Frozen 2 takes fans deep into the unknown finally revealing the origin of Elsa's powers,
Anna's future in Arendelle and the truth about what happened to the sisters' parents on that
sea voyage.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, I'm Jan and in this video we'll be discussing the epic ending
of Frozen 2 and how the new movie's mythology changes everything about the past and future
for Elsa and Anna.
And to celebrate the release of the film, I'm kicking off a new giveaway!
For a chance to win, subscribe and keep watching for more details.
There will, of course, be spoilers for Frozen 2, so take care if you haven't seen it yet.
When Frozen 2 begins, three years have passed since the castle gates were opened and Anna,
the quintessential fairy tale character, is still basking in her Happily Ever After from
the first movie.
"Do you ever worry about the notion that nothing is permanent?"
"Err, no!"
And although deep down Anna doesn't want anything to change as she demonstrates in the song
"Some Things Never Change", the irony of the song's title is that nothing could be further
from the truth.
Elsa is the catalyst for change when one night she goes outside the castle to explore the
mysterious voice from the north that keeps calling to her.
Her song "Into The Unknown" reveals the inner turmoil Elsa feels.
At first, she resists the "siren song" because she knows that answering it will risk everything
and everyone she loves in Arendelle.
The voice challenges her though because it understands that Elsa's true destiny is not
to be Queen of Arendelle, but to become something else.
As Elsa realizes she can't suppress her true calling any longer, she reaches out to the
voice.
The spirits answer back though with dramatic effect and throw Arendelle into disarray as
the earth and wind upturn the streets and blow the inhabitants out of the kingdom and
up onto the cliffs.
This event sets Elsa, Anna, Olaf and Kristoff off on their quest to the Enchanted Lands
in search of answers to the past.
"Find who is calling to you.
They may have answers."
As they part the mist guarding the entrance to the forest, Olaf remarks that an Enchanted
Forest "is a place of transformation" and as we'll see all four characters will undergo
a significant change after their time there.
Inside the forest, the gang meets the Arendellians and Northuldra people who were trapped inside
when the spirits were angered, and they also learn that Elsa and Anna's parents met as
children in the forest.
Elsa also discovers her mother's secret connection to Ahtohallan when Honeymaren explains that
the four symbols on Iduna's scarf represent each of the four spirits and therefore Iduna's
connection to nature.
A darker secret about Elsa and Anna's parents is also revealed when the sisters come across
the wreckage of their ship.
When Elsa extracts the memories of what happened to the ship from the water soaked into the
wood, they learn that their parents didn't perish in the Southern Seas as assumed, but
that they were travelling to Ahtohallan in search of answers about Elsa's powers.
The lullaby "All Is Found" is actually Iduna's "secret message to Elsa" and it contains all
the answers about the themes of the movie and Elsa's destiny.
"When I was little, my mother would sing a song about a special river called Ahtohallan..
that was said to hold all the answers about the past..
about what we are a part of."
Ahtohallan is the "river full of memory" which contains the answers to the past that Elsa
is looking for.
And so she goes to the shores of the Dark Sea which she must cross to find that river
from the lullaby.
After Elsa tames the water spirit, which appears as a horse that challenges her to prove herself
worthy, she rides it to Ahtohallan, recalling the line from "All Is Found", "Come my darling
homeward bound".
Ahtohallan is where Elsa's transformation will occur.
She begins to sing "Show Yourself" as she becomes overjoyed at finding the place she
truly belongs.
Her hair flows loose and free of any constraints and as she enters into the depths of the frozen
glacier, images of her mother appear in the ice and both Iduna and the voice sing back
to Elsa.
As foretold in the lullaby "All Is Found", "[Ahtohallan] will sing to those who'll hear
And in her song, all magic flows."
As she travels deeper into the heart of the frozen river, Elsa finally reaches the symbols
of the four spirits and embracing the mythical magical moment, in the centre of the four
symbols a star forms, a symbol or sign of the fifth spirit which is a union of all four
spirits.
This is very much Elsa's new "Let It Go" moment and as she steps into the centre of the star
it calls back to when she stamped her foot on the North Mountain and created a giant
snowflake that grew into an enormous Ice Palace.
And just like in "Let It Go" when Elsa created a new blue dress for herself, in "Show Yourself",
Elsa's transformation is completed as her magic creates a stunning new white flowing
dress.
This is an amazing moment for Elsa, and as the fifth spirit, her powers are tremendous,
but as we will see she's not invincible.
Ahtohallan opens up the memories of the past and, as Elsa goes deeper and deeper into that
past, she gets colder and colder as she discovers her grandfather's betrayal of the Northuldra
people.
Elsa's horror and fear and guilt at uncovering this secret history proves too much and she
literally freezes up with each memory she uncovers.
In the end, as the lullaby "All Is Found" warned, Elsa dives too deep into this frozen
river of memories and she drowns in ice as the cold overcomes her.
So, in a change from the first film, apparently the cold does bother Elsa anyway.
