If you’ve been in the Frozen fandom for a while, you’d probably find it hard to debate that “elsanna”, the romantic pairing of Elsa and Anna, is by far and away the most popular pairing in the entire film.

Seriously, it’s very hard to even contest this. It’s basically a fact. I checked.

If you were to Google search each of the four major ships (Elsanna, Kristanna, Helsa, Hanna) under the rules “[pairing] frozen”, you’d find that “elsanna frozen” nets the most results by roughly 100,000 (okay, “hanna frozen” actually gets around 1.2 million, but I’m disqualifying that since if you look at the results you’ll find everything from the pairing to a froyo shop to a lake).

Doing the same trick on DeviantArt, probably the most popular avenue for sharing fanart in the Western world, and you’ll note that “elsanna frozen” results in 3.5k hits, over triple the nearest competitors (kristanna and helsa give 1k and 1.1k, for those wondering. Hanna has a measly 500).

Archive of Our Own, a relatively newer fanfiction site that is steadily rising in popularity, has some closer numbers, but only just. Of the 3000 Frozen-related fanfics, Anna/Elsa has the most at ~800, with Kristanna at ~600. For those wondering, by the way, Elsa/Jack (from Rise of the Guardians), is more popular than Hans/Anna and Hans/Elsa.

And then, of course, there’s the behemoth of FanFiction.net, which is such a titan in the Western fanfic world that it’s literally the first result of a Google search. While they do have a ‘pairing’ mechanic to denote romantic pairings, I’m going to disregard that since it was introduced after Frozen was released, and a fair number of writers don’t use it anyway. While this may skew the numbers a bit, filtering for the Romance genre without Ratings restrictions, each combination of Anna and Elsa, Anna and Kristoff, Hans and Anna, and Hans and Elsa give some pretty definitive numbers.

Even when allowing some room for character overlap, Anna & Elsa gives 2.9k results. Kristoff & Anna sits at 1.7k, Hans & Elsa at 1k, and Hans & Anna again finds itself at the bottom with ~730. After using the much-neglected pairing feature, and the numbers do drop a bit, but we still end up with Elsanna at 1.1k, Kristanna at ~580, Helsa at ~280, and Hanna at ~55.

Now, numbers don’t mean everything, of course. Popularity doesn’t mean much if everyone’s just flooding the Internet with poorly put-together drabbles. But this is where the already-staggering figures really show which has the most online support within the bigger Internet communities.

Sorting by hits on AO3 reveals that fics containing Anna/Elsa get by far the most traffic. Jack/Elsa appears a bit, while Kristoff/Anna and Hans/Elsa get cameo appearances, with Hans/Anna failing to show at all. If you sort by Kudos, the system AO3 uses for readers to basically leave a Like on the fic, the positions do shift a bit, but you’ll still see an Anna/Elsa majority.

FF.net is where things get truly crazy, though. Since they don’t have a system to allow randoms to search by traffic generated, I’ve used a crude method of sorting by Reviews. Since each chapter of each fic only allows one Review per person, this allows a rough idea of how much attention any fanfic is receiving.

Of the first five fics, the four are Elsanna, including the top 3, with a sole Kristanna representative. After that, it’s a landslide of Elsanna with a few Helsas and Kristannas in between, sometimes within the same work as shipmates.

Sorting by Favourites, and the competition gets blown out of the water. On the first page? There are two fics which aren’t Elsanna. And one of them doesn’t use explicit pairings.

Statistics are by no means the Golden Truth, but they are significant. If this research shows anything, it’s that Elsanna is the most-seen pairing in Frozen by a long shot. However, not only is it the most populous, judging by majority vote, it’s also the most-liked and (arguably) the best-written.

Now that we have the results set in front of us, though, the time has come to ask questions. The question.

Why is Elsanna so popular?

I mean, I know my reasons for shipping it, but I’m a weirdo who ships some of the most popular pairings (Harry/Hermione, Artemis/Holly, Jaime/Brienne, Tony/Steve, Korra/Asami), whilst disliking or being apathetic to some much-loved pairings (Shepard/Liara, Harry/Draco, Mako/Wu, Sandor/Sansa, really anything involving Handsome Jack), and even longing for some ships which apparently I’m the only one sailing (Gaige/Angel and Zevran/Aeducan, I yearn for thee). Thus, with my personal motivations apparently being insufficient, I instead turn to the dangerous realm of pontification, extrapolation, and just general guessing.

So, this next section is entirely speculative. I honestly have zero clue as to whether I’m even remotely close to correct for the following paragraphs in which I try to crack the reasoning behind some of my fellow shippers. But, given that this is an opinion piece, I will speak freely, and apologise in advance if I offend anyone.

