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Arendelle is a Fairy Tale Land realm featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It first appears in the first episode of the fourth season.
Arendelle is based on the location of the same name from the Disney movie, Frozen.
History
Arendelle is ruled by a monarchy that goes back many generations. During one generation, Princess Ingrid manifests ice powers, and she fears becoming an outcast because magic is unheard of in Arendelle. Her sisters, Helga and Gerda, make a pact with ribbons to keep her powers a secret. Years later, they sacrifice the ribbons so Ingrid can obtain magic neutralizing gloves and a urn to control her powers. During an altercation with the Duke of Weselton, Ingrid accidentally kills Helga, horrifying Gerda so much that she traps her in the urn. Grand Pabbie, on Gerda's request, erases everyone's memories of Ingrid and Helga. ("The Snow Queen")
Becoming Queen, Gerda marries and has two daughters, Elsa and Anna. Elsa inherits ice magic, like Ingrid, which troubles her parents. When the two sisters are older, Gerda and her husband go to Misthaven for a magical remedy to Ingrid's powers, but on the return trip, the ship is caught in a terrible storm. Before the vessel capsizes, Gerda reveals the truth, in a note to her daughters, her regrets about trapping Ingrid, before putting the confession in a bottle at sea. Five years later, Elsa is now Queen and helping Anna plan her wedding to Kristoff. From Grand Pabbie, the sisters learn their parents' trip to Misthaven, which Anna decides to investigate by going there alone. ("A Tale of Two Sisters")
Elsa, discovering Prince Hans wants to entrap her in an urn and seize Arendelle for himself, investigates the mysterious object with Kristoff. Under duress, Hans forces her to hand over the urn, which he uncaps and unintentionally frees Ingrid, who freezes him for his insolence. On return to the castle, the Snow Queen, Ingrid, reveals herself as Elsa's aunt. ("Rocky Road")
During her stay in Mist Haven, Anna finds out her parents sought Rumplestiltskin to get rid of Elsa's powers with a magic hat. Worried that Elsa will be hurt by this, she hides the truth from her. Suspicious of Ingrid's motives, Anna goes to Grand Pabbie, and she brings along a companion, Belle, who also needs his help. Once Grand Pabbie confesses Ingrid's relation to Gerda and Helga, Anna attempts to rush home to warn Elsa. However, Ingrid incapacitates Anna after making her fall from a cliff, stealing the hat, and then imprisoning her niece in the castle dungeon. With plans of being a family with Elsa, Ingrid declares that Anna, who does not possess any magic, must be replaced with someone else. ("Family Business")
Using the hat as a bargaining chip, Ingrid travels to the Enchanted Forest, asking the Sorcerer's Apprentice to find her a third magical sister to complete her family. Returning to Arendelle, she attempts to persuade Elsa that Anna wanted to take away her powers with the hat. Elsa is doubtful, but Ingrid insists non-magical people will never understand them. Instead of turning against Anna, Elsa teams up with her to retrap Ingrid in the urn. This backfires when Anna, under the influence of Ingrid's spell, seals Elsa in the urn instead. In a rage, Ingrid freezes all of Arendelle and then blanks Elsa's memories of recent events. Rumplestiltskin, desiring the hat, snatches the urn, with the promise of returning it if Ingrid gives him what he wants. Before she can, however, the Apprentice locates a third sister in another world, causing Ingrid to forfeit the hat to him for passage to this realm. ("Smash the Mirror")Thirty years later, as a result of using enormous power to cast a spell in another world, Ingrid's freezing curse on Arendelle comes to an end. Unfrozen, Anna discovers evidence that Rumplestiltskin took Elsa, but before she can make plans to rescue her, she and Kristoff are accused of "treason" by Prince Hans. They flee, deciding to locate a wishing star, as a means of finding Elsa. Instead, Black Beard tricks them into getting caught by Hans before they are locked in a coffer, which is then thrown into the sea, but they are saved when Elsa's use of the wishing star transports them to Storybrooke. ("Fall")
After disposing of Anna and Kristoff, Hans seizes the throne of Arendelle, but once the royal sisters return, he is forced out. As punishment for helping Hans conspire to hurt her family, Elsa shrinks Black Beard and his ship into a bottle. The sisters then restore everyone's memories of Ingrid and Helga to the kingdom, and Anna prepares for her long awaited wedding to Kristoff. ("Heroes and Villains," "Poor Unfortunate Soul")Locations
For detailed location information, please see the Arendelle Locations category and the list of minor Arendelle locations.
