Elsa from Frozen: Powers, Voice Actor and Story

Elsa is the older princess of Arendelle, later its queen, and she was born with the power to create ice and snow. She first appears in Frozen (2013), directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee and rated PG in the US, and she returns in Frozen II (2019), also rated PG, along with three shorts rated G. Idina Menzel voices her in every film, and Menzel is billed second in both features, behind Kristen Bell as Anna. If you are new to the saga, think of Elsa as the reserved older sister whose gift is both the problem and the point of the story.

The credits split her into stages of life, which is useful when you scan a cast list. The adult character is credited as Elsa (voice), and the Frozen II credits also list Teen Elsa and Young Elsa (Ahtohallan Voice). Young Elsa is voiced by Eva Bella in Frozen (2013) and in Olaf's Frozen Adventure, and she is heard in archive sound in Once Upon a Snowman. In Frozen Fever and Olaf's Frozen Adventure she appears as the grown queen, and in Once Upon a Snowman Menzel's Elsa is archive sound only.

Her powers are covered in detail on the Elsa powers page. In short, she shapes ice and snow, builds structures such as her ice palace on the North Mountain, and animates snow, which is how Olaf comes to life. Her home is Arendelle, the kingdom whose look the filmmakers built from research in Norway, Sami influence and rosemaling, according to D23. Her best known moment is the song Let It Go, written by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, which won the Oscar for Best Original Song. Her other big numbers are For the First Time in Forever in the first film and Into the Unknown and Show Yourself in the second.

Elsa is closest to her younger sister Anna, and almost every other relationship in her story is measured against that one. The first film is built on their separation, and the shorts are built on repairing it. In Olaf's Frozen Adventure, Anna has been slipping cards and dolls of Olaf under Elsa's door for years, which tells you the sisters were reaching for each other even behind a shut door. For more on Anna, see Anna from Frozen.

Olaf is the living snowman Elsa creates, and she is the reason he exists, a link that Once Upon a Snowman makes explicit. Kristoff and his reindeer Sven are Anna's companions first, but they join Elsa's circle through the family bond, and in Frozen Fever they help with the secret party. Hans is the opposite number: he proposes to Anna, leaves her to die, imprisons Elsa and is sent home in disgrace for treason.

Her parents shape her more than any rival does. In Frozen II she learns that her mother, Iduna, came from the Northuldra and once saved her father, Agnarr, who is voiced by Alfred Molina. Iduna is voiced by Evan Rachel Wood. In the first film the trolls heal Anna, and in the second the troll leader Pabbie tells the sisters they must find out what happened in the past to set things right. Marshmallow, the snow giant she builds in the first film, reappears at her ice palace in the Frozen Fever finale and the Frozen II post credit scene.

In my opinion, Elsa's best scene is still the Let It Go sequence in the first film, because it is the one place where her power feels like pure freedom instead of danger. It arrives right after she flees to the North Mountain, and the song went on to win the Oscar for Best Original Song, which is part of why the character stuck with children and with the adults who grew up on it.

My second pick is quieter: the moment after Anna freezes in front of her sword. Elsa has spent the film believing her touch only hurts people, and the scene shows her grief answering that belief. It could be argued that this beat does more for her arc than any song, because it is where the film hands her the answer, that love lets her control her powers. It also makes the thaw feel earned rather than convenient.

From the sequel, Show Yourself is the strongest pick, with Into the Unknown close behind. Elsa is no longer hiding a secret, she is answering a call, and the Ahtohallan sequence gives Menzel something richer to play than fear. For younger viewers, though, I would point parents to Frozen Fever, where a sick Elsa sneezing out Snowgies shows the same powers as a comic problem. It runs only eight minutes, which makes it a good first taste before a full feature. If you are choosing one film to start with, Frozen (2013) gives the cleanest picture of who she is, and the Frozen movies in order guide covers the rest.