History Literature / TheSnowQueen

* PrayerIsALastResort: At least one anime retelling has the Snow Queen destroyed after Kai and Gerda pray for help.

* BreakTheHaughty: Happens to the Robber Girl in the Russian animated adaptation. She acts mean and threatening at first, but as soon as Gerda leaves, she goes into a nervous breakdown and frees all her captive animals.

** ''Frozen'' was ''originally'' going to have this scenario by having Snow Queen Elsa be a villain who got redeemed, but eventually rewrote her as more of a NotEvilJustMisunderstood antagonist [[https://geekmom.com/2014/03/frozen-directors-interview/once the directors heard lyricist Kristen Anderson-Lopez perform the demo of "Let It Go".]]

* AnimatedAdaptation: A Russian version made in 1957, for one, which actually received 2 different English dubs. A second Russian adaptation using CGI was produced in 2012. There is also an [[Anime/TheSnowQueen1977 two]] [[Anime/TheSnowQueen2005 anime adaptations]]. Also the Queen Nehellenia arc in the fifth season of ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' is based on "The Snow Queen".

* MissingMom: Part of Gerda's backstory in the Hallmark film. Her mother froze to death in the snow around Christmas.

** The Summer Witch is often made to be the Snow Queen's sister. In the Hallmark adaptation, the Princess and the Robber Queen are also made her sisters as well, having the four represent the four seasons.

** The Hallmark adaptation actually does ''both'' this and AdaptationalHeroism where she is the villain of the story but gets redeemed at the end.

** The Hallmark adaptation adds in a backstory with Gerda's family, her mother having frozen to death years ago and her father's attempt to get over it as well as developing Kai and Gerda's relationship from the start.
* AgeLift: The Hallmark film has Kai and Gerda start off as teenagers/young adults rather than grow from children to adults as the story progresses, most likely to avoid a grown woman kissing a little boy.

* DefrostingIceQueen: The Snow Queen herself defrosts in the Hallmark film.

* {{Irony}}: The Snow Queen's happy ending in the Hallmark adaptation. The literal personification of Winter is able to be defrosted by ThePowerOfLove as well.

* AnimatedAdaptation: A Russian version made in 1957, for one, which actually received 2 different English dubs. A second Russian adaptation using CGI was produced in 2012. There is also an [[Anime/TheSnowQueen2005 anime adaptation]]. Also the Queen Nehellenia arc in the fifth season of ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' is based on "The Snow Queen".

* In ''VideoGame/GrimmsNotes'', Kai, Gerda and the Snow Queen are playable characters, and the demon who created the mirror is a boss.

* ''Series/TheSnowQueen2002'' - a two-part miniseries produced by Hallmark.

* ''Animation/TheSnowQueen1957'' Soviet Russian animated movie, which is one of the closest to the source material, save for the removal of any religious aspects (such as the Snow Queen herself used the mirror shards instead of the troll).[[note]]It also made Creator/HayaoMiyazaki believe that working in animation was worth it after he considered leaving the business.[[/note]]

* ''Anime/TheSnowQueen2005'', an anime series more loosely based than the 1977 special.

* There was one adaptation made by Lightyear Entertainment in 1992 narrated by Creator/SigourneyWeaver.

* AdaptationalVillainy: In the original fairy tale, the Snow Queen is simply a neutral entity who picks Kai (whose willingness is ambiguous) up when he gets stuck to her sled and while she likes having him around as a foster child of sorts, she gives him a way to free himself from her icy kingdom if he ever so wishes (although he has to accomplish an almost impossible task to do it). Though keep in mind, the fact that angels themselves have to save Gerda from her minions towards the end implies the Snow Queen is some type of witch or demon. A lot of adaptations change her into a proper villain that kidnaps Kai and holds him hostage against his will in her castle where Gerda has to fight her somehow. Several [[AdaptedOut Adapt Out]] the devil in the prologue and have the Snow Queen create the evil mirror instead.

* KnifeNut: The Robber Girl can't even sleep without one in her hand. [[ProperlyParanoid But given who she lives with, who can blame her?]]

* ''Videogame/DarkParables'': The Snow Queen is the antagonist of the third installment of the PC game series[[note]]but turned out to be tricked by the real villain, and she later helps you in other games[[/note]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 1}}'' has the Snow Queen as a side quest.

