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Prince Hans of the Southern Isles is the main antagonist of the 2013 animated film Frozen, who was pretending to woo for Princess Anna, who was originally eager to marry him after meeting him a few days ago until Hans revealed his true colors as a corrupt and heartless prince who wanted to murder Anna's older sister Queen Elsa.

He was voiced by Santino Fontana.

Background[]

Hans is a prince from the Southern Isles, the neighboring kingdom of Arendelle. He is the youngest of thirteen royal siblings, and was neglected because of this. Knowing he wouldn't live to rule the throne of the Southern Isles, Hans concocted a scheme to marry into monarchy. And when Arendelle was set to have a coronation, he jumped at the opportunity. However, since the to-be queen was far too collected to woo, he instead went for her younger sister, Anna, planning to murder Queen Elsa after their marriage, thus becoming king (with Anna as his consort).

Official Disney Bio[]

"Hans is a handsome royal from a neighboring kingdom who comes to Arendelle for Elsa’s coronation. With 12 older brothers, Hans grew up feeling practically invisible—and Anna can relate. Hans is smart, observant and chivalrous. Unlike Elsa, Hans promises he’ll never shut Anna out; he just might be the connection she’s been waiting for all these years."

Personality[]

Insensitive, conniving, and callous, Hans is a devilish prince with a hunger for power. Being the youngest sibling of twelve princes, Hans spent a portion of his life being neglected and treated unfairly, something he revealed to Anna during their first night together. This abuse likely led to Hans' villainous transformation over time. Although he appears to be noble to the fullest extent, Hans is just a master manipulator, caring nothing for anybody other than himself. Through his charm and charisma alone, he was able to dupe both Anna, Elsa, as well as the entire kingdom of Arendelle and its visiting royals, providing excellent proof of his risky power over manipulation. Like many villains, Hans is completely power-hungry, willingly visiting Arendelle to crucify Elsa and rule the kingdom via proposing to Anna, revealing his only desire is to become king, ridding anyone necessary, in any way he can, for his quest for power, making him among Disney's most wicked villains.

He appears to be rather prideful in addition, chuckling and smirking to himself whilst revealing his dark plans to Anna, as she was freezing to death right before his eyes. It is clear Hans' goal to rule as king was likely to gain the love and admiration he never had, being left in his siblings' shadows over the many years. What’s more, he’s very abrasive, though verbally, more so than physically, as he constantly teased Anna and Elsa merely through his words after his dark side was revealed. Examples of this can be seen while he and Anna were in the parlor, and the prince constantly tortured the dying princess, as well as in the fjords during the confrontation with Elsa, as Hans decided to further Elsa's eternal suffering by telling her Anna passed on, wanting to add that much harm to her before his attempt to crucify her.

Frozen[]

Hans is first seen arriving in Arendelle on his horse, Sitron, accidentally running into Anna on the day of Queen Elsa's coronation. Using grace and charm, Hans immediately woos the lovesick princess. Their little flirtation is cut to a close when the bells for the queen's coronation are rung. Hans attends the ceremony, waving at Anna as he watched the crowning. Later on, Hans would appear at the celebration party, inviting Anna for a romantic waltz. The dance eventually led to an entire date, the entire night of the young couple being spent bonding. By the end of their tour throughout the kingdom, Hans works up the gull to propose, with Anna agreeing in a heartbeat.

The two head back to the royal throne room to ask for Queen Elsa's blessing, to which Elsa coldly refuses, denying Anna marrying someone she just met, ending the party and ordering Hans and everyone else to leave. Heartbroken, Anna confronts her sister, but this causes the queen's powers over ice and snow to be revealed. The Duke of Weselton, one of the neighboring royals, immediately declares Elsa a monster, and orders his men to capture her. Elsa flees, accidentally causing an eternal winter over Arendelle, having Anna and Hans chase after her until she's out of reach. Hans asks Anna if she had known of Elsa's mysterious abilities, to which the princess denies. In order to save the land, Anna volunteers to go after Elsa, leaving Hans in charge to rule during her absence. Sometime later however, Hans and the royal guards are handing out cloaks and catering to the freezing citizens of Arendelle, which angers the Duke. Scolding Hans, the Duke openly expresses his suspicion over Anna and Elsa, believing their conspiring together. Hans immediately snaps and threatens to punish the Duke for treason. Just then, Anna's horse returns without the royal rider, having Hans believes she's in danger. With a group of volunteers (the royal guards and the Duke's men) Hans leads a rescue mission for Anna, and a hunt for Elsa.

