Appearances Of Secrets Of The Magic Makers Throughout Frozen Stories

Appearances of Secrets of the Magic Makers throughout Frozen Stories

One of my favorite tiny details in Frozen is the book Secrets of the Magic Makers (which is also where my username comes from 😂). It is never mentioned directly in the movies or shorts, although it is briefly shown in F1. (I’ll get to that in a minute.) It is mentioned in two of the three major Frozen books, but Forest of Shadows has the most about it.

Dangerous Secrets mentions SOTMM a few times, but never by name. Iduna and Agnarr choose a random map from the secret room to follow to the Valley of the Living Rock. I believe this is the map tucked into SOTMM in F1 because DS says on the night Anna got hurt, Agnarr runs straight for the secret room and pulls out the same map from “the old folklore book” where he’d hidden it after his and Iduna’s adventure. It also says that the map belonged to Rita. I’m not sure if it belonged to her necessarily, but I guess she must have known about it. Later, after Elsa and Anna were separated, Iduna spent many hours in the secret room searching for answers about Elsa’s magic. She translated many of the “old books and scrolls” she found in the secret room, one of which was definitely SOTMM, because when Anna finds it in FoS, she recognizes her mother’s handwriting in the translations in the margins.

FoS definitely has the most SOTMM mentions by far. In fact, it is the only thing in all of Frozen that ever mentions its name. In FoS, Anna finds it in the secret room. (and she definitely can’t read the runes, she thinks of them as “indecipherable symbols”). The book itself is described as “beautiful brown with black lettering,” which perfectly matches what we see in the movie. The most thorough description is soon after she finds the book. It says: “Secrets of the Magic Makers seemed to be a book of old tales, brief histories, and maps showing the way to the Valley of the Living Rock, but also a glossary of sorts, naming all kinds of creatures that only existed in lore. Spirits of wind, water, and fire. Earth Giants.” It also says that Anna remembers these “bedtime-story words” and that she has vague memories of her mother telling her stories and reading, possibly from this book. In the next couple of chapters it also says SOTMM contains “scraps of research that had not yet been bound in,” a map of Arendelle and the surrounding area with the Black Beach circled, and tales of “shape-shifters who lived with herds of reindeer; talking trees; draug; and boys who were no larger than a thumb. There were pages and pages of the unknown language, and every so often an illustration accompanied the symbols.” It also says that Iduna “skipped translating the pages with the more creepy-looking sketches.” There is also a section that details the Saga of Aren with sketches of some of his deeds. And SOTMM obviously also contains the spell that is said to release the Nattmara in the first place.

Now, back to the mention in F1. After Anna gets hurt, we see Agnarr’s hands as he searches for a specific book. When he pulls it out, we can see the title and one page inside, all written in Younger Futhark runes.

The title of the book he pulls out translates roughly to Runes of Knowledge. (Source: https://lingaspect.wordpress.com/2014/03/13/deciphering-the-runes-book-in-frozen/) BUT I believe it is intended to be the same book, and SOTMM is just the English title because of this image:

This is from the inside jacket of a book(?) the directors gave to the crew after production of F2. It has the exact same runic title as the book Agnarr pulls out and it also has the English title as SOTMM. (Obviously I know this gift isn’t canon-worthy, but I think it shows the INTENTIONS of the directors well enough to confirm that it is the same book.)

So yeah, this was every mention I could find of SOTMM in official Frozen media! If you notice I missed any, please let me know, as it’s been a while since I read the books all the way through. SOTMM is one of the things I have a strange obsession with and I wish SO MUCH that I could actually read it. I’ll post an analysis of the runes in SOTMM soon too, as they are also VERY interesting and a personal fascination of mine!

Arendelle wants YOU

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Ok, last post about Wish for now, I promise! A few years ago, I was writing a lot of short-ish analyses on various Disney Movies, and I remember I actually wrote one for Wish based only on the song This Wish! So I thought it would be fun to go through my analyses from over a year ago and see how correct I was now that I’ve actually seen the movie…

The black text is all direct quotes from what I wrote over a year ago. The purple is my comments on it now.

09/12/22

Considering that it is over a year until this movie comes out (the current date is 9/12/22), I am fully aware how ridiculous it is that I’m already writing an analysis on it. The main character, Asha, appears to be princess-like, although she may not be actual royalty. (I personally think she isn’t royal or high-ranking at all, since I think that will work better with the story and themes). That is actually true, although I still think she is Disney Princess coded. When I listened to More for Us (This was the original title for This Wish) the other day, I was literally crying, and that is with it out of context. It is a beautiful song that combines the simple magic of The Golden Age with the power of the universal truths and complex themes of The Revival Era. It is a perfect I-want song, and showcases Disney at its heart as a beautiful celebration for its 100th anniversary.

