Small Things You Missed In The Frozen 2 Trailer

It's been six long years since we first ventured into the magical world of Arendelle in Frozen, home to talking snowmen, friendly boulder-like trolls, and Disney's best pair of ride-or-die sisters this side of Lilo and Stitch. While Disney has been characteristically tight-lipped about the sequel to the film responsible for what is possibly the most pervasive earworm of the decade, we finally have a full trailer for Frozen 2, which arrives in theaters on November 22, 2019.

The first glimpse we got of Frozen 2 didn't tell us much, revealing only that Elsa (Idina Menzel) would attempt to push her powers past even the impressive heights she reached in Frozen. The next trailer gave us a slightly bigger peek, with Grand Pabbie (Ciarán Hinds) — the wisest and oldest of the trolls — informing Anna (Kristen Bell) that "We have always feared that Elsa's powers were too much for this world. Now we must hope they are enough." While Pabbie's warning sounds ominous, it still doesn't give us much of an idea of what our favorite Arendellians will be up against. However, this latest trailer finally gives us a clearer picture of the sequel's storyline, and we've scoured each and every frame for possible clues about what to expect in Frozen 2.

At the beginning of Frozen, we see the picturesque kingdom of Arendelle, which sits at the edge of the sea, nestled into a wall of towering cliffs. Set apart from the village is Arendelle Castle, rimmed with stone walls and topped with pointed green roofs. However, by the end of the film, the castle has been transformed — not by the premature winter which Elsa brings about after losing control of her powers, but by gleaming ice crystals that beautifully adorn all the rooftops and spires, making the castle appear frosty white. 

The opening shot of the Frozen 2 trailer establishes that Arendelle Castle is still sporting its new look, with the white-tipped castle sitting next to a peaceful town surrounded by lush green grass. By showing us that Elsa is still glazing the castle in beautiful layers of ice, we can assume that not only is Elsa still reigning as Queen, but that she's in full control of her powers, and at peace with her people.  

The Frozen 2 trailer opens with a flashback, as King Agnarr (voiced by Alfred Molina) tells a young Anna and Elsa a story about an enchanted forest somewhere "far away, as north as we can go." Queen Iduna (Evan Rachel Wood) cuddles her two daughters as Agnarr explains how something happened that made it so that no one could get in or out. 

As Agnarr speaks, the trailer shows us scenes of the enchanted forest, and of the people who once lived there. When an enraptured Anna asks her father, "You've seen an enchanted forest?" we see an image of a young golden-haired boy in Arendelle colors arriving in the forest between what appear to be two palace guards, eyes wide in wonder. "Yes," says Agnarr, whose coloring closely resembles the boy in the flashback. We then see the boy's attention drawn by a brown-haired girl twirling through the air like wind-tossed flower petals, and it's hard not to see the similarity between her and the dark-haired Iduna. These two children were also shown in an earlier trailer, where the boy was the one being tossed and the girl was the one watching.

Is it possible that this is a glimpse of the first meeting of Agnarr and Iduna, and that Iduna is, in fact, from the enchanted forest? That could explain where Elsa's magic came from, and — if magic was responsible for cutting her mother off from her home — could also give us a clue about why her parents were so insistent on hiding their daughter's magic. 

Both previous Frozen 2 teasers have shown us a scene in which one of the sisters was surrounded by hovering, icy diamonds, and it was implied that these were something Elsa created using her powers, although she may not have understood why. Now we have another piece of the puzzle, with the revelation that the diamonds that Elsa creates seem to match the symbols on the Stonehenge-like pillars that mark the entrance to the enchanted forest. 

The trailer makes it appear as though one of the central questions of Frozen 2 will be where Elsa's powers came from, and her ability to recreate symbols she's presumably never seen before may be a major clue. All signs seem to point to some sort of significant link between Elsa and the enchanted forest, but we'll have to wait to find out whether it's the source of her power, the homeland of one of her parents, or connected to her magic in some other way. 

We never had much doubt that Anna, Elsa, Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), and Olaf (Josh Gad) would return for Frozen 2, but less certain were the fates of all the endearing side characters from the first film. While it would have been easy enough for Disney to sweep Frozen's minor characters aside to make room for a new crop, we now know at least a few familiar faces will be making an appearance in Frozen 2. 

