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The history of King Runeard from the Frozen franchise.
Background
Ruling Arendelle
| “ | She told us she would lie in bed all day crying. Mourning the life and kingdom she left behind. Your father grew impatient at her behavior. He couldn't understand why she was so sad when he had given her everything she could possibly desire. But there was one thing he could never give her. Love. Poor dear was starving for love. | „ |
| ~ Grand Pabbie telling Agnarr about Rita and Runeard's abysmal marriage. |
Years prior to the events of the film, Runeard oversaw the construction of what would be known as the Castle of Arendelle. He was responsible for greatly expanding the location, though he had predecessors presumably from previous locations, such as his great-great-grandfather Eric and his grandmother Else. He had the castle chocked full of secret passages to hidden libraries in which he would obsessively study magic, its causes, and its whereabouts. He also established a proud annual naval tradition where the Arendellian fleet would navigate the close-lying seas.
At some point, he also discovered the tribe of the Northuldra, who lived in the Enchanted Forest north of Arendelle in harmony with the elemental spirits who also resided there, and made blueprints of a dam in the Enchanted Forest near a fjord before Agnaar was even born, supposedly designed to help the Northuldran people and bring prosperity to their land by strengthening their waters. 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 as king. The dam was in fact only to be created to weaken Northuldra's resources by draining their lands on which they agriculturally depended so that Runeard could subjugate them to his rule, as they would have to depend on him for resources.
At some point, he arranged for a woman named Rita to marry him, who became Arendelle's Queen. She gave birth to their son Prince Agnarr, and though she loved her son, she grew increasingly depressed, pining for her home kingdom to which she had no access and longing to be free. Runeard initially tried to satisfy her materialistically by raining royal gifts, but as she became so encumbered with grief at being trapped that she would spend all day sobbing in bed, Runeard grew impatient at her for seemingly being ungrateful, unable to fathom why she would be sad when she could have everything she wanted. Realizing Runeard would never give her love nor allow her to exit their marriage, Rita eventually broke down, sought out the Trolls and begged their leader Grand Pabbie to erase her memories so she could forget her life in Arendelle and who she was. She then fled, having to leave her son behind with Runeard as she knew running off with Agnarr meant a war breaking out between Arendelle and her kingdom, causing many deaths. Furthermore, Runeard would likely hunt them down, and in the war Agnarr's life would hang in the balance.
After having her memories wiped, Rita disappeared, and Runeard resolved to erase any documentation of her existence from the kingdom by locking away all her belongings in the secret library and criminalizing the mentioning of her name; anyone who brought her up would face immediate banishment. Runeard told a heartbroken Agnarr that Rita had been "carried off by evil spirits". When Agnarr wept for his mother (who he thought had died) Runeard shamed him, causing his son to lock himself in his room for years, praying for the evil spirits to return her in the day and fearing the evil spirits would come to snatch him up in the night. Rita had made Agnarr a puffin called Sir JörgenBjörgen which Runeard did not know about, and the royal servant Gerda quickly hid it away so she could return it to Agnarr in the future. Runeard publicly made magic and its users the scapegoat of all the problems in the kingdom, teaching his subjects that magic users were dishonest and that their souls had been turned black by the corrupting darkness of their magic.
Betrayal
| “ | That dam wasn't a gift of peace. It was a trick. | „ |
| ~ Anna realized that her grandfather tricked the Northuldrans into building a dam as a gift of peace. |
When Agnarr was 14 years old, the Northuldra made peace with Runeard and his kingdom, with Runeard and his men frequently meeting with them because of this. Though it was evident to a portion of the Northuldran population that Runeard was not sincerely a friend to their population, as he would often glare at their adults as well at children with hate and disgust, he still made a point to prove to them his intent to establish peace. To this end, he got his men to construct the same dam he drew in his blueprints before Agnarr's birth, with the construction taking years to complete. Some of the visiting Arendellians even offered the Northuldrans book of Arendellian legend, which instilled Arendellian ideals of royalty and honor into the nomadic people.
In the run-up to the dam's great celebration, the only person Runeard told the true purpose of the dam was his second-in-command, whom he ordered to bring in Arendelle's grand army to speed things up and prepare for an imminent attack after sizing up the Northuldran population; even when his second-in-command wisely pointed out that the Northuldrans aren't distrustful in nature, Runeard arrogantly refused to heed his advice as he still despised magic.
When the Northuldran chief saw that the dam was weakening the land's resources instead of strengthening them, he confronted Runeard, who declared that they would discuss this in private and find a solution while having tea at the fjord, a proposal that the chief agreed upon. However, this was just a ruse to let the chief's guard down as Runeard wielded his sword and killed him from behind as the latter was serenely collecting water from a tree. To cover his tracks, Runeard claimed to his army that the Northuldrans attacked him.
