Many, many fan theories and Fandom Specific Plots have become so common within fandom that that it's become frequent for them to be confused with canon:
- A popular reading is that Elsa is somewhere on the LGBTQIA spectrum - most likely a lesbian, with asexual as another possibility. She has no male love interest (or any love interest at all, for that matter), and her storyline is similar to a Coming-Out Story. From early childhood, she knows there's something different about her. She tries to hide this part of her, but suffers miserably for it. The day that she embraces this aspect, and fully owns it, is the day that she becomes comfortable in her own skin and happy with herself. In this instance, the "something different" is the ice powers, but the sense of being different and having to hide it is common among LGBTQ+ people who've been discriminated against. Many reviewers said that "Let it Go" sounds like a proud and jubilant coming-out anthem, especially with lines like "Couldn't keep it in, Heaven knows I've tried," and "That perfect girl is gone!". Elsa's arc in Frozen II also has parallels to a Coming-Out Story.
- If you don't ship Elsa with Anna, Hans, Honeymaren, or your random original character, and don't see her as asexual and/or aromantic, it's also common to have her other times consciously avoid romance.
- Oaken being gay is something most of the fandom agrees on. The concept comes from the scene where he says, "Woo-hoo, hi family!" and people presumed: A. That is his family. B. The blond man is the only adult. Thus fans consider them a couple with four kids. Olaf's Frozen Adventure portrays the family as Oaken's own but doesn't otherwise specify the relations.
- Many fics portray Elsa as an introverted, socially incompetent hikikomori. This is frequently used in Setting Updates (especially ones without magical powers) as a counterpart to Elsa's Power Incontinence and anxiety about it, with Elsa's depression or anxiety being a major factor, if not the reason, for why she's distant from Anna. The writers did confirm that they based Elsa's fearful behaviour on anxiety/depression, but didn't say that Elsa had those conditions.
- The bishop seen at Elsa's coronation is usually given the name "William" or some variant thereof.
- "Agdar" and "Idunn" are almost always the names chosen for Anna and Elsa's parents when they do show up in a fanfic, based on translation of the Runic inscriptions on their gravestones. These names have since been used in licensed material with inconsistent spelling from work to work, though eventually the series settled on "Agnarr" and "Iduna".
- A common fanon reason for Hans always wearing gloves is to hide self-inflicted scars. This comes from A Frozen Heart implying that Hans might Self-Harm.
- Some fans believe Anna has Super-Strength based on several rather amazing feats she does in the movie (such as fighting off the wolves using a sleigh as a weapon, sending Olaf's snow head very high in the air with a simple kick, accidentally flinging a bronze bust across the room and into a cake, and her high leaps during "For the First Time in Forever"), which were probably only supposed to be Rule of Cool (or Rule of Funny in the case of the bust).
- Frozen's relation to Tangled:
- Rapunzel and Eugene's cameo has led to the opinion that Frozen and Tangled share the same universe.
- Additionally, since Iduna bears a resemblance to the Queen of Corona, some fans have concluded that they're sisters, and therefore Rapunzel is Elsa and Anna's cousin. Alternately, some theorize it could be King Agnarr who is related to one of the rulers of Corona (usually the queen). Frozen II josses that Iduna is related to Rapunzel's parents, but it's still open to the idea that Agnarr is, usually with Arianna as his sister or cousin who married into Corona's royal family.
- This is taken even further with the fanon that Elsa and Anna's parents were going to Corona to attend Rapunzel and Eugene's wedding (or, less commonly, the celebration of Rapunzel's return), but the ship sank outside the coast of Denmark. You'll be hard pressed to find a fanfic that presents the purpose of their trip as anything other than Idunn and Agdar traveling to Corona for either Rapunzel's return or her wedding. The sequel josses this theory.
- One fan theory even believes that Rapunzel and Elsa were sisters and that after Gothel took Rapunzel, Elsa was left with Anna's parents for safe keeping. Frozen II josses this by having others comment on Elsa's resemblance to her parents.
- Speaking of connecting Disney universes, a theory was that the parents survive the shipwreck... and end up living in the African jungle raising their new baby who would eventually become Tarzan. That theory was initially a joke made up by one of the movie's directors in response to someone telling them about the previous theory, purposefully far-fetched and never meant to be taken seriously. Because the fans considered these crossovers Serious Business, many took this as dead-serious Word of God. Chris Buck has repeatedly had to debunk it. It's become firmly jossed with the sequel - Agdar and Iduna went north looking for Ahtohallan, not south, and were lost at sea.
- Some fans believe the shipwreck left behind is the one Ariel explores at the beginning of the film. The sequel josses this by showing the boat ended up land-locked.
