Olaf

"Oh, I don't know why, but I've always loved the idea of summer, and sun, and all things hot..."

- Olaf Olaf the Snowman (simply known as Olaf) is one of the primary characters in the 2013 film Frozen. He is voiced by Josh Gad.

Official Disney Bio

 * He’s Olaf and he likes warm hugs. Sprung from Elsa’s magical powers, Olaf is by far the friendliest snowman to walk the mountains above Arendelle. His innocence, outgoing personality and uncanny ability to disassemble himself at good and not-so-good times lead to some awkward, albeit laughable moments. He may also have the world’s most impossible dream, but what he doesn’t know won’t melt him—or will it?

Development
In very early versions of the movie, Olaf was suppose to be one of the first guards of Elsa’s palace. Chris Buck compared that version of the character to a trial run or someone’s first pancake where the cook throws out the pancake when the cook finds out that it is burnt on the bottom.

In order to keep him from getting too complex, Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee wanted Olaf to have a childlike innocence. Like when a child makes a snowman for the first time where the heads are never perfect, and the body is disproportionate. That was the idea for the directors when they were thinking what kids would think of a snowman.

Josh Gad, the voice of Olaf, did plenty of improv during the course of the recording sessions. But the directors were very careful not to have him in too many of them or risk him taking over the story. He is there to interject levity to the scenes. But they also gave him proper screen time. One of his major scenes will be when he sings his musical number “In Summer.”

Olaf had to earn his place in the film. Jennifer Lee says that he couldn’t just be thrown in, that he had to have a purpose, and one of his purposes is that he is the embodiment of the love between Elsa and Anna.

Physical Appearance
Olaf is a small snowman divided into three balls of snow. Three black rocks modeled as buttons are on his body, one on his midsection and two on his bottom. Underneath his bottom are two stubs of snow that serve as his legs to move around. He has two sticks as arms and three twigs on his head that resemble small strands of hair. Each arm has four points acting as fingers. His head takes up a third of his body, and is oval-shaped with a stretched face. The snow around the top of his mouth is shaped to resemble buck teeth. In between his eyes and mouth is a carrot nose. When he was inanimate, his eyes were also made of rock. However, when living, his eyes are cartoony with black pupils. He also has eyebrows above them. Olaf's body parts are also capable of autonomy, and can be rearranged or separated from Olaf without any harm happening to him.

Personality
Olaf is goofy and naive, but extremely lovable and caring towards his friends, especially Anna and Elsa. Because he was built during their childhood, Olaf retains the childlike personas that filled Anna and Elsa during those years, appearing to be very whimsical and playful when he returns as an enchanted snowman years later. He has an odd fascination for summer, possibly because young Elsa made him a snowman who loves warm hugs, and according to Olaf, he sometimes fantasizes about what summer would be like for a snowman, completely unaware of the tad consequences of his ambitious dream, making the poor snowman hapless.

Aside from his dominantly goofy side, Olaf is shown to have some intelligence to him, seen during his time with Anna in the parlor. Here, he teaches Anna what true love is, and that it's putting someone else before yourself, using Kristoff as the perfect example, finally giving Anna the true meaning of love. And after the climax, when Anna sacrifices herself for Elsa, thus breaking the icy curse, Olaf was the first to realize Anna's sacrifice was an act of true love, and that act is what saved the kingdom.

Role in the film
When Anna and Elsa were children, Elsa would use her snow magic to play with Anna. A favorite pastime activity for the two sisters was building snowmen. On one such occasion, Elsa helped Anna build their own snowman they named Olaf to play with. Many years later, Elsa would exile herself from Arendelle after her magic was discovered and deemed dangerous. In the midst of embracing her abilities at her new ice palace home, Elsa recreates Olaf, but because of her magic, he is enchanted and given life. Olaf then wanders around the mountains alone and blissfully lost, until he bumps into Anna, Kristoff, and Sven the reindeer, who seek to bring Elsa back to Arendelle so that she can bring back summer after she accidentally caused an eternal winter. Anna soon recognizes Olaf and quickly assumes it was Elsa who built him, to which he confirms. Kristoff then tells Olaf of their mission to bring back summer after Olaf constantly asked what their intentions on finding Elsa were. Extremely giddy with the idea of summer and its warmth, Olaf decides to happily guide the group to Elsa's castle, though Anna refrains from telling him about the dangers of summer for a snowman, leaving Olaf comically in the dark.

