Hans


 * This article is about the character from Frozen. For the author, please see Hans Christian Andersen. For the character who appears in 'The Little Mermaid TV series, please see Hans Christian Andersen (character).

Hans is the main antagonist in the 2013 Disney animated film Frozen. He is voiced by Santino Fontana.

Background
Hans is a prince from the Southern Isles, a neighboring kingdom of Arendelle. Not much is known about the prince's past, but he is the youngest of thirteen royal siblings, and was neglected because of this. Knowing he would not live to rule the throne of the Southern Isles, Hans concocted a scheme to marry into monarchy. And when Arendelle is set to have a coronation, he jumps at the opportunity. However, since the to-be queen is far too collected to woo, he instead goes 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
"You're gorgeous."

- Anna's first impression on Hans

"The only frozen heart around here is yours."

- Anna's last impression on Hans

Cold, conniving, and cruel, Hans is a devilish prince with a hunger for power. Being the youngest sibling of thirteen princes, Hans spent a portion of his life being ignored and treated unfairly, something he reveals to Anna during their first night together. This abuse likely led to Hans' villainous transformation over time. Though he appears to be noble to the fullest extent, Hans is merely a master manipulator, caring nothing for anyone other than himself. Through his charm and charisma alone, he is able to fool both Anna and Elsa as well as the entire kingdom of Arendelle and its visiting royals, providing excellent proof of his dangerous power over manipulation. Like many villains, Hans is completely power-hungry, willingly visiting Arendelle to murder Elsa and rule the kingdom via marrying 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. However, his manipulation and facade can be at times too perfect, which can be his greatest flaw for his overly-benevolent impersonation during his first meeting is a road to questioning of his motivation, as Elsa and Kristoff do not as easily fall like Anna does for his seemingly amiable personality the first time.

He appears to be rather arrogant as well, chuckling and smirking to himself whilst revealing his dark plans to Anna, as she is 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, after being left in his brothers' shadows over the many years. Confirmation of this is seen during Hans' betrayel, where he tells Anna he'll be the hero that saves Arendelle from destruction once Elsa's slain, showing excitement for the oncoming praise. He is also very abusive, though verbally more so than physically, as he constantly torments Anna and Elsa merely through his words after his dark side is revealed. Examples of this can be seen when he and Anna are in the parlor, and the prince constantly taunts the dying princess, as well as in the fjord during the confrontation with Elsa, as Hans decides to further Elsa's eternal suffering by telling her Anna has died, wanting to add that much harm to her before his attempt to kill her.

Much like Scar in The Lion King, Hans' most powerful trait is quite possibly his vast intelligence. He's proven to be quick thinking, resourceful, and extremely diligent, being able to fool the entire kingdom without fail, even The Duke of Weselton, whom Hans holds a disliking to that only seemed to increase throughout the film. Also, unlike many Disney villains, Hans constantly has to change his plot accordingly with the shifting events that takes place in the film. Such as Elsa's deadly curse upon Anna leaving Hans with the option of taking over the kingdom without marrying Anna, as well as after Elsa's exile after her powers were revealed, where he decides to kill her openly to seem like a hero in the eyes of Arendelle's citizens, gaining their trust and admiration for saving their kingdom.

Role in the film
Once the Southern Isles is given word of Queen Elsa's coronation, Hans is the royal representative that attends in honor of his kingdom. Along with the other invited royalty, Hans arrives the day of the event, though he fully intended to marry Elsa to marry into the throne, lustful for power and knowing he wouldn't live to rule his own kingdom. However, it was soon clear that Elsa was far too preserved for anyone to become close to, thus leading to the next victim of the prince's scheme. Hans is first seen arriving in Arendelle on his horse, Sitron, accidentally running into Princess Anna. Using grace and charm, Hans immediately woos the lovesick princess, with Anna almost immediately falling for him due to his wondrous looks and undeniable charisma. Their little flirtation is cut to a close, however, when the bells for the queen's coronation are rung. As Anna runs off, Hans realizes he's found the perfect tool for his plot to domination. Moments later, Hans attends Queen Elsa's crowning, waving to Anna as he watches alongside the other visiting royals and dignitaries. Later on that night, a ball is held in honor of the new queen, and Hans appears at the celebration party, soon finding and inviting Anna for a romantic waltz after bumping into her once again.

