All Is Found

SERANA SAYS FUCK

“Aptaho...what?”

I realised that both Anna and Olaf has this same line when they first heard of the word ‘Ahtohallan’. And I’ve always had a head-canon that Olaf is the reflection of Elsa’s childhood. So...Can I assume that Elsa still remembers this small detail of Anna even after 16 years? (And 13 years of separation.)

It’s just like when he says to Sven “The sky’s awake”, much like Anna said to Elsa all those years ago!

Anna’s Fears

Anna’s amazing selflessness has been discussed a few times already, with “I don’t want to stop you from being whatever you need to be” being an excellent example of it.

She follows that up with “I just don’t want you dying, trying to be everything for everyone else too”, and at first that line seemed rather forced, to me. By this point Elsa has spent the entire movie looking for the source of a voice that she alone can hear; that doesn’t really mesh with the idea that she’s risking her life by trying to meet other people’s expectations of her.

And then I remembered an earlier expression of concern from Anna, after Elsa made her promise to Yelena and Matthias: “That’s a big promise, Elsa.”

That promise to free the forest and restore Arendelle had frightened Anna, and she’d carried that fear inside her until Elsa’s bid to strike out alone forced her hand. Anna had seen what was coming from the start—and she’d been scared the entire time.

She doesn’t “know the woods” like Kristoff, and was scared from the moment they stepped through the mist. She doesn’t have intuitive knowledge of whether or not her sister is okay, like Olaf, and was perpetually scared for Elsa. And she was scared of magic, as the only one who had ever been on the receiving end of magical violence.

I would say Anna spends 90% of the movie—from the moment they enter the forest to the moment she reunites with her undead sister—absolutely terrified.

And yet she still overcomes to lead a 5-person army, fight back against her dead grandfather and keep Elsa’s promises for her.

I secretly used to wonder if Anna’s insistence on “we do this together” meant that she’d intended to die with Elsa if it had come to that, but it is quite clear that Anna was never going to go down without a fight.

Why don’t Elsa and Anna argue?

I’ve noticed pretty much a lof of people complain about them not arguing “like sisters do” and I thought that it was in some way a good question, even if it was born by people who just wanted drama (as if it wasn’t already enough in that movie XD). 

But the reason they don’t actually argue, is because THEY AVOID IT. Notice there was a few times when Elsa and Anna were about to argue, like when Elsa confessed Anna she has been hearing voices and she didn’t tell her, or the “Don’t follow/run into fire” time. All of those times, they simply just start softening their tone when it goes too loud. 

Exhibit A:

Elsa: what were you thinking? You could have been killed! You can’t just follow me into fire!

Anna: then don’t run into fire!

Anna: …. (here it is, she stops before letting herself follow the previous kind of line, and then goes with….)

Anna: (softer tone) you’re not being careful, Elsa.

Elsa: … (might be still thinking about how Anna could have died if she hadn’t spot Anna between the flames, but instead thanks to Anna’s line she ends up with the think of it’s her fault Anna got exposed to that danger because she just wanted to help oh, yeah? how, Anna, HOW?)

Elsa: (sighs) I’m sorry.

Anyway, I believe I know the reason, or to be precise, the reasons why does that happen. 

And the cherry on top of why they don’t argue: Last time things got out of control, this is what happened. 

Clearly Elsa doesn’t want that to happen again. 

If you ask me, I think this wasn’t exactly a healthy solution. After all, to avoid these things, Elsa, who said there wouldn’t be more secrets, kept secrets (”I’m not where I’m meant to be”), who would upset Anna if were told. Counterproductive, to define it. It all looked perfect for Anna, but when the time came, things started to cramble until it all fell down and Anna reached the bottom (Next Right Thing), and had to find a another way out both literal and allegorically. 

Edit: 

Also, this is the exact reason Elsa didn’t barely say anything before pushing Anna and Olaf away! 

Elsa wanted Anna to be safe, and she knew Anna would have died if she had go with Elsa through the Dark Sea, or both would had died. “The Dark Sea is too dangerous for us both” was all her explanation to not allowing Anna to go with her. Elsa didn’t extend her point of view, or else she would have had to say something that would be a polite version of “you would be a drag” or even could have ended pointing out that Anna has been keeping Elsa from doing things out of her worry and that should be over so what was coming next was done. And since Elsa didn’t actually want to say mean things to Anna, and Anna exposed quite clear her point of wanting to keep Elsa away from danger, so it would have been pointless for Elsa to try to convince her, she did what she did.