- Elsa's ice power being referred to as "Ismakt", which is Norwegian for "ice power".
- Virtually nothing about Hans' 12 older brothers is known, but any fan depiction of them is guaranteed to include at least one pair of identical twins. Most versions will also have the majority of the brothers be bullies, with one token nice brother. The tie-in book A Frozen Heart also includes a pair of twins among the brothers, although fraternal ones, and one brother who treats Hans nicely.
- Some fandom communities have adopted the names "Dominik Herrmann" and "Fritz Bauer" for the Duke of Weselton's bodyguards (with mustache and without, respectively).
- Queen Marisol from the licensed Anna & Elsa books is Ambiguously Brown but fans see her as either Arabic or latina. She has a Spanish name, but all of her subjects have Arabic names. One way of reconciling this is to postulate that her kingdom, Eldora, is an Alternate Universe version of Spanish Sahara
which is independent of Spain but still has a Spanish-descended monarchy. - It's generally considered that if Elsa hadn't been born with powers she would have brown hair. This is due to the fact her mother has brown hair. Elsa herself has dark eyebrows, however many blondes have dark eyebrows so fans are split on whether that's a sign.
- On a more NSFW line of thought, a lot of fanworks portray Elsa as being into some level of dom/sub kink. She's rarely ever presented as a dom herself, though.
- While not the most common fanon, and not as common as with Rapunzel, several fanworks explore the idea that Elsa ages slowly due to her powers or even that she is functionally immortal. Frozen II revitalized this fanon after Elsa ended up being the magical side of "the fifth spirit," with her and Anna bridging magic and humanity and showed her powers still growing in unexpected ways, such as showing images of past events she hasn't seen. This has encouraged questions about just how far her powers extend.
- Anna's hair color is notoriously vague. Most fans consider her a redhead and Elsa a platinum blonde. Official books refer to her as a "strawberry blonde" (although scriptwriter/co-director Jennifer Lee calls the color "strawberry brown" and the Frozen II art-book calls Anna's similarly colored father "auburn") and Elsa a "white-blonde".
- The notion that Anna and Elsa often share a bed post-movie is ever-present in the fandom. Because they want to spend time together, and often because of nightmares, one often sneaks into the other's room at night. Many works even have one permanently move into the other's room (usually Anna into Elsa's). The sequel shows that they do this at least occasionally, showing Anna coming to Elsa's room to cheer her up and comfort her after noticing she was upset about something, and the two of them fall asleep together.
- Elsa suffers from frequent night terrors and nightmares, usually about either accidentally killing Anna or Anna not unfreezing.
- There's a divide amongst fans on whether Elsa worships the Christian God or if she worships pagan gods, though either one is acceptable. You're more likely to see Elsa worshipping Nordic gods, however. Oh, My Gods! is used in many fan-works. If Elsa is Christian, then she's usually assumed to be Lutheran specifically. Frozen II adds more fuel to this by showing that Nordic spirits exist in canon and Iduna comes from a culture that reveres them.
- There are quite a few interpretations of Hans' motives. Some say he did it to escape the shadow of his brothers. Others say he was actually sent by his brothers to off the young, inexperienced royalty of Arendelle to serve as the stepping stone of their empire. Once Upon a Time rolls with the latter interpretation, while A Frozen Heart goes with the former.
- Arendelle as a city-state pops up as much in fanworks as it does as a small country (with the town seen being the capital). The map in "Frozen Fever" implies it's a country, although Olaf's Frozen Adventure implies it exists inside of Norway (though the novelization of that special is more in line with the Frozen Fever map). In many fan-works, both Arendelle and Norway exist, though most fans prefer to think that Arendelle replaces Norway in their Fictional Earth.
- A popular interpretation of Hans is that he holds a high rank within the Southern Isles' navy, since an earlier version of his character was an admiral in a draft of the film that was scrapped.
- Most fanworks have Elsa and Anna refer to their parents as "Mama" and "Papa" while alone together. When around others, they'll use "Mother" and "Father" instead. The only times they referred to their parents in the film were when they were children. It's unknown what they use as adults. A Frozen Heart has Anna using "Mama" and "Papa" but Frozen II has both sisters using "Mother" and "Father".
- It's speculated by fans that Elsa's father designed those shackles in the prison specifically for her.
- Two servants' names are given in the film: Gerda and Kai. This is a Mythology Gag to The Snow Queen, where the leads are named that. Gerda and Kai are prime O.C. Stand-in material, with the most common ideas being that they're married to each other and that they are Parental Substitutes to Anna and Elsa.
