Prince Hans/Synopsis

The story of the infamous Prince Hans from Disney's Frozen.

Background
Hans is a prince from the Kingdom of the Southern Isles, a trade partner of Arendelle. Not much is known about the prince's past; however, he has mentioned that he is the youngest of the thirteen royal siblings and neglected amongst his brothers. Three of them having pretended he didnt exist for two years.

His past is further explored in "Frozen Hearts" where it shows that he is constanly bullied by his older siblings. He is also looked down by his father due to him being "weaker" than his brothers, therefore does nothing to stop them bullying him. Knowing he would never rule the throne of the Southern Isles, Hans concocted a scheme to marry into monarchy elsewhere, eventually setting his sights on the Kingdom of Arendelle.

Hans' plans changed after realizing how reserved the to-be queen was towards socialization, prompting the prince to instead target her lonely, less mature younger sister Anna, planning to murder Queen Elsa after their marriage, which would result in him becoming king.

Meeting with Royalty
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 on the day of the event, though he fully intended to wed Elsa to marry directly into the throne, lustful only for power and obedience, knowing he would never rule his native kingdom. However, it was soon clear to him that Elsa was far too reserved for anyone to become close to for reasons he didn't know at the time (out of the desire to keep them safe from her then-unstable magic), 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 "coincidentally" bumping into her once again.

Wooing Princess Anna/Elsa's Curse
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 developing a dislike of her, 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's 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, stating that Anna should not be marrying someone she just met, ending the party and ordering Hans to leave out of frustration. Heartbroken, Anna confronts her sister, possibly demanding her blessing, but this causes the queen's powers over ice and snow (the reason she goes so far out of her way to isolate herself from the outside world) to be revealed, much to Hans's 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.

Hans in Command
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. Hans took advantage of the situation to endear himself to the people. While this seemed to be a charitable act, the goods were not for Hans to distribute. When the Duke of Weselton pointed this out, Hans did not bring up the plight of the people but asserted his authority by threatening the Duke with a charge of treason - which has no basis.

Scolding Hans, the Duke then openly expresses his suspicion over Anna and Elsa, believing they're 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. Throughout this crisis, Hans actually proves to be a confident leader: distributing aid and allocating resources in the face of a disaster he did not foresee; whether it is to capitalize on popularity or simply because he is actually an effective royal is unclear.

Just then, Anna's horse returns without the royal rider, making Hans believe Anna is in danger. He needs one of the royal ladies alive for his plan to continue. With the royal guards and the Duke's men in tow, Hans leads a rescue mission for Anna and a hunt for Elsa. Unbeknownst to the kingdom, this gives Hans the perfect chance to alternately kill Elsa for a seemingly heroic reason, or to return her and Anna to the kingdom and cement himself with both women and the public as part of his greater plans.

Attack on Elsa's Palace
"Queen Elsa! Don't be the monster they fear you are!"

- Hans confronting Elsa.

The army arrives at Elsa's ice palace before long, and are immediately attacked by Elsa's giant snowman Marshmallow. Hans and his army battle the beast, though he proves to be nearly invincible and completely implacable. Fortunately for the prince, he is able to get a clear path at the snow beast, and slices Marshmallow's left leg clean off, causing the creature to stumble into a chasm 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 seconds away from killing the Duke's two guards who had previously snuck past Marshmallow on orders of the corrupt Weselton representative. Hans is able to stop her from killing them as they intended for her, freeing the two thugs. However, one of the thugs attempts to strike her with their crossbow, but Hans interferes and, with apparent purpose, 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 spiraling out of all control, Hans knows he must find a way to save his potential kingdom, and decides to pay Elsa a visit, asking her to put an end to the winter. However, Elsa confesses that she doesn't know how, and asks to be released in hopes that leaving will draw the storms away with her. Hans claims he will do what he can, and returns to the Duke of Weselton and the other dignitaries in the library, who were frantically looking for a solution to freedom from the icy curse, though to no avail just yet.

Betrayal
"As thirteenth in line in my own kingdom, I didn't stand a chance. I knew I would have to marry into the throne somewhere."

- Hans revealing his true plan to Anna after betraying her.

