The Next Right Thing - piano + Kristen Bell

Hi all, as you might know I’ve posted 3 recordings of me playing piano with Elsa singing. 

I love Anna equally as much, so here is The Next Right Thing with me playing piano and Anna singing. 

The source of the vocal-only track is here.

Sorry there are some tempo problems here and there, I know.

So it’s been several weeks since I posted a Frozen/Frozen II analysis, and even longer since I wrote one about Elsa/Elsa and Anna. Did you guys miss me? 😉

Anyway, there is one topic from the second film that has been on my mind since it came out, and as of late, I have been thinking about it more and more that I decided to write an analysis to try and make things as clear as possible once and for all.

In the film, when Honeymaren first mentions the existence of the fifth spirit, she tells Elsa that this spirit serves as a bridge between the magic of nature (which consists of the Northuldra and the four elemental spirits in the Enchanted Forest) and humanity (which consists of the non-magical people of Arendelle). Honeymaren’s description makes it clear that the fifth spirit and the bridge are one and the same.

Elsa goes to Ahtohallan to find the source of the voice that has been calling her, believing it belongs to this fifth spirit. Instead, Elsa discovers that the fifth spirit is her, which apparently means that her purpose is being the bridge between the Northuldra and Arendelle. 

Upon reuniting with Anna following the end of the curse on the forest, Anna voices her realization of her sister’s identity:

But then Elsa responds with the following words:

By saying that a bridge has two sides and that their mother had two daughters, Elsa implies that she and Anna, meaning the two of them TOGETHER, are the bridge, that each one of them represents each side.

This would mean that BOTH girls are the fifth spirit, not just Elsa herself…and this has been confirmed to be true by Jennifer Lee.

For a while, I was very confused by these words and tried to make sense of them. Now I understood the concept that both girls represent each half of the whole bridge, but I felt that only ONE of the sisters could actually be the TRUE fifth spirit. Of course, that would be Elsa since she has magic like the other four spirits of the forest. And earlier, when in Ahtohallan, Elsa steps onto the centerpiece located between the diamonds of the four elemental spirits. As she as she does, it lights up, and its official symbol appears, flanking each of the diamonds. This is the moment that makes the audience, and Elsa herself, aware that SHE is the fifth spirit.

So wIth all of this in mind, it would seem that the fifth spirit was actually not the official name for the ENTIRE bridge, but just for the half that represented magic.

But recently, I have been thinking more and more about it, and as I do, I understand how Jen Lee saying that the two girls do act as the fifth spirit, and thus, the bridge.

Before going to Ahtohallan, Elsa is realized by Anna to have been born with magic as a gift of Iduna’s heroic act of rescuing Agnarr during the battle between their respective peoples. By the end of the movie, we can comprehend that while Anna was born without magic, both girls were born as a reward to Iduna’s good deed. They were both appointed as the fifth spirit with the purpose to serve as the bridge between magic and humanity.

Elsa and Anna were born because they were meant to work TOGETHER to right the wrongs caused by Runeard and bring a true, peaceful unity between the Northuldra and Arendelle. Yes, Elsa may be the only sister with powers, but she would not have been able do EVERYTHING entirely on her own. Anna HAD to come to the forest to help her sister, even though they were unable to remain side by side throughout the entire journey.

Like I explained in “Girls in the Mist”, when the group first came upon the mist, it ONLY parted when the girls held hands and Elsa touched it. (This moment was the earliest hint that both sisters were necessary to undo the curse on the forest.) While in the forest, Elsa managed to tame three of the spirits and discovered the cause of the curse in Ahtohallan. After Elsa temporarily froze, Anna finished her sister’s work by provoking the giants into destroying the dam, which lifted the mist. This act also caused Elsa to thaw out, and she raced back to Arendelle to prevent the tidal wave released by the broken dam from destroying the kingdom.