- A common idea is that at the end of the film, Elsa hears Hans' attempt to kill her, but doesn't move anyway. Either she is too lost in grief to care, lost her will to live after losing Anna, or she felt that she deserved to die.
- Elsa being born in summer while Anna was born in winter. This actually comes from a misconception and became common for the irony of their birthdays: Elsa's coronation is in summer, so many thought she was crowned on (or near) her 21st birthday. She wasn't. Word of God is that Elsa was born during the winter solstice while Anna was born during the summer solstice. "Frozen Fever" supports this, with Anna's birthday clearly being in a warm season.
- Pretty much every fanfic with a bath scene has Anna and/or Elsa having hot water brought to their bath manually. This fanon is probably due to ignorance more than anything though. Royals in many countries did have working water pipes in the 1840s The Extended Universe book Anna & Elsa: All Hail The Queen portrays Arendelle as having working plumbing (Anna and Elsa even help fix it).
- Most fan-works have Elsa switching between fabric clothes and ice clothes in her everyday life. The circumstances differ from fic to fic. Sometimes she wears fabric clothes in only formal situations, other times she only wears fabric clothes while doing queenly things and wears ice gowns when relaxing, while other fans opt to have her wear ice gowns only on rare occasions and wear fabric on default. Most supplementary material completely avoids this topic by only depicting her in her one ice gown, although Olaf's Frozen Adventure has her wearing a fabric dress for the occasion (which the novelization establishes was a present from Anna) and Frozen II shows her in various fabric dresses.
- Despite Elsa wearing an ice dress and being shown to be cold to the touch, it is very common for fans to believe that she gives warmth to whoever she embraces, particularly Anna, who reassures her sister about it. This theory could come from either Olaf who is stated to give warm hugs or that "Love will thaw" meant that their heart will be warm out of love.
- Given the fact that the storm is the reason why their parents died, it is very common for fans to assume that Anna has a fear of thunderstorms due to them bringing her bad memories and along with having nightmares of past events, is often used as the reason why Anna seeks her own sister for some much needed comfort.
- A commonplace fanon is that Elsa has suffered from suicidal ideation in the past. In some works, this gets the point where she even attempted suicide or Self Harmed in the past. The theatrical adaptation makes this Ascended Fanon to a degree, with Elsa contemplating suicide to end the winter she accidentally caused.
- It's generally assumed amongst fans that Kristoff faces discrimination because he's Sami. "Reindeers Are Better Than People" implies that he's gotten bullied in the past (since he states he is the only human who isn't mean), however it is never given a reason. Frozen II makes this more ambiguous by revealing that the Northuldra are Fantasy Counterpart Culture Sami, but Kristoff isn't Northuldra.
- An unused concept for the first film was a troll prophecy about a "ruler with a frozen heart" who would ruin the land. Many citizens thought this applied to Elsa, which only caused her more ostracism. Fanon has the prophecy being an actual part of Arendelle mythology. This gives Elsa more reason for her self-hatred. She feels that she fulfills the prophecy.
- After Hans, Anna suffers from The "I Love You" Stigma in a lot of fanfiction. Her childhood experiences are also a factor. This makes her an Insecure Love Interest to Kristoff.
- In fanfiction, Elsa usually insists that she should marry with Arendelle, not her own desires, in mind. Anna, of course, believes that she should instead Marry for Love.
- As part of her Cute Clumsy Girl appeal, Anna is almost always shown to be a Lethal Chef. Frozen: Breaking Boundaries, an Extended Universe comic, portrays Anna as at least being able to bake muffins.
- Elsa is also often portrayed as just as bad at cooking due to spending so much time inside her room.
- To contrast with Anna, Elsa doesn't suffer from bed-head.
- It's generally assumed that others like Elsa exist. If not with ice powers, then other Elemental Powers. This partially comes because some concept art showing Anna with the Northern Lights has led to some fans speculating that Anna had aurora-related powers in an earlier draft. Lots of fan theories still assign Anna nature-related powers of her own, usually fire to match Elsa's ice.
- Many fans believe Elsa spends the entirety of the time spanned by "Do You Want to Build a Snowman" in her room, only emerging either after the deaths of the king and queen or on the day of her coronation. Other fans downplay this by having Elsa use the library and eat dinner with her family, but otherwise avoid contact with others. There are some fans who believe the king and queen lock Elsa in her room and refuse to let her out, while others believe Elsa chooses to lock herself in due to her anxieties. In the film, it's unclear how much time Elsa spends in her room during that time period, and she's shown outside of it multiple times during the song.