Hans decides he must go back out to find Anna, still needing her marriage in order to legitimize his hold on 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 were given privacy as Anna explained that during her journey, Elsa froze her heart, and only an act of true love can save her from freezing to death, to which Hans presumes she's referring to "a true love's kiss". However, Hans smirks, reveals his true colors, 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 an attempt to quicken her death. Confused, Anna tries to understand what's going on, to which Hans reveals his matured plot to marry her, kill Elsa and become king of Arendelle through ascension, verbally abusing her in the process by pointing out how easy she was to deceive compared to her sister. He knew that due to being thirteenth in line, he had no chance of obtaning the throne of his own kingdom, so he sought to rule somewhere else.

Anna tries to stop him, but she is far too weak and can merely plead for mercy as her condition deteriorates. After informing her of his next move, which is to kill Elsa, thus restoring summer and gaining the unflinching loyalty of Arendelle, the evil prince leaves Anna to die, locking the door and trapping her within to prevent others from finding her.

Death to Queen Elsa
Hans then returns to the Duke and the other dignitaries, pretending to be terribly distraught. He tells them that Anna was killed by Elsa's curse and that their marriage vows were said just before she died in his arms, thus making him king of Arendelle. The lie is fully believed by the assembled ambassadors and royals, and, as his first order as the new ruler of Arendelle, Hans charges Elsa with treason and sentences her to immediate death.

Hans and the royal guards then make their way to the dungeon to carry out her execution, but by the time they arrive, they find that Elsa has managed to escape into the fjord through the accelerating chaos caused by her powers, much to Hans's frustration, and just as a deadly blizzard begins consuming the entire kingdom, driven inadvertently by his own meddling and stressing of the queen.

Furious, Hans decides to take matters into his own hands, and goes into the frozen fjord to confront Elsa himself, sword in hand. Once he stumbles upon her in the blizzard, he tells Elsa that escaping all the damage she's caused is futile, but Elsa merely pleads for mercy, asking the prince to take care of her sister in her absence, to which Hans responds by informing Elsa of Anna's fictitious death as a result of the former's strike to her heart and, despite his "efforts" to save her, blaming Elsa for the tragedy. Devastated, Elsa falls onto her knees, with her sorrow freezing the very air around them, and providing Hans the opportunity to end her.

Defeat and Detainment
"I will return this scoundrel to his country. We shall see what his twelve big brothers think of his behavior."

- The French dignitary commenting over Hans' punishment.

Before he is able to murder Elsa, however, Anna arrives and blocks Hans's blow, completely freezing to death just before Hans's weapon strikes her, and shatters the blade with frigid temperatures. The forceful blast caused by Anna's freezing death brutally 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. As Hans struggles to his feet, Kristoff moves to attack him, but Anna decides to confront the fallen prince herself, staying the big man's hand. Anna approaches the traitorous prince, and the sight of Anna alive and well confuses Hans, prompting him to ask how she had survived the frozen heart curse. Anna then berates Hans by telling him that he's the only one present with the frozen heart, and turns her back at him much to Hans's disbelief. Out of fury, the princess wheels around a few seconds later, punches him in the face, and causes him to fall off the ship they were aboard which pleases the witnesses. Humiliated and defeated, Hans is then apprehended without resistance, imprisoned on a French ship headed back to the Southern Isles and banished from Arendelle forever. According to the French dignitary, he is set to face an unspecified punishment by his brothers.

Frozen Fever
Hans makes a brief appearance in this short. Part of his punishment is revealed to be working at the Royal Stables of the Southern Isles, shoveling manure. When Elsa sneezes into the Giant Horn as she blows it to celebrate Anna's birthday, a giant snowball is launched from Arendelle all the way to the Southern Isles, which hits him right into a cart of manure, burying him. The horses laugh at his predicament.

Frozen 2
He is rumored to return as a protagonist in the sequel and he will redeem for his past sins (his voice actor Santino Fontana gave this hint in an interview). It is also rumored that he will become Elsa's love interest in the sequel.

Cameos
Hans made two cameo appearances in the 2014 animated feature film, Big Hero 6.

He is first seen on a "Wanted" poster at the San Fransokyo police station, behind the desk of Officer Gerson, when Hiro and Baymax report Yokai's Microbot theft. Later on, he can be briefly seen as a statue in the garden of Fred's mansion home, that's eventually destroyed by Baymax during a testing session for his rocket fists.