* ''The Raven and the Reindeer'' by Creator/UrsulaVernon (under her penname, T. Kingfisher) is a queer retelling of the story , focusing on Gerda's relationship with the Robber Girl.

* ''The Raven and the Reindeer'' by Ursula Vernon (under her penname, T. Kingfisher) is a queer retelling of the story , focusing on Gerda's relationship with the Robber Girl.

* SpeaksFluentAnimal: Gerda speaks to birds and reindeer.

* YearOutsideHourInside: In the old woman's garden.

* RescueRomance: Although some adaptations have them start out as dear friends before Kai was taken away. But by the time Gerda recues him, love ''does'' blossom between them.

%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample* ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou: Gerda meets a princess whose choice in husband resembles this trope.

* KissOfDeath: The Snow Queen herself can kill with three kisses. The first two just mess with your head.

%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample* JadeColoredGlasses: The Mirror is a particularly brutal and unhealthy form of this.

* ColorcodedForYourConvenience: Gerda in one cartoon re-telling (Danish, 1982). Her signal color in this adaptation was red (red hair, and always a red skirt or scarf). This was done not to make her a FieryRedhead, but to give her the colors of the symbolical rose.

* PrayerIsALastResort: At least one anime retelling has the Snow Queen destroyed after Kai and Gerda pray for help.

* EthnicMagician: The old women who take Gerda in and advise her on the last stage of her journey, essentially are. One is a Finn (probably some variant of Sami), the other is a Lapp (Sami), living even further North.

* RescueRomance: Although some adaptations have them start out as dear friends before Kai was taken away. But by the time they reunite, love ''does'' blossom between them.

* AdaptationalVillainy / AdaptationalHeroism: The Snow Queen gets both in varying adaptations.
** In the original fairy tale, she is simply a neutral entity who picks Kai (whose willingness is ambiguous) up when he gets stuck to her sled and while she likes having him around as a foster child of sorts, she gives him a way to free himself from her icy kingdom if he ever so wishes (although he has to accomplish an almost impossible task to do it). Though keep in mind, the fact that angels themselves have to save Gerda from her minions towards the end implies the Snow Queen is some type of witch or demon.
** A lot of adaptations change her into a proper villain that kidnaps Kai and holds him hostage against his will in her castle where Gerda has to fight her somehow. Several [[AdaptedOut Adapt Out]] the devil in the prologue and have the Snow Queen create the evil mirror instead.
** On the flip side, a handful of adaptations like to humanize her. The Hallmark adaptation actually does ''both'' where she is the villain of the story but gets redeemed at the end, and ''Frozen'' was ''originally'' going to have this scenario by having Elsa be a villain who got redeemed, but eventually rewrote her as more of a NotEvilJustMisunderstood antagonist [[https://geekmom.com/2014/03/frozen-directors-interview/once the directors heard lyricist Kristen Anderson-Lopez perform the demo of "Let It Go".]]

** On the flip side, a handful of adaptations like to humanize her. The Hallmark adaptation actually does ''both'' where she is the villain of the story but gets redeemed at the end, and ''Frozen'' was ''originally'' going to have this scenario by having Elsa be a villain who got redeemed, but eventually [[https://geekmom.com/2014/03/frozen-directors-interview/ rewrote her as more of a NotEvilJustMisunderstood antagonist once the directors heard lyricist Kristen Anderson-Lopez perform the demo of "Let It Go".]]

* ThePowerOfLove / ThePowerOfFriendship: These are what save Kai in the end.

* DarkIsNotEvil: One cinematic adaptation had the demon/troll/whatever that created the mirror doing so in order to show mankind how rotten it is, and heavily regretted having created it when it broke. Also, ''Faerie Tale Theatre's'' version implied that the Snow Queen took Kai to give him the opportunity to save him from himself. She also takes care of that troll at the end...
* DeadpanSnarker: The talking polar bear in the Bridget Fonda version has his moments of this.

* IJustWantToHaveFriends: The Robber Girl in the Hallmark adaptation.

* AdaptationDistillation: The most blatant Christian references are often left outside adaptations for various reasons. Thus, the devil becomes a troll, and the symbol of the rose, often left in, is not explained in the same way. In one particular case, the devil (here a kind of wizard), broke the mirror himself, leaving the entire Heaven reference out.