The army arrives before long, and are immediately attacked by Elsa's giant, snowman bodyguard, Marshmallow. Hans and his army battle the beast, though he proves to be nearly invincible. Fortunately for the prince, he's able to get a clear shot and slices Marshmallow's leg clean off, having the creature stumble off a cliff to his apparent death. With him out of the way, Hans and the others rush inside to find Anna, but she's nowhere in sight. Instead, they find Elsa merely seconds away from killing the Duke's two guards. Hans is able to stop her, freeing the two thugs. However, one of the thugs attempt to strike her with their arrow, but Hans interferes and accidentally causes Elsa's ice chandelier to come crashing down, knocking Elsa unconscious. Captured, Elsa's imprisoned in Arendelle's dungeon. With the winter curse getting out of hand, Hans knew he must find a way to save his kingdom, and decides to pay Elsa a visit, asking her to put an end to the winter. However, Elsa confesses she doesn't know how and asks to be released. Hans claims he'll do what he can and returns to the other dignitaries in the process of finding a solution to freedom. Just then, Anna suddenly returns and desperately begs Hans for a kiss. The two are given privacy, and Anna explains that during her journey, Elsa froze her heart, and only the act of true love can save her from freezing to death. Hans smirks and rejects Anna, immediately pulling away from their failed kiss and closes the shades of the room, as well as putting out the fire in attempt to quicken her death. Confused, Anna tries to understand what's going on, but Hans simply explains his entire plot to marry Anna, kill Elsa, and become king of Arendelle through marriage. Anna tries to stop him, but is far too weak. The evil prince then leaves her to die, locking the door and trapping her within the room to do just that. Hans then returns to the Duke and the other dignitaries, appearing to be terribly distraught as he does. He tells them Anna was killed by Elsa, and that their vows were said just before she died in his arms, making him king. Unfortunately, the story is fully believed, and Hans sentences the Snow Queen to death for high treason. Meanwhile, through her magic, Elsa manages to escape her prison and tries to retreat to her ice palace. Hans follows her into the frozen fjords to finish her off, knowing with Elsa dead, her winter would be over, and summer would be restored and he'll be praised a hero along with his newfound rule over Arendelle. Elsa pleads for mercy, still believing Hans to be a benevolent prince. She asks the dark prince to take care of her sister for him, to which Hans responds by telling the Snow Queen that Anna was killed due to her icy curse piercing her heart. Elsa breaks down in tears, and whilst she's distracted by her own sorrow, Hans pulls out his sword and prepares to murder Elsa via decapitation.

Before he's able to murder her, Anna arrives and blocks her sister from the sword, completely freezing to death just before Hans' sword strikes her. The forceful blast caused by Anna's freezing knocks out the evil prince, rendering him unconscious. When he awakens, he finds Arendelle thawed and peace restored. Anna immediately confronts him and punches him off the ship they were aboard out of pure fury. Hans was then imprisoned on a ship heading back to the Southern Isles and banished from Arendelle forever. According to a dignitary, Hans was set to receive a punishment from his older brothers. All Good Things must end, All Evil things too!

Frozen Fever[]

Hans makes an extremely brief cameo in the animated short film Frozen Fever. Near the end of the short, Elsa decides to blow the royal horn to commemorate Anna's birthday. Anna tries to stop her because she still has a cold, but it was too late. The blow was so powerful, the snow that came from it made it all the way to the Southern Isles. Hans is now being forced to clean up a the pen for his horse, and the snow lands right on top of him, getting him covered in snow. His horse laughs at him afterwards.

Live-action appearances[]

Once Upon a Time[]

Hans is portrayed by Tyler Jacob Moore. He first appears in the episode "Rocky Road". The portrayal of Hans being in collaboration with his brothers in his plots differs greatly from his implied standing with his family in the film, though they still mock him as the youngest. Hans is also more sadistic and cruel, sincerely considering Elsa as a "monster" and a "freak" and even taunts Anna of possibly suffering death under the same circumstances as her mother.

