Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-1916997-20160401165933/@comment-27257290-20160402165848

Eskaver wrote: The issue I have with Frozen is that they literally did a "copy and paste" without ramifications to the world, magic, and that's only setting, not even getting to plot and characters. First, they didn't twist the world of Frozen aka Arendelle. Arendelle is clearly in the 1800s, having decent levels of dress and technology that suited that era. Being plopped down in FTL kills a worldbuilding loon like me. Brave was okay and all the rest is like 1200 to 1400s Europe and the people dress like extreme peasants compared to Arendelle and Arendelle had a different society where magic was rather unknown and Ice magic sort of doesn't match the dark vs light magic they set up. Ingrid and Elsa were like forces of nature compared to the other magic users.

The thing with Frozen was that besides all the plot which was decent, the characters didn't do much. Elsa teaches Emma a hidden lesson, becomes insta-friends with Emma, leaves. She did not grow whatsoever. But that's practically the same for everyone else of that gang and even Merida. I can like the Bear King as a stand alone episode, but I'm not sure what Merida's character arc was, especially with it ending with her finding the good that her father had and now waiting to take revenge against Arthur. Plus, for both, they sort of retread across the movie.

In those stories, they showed their originality, but to steal a line from Cora, "[it] would have been enough". It wouldn't have led to a surge, but I think they learned enough from it. In terms of Arendelle and Misthaven being so different in terms of culture and dress, as well as their attitudes to magic, I liked to assume they just had little contact and had grown separately, hence why Arendelle calls the EF Misthaven. Maybe Arendelle has always been afraid of the EF because of the Dark One (and other magic stuff going on but mostly the Dark One) and therefore not shared any of their more modern fashion or technology. It is always awkward when Once mashes stories together that took place in different time periods, but somehow they often make it work well.

As for Frozen, yes the characters kind of wasted their time. I think the main growth the writers intended for the characters from Frozen was Elsa learning their new way to master her powers. The main purpose of their visit seemed to be for Emma's sake, but I wish they could have left more behind. I would have loved Elsa and Anna to be able to stay in Storybrooke, and let Elsa continue as Emma's sister from another mister. I can just imagine Elsa getting a blue leather jacket for when Emma is wearing her red one.

I was also confused about the magic in Once. I wondered how they'd fit in Elsa's elemental magic with the Dark/Light magic they had going, and the answer was, they didn't. It only confused me more when Ingrid showed normal magical ability in addition to her ice powers, such as when she pieced the mirror together and cast her spells of shattered sight and the ribbons.

I think we need some explanation at some point in how exactly magical powers are obtained in Once. How Cora learned to use magic implied that anyone in the EF could do it, since Rumple just taught her without wondering if she'd be able to. I also wondered if generic magic comes to anyone, and then its intention determines whether it is light or dark, but then Emma seemed unable to use her normal light magic as the Dark One. Perhaps Elsa and Ingrid's magic are a different kind of magic that is elemental and can only be inherited, while dark magic and light magic occur more naturally to people who are willing to learn. This would explain why Ingrid could perform normal magic that had nothing to do with ice and cold and Elsa couldn't, because Ingrid may have practised normal magic as Cora did to add to her ice abilities, while Elsa didn't want to have even more power.