I love how we treat Anna and Elsa as real people and we expect them to follow some real life patterns even if they live in a fairytale. Creators said not once that they didn’t want sisters to argue the way real sisters often do because it would be too cliche. They did the opposite: not only circumstances taught the sisters to respect each other, but it’s in their nature, even that their personalities are very different, both share the same quality: putting her sister’s well-being in the first place. “We wanted to celebrate differences between these two that make them such a great family” said Jen Lee.

But somewhere in the background there is always awareness that the creators had a story to tell and “earn” a culmination point that the story was leading us to. Which was TNRT. And like with a boat scene that was a turning point, creators had a few possibilities to choose from. Elsa and Anna had to part ways, there was limited time to do so, and between sisters arguing and leaving in anger, Anna being convinced to stay behind and Elsa sending Anna away to cut unproductive discussion short, choosing “Elsa solution” looked like the best choice, more in character and more fitting the story than any other.

One was missing

Spoilers ahead!

I’m sure you remember this at least from the promos. 

This sign shined on the sky the day King Runeard or whatever his name was did his evil thing. This sign on the sky shows a deed made by the spirits together at the same time. The same sign shined over Arendelle when they kicked the people out of there. 

Now take a look at the sign when the curse was broken. 

If you look for diferences, you’ll see with no doubt the white-blue light on the center which belongs to Elsa, but what was on the other two times? Nothing. A void. 

The fifht spirit was missing. 

And don’t tell me there was an empty space all the time until Elsa and Anna appeared. There has to be a bridge, but something happened that day when Agnar’s father killed the Northuldra chief. 

And then the sign with the missing piece showed into the sky….

More things happened that day than two countries fighting, it was that day when the fifht spirit got missing. 

If you ask me, I bet for the killed chief, since he was the one more concerned about the forest and more observant about the damage the dam was making, but more people got killed that day, so, who knows. 

@spicylove4ever​ I noticed all of these, too! Although when the sign appeared for the second time, which is after Elsa realized what the symbols in the ice crystals represented, the centerpiece where the fifth spirit is meant to be was again empty, but just before it vanished, it briefly lit up.

What does this mean?

That Elsa has started to take the first step in acknowledging her true place among the four elemental spirits and join them as the fifth spirit.

Girls in the Mist

So I know there must be fans and viewers who are asking this vital question that is part of the main plot of Frozen II:

Why did the mist part and allow the group inside only after ELSA touched it?

Remember in the prologue, Agnarr said that after the mist covered the Enchanted Forest, no one has since gone in or come out. Years later, when Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven come upon the mist, Kristoff is the first to try and walk through it, and he fails. Then Olaf tries, and he too fails. They only bounce off of it, much to the amusement of Olaf, who tries it several more times for fun.

But then when Elsa touches the mist and it finally parts, notice that, when she does this with one hand, she is simultaneously holding Anna’s hand with her other hand. (Though not shown on screen, the action of Elsa taking Anna’s hand is subtly implied right before they walk up to the mist together.)

So again, why does the mist part when Elsa touches it?

Because Elsa AND Anna, the two of them together, were the ONLY ones who could permanently break it and free the forest. 

Elsa and Anna together had to uncover the whole truth about what happened the day the forest fell. They had to discover that King Runeard started everything when he built the dam to weaken the forest and limit the Northuldra’s resources (while falsely presenting it to the people as a gift of peace), when he murdered the Northuldra leader after the man voiced his realizations that the dam was actually harming the forest, and finally when he (presumably) lied to his soldiers that the leader attacked and/or tried to murder HIM, which started the battle between the Northuldrans and Arendellian soldiers. The elemental spirits covered the forest with the mist in response to their rage over the fighting. And since the dam was the cause of everything, it had to be destroyed in order to quell the spirits’ rage and set the forest free.

But then the success of the mist parting when Elsa touches it raises a few more questions:

Could Elsa have parted the mist herself if she wasn’t holding Anna’s hand? Could Anna have parted the mist while holding hands with Elsa? Could she have parted it on her own, while not holding hands with Elsa?

