This Disney Fan Theory About Elsa and Anna's Parents in ‘Frozen' Just Blew My Mind

Published Nov 28, 2018

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4:01pm

I cannot “Let It Go” with this one, y’all.

For fans of Disney ’s Frozen movie, there’s a mind-blowing theory floating around the hidden corners of Reddit. Recently, I stumbled across the theory (now a couple years old, but still just as juicy) and I couldn’t help but share.

While I’m a big fan of conspiracy theories, I tend to roll my eyes at most of the posts claiming obscure connections and unsupported Easter eggs, but this one really got me. Posted by many different fans, the theory says Anna and Elsa’s parents, who the audience is told died in a shipwreck at sea during the beginning of the movie, actually survived and washed up on a jungle island, where they had a child—a baby boy—but were later killed by a jaguar.

Sound familiar? That means Anna and Elsa’s parents, Queen Iduna and King Agnarr, are also Tarzan’s parents, and one of the film’s directors kinda confirmed the theory during a Reddit AMA back in 2015.

Disney

Director Chris Buck, who also directed Tarzan, went on to tell MTV News: "When you're working on a feature, you have a lot of time to think about stuff because it takes four years to make one," Buck said. "I think Jen [Lee] and I were walking to a meeting, and I just start to tell her the entire story."

"I said, 'Of course Anna and Elsa's parents didn't die. Yes, there was a shipwreck, but they were at sea a little bit longer than we think they were because the mother was pregnant, and she gave birth on the boat, to a little boy. They get shipwrecked, and somehow they really washed way far away from the Scandinavian waters, and they end up in the jungle. They end up building a tree house and a leopard kills them, so their baby boy is raised by gorillas. So in my little head, Anna and Elsa's brother is Tarzan—but on the other side of that island are surfing penguins, to tie in a non-Disney movie, Surf's Up. That's my fun little world."

Disney

There you have it. Tarzan is Anna and Elsa's long-lost brother...and we hope he made it back to Arendelle at some point for a big fam reunion.

But many fans were quick to poke holes in the ice, if you will, and we can't blame them. The storylines don't really add up.

Reddit user @ThompsonBoogie wrote "There is an obvious time-discrepancy too: when comparing both movies, it's pretty obvious that Frozen is set around 1830-1840's (maybe early 1850's) and that Tarzan is late Victorian-era (1880's)."

Another Reddit thread makes a fair point about the treehouse in Tarzan, which is decorated with a Union Jack flag (meaning the ship was British). Arendelle is obviously a Scandinavian kingdom (Sven! Elsa! Hans!), so it wouldn't make sense for the sisters' parents to fly a British flag.

But, hey, it's Disney. The directors were just having a bit of fun, and anything's possible if you just *believe.*

Speaking of fun, do you want to build a snowman?

Roberta Fiorito

Director, Branded Content + Cohost, Royally Obsessed Podcast

As Director of Branded Content at Gallery Media Group, Roberta helps oversee the ideation and execution of sponsored content and experiential campaigns across PureWow and ONE37pm, including PureWow’s 24 in ’24. She began her career in editorial nine years ago, and has written and edited countless articles on news, trends, fashion, beauty and the royal family. She’s also cohost of the Royally Obsessed podcast, named one of the best royals podcasts by The New York Times and Town & Country. She cowrote the book Royal Trivia: Your Guide to the Modern British Royal Family.

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