Having been raised to believe her powers were to be feared and to never expose them, Elsa always tried to hold her powers in check and bury them deep within herself. But whenever she did use them (willingly or not) she could never deny the euphoric thrill that would course through her, causing her to lose further control until she could reign herself in. But when her parents tragically died en route to attend the wedding of her distant cousin Rapunzel, Elsa lost her greatest calming influence and reason for hiding her powers: her father. Completely shutting off the rest of the world over the pain she feels at having lost her parents, and the guilt that their death has left her in charge of the kingdom of Arendelle, Elsa awaits the day of her coronation with dread and unease.

Three years later, when the day finally here, Elsa invites everyone she could think of to attend the event. But when a series of events starting with Rapunzel's attempts to offer Elsa her sympathies at the death of her parents all those years ago, and ending with Elsa arguing with her estranged younger sister Anna leaves the truth of Elsa's powers out in the open, the recently crowned monarch flees to the fjords that surround the castle.

As she runs away, Elsa's emotions of fear, guilt and anger that have surrounded her use of her powers melts away. Finally letting go of her perceived obligations to her family and kingdom, Elsa's powers explode as she blankets the kingdom in a blizzard and builds for herself a glacial palace high in the mountain. Indulging herself to the fullest extent over the next few days with her newfound control over her powers, Elsa is surprised and angered when her sister arrives at her new home demanding that she return to Arendelle and end the blizzard that has gripped the kingdom.

Faced with the one she blames the most for her forced isolation for the past fifteen years in the form of her sister, Elsa invites Anna into her palace, and then immediately has the ice sculptures of their parents throw her in the dungeon. Anna, confused as to what her sister has done and why she is doing it, pleads with her sister to stop. Enraged by her sister's pleas and questions, Elsa reveals how it's all Anna's fault, how she had to hide the truth of who she was because of Anna's childhood injury and subsequent memory modification by the rock trolls. As she explains all this, Elsa's anger continues to build until she claims that she will no longer hide herself from the world, that she's "Let it go." At the peak of Elsa's angry outburst, she unleashes a blast of magic that strikes Anna in the heart.

Realizing that she has just sentenced her sister to a slow and cold death, Elsa offers one last taunt to Anna before leaving her to suffer alone and cold (as Elsa had suffered through the years): "You know Anna, I think I'm finally ready to build a snowman." And with a wave of her hand, Elsa creates a snowman in the shape of the one she'd made on that fateful day all those years ago, leaving him to guard her sister and report when she would be too cold to save herself.