My answer to all three questions is no. The mist would have only parted by Elsa touching it because the mist is a magical property released by the forest’s magical spirits. Elsa is the only one of the two sisters who has magical powers. She is the fifth spirit, another elemental spirit that belongs in the forest with the other four. But Elsa needed to be holding hands with Anna to part the mist because throughout the rest of the journey, Elsa could not have done EVERYTHING without Anna’s help. Elsa could not have done all of it alone.

Now as harsh as it may sound, Anna could NOT come to Ahtohallan with Elsa because of the potentially fatal risks of both trying to cross the Dark Sea. If Anna came along with Elsa, they both might have died, and then their mission could not have been completed. Furthermore, as harsh as this may sound, Elsa HAD to go far into the depths of Ahtohallan to find the whole truth. When she did and temporarily froze to death, she still successfully sent the message of her discovery off to Anna. After she received the message, Anna successfully finished the mission for Elsa by provoking the Earth Giants into breaking the dam. And finally, the dam’s destruction led to Elsa being thawed and rushing back to Arendelle where she successfully saved the kingdom from being flooded by the monstrous tidal wave.

Elsa and Anna together had to put an end to the evil legacy that their grandfather had started. As the two sides of the bridge, with Elsa on the side of nature as the fifth spirit and Anna on the side of humanity as the Queen of Arendelle, they were the only ones who could accomplish this.

So if this is the whole explanation on why the mist parted when Elsa touched it, then you may be asking this next question:

When Elsa and Anna were finally inside the forest, why couldn’t they get out when they initially tried to after the mist pushed them further in?

Perhaps it was because the girls were no longer holding hands when they tried to penetrate the mist. They each tried to do it separately, with Elsa shooting a blast of ice into it, which rebounded, and Anna just tried to push it with her own hands. Both girls had no success.

This reinforces my theory that the girls were meant to do the mission together. For all the reasons described above, they HAD to do it together, and Elsa had promised this just before they entered (although it wasn’t simply because Elsa made this promise).

However, while this concept of them trying to penetrate the mist separately instead of together may be one possibility, I think there is more to it than that. I believe the true reason why the girls could not get out now was because the mist would not let them leave until their mission was complete. 

Like Pabbie said, “A wrong demands to be righted. Arendelle is not safe. The truth must be found. Without it, I see no future. When one can see no future, all one can do is the next right thing.”

Elsa and Anna took the first step in doing this next right thing by getting into the forest, and then they had to finish what they had begun to do, by finding the voice and the whole truth about the past in order to free the forest and save Arendelle.

And in the end, that’s just what they did.

Elsa and Anna may not have been physically together for the entire journey, but Elsa was right at the end; they did do it together. And now by being in their true places in the world, they’ll continue to do it together. 😁😄😊

What a wonderful analysis, and I couldn’t agree more!

Anna and Elsa have a very special connection. As sad as their 13 year separation as children was, it ultimately solidified their relationship, and so they value each other much more than most siblings do. Elsa is extremely powerful and Anna has proven herself to be incredibly brave, but together the strength of their love makes them more than the sum of their parts!

In the case of Anna and Elsa, 1+1=3!

Guys, Elsa’s Magic is a Separate Entity

And it can talk. Through Olaf.

-Frozen 2 Spoilers, Canonical Talk-

Ok, so during into the unknown Elsa outright asks questions of her own magic and her magic obliges with answers to the questions Elsa is asking: information Elsa herself does not have. She asks “can you show me” and gets imagery of the elements before she even knows what they are. She asks “how can I follow you into the unknown?” And her magic awakens the spirits at the enchanted forest.

Then, immediately after, Anna asks her how she can possibly know that the voice she’s hearing “is good” after what’s happened to their kingdom and Elsa answers “My magic can feel it. I can feel it.” So we have established that Elsa and her magic are somewhat two separate entities that can feel and act independently.

And they can talk independently.

Through Olaf.

Olaf is pure Elsa-magic, and he’s got some awkward lines in this movie. “Did you know that an enchanted forest is a place of transformation? I have no idea what that means.” (edit: I just remembered, during the tornado he is also able to accurately introduce Gale as a wind spirit, immediately after singing a song to himself about how he doesn’t understand what’s going on.) Even at the end he says “I still don’t know what “transformation” means”, as if it was a word he is aware he said but does not know where it came from.

