Frozen Theory: Elsa’s Parents’ Death Wasn’t An Accident

While it was originally believed that Elsa (Idina Menzel) and Anna’s (Kristen Bell) parents, King Agnarr (Alfred Molina) and Queen Iduna (Evan Rachel Wood), died when their ship was caught in a storm on the Dark sea in the beginning of Frozen, one theory suggests that their deaths may not have been an accident after all. When Elsa travels through the Enchanted Forest and across the Dark sea to Ahtohallan in Frozen 2, she encounters many unruly elemental spirits, including the kelpie Nøkk, which may have been responsible for Agnarr and Iduna’s deaths.

Throughout Frozen 2, Elsa, Anna, Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), Olaf (Josh Gad), and Sven travel through the Enchanted Forest intent on discovering the source of the voice calling to Elsa. In the Enchanted Forest, which has been enclosed by a curse for 34 years, Elsa meets embodiments of the elements, such as the fire spirit Bruni, the wind spirit “Gale,” and the Earth Giants. After finding the remnants of their parents’ ship washed up on shore, Elsa uncovers that her parents traveled across the Dark sea in search of Ahtohallan, a mythical river rumored to contain the memories of the past, to discover the source of Elsa’s magic. As Elsa travels across the Dark sea alone, she comes across the water spirit Nøkk, whose wild and almost hostile nature initially prevents her from crossing the sea. Since the spirit exists within the same body of water in which her parents died, it’s possible that Nøkk drowned Elsa’s parents intentionally.  

According to traditional Nordic folklore, the Kelpie is a water spirit that takes the form of a horse and enjoys drowning its victims. In Frozen 2, Nøkk lives up to the legends from Scandinavian mythology when it tries to drown Elsa upon meeting her. In the scene featuring Nøkk, Elsa tries to cross the Dark sea on foot, using her ice magic to run across its surface, but from the moment she steps into the water, rough waves begin to form, and the Nøkk itself pushes Elsa deeper into the sea. Based off of Nøkk’s depiction in Frozen 2 as an untamed, violent spirit that tries to drown anyone who trespasses within its waters, it’s very likely then that Nøkk is responsible for the storm that overturned Agnarr and Iduna’s ship.

While it’s in a Kelpie’s nature to drown its victims, it’s also possible that Nøkk decided to destroy Agnarr and Iduna’s ship given Agnarr’s lineage. Once she reaches Ahtohallan in Frozen 2, Elsa learns  that her grandfather King Runeard betrayed the Northuldra people because he feared the spirit’s elemental magic and the Northuldra people’s unique connection to those spirits. When Runeard gifted the Northuldra nation with a dam, it was initially perceived to be a gesture of peace, but was in fact a ruse to deplete the Northuldra people’s natural resources. By injuring the Northuldra’s way of life and personally killing their leader, Agnarr’s father caused discord between nature and civilization that lasted for 34 years and would be reason enough for Nøkk to kill Agnarr and Iduna despite their own positive connection to nature. 

While Nøkk may have drowned Agnarr and Iduna because of Runeard’s past crimes against the natural world, it’s more likely that Nøkk killed them, not out of vengeance, but because Elsa as the fifth spirit wasn’t yet capable of exercising her influence over the elemental spirits. When Runeard first brought about the curse over the Enchanted Forest 34 years prior, the natural world became out of flux with the rest of civilization. After Iduna saved Agnarr during the battle between the Northuldra and the Arendellians, the spirits viewed them as the positive change the world needed and bestowed their first-born child with the reincarnated fifth spirit. While Elsa as the mediator between the natural world and civilization clearly existed when her parents’ ship went down in the Dark sea, she was still learning to control her powers and hadn’t yet brought balance to the opposing worlds, allowing Nøkk’s wild nature to reign unchecked at the time of her parents’ death.

While Elsa has only just begun her reign as the fifth spirit within the Frozen franchise, the yet unconfirmed sequel Frozen 3 is an opportunity to show what peace between the natural world and civilization looks like after 34 years of discord.