After a short journey, Olaf and the others find Elsa's ice palace, but the Snow Queen isn't too thrilled about the idea of returning to Arendelle, telling Anna to leave and enjoy her life where she belongs. Anna refuses to leave without her sister, but the stubbornness only makes Elsa uncomfortable, causing her to lose control over her powes once again and accidentally freeze Anna's heart. She then orders them to leave once more, and once again, Anna refuses. In order to keep them away, Elsa creates a personal bodyguard named Marshmallow, a giant snowman. Olaf is thrilled to see him, but is immediately kicked out along with Anna and Kristoff. After Anna tries his patience, Marshmallow chases after the group. Olaf tries to stop him, but is thrown over a cliff, which Anna and Kristoff fall over, as well, though they all survive. Once they recover their energy, Kristoff notices Anna'a hair turning white, rather alarmingly. To help, he takes the gang to a valley filled with mystical trolls. The king of the trolls, Pabbie, informs Anna that if she doesn't perform an act of true love, she'll freeze to death. The friends immediately rush back to Arendelle, believing a kiss from Hans, a prince Anna's engaged to, will break the curse.

Along the way, Olaf is accidentally separated from the group, and informs them that he'll meet with them at the palace. When he arrives, he finds Anna in the parlor, on the ground and quickly dying. She tells him Hans betrayed her, and Olaf doesn't hesitate to start a fire to keep the princess warm. Fearing he'll melt, Anna tells Olaf to leave, but not wanting to abandon his friend, the snowman stays by her side, nearly melting during this time. Olaf then asks what happened with the true love's kiss from Hans, to which Anna reveals his treachery, telling Olaf she doesn't even know what love is anymore. Olaf replies by telling Anna love is putting someone else before yourself, using Kristoff as an example, thus revealing his true feelings to Anna, much to the princess' surprise. Suddenly, the parlor's window bursts open due to the strong winter winds, and Olaf rushes to close it. Before he does, he notices Kristoff and Sven rushing back to the palace. Knowing Kristoff is truly the one the loves Anna, the two try to head out to meet him.

Howeve, the powerful storm blows Olaf away, and once he reunites with everyone, he finds Elsa mourning for Anna, who unfortunately froze to death sacrificing her life to save Elsa from Hans. Fortunately, that was an act of true love, and the ice is thawed, restoring Anna's life, as well as saving the entire kingdom, bringing back summer. Overjoyed, Olaf smiles with glee, but quickly melts due to the summer heat. Elsa restores him and gives him a small little cloud to hover over his body and keep him completely cool, finally allowing the snowman to live his dream of experiencing summer and all its wonders. During the kingdom celebration, Olaf is seen throughout the village enjoying the sights and sounds of the warm season, taking a whiff of some flowers. The pollen causes him to sneeze, however, and his carrot nose lands directly into Sven's mouth. The reindeer doesn't hesitate to suck it up, saddening the snowman. However, this was only a playful trick, and Sven immediately places the carrot back onto Olaf's face, where it belongs, prompting the overjoyed snowman to hug his friend affectionately.

Olaf is last seen in the palace courtyard, enjoying the newly made ice skating rink created by Elsa for the kingdom's enjoyment.

Disney Parks
Currently, Olaf is the host of the winter renditions of both World of Color in Disney California Adventure, as well as Disney Dreams! in Disneyland Paris, alongside Anna. Beginning in November, an animatronic Olaf began hosting Anna and Elsa's meet and greet in Disneyland, speaking to guests as they wait in line to meet the two princesses. Olaf also appears on Anna and Elsa's float in Disneyland Paris' Disney Magic on Parade. Olaf is also the host character of Olaf's Frozen Ice Rink in Disneyland's Downtown Disney.

Olaf also makes an appearance being built by young Anna and Elsa in the Frozen segment of Celebrate the Magic at the Magic Kingdom.

Memorable quotes

 * "Hi, everyone, I'm Olaf! And I like warm hugs!"
 * "And who's the funky looking donkey over there?"
 * "Look at him, trying to kiss my nose. I like you, too!"
 * "Oh, I've been impaled..."
 * "Man, I'm out of shape..."
 * "Hey, we were just talking about you. All good things, all good things."
 * "Hang in there, guys!"
 * "Who's my cute little reindeer?!"
 * "I don't have a skull... Or bones..."
 * "I consider myself a love expert."
 * "He's craaaazy!"
 * "Because I love you, Anna, I insist you run."
 * "Let's go kiss Hans!"
 * "Some people are worth melting for... But maybe not right this second!"
 * "My own little flurry!"

Trivia

 * Olaf may have been inspired by The Snowman, another Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, where the eponymous snowman falls in love with a warm stove but cannot be with it because he would melt from it. As a result, he does not enjoy the cold weather. The snowman eventually melts away due to the change in weather.
 * In the film, Olaf's elbows were specifically animated to never move with the exception of his fantasy sequence during In Summer.
 * Olaf is similar to Timon and Pumbaa fromThe Lion King since the three of them appear in the middle of the film.