King Runeard

King Runeard is the posthumous main antagonist of Disney's 58th full-length animated feature film Frozen 2. He is the former King of Arendelle, the father of King Agnarr and the grandfather of Elsa and Anna, who plotted to exterminate Northuldran people out of fear of their association with magic.

He was voiced by Jeremy Sisto.

Past
Years prior to the events of the film, Runeard ruled the Kingdom of Arendelle and at some point fathered his son, Prince Agnarr. At the same time, the tribe of Northuldra, who lived in the Enchanted Forest north of Arendelle in harmony with the elemental spirits who lived there, made peace with Runeard and his kingdom, with Runeard and his men frequently meeting with them because of this. However, in truth, Runeard actually feared and despised the Northuldrans, believing that their association with magic made them too entitled and that they could potentially threaten his power. He would later have a dam constructed in the Enchanted Forest, designed to help the Northuldran people and bring prosperity to their land, although in reality it's purpose was to reduce the Northuldrans' resources in order to weaken them.

When the Northuldran leader brought this to Runeard's attention, he declared that they would discuss in in private, where he would attack the leader from behind and kill him. As a result of this, a battle broke out between the Arendellian soldiers and the Northuldran people, and Runeard was ultimately killed in the conflict. Afterwards, the spirits of the forest, enraged by the fighting, cursed the forest by enveloping it in a mist that would keep anyone from leaving or entering, trapping the Northuldran people and Arendellian soldiers inside. Prince Agnarr managed to escape the mist with the help of a Northuldran girl named Iduna, whom he would later marry upon inheriting the throne of Arendelle.

Frozen 2
Years later, Agnarr would tell his daughters Elsa and Anna about the story of the Enchanted Forest, unaware that his father had actually started the conflict that sealed it off from the world in the first place. In the present day, Elsa, upon hearing the call of a mysterious voice and accidentally awakening the elemental spirits, travels to the Enchanted Forest alongside Anna, Olaf, Kristoff and Sven in order to save the kingdom by finding the truth about it's past, meeting the trapped Northuldran people and Arendellian soldiers, learning of her mother's heritage and encountering the different elemental spirits in the process. While travelling towards the Ahtohallan, a mythical river said to hold all explanations of the past, Elsa, Anna and Olaf discover Agnarr and Iduna's shipwreck, realizing that they had perished while trying to reach the Ahtohallan themselves and find answers about Elsa's powers, causing her to force Anna and Olaf away and seek out the river by herself. Upon reaching it, Elsa views the past and thus finds out the truth about Runeard, managing to send said information to Anna before freezing as a result of venturing into the most dangerous part of Ahtohallan. While trying to find a way out of the cave she and Olaf had become trapped in, Anna receives Elsa's message—in the form of an ice sculpture of Runeard about to attack the Northuldran leader—and concludes that she has to destroy the dam, risking Arendelle in the process, for peace to be restored, before Olaf fades away as a result of Elsa freezing. Upon escaping the caves, Anna provokes the Earth Spirits into chasing her to the dam and explains the truth about Ruenard to Lieutenant Mattias and the other Arendellian soldiers to get their help, thus getting the Earth Spirits to destroy the dam with boulders, lifting the curse and saving Elsa in the process. After saving Arendelle from the ensuing flood, Elsa, acknowledging her and Anna's role as the bridge between the people and magical spirits, decides to give up her title as Queen of Arendelle to her sister in order to help protect the Enchanted Forest, thus bringing peace between Arendelle and the Northuldran people again, thus ending Runeard's legacy for good.