Malicious Monday - The Snow Queen

The Snow Queen is a original fairy-tale written by Hans Christian Andersen and published in 1844. The story is about a little girl traveling a great distance to rescue her friend Kai from the grips of the evil Snow Queen. The story mainly focuses on how love will always conquer evil no matter what the obstacle. Whatever.... we're not here to talk about that mushy stuff, we're here to talk about the main bitch, The Snow Queen.

The original illustration from Andersen's book.

When I was younger, I remember an animated movie coming on called The Snow Queen. It was an old Russian cartoon film from 1957, it was dubbed in English and released here in 1959. I don't know how I stumbled upon it at such a young age, or who was airing it, but it came on and my grandfather taped it for me. I loved it! I watched it all the time.  I remember taking it to my kindergarten class for show and tell. Everyone loved it and wanted it, but it wasn't available on VHS at the time that I knew of. My grandfather simply taped it for me.

From the 1957 animated film.

Needless to say, I've been waiting for Disney or Dreamworks, any animation studio to give The Snow Queen a new life. There were some attempts, but none of them were very good. The story is so intricate, and the Snow Queen herself is such an  awesome villain, I was surprised no one ever jumped on it. Nothing happened until 2013 when Disney released Frozen. Needless to say, after hearing about the plot of the film, I was disappointed. Though Frozen obviously takes inspiration from The Snow Queen, it isn't Andersen's Snow Queen. Therefore it failed me. This is probably the main reason I still haven't seen Frozen.

"Who the fuck is this Elsa bitch?"

The ABC show Once Upon a Time didn't fail me though. They did the Frozen story arch on the first half of the 4th season, and they introduced The Snow Queen into their story which filled me with glee! On Once, The Snow Queen is Elsa and Anna's aunt named Ingrid. Elsa and Anna's mother trapped Ingrid in a magical urn after she accidentally killed their other sister with her ice/snow powers. Anna and Elsa's mother had the rock trolls cast a spell over the entire kingdom so everyone would forget both Ingrid and the sister she killed.

Always pick a profession related to your magical power.

It isn't until Elsa opens the urn that she finds Ingrid. Ingrid's only wish as the she, Elsa and Emma can be sisters, the way it was when she had two sisters. Ingrid puts up an ice wall around Storybrook to trap Elsa and Emma in. She believes that normal humans cannot understand her, Elsa and Emma because they fear them and their powers. She then casts the spell of shattered sight on all the other citizens of the town. This spell is a huge throwback to Andersen's original story. In the 1844 tale, there's an evil mirror that is shattered into millions of pieces and scattered all around the globe. When a piece of this evil mirror gets into the eyes of someone, that person can only see the ugly, negative side of everyone and everything. This is exactly what Ingrid does in Once. She has mirror shards fall on the citizens so they can only see the bad in each other. Her ultimate plan is that they all kill each other, however it doesn't work out like that. Ingrid eventually realizes what she's doing is wrong, so she destroys herself to save the town.

"My eyes are up here."

The fabulous Elizabeth Mitchell brings her icy, blondness to the role of The Snow Queen. They couldn't have gotten anyone better! She was absolutely spot on. Mitchell plays Ingrid, the Snow Queen, disguised as an ice cream parlor owner (Appropriate) who makes the best rocky-road in town. Well done to the people at Once Upon a Time for giving The Snow Queen a much deserved story line while still staying true to the original fairy-tale.

Gurl.. that mirror is broken.

In the original story, it's so hard to relate with the Snow Queen. She's never given a rhyme or reason to why she's so evil. All that's said is that her heart is made of ice. Nothing else. Once Upon a Time put their spin on things and made it absolutely beautiful. In this version, the Snow Queen (AKA Ingrid) is a broken human being. She's is ostracized because she's different. Her powers are greatly feared, though she's never been violent. They only people who accept her are her two sisters. When she accidentally kills one of her sisters, the other is so overwhelmed with grief she traps Ingrid in a magical urn, trapping her there for years.

Elizabeth Mitchell makes a sexy, sexy Snow Queen.

Ingrid sees this as a betrayal. The one person who once understood and loved her, trapped her as if she were a wild animal, all because of a terrible accident. Ingrid grows to distrust every normal human being, therefore she makes a bond with Emma and Elsa. Don't be too quick to judge the Snow Queen. Her evil comes from a place of loneliness and need to feel love, not from a vindictive place. Her actions are harmful and wicked, but her motives are pure. She just wants a family that will accept her. Don't we all want that? What would you do if you didn't have that? What lengths would you go to trade the icy pain of loneliness for the warmth of love and acceptance?

Villain Score: ROCKY ROAD