Kristoff

Kristoff is the tritagonist of the 2013 Disney animated film Frozen. He is voiced by Jonathan Groff.

Official D23 website

 * Our character Kristoff (voiced by Glee’s Jonathan Groff) is a mountain man. He’s a rugged individualist and a kind of a loner. He’s his own man and the guy who feels he doesn’t need anyone in his life… Sven can get a long just fine—thank you very much. He is an ice harvester. And in cold regions where we visited there are people just like farmers who harvest ice from frozen lakes. They cut it out and place it on long flatbeds and put it in storage. And that’s how our film actually opens—we see the ice harvesters at work and we meet, at that time, a very young Kristoff and Sven. He’s about six years old and he’s learning the trade from the adult ice harvesters. We see a baby Sven with him, too, who’s trying to tow his own block of ice with the big guys. Kristoff is such a loner that he is reluctant when Anna (voiced by Kristen Bell from Forgetting Sarah Marshall) asks him to help her navigate the mountain terrain to find her sister. But he knows the area better than anybody else, so he agrees.

Official Disney Bio

 * Kristoff is a true outdoorsman. He lives high up in the mountains where he harvests ice and sells it to the kingdom of Arendelle. Rough around the edges, Kristoff’s the strong, no-nonsense type, who follows his own set of rules. He may seem like a loner, but he always has his best friend by his side—a loyal and extremely mangy reindeer named Sven.

Personality
Having spent his years without any real contact with lives outside of the trolls and Sven, Kristoff is a bit of an individualist, and acts as a loner. He can also be rather grumpy and selfish at times, as well as lazy. But with all these flaws comes a heart of gold, as well, as the ice harvester has shown multiple times throughout the film that he has a loving heart, and deeply cares for those who treat him with sympathy and love in return, such as Sven, and later Anna. And his relationship with Sven is a perfect example of his soft side, as he's shown to put Sven over anyone else, going as far as to only saving Sven's carrots when his sleigh was seconds away from being destroyed, leaving the other much needed equipment aboard, feeling Sven's happiness and health is far more important

Kristoff is also known for doing voice overs for Sven, being able to understand the reindeer's thoughts via his expressions, and decided to simply speak for him when they have conversations. They also share a "duet" together; their nightly lullaby. And according to the lyrics of the lullaby Reindeer(s) Are Better Than People, Kristoff apparently had a distrust towards others, believing people will only hurt, cheat, and curse him, and that they're all bad, explaining his loner lifestyle.

Kristoff's loving side is brightly showcased during his time with Anna. Throughout the start of the adventure, Kristoff shows disinterest in going to find Elsa or assisting Anna in conquering the mountains, but soon comes around through the "persuasion" of Sven. And as the adventure continues, Kristoff grows attached to Anna's fun loving and sweet ways, becoming very protective of her, as well as loyal. By the end of the film, Kristoff and Anna fall in love completely, though the mountain man shows to be quite the shy one around his sweetheart, once again showing his softer side.

Role in the film
At the start of the film, Kristoff is seen among ice harvesters as a young boy learning their ways however he can as he tries to do it himself along with his reindeer calf, Sven. On one fateful day, Kristoff was following behind with the other harvesters when he notices the King and Queen of Arendelle rush by him with their two daughters rapidly, the grass freezing as they travel by. Curious, Kristoff follows them to the Valley of Living Rock and discover the trolls and the elder troll, Pabbie, heal Anna but erase her memories of Elsa's ice powers. As they spy, they are discovered by one of the trolls, Bulda, and she decides to take in the two orphans. From there, Kristoff and Sven became family with the trolls, officially taking residence in their valley. Years later, Kristoff and Sven sell ice in Arendelle for business, and are seen out in the village during Princess Elsa's coronation after the death of the original monarchs, and whilst the kingdom is abuzz with royals from all around, Kristoff and Sven are out and about, too, but don't attend the castle festivities, likely because it's meant for royalty only.

