So this got away from me. And I’m pretty sure half of it doesn’t make sense because I was word-vomiting, but here you go. You can have my two a.m. ramblings.
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I ship Elsanna because of the possibilities. The complexities. The chances to delve deep into the fractured relationship these two women have. Honestly, I ship it because it’s horribly, achingly, angsty, and I ship it because it’s hopefully, desperately, romantic.
Elsa and Anna love each other. That’s not in dispute. As sisters, as ex-best friends, as new people who don’t have the faintest hint of knowledge of each other, and as memories of the past.
Anna loves the older sister she idolized (and still does), the person she’s supposed to look up to as an example of her place in society (but less the Queen title and its duties), and the one she’s ached for because of her absence. She loves the girl she knew, the girl she lost and wanted to know, and the woman she now gets to have once again.
Elsa loves the younger sister she adored (and still does), the child she gave up everything to keep safe and allow to have a normal life (what she could never have, anyway, as the Crown Princess), and the one she’s protected obsessively as her reason for her absence. She loves the girl she knew, the girl she forced away, and the woman she now gets to have once again.
In my mind, for thirteen years, Anna’s been at the forefront of Elsa’s mind. She’s the easiest face to put as the reason she needs to get herself under control, which unfortunately is the reason she can’t get control. Her powers only started flaring after she became afraid of herself. And she only started being afraid of herself when Anna got hurt. And Elsa’s still afraid. All through the movie, she moves away whenever Anna approaches, she shrinks her body away so they can’t touch, and she tries over and over to tell Anna to go away because she can’t protect her from herself. That’s heartbreaking. Self sacrificing. Deliciously, terribly, angsty. It’s like Elsa’s whole being is kept together and woven around keeping Anna (and her subjects, to a lesser degree) safe. How is that not something screaming out that it wants to be explored? Separately, she’s fascinating. Acknowledging Anna’s role, it only gets better.
Anna’s story is a bit harder to pin down, but it’s no less emotional. Perhaps even more emotional, as it’s not so straight forward. Her best friend, her big sister, her person disappeared without warning. Absolutely no warning. To her, Elsa was there one day, and suddenly she wasn’t. She couldn’t see her, barely talked to her, and finally, utterly, completely lost her. This is evident in everything Anna does when she’s suddenly confronted with this woman she doesn’t know. How she acts around this woman she should have known. Elsa’s the one who was supposed to be there. But she wasn’t. And there isn’t even any reason Anna can get angry about what happened, because she just doesn’t know. She’s not angry, and doesn’t even appear to be resentful. She’s rightfully confused, but it’s been so long she’s adjusted. While Elsa has a purpose, Anna does not. She’s the second-in-line, the spare, the one probably going to be used for a political purpose in a couple of years. She’s sheltered and lonely and abandoned and naive and loves anyone who loves her. And she’s loyal. God, is she loyal. Thirteen years pass, and she still loves her sister. The sister she reached out to through the years even after she’d seemingly forgotten her. I’m sure Elsa rarely ever left her thoughts, too. This painful, obsessive, selfless love has its own scream resonating from it. Anna is amazing. Anna and her relationship with Elsa becomes breathtaking.
These two women are strong, weak, multi-faceted, captivating, independently their own, separate person… And then they’re reunited.
I ship Elsanna because Anna and Elsa are practically strangers who need each other. Who love each other. Who missed each other and obsessed over each other and are only now getting the chance to rediscover each other.
I ship Elsanna because I want to know many things. Like, how will they relate to each other now? How will they find out how well they’re actually going to get along? How will running the kingdom, now that both of their duties have increased, go? Will they have time to talk? Will they have time to be kids? Will Anna, in her own stunted extroverted way, help Elsa adjust to suddenly being around people again? And will Elsa, in her own stunted accustomed introverted way, help Anna understand just what it means to be royalty? Will the two women be codependent and never be able to be apart? Or will they be able to live their own lives, settling into familial comfort? Will they throw themselves into getting to know each other, or will they ease into it? Will one woman want more than the other is willing to give, or perhaps the other way around, will one woman be willing to give more of herself than the other? Will Anna get mad at Elsa, erupt suddenly, and go stomping through the trolls because she’s demanding recompense for everything they did to wrong them? Will Elsa get mad at Anna, withdraw suddenly, and find somewhere to hate herself (and the trolls and her parents a bit) because none of this had ever needed to happen? Will Anna and Elsa work together to bring their kingdom and its people back into shape, or will they work separately to make sure the Queen of Arendelle is respected, and even then, how is their relationship going to change with every single choice they make?
How are these two women, so wrapped up in each other’s lives, so important to each other, going to now evolve and twist and turn and entwine with each other?
The answer is simply that there are infinite possible answers. Endless outcomes. And love - horrible, passionate, aching, wanting, angsty, hopeful, gentle, desperate, cold, romantic, nonexistent, overwhelming, concealed, affectionate, incestuous love - is how I see it happening. It’s what I want to explore. What I want to celebrate. What I want to deconstruct, what I want to write, and it’s what I want to enjoy.
That is why I ship Elsanna.
*By the way, the incest only makes it that much sweeter and crazy and tough and guilty and full of yearning and shame and pain and always, always, very, very, emotionally heavy-electric-intense.