Anna & Elsa (Frozen) Character Bios

Once Upon a Time...

Last updated February 15th 2024

Anna and Elsa are the main characters in the 2013 animated Disney movie Frozen and its 2019 sequel Frozen 2, based on the fairytale "The Snow Queen" by danish author Hans Christian Andersen.

Learn all about these hugely popular Disney characters, their personality traits and physical appearance, and read the story of Frozen just below, complete with fun facts and pictures!

Anna, Elsa

Table of Contents


About Anna: Personality Traits

Anna portrait

Anna is an extrovert, a true social butterfly with an intense curiosity about the world around her and a fun-loving attitude. She's very active and enthusiastic, and tends to leap before looking, which makes her appear at times awkward and clumsy. Perhaps her best qualities are her strong determination and her unfaltering loyalty.


About Elsa: Personality Traits

Elsa portrait

Elsa is an introvert who is by nature rather careful and reserved. Though she appears generally calm, there are powerful emotions stirring beneath the surface. She's fiercely protective of her loved ones because she's caring and nurturing.


Anna's Appearance

Anna is around 18 years old (21 in Frozen 2), with strawberry blonde hair, fair freckled skin, a thin, turned up nose, thin lips and large turquoise-blue eyes.

Of all the dresses she wears in Frozen, two in particular stand out: the first is the dress she wears for Elsa's coronation. It features a black sweetheart bodice with dark green off-the-shoulder straps and an olive-green pleated skirt. A necklace with a pendant around her neck and ribbons in her hair complete this royal look.

The second is the dress she wears for the better part of the movie during her journey to find Elsa. It features a black bodice with a royal blue skirt, a light blue, long-sleeved blouse, a magenta cape with tassels and matching fur-trimmed cap, black leather boots with magenta soles and turquoise-blue mittens.


Elsa's Appearance

Elsa is a tall, slender young woman of 21 (24 in Frozen 2), with long platinum blonde hair, fair skin, a thin, turned up nose, thin lips and large blue eyes.

Elsa seems to favor blues and purples, which feature prominently in her wardrobe. Of the many dresses she wears in Frozen, the two most memorable are the dress she wears for her coronation and the dress she makes out of ice.

The coronation dress is a teal dress with an a-line skirt, a sweetheart neckline, long black sleeves and a long magenta cape. Her hair is worn in a crown braid under a small gold crown. Her hands are covered by long turquoise gloves.

The ice dress is a crystal-blue off-the-shoulder dress with a knee-high slit, a bodice of crystals, transparent light blue sleeves and a long flowing cape patterned with snowflakes. With it she wears kitten heels and her hair in a loose side braid.


Frozen Story

Princess Elsa was born with the power to create ice and snow, a power she's kept secret most of her life, even from her younger sister Princess Anna, and for good reason: one night, when the girls were little, Elsa accidentally struck Anna in the head with a blast of icy magic, which hurt Anna badly and turned a streak of her hair platinum-blonde.



Young Elsa accidentally striking Anna with a blast of icy magic

Since then Elsa has worn gloves to conceal her magic, and kept herself in semi-isolation to avoid another accident, shutting out poor Anna, who had no memory of the incident. Even after the deaths at sea of their parents, the King and Queen of Arendelle, the sisters rarely interacted.

Now that Elsa has come of age at 21, she is about to be crowned Queen. Many dignitaries are invited to the momentous event, including the greedy duke of Weselton and Prince Hans of the Southern Isles.



Elsa getting ready for her coronation

On the evening of the coronation, Elsa's sister Anna falls in love with the charming Prince Hans, and the two become engaged. Anna asks for Elsa's blessing, but Elsa refuses to give it, and the sisters begin to argue rather heatedly.

In an emotional outburst, Elsa accidentally unleashes her powers before the whole court and flees from the kingdom in a panic, inadvertently trapping it in eternal winter as she does so. Anna sets off to find her to make things right again, leaving Hans in charge of the kingdom.



Hans proposing to Anna

Elsa eventually finds herself on a high precipice on a mountain and, deciding to live there in isolation, where she can't hurt anyone, builds an elaborate palace of ice.

Anna, on her side, comes across mountain man Kristoff and his reindeer Sven and a talking snowman named Olaf, who was created by Elsa, and together they travel on in search of the newly crowned Queen.



Anna, Olaf, Kristoff and Sven

At last they arrive at the ice palace, where Anna tells Elsa of the wintry curse on Arendelle. Horrified, Elsa confesses she doesn't know how to undo her magic and break the curse, and as the sisters begin once more to argue, Elsa loses control of her emotions, making her powers manifest again, and accidently strikes Anna in the heart.



Anna meets Elsa in her ice palace


Kristoff takes the injured Anna to his adoptive family, the rock trolls, to save her. Grand Pabbie, the leader of the trolls, reveals that Anna's heart has begun to freeze, and only an "act of true love" can melt it and reverse the spell before she freezes solid.

Thinking her fiance, Prince Hans, might be able to save her, Kristoff rushes Anna back to Arendelle.

Meanwhile, Hans and the duke's men, who had gone looking for Anna, find Elsa's ice palace and capture her after she's knocked unconscious in a violent struggle.

Once back in Arendelle, Hans reveals to Anna his true goal to seize the throne by letting her die and killing her sister.



Anna learns Han's true motive

Elsa awakens to find herself in a dungeon cell in Arendelle, but manages to escape her confinement by using her powers, while Olaf finds Anna and learns of Han's betrayal.

When a heartbroken Anna admits she doesn't even know what love is, Olaf tells her it is "putting someone else's needs before yours", using Kristoff as an example. Seeing Kristoff is near and realising he loves her, Anna resolves to get to him in time to break her curse.



Elsa cries over Anna, frozen solid

Hans soon catches up to Elsa and attempts to kill her with a swing of his sword, but Anna jumps in the way and, freezing solid, stops him and breaks the sword. Devastated, Elsa breaks down and cries over Anna's frozen body. But it isn't long before Anna begins to thaw out, the act of true love being the sacrifice she made to save her sister.

Realising that love is the key to controlling her magic, Elsa is able to reverse the spell on Arendelle. The sisters are finally reunited and reconciled; Elsa is welcomed back as Queen; Hans is arrested; and Anna and Kristoff share their first kiss.



Frozen's Happy ending finds sisters Anna and Elsa reunited

Anna and Elsa Quick Facts
Relationship: Sisters
Birthplace: Arendelle
Parents: King Agnarr and Queen Iduna
Best friends: Olaf, Kristoff and Sven
Pets: Bruni the fire salamander (Elsa); Kjekk the horse (Anna)
Frozen Fun Facts

In the Hans Christian Andersen tale "The Snow Queen" (the inspiration for Frozen), there is no Anna or Elsa. The protagonist is a little girl named Gerda.

Walt Disney himself had an interest in adapting the Hans Christian Andersen story into an animated movie. He began working on concepts for it way back in 1936.

In the original movie script, Anna and Elsa were not sisters or princesses. Elsa was actually an evil villain with an army of snow monsters at her command.

Frozen was the highest-grossing film in 2013, making over 1 billion dollars worldwide.


Anna & Elsa Pictures by Disneyclips.com
Elsa: let it snowYoung Elsa doing magic for AnnaAnna, Elsa and OlafAnna, Elsa and Olaf having fun in the summer sun


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