- “The snow never bothered me.”
- ―Elsa[src]
Queen Elsa is a character who appears in the fourth season of ABC's Once Upon a Time. She is the queen of Arendelle and Anna's older sister, born with magic over ice and snow.
Elsa is based on both the titular character of "The Snow Queen", a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, and the character of the same name from the Frozen franchise.
Role in the series[]
The flashbacks of Arendelle are set about two years after events that are equivalent to the events of Frozen, and approximately a year before the first Dark Curse was cast in the general Once timeline.
In the midst of preparations surrounding Anna and Kristoff's wedding, Elsa discovers that her parents set off on a mysterious mission in regard to her abilities. Elsa and Anna learn from Grand Pabbie that they were traveling to a land known as Misthaven; better known as the Enchanted Forest. Determined to learn why Anna travels to Misthaven, without Elsa's consent, and much to the latter's dismay. Meanwhile, Elsa and Kristoff defend the kingdom from an invading Hans, who concocted a scheme to trap the Ice Queen within an enchanted urn. Kristoff and Elsa get to the urn first but are cornered by Hans and three of his brothers. Elsa and Kristoff are able to defend themselves until Hans puts a sword to Kristoff's back, and threatens his life. Hans tells Elsa he will spare Kristoff if Elsa gives him the urn, which she does. When Hans opened the urn to capture the queen, however, a mysterious being is released, instead, and freezes Hans as punishment for his cruel ways. The being is soon revealed to be Elsa's maternal aunt, Ingrid. Like Elsa, Ingrid holds power over ice and snow and is universally known as the Snow Queen. Elsa welcomes Ingrid back into Arendelle and is soon greeted by Anna returned from her adventures. However, it is soon discovered that Ingrid has villainous intentions. Years before Anna and Elsa, Ingrid was the elder sister of Gerda (Anna and Elsa's mother) and Helga. One day, Ingrid accidentally killed Helga, resulting in Gerda, in grief, trapping Ingrid in the magical urn to prevent her from causing more harm. From there, Gerda asked Grand Pabbie to erase Helga and Ingrid from the records and minds of Arendelle. When Ingrid returned, she wanted a new family to fill the void her sisters left, but one where they are equally empowered with magic, thus decidedly plotting to eliminate Anna. In hopes of turning Elsa against her sister, as well, Ingrid entrances Anna, forcing the latter to confront a confused and frightful Elsa. Anna threatens to imprison Elsa within the same urn that trapped Ingrid, and although Ingrid intended for Elsa to kill her sister before she had the chance. Elsa refused to hurt Anna and Anna unseals the urn in which Elsa is then imprisoned. Ingrid in a rage takes the urn from Anna and freezes over all of Arendelle, Ingrid then erases Elsa's memories of ever meeting her so the two could have a fresh start after Ingrid released Elsa from the urn. However, before Ingrid could release Elsa, Rumplestiltskin appears and takes the urn from Ingrid and tells Ingrid he will give it back if she gives him the magical hat. Ingrid does not oblige to the Dark One's request and Elsa is stored in Rumple's vault.
Elsa is released from the urn.
Years later, Emma Swan and Captain Hook are transported back in time and after correcting their mistakes they are imprisoned in the vault of the Dark One by Rumple who believes the two of them can not return to the future. Hook attempts to search the vault for a way out and finds the urn that contains Elsa, Emma tells him to put it down which he does. Moments later Emma is able to recover her magic and open a time portal to the future in which Elsa's urn is accidentally sucked into. After Hook and Emma have returned to Storybrooke they leave the area, after they have departed Elsa breaks free from her urn, shatters it with her magic, and proceeds to walk out of the barn hastily creating a trail of frost in her wake.
Though initially frightened by her surroundings, causing great chaos as a result, such as creating a giant snowman that turns wild until it is destroyed by Regina. Elsa manages to retreat from the chaos and stumbles upon Anna's necklace in Mr. Gold's (Rumplestiltskin) shop. Elsa after finding Anna's necklace creates an ice wall that surrounds the entire town. Emma meets Elsa who was hiding behind the wall, and Emma nearly dies due to a cave in but Elsa saves her. Later that night Emma and Elsa go to the ice wall so Elsa can take it down but for some reason, her magic is unable to melt it.
