The stunningly animated Raya and the Last Dragon introduces Disney's first
Southeast Asian princess, the fantasy world of Kumandra and its mystical water dragons.
Curiously, hidden in the movie are many references, easter eggs, and similarities
to Disney's previous animated hit Frozen 2. Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, I'm Jan and
in this video I'm revealing all the secret connections, details, and parallels between
Raya, Sisu and Disney's ice queen Elsa. Plus stick around to the end of the video
to find out about the original much darker ending Disney had planned for the Last Dragon.
Spoilers ahead, of course, so take care. Many Disney fans have noticed an interesting
visual and somewhat uncanny similarity between Sisu and Elsa, in particular Sisu's face which
has extra-large and expressive eyes. It's interesting because the final version
of Sisu in the movie has some notable differences from the original concept art of the dragon which
had smaller eyes and sharper teeth and fangs. Sisu is also predominantly blue in the final
movie with only touches of purple, whereas she had a lot more purple in the initial design
as well as some white colours. This dominant blue colouring on
Sisu makes the magical dragon more reminiscent of Elsa whose signature colour has often been blue.
And many fans are so convinced about the visual similarities of the two, that they jokingly
suggest Elsa got bored of being the Fifth Spirit after a few years and decided to become a dragon.
Of course, both Sisu and Elsa's abilities are water-based, so naturally the colour
blue fits them both well too. And I'll be talking more about
the water dragons in the film shortly. It's interesting how key moments in both
Raya and the Last Dragon and Frozen 2 occur when the main protagonists
encounter the remains of a shipwreck. Raya comes across the wreckage of a
boat after her search for the river's end where legend says that Sisu is sleeping.
Inside the ship, as Raya summons Sisu, the water in the stream reverses direction,
large drops float into the air and combine to reform as the legendary water dragon.
This feels reminiscent of Frozen 2 where Elsa used her magic to pull water that was embedded
in the hull of the wrecked ship to create an ice sculpture that held the memories of
the last moments of her parents. And Raya's comment when she sees
the ship for the first time: "Six years of searching and we
end up at a literal shipwreck." feels like a wink to Frozen fans
about their 6-year wait between the first and the second movie for the reveal of the
truth about what had really happened to Elsa and Anna's parents, King Agnarr and Queen Iduna.
In Raya and the Last Dragon, we learn that 500 years ago the world came under attack from the
Druun, amorphous and destructive spirits who turned both people and dragons into stone.
Four of the only five surviving dragons decided to combine their powers and magic
into a dragon gem which they entrusted to their sibling Sisu, the fifth dragon, who then used the
power of the gem to defeat the plague of Druun. Similarly, in Frozen 2, it's the Fifth Spirit,
Elsa, who together with Anna breaks the curse on the Enchanted
Forest and saves Arendelle from destruction. In both movies, there are five magical elements.
In Raya, each of the five dragons has a distinct power:
"This is my little sister Amba's magic. I got the glow!
And that's Pranee. She's a shapeshifter."
"Fog?!" "That was my brother Jagan's magic.
And Pengu. He's our big brother.
He brings the rain. I'm a really strong swimmer."
And in Frozen 2, there are five spirits: Gale, the wind element;
Bruni, the fire spirit; the Earth Giants;
the Nokk water spirit; and Elsa the Fifth Spirit,
who together with her sister Anna forms a bridge connecting nature with humanity.
The importance of five elements in Raya and the Last Dragon is also emphasised in
the very opening shot of the movie with this picture of a stone structure with
five curved supports holding up the top. One of these is broken, signalling either
how the world is broken, or perhaps pointing to the missing fifth dragon
Sisu who Raya is searching for. There's also five stone balls,
with the four smaller ones on the outside representing the four dragons who gave
their powers to create the Dragon Gem, which is represented by the large ball in the centre.
And there are, of course, five kingdoms in Kumandra.
And at the end of the story, one person from each of the five kingdoms
come together to save their world. Now, in many traditions, numbers also
have a symbolic quality, with the number 5 often symbolising balance, mankind, health, and love.
Even bearing this in mind though, it's still intriguing that Disney has chosen
to feature this particular symbolism in both of their most recent animated features.
In both movies too, our protagonists end up sacrificing themselves or temporarily dying,
as they reach the end of their quest. For Raya, she's the first in her group to
give her piece of the Dragon Gem to Namaari and trust in her as Sisu wanted her to.
Without the gem's protection the Druun turn Raya to stone, similar to how Elsa froze entirely when
she dove too deep into Ahtohallan's memories. And in the first Frozen movie, Anna turned to
ice as well, when she sacrificed herself to save Elsa from the evil Hans.
Nobody stays dead and Raya comes back to life after Namaari puts the Dragon Gem back together,
which unleashes the power of the dragons on the Druun.