He also panics the most during the whole movie not when he’s dying—Elsa’s magic knows exactly what is happening and why—but when first meeting the other elementals, as he should, as Elsa’s magic had never come up against any other form of magic by that point.

Olaf is his own separate being, of course—there was nothing of Elsa’s magic in the announcement that wombats poop squares—but so is Elsa.

And so is Elsa’s magic.

The last chamber of Ahtohallan

SPOILERS AHEAD. KEEP READING AT YOUR OWN RISK

The Ahtohallan is a glacier, a river made of ice which holds every memory. The movie tolds the statement of water having memory, but since the water is always flowing around, a place where all the memories are hold must be a place where the memories can be held, and for that, the water must be solid, in other words, ice. Is not just some place with memories, it holds a HUGE amount of magic whitin it. 

It is said on the movie that Elsa’s magic have its source in the Ahtohallan, so Elsa not only can make icy things, she can interact with the memories on the ice. On the other hand, since it’s kind of a beacon of the magic of nature, it’s the place where the other elements of nature have representation. We saw it when Elsa saw all the crystals that represent them. On the “Show Yourself” song, we can see Elsa puts the crystals of every element in place on the floor, and when she puts herself on the spot of the middle, she asumes her place as the fifth spirit and gets her power up and the full access to the memories.

Notice that the snow statues only move whenever she’s around, or just move faster depending on how close she is, like, whatever she is getting close to, the memories activates and interacts. 

And here we get to the last chamber part. Or let’s call it the pit of dark secrets.

The place were the dark secrets are is the part of “not too far or you’ll be drown”. In fact, when Elsa follows the memory of her jerk grand-father is when she hears the echo of that part of the lullaby, like Iduna making a reminder of the danger of knowing the secrets. The destructive secrets. In more than a sense. 

Elsa was able to feel she was getting into a dangerous place. But she was not going to stop at the knowledge of why was she born and what happened to her parents. The whole point of the trip was to FIND OUT WHY THERE WAS A CURSE UPON THE LAND SO THEY COULD FIX IT. So Elsa jumps into the dark pit being aware that there was danger. Maybe she didn’t know what was going to happen to her was she was going to freeze, but the urge to find the answers was too important. So she jumped. 

A detail to consider, is that some secrets can have a HUGE WEIGHT (implications of the happening, what could happen if they’re found out, pick up your favourite, all are true at the same time), which is likely the reason those memories are in the dark pit. The weight of those secrets might manifest on a huge amount of magic that affects the livings who enter the pit, and that could be the reason Elsa froze. Elsa can stand in the middle of the coldest weather, and we even saw her hug a ice statue that was so cold it shattered steel so regular cold would not affect her. But Elsa is not part of the Ahtohallan, even with the close relationship her power has with the Ahtohallan’s, and its power was nature’s itself, so it was something greater than Elsa’s power, so it was able to freeze her. To drown her. Notice when she froze the melody of “not too far or you’ll be drown” played.

Long story short: the weight of the darkest secrets holds a magic that drowns the ones who enter the pit, and that power was greater than Elsa, so she froze. 

And she unfroze when the weight of that memory was released and the curse broken by breaking her grand-father’s heritage. 

Also, notice that this is not the first case of beings who have power based on extreme temperatures who end up affected or overpowered by those extreme temperatures. Remember what happened to the dragons on Game of Thrones who died to the Volcano Dissaster on Vallyrie? And how diving into melted gold was for Smaug like for us diving into boiling water?

Bravo on this entire post! 👏🏻

When in Ahtohallan, after singing “Show Yourself”, Elsa comes across visions of moments and memories from the past. One of which she takes particular notice is of her grandfather Runeard during his reign as the king of Arendelle. And in only about one minute, her feelings about seeing him drastically change in rapid succession.

After seeing the memory of Iduna rescuing Agnarr from the forest, Elsa hears someone address Runeard by name, to which she turns in their direction and gasps, “Grandfather!” She is delighted to finally see a vision of him and walks up to the figure of him and the servant by his side.

But then Runeard says, “The Northuldra follow magic, which means we can never trust them.” Upon hearing this, Elsa says, “Grandfather?” in a quizzical tone of voice, clearly shocked at this statement. She increasingly becomes more appalled and devastated as Runeard continues, “Magic makes people feel too powerful, too entitled. It makes them think they can defy the will of a king.”