He isn't seen again until later after Elsa freezes the kingdom. He arrives at Wandering Oaken's Trading Post and Sauna to buy rope, an axe, and carrots for Sven after experiencing a rough blizzard in the Northern Mountains, which Anna realizes is Elsa. However, Kristoff doesn't have enough money for all of his items and calls Oaken a crook, causing an upset Oaken to toss Kristoff out. He decides to stay in a nearby shed with Sven for the night until Anna buys him the items he wanted plus a winter outfit for herself and asks him to guide her to the Northern Mountains. He says no at first, but after Anna tosses him the stuff he wanted to buy, he agrees to take her in the morning, though she demands they leave in that moment, which he agrees to after she also reveals to have purchased Sven's carrots. The trio head off as Anna explains her desire to marry Hans even though they just met that day. Kristoff argues about this as he doesn't understand how a girl can marry someone she just met. Then they are chased by wolves and are about to fall off a cliff, but Kristoff tosses Anna onto Sven's back and cuts the rope to the sleigh causing them to jump to the other side safely. Feeling bad about causing him to lose his sleigh, Anna states that he doesn't have to take her anymore. Kristoff is about to abandon her and go home when Sven looks at him and urges him to continue the journey with her.

The group then stumble upon a talking snowman named Olaf and are freaked out by him. They ask him if he knows where to find Elsa, which he does. Then after Olaf says he dreams of doing things in sumer, Kristoff wants to tell the no-heat-experienced snowman that he'll melt but Anna stops him. Olaf then leads them to Elsa's castle, Kristoff stares at the ice palace and is overwhelmed by it. Olaf, Sven and Kristoff wait outside while Anna tries to convice Elsa to come back. Elsa, worried about harming her sister, refuses and tells her to run Arendelle while she lives alone and free in the mountains. Anna however informs her that she accidently caused the kingdom to live in eternal winter, and as Anna tries to convice her that she can undo it. Elsa creates a snow storm inside and accidently strikes Anna, freezing her heart. Elsa then orders her sister to leave again and creates Marshmallow to throw them out. After Anna angering the snowmonster, it chases them from the palace and over a cliff. The group land softly in the snow below. As Kristoff helps Anna up he notices her hair is turning white, realizing that Elsa struck her again Kristoff believes he has a solution, and leads the gang to the Valley of the Living Rock, where the trolls reside (the trolls had adopted Kristoff and Sven into their family when they were little).

Along the way there, Kristoff starts showing great worry and care for Anna amd unknowingly falls in love with her. Upon their arrival, Kristoff's adopted mother, Bulda, immediately assumes Anna is Kristoff's girlfriend, but when the two deny any romance, Bulda and the trolls try to convince them otherwise, telling them they're meant for each other. They arrange an entire wedding, but before it's complete, Anna nearly faints and loses balance, Kristoff catching her in his arms and informing the trolls she's freezing cold. Unless Anna can perform an act of true love, she'll freeze and die. And although he's powerful, Pabbie is unable to heal her. Bulda believes the act of true love would be "true loves kiss," having the friends head back to Arendelle for Anna to receive a kiss from Hans. Kristoff then takes Anna back to Arendelle on Sven, and altough he's saddened to leave her side, he leaves her in the care of Hans.

Unknowingly, Hans doesn't really love Anna, he was only using her to become king of Arendelle. Kristoff heads out of Arendelle and Sven tries to convice him to go back, but Kristoff believes that Anna already has a true love and doesn't need him. Meanwhile, Olaf who got separated from the group finds Anna lying in the library freezing, and he starts a fire for the princess. Back with Kristoff and Sven, the reindeer starts pushing Kristoff back towards Arendelle. When Kristoff sees a giant snowstorm (created by a frightened Elsa) he realizes that Anna is in danger and quickly rushes back to save her. Olaf sees the two heading back, and Olaf informs Anna that Kristoff is the one that truly loves Anna, and it's his kiss that can save her. Meanwhile, Hans informs the visiting dignitaries that Elsa killed Anna, and before she died, they married, making him the king. The lie is consumed, and Hans gains the throne. Needing her killed to put an end to winter, Hans follows the queen into the fjords as she tries to return to her ice castle. Anna and Olaf arrive in the fjord as well, but a blizzard occurs, speeding up Anna's dying process.

Anna spots Kristoff from a distance, but she notices Hans and Elsa in the distance as well, where the evil prince was seconds away from murdering the Snow Queen with his sword. Sacrificing her life for her sister, Anna leaps to the rescue and puts herself in front of Elsa and Hans, freezing to death seconds before the sword kills her sister. Hans is knocked out from the impact just as Elsa realizes what happened. She immediately mourns for her sister, Kristoff, Sven, and Olaf arriving shortly as she begins. However, Anna's sacrifice was an act of true love, and she is soon revived from her death, much to everyone's complete joy. And along with Anna's rebirth comes the entire kingdom's thawing. As Hans awakens, Kristoff's ready to beat him up for what he did, but Anna stops him and punches Hans herself. As the kingdom is restored, Anna gives Kristoff a new sleigh and makes him offical ice deliverer. He tells her he wants to kiss her and the two do so, becoming a couple.

