Hans' relationships

This page is a compilation of Hans' relationships with the other characters of Frozen. Though outwardly charming and kind, Hans is a duplicitous individual who lacks compassion for others, viewing them as little more than tools to further his own agenda.

Father
In childhood, Hans had a poor relationship with his father, who admired strength and despised weakness, an attribute he associated with his youngest son. As a result, Hans was neglected by his father in ways ranging from verbal abuse to encouraging his older sons to bully their brother. Nevertheless, Hans sought to try to gain his father's approval and love.

Mother
Hans was able to bond with his mother, who was similarly neglected by the rest of the household, and was the only one to pay attention to her, even on her birthday. However, her interactions with him were limited to weak smiles of acknowledgment, and she did very little to stop his abuse at the hands of the male members of the family.

Twelve older brothers
As the youngest, Hans was constantly picked on and neglected by his older brothers, including one particular instance in which three of them pretended he was invisible for two years. Though Hans dismissed Anna's shock at this revelation by stating, "it's what brothers do", his lack of love in youth led to his developing a desire for power. Realizing that his brothers would leave him with nothing to inherit from his own kingdom, Hans saw no alternative but to marry into royalty elsewhere. After his attempt to seize Arendelle's throne failed, Hans was sent back the Southern Isles, where he would face his twelve brothers for his actions.

Caleb
Caleb is the oldest brother of the thirteen sons and was the center of attention of his father. Because of that, Hans often fantasized about being in Caleb's place and receiving attention and affection from his father.

Lars
Lars sympathized with Hans due to having spent five years as the youngest sibling himself. He helped Hans with his studies about Arendelle.

Duke of Weselton


Though he adopted a charming and kind demeanor for most, Hans regarded the Duke of Weselton with attitudes ranging from slight disdain to open contempt. In order to support his image as Anna's husband-to-be, Hans was quick to defend her when the Duke asked if she was a "monster" like Elsa. When the Duke continued his hysterics, saying that Elsa had "nearly killed" him, Hans quickly told the Duke that he merely "slipped on ice".

However, Hans became more serious towards the Duke after assuming control of Arendelle in Anna's absence. When the Duke questioned his decision to distribute cloaks and food to Arendelle's citizens and expressed doubts over Anna's allegiance, Hans angrily asserted his authority, stating his willingness to defend Arendelle from treason. But ultimately, Hans found some use for the diminutive man; he manipulated the Duke to attain support for Elsa's execution, using the news of Anna's death to incite fear of the queen.

Anna


Due to a combination of Elsa maintaining her distance from others and Anna's desperation for love, Hans decided to marry Anna in lieu of her sister and plotted to kill Elsa afterwards to assume Arendelle's throne. Already infatuated with the prince's good looks and charisma, Anna grew more attached to Hans when he revealed his past with his brothers and felt he was a kindred spirit. Using Anna's loneliness to his advantage, Hans proposed to Anna, and despite knowing him for less than a day, she accepted. Though Elsa refused to bless the marriage, the situation led to her powers being exposed and her subsequent flight from the kingdom. When Anna chose to pursue Elsa, Hans warned her it would be dangerous but relented after being placed in charge of Arendelle during her absence.

Out of necessity, Hans continued his deception of genuinely caring for Anna by leading the mission to find her at Elsa's ice palace. When this failed, Hans later announced his decision of a second attempt to locate the princess, but expressed hesitation in this course of action due the objections of the French and Spanish dignitaries, who worried that the prince was "all Arendelle [had] left". But before Hans could discuss the matter further, Anna returned, rapidly succumbing to the effects of Elsa's magic. When Anna informed him that she required an act of true love to be saved, Hans finally dropped his act and revealed that he had used her all along to seize power. Realizing Anna was of no more use to him alive, Hans extinguished all the heat sources in the library and locked her inside, leaving her to freeze to death. The prince then sought out the dignitaries, using Anna's death to inspire their fear of Elsa and garner support for the queen's execution; with this, Hans showed his willingness to use Anna in any way to realize his goals.

However, unbeknownst to Hans, Anna managed to escape from the library and thwarted the prince's attempt to kill Elsa by shielding her sister with her body; Anna froze to solid ice in the process, shattering Hans' sword and rendering the prince unconscious from the resulting shock-wave. When Hans awoke a short while later, he was shocked to see Anna alive and well and questioned how she survived having her heart frozen. No longer fooled by Hans' outward appearance, Anna coolly told Hans that he was the only one with a frozen heart and punched the prince in the face, sending him falling into the waters of the fjord below.

Elsa


Hans knew that as the heir, Elsa was the preferable bride, as his marriage to her would ensure his swift ascension to the throne. But when the prince heard that Elsa kept her distance from others, he realized that he would have to change tactics and had no qualms whatsoever in planning for the queen's death. However, this scheme proved unnecessary; when Anna announced her engagement to Hans, Elsa was rattled and exposed her powers, resulting in her flight from the kingdom. With Elsa's self-imposed exile and Anna's departure to retrieve her, Hans was placed in charge of the kingdom but faced difficulty amidst the winter weather conditions Elsa had created.

Due to the unnatural weather, when the opportunity to capture and contain Elsa presented itself, Hans seized the chance, hoping to have Elsa rectify the situation peacefully. However, during his talk with Elsa in the dungeons, Hans realized the queen had no control over her abilities. Seeing no other alternative, Hans conspired to have Elsa killed to restore summer, with the added benefit of emerging as Arendelle's hero. After Anna returned from her journey injured, Hans finally had the means to secure support for Elsa's execution by purporting that Anna had died by her hand. Rallying the Arendelle castle guards, Hans went to confront Elsa in her prison but was frustrated when she managed to escape. Nonetheless, he remained determined and set out to find her.

Though the storm's winds and snow were blinding, Hans managed to locate Elsa and stopped her from fleeing by deceiving her into thinking that she was responsible for Anna's death. As Elsa collapsed in grief, Hans moved to strike her down with his sword, expressing delight at how close he was to succeeding; however, he was stopped by Anna's intervention and sent back to the Southern Isles.

Marshmallow


During his raid on Elsa's ice palace, Hans was impeded by a single obstacle: Elsa's loyal snow guard, Marshmallow. Though Marshmallow was immensely strong and durable, Hans was able to repeatedly evade the snowman's attempts to crush him, and when the opportunity presented itself, the prince sliced off Marshmallow's left leg. With Elsa's guard crippled, Hans went to enter the palace, but Marshmallow made one last attempt to stop Hans by trying to take the prince down with him. However, Hans managed to grab onto the ice staircase and clung on while Marshmallow fell into a chasm.