So even though they weren’t physically together the whole time, Elsa and Anna accomplished their mission together, and this proves that they play the role as the fifth spirit TOGETHER. The two of them make up the bridge, with each one of them acting as each individual side of the bridge. Elsa represents the magical side as the OFFICIAL fifth spirit and the protector of the forest, while Anna represents the side of humanity, the non-magical side, as the queen of Arendelle.

As the two halves of the whole bridge, Anna and Elsa have fulfilled their purpose in uniting Arendelle and the Northuldra, bringing true peace between both lands and people. And now with Anna assuming her role as Arendelle’s queen and Elsa assuming her role as the guardian of the forest, the two sisters will continue to keep the peace and unity together. 😉😊

Elsa’s theme - piano improvisation

Impromptu improvisation on Elsa’s F2 theme!

Frozen II song and score medley

What started out as me playing “Iduna’s Scarf” led to an 8 minute long impromptu medley! 1. Peace theme 2. The Next Right Thing (motif) 3. Elsa’s theme 4. All Is Found 5. Ahtohallan piano theme 6. Elsa’s theme (part 2) 7. Show Yourself 8. Into The Unknown 9. Some Things Never Change 10. Vuelie 11. Reindeer Circle

For this medley, I avoided creepy themes. After I finished recording I realised I had left out the beautiful Sisters Theme. And also Gale’s theme. Maybe I’ll try again some time.

Apologies for the ambient noise, I tried to reduce it with Audacity.

Things I Love About Frozen 2

For me, plus:

Musical percussion instruments in 3 Frozen songs

(please unmute!)

Little video edit to show 2 glockenspiel bits and bells in Love Is An Open Door, Home (Anna's deleted song in F2) and Ring In The Season from OFA.

1. LIAOD (glockenspiel)

2. Home (glockenspiel)

3. Ring In The Season (bells)

@theupsidedownpyramid

Best choice of cast ever 🧡

Elsa’s Snow Queen Cape

Boo!

The second gif is a reaction we expect from a startled person with ice powers. But the first gif... obviously the ice starts to show when Elsa is clearly happy. It spreads quicker when she notices and gets scared, but it fits with what Agnarr says in A Place Of Our Own outtake: "It's not Anna I am worried about. What if we let them get close again and the feelings are too much for Elsa? Joy brings her powers out as strongly as fear."

I think we've never seen Elsa's powers manifesting in so disorganized, potentially dangerous way when she was happy like in the first gif. The whole Let It Go showed her complete control over her powers when happy. Hm...

Yes you are right, she was happy initially. And yes I've thought about what Agnarr said too! About joy. It's like Monsters, Inc. Where fear generates scream energy, but laughter/joy generates 10x the amount! BooElsa hahaha. Adds more meaning to the title of the post!

I think, young Elsa initially had control of her powers when happy. She could make all these

But she tasted fear for the first time when she couldn't catch Anna, which was further deepened when she hit Anna in the head. Anna's white lock of hair served as a permanent reminder of that for the next 13 years. And this is the start of her fear manifesting as raw, uncontrolled power.

Kudos to the animators. Look at the difference between the beautiful snowflake-motif ice she makes when she's happy, versus the irregular, ugly ice she makes when consumed by fear. (around her foot in the left screencap) The ugly ice is a metaphor for our inner demons. After this scene for the next 13 years she can't make pretty ice until Let It Go, but only the Great Thaw fully heals and frees her.

Canonically, we have yet to see a demonstration of her "happy powers" being stronger than her "fear powers". I have said this many times before. When she was running away in fear in F1, she literally froze a fjord. A. Whole. Fjord.

That is the highest power level we've seen from her. In fact it's such a high level of power, sort of like Infinity-Stone wielded by Thanos - level of power. (sorry for the segue into MCU lol)

That's why for F3 I wanna see her either turn evil and reach that power level again, or achieve that power level while happy. (but we would need an equally powerful villain - I know there are those who want Hans to come back as the Human Torch)

Anyway I'm happy that post the Great Thaw we can see that ice dinosaur and bear again!

Happy childhood memories!

That's an interesting angle to discuss Elsa's powers and consequences of it. You make me wonder if we indeed haven't seen a demonstration of Elsa's "happy" powers that were stronger than her "fear" powers.

