the path of hope. But this path will send them on a journey to dark and mysterious places.

Their first stop is an enchanted forest which no Arendellian has been able to enter for 34 years. It is Elsa who makes the decision to journey there, and her true friends are ready to follow her, even if no one knows how to get inside.

Mysteriously, at the borders of the mystical forest, Elsa’s presence causes the fog to lift momentarily, and they are able to step into this foreign world. The forest is not so daunting at first, for it is a beautiful land that refreshes their own spirits and introduces them to other kindred spirits such as the Northaldra. Previously, the Northaldra had only existed in family legends and old wives’ tales, but in this forest, Elsa and Anna meet them for the first time. In the midst of this primitive and joyful people, Elsa and Anna learn that their mother was Northaldran by birth, thus forming the crucial biological storyline that will have enormous consequences for all: Elsa and Anna are bi-racial, having an indigenous Northaldran mother and a princely Arendelian father. Not only are they bi-racial, but the two races that make up their blood are two races that have been at war with each other for 34 years.

This is the first “truth about the past” which leads Arendell and Northaldra closer to freedom. In fact, at the moment this bi-racial heritage is revealed, Elsa declares “I promise you I will free this forest and restore Arrendell.” Anna intuits the gravity of this promise, telling her sister “That’s a pretty big promise, Elsa.” But Elsa has been filled with a sudden urge to use all her powers to free both peoples which make up her family blood line, and she is ready to do all she can to fulfill this promise, ignorant of the cost involved. Elsa only knows that she must go north, that she must follow the voice that is still calling out to her.

This voice is a central character of the film. It is a voice which has been calling to Elsa since the start of the film, and it is the primary motivator of Elsa’s actions throughout the film. The voice (and many other signs) indicate that Elsa must go to a land called Ahtohallan, which is “a magical river said to hold all the answers about the past”. Furthermore, Elsa learns that some people (such as her mother) think that Ahtohallan is the source of her magic, creating an irresistible desire to go there and find out more truths about the past and about her identity.

The only thing holding back Elsa from making this journey is her baby sister, whose great love is clothed in a frustrating amount of human frailty. Anna is simply not tough enough to endure the inevitable trials of traveling to such a distant and dangerous place. Even after learning that their own parents died trying to get to Ahtohallan, Anna insists that she must follow Elsa to this perilous place. But Elsa is the true queen of Arendell, and having sworn to do what is best for everyone, she pushes Anna down an ice luge and heads to Ahtohallan without her. This breaks Anna’s heart, but it was a decision that was in the best interest of all (later, Anna will have to make a similar decision with foreseen and tragic consequences). Thus is the courage required of those committed to doing the best for all, regardless of how others feel about it.

On her journey, Elsa’s powers are taken to their limits, but she finally reaches Ahtohallan and there discovers that it is the voice of her mother that has been calling her. Yes, her mother is definitely dead, but her Northaldran spirit is alive and well in Ahtohallan, and Elsa encounters many truths about her past while reveling in this glorious and climactic place. Two truths are the most important for the overall story.

First, Elsa discovers that she is a “fifth spirit” meant to be a bridge between humanity and the magic of nature. Second, she discovers that her grandfather, King Runeard, built a dam to trap the Northaldran people and that he murdered the Northaldran leader and thus was the cause of division between the two people. This truth freezes Elsa, but not before she shoots out a magical frozen memory to her sister Anna, hoping that Anna will do what is necessary to resolve this transgression. Only Elsa was strong enough to travel to Ahtohallan and find the truth; but now, only Anna can undo the “wrong which must be righted.”

And here, Anna reveals her majestic and royal strength, for although she is not physically mighty like her magical sister, she is full of an equal amount of queenly courage and sacrificial resolve to do the whatever must be done. Thinking that her sister is dead, seeing Olaf die, and having experienced Christof’s absence, Anna is still strong enough to “do the next right thing” (a moving song about emptiness and despair and moving on after tragic loss). Like her sister Elsa, Anna can face the night alone.

These crucial sequences in the narrative reveal the real difference between these two sisters, which is that, for some mystical reason, Elsa is drawn to these moments of abandonment and “the unknown”, whereas Anna fears them. From the beginning of the film to the end, Anna would rather be playing charades on a Friday night than chasing magical voices coming through the nighttime window. Elsa wants to go to Ahtohallan alone and will push her sister down an ice luge to get there; Anna only accepts that some of her mission requires her to be alone. This difference between the sisters proves to be vital for all peoples, for both personality types prove necessary for bringing salvation to Arendell and the Northaldra. It is also something that seems to attract them to one another, for neither sister is a carbon copy of the other, and they seem to enjoy receiving from the other that which is lacking in their own personhood. While Elsa needs mystery as much as Anna needs social support, they both need each other to live out their personality and their mission in all its fullness.

Now back to the narrative. It is in this dark night of abandonment that Anna resolves to destroy the dam built by her cunning grandfather. Arendellians are afraid that it will destroy their beloved kingdom, but Anna would rather release the truth with a flood of terrors than to keep back this flood while living a lie. She remembers Pabbie’s prophecy: Arendell is not safe until this wrong is righted. Unlike many heathen kings of old, Anna decides to trust the prophet.