In a time frame set two years after events equivalent to the film's and one year before the first Dark Curse within the general Once timeline, he is first mentioned by Elsa when she warned Anna about leaving Arendelle vulnerable to Hans and his twelve brothers, who are waiting and plotting to take over the kingdom as revenge for his previous defeat. Some time after Anna left for Mist Haven (the Enchanted Forest), in her quest to find out the mystery of their parents' tragic voyage, Hans and his army, which consists of his twelve older brothers, had set up camp in the Southern Mountains on their way to Arendelle. His brothers still belittle him for being the lowest in line, and they add insult to the injury by bringing up his failed attempt to seize Arendelle's throne during his previous encounter there. He lashes back, stating that he wasn't prepared the last time, but he found something that will help him. Unbeknownst to all of them, Anna's fiancé Kristoff was spying on them and discovered their plan: they will use a mysterious urn located in a cave within the North Valley that's capable of trapping people with magical powers, such as Elsa, then take Arendelle once she's out of the way. Though Elsa and Kristoff beat Hans to the powerful urn, he and three volunteering brothers managed to catch up.

Even though they managed to dispatch his brothers, Hans holds Kristoff at sword point. He demands Elsa to either give him the urn or Kristoff will die. Unable to let Kristoff be killed, Elsa ultimately gives Hans the urn while pleading for her future brother-in-law to find Anna and save the kingdom. After Hans obtains the urn and showing off his success to his brothers, he uncaps its lid and pours out a white liquid substance. As it was heading towards Elsa to likely trap her, Hans gloated his supposed victory, coldly stating in a smug tone that her kingdom will be glad to have real ruler instead of a monster like her. Just as the liquid substance is about to latch onto Elsa, it suddenly changes direction and morphs into a woman, Ingrid the Snow Queen. Offended by his earlier insult, she then freezes Hans into an ice statue as punishment for his cruelty, leaving his shocked brothers to flee.

Later, Ingrid brings both the urn and Hans' frozen body back to the castle and place them in a wardrobe in her old room, where Elsa and Anna, who had returned from the Enchanted Forest and was imprisoned by the Snow Queen, would eventually find them. Shocked at the sight of her ex-fiancé, Anna goes onto the defensive before realizing he's frozen. Elsa calmly comments Hans' condition is the one good thing their crafty aunt's done after her freedom before moving on with their plan to retrap her.

Thirty years later, when Ingrid is in Storybrooke finally casting her Spell of Shattered Sight on its inhabitants, Hans had thawed out and managed to claim Arendelle as his kingdom. He and his brothers barged in on Anna and Kristoff, who were discussing a plan to save Elsa from Rumplestiltskin. Feigning the notion that Anna had overthrown her sister, Hans decided to have her and Kristoff arrested for treason. After claiming that the freezing of Arendelle is Elsa's doing, Anna objected that Elsa wasn't responsible, as Ingrid had done. Hans claims to doubt, likely not caring as her sister and aunt both have ice magic. Before he can have the couple taken away, Anna and Kristoff fight their way out and escape. In an effort to catch them, Hans buys Blackbeard's compliance with gold to corner Anna and Kristoff. The plan works when after the deal is struck, Hans and his brothers suddenly appear and trap Anna and Kristoff. Later, Hans takes the couple to a spot out at sea known as Poseidon's Boneyard, the exact spot where the ship that once carried Anna and Elsa's parents went down. He coldly remarks that it's fitting that Anna will die in the same place under the same circumstances as her mother did, wishing they'd never helped Elsa. After having Kristoff and Anna placed in a trunk to prevent any possible rescue by a mermaid, and annoyed by her panicking hysterically when he tells them how much time has passed since Elsa is still trapped in the urn, Hans and Blackbeard have the two tossed overboard.