Dangerous Secrets: The Story of Iduna and Agnarr
Runeard's War and Death
| “ | Many lost parents during the battle of the Enchanted Forest, myself included. | „ |
| ~ Agnarr speaks about how his father any many other people's parents were killed during the Battle of the Enchanted Forest. |
Right before the celebration which includes not only Northuldran, but also Arendellian everyday citizens and children as well as soldiers, Runeard chides Agnarr for exploring the Enchanted Forest in childlike wonder and fascination, causing Agnarr to apologize without looking him in the eyes, but Runeard walks off without even saying a goodbye. As Agnarr looks shamefully down on the ground, he is cheered up again when Lieutenant Mattias shows up.
Runeard then conferrs with some of his soldiers stationed at the head of the Northuldran camp and ominously asks if they are prepared for the “festivities”, indicating he is preparing them for the massacre, and a battle breaks out between the Arendellian soldiers and the Northuldran people during the once-peaceful celebration, putting both the Arendellian and Northuldran civilians at risk and resulting a number of casualties between both sides. Eventually, during the fight, Runeard is driven to a cliff and falls to his death, but not before dragging down with him the Northuldran that he was trying to strike down.
Influence on Arendelle
The spirits of the Enchanted Forest, enraged by the fighting, curse the forest by enveloping it in a powerful mist that would keep anyone from leaving or entering, trapping the Northuldran people and Arendellian soldiers inside. Despite Runeard's disillusioned squadron of soldiers vowing to kill any Northuldran on sight as the latter had begun “slaughtering” their people, the mortally wounded Prince Agnarr is saved from the attack by the Northuldran girl named Iduna, whom he would later marry upon inheriting the throne of Arendelle, thus becoming the new King and Queen; when the squadron of soldiers get to Arendelle and discover that Iduna has in fact stowed away on one of the many evacuation wagons loaded with wounded soldiers and civilians, they violently seize her and interrogate her until the Arendellian Lord Peterssen falsely asserts that Iduna has been the daughter of two Arendellians who were killed in the battle, saving her life. Iduna would then spend the next period of her life in the Arendellian orphanage which, due to the amount of deaths caused by Runeard's attack, is heaving with newly orphaned children to the point that it has to ask for additional state funds to be able to expand and feed them all.
The foul lies propagated by Runeard against the Northuldrans carry over into the Arendellian kingdom. For decades, the citizens of the kingdom would consider it a mercy that the dam and mist both served to cordon the Northuldrans off from their people, thinking they are malicious and would attack them again if given the chance. Many even promise to attack any Northuldrans they came across on sight. This causes Iduna to have to hide her origins to stay safe, and also inspires the King of Vassar, King Nicholas, to practice upon the Arendellians' credulous paranoia in order to insinuate himself into the kingdom by faking Northuldran attacks. Even though they are fully aware that the surviving Northuldrans as well as the Arendellian survivors were locked behind the impenetrable mist, the hateful picture Runeard has painted of the Northuldrans leads many of the civilians to assume the Northuldrans have somehow pushed through the mist to finish what they started by murdering them all.
In the following years, Runeard posthumously becomes a grandfather after Agnarr and Iduna gave birth to Elsa and Anna. Due to Iduna's selfless act during Runeard's attack, the elemental spirits reward her first-born, Elsa with ice powers. Years later, King Agnarr would tell Elsa and Anna about the story of what happened in the Enchanted Forest, unaware that his father had actually started the conflict that sealed it off from the world in the first place. Upon learning about Elsa's powers, King Agnarr and Queen Iduna sail off to find a mystical river called the Ahtohallan that would hold all explanations of the past in hopes of seeking answers to Elsa's powers. However, both Agnarr and Iduna perish in a shipwreck caused by a violent storm, leaving a distraught Elsa to take over as the new Queen of Arendelle.
Frozen II
Legacy
| “ | Arendelle has no future until we make this right! King Runeard betrayed everyone! (Lieutenant Mattias: How do you know that?) My sister gave her life for the truth. Please… before we lose anyone else. | „ |
| ~ Anna tells Lieutenant Mattias and his soldiers the truth about Runeard's heinous crimes. |
Elsa seeing a projection of Runeard in the Wind Spirit, unaware it's depicting him killing the Northuldran chief.