In a shot that presumably takes place shortly after the citizens of Arendelle have been forced to flee the village, we see the trolls Bulda (Maia Wilson), Cliff (Lewis Cleale), and Pabbie, who cared for Kristoff as a child, standing in front of the displaced townspeople. Behind them is Oaken (Chris Williams), the good-natured owner of Oaken's Trading Post and Sauna, who made the most of his brief appearance in the first film when he threw Kristoff out of his shop before cheerfully helping provision Anna for her journey. While it seems as though the trolls may still have a significant role to play in Frozen 2, chances are that Oaken's appearance will be more of a cameo. Still, it'll be nice to see him again, and maybe this time we'll even get to meet his family. 

When Elsa hears a mysterious voice calling to her, she sets out on a quest to figure out who it is and why she can hear it, thinking that maybe if she can find the source of the voice, she can also learn something useful about the malevolent force that is threatening Arendelle. Or at least, that's the impression of Frozen 2's plot that we get from the trailer, which sees Anna immediately volunteering to accompany her sister as she ventures north in search of answers. 

From the looks of it, despite Anna's determination to remain by Elsa's side, Frozen 2 will be largely Elsa's movie, similar to how Frozen was mostly about Anna. Elsa appears to be on her own for a number of scenes in the trailer — including the one where she approaches the wall of mist surrounding the enchanted forest. It's easy to miss, since in the very next shot, Anna is by her side, followed by Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven, but the first time Elsa faces the mist, she's alone. Elsa's fear of hurting others and her inclination to isolate herself to her own detriment were major themes of the first film, so it'll be interesting to see if, in Frozen 2, Elsa's tendency to push forward on her own is still a fatal flaw, or if it has somehow evolved into a strength. 

After the people of Arendelle are run out of town by some sort of mysterious magical force that creates strong winds and pink flames, Pabbie tells Elsa that if she can "find who is calling to you, they may have answers." As he tells her this, he uses his magic to give her a rainbow-hued vision showing three scenes. The first is a brief glimpse at a bridge that looks like one of the structures of Arendelle. The next is of two groups of people coming face to face — the first, a group of women wearing tunics with the leader carrying a staff, and the second, a group of men holding what look like shields, with their leader wearing a cape. The two leaders shake hands, and then there's a third image, of a staff and a sword striking together. 

This vision could easily foreshadow events that will occur later in the film — the two groups look a lot like the ones led by new characters Yelana (Martha Plimpton) and Lieutenant Matthias (Sterling K. Brown), who show up later in the trailer — but it could also hint at the past event Agnarr referred to in his story that led to the enchanted forest being sealed off. Perhaps the reason it's so important for Elsa to learn about her past is so that she can prevent similar events from happening again in the future. 

When Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven take off in their carriage for their trek north (well, Sven is pulling the carriage, not riding in it), a tall, pillar-shaped mountain can be seen in the distance. If you look closely, you can see Elsa's ice castle is still there on the side, exactly as it was when she constructed it during the "Let It Go" sequence from Frozen. 

Since Frozen 2 is said to take place three years after the first film, it's probably safe to assume that this means Elsa still spends some time in her ice castle. Even if temperatures up in the mountains never drop low enough for the castle to melt, there's a lot of delicate spire-work on the castle's towers that would likely have weathered and broken if left unattended for three years. Although Elsa seems to have made a healthy home life for herself in Arendelle, it would make sense if, from time to time, she retreats to her own northern fortress of solitude to decompress, burn off some magic, and perhaps do a bit of general maintenance and upkeep.  

Once Elsa manages to take her party through the mist surrounding the enchanted forest, the Arendelle crew encounters a number of new characters who have been living on the inside. These include Yelana, who leads Northuldra people, and two of her people: the "bold and brave" Honeymaren (Rachel Matthews) and the "eager and fun" Ryder (Jason Ritter), although neither of them get a chance to speak in this trailer. According to Disney, the Northuldra are a nomadic people, and it appears as though they'll have a significant role to play in Frozen 2. 

We also meet Lieutenant Matthias, who seems to be wearing a version of an Arendelle guard's uniform, although it's worth noting that the design is slightly off from the one we see in Frozen. Either the royal guard uniform has been updated at some point within the past three years, or Matthias and his men are wearing an older version of the uniform, and have been in the forest for a number of years. 