Later, Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff return to Arendelle via a magic portal from the Sorcerer's Storybrooke mansion and dethrone Hans off-screen, Anna punching him again, this time in the eye, while doing so. It's unknown if Hans was either exiled from the kingdom or imprisoned.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Hans' voice actor, Santino Fontana, originally auditioned for the role of Kristoff, but was eventually given Hans instead once the film changed.
  • All of Hans' voice recordings were completed in a matter of five days.
  • Hans is essentially the complete opposite of many of the heroic characters in Frozen:
    • Anna, for while both were shut out for many years, she actually wants to reconnect with her sister and would do anything to reconnect with her. Hans, on the other hand, only wanted to get more attention than his 12 brothers and as such would do anything to be on top, even if it means murder and forced marriage.
    • Elsa, for while she shuts Anna out, she does that to protect her. Hans, on the other hand, while he would never shut Anna out, he only does that so that he would get to the throne.
      • On another thought, it is interesting to note that both Hans and Elsa wear gloves the majority of the movie. Both use them to "conceal" their true selves - Elsa's wears hers at the beginning to hide her powers, and Hans wears thorughout the whole movie up until his big reveal at the fireplace.
    • Kristoff, for while extremelysurly and tough on the outside, he's actually kind-hearted and selfless on the inside. Hans, on the other hand, while being warm-hearted and sociable on the outside, is actually callous and relentless on the inside.
    • Olaf, for while he represents the love between Elsa and Anna, Hans represents the breaking of Elsa and Anna's bond.
  • Hans is rather a unique Disney villain in many ways. Typically whenever a villain is introduced into a film, the audience knows that he/she is not to be trusted at once, but some protagonists however trusts them (i.e. Simba, because Scar is his relative.) But with Hans, not only is Anna duped by him but the audience in addition.
    • This makes Hans one of the most frightening and wicked Disney villains.
  • Hans' duet with Anna, "Love is an Open Door", really holds a few dark meanings on Hans' side of the song, the verses I've been searching my whole life to find my own place and Love is an open door secretly representing Hans' quest to dominate a kingdom, and doing so through false romance with Anna, who's his door to power.
  • According to Jennifer Lee, Hans is around 23 years old.

Similarities to other Disney villains[]

  • Hans bears many similarities with Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. Both are nice-looking but are revealed to be quite callous and manipulative, both are not shown to be sinister in the first place, and both tried to crucify a person important to the Disney Princess who they considered a monster (the Beast and Elsa). Hans and Gaston are the youngest Disney Villains to date as well (if one doesn’t count Pixar's Sid Phillips or Darla Sherman), with Hans stated to be 23 and Gaston presumably being in his mid-twenties at the oldest (so around 25 or so).
    • Anna's first impressions of Hans were similar to those of the Bimbettes towards Gaston in addition, but her final impression (in which she calls him cold-blooded) is really similar to that of when Belle called Gaston a monster.
  • Hans shares similarities with Judge Doom from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Both attempted to crucify an innocent figure who they considered a slaughterer or a criminal (Roger Rabbit for Judge Doom and Elsa for Hans).
  • Hans shares a few similarities to Scar from The Lion King. Both villains desire power and wish to be king via murder, manipulate those around them and those who adore them, are resentful of their brother(s), ungenerously wished to be praised as a wonder of a king and slaughtered one of the main protagonist's parents (Mufasa by Scar and Dave Seville by him). He shares this similarity to Nizam in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time as well. Unlike Scar or Nizam, though, Hans does not slaughter or attempt to have his brother(s) slaughtered.
  • Hans shares a similarity with Jafar from Aladdin. Both wanted to propose to a girl (Jafar wanted to propose to Jasmine and Hans wanted to propose to Anna), but both want to do so solely so they can rule their kingdoms, and not because they dearly love their chosen consorts.
  • Hans also bears many similarities with several Pixar villains - Stinky Pete from Toy Story 2, Mr. Waternoose from Monsters, Inc., Charles Muntz from Up, and Lotso from Toy Story 3, in which they’re sociable in their outside appearances but are actually heinous and manipulative in their true nature, which surprises not only the main protagonist but the audience as well. Also, their villainous natures are not shown in their respective toy merchandise but are spoiled in the book, prior to the film's release (but Lotso's villainy was hinted at in one of the LEGO sets for the film, also made prior to the film's release).
  • Also, Hans is similar to Rourke from Atlantis: The Lost Empire as they have antagonized a young queen with light blonde hair (Rourke to Kida, Hans to Elsa). In addition, Rourke is given enough traits of trustworthiness for not only the protagonists in addition, but to the audience too.
  • Hans is similar to King Candy from Wreck-It Ralph too. Both starts off as gregarious but turned out to be wicked, both tried and almost assasinated the film's deuteragonist (Vanellope for King Candy and Elsa for Hans).
  • Furthermore, Hans is similar to Tabitha Harperstein from Andrew in New York as they murdered the child protagonist's parents (Tabitha Harperstein murdered James and Rachel by poisoning their free lunch on Coney Island for tattling on her, Hans and his villain army murdered Dave Seville in the fireworks explosion).
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