I mean...ok, I am bad at physics, but its laws and my experience say that chaos is a natural state of things, enthropy rises on its own and making any order needs a lot of energy. Otherwise cleaning my room would be once in a lifetime thing and not every weekend occurrence ;).

So while "a fear" magic is impressive and uses a lot of energy, it's chaotic compared to "a happy" magic which is very organized. So from a mathematic point of view building Ice Palace could use more energy than freezing a whole fjord. Also we saw Elsa "clean up" after herself at the end of Frozen, which, again, considering laws of physics, should need more energy than "making a mess". It's just that cleaning (or any other activity that brings order) is not as impressive as making a mess (ie destroying something), so we don't pay attention to it.

This is why probably it was decided that when Elsa fights using her magic in F2, it is almost always in a "chaotic" form: not only because Elsa has no time to create more "organized" structures of ice, but also, or mainly, because it would be more energy-consuming (it's a bit of mind-blowing imagining that for making ice sextant Elsa could use more energy than for fighting Bruni. Or Nokk...hmm).

But if we decide that we haven't see her "happy" powers at it's finest and want to see them in F3, then my conclusions for F3 plot are totally opposite. I am sorry, but in both Frozen movies Elsa is always a catalyst that causes "troubles" and Anna is the one "fixing" things. Making Elsa such catalyst again (going evil or for example losing powers) would be not only repetitive, but also would fit hurtful stereotype of every queer or queer-coded character going this path in movies industry, and specifically in Disney movies/series.

The really surprising plot twist that also would be a good excuse to show what Elsa's "happy" powers could do is Anna, a sister gifted with a power of love, turning evil, and Elsa for once being the one that needs to "fix" things. And to chase after her sister 😜 This is a bit scary how at the end of F2 Disney gives Anna all attributes that usual Disney villains have but magic. She is "ready" to be posessed by some evil being attracted to her status as the part of a fifth spirit that is not protected by magic like her sister. Ideas, ideas...

I absolutely love this moment. I cannot even describe Elsa’s gesture here. Superficially, she is silently requesting more cuddling from Anna. However - you can tell she really needs that contact - after years of going without hugs. You can tell she is really happy. You can tell how much she loves her sister. You can tell she really wants more of the loving feeling she briefly tasted in that hug they had after Anna broke the spell. And you can tell that she is waiting and needily begging for Anna’s consent. She is both her queenly self, and a child begging hopefully and desperately to be loved. All of that is put in a gesture that doesn’t even last for one second. …and of course, Anna then gives Elsa everything she needs and hopes for.

Iduna & Agnarr Defense Post

I saw a post saying Iduna and Agnarr are just as bad as Mother Gothel, and I cannot let that stand. So I am making this my comprehensive Iduna and Agnarr defense post. 

First, I want to address the idea that Agnarr had a prejudice against magic due to his father.

In Frozen 2, Agnarr sees his daughters playing with Elsa’s ice powers and smiles. He doesn’t do or say anything to discourage her from doing her magic and even finds it endearing.

Yes, Elsa was traumatized by the accident, but do you think Iduna and Agnarr weren’t? It’s not traumatic to hear your eldest daughter scream for you and run to her – only to find your youngest daughter unconscious and near death?

Iduna and Agnarr were emotionally compromised as much as Elsa was. If we’re going to give Elsa sympathy for her PTSD, why not extend the same understanding to the mother and father who nearly lost their daughter?

Yes, it was wrong to keep this a secret from Anna. But consider this: to save Anna, Grand Pabbie had to remove, “memories of magic.” So maybe they feared what would happen to Anna if those memories came back.

Grand Pabbie gives them the vague warning that “fear will be your enemy.” People get mad that they didn’t get that meant fear will keep Elsa from controlling her powers rather than other people’s fear of Elsa’s powers will lead to violence against her. Even though the vision Grand Pabbie shows them is of an angry mob attacking Elsa. If anything, Grand Pabbie is the one who planted the idea to fear Elsa’s power in all of their heads.

