Entertainment

Is Elsa the Anti-Villain of 'OUAT' Season 4?

by Kadeen Griffiths

In case you haven't heard, Once Upon a Time season 4 has started filming. Season 4 of Once Upon a Time is its most highly-anticipated season yet due to the fact that Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff from Frozen will be appearing in at least the first half of the season. We've finally gotten our first look at actress Georgina Haig in the role of Elsa on OUAT and while she looks more perfect than we could have ever dreamed, the scene she is rumored to be filming has sparked a fresh theory about Elsa's storyline for me. What if Elsa is the anti-villain of Once Upon a Time season 4?

There are spoilers ahead. In the scene, Elsa appears to enter a building and Emma Swan and loyal maybe-boyfriend Captain Hook chase her into it, Emma with her trusty gun in hand. This happens some time after Grumpy runs up to Emma and Hook to inform them that Storybrooke is under attack. We won't know the full details of what's going on until season 4 actually premieres, but that alone is enough to make it seem like the citizens of Storybrooke have declared Elsa a threat before she's actually done anything threatening. Just like the Duke of Weselton from the actual film.

At the end of season 3, Elsa is freed from an urn that Emma accidentally brought back with her from the past Rumplestiltskin's vault of dangerous magical items. Now that she's out, it seems that in the first episode of season 4, which will apparently take place directly after the season 3 finale, Storybrooke has already branded Elsa evil. Admittedly, that's not exactly overly paranoid of them considering all of the villains aside from Regina and Rumplestiltskin have been Storybrooke strangers.

However, it's exactly this kind of witch hunt that almost drove Elsa to kill two men who were trying to kill her in Frozen before Hans talked her down. It feels like whatever it is that Elsa actually wants in Storybrooke, her mission is going to be delayed or complicated by the fact that she can't roam freely without fear for her life or without fear of open hostility from the other mistrustful Storybrooke residents. In their quest for answers, the cast might push Elsa into making a mistake out of fear and we all know what happens when Elsa gets scared...

The thing is, I highly doubt that Elsa has any truly malicious intentions in Storybrooke. Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis have already said that the thing they love about Elsa is the fact that she's misunderstood, which means that her motivations and character are ultimately going to be proven heroic. However, it seems that Elsa is going to be a case of anti-villainy, in that it's quite likely her sympathetic motivations are going to put her at odds with the opposing motivations of the main cast.

If, for example, Elsa is looking to settle an old score with Rumplestiltskin for something he did when he was the Dark One, the fact that he is now a kind of reformed married man would be reason enough for the Charmings to try and stop her — at least until they find out exactly what it is the Dark One could have done to Elsa that would make her out for his blood. The situation could snowball to the point where it feels like the entire town of Storybrooke is against Elsa, who is fighting them for reasons that probably have to do with Anna.

After all, Anna didn't come out of that urn with Elsa, so it makes sense that she would be the first thing that Elsa would be looking for now that she's free. At this point, we have no idea whether Anna is going to be a part of Once Upon a Time's flashbacks to the past or a character in the present or both, but since the characters of Frozen are being brought onto Once Upon a Time in a post-movie universe then the first mystery of the season is definitely going to be What Happened to Anna? And, of course, What Will Happen to Storybrooke if They Stand in the Way of Elsa Finding Out?

Image: emmasneverland/Tumblr