Finally, in a calm tone of voice, but with a clear look of anger on her face, Elsa defiantly responds, “That is not what magic does. That’s just your fear. Fear is what can’t be trusted.”

As I said, in just a few seconds, Elsa’s feelings for her late grandfather change very quickly in this brief scene. Since childhood, Elsa presumably viewed Runeard as a noble, generous leader, and had love and respect for him despite never knowing him. She also presumably heard many good things about him from Agnarr, her father and Runeard’s son, that she further held him in high esteem. Therefore, she was happy to finally see a vision of him from the past.

But when Runeard says that the Northuldra can never be trusted due to their associations with magic, Elsa is immediately distraught. She is shocked to learn that he was actually a cold, prejudiced, closed-minded man who not only hated magic, but detested and distrusted anyone and everyone who had any kind of association with magic. She defends herself when Runeard says that magic only makes people feel more powerful and entitled than the power of a monarch.

Elsa’s feelings go from sadness to anger as she listen’s to Runeard’s words during this scene shows that SO MUCH is going on with her. First of all, Elsa’s response in defending magic comes from her own personal experiences. Elsa knows better than anyone that magic doesn’t make you feel too powerful. On the contrary, for nearly her entire life, she was traumatized by her powers after she accidentally injured Anna. She subsequently became burdened by insecurity, depression, anxiety, self-loathing, and overall poor self-esteem because she felt hopeless at controlling her powers. They always made her feel like a burden, a danger, a curse, not only to her family, but to the rest of the world. Elsa’s powers caused her to struggle with so many negative emotions that she shut out the people she loved most for fear of harming them, which only tripled these emotions because it left her deprived of affectionate, loving attention and gestures when she needed them most. Furthermore, Elsa knew that her powers made her far from ordinary, that her uniqueness increased greater chances of people fearing her just for them, not accepting her. And after her fears were realized following her coronation and her accidental eternal winter curse on Arendelle, it was ultimately due to Anna’s loving sacrifice that Elsa finally understood that love is the key to it all.

So in complete contrast to Runeard’s beliefs, Elsa’s magic NEVER made her feel entitled or superior to others, ever! Her powers always made her feel powerless! By this time, even after ruling Arendelle for three years, Elsa takes her role as the queen in stride. Her people love her and her gift, but she never shows them off in a condescending way and still doesn’t see herself as being superior over them or her own sister just for being magical.

But second of all, Elsa is upset in this scene because she clearly takes Runeard’s statement VERY personally. This is her grandfather here. Her own family. Her own flesh and blood. Hearing his negative attitude towards magic makes her realize that, had he known her, he would have immediately despised her simply for being magical! He probably would have never acknowledged her as his descendant. He would have automatically denied her birthright, disowned her, acted as if she didn’t exist.

This hurts Elsa very deeply because it is a stark contrast to the rest of her immediate family. Agnarr, Iduna, and Anna always loved Elsa so much, unconditionally, and unquestionably that they accepted her and her magic. (Anna accepted Elsa’s abilities before her accident and her memory wipe, yet continued to love her sister despite never knowing why they were suddenly kept apart.) Despite the problems Elsa’s powers occasionally caused and the negative effects it had on her self-esteem as she grew up, Agnarr and Iduna never stopped loving their oldest daughter and felt despondent in not knowing how to help her. And now, after years of hiding from the world and fearing that others will never accept her magic, Elsa’s people, friends, and family have accepted her, abilities and all. They love her for who she is. For the past three years, she has been gradually learning to love herself with success. And now that she realizes where her powers came from and understands her life’s true purpose as the fifth spirit, Elsa has finally gained complete confidence and trust in herself. She has fully embraced herself and her magic, which brought her to tears of great joy mere minutes ago.

And so all of a sudden in this scene, upon learning of Runeard’s feelings about magic and people connected to magic, Elsa instantly realizes with devastation that her grandfather never would have accepted her AT ALL. She took this as a punch to her gut.

But her response was a powerful one, and one that she’ll never stop defending.

I am so proud of my girl for growing from a guilt-ridden individual who hated what made her special to a confident, strong woman who will never stop fighting for what magic truly is and does! Love you, Elsa! 😄❤️😄❤️😄❤️

Special thanks to my friend @aqueenthatisfrozen​, whose own analysis about Elsa’s reactions and response in this scene was an inspiration for this one!

