#northuldra genetics

[heartshards]

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the broadway version basically the first Frozen film, so essentially connected to the second one as well? So shouldn't you be using a faceclaim who's Sami?

god I've literally been back for less than 24hrs

ahem. so yes, the musical is more-or-less the first film expanded upon. and yes, Frozen 2 does confirm Anna & Elsa are half-Northuldran on their mother's side. and yes, Walt Disney Studios has confirmed the Northuldra, the indigenous population trapped by the mist in the enchanted forest, are partially based on Norway's Sami people.

now I'd like to point out a few things.

first, I have been writing Elsa since 2013, when the first movie came out. I have used Lily James as a secondary/modern/as-needed faceclaim since that time. second, I situate Arendelle in modern/"real-world" verses in Denmark, since Frozen is based on The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen, a Danish author. third, and I cannot stress this enough, Arendelle and the Northuldra are fictitious, they are not exact representations of any one indigenous population, rather, as the studio has said, they can represent the subjugation of many different indigenous persons across Europe and North America. using any one particular indigenous actress might come close, but nothing would be 100% accurate to a people that was invented for animation. they are not, for example, absolutely based on real Columbian people like the characters of Encanto.

yes, Elsa is half-Danish and half-Northuldran, but she's also not entirely human at all – she is a spirit gifted to Arendelle in somewhat human form. if we want to get into the nitty-gritty of genetics, she wouldn't have blonde hair with her parents. it's scientifically impossible.

now I want to be clear I'm not trying use ~magic~ as an excuse to whitewash. I just think it's a bit odd to have someone jump in my inbox not 24 hours after I come back to writing Elsa and point out a faceclaim I barely even use. 90% of my icons are icons of the various musical actresses from bootlegs of the show. I only chose Lily back in the day because I felt she had the right expressions/mannerisms/costumes for Elsa. no, she isn't Danish, but as someone of white European descent, I wouldn't care if a British person played me when I'm technically Dutch. I will say straight out I am not of indigenous descent, so I won't speak for any such community, but I am also aware actresses that are half-Sami are pretty few and far between. if someone wants to suggest one to me that might work for Elsa, I am very open to it! but I want to circle this back to the fact that I really don't use icons super often anymore anyway. half my partners are iconless so I am moving more in that direction.

also, just as an aside, actresses of several different races and ethnicities have played Elsa and Anna and their parents in the musical, because it is a fictional, magical world. yes, based on the real one, but nonetheless, having a black Elsa or Anna or a Filipino Anna or a Japanese Elsa (all of which we have had in the stage show) hasn't undermined the story.

I would never claim Elsa's connection to the Northuldra is anything other than very important to her character, but I think nit-picking this element of my blog I don't even use often feels to me a bit more performative than actually helpful, especially when sent as an anon and not approaching as an actual conversation. I am always available via DM if you'd like to chat, though.

#again I'm not trying to make excuses but #half white european half indigenous european in a magical enchanted forest with genetically impossible features #for icons I use maybe 10% of the time #I just... I write a great deal about her connection to the northuldran mythology #so it's not as if I'm trying to erase her connection to it #so idk this just strikes me as picking an argument over not much but again #please just DM me if you are indigenous and feel otherwise I am more than happy to listen #ɪ ᴄᴀɴ'ᴛ ᴡᴀɪᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴅɪᴇ ɪɴ ᴀ sɴᴏᴡʙᴀɴᴋ╰ out of.

[atarahderek]

The Gaang - Africa and Europe

For some reason, DeviantArt is really not working on my desktop, so I’ll just be uploading here for a while.

Anyway, Someone else’s fan art inspired me to experiment with a reinterpretation of Avatar: The Last Airbender. What if the creators had drawn the bulk of their inspiration from Africa/Austronesia or from Europe? This is the start of what I came up with (I also have Suki in the works and may include the Order of the White Lotus at a later time).

I kept the characters’ associated colors and identifying features as much as I could, for familiarity’s sake.

Aang

The inspiration for African Aang is drawn from the Malagasy people–specifically from the Merina and Betsileo peoples of the highlands of Madagascar. His outfit is inspired by a folk band that represented the closest thing I could find to 19th century Malagasy semi-formal dress. The Malagasies originated in Austronesia, sharing a genetic and linguistic ancestry with the peoples of Indonesia, Australia and Melanesia. Since the Austronesian peoples were historically nomadic to varying degrees (island hopping, after all), I thought it would be appropriate to make Aang Malagasy. Madagascar is also strongly influenced by bloodlines from both India and mainland Africa. Actually, they have a disproportionate number of beautiful people, imo, with some of the most contagious smiles in the world.