Perhaps the character we're most excited about, though, is the tiny salamander named Bruni whom we see excitedly lapping up Elsa's magic snowflakes. Bruni was the most adorable part of the trailer, and according to Olaf voice actor Josh Gad, that's just the beginning. "Meet your new future obsession," Gad tweeted alongside a picture of Bruni. "You have no idea."

So far in the Frozen-verse, whenever rocks start shaking, it's nothing to worry about. It's almost always the kindhearted, waist-high trolls, the same gentle people who took in Kristoff when he was just a young boy and raised him until he was a man. However, Frozen 2 looks to be introducing a whole new breed of rock people in the form of towering stone giants. And from the looks of things, they're not very friendly.

The trailer sees Anna and Olaf steering a boat past a group of sleeping stone giants, keeping quiet so as not to wake them. Later, we see Anna, Kristoff, and Sven fleeing for their lives as a giant pursues them, hurling rocks, and then a number of giants rising up forebodingly to tower above the treetops. Although we're assuming that the stone giants aren't the real villains here — they don't seem connected to the pink fire or the thick mist that continues to plague our heroes — they're certainly a formidable opponent, and we're pretty excited to see what sort of magic Elsa conjures against them. 

It's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot, but at one point in the trailer, seemingly right after Elsa has put out a massive magical fire, Kristoff rides Sven into the forest and scoops up Anna, leaving a person who appears to be Elsa behind on her hands and knees. By the time he gets there, the fire seems to be mostly out, which means Elsa is likely fine, but it's definitely worth noting that in a moment of danger, it seems as though Kristoff won't hesitate to save Anna, even if it's at the expense of her sister. 

It's not unexpected — especially if the rumors from D23 are true and Kristoff plans to propose to Anna in Frozen 2 (a scene which very well may appear early on in the trailer, albeit with the ring scrubbed out of the shot) — but it does feel significant, especially as Elsa puts herself in greater peril in order to save the people she loves. We know from Frozen that Anna and Elsa will always do everything they can to save one another, but what happens if Kristoff decides that saving Elsa is too risky for Anna? We hope that Frozen 2 doesn't come down to Anna having to choose between her boyfriend (fiance?) and her sister — but if it does, there won't be any contest. Frozen has made us one thousand percent certain she'll choose her sister. 

In a film that is presumably all about learning where its characters came from, it's fitting that we could get a glimpse into the backstory of one character you've probably never even wondered about: Sven the reindeer. We know from Frozen that Sven has been with Kristoff since he was a little boy, but we never really learned where he was before that. 

Well, wonder no longer (if indeed you were wondering at all), as it looks like we may finally get an answer to where Sven got his start. In the Frozen 2 trailer, we see a young Northuldra girl crossing a bridge cradling a baby reindeer. This looks a lot like the girl we saw earlier in the trailer twirling in the air in the enchanted forest, who may very well be Elsa and Anna's mother, Iduna. It's very possible that either Sven or one of his parents was born in the enchanted forest, and came to Arendelle with Iduna and her people, meaning that in Frozen 2, he'll be returning to his natural home. This seems to be supported by shots in both this and previous trailers of Sven running happily with a herd of reindeer — possibly his original family. While we have no doubt that he and Kristoff will always remain brothers at heart, it could be nice to see Sven finally find his place among other reindeer, who are, after all, better than people. 

There are several shots in the new trailer of characters rushing into battle, both Arendelle soldiers and Northuldra warriors. At the beginning of the trailer, they seem to be fighting each other, although it's hard to be sure, while at the end, they're charging toward some unseen foe. If they're fighting one another, it could be the conflict Pabbie showed Elsa in her vision, with the sword and the staff clashing together. Alternately, the vision could be attempting to mislead us, and might actually symbolize the two groups coming together and fighting as one. 

Either way, there's a strong chance that the battle we keep glimpsing in the trailer isn't actually one that takes place in the present timeline. None of the characters in the battle scenes are familiar, which is odd if it's supposed to be a battle that involves our main characters. It's very possible that this fight is one that took place long ago — maybe even involving one or both of Anna and Elsa's parents — and that's what led to the barring of the enchanted forest. However, even if the conflict is an old one, if it was between Arendelle, the Northuldra, and the mysterious forces of the forest, all of the elements are there for it to spin up again in Frozen 2. Perhaps this is why the Arendelle-born, magical Elsa is so important, especially if it turns out that her mother is Northuldra — she contains elements of all three, and may be the one who is finally able to bring about a lasting peace.