Happy six year anniversary Frozen.

Six years ago today I went to see this movie and it forever changed my life for the better. Frozen and it’s characters will forever hold a special place in my heart and I will never let it go.

Thank you, Frozen, for helping me become the person I am today. I wouldn’t be the same without you. ❄️❤️

I need to play Skyrim more but I’m actually scared to start it up considering all the mods I have on it and how hot my laptop gets

Elsa…

In their final moments before freezing to death, both sisters reach out to stop a sword.

Yet only Anna succeeds. She is reaching and fighting for something in the present; Elsa is reaching to stop something that has already happened- a mere memory long gone.

Which is interesting- it’s true to both of them from the first movie and into the second: Anna has always looked to the future while Elsa has always gotten stuck in the past.

Elsa lives her whole childhood into young adulthood trapped in the guilt and shame of what she did to Anna when they were little, holding onto it and unable to move forward. Anna (though aided by magical amnesia) does not get stuck dwelling in the past- always looking forward to what’s next, what could be.

In the second movie, Anna spends her time looking out for her family and protecting the fragile present they’ve managed to build. Elsa spends most of her time searching for answers in the past (even though it’s necessary to resolve the present), until she’s “drowned” among the ghostly specters of it.

I think by the end of the movie Elsa has now become a keeper and guardian of memory, no longer as a form of self-castigation, but as a tool to find healing and to move forward. Together, with Anna by her side, they will be able to build a bright future while still learning from the past.

Exactly, and you nailed the similarities and differences between these two scenes perfectly! However, while I completely agree with you about Elsa trying to stop something that happened long ago and always living in the past, I would also say that, while she didn’t succeed in stopping the sword because it was in a past memory, I would also say succeeded in a different way in this scene (just like Anna did before) because she was able to get this message off to Anna (and like Anna, did so at the cost of her own life), which told Anna the truth and she then realized the dam had to be destroyed in order for the people in the forest to be set free.

In my first official analysis about Frozen II following the release of the film, I’d like to start by saying that, while I thought “Into the Unknown” was gonna be the song I would love the most, I have to say that my mind has been changed with my pick now going to “Show Yourself”. Now I did enjoy “Into the Unknown” and all the excerpts of it I heard from ads before the release of the film’s soundtrack. However, I am glad I did not listen to all the songs before watching the movie because I don’t think I would have understood the lyrics to “Show Yourself” and all the spoilers that came with it! My guess is that the promotional campaign focused so much on “Into the Unknown” in order to cover up all of the secrets that would be revealed during “Show Yourself”. And in just three days, I have listened to this song over and over again, and the more I do, the more I have come to realize that THIS is the song that is meant to be equivalent to “Let It Go” from the first Frozen! When I listen to it, it brings me to tears, especially when Elsa starts to sob in joy! 😭 And of course, I can think of just how these two songs relate and contrast to one another that I HAD to write it down for an analysis, so here I go! 😄

I see “Let it Go” and “Show Yourself” being counterparts that complement each other, the two halves of a whole circle about Elsa’s magic and her self-acceptance. “Let It Go” is the starting half of Elsa gaining her freedom and coming to terms with who she really is and her powers, and then “Show Yourself” is the closing half because it not only went further with Elsa fully accepting herself, powers and all, but also her self-discovery and self-realization. So what was started with “Let It Go” has ended with “Show Yourself”.

Going back to the first movie, in “Let It Go,” Elsa sings about how she is free for the first time in her life. She is free to be the person she truly is, the person she wants to be, and so she embraces her powers once again. Elsa becomes happy as she lets it all go (so to speak 😉). In the midst of her singing, she pulls her hair down from the bun she has worn for years (which represented her confinement of her powers and her isolation from people) into a braid, showing her rejection of her past and her return to the happy, carefree person she was as a child. Finally, Elsa creates her Snow Queen dress over her coronation dress (which covered her entire body, another representation of her repression of her powers) as her way of rejecting the past and making a whole new beginning in her life.