Somewhat similar is the European version of Aang, whom I have made Romani. The Roma are originally descended from people groups of northern India, and are traditionally nomadic. Their connection to India–the Himalayan region in particular–and nomadic roots made the Roma the perfect inspiration for a European version of Aang. Like the Air Nomads, the Roma were subject to genocides that attempted to eradicate them. Today, they are still one of the most discriminated against ethnic groups in Europe. They also suffer subtle but notable discrimination in the US.

Sokka and Katara

I drew my inspiration for these two from Melanesia–especially the Solomon Islands–and Australia. Because Sokka couldn’t be without his boomerang. Melanesia is tucked right up in between Micronesia, Indonesia and Polynesia. The Pacific Islands in general were influential on the worldbuilding for the Water Tribes, so Melanesia was a natural choice for recreating waterbenders in this re-imagining. Sokka does not always wear Aboriginal body paint. I just wanted to show what it looks like when he does put it on.

European Sokka and Katara are inspired by the Sami people of northern Scandinavia and Russia–the same people who inspired both Kristoff and the Northuldra people of the Frozen franchise. There is some Norse influence as well, particularly in Sokka’s choice of weapons. If I draw Pakku at a later date, he will be more heavily influenced by Norse culture. Of this set, I am least satisfied with Sami Katara. Her eye got screwed up in the inking process, so I attempted to fix it in Photoshop, with mixed results. It still bugs me.

Toph

For Toph and Zuko’s African designs, I drew inspiration from some of the wealthiest areas in Africa in the 19th century. For Toph I chose Ethiopia, which by that point was very heavily influenced by both Middle Eastern and European fashion. Toph’s travel and fighting outfit therefore didn’t go through an extensive redesign.

European Toph comes from a traditional Austrian-style family. She probably borrowed the dress from a servant’s daughter, and keeps it hitched up for freedom of movement. Out of all these characters, I think Austrian Toph looks the most anime. More anime, ironically, than she does when I draw her in her original Asian design.

Zuko

For African Zuko, I chose Mali to inspire his redesign. Mali was once the most powerful empire in sub-Saharan Africa, and was an extremely valuable trade partner for Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East. In the 19th century, military attire was influenced partially by Arab fashion and partly by standard African fashion of that region. I chose to draw Book 1 Zuko and Book 3 Zuko to get the broadest representation I could without drawing him half a dozen times–which I could easily do, as he goes through the most physical changes in the series. Tried to make the phoenix plume work; I couldn’t.

European Zuko had to be British. The British empire was at its height during the Victorian era. I referenced historical European martial arts (HEMA) for Zuko’s weapons. HEMA does not use dual swords. Instead, dual wielding is done with a rapier and a knife or dagger.

#Avatar The Last Airbender #Gaang #Aang #Zuko #Sokka #Katara #Toph #redesign #re-imagined #Africa #Europe

[fiiimbulvetr]

Official RE Verse

Based on previous notes, here is the official verse. Pretty proud of how I made all of this work. It’s much like canon... But darker. 

Elsa was born into a long line of Arendellian nobility. It had been a traditional family until the union of her mother and father. Her mother was born from the tribal Northuldra/Sami people who lived far north in a forest. They lived in harmony with nature and had a strong belief in a spirit/spiritual body that watched over them and held the answers to their past. The Northuldra seemed in-tune with nature and had an understanding of the land and what it needed beyond what the Arendelle people could comprehend. Unfortunately a conflict arose between them and the king of Arendelle, who wanted to take their fertile land by force to expand his kingdom. In the conflict nearly all of the tribe and the king were killed. The only one to escape with the Arendelle survivors was a Northuldra girl, Iduna. Elsa’s mother. The only one with memory of the ‘great spirit’ her tribe believed in.  

After these events, the forest seemed to close itself off. Thick brambles and a heavy mist that made traversing it unsafe fell upon the forest and it became inhabitable. 

As it turns out, the spirit that held the secrets and memories of the Northuldra was a great growth the locals called ‘Ahtohallan’. A mutamycete that was hidden inside a glacier some ways off of the shores of the forest where the Northuldra lived. It had grown and adapted to the cold and was shedding parts of itself into the water as the glacier melted slowly over time. The water that shed off traveled to the the land where the Northuldra used it to drink and water their crops. It became a part of their people and lived vicariously through them. Influencing them, giving them the information they needed to thrive and spread itself by growing their population.

Induna took this infection with her and passed it on to her first born. 

