Frozen Hero's Journey

1071 Words3 Pages

A hero's life follows a set pattern. The events in the lives of various mythological heroes appear to be the same. This is the pattern followed by Elsa's story in Frozen, a modern heroic adventure. A hero's life must have three essential elements, these include having an unusual origin, embarking on a quest, and winning rewards for completing an ultimate test. In the modern film Frozen, Elsa fulfills many elements of a Hero’s Quest Cycle. Elsa begins the cycle when she discovers she has magic ice powers; she goes on a journey to discover the origin of her powers and the truth about her family’s history, and finally overcomes her final test by embracing love and acceptance from her sister Anna, before coming to the realization that everyone …show more content…

This causes Elsa to isolate herself for many years in case she hurts anyone else. Elsa once again loses control of her powers and puts herself and her kingdom into an eternal winter and flees. The outcast, Elsa loses control of her powers when she gets crowned queen of Arendelle, at that moment her emotions become strong and overwhelming. The hero Anna and Prince Hans ask for her blessing, it became too much for her to handle, as Anna pressured her more it caused Elsa to expose her ice powers to all of Arendelle. As she runs away because of her panicked mind, the kingdom is also in shock because of her unusual origin, she ends up sending Arendelle into a deep freeze. Elsa’s call to adventure so far in the story is that she causes an eternal winter in Arendelle and flees, she encounters fear and isolation, is forced to confront painful memories of the past, and the harsh unforgiving environment of the mountains where she isolated herself. Elsa’s past can be related to the mythic hero of Sigurd because he accidentally caused harm to a loved …show more content…

The Journey leads to the The Ultimate test when Anna jumps in front of Prince Hans right before he was going to kill Elsa, this being a true act of love, saving her sister instead of her. As Anna was left heartbroken, ally Kristoff comes back to Arendelle when he sees smoke coming from their castle knowing Anna was in danger, he came back with a plan of kissing Anna so her heart can thaw. While she tries to find Kristoff in the horrid weather conditions, Anna comes across Elsa and Hans, Anna also sees Kristoff, she has to now choose whether to save herself or her sister. Anna spots Hans with a sword behind his back, about to stab Elsa, she runs in front of him, freezing right in time. As Elsa is devastated, Anna starts to thaw because she committed an act of true love. Finally, Elsa thaws all of Arendelle, removing the snow and returning to summer with the act of love. In the hero quest cycle, sacrifice is most evident because Anna's spontaneous bravery and selflessness in defending her sister, even though she was at risk herself, represents the ultimate test and sacrifice. This is the Ultimate Test because this is where Anna proves the depth of her love and loyalty to her

More about Frozen Hero's Journey

Open Document