Arendelle
Arendelle is the name of the kingdom in the film Frozen. It is the kingdom of princesses Anna and Elsa, located in a Norwegian land.
Location[]
While the location of Arendelle is never specified in the film, the name of Arendelle (named after Arendal, a small town located south-west of the Norwegian capital, Oslo) hints that the kingdom may be somewhere far north, like Norway or Denmark on the coast.
Characteristics[]
From the fashion of the upper and lowerclass, the architecture, culture and written language show nordic/french-germanic influence in a 16th-17th century setting.
Lore[]
Many years ago, Arendelle was ruled by the seemingly benevolent and generous King Runeard, who discovered a magical forest near Arendelle that was protected by the most powerful spirits of all: the spirits of air, water, fire, and earth. Inside the Forest lived the peaceful Northudlra people, a tribe that held deep connections to the magic of the spirits and nature. They lived on the stories of the spirits and Ahtohallan, a magical river said to hold all the answers to the past. King Runeard seemingly sought peace with the tribe and built a dam for them as a peace offering. On the day he went to the Forest to seal the treaty, however, Runeard showed his true colors as a ruthless and manipulative tyrant who saw magic as a threat to his kingship, so he built the dam to weaken the Forest’s waters and disconnect the Northuldra from the spirits, therefore forcing them to submit under his rule or else he would conduct a genocide of them. As the Arendellian soldiers and his son Prince Agnarr enjoyed the festivities that took place, the Northuldra leader at the time recognized the dam as a danger to the Forest and sought to talk to Runeard about this. Runeard anticipated this to happen, and, pretending to agree to this conversation in a secluded spot, drew his sword and killed the Northudlra leader. This sparked a raging battle between the two former allies, with both sides unaware of the true events that transpired. During the scuffle, King Runeard lost his life by falling over a cliff while Prince Agnarr was knocked unconscious. Luckily, a Northudlra girl named Iduna saved Agnarr’s life with the help of her friend the Wind Spirit, successfully making it out of the Forest. Meanwhile, the battle angered the spirits, so they disconnected the Forest from the world by trapping everyone inside. Iduna and Agnarr made it to Arendelle, where Agnarr was crowned king and he and Iduna grew up as best friends. Eventually, their relationship morphed into a romantic one, and sooner or later they married. The spirits recognized Iduna’s bravery in the past, and as a reward, granted her a daughter that that would be born with the powers of ice and snow and would eventually grow to become the Fifth Spirit of the Forest, freeing the Forest and becoming the bridge between nature, the spirits, and humanity. Realizing that a bridge had two sides, however, the spirts gave her another daughter that would be born powerless, although she would connect humanity and Arendelle with the Northuldra and the spirits with her sister. The girls later grew as Elsa and Anna, Elsa being the daughter with magical ice powers. The two were very close, although this ended after Elsa accidentally hurt her sister in one of their games. Desperate, their parents brought them to the Rock Trolls, where they earned the girls’ parents to keep Elsa’s powers under control and to keep them hidden, thus erasing Anna’s memory of the events.
Due to the unstable nature of Elsa's powers, for her safety as well as the safety of Anna, until Elsa can learn to control her winter magic, the castle was closed off on the late king's orders for 13 years. On the day of Elsa's coronation, when her magical abilities were unintentionally exposed to the public by Anna and runs away, she accidentally triggers the severe winter weather conditions that freeze the kingdom. While she is gone and Anna is searching for her, Hans takes on the task of protecting the kingdom. However, thanks to Anna's efforts and love for her sister, Elsa found the courage to undo the eternal winter and peace is restored, along with Hans being sent back to face punishment from his brothers for his actions against the princess and queen. In addition, Arendelle has also cut off all ties with Weselton due to the Duke’s prejudice.
In Frozen II, Elsa accidentally awakens the spirits of the Enchanted Forest and they attack Arendelle, forcing the people to evacuate to higher grounds. Elsa and Anna go the Enchanted Forest for answers about the spirits. It is later revealed that the spirits were trying to get the girls to destroy the dam that King Runeard (the girls’ late grandfather) built to weaken the Northuldra’s magic, which would restore peace, but it will also destroy Arendelle with the coming flood the dam will release. When Anna destroyed the dam, Elsa freezes the coming flood, this saving Arendelle. Anna then becomes queen of Arendelle with Kristoff as her King Consort, since Elsa decides to stay in the Enchanted Forest as the Fifth Spirit, and both Arendellians and Northuldra make peace with each other.
Notable Locations[]
Arendelle Castle[]
Home of the royal family of Arendelle. The east side of the castle is where the main gates are located below a clock and in between two smaller doors, one on each side, all connected to Arendelle via a bridge. The doors to the castle are directly across from these gates and to the left and right of the gates are towers. The only tower on the right and the immediate one on the left are equidistant from the gates, identical and bear a shield with Arendelle's crest. Along the wall between the gates and these two towers are shields of various design and colour, each unique. There is a slightly taller tower further left at the end of the east wall, and across from the first left tower is the front end of the chapel where Elsa is crowned. The north side of Arendelle's castle is the most fortified with four towers, each of differing shape, height and width, and a thick, portruding and high stone wall. On the furthest right is the tallest and widest tower to the left of that is a shorter, square-shaped tower and between the two is the fortified, portruding wall. To the left of this tower seems to be a part of the castle based on the similar design of a spire and the roof. Across from the back side of the chapel is a heavier, square-shaped tower, wider and shorter than the other. And to the left of that is the end of the north wall and a more familiar though shorter tower with a similar circle shape and cyndrical roof design as the towers on the east side of the castle. The south side is connected to the lighthouse which is one of the two structures marking the opening in which ships must pass through to enter into Arendelle.
Arendelle Chapel[]
Where Elsa is crowned as the new queen of Arendelle. In the chapel, the Bishop of Arendelle places the crown on Elsa's head as Anna watches the coronation. He then presents the scepter and orb on a pillow. As Elsa moves to pick them up, the bishop reminds her that she has to remove the gloves she always wears. Elsa then faces the people in the pews and he formally speaks in Old Norse, ordaining Elsa as Queen. He barely finishes before Elsa hastily replaces the scepter and orb, shoving on the gloves. She turns again towards the people who are standing and applauding in honour of the new Queen.
Elsa's Ice Castle[]
Freely and expressing her feelings with her ice powers, Elsa creates her ice castle after her self imposed exile. It is under the protection of the ice golem Marshmallow.
Wandering Oaken's Trading Post and Sauna[]
The trading post is a little log cabin located in the mountains, that is owned by Oaken. There are two signs that say "Wandering Oaken's Trading Post" and "And Sauna." It is the place where Anna goes to get winter clothing and meets Kristoff.
Valley of the Living Rocks[]
A small valley home of the trolls, Kristoff's adoptive family.
Role in the Crossover[]
Being the home of Elsa and Anna, Arendelle is to be expected when they are involved. In Frozen Tangled Guardians, Arendelle could be interchangable with Corona as Rapunzel's kingdom. Arendelle would be allied with other kingdoms in the fandom, including Berk, DunBroch, and Corona.
It could be possible that Corona and Arendelle may be associated with each other in-canon. Rapunzel and Eugene both make a cameo appearance in Frozen before the coronation. This is probably because the creators of Tangled were also in charge of creating Frozen along with the creators of Wreck-It-Ralph.
Images[]
