Deleted Scene: Heroic Ice Harvester vs. Evil Prince

Like many novelizations of films, the novelization of Frozen includes scenes or brief moments that are not included in the final film. It and a lot of merchandise were released weeks before the film, giving the filmmakers time to remove moments that were still kept in the merchandise. One such scene that did not make it into the final cut was mentioned in the novelization and the jumbo coloring book Journey to the Ice Palace, a moment where Kristoff stops Hans from attacking Elsa:

The novelization described the scene as such:

[…] In that instant, Anna’s entire body froze, turning into solid ice. Hans’s sword came down at full strength on her body. The sword shattered! Hans reacted in angry astonishment as jagged pieces of steel fell into the snow. At the sound of the sword, Elsa turned…. and saw Anna’s frozen body, one arm raised to shield her sister. “Anna!” Elsa cried. She jumped up and threw her arms around her unseeing sister. “Oh Anna” she said, weeping. “No, please, no!” Elsa sobbed, hugging the frozen figure. Behind her, Hans was fuming. He quickly picked up his broken sword and started to swing it at Elsa, but Kristoff ran at him just in time. He hit Hans right on the jaw and knocked him down. There would be no second blows for Hans.

This moment would have marked the only time that Kristoff interacts with Hans and seems aware of his treachery. However, it was cut not only because it appeared too violent, but because it took away the dramatic moment of Elsa mourning for Anna, which was considered more important. One moment that seems to suggest how soon it was removed is when Hans comes to, he is adjusting his jaw, as if someone had punched him there.

It’s always difficult to decide if deleted scenes would have been good to be included in the final version of a movie or not. With this example, I think that, even though it shows Kristoff directly fighting him, the fact that Elsa mourning for Anna was more significant makes me believe it was right not to include this moment.