It has been 3 years following Elsa's coronation and the defeat of Prince Hans, the Duke of Weselton and his thugs. However, the stakes changed when Elsa, upon hearing the call of a mysterious voice and accidentally awakening the elemental spirits, travels to the Enchanted Forest alongside her sister Anna, Olaf, Kristoff and Sven. Foreshadowing what was to come, whilst fighting the Wind Spirit, later named Gale, Elsa was met with the vague glimpses of the past that showed Runeard roaring in rage (amidst screams of terror and Agnarr calling for his father in vain) as his sword fell down on something veiled by the fog. Then, as Elsa was face to face with her grandfather, she saw Runeard coldly glower at whomever he attacked, stating: "For Arendelle." After taming the Wind Spirit, they met the trapped Northuldran people (led by their tribe leader Yelana) and Arendellian soldiers (led by Runeard's former lieutenant Destin Mattias), learning of her mother's heritage and encountering the different elemental spirits in the process. Explaining of her parents' heritage, Elsa was able to arrange a truce between the Northuldrans and Arendellian soldiers, though the two parties still obstinately accused each other of instigating the brutal war all those years ago. Ending the argument, Mattias solemnly stated they should wait for the truth to be found, insinuating it would surely incriminate the Northuldrans.
While travelling towards the Ahtohallan, Elsa, Anna and Olaf discover Agnarr and Iduna's shipwreck, realizing that they had perished trying to reach the Ahtohallan themselves and find answers about Elsa's powers. Believing that her powers are the reason why both Agnarr and Iduna died, a guilty Elsa forces Anna and Olaf away and seeks out the river by herself, conjuring up an ice boat on which she forcefully slides Anna and Olaf down a steep decline. Upon reaching the Athohallan, Elsa finds out about the true origin of her powers and that she herself is one of the spirits because of it. Gazing at moments of the past, Elsa finds one of Runeard conversing with a disturbed aide, sternly ordering that Arendelle's full guard be brought into the Enchanted Forest. The aide hazards to protest Runeard's order, stating the Northuldrans have never given them any reason to distrust them, but stops short when Runeard halts and shoots him a furious glance. Leaning close, Runeard emphatically asserts that since the Northuldrans follow magic, the Arendellians can never trust them. He maintains that magic makes them feel too powerful and leads them to hold that they can challenge the will of a king, despite the fact that Runeard is not in any way the actual leader of the Northuldra. Outraged to learn that her late grandfather was really a ruthless tyrant who allowed his own fear and hatred to consume his mind over trusting others, Elsa furiously denounces Runeard for his actions.
As Runeard strides deeper into the Ahtohallan along with his conflicted aide, Elsa trails after them, determined to know the full extent of the truth despite her mother's voice warning her of going too far. Runeard boasts with a twisted satisfaction that he truly built the dam to weaken the Northuldrans' lands so they are forced to be under his mercy and will. He also adds that the celebration will double as an opportunity to measure how many the Northuldrans are and how strong they are. Horrified by the way things are going, Elsa teeters on the brink of the deepest pit of the Ahtohallan as Runeard's voice reverberates through the dark cave, deceitfully welcoming the Northuldrans as his friends at the celebratory gathering. Making her ultimate decision to discover the truth no matter the cost, Elsa drops down from the cliff and lands in a pitch-black forest of crystallized trees.
Here she witnesses the Northuldran chief plead with Runeard, who cuts him off and offers him to discuss the issue down by the fjord. Elsa finds that she is beginning to shiver, a sensation utterly alien to her. Whirling around, she eventually discovers the Northuldran chief who is kneeling down to drink some water. Runeard then comes marching from behind Elsa with resolute steps towards the unsuspecting chief, gripping his sword with relish and a smirk to prove it, and just at Elsa grasps what is about to happen and reaches out, crying, "No!", Runeard starts into a run and kills the chief from behind with one swipe of his sword. Overcome with horror at the realization and the incomprehensible cold which venturing into the most dangerous part of Ahtohallan brings, Elsa's entire body is encrusted with ice. In her last moments before her temporary death, she sends a signal with the information to Anna before freezing.
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 murder the unarmed Northuldran chief. Realizing the atrocious scoundrel their grandfather truly was and seeing that Olaf has faded away due to Elsa's fate, a mournful Anna concludes that the dam must be destroyed to end the curse and the war, despite being informed earlier by Kristoff that doing so would also cause a flood through the fjord that would sink down Arendelle. Upon escaping the caves, Anna provokes the Earth Spirits into chasing her to the dam and explains the truth to Mattias and the Arendellian soldiers about Runeard's heinous crimes. Realizing their mistake for following a despicable tyrant, Mattias and the Arendellian soldiers signaled the Earth Spirits to destroy the dam with boulders. Though the destruction of the dam lifts the mist from the Forest and saves both Elsa and Olaf for good, a giant flood heads down the fjord to sink Arendelle, but Elsa uses her powers to divert the flood, saving Arendelle in the process.
With the curse finally lifted, Elsa decides to remain in the Enchanted Forest as its new protector while abdicating the throne to Anna, thus bringing true peace to both Arendelle and the Northuldra and ending Runeard's dreadful legacy for good.