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Disney’s Frozen 2 draws many parallels to the journey’s of multiple leading characters featured in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of The Rings franchise — including Anna’s story. While Elsa (Idina Menzel), the Queen of Arendelle and the fifth spirit, undertakes a voyage of self-discovery in Frozen 2, which is reminiscent of Gandalf the Grey’s journey in The Lord of The Rings trilogy, her sister Anna (Kristen Bell) juxtaposes the comparison nicely by bearing some similarities to the hobbit Frodo Baggins.
Frozen 2, Disney’s sequel to Frozen that received an early release on Disney+, follows Elsa three years after her coronation as the Queen of Arendelle. Feeling out of place within her kingdom, Elsa begins to hear a voice on the wind calling to her and sets off with Anna, Olaf (Josh Gad), Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), and Sven to discover the source of the mysterious voice. Finding a map to the mythical river of Ahtohallan, Elsa goes off on her own journey to discover the secrets of her past, leaving Anna behind in the Enchanted Forest. While at first glance the connection between the two franchises appears to be a bit of a stretch, a closer inspection reveals that Anna’s story arc within the Frozen franchise closely matches Frodo Baggin’s narrative throughout The Lord of the Rings trilogy in more ways than one.
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When comparing Frodo Baggins to Anna, the similarities go as far back as their origins. Since Anna was isolated at a young age within the castle of Arendelle, both she and Frodo grew up in a sheltered environment away from the dangers of the real world. In The Lord of The Rings, Frodo was raised in The Shire, the carefree hobbit countryside where hobbits live peacefully far removed from Sauron’s domain in Mordor and blissfully ignorant of the evils in their world. In both franchises, Frodo and Anna lost their parents at a young age and eventually went off on a quest with a skilled group of protectors, exchanging their safe environments for perilous unknown lands. While Frodo left The Shire on a mission to destroy the One Ring alongside the Fellowship in The Fellowship of The Ring, Anna enters the Enchanted Forest alongside Elsa, Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven in Frozen 2.
Not only is there a resemblance between Anna and Frodo’s backgrounds, but the two characters have many similarities when it comes to their individual characteristics. While both Anna and Frodo exist within a fantasy series where magic is embedded into the fabric of their world, they have no magical abilities themselves. They are ordinary people with no combat skills who get pulled into a dangerous quest that was meant for another. Frodo only inherits the One Ring and the responsibility that comes with it after Bilbo, a unique hobbit who went on adventures beyond The Shire, retired, and Anna only accompanies her sister Elsa into the Enchanted Forest for support and to help Elsa discover the origins of her elemental magic.
By the end of Frozen 2, the last few trials that Anna faces are reminiscent of Frodo’s journey into Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring in Lord of the Rings: The Return of The King. Similar to Frodo, Anna is separated from her party and travels through a mountain with the help of a single friend, Olaf. Within the mountain, both Frodo and Anna are forced to let go of their dependence on magical entities, Frodo the One Ring and Anna her sister Elsa. When Anna learns that Elsa is most likely dead once Olaf’s snow begins to flake away, she must push past her grief and learn to stand alone in order to destroy the dam and right the wrongs committed by her grandfather King Runeard against the Northuldra people. While Frodo’s attachment to the One Ring is more visceral and dark in comparison to Anna’s love for her sister in Frozen 2, it is an attachment he must learn to let go of all the same; thus strength of character is the most heroic trait, one that they both share.