The romantic dance eventually leads to an entire date, with the entire night of the young couple being spent bonding. During their time together, Hans learns of Anna's longing of having someone special in her life, with her sister apparently holding a disliking towards her from birth, to which Hans openly relates to, only furthering Anna's connection with him. And with this, Hans promises to never shut Anna out, unlike Elsa, much to the princess' absolute joy. By the end of their tour throughout the kingdom, Hans works up the courage to propose, with Anna agreeing in a heartbeat. The two head back to the royal throne room, where the party is being held, 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 out of frustration. Heartbroken, Anna confronts her sister, but this causes the queen's powers over ice and snow to be revealed, much to Hans' shock, along with everyone else's. 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 while doing so, having Anna and Hans chase after her until she is 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, but Hans wasn't too fond of the idea, knowing if something terrible should befall Anna, his quest for domination would be abolished, as they still weren't married just yet. However, Anna insists that Hans stays behind to rule during her absence, to which the prince eventually agrees to.

It wasn't long before Arendelle became an icy wasteland, with citizens becoming weak due to the frigid temperatures, causing mild chaos throughout the land that would surely worsen. However, through it all, Hans proved to be a worthy ruler, not taking his newfound chance at the throne mildly, and uses the power to instead win the hearts of Arendelle's citizens, gaining their trust and loyalty through his seemingly benevolent and caring ways. As Hans and the royal guards hand out cloaks and cater to the freezing citizens of Arendelle, the Duke of Weselton arrives, furious that the young prince is giving away Arendelle's tradable goods, which is what he's most interested in, as opposed to the safety of others. Scolding Hans, the Duke then openly expresses his suspicion over Anna and Elsa, believing their conspiring together to doom them all. Hans immediately snaps and threatens to punish the Duke for treason if he doesn't silence himself, ordering the diminutive duke to refrain from questioning the princess. Just then, Anna's horse returns without the royal rider, making Hans believes Anna is in danger. With the royal guards and the Duke's men, Hans leads a rescue mission for Anna and a hunt for Elsa. Unbeknownst to the kingdom, this gives Hans the perfect chance to kill Elsa for a seemingly heroic reason, bringing him one step closer to ruling the kingdom. Not only that, his "heroic deed" would be the finishing touch to winning the citizens over, knowing he'd be praised as a hero once Elsa is slain.

The army arrives at Elsa's ice castle 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 is 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 is 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 attempts to strike her with their arrow, but Hans interferes and purposely causes the arrow to shoot upward to Elsa's massive chandelier, hoping the impact would kill her while making it seem like an accident. The chandelier comes crashing down, but it only manages to knock Elsa unconscious. Captured, Elsa is imprisoned in Arendelle's dungeon. With the winter curse getting out of hand, Hans knows 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 does not know how and asks to be released. Hans claims he will do what he can and returns to the Duke of Weselton and the other dignitaries in the parlor, who were frantically looking for a solution to freedom from the icy curse, though to no avail just yet. He decides he must go back out to find Anna, still needing her marriage in order to steal the throne, but one of the dignitaries explains that he needs to stay put, as he is all Arendelle has left. With this in mind, Hans learns it will be unnecessary to return into the blizzard, as the kingdom is practically his, as long as Anna never returns. 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 an act of true love can save her from freezing to death. Hans smirks and rejects Anna, immediately pulling away from their failed kiss and closing 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 she is far too weak. After informing her his next move is to kill Elsa and bring back summer, the evil prince leaves Anna to die, locking the door and trapping her within to prevent others from finding her. 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, thus making him king of Arendelle.

