Frozen 2 Creates A Plot Hole For Queen Iduna (& Elsa)

Frozen 2 creates a plot hole for Queen Iduna (Evan Rachel Wood) when her backstory as a member of the Northuldra indigenous group is introduced in the sequel. When Elsa (Idina Menzel) accidentally injures Anna (Kristen Bell) with her ice magic during the opening scene of Frozen, the actions of King Agnarr (Alfred Molina) and Queen Iduna that follow as they consult the rock trolls suggests that Iduna has little knowledge of magic in the Frozen universe despite growing up in the Enchanted Forest where the Northuldra coexisted with the elemental spirits.

Along with King Agnarr, Queen Iduna was introduced very briefly at the beginning of Frozen as Anna and Elsa’s mother. Since her character had limited scenes and minimal dialogue,Idunatook on the role of a one-dimensional maternal figure rather than a fully developed character before her mysterious death in a shipwreck out at sea within the opening scenes of Frozen. In Frozen 2, however, Queen Iduna’s role was expanded through the use of flashbacks, which provided more insight into Iduna’s childhood as a Northuldran, revealed how she saved Agnarr during the battle between the Arendellians and the Northuldra people, and how the elemental spirits gifted Elsa with the reincarnated fifth spirit because of Iduna’s bravery. While Iduna was originally voiced by the co-director of Frozen Jennifer Lee, her character was recast to Evan Rachel Wood within Frozen 2 because the demands of the role had increased dramatically since the first film, which included singing her own song “All Is Found.”

Unlike Frozen, which mainly followed Anna and Elsa as they struggled to understand and control Elsa’s powers, Frozen 2 explores the world beyond Arendelle and introduces the mythos of the Frozen universe, including the five elementals spirits, the Enchanted Forest, and the mythical river Ahtohallan, all of which are established through Iduna’s backstory. Since Iduna’s connection to elemental magic is a central plot point within Frozen 2, it’s a bit strange that Iduna almost doesn’t seem to understand magic within Frozen.

Frozen 2 Reveals Queen Iduna Lived With Magic Before

Throughout Frozen 2, it’s revealed that Queen Iduna was formerly exposed to the magic in nature created by the elemental spirits of earth, fire, water, and air during her childhood. When Anna and Elsa met the remaining Northuldra people in the Enchanted Forest, they learn that their mother was also Northuldra since her scarf belonged to one of the oldest Northuldra families, according to Honeymaren (Rachel Matthews). Between Agnarr’s bedtime story about his experience in the Enchanted Forest and the memories Elsa uncovers at Ahtohallan, it’s revealed that Iduna, as a young Northuldra girl, used to play with the wind spirit Olaf (Josh Gad) later names “Gale,” and that she saved Agnarr with Gale’s assistance.

Since Iduna grew up in the Enchanted Forest, interacted peacefully with the elemental spirits, and even had a personal friendship with the wind spirit Gale, she clearly has positive memories interacting with magic in the past. With this in mind, Iduna would’ve been a rare human expert on elemental magic due to her firsthand knowledge, which doesn’t align with one of the earliest scenes from Frozen when Agnarr and Iduna consult the rock trolls after Anna and Elsa’s accident. 

Queen Iduna Doesn’t Understand Magic — or Elsa

The opening scene of Frozen doesn’t make sense when paired with Iduna’s backstory featured in Frozen 2. When Elsa accidentally injures Anna with her powers, Agnarr states, “I know where we have to go,” consults an old book on Scandinavian folklore featuring information about the rock trolls and how they’ve been known to cure humans of magic curses, and grabs a map which leads to their location, which suggests that he’s the parent who knows more about magic. While Iduna has had more personal experience with elemental magic, as is shown in Frozen 2, Iduna takes on more of a supporting role during Anna and Elsa’s accident and remains quiet during the whole scene. Since she follows Agnarr’s lead during the crisis, this makes it seem as if Iduna hasn’t had much experience with magic and doesn’t understand it as well as Agnarr. 

While this scene from Frozen coupled with Iduna’s backstory could create a plot hole, alternatively, it’s also possible that Iduna simply didn’t understand Elsa’s magic in particular. Within the Frozen universe, the use of elemental magic appears to be fairly rare amongst humans, which is evident when Agnarr and Iduna go to the rock trolls, a group of elemental beings, for help when Anna is injured instead of a human versed in magic. As a member of the Northuldra tribe, Iduna has only ever interacted with the spirits of the Enchanted Forest since their elemental abilities have been ingratiated into the Northuldra way of life. While Elsa’s magic is also based on the elements, her abilities are a type of magic Iduna has never experienced before since none of the Northuldra could control magic themselves, which may partially explain why she takes a backseat within the scene.  

Why Queen Iduna Feared Elsa’s Magic (Despite Grand Pabbie’s Warning)

King Agnarr and Queen Iduna’s reaction to Grand Pabbie’s (Ciarán Hinds) warning in Frozen also doesn’t align with Iduna’s history with elemental magic from Frozen 2. When Agnarr and Iduna visit the rock trolls, Grand Pabbie warns Elsa that fear will be her enemy if she doesn’t learn to control her powers, which is why Agnarr and Iduna decide to isolate Elsa in the castle away from the citizens of Arendelle. While Grand Pabbie’s message could be interpreted in multiple ways, it’s revealed at the end of Frozen that Elsa’s own fear of her power was the true enemy that Grand Pabbie warned her against. However, given that Iduna had such a positive experience with magic in her childhood, it seems unlikely that Iduna would teach Elsa that the best way to control her magic is to suppress it. Since Iduna knows firsthand that magic can be a beautiful thing, it’s surprising that Iduna never taught Elsa not to fear her magic.

Alternatively, Iduna’s actions in Frozen could be explained when viewing Grand Pabbie’s warning from a different perspective. Agnarr and Iduna appear to interpret Grand Pabbie’s warning to mean that the people of Arendelle may one day turn on Elsa because of their fear of her powers. While Iduna could’ve similarly spoken out about how magic shouldn’t be feared but rather celebrated to the public, she would’ve had to reveal her own past history with magic to do so, as well as the fact that she was Northuldran. At the time, the Northuldra people were probably still considered enemies of Arendelle given the unexplained battle in the Enchanted Forest between the Arendellians and the Northuldrans. If the people of Arendelle had learned that not only was their queen related to Arendelle’s enemies but that Elsa’s magic had a connection to them as well, it may have increased their fear of her, which is why Iduna went along with the idea to hide Elsa’s magic to begin with.

Since Frozen 2 wasn’t planned during the production of the first film, it seems likely that the conflicting scenes from the two films involving Iduna’s history with magic together create a Frozen 2 plot hole; however, many of the events of Frozen wouldn’t have occurred without it. If Iduna had taught Elsa not to fear her magic, Anna never would’ve had to sacrifice herself to save her sister from Prince Hans (Santino Fontana), and it would’ve robbed Elsa and Anna of the moment that strengthened their sisterly bond, which is the heart of the entire franchise.