Inhabitants
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Trivia
On-Screen Notes
- Arendelle is located across the seas from the Enchanted Forest.[3] According to Anna, it is a short journey. ("A Tale of Two Sisters")
- According to Adam Horowitz, Arendelle is a few days ride away from Camelot.[4]
- The inhabitants are not familiar with the presence of magic outside of Arendelle, which is abundant elsewhere in their world. ("A Tale of Two Sisters," "White Out")
- According to Ingrid, charlatans are severely punished in Arendelle. ("Shattered Sight")
- According to the Blind Witch, there are starving children in Arendelle. ("Chosen")
Set Dressing
- Arendelle's coat of arms[5] is the golden crocus, "a mysterious flower that blooms only for those who are willing to wait". The plant is also grown in the Arendelle castle gardens. Anna refers to it as "Arendelle crocuses". ("The Snow Queen," "Smash the Mirror," "Heroes and Villains")
- In the real world, this plant is also known as the snow crocus; a subtle reference to Frozen and the fairytale of "The Snow Queen".
Filming Locations
- The Arendelle scene by the royal gravestones in "A Tale of Two Sisters" was filmed on location in the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve (LSCR) in North Vancouver.[6]
- For the episode "The Snow Queen," Burnaby Mountain Park doubles as Arendelle for the opening scene with young Ingrid and her sisters.[7]
Appearances
| Once Upon a Time: Season Four | ||||||||||
| "A Tale of Two Sisters": |
"White Out": |
"Rocky Road": |
"The Apprentice": |
"Breaking Glass": |
"Family Business": | "The Snow Queen": |
"Smash the Mirror": |
"Fall": | "Shattered Sight": |
"Heroes and Villains": |
| Appears | Mentioned | Appears | Appears | Absent | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Archive | Appears |
| "Darkness on the Edge of Town": |
"Unforgiven": | "Enter the Dragon": | "Poor Unfortunate Soul": |
"Best Laid Plans": | "Heart of Gold": | "Sympathy for the De Vil": |
"Lily": | "Mother": | "Operation Mongoose Part 1": |
"Operation Mongoose Part 2": |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Once Upon a Time: Season Six | ||||||||||
| "The Savior": | "A Bitter Draught": | "The Other Shoe": | "Strange Case": | "Street Rats": | "Dark Waters": | "Heartless": | "I'll Be Your Mirror": | "Changelings": | "Wish You Were Here": | "Tougher Than the Rest": |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| "Murder Most Foul": | "Ill-Boding Patterns": | "Page 23": | "A Wondrous Place": | "Mother's Little Helper": | "Awake": | "Where Bluebirds Fly": | "The Black Fairy": | "The Song in Your Heart": | "The Final Battle Part 1": | "The Final Battle Part 2": |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Mentioned | Appears |
| Once Upon a Time: Season Seven | ||||||||||
| "Hyperion Heights": | "A Pirate's Life": | "The Garden of Forking Paths": | "Beauty": | "Greenbacks": | "Wake Up Call": | "Eloise Gardener": | "Pretty in Blue": | "One Little Tear": | "The Eighth Witch": | "Secret Garden": |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| "A Taste of the Heights": | "Knightfall": | "The Girl in the Tower": | "Sisterhood": | "Breadcrumbs": | "Chosen": | "The Guardian": | "Flower Child": | "Is This Henry Mills?": | "Homecoming": | "Leaving Storybrooke": |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears |
| Once Upon a Time: Specials | ||||||||||
| "Magic is Coming": |
"The Price of Magic": | "Journey to Neverland": | "Wicked is Coming": | "Storybrooke Has Frozen Over": | ||||||
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Archive | ||||||
| "Secrets of Storybrooke": | "Dark Swan Rises": | "Evil Reigns Once More": | "The Final Battle Begins": | |||||||
| Absent | Archive | Absent | Absent | |||||||
| Other Appearances | ||||||||||
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Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage.
