Kristoff and Elsa: Leaving Anna out of Love

In my previous analysis, I explained how Elsa was similar to Kristoff in how they were given a reason not to trust Hans due to his hurried proposal to Anna. It emphasizes how practical and serious they are in terms of not putting immediate trust in someone new.

However, both Elsa and Kristoff act similar again later in the film, in which Kristoff brings Anna back to Hans so she can be saved from her frozen heart, and Elsa asks Hans to take care of Anna for her during the climax with the intense blizzard. If neither one of them ever really trusted Hans, why did they want to leave Anna in his care?

Because neither one of them think that they themselves can do anything for Anna at that point.

Let me explain. When Kristoff brings Anna back to Arendelle, he is heartbroken about leaving her. He loves her, but he thinks that she does not love him. She has a fiancé who is a prince, someone who is above him in status and almost everything else. Therefore, Kristoff doesn’t think that he is good enough for Anna. He can’t offer Anna whatever Hans could offer her, and a lot more. He doesn’t think she needs him, so he walks away. He thinks it’s best that he does. He wants her to be safe. Since an act of true love will save Anna, he thinks that a kiss from her true love will work. And since Anna thinks that Hans is her true love, both she and Kristoff think that Hans will save her.

Even by now, Kristoff did not change his mind about believing that Hans was Anna’s true love. But by this point, he needs to believe it. Since Anna seems to believe it, it is his best chance at keeping her safe. If she believes it, it might be enough to break the curse.

In Elsa’s case, she believes that she is a danger to Arendelle and that running and staying away is the best thing for her to do. When she tries to run away again, she does not know that Anna is dying from when Elsa accidentally struck her. But during the storm, due to her being overwhelmed by fear and insecurity, Elsa thinks that she will only harm Anna if they are in each others’ presence. She thinks keeping away is the only way to keep Anna safe. Elsa thinks that she cannot do anything more for Anna, and because of their connection from their engagement, she asks Hans to take care of Anna for her.

Like Kristoff, Elsa never believed, even by that point, that Hans was Anna’s true love. But what she does see is that, despite her naïveté, Hans still makes her happy. She hopes that if Hans cares for Anna, he’ll give her everything Elsa cannot give her.

So Kristoff and Elsa attempt to leave Anna with Hans because they love her. Remember I said that they share the same definition of love, particularly in sacrificing their needs for those of their loved ones. Even though they love Anna, they believe that they cannot stay with her, so they put her happiness first by intending to leave her with Hans, her apparent true love.

But by the time Arendelle has thawed, it probably didn’t take too long for them to learn of Hans’s treachery. Therefore, I bet they were glad not to have left Anna with Hans after all. ;)