- There are also fans who believe the parents locked the gates out of embarrassment over Elsa's powers, while others believe they locked Elsa within her room because they're afraid she's dangerous to other people. In canon, they're established as locking the gates for Elsa's protection (or an attempt at it, at least). The king makes the decision when the trolls warn "fear will be your enemy" and show a vision of a mob confronting an older Elsa, which prompts a frightened young Elsa to turn to the king, who hugs her and declares: "No. We'll protect her. She can learn to control it, I'm sure. Until then, we'll lock the gates, we'll reduce the staff, we'll limit her contact with people, and keep her powers hidden from everyone."
- Many fans believe that in between the time that Elsa goes to her new room and the coronation, the sisters have not seen each other at all. The film does not establish whether this is true, or if not, how often they have seen each other.
- Elsa either does not need to eat or she needs less food than most. This fanon stems from fridge logic surrounding her intending to live in the mountains by herself. Since it's never mentioned that she can hunt, many fans assume that she doesn't need to eat.
- Prior to Frozen Fever showing Elsa ill, many fans assumed that Elsa was physically unable to get sick. Elsa herself believed this until Frozen Fever because " a cold never bothered me anyway."
- In fan-works, it's commonly mentioned that others thought Elsa was shut inside the castle for illness reasons. Her pallid appearance and constant glove wearing doesn't help the image. It is mentioned in the film that Anna had speculated the reason Elsa wore gloves was "maybe she has a thing about dirt." Some fanworks go the extra step of Elsa actually being a neat freak when it comes to keeping her room tidy, so that nothing gets ruined when she loses control of her powers.
- Elsa views her snow creations as her offspring. While Olaf does canonically call Marshmallow and the Snowgies his brothers, he calls Elsa by her name, and it's unclear how she sees them.
- It's often believed that the parents had no faith in Elsa and planned to lock her up for her entire life. This is never indicated in the film, and the king outright states that the closing of the gates is meant to be a temporary measure and outright states he's "sure" she can learn control and that the policy is only meant to last "until then."
- Since he is an orphan Raised by Wolves, people assume Kristoff Never Learned to Read. Frozen Fever shows he is able to write “Happy Birthday Anna” but since the short takes place almost a year after Frozen, it is possible he learned to write between the first film and Fever.
- Mattias being something of a Parental Substitute to the younger Agnarr, given that he was the one who comforted him instead of his actual father, and how heartbroken he was when he heard of Agnarr's death, even though that was only implied and never directly stated.
- Yelana being Iduna's mother or grandmother is a somewhat popular theory, since there isn't much information about Iduna's childhood and family relations, that assumption would give Yelana's character a lot more depth as well. It helps that Kristoff mistakes her silhouette for Anna's at one point.
- Similar to the above is the idea that the Northuldra leader that Runeard murdered was Iduna's father. This is compatible with the above theory and would give additional context to both Iduna and Yelana's actions.
- We don't really see much of how Runeard was as a father. Many fans assume he was a bad one, given that he's a Hate Sink character. It's especially popular to think of him as neglectful.
- Iduna being an orphan is popular with those who don't think she's related to Yelena.
- Both Honeymaren and her brother Ryder are gay or bi. This is because people see Ho Yay in their interactions with Elsa and Kristoff.
- Kristoff is from a separate tribe of Northuldra. He's previously been confirmed as Sami and he has several parallels with Ryder, but no one mentions him being Northuldra and the mist predates his birth. Fan Wank is that he's from a different group of Northuldra or that (like Anna and Elsa) he’s half-Northuldra.
- It's very commonly believed that the Nokk had something to do with the shipwreck that killed Agnarr and Iduna, although this is not suggested in canon itself.
- Many fans believe that Hans's mother passed away a long time ago to play up his resentment towards his remaining family members, with the story treating her as his Morality Chain.
- In many fan works, Hans's family would be shown as being utterly dysfunctional with his parents being apathetic of the abuse and/or pick favorites amongst their 13 sons (causing the rest to develop Middle Child Syndrome). One of the parents (typically his father) could be a domestic abuser. The 12 older sons would also be married for political reasons by the time Hans is an adult. The Westergaard clan would also be depicted as being cruel towards their subjects. A Frozen Heart leans towards this.
- In "Frozen Fever", Elsa is sick with a disease that's described as a "cold", yet at one point, she behaves in a very out-of-it manner that in real life could only be caused by disease if the person was running a fever too high to be caused by a cold. Fans tend to explain this by suggesting she took Oaken's "cold remedy" he sells to the sisters, which, given the time period, likely contained opium.
- People have come up with different stories of how the "Snowgies" from Frozen Fever came to be — some say that they're created every time Elsa sneezes, regardless of the reason, while others think they're specifically something that happens when she's sick, and some think they were created due to Elsa's emotional strain (since Olaf and Marshmallow were also created at moments of high emotion).