09/13/22

I finally found the lyrics to More for Us! (This Wish) Now that I have the lyrics, I can analyze the song properly. Also, after reading the lyrics, I’ve changed my mind about what I think the themes will be and where the story will go. Seriously, by giving us the I-want song, Disney gave us the most valuable single piece of information they could give. I have a LOT to say about these lyrics. Who is “us”? Now, I’m thinking that either she is part of a minority group in her kingdom, ehhhh, that is not true or that this is kind of a kingdom where the rulers (presumably the people who live in the tall palace-like building on the left side of the concept art) control/harm the people in some way. That was spot on. Knowing Disney, I would assume the first option, but the way she says “open their eyes to all lies” implies some sort of combination of the two options. I’m thinking that themes could be something like, action, making choices, standing up, etc. I will stand by those themes, in a way. They certainly aren't the only ones, but they are definitely present (think “if not us, then who and when” from Knowing What I Know Now. I would also say a theme is how knowing the truth can change your perspective. And a bit about willful ignorance in the way that the people unquestioningly gave their wishes to Magnifico because it was easier than trying to pursue them themselves. It appears that Asha is on the edge of something when she sings this. She’s had some sort of realization that sets her apart from everyone else in her world, but she hasn’t taken the step to act on it yet (“I’m past dipping my toes in, but not past diving in”). By challenging Magnifico and learning about the wishes, she’s gone too far to go back to her life just as it was, but she hasn’t made a decision on how to act on this yet, but she knows she needs to. By the end of the song, she has made her decision to act on her realization/feelings. Mhhhmmm not quite. I think she knows she needs to act already when she starts singing, she just doesn't know how. And that’s what Star shows her. She gains strength and confidence throughout the song. It acts as an I-want and a catalyst, as most of the recent I-want songs do. Yeah, that is definitely true. I find it interesting that the I-want itself was the catalyst, but I love it. It feels very Disney. Asha says “the way you always taught me to.” Who is “you”? My guess would be some sort of (likely dead) mentor figure like a parent or grandparent. Yeah, Disney’s pretty predictable with the dead parents. It does make sense story wise though. Whether this is the case or not, whoever “you” is has clearly had a significant impact on Asha, her personality, her values, and how she views the world. They will be an important part of the story, even if they’ve died before the movie begins. Her father was actually mentioned directly less than I predicted, but I still think that what he taught her about the stars’ guidance stuck with her and is the reason she wished on one to begin with. So in a way, her dad did have a big impact on the story, just in a less obvious way. And he definitely affected how Asha views the world and how she chooses to respond to what she learned while in the palace.

Arendelle wants YOU

edit by the wonderful @bigfrozenfan

Do you want to celebrate Frozen10? Do you want to share your love for Elsa & Anna’s story?

Elsa & Anna have discovered new memories in Ahtohallan. They can only access it together, as sisters, As the Fifth Spirit.

Little do they know, those memories are YOURS. Your memories over a decade of Frozen. For fans, by fans!

If you wish to share your memories, dive deep into her sound…

Water Has Memory

❄️

Translating the Runes in Secrets of the Magic Makers

Ok, so I already said in my previous post (X) that I love Secrets of the Magic Makers and the runic writing in Frozen in general, but now I’m going to actually talk about the translations of the runes.

Most* of the runes shown in Frozen movies and shorts are historically accurate and translatable. They are Younger Futhark runes, used in Nordic regions beginning around the 9th century. The Younger Futhark alphabet has 16 runes and is a simplification of the Elder Futhark, which had 24 originally. The Younger Futhark alphabet was used throughout Scandinavia in the Viking Age and declined after Catholicism was introduced. (Source: Runes Illustrated by Rachel Newcombe)

* I say most because the runes in Olaf’s Frozen Adventure on the bell are not historically accurate. They are simply a direct English transliteration of the words “Ring in the Season”

Disney worked with Old Norse language expert Jackson Crawford (you can find his YT channel here (X)) to ensure that the runes in F1 are historically accurate.

Ok, history lesson over, let’s actually talk about how these runes are relevant to the Frozen story.

I did not translate these myself, although I have kind of taught myself how to now. These translations come from Panya on this website. If you are interested in the detailed translations, I would highly recommend checking it out, as it is truly fascinating!

Here is the cover of the book. It translates roughly to Runes of Knowledge, but I believe this book to also be Secrets of the Magic Makers (see my previous post for full explanation).

The inside of the book is 9 lines of text, repeated twice. It appears to say something like

Someone (subject is unclear) was turned to stone (ice?) by the power of the moon. The trolls from the dark mountain realm have healing hands. A soul wounded from cold will heal if brought very quickly to the field of them (the trolls). Trolls have such a nature that they can get sorcery out of the body to save it. Such action done in true love is the only one which can thaw a heart stoned (frozen?) very quickly.

It isn't exactly clear or easy to read, but I think that it tells the story of an ancient Arendellian (possibly Aren, but that’s mostly just a headcanon) whose heart was frozen by some power of the moon. It goes on to say that trolls have the power to remove magic, but that the only way to thaw a frozen heart is an act of true love.

This is VERY interesting as it implies that someone in the ancient past had a frozen heart. It could just be an old story, something that never actually happened. I personally don’t believe there was ever a single person who was the fifth spirit before Elsa and by extension no human who ever wielded ice powers like hers before. Another option is perhaps whoever it was that angered the spirits in some way or ventured too far into Ahtohallan and began to freeze? Or it could be a figurative frozen heart in the sense of a lack of love and compassion. I suppose only Ahtohallan knows this answer.

The other thing that makes this interesting is that it directly says that an act of true love will thaw a frozen heart. Which means that the answer was right there all along. The entire message of love will thaw was summed up here in runes at the very beginning of the movie. This also means that this was part of an Arendellian myth or story at some point and has been forgotten by the time Elsa is born.

So yeah, not really a big revelation or anything, but it is certainly interesting. I would love to know more details about this story and its origin, but again, only Ahtohallan knows. Overall I do think it's fascinating, as it gives us more information about Ancient Arendellian beliefs and traditions that still hold relevance in the time Frozen is actually set. As someone who is OBSESSED with the ancient myths and stories of Arendelle and the surrounding areas, this is so so intriguing to me and I absolutely love it!

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