#elsa's magic

Spider-Man: peace sign

Elsa: the salt guy meme, for some reason

Chris Buck: And it's a magical moment

Chris Buck: Elsa's snow magic is, sort of, all around them

Chris Buck: and it starts to swirl around and twinkle, almost like fireflies through the forest

Elsa's subconscious magic

Was watching the Making of Frozen II documentary and came across this. Director Chris Buck is talking to the singers recording "Forest Vuelie" (nanana heyanna), giving them a mental picture of the scene. He says that the magic swirling around and twinkling like fireflies, is originating from Elsa. That's interesting, I used to think it was Gale the wind spirit doing it. If Buck says it's Elsa then it is Elsa. Canon.

Elsa wasn't "consciously" doing it the way she does her other magic - lifting her hands or stamping her foot and we can see the magic literally coming out of her hand or foot. Just before this, she had discovered that "our mother is Northuldra" and that "Mother saved Father's life that day". This amazing, life changing discovery could be said to have "activated" her subconscious magic.

When else did Elsa display subconscious magic (by my definition)?

Practically the whole of F1.

1. After Anna's accident, she wept and cried and the great hall froze over. Also, as the royal family galloped on horses to the Trolls, she left a long trail of ice (which enabled Kristoff to find the trolls)

Activating event - Anna's accident

2. Freezing her bedroom after Agnarr and Iduna's death.

3. Freezing the entire fjord. This one needs no explanation as it is THE major plot event in F1.

Activating event - major embarrassment in front of dignitaries at her coronation 😭, firing a blast of ice at Weaseltown - which itself is also subconscious.

4. Mini snow storm inside the ice palace, culminating in her freezing Anna's heart 😭😭

Activating event - learning that she has frozen the whole country and isn't free of her "curse". Also, Anna's persistent pleading with Elsa to come home.

5. The red icy spikes inside the ice palace when she's freaking out and telling herself to "Conceal, don't feel".

6. Self defence during the fight with Weaseltown's men - her magic caused icy walls to appear and protect her from arrows.

7. The freezing of the whole castle, starting from the dungeon and leading to the icy spikes that drive Anna and Olaf to escape through a window.

8. The mega snowstorm as she flees from the dungeon.

9. The cessation of said snowstorm.

Activating (or deactivating) event - monster Hans lying to her that she has killed Anna. 😭😭😭

In F2 she is much more in control and we don't see fear-based displays of subconscious magic. I think there is one more in addition to Forest Vuelie.

10. The entire Into The Unknown magical sequence where she sees the magical images of the spirits, Agnarr and Iduna, the forest etc, and culminating in the blast of icy crystals of the spirits suspended in the air.

Activating event - responding to the Spirit call (ah-ah-ah-ah)

Two Songs, One Woman

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.

An excerpt from my in progress fanfic, frozen-the epic titled:

Elsa's rage and hate:-

As Elsa desperately tried to fend off the assassins out for her blood, they had succeeded in cornering her to the statues of her loved ones behind her.

Elsa had no more left to give; this was her palace, her sanctuary, her home, her prison, her temple and her tomb. She would rather be obliterated than be taken by force.

Making peace with that terrible realization, she stepped on the offensive. If it was to be a battle for her life, she would make sure the world would remember it. She didn't wish to kill, but she would spare no effort in keeping them away. With that, her palace became her personal battlefield, if cold and ice was to be her legacy, so be it.

A bullet barely missed her face as she instinctively ducked for cover. She may have escaped that bullet unscathed, but the same could not be said about her shrine.

It was over in an instant, as the bullet found its mark right in the centre of her family's statues, as if openly mocking the Snow Queen's intentions to protect those who she cared for and loved. To further step on said wound, the statues cracked into a million little pieces and came crashing down upon the Snow Queen and her assailants.

The sheer impact of the crash shook the castle to its very foundations. For several moments afterwards there was a deathly silence as the rest of the Arendellian guard came to the scene. Then suddenly, the Snow Queen arose from the carnage, stunned and caked with blood. As her assailants came to their senses as well being heavily bruised, the Arendellian guard wondered if the Queen had become a statue of ice herself.

Their doubts were violently dashed as the queen screamed for a good long while at the damage. For Elsa, this was the last straw. Hunting her down was one thing as she maintained a stoic resignation of her own life, but her family? Her well meaning, blameless, ever loving family being destroyed?

Now this was personal.

Consequences be damned, reputation be damned, these people need to be dealt with once and for all.

And so, on that fateful moment, Elsa summoned a lifetime of anger, anguish, pain, grief, rage and hatred in the form of a massive blizzard that could possibly swallow them all.

The Arendellian guards fell back in horror as the gale picked the razorsharp ice fragments from the statues and the walls of the castle, which came together to form a basilisk worthy of a place in the book of revelations and the old testament. A giant serpent like creature consisting of pain, anguish, ice, rage and pure hatred, waiting to descend upon its mistress' attackers like the divine wind of destruction.

Then Elsa gave the fateful command,

Cass: *shows ice slide and goes sliding*

Elsa: *waves her hands and conjures up a far more impressive, artistic ice slide*

Cass: *stares open-mouthed*

Elsa: *smiles sheepishly*

Elsa Birthday Appreciation Week