The first reason I’m going to put forward is going to piss off a lot of people, make a bunch more very uncomfortable, or both. But, here goes.

It’s because Elsa/Anna is the only lesbian pairing in Frozen which has conventionally attractive, notable characters.

The main point being that Elsa and Anna are the only female characters who have both conventionally attractive features as well as prominent roles in the story. While it’s entirely possible to pair off Gerda with Random Background Civilian #35, it’s very unlikely, since these characters do not possess the typical features of beauty and/or any presence within the story for anyone to care about them.

But, the central thing here is the lesbian thing.

Female homosexuality is one of the biggest fetishes in the world today. That’s right; I’m calling it a fetish.

Before everyone ties me down and burns me at the stake, let me be clear here: while female homosexuality definitely exists, it is also one of the most common fetishes you can find. Dictionary.com defines a fetish as “any object or non-genital part of the body that causes ahabitual erotic response or fixation”. While the “non-genital” bit is debateable, I think that the rest of the statement (as well as everyone here probably knowing what a fetish is anyways) can be quite clear in this: there is a greater degree of acceptance in media of lesbian couples than male ones, and I think that a good part of that reason is because, put simply, a lot of guys think it’s hot. Unfortunate, and not universal, but prominent enough that I think it is definitely affecting the statistics. Thus, when one combines those potentially interested enough in lesbian pairings that they’re willing to pair any two female characters together, and you end up with a fair number of straight males, bisexuals, pansexuals, and actual lesbians.

Compounding this is if you look again at the numbers. While the previous statistics I referred to allowed for M-rated fics (and therefore smuts, lemons, or really anything including sexual content), restricting the ratings to K-T show a very different story. Sorting by Reviews reveals that, while still the most frequent, Elsanna isn’t the behemoth previously seen. Without the added sex appeal, traffic seems to be slower (that, or reviewers are too embarrassed to comment on sex). AO3 shows this even more. If filtered to only allow T-rated fics, then the gap between Elsanna and Kristanna drops to only 100. If filtered to only allow G-rated fics, Kristanna actually overtakes Elsanna in popularity.

I’m definitely planning to talk more about the usage, exposure, and exploitation of female homosexuality in media as opposed to representation of other sexualities, but it would be unfair and illogical to pin the entirety of Elsanna’s popularity on the “Lesbians are hot” factor. After all, there are plenty of people who find homosexual males as erotically appealing, and Frozen provides two appropriately-gendered people in the forms of Kristoff and Hans. So why is it that, if accounting for fetishes or sexuality preferences, Elsanna is a towering giant of fanfiction, while Kristoff/Hans is so rare it takes you a moment to figure out that you’ve almost never seen the portmanteau Hanstoff?

Well, if we’re going to talk about fetishes, I suppose a brief mention of the Incest angle is worth noting. Because while the physical world may go on and on about how incest is the worst thing ever and has no place in society (and I’m not saying that you should start eyeing your siblings, please don’t), we on the Internet know that it is if not a major kink, then at least a very prominent one. Hell, Supernatural, itself a hit show with a massive following, is partly responsible for bringing the term “wincest”, with the wildly popular Sam Winchester/Dean Winchester pairing.

Again, I’m only giving this a brief mention, since we have a mountain of counter-evidence to the role the incest kink plays in Elsanna’s popularity. While this may add appeal for some, it is equally likely to drive away others. The six most Favourited Frozen fanfics on FF.net all feature Elsa and Anna as being unrelated. So, while the incest fetish might be responsible for inflating some of the smut and/or Rule 34, it’s by no means the driving power beyond this couple.

If we go back to my previous points regarding FF.net and filtering, you’ll probably be interested to find that, while removing M-rated fics causes a large change in the popularity of Elsanna from ubiquitous to a majority when filtering by Reviews, sorting by Favourites actually leaves a surprisingly small dent in the spread.

Oh, sure, there are less Elsanna fics overall, but the most highly-rated ones still star our royal couple. Which instead implies that even if Elsanna fics don’t have that reader-drawing M-rating to bolster their views, Elsanna fanfics are generally rated higher in terms of actual quality by the public.

This is something which I’ve had to think quite a bit on before coming up with a proposal, since really there’s no way of saying for sure, but I think the explanation I’ve come up with is a decent one. And that’s that writing Elsanna is simultaneously easier and more challenging, and above all more interesting.

Now, hear me out on this. The reason Elsanna is ‘easier’ to write is because of the natural chemistry of the characters. As this article regarding ‘Wincest’ describes it, a lot of writers and readers have trouble differentiating familial love from the romantic kind, due in no small part to the way we’ve been conditioned to accept the standard requirements for a romance. And what better basis is there for a romance than the conditions generally provided by a familial relationship? Shared histories, time together as children, plenty of room for emotional trauma, lots of close loving moments, an implied devotion to the other, and a bond which cannot be broken no matter what. Remove the fact that this is all because of sibling ties, and there you go, a perfect basis upon which to form your traditional romance. It definitely helps that Anna’s entire motivation is to be reunited with Elsa, who herself only learns how to overcome her challenges by accepting and recognising that her love for Anna is the solution.

