It was unexpected, Elsa and Anna are both portrayed in the animated film as two Norwegian princesses from the 1840s — it's highly unlikely that their father, the King, was not white. I immediately looked over to my husband who had noticed the same thing I did. He shrugged at me. We looked at our children.
As for whether Elsa and Anna are white … the Northuldra are modeled on the Sami, an indigenous people scattered across northern Scandinavia and northwestern Russia who have faced a great deal of discrimination, but there's a lot of disagreement about the genetic and linguistic origins of Sami to this day.
In the Disney film adaptation, she is introduced as a princess in the fictional Scandinavian Kingdom of Arendelle, heiress to the throne and the elder sister of Anna (Kristen Bell).
In the Disney film adaptation, Anna is depicted as the princess of Arendelle, a fictional Scandinavian kingdom, and the younger sister of Elsa (Idina Menzel), who is the heiress to the throne and possesses the elemental ability to create and control ice and snow.
Well, it's kind of both. While Frozen takes place in the fictional kingdom Arendelle, the kingdom was based on multiple locations in Norway. The team behind Frozen even visited Norway to gain inspiration, and you can see Nordic influence all throughout the movie.
Who were the Ancestors of Elsa and Anna? Frozen Family Tree
Where are Elsa and Anna supposed to be from?
It told the story of Elsa and Anna, two princess sisters in the fictional kingdom of Arendelle. Born with special powers, Elsa sends the valley into eternal winter during her coronation ceremony and then disappears.
Iduna originated from a Northuldra tribe in the Enchanted Forest. Upon her birth, Iduna's mother knitted her a special scarf that contained the symbols of the elemental spirits of the forest, and Iduna wore and treasured it for the rest of her life.
BuzzFeed views Snow White as a German woman, and suggests that a "historically accurate" Snow White would have been raised within the "austere and religious" culture of the Holy Roman Empire in the 16th century.
(For an interesting video about the relationship between the Sami, Norway, and the making of Frozen 2, click here.) Anna and Elsa are not white either. They are Northuldra raised Arendellian, aka Native Raised Other. Regardless of where they end up by the end of the movie, they are and always will be Native women.
Originally Answered: In Frozen What are Elsa and Anna's full names? They would either take their kingdom's name (Elsa of Arendelle/Anna of Arendelle), or, at that time in Norway, they would've taken the name of their father (Elsa Agnarrsdotter/Anna Agnarrsdotter).
The hiddenness of Anna and Elsa's biracial identity touches on a long history of passing—either voluntarily or non-voluntarily—by many bi- and multi-racial people.
No, Elsa and Rapunzel are not twins. However, it seems likely that they are cousins. We see the specifics of Rapunzel's birth in Tangled. The queen of Corona must have been Rapunzel's mother, or else the flower's powers could not have transferred to Rapunzel's hair.
Originally Elsa was simply a short form for the biblical name Elisabeth and some of its variants: Elisabet, Elisabetta and Elizabeth. The first record mentioning the name were in Sweden at the 15th century, and became generally used after the 19th century.
In the first Frozen movie, Elsa's age was 21, while Anna was 18. Considering Frozen revolved around Elsa's coronation, it's refreshing to see that Arendelle waited until she was a more appropriate age to receive the queen title. Frozen II occurred after a 3-year time jump, with Elsa now 24 and Anna 21.
The easiest answer for why the Frozen women don't count is simply that Elsa is a queen in the first movie, and gives up her crown for Anna to take over in Frozen 2. They are therefore Queens and not Princesses. But, as we've seen, royalty isn't even a condition of entry, so that alone shouldn't rule them out.
Moana as she appears in Moana (2016). Inspired by Polynesian mythology, Moana is depicted as the strong-willed daughter of a chief of a Polynesian village, who is chosen by the ocean itself to reunite a mystical relic with the goddess Te Fiti.
What is the controversy with the new Snow White movie?
When first announced, the casting of West Side Story star Rachel Zegler as the titular Snow White sparked racist backlash from commentators who believed that Zegler (who is of Colombian and Polish descent) wasn't pale enough for the part, as the princess is described as having skin “as white as snow.”
In the new, 2024 Disney adaptation of the classic fairy tale, Snow White will be played by Latina actress Rachel Zegler despite her name and the former popular depictions of the princess.
Both characters have two daughters (Agnarr is the father to Elsa and Anna, while Big Bob is the father to Olga and Helga). In Frozen II, Agnarr is voiced by Alfred Molina, while Iduna is voiced by Evan Rachel Wood.
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.
While it's rumoured that the Austrian town of Hallstatt inspired the setting of Frozen's Arendelle, and the look and feel of the village came from Norway's second city, Bergen, it's also said that the mass of water next to it was inspired by the UNESCO-listed Nærøyfjord in Norway.
