Frozen 2 Broke A Very Specific Disney Animated Record

Frozen 2 broke a very specific Disney animation record that likely went unnoticed by many viewers. In Frozen 2, Anna and Elsa are drawn north from Arendelle by a voice calling Elsa. When Elsa reaches the magical glacier, Ahtohallan, she is shown ice memories that reveal her own life as well as the life of her parents, King Agnarr and Queen Iduna. As Elsa traces the memories back further and further, she sees her grandfather, King Runeard, and hears him plotting against the Northuldra people by building a dam that weakens their land. Though many have cited Frozen 2’s lack of a villain as one of its biggest weaknesses, Runeard could arguably be considered the villain of Frozen 2.

Runeard might even be a stronger villain than Hans, who was also a twist villain, but Hans was revealed as a villain even later in Frozen than Runeard was in Frozen 2. Neither film does a good job of foreshadowing the betrayals of two supposed good characters – Hans remains one of Frozen’s most glaring plot holes. And Runeard isn’t a classic Disney villain, nor does he feature heavily in Frozen 2, but there is one thing that makes the character stand out amongst all the other Disney villains.

Runeard is the only primary villain in a Disney animated film who is dead before the beginning of their movie. Runeard only appears in flashbacks and ice memories in Frozen 2. Those memories reveal that Runeard’s plan to conquer the Northuldra was the inciting event for the entire film. The dam built by Arendelle caused the curse on the Enchanted Forest, which made the spirits abandon the forest. King Runeard died in a battle that broke out between the Arendellian soldiers and the Northuldra people. A few of the Arendellians fled, including Agnarr, whom Iduna followed back to Arendelle and later married.

Had Runeard not harmed the forest by building the dam, the lives of Anna and Elsa would have looked quite different. For one thing, Agnarr and Iduna might not have met or gotten married. There also wouldn’t have been a need for Elsa to awaken the spirits. And according to the narrative of Frozen 2, which implies that Elsa was born to break the curse on the Enchanted Forest, there might not have been a need for Elsa to have magical ice powers at all.

Though Runeard isn’t alive during the film, he’s clearly integral to the plot of Frozen 2 and possibly the entire premise of the Frozen universe. Runeard is not an active villain throughout Frozen 2 and has no signature Disney villain song, comical sidekicks, or snappy one-liners, but no other villain in Disney animation has the distinguishment of being dead before the movie starts.

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