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. Furious, Hans heads after her into the frozen fjords as a harsh blizzard consumes the kingdom. With a sword at hand, Hans is prepared to slay the queen, and eventually stumbles upon her, telling her she can't escape all the horrible things she's already done. Elsa pleads for mercy, still believing Hans to be a benevolent prince and asks him to take care of her sister for her, to which Hans responds by telling the Snow Queen that Anna was killed due to her icy curse piercing her heart, despite his "efforts" to save her. Devastated by the horrific news, Elsa breaks down in tears, and whilst she's distracted by her own sorrow, Hans pulls out his sword and prepares to murder the fallen queen via decapitation.

Before he is able to murder her, however, Anna arrives and blocks her sister from the sword, completely freezing to death just before Hans' weapon strikes her and shatters. The forceful blast caused by Anna's freezing spell knocks the evil prince off his feet, causing him to fall upon the ice and rendering him unconscious. When he awakens several moments later, he finds Arendelle thawed and peace restored. Anna then approaches the traitor, and the sight of Anna alive and well confuses Hans, prompting him to ask how she'd survive the frozen heart curse, to which Anna responds by telling Hans he's the only one with the frozen heart, and out of fury, the princess punches him off the ship they were aboard. Humiliated and defeated, Hans is then imprisoned on a ship heading back to the Southern Isles and banished from Arendelle forever. According to a dignitary, Hans is set to receive an ultimate punishment from his older brothers.

Trivia

 * It is quite possible that Hans was named after Hans Christian Andersen, the writer of the fairy tales The Snow Queen (on which Frozen is loosely based), and The Little Mermaid (his most famous book, of which Disney has done a film adaptation). This can be considered ironic, as Hans is the main antagonist of the film.
 * The name Hans is popular in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, the same places that The Southern Isles might be located.
 * Hans' voice actor, Santino Fontana, originally auditioned for the role of Kristoff, but was eventually given Hans instead once the film changed.
 * His favourite food are sandwiches, as mentioned in "Love is an Open Door" and a throwaway line later.
 * 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 wears hers at the beginning to hide her powers, and Hans wears thorughout the whole movie up until his big reveal at the fireplace.
 * It's also interesting to note that both Hans and Elsa are associated with the unlucky number 13, but with a different twist - Elsa, being the 13th Disney Princess, remains good and caring; whereas Hans, being the 13th child in his family, turns out to be selfish and cruel.
 * Kristoff, for while very gruff and tough on the outside, he's actually kind-hearted and selfless on the inside. Hans, on the other hand, while being kind and friendly on the outside, is actually cruel and ruthless 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. Usually, when a villain is introduced into a film, the audience gets the idea that this character is not to be trusted, but some protagonists trust them, however (i.e. Simba, because Scar is his uncle). But with Hans, not only is Anna fooled by him, but the audience as well. This makes Hans one of the sneakiest and most sinister Disney villains.
 * Hans' duet with Anna, "Love is an Open Door," actually holds a few dark meanings on Hans' side of the song. The lines "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 is his door to power.
 * Hans bears a slight resemblance to Flynn Rider from Tangled.
 * However, he also resembles the Stabbington Brothers as with Cedric the Sorcerer, giving away his villainous nature.
 * Hans says a similar thing as Rapunzel when he calms a horse. Rapunzel says "Easy, easy boy" to Maximus when she calms him. Hans says the same thing when Anna's horse returns without Anna.
 * There is a hint to Hans' villainy during the film, most notably during Elsa's capture. If one looks closely, it can be seen that Hans re-aims the crossbow to fire at the chandelier and shoots it himself, not merely intervening to stop it.
 * According to Jennifer Lee, Hans is around 23 years old.
 * In a cut draft of the film, after Hans' sword was destroyed by Anna's frozen body, the prince was still going to attack the sisters in a lasting attempt to kill them, only to be stopped by Kristoff. This would have taken away from the dramatic mourning of Anna in the scene.
 * Hans appears to be the ultimate subversion of the heroic prince, he poses as being benevolent, but is really evil. Hans himself also notes of this during his betrayal, and uses it to his advantage.
 * While Kristoff is aware of Hans and even wants to confront him for his heinous deeds, Hans does not truly communicate with him.
 * Hans is one of the few villains who does not fight with a Disney Prince, since he does not have a climatic hero-versus-villain fight with Kristoff.
 * Hans is one of the few villains who does not have a sidekick.
 * Hans is the third Disney evil prince: Prince John from Robin Hood the first Mor'du from Brave the second. And the second Disney computer animated evil prince since Mor'du from Brave.
 * His line Are you sure you could trust her, I don't want you getting hurt is ironic since he's the one who should not be trusted by Anna and he's the one who hurt Anna by fooling her and let her freeze to death.

