Frozen’s Original Elsa Backstory Had 1 Major Flaw (& Disney Was Right To Change It)

One detail from the original Frozen opening would’ve changed Elsa’s backstory completely, but thankfully, Disney scrapped it. Based on the fairy tale The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen, Frozen tells the story of two sisters: Elsa, Queen of Arendelle, who accidentally traps her kingdom in eternal winter with her icy powers, and Anna, who sets out on a journey to find her sister. The 2013 animated Disney movie was a paramount success and launched a whole franchise, including Frozen 2, the upcoming Frozen 3, and a potential live-action Frozen remake.

In some ways, Disney has yet to top Frozen 10 years later. Frozen brilliantly subverted the traditional Disney tale by avoiding the standard hero/villain trope and focusing primarily on sisterhood over romance. However, Frozen co-director and co-writer Chris Buck recently revealed that Elsa’s character was originally very different. Though she was always the Snow Queen, Elsa was initially written as more of a villain rather than the tormented, misunderstood character viewers came to know her as in the final product. In fact, the original opening scene of Frozen involved a particular catalyst event to Elsa acquiring her icy powers that would’ve altered her backstory in a major way.

The Original Frozen Opening Saw Elsa Getting Left At The Altar

This betrayal was the inciting incident for Elsa acquiring her powers

According to Buck, in the original opening scene of Frozen, Elsa was left at the altar during her wedding. Heartbroken and betrayed, Elsa ran out of the church and up the mountains, wishing upon a star that she would never again feel the kind of pain she felt at that moment. Her wish came true: her heart froze, preventing her from ever feeling pain again and granting her the power to manipulate snow and ice. However, there was a catch. Because her heart was frozen, she also couldn’t feel love anymore — or anything else for that matter.

Elsa’s Original Backstory Made Her Character Arc About Romance

Elsa’s journey would’ve been a lot more like the Disney princesses that preceded her

This origin story for Elsa’s powers was vastly different from the one she was ultimately given in the Frozen franchise. Since Frozen focuses more on the impact her powers have on her life, the source of Elsa’s powers isn’t revealed until Frozen 2. Her mother, Iduna, was part of the Northuldra tribe, which were Arendelle’s rivals. During a battle between the nations before Elsa and Anna were born, Iduna rescued the King of Arendelle’s son, Agnarr, who later fell in love with Iduna and became the girls’ father. As their eventual firstborn, Elsa’s powers were bestowed upon her by the four elemental spirits to reward Iduna for her selfless act.

The original version of Frozen could have incorporated aspects of this origin story, but the acquisition of Elsa’s powers would have been self-inflicted as a “careful-what-you-wish-for” sort of punishment for trying to escape the agony of heartbreak, rather than inherited as an albeit burdensome gift. Elsa’s character arc would’ve been rooted in the significance of romantic love and its consequences rather than familial conflict and her own personal obstacles. Like most Disney princess movies up to that point, Frozen would’ve revolved around romantic love at its core, even if the ultimate message was that a princess doesn’t need it to be whole.

The Disney Movie Made The Right Call Giving Elsa A Different Backstory

Frozen was better off as a story about sisterhood

It was definitely the right decision for Disney to ditch Elsa’s original backstory in Frozen and restructure the focus on her relationship with Anna. In fact, Anna and Elsa weren’t supposed to be sisters in the original plan for Frozen. Buck reiterated that while Elsa and Anna lived in the same village and knew each other, they were not intended to be sisters at first.

By scrapping Elsa’s failed wedding backstory, Frozen was able to develop into a beautiful story about the importance of sisterhood and finding one’s own strength. It also showed that a Disney princess doesn’t need to seek out romantic love, whether she succeeds or not, in order to be a compelling character with a compelling storyline. Elsa was better off with a backstory that centered herself and her family’s history in Frozen, instead of the betrayal of a lover.