What If Arendelle's Queen Isn't Her Birth Mother?

When it was first revealed that Once Upon A Time would take on Frozen , executive producers Adam Horwitz and Edward Kitsis said their take on the Frozen sisters would be different. They were going to put their own spin on the iconic characters, though I don't really know if you can call something iconic if it's only been around for 320 days (I did the math. I also can tell you that in those 320 days, you could have watched Frozen roughly 5,102 times back to back, which I think some people actually did). The sisters now reside in the world of OUAT and one of them has taken up residence in Storybrooke while the other is still MIA. There are definitely more surprises ahead, and since Elizabeth Mitchell's long awaited (possible) Snow Queen will get a proper introduction on Sunday night's episode, I think she'll have a new spin too. As Bustle's Kadeen Griffiths previously speculated, I think the Snow Queen is Elsa's birth mother.

Stop hyperventilating into that paper bag for a minute and hear me out. There's always been something in the back of my mind that said there's something kinda fishy about these sisters. They have startlingly different hair colors. Elsa doesn't love sandwiches. Also, only one of them has magical ice powers. The other just has the power of adorkability.

If Horwitz and Kistis want to give viewers a real twist, this would be the perfect way to do it. This is how they'll differentiate themselves from the film, and instead of becoming a Frozen sequel, OUAT will become a sort of sideways Frozen. It was highly speculated that Mitchell's character might be their mother when she was initially cast, and the resemblance between her and Elsa really is striking. It is worth noting that the character has always been described as someone who has "ties" to the sisters. Yeah, maybe it's because she secretly gave birth to one of them, Cora-style.

What if way back when, or, ahem, "a long time ago"as the title card said — and I went into a mild blackout, thinking about what happens if OUAT gets their hands on the Star Wars Universe — the Snow Queen managed to get herself into a kerfuffle with the king and queen of Arendelle. She's banished, but leaves a baby behind, and the baby is taken in by the royals and raised as their own. Anna would be none the wiser to this, since she wasn't born until after her parents adopted Elsa. She's always had an older sister, so she never stopped to wonder if they are in fact blood-related. The king and queen then set out on their sea voyage to find the Snow Queen again, because their daughter can't control her powers. The only one to help this situation is her birth mom, who shares those powers.

Movie Elsa learns to control her powers. OUAT's Elsa can't control her powers in the least bit. She manages to put up an ice wall around Storybrooke, and then whoops, she can't take it down. Cut to Mitchell's icy ice cream parlor and the quick tease of what we're about to see. Currently, on IMDB, she's listed as appearing in four episodes this season and one of them is titled "Family Business." Yes, it might relate to Henry deciding to become a mini sheriff, or OUAT could stick to it's Frozen-heavy Season 4A and this is where we learn Elsa's true heritage.

This sudden revelation might rock Elsa's world (and Anna's too, if she's ever found again), but it won't thaw the relationship already formed between our two favorite singing sisters. OUAT relies heavily on the idea of the family — whether born into it, adopted, or found family through friendships — and I think this new challenge for Elsa and Anna would easily fit into the show's overall theme. Just because you learn you're not biologically related to someone doesn't make them any less of a sister to you.

And that is my OUAT conspiracy theory for the day.

Images: Katie Yu/ABC; killianhook/tumblr; Giphy