Elsa received the mutamycete infection unknowingly from her mother. The mold escaped Iduna’s body into the fetus and crafted a host for itself. The mutamycete’s network, now aggravated and aggressive, mutated, causing changes to the baby’s genetics beyond making them an unknowing carrier. It now needed to defend itself and gave Elsa incredible abilities to allow this. Abilities she didn’t fully understand or know how to control. This resulted in an accident in which Elsa accidentally used her powers on her younger sister. 

Anna, a few years younger, received far less of the infectious material as most of it left Iduna’s body with Elsa. This low affinity for the Ahtohallan mutamycete caused her to have a severe reaction when she came in contact with Elsa’s more aggressive ahtohallan given abilities. Nearly killing her and taking her memories of the events. As a result, their parents could not continue to allow Elsa near Anna for fear that her powers would kill her sister if she couldn’t control them. 

She could withstand glacial temperatures and even induce feelings of cold in others. She could create white spores in flurries that looked like blizzards and when those spores touched human skin, their bodies reacted as if they were ice cold. Her powers could make a man think he was freezing to death in the middle of summer. These abilities were tied to her heart and nervous system, which lead to her powers being heavily influenced by her emotions. When Elsa experienced the highs and lows of emotions, her powers would fluctuate in unpredictable and often destructive ways. 

Without something to ground herself and keep her steady, and to bring her back down from those highs, Elsa’s powers threatened to consume her entirely and the entire city. On her 21st birthday, 3 years after the death of ther parents and on her first day introduced into society with other people Elsa’s stress, anxiety and fear caused a mutation that caused her to release ‘snow’ spores uncontrollably. She turned into a great ‘blizzard’ that threatened all of Arendelle until her sister Anna came and acted as her anchor to help bring her back down from the emotional high. There was significant property damage and there was no way to track the spread of any infection that might have taken place as a result, but with Anna’s help no one died. 

Elsa and Anna continued to stay together until Elsa felt that she was being called away from her life by something far to the north. Some kind of mind attached to her own, giving her flashes of places she’d never seen but that looked familiar. Things that reminded her of the stories their mother told them of ‘Ahtohallan’. She went in search of it and found the remains of the Northuldra tribe and what the survivors left behind when they fled... And after facing Ahtohallan’s trials to be certain its host was strong and worthy enough, Elsa was given entry into the glacier to see the glorious megacycete and learn the truth of her abilities. 

Anna had her objections, but Elsa knew that this was where she needed to stay. She needed to understand these gifts, she needed to make sure no one else found the growth or became infected by it. So she stayed to guard the glacier and the surrounding forest to keep intruders away. No one would drink water from this forest or hunt the animals that lived there for fear of taking the infection with the meat. Elsa’s infection gave her the power to live a longer-than-average lifespan so that she could continue this duty for as long as possible. 

The only time Elsa leaves the forest is when she hears of/senses another outbreak of infection elsewhere in the world. Uncertain if it could be a different strand or if perhaps it was being spread by the lost members of the Northuldra tribe, Elsa went to investigate.

#V { Infectious Cold } (RE) #ooc #*hands you this like a proud mother hands you their child*

[sniperct]

Why don't Anna or Elsa have any northuldra features or complexion

Retcons happen, but there can be in universe explanations as well

a) there was a post going around talking about how many sami do have lighter complexions, largely due to intermingling, which is a whole other discussion that I simply don’t have the spoons for today.

b) Kristoff and anna both have concept art where they’re dressed in sami style outfits and in the script draft he was described as one

c) they’re half northuldra and genetics are weird. Anna is also noticeably ruddier than elsa is, so we have the ice powers excuse for elsa. (she could also be somewhat albino if we really wanted to think about it)

d) there are are northuldra in the background with darker skin than HM and others with lighter skin and also a surprising-for-disney variety in facial features

e) genetics is weird

Retcons don’t have to be bad. (I mean, you could consider the whole maiden stuff in RWBY ‘retcons’)

Sometimes when you’re plotting or writing, you hit on a thing. A story note, an idea, a revelation from the characters where they straight up go ‘hey this is a thing’

And suddenly things kind of fall into place. Past writing makes more sense, the plot you’re working on suddenly has a way forward or ties better into the past writing.

#Anonymous

[fangirl4life20]

You know you’re a science nerd when you spend like 30 minutes contemplating whether Kristoff is related to the Northuldra people by anazlying it based on genetics.

#yes i’m a real scientist no lie #for real #frozen 2 #kristoff #frozen #kristoff bjorgman #frozen 2 disney #frozen 2 analysis