It is now time for Arendellians and Anna’s friends to show their great worth in this tale of international salvation, for they do everything they can to help Anna break the dam. Christof and Sven lead her to the dam, General Mattias helps provoke the giants to throw stones at the dam, and the flood is released which seems doomed to destroy the kingdom of Arendell. But more magic is at work, for after the dam breaks, Elsa is suddenly unfrozen and released from Ahtohallan. She then comes riding on her magical horse (the water spirit) to the borders of Arendell, and by instantaneously conjuring up a monolithic and impenetrable frozen wall of ice, she prevents the flood from destroying their city. The mystical fog lifts from the forest, and Elsa’s promise comes true: both Northaldra and Arendell are saved! The flag of Arendell waves proudly over the city, the Northaldran peoples are free to move about their wild lands, and the resolution of this international dispute between two rival kingdoms is now a source of commaraderie and mutual affection.

There is a statue that is built to remember the source of freedom for both peoples, but this statue is not of Elsa or Anna; rather, it is a statue of their mother and father. More importantly, the statue shows the mother and father in the time of their youth. This is an image requiring some additional commentary.

The great historical tragedy of Arendell is King Runeard’s decision to build the dam and then to kill the Northaldran leader. But on the very day of this grave transgression, a seed was sown between two members of these races. One was a youthful prince from Arendell, the other was an indigenous Northaldran girl who chose to save this boy from the battlefield and clothe him with her protective love. So, in the precise moment when international forces engaged in grave and mortal conflict, one personal relationship was formed between these two waring peoples, and it was a relationship from which would spring the source of salvation for both peoples. Thus the statue commemorates this moment and celebrates the salvation that came from that moment, and although Elsa’s parents never lived to see this salvation (they died cold and tragic deaths while sailing north to Ahtohallan), the fruit of their love became a source of salvation for all. This is not the only story of salvation in which redemption comes, not from the parents, but from their offspring.

Furthermore, like other stories of salvation, the redemption of Arendell and Northaldra is greater than the transgression that separated them. Arendell and Northaldra, who even in peaceful years were relatively unknown and foreign to each other, are now united in a love and friendship that mutually penetrates the races with a plethora of previously unknown goods. The Northaldra, for their part, introduce Arendell to the ways of the forest and how to harness the good of nature for national and personal benefit, whereas the Arendellians introduce Northaldra to technological advances and the goods of international communication. Had it not been for King Runeards transgression, there would have been less bloodshed in these kingdoms, but in the long view of things, there also would have been less freedom and bounty, for it seems that both races would have continued their isolated and self-interested existence without much concern for the other race. While no one in Arendell would wish to repeat the transgression, a lesson to be learned from this fairy tale is that some transgressions are not to be feared, so long as they are followed by a greater gift.

Although the commemorative statue is not dedicated to Anna and Elsa, these sisters fully understand their role in this path of salvation, thinking of themselves as bridges between the peoples and the larger world. Elsa states this explicitly: “A bridge has two sides, and mother had two daughters. We did this together, and we will continue to do this together.” Whenever one encounters the idea of a bridge, one is rubbing up against the idea of priesthood, for the latin word for priest is pontifex, which means “one who builds bridges”. Therefore, it is more of a philological fact than theological conjecture to state that Anna and Elsa offer up a “priestly” sacrifice which provides salvation to their peoples, but they did not take this priestly honor upon themselves; they were born into these roles because of their parents. By following mystical voices calling out from the window at night, Elsa fulfilled her role; by following her erratic and unpredictable sister with an unbreakable bond of love, Anna fulfilled her role; together, they built an unbreakable bridge (pontifex!) that unites the two lands that their biological grandfather divided.

We must make one final comment about Elsa. Whereas her sister finds true love in the form of a masculine hunk named Christof, Elsa finds her deepest love in a land called Ahtohallan. For Elsa, there is no prince charming with whom she is united, and yet her heart is looking for something just as profound and permanent. In her climactic and ecstatic song, “Show Yourself”, Elsa sings of her deep longing to be united with a voice, a person, a calling that penetrate the depths of her heart, and this longing is fulfilled only in Ahtohallan. In the final shot of the film, Elsa is seen riding away from her native loves, riding away from Arendell and Northaldra, from Sven and Olaf and Anna. But she is not sad. Instead, her face is one of determination, primal longing, and a deep anticipation of joy because she is travelling back to Ahtohallan, the place where her deepest longings are fulfilled. Her love for this land, this place, this calling is of the utmost consequence for all, even greater than if she had married a prince charming, for the salvation of Arendell was more of a consequence of Elsa’s desire to be united with Ahtohallan than a personal decision to go and save Arendell; without that desire to be joined to Ahtohallan, without surrendering to the call coming to her in the night and opening herself to the unknown, the misty fog would have remained over the forest and both races would have remained in naïve ignorance about their suppressed freedom. Elsa’s celibate love for Ahtohallan, and all that she surrenders to be there, produced fruit just as transformative as any child she could have born through marriage.

Elsa always was a little bit different from everybody else. And because of this difference, the flag of Arendell will always fly.