Fortunately, as previously explained by Honeymaren, the Fifth Spirit is also a bridge between
two worlds and to prove this point just before freezing over, Elsa sends a ray of magic to
her sister Anna who's sheltering in a cave at that moment.
The ice magic reveals the truth about their grandfather to Anna who realizes what she
must do to right the historic wrong the Arendellians committed against the Northuldra.
Anna uses the Earth Giants to destroy the dam that her treacherous grandfather built,
which lifts the curse the spirits had put on the Enchanted Forest and also frees Elsa
from her frozen state.
"Promise me we'll do this together, OK?"
"I promise."
In the end then, both Anna and Elsa were needed to break the curse and restore balance to
the world.
Because, as Elsa points out, their mother had two daughters.
In fact, Anna's heroic moment was foreshadowed right at the very beginning of the film when
young Elsa and Anna play with a mini enchanted forest.
At the end of their game, Elsa has their fairy queen toy break the spell, saving everyone,
and Anna adds that everyone gets married.
Based on the previous films you'd probably associate the magical Elsa with the fairy
queen toy they play with.
However, what happens when the girls grow up is that it's Anna, who although not magical
herself is able to harness the magic of nature like her Northuldra relatives used to do and
by doing so saves everyone by getting the earth spirits to take out the dam.
With Elsa unleashed, we now get to witness the Avatar or goddess-like powers that she
commands.
With Arendelle under threat from the dam's flood waters, Elsa summons and commands the
water spirit, riding it to Arendelle where she stops and then dissipates the tidal wave
about to submerge the kingdom.
Now there's a lot more to discuss about Elsa's tremendous new powers in Frozen 2 and I'll
link to my full video on that here and in the video description.
After saving Arendelle, Elsa has an emotional reunion with her sister Anna.
And echoing her "Do you wanna build a snowman?"
phrase from the first movie, Elsa resurrects Olaf from the pile of snowflakes that he transformed
into.
Olaf faded away at the same time that Elsa became frozen in Ahtohallan, because as we
know from the first film, the magical snowman was the result of Elsa's powers, so when she
passed, he did too.
Fortunately, because water retains memory, as Olaf tells everyone during the movie, the
little snowman is restored with all of his previous memories.
"The water that makes up you and me has passed through at least four animals before us."
With her newfound sense of identity, Elsa also makes the momentous decision and change
to remain in the north and not return to live in Arendelle, agreeing with Honeymaren's suggestion
that Elsa belongs there.
Now part of Elsa's decision to remain in the north involves asking Anna to take over from
her as ruler and Queen of Arendelle.
Fans will no doubt debate this change of ruler, but it most likely works out best for both
sisters and was hinted at early in the movie.
After Arendelle was evacuated and GranPabbie offered to look after the Arendellians, it
was Anna who displayed leadership and took charge of giving orders to the troll leader:
"I will look after your people."
"Please make sure they stay out of the kingdom until we return."
"Of course."
This isn't to take anything away from Elsa, it's just that Anna is better suited to the
more constrained and human side of being in charge of a kingdom whereas Elsa's magical
abilities and sense of mythic destiny mean she's better suited to live near nature where
she can freely make use of her magic without causing problems to those around her.
Ultimately, Elsa has never felt fully at ease in Arendelle and her quest to Ahtohallan has
shown her where she truly belongs.
On the other hand, Anna is perfectly suited to life in Arendelle, and at the end, both
set a regular date to meet up at the castle every week.
"Never a dull moment with you two."
Another huge change for Anna is that by end of the movie, Kristoff finally manages to
make his proposal to her and they get married.
And on the subject of Anna and her Happily Ever After ending, we need to jump back a
moment and talk about her transformation after she was separated from Elsa and ended up alone
in a cave with Olaf.
After Anna receives the message from her sister about their grandfather and the dam, Olaf
begins to flurry away and he sadly reveals to Anna that if the magic is fading from him,
then her sister must not be OK either.
Anna then goes through the heart-breaking moment of holding her snowman friend in her
arms as he fades into snowflakes, knowing this also meant her sister's life-force was
also fading.
For Anna who's an eternal optimist and started the movie in such a happy place, these losses
are heavy blows that send her into a deep sadness.
Still, she manages to draw on her inner strength and pull herself out of the depths of despair
with her song "The Next Right Thing".
As Anna sings this emotional song, she determines that she can survive and get through it by
moving forward one small step at a time.
Through this transformation, Anna matures into a more complex character which makes
her even better suited to be the new Queen of Arendelle.
And her sister Elsa is now truly at peace with her powers.
To learn all about Elsa's new abilities and exactly what she can now do after Frozen 2,
tap here or click the link in the video description to watch my full breakdown of all of Elsa's
new powers.
So, how do you feel about Elsa and Anna's transformations in Frozen 2?
And how do you think they could team up in a future story?
Share your thoughts in the comments below and don't forget to subscribe and hit the
Gleam link for a chance to win an awesome Frozen 2 Funko Pop.
The giveaway runs for the next four weeks and the winner will be contacted via email.
Tap left for my next Frozen 2 video or tap right for another video you're sure to like.
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Thanks for watching and see ya next time.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!