Similarities to other Disney villains

 * Hans bears many similarities with Gaston from Beauty and the Beast: both are handsome but are revealed to be quite cruel and manipulative, both aren't initially shown to be evil, and both tried to kill a person important to the Disney Princess whom they considered a monster (the Beast and Elsa). Another similarity is that they both make themselves appear as a hero to others and use this to manipulate people into following them and in turn make the cursed royals appear to be monsters. Hans and Gaston are also the youngest Disney Villains to date, presumably being in their early to mid-twenties at the oldest. Unlike Gaston, however, Hans never openly boasts his plan in public.
 * Anna's first impressions of Hans were also similar to those of the Bimbettes towards Gaston, but her last impression (in which she calls him cold-hearted) is very similar to that of when Belle called Gaston a monster. Ironically, Elsa's views on Hans were the opposite: She at first distrusted Hans similar to how Belle largely distrusted Gaston throughout her film, but by the end she ended up trusting Hans and being betrayed, similar to the Bimbettes.
 * Hans is similar Claude Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame as both organize a force to pursue a female character (Frollo pursues Esmeralda, and Hans pursues Anna). However, the intentions of both villains are different. (Hans lusts for power, while Frollo lusts for sex and companionship). Both villains use swords as their main weapons, and both use swords in an attempt to slay a major character. Frollo attempts to slay Esmeralda and Quasimodo, and Hans attempts to slay Elsa. Interestingly, both Hans and Frollo smile in anticipation prior to the attempted slayings.
 * 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 love them, are envious of their brother(s), and selfishly wished to be praised as a wonder of a king. Both also manipulate one of the protagonists and/or others into thinking they were responsible for the death of a loved one (Scar leading Simba to believe that the latter was responsible for Mufasa's death, and Hans manipulates Elsa into thinking Anna was already killed by her magic). He also shares these similarities to Nizam in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (who in his case manipulates the entire kingdom to believe Dastan murdered King Sharaman, similar to how Hans manipulates the entire kingdom to think Elsa committed treason) . Unlike Scar or Nizam, though, Hans does not kill or attempt to kill his brother(s).
 * Hans shares a similarity with Jafar from Aladdin: both want to marry a girl (Jafar wants to marry Jasmine and Hans wants to marry Anna), but both want to do so solely so they can rule their kingdoms, and not because they dearly love their chosen consorts. They also lie and tell the deuteragonist that the main protagonist is dead and also are trusted by various main characters.
 * 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 are friendly in their outside appearances but are actually evil 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 (although Lotso's villainy is hinted at in one of the LEGO sets for the film, also made prior to the film's release).
 * Hans is also similar to Lyle Tiberius 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 also given enough traits of trustworthiness for not only the protagonists, but also to the audience to trick them into thinking they are good until late into the film. Ironically, Rourke created a queen by killing Kida's father, while Hans tried to destroy one.
 * Hans is also similar to King Candy from Wreck-It Ralph. Both start off as friendly but turn out to be evil, both try and almost kill the film's deuteragonist, Vanellope for King Candy and Elsa for Hans. This is actually very coincidental since Alan Tudyk, King Candy's voice actor, voices the Duke, another antagonist in the film.
 * Hans is also similar to John Clayton from Tarzan. They are not revealed to be evil at first but as the film progresses their true evil motives are revealed. They also shut the main protagonist to prevent them from stopping his evil plans.(Clayton locks Tarzan in the ship while Hans locks Anna in the castle). Also, both of their films are directed by Chris Buck.