But that’s not the only reason it’s easier. As I mentioned in my previous post discussing the flaws of Kristoff’s role within Frozen, Anna and Kristoff, despite being the advertised official couple, don’t share much in terms of chemistry, and what the majority of their screentime focuses purely on Anna’s goal to reunite with Elsa. The other major pairings, Helsa and Hanna, tend to be a little put off by the fact that Hans is a sociopathic villain who tries to kill both the sisters (oops, two-year-old spoiler), so unless you’re writing a fic starring a relationship studded with more problems than Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey combined, you’re burdening yourself with trying to make a hated villain likeable enough to justify a romance. That’s a lot of character development required, and very few writers have the time or patience or drive to go through that much work when there’s an easier option available.

But characters sharing chemistry which can easily be reworked into a romance does not guarantee a fanbase. This is where the more specialised stuff comes in terms of why Anna and Elsa work as well as they do. And that’s because of drama. They’re harder to write well since their relationship is, within the film, inherently flawed, and figuring out how to overcome their challenges and coming together as a romantic couple is where the true challenge of writing comes in. Most veteran writers are more likely to tackle tougher, more complex plots than simple fluff, and it’s the former which readers most appreciate. Thus, having a tougher subject to work with means that there’s a higher chance of drawing more experienced writers, who are ready to deal with more dynamic plots and events. As mentioned, the standard, fairytale romance of Kristanna shines most in G- and T-rated fics, whereas the messy relationship between Anna and Elsa tends to sky-rocket into M and above. Readers want complex plots, which draw talented and experienced writers, whose works attract more readers, creating a chain of interest. The Internet allows word-of-mouth to travel near-instantly, and so the darker, better-written Elsanna plots drew a lot of early attention in comparison to the lighter and fluffier Kristanna, and the niche Helsa/Hanna.

And then, of course, there’s Queen Elsa herself. As I pointed out in my post about writing Elsa, while Anna may be the hero of Frozen, Elsa is very much its star. She’s the most interesting character in the film by a mile, and has drawn huge amounts of attention thanks to her relatable feelings, identifiable situation, and a complex-but-easy-to-execute character arc regarding her discovering who she’s meant to be. Not socially or heroically, as many protagonists do, but emotionally and on a personal level coming to terms with her own identity. This lends itself to a plethora of situations, and the springboard she provides allows talented writers to craft truly epic masterpieces. It’s worth noting that almost every popular Elsanna fic is AU. Not just to make the two not-sisters, but to give the writer freedom to experiment with the characters and their situations. With a cast that’s small enough to be memorable and easy to play around with, but large enough to fulfil the roles required in most plots, and characters who are complex but possess a fairly straightforward arc, it’s no wonder that Elsanna is by far the most popular pairing.

Finally, and this one’s really kind of silly but it deserves mentioning, there’s the merchandising to think of. Or, more accurately, Disney’s marketing for Frozen.

When’s the last time you saw Kristoff and Anna, the official couple of the film, together on a piece of Frozen merchandise. Because I sure as hell can’t think of anything.

We’re constantly bombarded with the message that Frozen was about love saving the day, and the characters we see the most are Elsa and Anna. We’re told that this is their story, their journey, their adventure. Kristoff and Olaf and Sven are just along for the ride as goofy and wacky sidekicks, while evil Prince Hans is the villain our heroes must topple.

And if there’s anything modern storytelling has taught us, it’s that the hero always gets the girl.

So, in summary, I believe that the main reason Elsanna is so frequently found is that it appeals to a wide audience in terms of sexuality and attractiveness at very base level, and thus allowing for Rule 34 of the Internet. However, its popularity is earned just as much if not more on the merit of its writers, both by the official Frozen screenwriters as well as the countless authors online. The characters have good chemistry, better than any other combination, as well as an easily adopted situation which allows for romantic undertones. This allows writers both starters and veterans to exercise and develop their skills with a straightforward love story that can have any number of added complications to allow for driving, compelling plots. This draws in a wide readership, who are inspired themselves or spread it to others who are inspired in their stead, and thus creates a gradually-growing circle of Elsanna shippers.

What do you guys think? Anything I missed? Anything I got horribly wrong? Let me know. Reblog with your additional thoughts, or just answer freely. Keep writing, keep reading, and keep being awesome.

Let’s hope Frozen 2 doesn’t ruin everything by giving Elsa a love interest, eh?