Then, Agnarr says, “She can learn to control it, I’m sure,” with no trace of doubt. He believed in Elsa completely. He probably didn’t imagine it would take her years to master her powers.

Agnarr and Iduna spend the next ten years trying to help Elsa control her powers. People blame Agnarr for coming up with, “conceal, don’t feel.” Agnarr’s mantra was actually, “conceal it, don’t feel it, don’t let it show.” It meaning Elsa’s powers. He only meant for Elsa to hide her powers, but as she grew into adulthood, her mind warped that message into hiding everything about herself.

If any scene demonstrates how powerless and lost they really are, it’s when Elsa refuses to let her parents touch her. Look how heartbroken they are seeing their daughter too scared to even embrace them.

They decide to go to Ahtohallan for answers about Elsa’s powers even though:

1. They don’t know if it’s real.

2. They don’t know if that’s really where Elsa’s powers came from.

3. Even if it is, don’t know if going there will give them any answers.

Even facing rough waters, they decide to, “keep going for Elsa.”

They risked everything and lost their lives just for a small chance that they could help their daughter. Because they couldn’t stand to see their daughter suffer anymore. 

And you know what the saddest part is? Unlike Anna and Elsa, Iduna and Agnarr never got their happy ending. 

They never got to see Anna learn the truth, never got to see the people accept Elsa’s powers, never got to see their family come back together.

Iduna and Agnarr made mistakes, and yes, their mistakes hurt their daughters deeply. But to just hate on them for being “abusive” parents is an oversimplification of a complex situation. They were scared parents in over their heads doing the best they could.

THIS!

The Next Right Thing x Into The Unknown

I was learning Frozen songs on guitar and noticed that there were were points where I could mash them up… aaaand somehow that led to me grabbing the instrumentals for TNRT and ITU, and messing around in Audacity. Because I am the weird writer who randomly decides to pick up drawing and audio editing to procrastinate. Is this a mutated form of cabin fever?

TL;DR—instead of writing The Next Unknown one scene away from finishing chapter 10 oops I ended up literally making ‘The Next Unknown’ 😂

I wish I could claim a galaxy brain moment but this is honestly how it went down:

Thought process naming fic: I will take…. Anna’s song…. and Elsa’s song….. and trololol this is actually ‘the next unknown’ after Frozen 2. perfect I am dumbsmart

Thought process mashing songs: which ones would transition well….. hmm. ah. oh hey that works! it sounds nice! time to give it a name………. wait. did i just- the next right thing + into the unknown = THE NEXT UNKNOWN HOLY MOLY WHAAAAATTTT 

That, my friends, is called dumb luck SERENDIPITY. I’m a clueless dork.

It was a couple hours of fun so hope you guys enjoy this little mashup haha! It totally sounds like trailer music- Frozen 3 anyone??

P.S. A link to The Next Unknown fic if anyone is interested https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13467233/1/The-Next-Unknown 🙇🏻‍♀️

P.P.S. the album art is a story cover I commissioned from the incredible @princessmimoza​ - please check out their amazing art! 

I want to pause to take a moment to appreciate Frohana in all of its facets - Snow Sisters, Ice Bros, Kristanna, Olaf and Anna, Kristoff and Sven, all the beautiful bonds that make this family Stronger Together.

How the sisters bring out the brightness in each other.

How Elsa would do anything to protect Anna.

How Elsa loves and cares for Anna, cares about her emotional well-being and helping her to heal from the pain of the past.

How Anna cares for Elsa in the same way.

How deeply Kristoff loves Anna.

And how deeply Anna loves Kristoff.

How Elsa loves Kristoff.

How Olaf loves Anna.

And Anna loves Olaf.

How Kristoff and Sven have been each other’s family forever.

And Olaf and Sven care about each other.

They’re a family…

… and families can grow.

And I love them all, and how they all are connected by love. Whatever my misgivings about parts of Frozen 2, the beauty of this familial warmth shines in my heart.

Connected by love.