Ingrid traps Elsa.
As time passes, Elsa and Emma form a strong friendship, and the other members of the town no longer see Elsa as a threat. Emma and the others decide to join their new companion in the search for her sister. The group would eventually encounter Ingrid, who uses her magic to keep the ice wall up, though Elsa fails to remember her as her memory was wiped by the Snow Queen to prevent confrontations. Elsa and Captain Hook confront Ingrid after the latter has frozen Maid Marian, but Ingrid tells Elsa everyone fears people with magic and tries to kill Hook to prove to Elsa that the town will turn on her. Emma is able to stop Ingrid, but she gets away. Later Ingrid creates a false Anna to lure Elsa away from Emma, and she traps her niece. Ingrid needs Elsa out of her way so she can obtain Regina's mirror. Elsa is able to break free from her bonds and stops Ingrid, who was using her magic to choke Emma and Regina. Elsa tells Ingrid to fight her, but Ingrid again flees.
Like before, Ingrid plots to recreate her family and selects Elsa and Emma (who also has magical powers) as her victims. Convinced that she could only gain their love when she was the only one left, Ingrid obtained a mirror capable of bringing out the worst in people. The mirror was missing one piece, a shard from Regina's mirror, which Ingrid had just stolen. If a piece of the mirror were to get in someone's eye, they would see nothing but hatred in the world. Ingrid had planned to use this on everyone in Storybrooke (dubbed the Spell of Shattered Sight), forcing all of its citizens to turn against one another and battle to death while she, Emma, and Elsa remained immune.
Anna and Elsa sadly watch as their aunt sacrifices herself to undo her curse.
Back in Arendelle, Anna tried to track down a device known as a wishing star, which will have the power to bring her and Kristoff to wherever Elsa is. It was apparently the necklace Elsa had given her long ago, Elsa using it to bring Anna and Kristoff to Storybrooke. However, the Spell of Shattered Sight had already begun, and the only ones immune to it were Elsa, Emma, and Anna. Tracking down a note written by Elsa and Anna's mother right before her death, Anna brings it to Ingrid. It reads that Gerda requests that Ingrid is freed from the urn and states she truly loved her sister and regretted trapping her away. Realizing she always had her sisters' love, Ingrid destroys herself to ensure the curse is lifted.
With the help of Rumplestiltskin, Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff are able to discover a door that will lead back to Arendelle, though they will not be able to return, as the door will disappear after its use. Anna and Kristoff depart, while Elsa and Emma share a tearful goodbye before returning to Arendelle with her sister. Back in their home kingdom, Anna's wedding is underway, and the two sisters share a brief chat before heading to the chapel, hand-in-hand.
Sometime after, Arendelle would be under siege again; this time by the pirate Blackbeard. Having learned and mastered some new magic, Elsa managed to defeat him. As punishment for how he mistreated her sister and her brother-in-law, including his collaboration with Hans, Elsa shrinks the pirate and his crew, and turns their ship, the Jolly Roger, into a ship in a bottle, unaware that she also trapped the mermaid Ariel as well.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In the episode "Beauty", a young girl is seen dressed as Elsa for Halloween.
- In "White Out", Elsa says the snow never bothered her, which is a reference to the Frozen, "Let It Go", sung by Elsa.
- Elsa's iconic hairstyle included most of Georgina Haig's real hair fitted with extensions to create the bottom half of the braid. It took about two hours to assemble.[1]
- Georgina Haig, who plays Elsa, is the sister of Julian Haig, who plays Prince Gregor in the season 7 episode "Wake Up Call" of Once Upon a Time.[2]
Variants[]
References[]
- ↑ "Meet Anna and Elsa from Once Upon A Time". YouTube (September 26, 2014).
- ↑ "The person who helps actor Georgina Haig land 'half' her roles". The Sydney Morning Herald (September 12, 2021).
