Elsa

As a child, Elsa plays in the snow with Anna until she accidentally strikes her sister's head. The trolls save Anna and erase her memory of the magic. Their parents close the castle, and Elsa spends years in gloves, away from everyone. The king and queen die in a shipwreck.

At her coronation, Elsa clashes with Anna over her whirlwind engagement to Hans and reveals her power in front of the court. She flees to the mountain, sings "Let It Go" and raises an ice palace, not knowing she has left Arendelle in endless winter. When Anna shows up, Elsa sends her away and strikes her heart. Captured by Hans, she breaks out of her cell and nearly dies at his hand, until Anna steps in front of the sword. Seeing her sister frozen, Elsa realizes love controls the ice, brings back summer and opens the castle gates for good.

The next spring, Elsa wants to make up for all the birthdays she missed with Anna. She sets up a treasure hunt through town and a courtyard party, but catches a cold and refuses to admit it. Every sneeze lets loose tiny snowmen.

At the top of a tower, feverish, she nearly falls, and Anna finally talks her into resting. Elsa ends the day in bed with her sister looking after her, and finds out that was the gift Anna wanted most.

At the first holiday with the gates open, Elsa throws a party, and everyone leaves early for their own traditions. She blames herself: after the years of isolation, the sisters never had one.

When Olaf goes missing in the forest, Elsa heads out with Anna to find him. In the attic, the two find a childhood chest full of Olaf drawings Anna used to make for her on the other side of the door. Elsa sees the tradition was there all along.

Three years later, Elsa hears a voice no one else can. Answering it wakes the spirits of the Enchanted Forest and sends the group north. There she tames the wind, the fire salamander Bruni and the water horse Nokk, and learns her mother, Iduna, was Northuldra and saved her father as a boy.

Alone, she crosses the Dark Sea to Ahtohallan and sees the truth: her grandfather, Runeard, betrayed the Northuldra with the dam. Elsa sends the memory to Anna and freezes. After Anna brings the dam down, Elsa thaws, stops the flood before it reaches Arendelle and rebuilds Olaf. She understands she is the bridge between people and magic, the fifth spirit, and stays in the forest.

Idina Menzel voices adult Elsa. The character also shows up in Once Upon a Time, played by Georgina Haig, and in the Broadway musical.