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Mention the movie Frozen and the first thing that most people would think about is the song "Let It Go." And that's for good reason because it's a really catchy song that's easy to sing along to. Catchy songs are pretty much signature features of Disney films and Frozen is no exception.

Aside from the song, what also distinguishes Frozen is the fact that a lot of little girls want to be like Elsa, at least to dress up like her if not have her powers. After all, Elsa's powers are exactly what drives the plot of the movie as hinted at in the title.

But that brings us to the question burning (a deliberately ironic choice of word) in the minds of people. Why was Elsa gifted with icy powers while her sister Anna was not?

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A simplistic way of answering this is to pass Elsa's power off as a plot device to create tension in the story. After all, if not for Elsa's power and the problems it causes her, there's really no story at all. If Frozen was just one movie, perhaps we could leave it at that.

But then Frozen 2 came out and here we are treated to a deeper look into the backstory of how Elsa got her powers. Needless to say, if you haven't watched Frozen 2 yet, there are huge spoilers ahead!

A mysterious voice is calling Elsa, prompting her to embark on a journey to the Enchanted Forest while accompanied by the trio of Olaf, Kristoff, and Sven. During their journey, the group encounters avatars of spirits representing the four elements. These spirits include the Earth Giants, Bruni the fire spirit, the Kelpie Nøkk, and "Gale" the wind spirit. It quickly becomes clear to Elsa that her presence tends to calm these spirits.

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Pushing on, Elsa and her friends eventually reach Ahtohallan. This is a mystical river that is supposedly a repository of past memories. Appropriately enough, the river itself is frozen and it is here where Elsa finds out that the voice that was calling to her was that of her mother's memory. Elsa also learns that the spirits themselves granted her the power to control ice. Not only that, Elsa herself is the embodiment of the fifth spirit, a bridge between human civilization and Mother Nature.

The next question, then, is why was Elsa chosen in the first place? The answer is tied to her mother, Queen Iduna.

Iduna was part of the Northulda, a tribe living within the Enchanted Forest. They were also the northern neighbor of Arendelle, the kingdom where Elsa and Anna's father, King Agnarr, was from.

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Because they lived within the Enchanted Forest, the Northuldans were attuned to the elemental spirits. In fact, Iduna was very friendly with the spirits, especially the spirit of the wind. This friendship would play a crucial part in subsequent events.

Back when Agnarr was still a prince, a war broke out between Northulda and Arendelle. Agnarr was with his father King Runeard in the Enchanted Forest when the king and all his guards were killed. The spirits were so angered that they put a curse on the forest and everyone in it.

Prince Agnarr would have met the same fate if not for Iduna who with the help of the elemental spirit of the wind who she was friends with carried them away to safety. In the chaos of the escape, all Agnarr knew was that he was saved by a girl but didn't know who it was.

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But with both of them now living in Arendelle, Agnaarr and Iduna formally got acquainted and fell in love, got married, and produced two children, Elsa and Anna. One twist to the story is that Iduna didn't reveal her true heritage nor the fact that she was the one who saved Agnarr because of the tensions between Northulda and Arendelle.

In honor of Iduna's bravery in saving Prince Agnarr despite him being the son of an enemy king, the elemental spirits gifted Elsa with power over ice.

While Frozen 2 does a good job of providing a detailed backstory for Elsa's powers, it, unfortunately, does not really focus on why Anna missed out on those same powers. However, it's still possible to theorize on the reasons.

Via Disney

One possibility is the fact that Elsa was the eldest and therefore, was simply in line to receive those powers. Iduna only performed one act of bravery and so the elemental spirits only needed to honor that act once. In short, Anna just had the misfortune of being born the second child.

Another possibility is that Disney may simply be keeping their options open for Frozen 3. In a third movie, they could possibly reveal that Anna actually had hitherto unknown and undeveloped powers of her own and that could be the driving point for a future storyline.

But if you want to be more philosophical about it, the story of Frozen could simply be a demonstration of acceptance despite one's differences. In this case, it didn't matter that Elsa had powers and Anna did not. What was important was that they loved each other despite those powers or lack of them.