Kristoff is last seen skating with Sven and the others during the finale after Elsa creates an ice skating rink in the castle courtyard, celebrating her return as queen, as well as the revival of summer.

Disney Parks
Kristoff makes a brief cameo in Disney California Adventure's nighttime spectacular, World of Color, seen being pulled in a sleigh along with Anna, Olaf, and Sven. However, he is currently not available for meet-and-greets; when asked about him, Anna and Elsa mention that he is in Arendelle.

Trivia

 * According to director/writer Jennifer Lee, Kristoff is 21.
 * It should be noted that Kristoff's current design is much like an early design for Flynn Rider from Tangled, known as "Bear Flynn" or "Bastion." That design was bulky, largely-built, and that version of Flynn Rider was sweet and charming (which is majorly unlike Kristoff's overall character).
 * Both Kristoff's voice actor (Jonathan Groff) and Elsa's voice actress (Idina Menzel) have been recurring characters on the FOX television series Glee. Groff played a character named Jesse St. James, a love interest to the character of Rachel Berry. Menzel played Rachel's mother, and the vocal coach of Jesse's Glee Club, Vocal Adrenaline.
 * Interestingly, despite being the male lead with a massively large role in the film, Kristoff is not the most heavily marketed character after Anna, Elsa, and the easily marketable Olaf. That instead goes to Sven, who is constantly featured as Olaf's sidekick/companion in marketing and other promotional material.
 * Kristoff's the first Disney Prince to be based on a female character, as he's based on the Robber Girl from The Snow Queen. From the original story, the Robber Girl's the one who helps Gerda (the main protagonist, Anna, is based off of) through her journey, and she also has a pet reindeer.
 * Kristoff is the second Disney Prince to be a tritagonist rather than a deuteragonist or a protagonist, the first being Li Shang from Mulan.
 * Kristoff is the second Disney Prince to have blonde hair, the first being John Smith from Pocahontas.
 * Kristoff is the second Disney Prince to be an orphan after Flynn Rider from Tangled, although while Flynn grew up in an orphanage, Kristoff was raised by trolls.
 * Kristoff is the sixth Disney Prince not born into royalty, the first being Aladdin, the second being John Smith, the third being John Rolfe (the second love interest to Pocahontas), the fourth being Shang and the fifth being Flynn.
 * Kristoff is the seventh Disney Hero to have a last name, the first being John Smith, the second being Buzz Lightyear, the third being John Rolfe, the fourth being Li Shang, the fifth being Milo Thatch, and the sixth being Flynn Rider, whose real name is Eugene Fitzherbert.
 * Kristoff is the first Disney Prince who does not have a love song and a romantic duet with his love interest.
 * Kristoff bears a slight resemblance to Phoebus from The Hunchback of Notre Dame
 * Also, both Kristoff and Phoebus are the tritagonists of their films.
 * Kristoff is the first to fall in love with Anna since Hans did not really love her.
 * Kristoff is similar to Sergeant Calhoun from Wreck-It Ralph because they both travel with someone in order to find a sibling figure and prevent a bigger catastrophe in their land (Calhoun traveled with Felix to find Ralph and stop the Cy-bug invasion while Kristoff travels with Anna to find Elsa and stop the eternal winter) also both of them fall in love with the person they traveled with.
 * Kristoff is similar to Rapunzel when they seek advice from their animal companions (Sven for Kristoff and Pascal for Rapunzel).
 * Kristoff is the third Disney Prince to be shown as a child onscreen, the first being Prince Phillip and the second being Aladdin.
 * He is the second prince to not marry his princess at the film's end, the first being John Smith.
 * Kristoff, like Flynn Rider, also experiences a lot of injury in the fim. He got thrown out by Oaken, He almost got eaten by the wolves, His head was hit when Marshmallow pulled their rope, he falls from a cliff, and he ran into a pole.
 * Kristoff is the second prince in Disney history to deprive an animal of carrots. The first was Prince Phillip in Sleeping Beauty, who told his horse that he would not be getting him carrots. Kristoff said the very same thing to Sven (even sitting in the same position as Prince Phillip).
 * He's the third orphaned Disney Hero to not be raised by humans, the first being Mowgli, who was raised by wolves, and second being Tarzan, who was raised by gorillas as his biological parents were killed by a leopard.