While in Frozen 2, Elsa is unfrozen when Anna lifts the curse on the Enchanted Forest
by destroying the Arendellian dam. Another interesting similarity between
both films is the importance of water to the final resolution.
In Raya and the Last Dragon, the rain which falls liberates everyone from their stony fate,
whereas in Frozen 2 when the dam breaks, the resulting tsunami almost destroys Arendelle as
it flows down the fjord towards the kingdom, until Elsa arrives in the nick of time to stop it.
Water is, of course, a hugely important motif in Raya and the Last Dragon, as it's the only element
other than the Dragon Gem itself which can ward off the Druun, and tellingly Raya is even called
Dewdrop by her father Benja. "They're repelled by water."
Sisu is also a water dragon and her design, as well as her siblings,
was inspired by the Southeast Asian Naga, mythical divine or semi-divine beings.
The Naga are often more serpentine in appearance than the European style
of dragon usually depicted in Disney movies and they're sometimes associated with the Mekong
river which was actually the inspiration for the dragon-shaped river that runs through and connects
all of Kumandra's five kingdoms. "This is water.
It's sort of my thing." But Sisu also has a curious parallel with Frozen
2's elemental water spirit, the Nokk, though that is, of course, based on Scandinavian mythology.
In the original folklore, the Nokk has the ability to shape-shift and turn into a man or woman,
much like Sisu does in Raya and the Last Dragon, "I just shape-changed!
Into people!" "Dragons can do that?"
"Look at my people arms and my people face. Look how close my butt is to my head."
while the Naga that Sisu is based on are also sometimes portrayed as half-human, half-serpent.
And, as always, the Frozen fandom has been quick to catch on to these similarities swapping out an
image of the Nokk for Sisu in this picture of Elsa after she stops the flood.
Another thematic similarity between Raya and the Last Dragon and Frozen 2
is how human discord and treachery triggers a kind of natural or mystical antagonist,
which is something Disney has explored in other recent films like Moana in contrast
to more conventional animated villains such as Maleficent and Cruella de Vil.
When Namaari betrays Raya's trust to try and steal the Dragon Gem for the Fang people,
it causes all of Kumandra's kingdoms to fight each other over the stone and when they end up
breaking the gem, it awakens the Druun who now pose an existential threat to all of Kumandra.
Likewise in Frozen 2, it was King Runeard's betrayal of and attack on the Northuldra
which angered the spirits who then cursed the Enchanted Forest trapping everyone inside and
preventing anyone from entering or leaving. An especially interesting detail about both
movies is that at one time Disney originally had much darker endings planned for both of them.
In Raya and the Last Dragon, Sisu dies when Namaari betrays Raya again,
and the subsequent confrontation goes wrong. In an interview with Polygon, the filmmakers
explained that Sisu dying was always part of the original plan, so that Raya would
learn the dragon wasn't somebody who would magically rescue Kumandra from the Druun,
and that instead she and the others would have to learn to trust one another in order
to defeat them, just like Sisu and the other dragons had done 500 years before.
In the final film, Sisu is resurrected later on together with all of her dragon siblings.
However, there was a version of the movie where Sisu remained dead after the rain fell
and no other dragons were resurrected either, meaning Sisu was literally the Last Dragon.
As one of the film's producers pointed out, "if [humans] are the solution, why are we
bringing the magical mystical creatures back?" In the end though, the filmmakers felt they wanted
to go with a happy ending and "a big Disney moment
that [makes] your heart sing", and so Sisu and the dragons came back.
Now, depending on your viewpoint, the original ending might have been more striking
because it would have solidified the sacrifice the dragons made for
Kumandra and made the consequences of human discord and strife more long-lasting.
Likewise, Frozen 2 almost had a darker ending as well where Arendelle Castle
was destroyed by the flood because Elsa wasn't there to stop the wave
making the consequences of King Runeard's betrayal of the Northuldra more impactful.
The original scene of the aftermath also shows how Anna planned to use the destruction as an
opportunity for renewal in the kingdom. "We'll rebuild the castle.
New, no secrets, no deceit, new rules even!" And if you want to learn more about Frozen 2's
other deleted scenes, there's a card here and a link in the video description.
Another notable detail is the diamond pattern on the walls of the Heart land palace which reminds
me of the diamonds that suddenly appeared over Arendelle during "Into The Unknown".
This could be a Frozen 2 easter egg or it could likely be a reference to the diamond
motifs you can see on Fang jewellery such as those on Chief Virana's earring and neck ring.
Given we see these diamond patterns just as Raya is confiding in Namaari and is about
to take her to see the Dragon Gem, it might be a clue to the imminent Fang betrayal.
So, did you spot any other interesting easter eggs or details in the movie?
Comment with your thoughts and theories below! And if you enjoyed this, don't forget to leave
a thumbs-up, it's really appreciated. You can also tap left for those Frozen
2 deleted scenes and alternate ending or tap right for something else you're sure to like.
Thanks for watching and see ya next time! Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!