A Realistic, Alt-History Look at Arendelle

Real History

I call Arendelle ‘Arnadalr’ for a few reasons.

1. I like Old Norse, and that’s because of Frozen.
2. Canonically, that’s its name. Google ‘Heimr Àrnadalr’.

Arnadalr is based on Norway, and interestingly, there is a town called Arendal in Norway. I’ve circled its location in the map below. It’s not too far from Christiana (now Oslo), the capital of Norway, all things considered – at least they’re on the same coast!

The map above is very old-timey – that’s because it is a map of Norway and Sweden, which were under the same king, even during the time Frozen is set in (the 1840s). There was the ‘United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway’ (Sweden-Norway for short), beginning in 1814, and lasting until 1905.

How did Sweden acquire Norway? Well, before Sweden-Norway, Norway was ruled by Denmark (Denmark-Norway). for complicated reasons, Denmark-Norway allied with Napoleonic France, while Sweden did not. Denmark-Norway and Sweden ended up at war, and when Napoleon and his allies were defeated, Sweden renounced their claims on Finland (which they had lost to Russia previously) and demanded at the negotiating table instead to have Norway.

Norway did declare independence in 1814 and fought a very short war with Sweden, but anyway the major European powers were not particularly thrilled about Norwegian independence, so Norway acquiesced and became part of the union with Sweden.

Alternate History

What if, instead, Norway DID gain independence?

Let’s say one of the European powers had an interest in Norway and Sweden being separate. Or, hell, let’s say Norway, by some miracle, won its independence war against Sweden. Yeah, that sounds hardcore. Let’s go with that.

The war was fought in 1814. Let’s imagine that there was a protracted war – maybe it would have ended in 1818?

Ignoring the fact that the Norwegians elected Prince Christian Frederick their king (or maybe in this alt-history, the people simply don’t elect the prince), this is how King Runeard (Elsa and Anna’s grandfather) comes into power. On the back of war and bloodshed, fighting for his people’s independence.

It seems clear to me, then, why he was so militant in his dealings with the Norðaldra. He had just wrested his country free from a conqueror, and was looking to expand northward, or at least weaken potential rivals.

I cut out the year shown in the Disney map above, but you can check – it says ‘MDCCCXL’ (1840). Let’s assume this is the year Elsa and Anna’s parents set sail for Ahtohallan.

That puts Elsa’s coronation in 1843, and Anna’s coronation in 1846. Working backwards, Elsa was born in 1822, and Anna in 1825.

Their father and mother are probably teenagers when they first meet in Norðaldra territory, and they look about 30-ish when we see them as parents. So they probably met, and King Runeard probably died, around 1830, give or take a few years.

But this is impossible, since Elsa was only born after Agnarr and Iðunn met. Adjusting our calculations, we can say that maybe Runeard died 1820-ish.

(This family really likes having kids late.)

So now our timeline looks like this:

• 1814: King Runeard comes to power
• ~1820: King Runeard dies, Prince Agnarr succeeds him
• 1822: Elsa is born
• 1826: Anna is born
• 1840: King Agnarr and Queen Iðunn die at sea
• 1843: Frozen (2013): Elsa is coronated
• 1846: Frozen II (2019): Anna is coronated

Alternate Future?

Elsa is 24, and Anna is 21 – they have many years left to live. Assuming world history continues as we know it, they’ll live through the Romantic era after the Napoleonic Wars, the advent of nationalism, the rise of Prussia, the unification of Germany and Italy, and so on.

Maybe someone will read this, and think of a fan-fiction about Anna’s offspring, and how they negotiate the tense Concert of Europe, World War I, and World War II.

But that’s coming too close to home, I think.