When they showed what was finished of the film to a Story Trust group several months prior to release, many were still confused about who the voice was supposed to belong to. It was after that the decision was made to fully commit to the voice calling to Elsa being that of her mother, Iduna.
The call led her to Ahtohallan, where Elsa was able to discover her true calling and the truth about the curse placed on the Enchanted Forest. Elsa discovered that the call was used by Iduna to summon the Wind Spirit to save Agnarr.
According to Iduna's notes, Ahtohallan is the source of the magic in the Enchanted Forest as well as those of the spirits, including Elsa's powers. It can be assumed that Ahtohallan has a form of sentience as it called Elsa to it so that she could become the fifth spirit and discover the truth about the past.
Because of the kingdom's negative feelings towards the Northuldra, Iduna kept her heritage a secret for many years, though she finally told him everything shortly before their deaths. Agnarr and Iduna's oldest daughter (Elsa) was born with the power to control ice and snow.
In conclusion, Elsa is only the fifth spirit because of her mothers sacrifice of her powers. Queen Iduna was the fifth spirit all along and chooses to save King Agnarr knowing that as a royal, she would need to be with him to have her royal daughters.
With the spirits as her guide, Elsa follows the call to Ahtohallan, where she discovers that she is the fifth spirit of the Enchanted Forest—the bridge that connects magic and people. Elsa accepts her role and uses her powers to reveal the truth about King Runeard and his dam, passing that truth to her sister Anna.
She died and was reborn to take on her true form like has happened in so many stories before. With that transformation, Frozen 2 has made Elsa an immortal spirit now. Like how Frozen 2's other four spirits appear as animals but more than just that, Elsa still appears human but is more than just that.
The implication, and it's only ever just that, is that Elsa and Anna's mother is herself somehow attuned to the magical forces such that Elsa was given the gift of superpowers. (Why Anna never received such powers is equally vaguely defined: just as Elsa and Anna's father had no powers, so too would she be power-free.
The fact that granting Anna powers would invalidate or at least muddle the spirit-human bridge concept is only part of the issue. Aside from the logistical problem it poses, a sudden manifestation of magic in Anna would also take away from the beauty of her character.
Frozen explicitly shows the audience that Iduna and Agnarr's ship has sunk, killing both of the young princesses' parents. It's later revealed in Frozen 2 that the king and queen were traveling to Ahtohallan, a magical glacier in the north, and Frozen's sequel again confirms that Anna and Elsa's parents died at sea.
Many fans have argued that, since Elsa is the fifth spirit, then the voice she hears is really her own. Disney and the makers of Frozen 2 have put an end to the debate, however, by confirming that the voice really is Iduna's.
Leaving her friends behind, Elsa crosses the Dark Sea to Ahtohallan (with a little help from a kelpie called Nokk), and commands the spirit (in song) to "Show Yourself." She learns that she is actually the fifth spirit of the forest, connecting the other four.
Anna's parents rush her to the sacred realm, where discussions with the trolls reveal that Elsa was born with her powers/ depigmentation and deafness, rather than them being due to illness or accident. Grand Pabbie troll heals Anna but removes her memories of Elsa's magic.
The ice from which the palace is constructed is capable of taking on different colors, such as purple, blue, red and yellow, based on Elsa's emotional state (blue when she is happy or neutral, yellow or amber when she is angry, and red when she is frightened).
During Elsa and Anna's journey, they learned that their parents' ill-fated trip was one to Ahtohallan in an attempt to find answers about Elsa's powers. The Water Spirit who guarded the sea opposed Elsa when she tried to reach Ahtohallan. She was eventually able to tame the spirit and use it to take her to Ahtohallan.
Elsa and Anna's parents didn't die by shipwreck where we thought they'd died by shipwreck (always a fun, uncomplicated topic for kids!); they actually died by shipwreck trying to journey to Ahtohallan, the mythical island they believed held the answers to Elsa's powers.
Elsa got her power as a gift because her mother rescued one of her enemy's member, which is Elsa's father. The blessing is somehow only allowing them to have one gifted child, and since Elsa is the first, she is the one who got the power.
In the Disney animated film "Frozen" and its sequel "Frozen II," Elsa's hair changes from blonde to white. This change is symbolic of her growing power and control over her abilities to create and control ice and snow.
Frozen 3 is officially underway, and the work done so far has left one of the original Frozen creators "blown away". Jennifer Lee – who wrote and co-directed the first two movies – revealed in October 2023 that the creative team is already delivering astounding work for the threequel.
While Iduna's selfless actions were the reason Elsa was bestowed with ice powers to begin with, her daughter received powers instead of her because beings are born with elemental powers in the Frozen universe and don't acquire them later on in life.
Trivia. At the beginning of the song, Olaf references a "Samantha." However, prior to the song, he admits to not actually knowing anyone named Samantha and that, while scared, he simply said a name at random. This bit was improvised by Olaf's voice actor, Josh Gad.