However, there is a downside with and after “Let It Go”. Despite what she sings, I don’t think Elsa is TRULY happy with her powers, leaving Arendelle, or about being all by herself. This is because she still has the feelings of anxiety, fear, and self-loathing she has had since childhood. There is no doubt in my mind that Elsa would still be wondering why she was born with magic in the first place, and I’m sure she thought about it the most after she harmed Anna and they were separated from each other. Not knowing why was also the cause of Elsa’s turmoil, so even though she was feeling genuine joy after leaving Arendelle, the negative feelings she had felt for years wouldn’t have just gone away overnight. For another reason, Elsa running away after her powers were discovered wasn’t the best solution to it. In real life, we are taught that running from problems don’t always, if ever, work because they can come back to haunt us unless and until we figure out the best way to resolve them. Elsa knows this, but since her magic makes so different from the rest of the world, it’s easy for her to imagine the worst about it, including how people would react to them. Therefore, she ran away because she didn’t know what else to do; she just didn’t see another way around it. Her line “I’m never going back” reflects that feeling of her only seeing running away as the best option. So while Elsa may have accepted herself, or rather, started to, while singing “Let It Go,” she still wanted to be accepted and not hated or feared by society, but felt that would never happen. Lastly, I don’t think Elsa was entirely joyous about being all by herself. Though she always pushed Anna away out of the fear that she would only harm her again, Elsa still loved Anna deeply and longed to reconnect with her. But again, her fear from the past was too hard for her to forget, which caused her turmoil and anxiety to remain as she continued to resist Anna’s efforts to mend their relationship.

Three years later, upon reaching Ahtohallan, Elsa sings “Show Yourself” and finally learns the whole truth about why she had been born with magic. As a child, Elsa’s mother Iduna was a member of the Northuldra, a tribe of people who resided in the Enchanted Forest, a place of magic and home to the four elemental spirits. During a conflict between Northuldrans and Arendellians in the forest, Iduna rescued Agnarr, who was the prince of Arendelle, before other people who were still in the forest became trapped in it by a mist.

For me, the best part of the song is the lyrics starting with “Where the north wind meets the sea” and ending with “All of my life” because it is during these lines that Elsa finally finds all of the answers to the questions she has had her whole life. She sees the memory of her mother saving her father, and then the memory of adult Iduna singing a lullaby. As these lyrics are sung, Elsa realizes and understands that her powers were a gift granted to her by nature because of Iduna’s heroic act. Upon realizing this, Elsa also discovers that she is the fifth spirit who unites differences. 

So at this point, Elsa finally has all of the answers. She has discovered the purpose of her existence, her true calling in the world, her destiny, and she wholeheartedly embraces it all while crying tears of joy. Like in the original film, she sang her main song about self-acceptance, but in this film, she goes further by singing not only about self-acceptance, but about self-discovery and self-realization. While she wasn’t 100% happy about herself during and after “Let It Go,” this is complemented in “Show Yourself” when she becomes overjoyed at learning the truth of her life’s purpose. Her joy is also because she sees her mother again through the memories, and Iduna is clearly very proud as she looks down at her daughter. And on the side, Elsa not only has Anna in her life again, but also a family with Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven, so knowing that she has people she loves and who love her in her life adds to her joy.

Furthermore, like in “Let It Go”, during “Show Yourself,” Elsa undergoes a change in her hair and dress to reflect her new major changes. In the former song, she lets down her hair, although it’s in a braid, which is how she wore it as a child, symbolizing the first step she takes in becoming free and who she is as the Snow Queen. Then in “Show Yourself”, her hair is entirely down and loose, showing her final step in being free and learning just who and what she truly is as the fifth spirit.

So back to what I said at the beginning, I see “Let It Go” and “Show Yourself” as being the two halves of a circle that focus on Elsa’s freedom and self-acceptance; “Show Yourself” completes what began with “Let It Go”. In “Let It Go,” Elsa embraced her powers once again and started to become who she is, but she wasn’t entirely at peace with herself because of her desire to be accepted by people, to reconcile with Anna, and to know why she had powers. Then in “Show Yourself,” she realizes that she was given these powers by nature because of her mother’s selfless act and that she is meant to be the fifth spirit. And now that Elsa finally knows the truth, she wholeheartedly embraces her magic, realizes who she is, and is overjoyed.

Special thanks to @elsaspants whose recorded video of “Show Yourself” was the source of my gifs from the song! Thank you very much! 😄