A spontaneous idea I had after glimpsing a video titled "Arendelle makes no sense," saw the uniforms of the royal guard, Googled and searched fanart of the Arendelle, then I binged some Napoleonic history and music, and now I'm here with a dumb idea. . .
Not canon-compliant, so here's a quick rundown of the world this takes place.
Arendelle is a kingdom that rebelled from the Kingdom of Norway in the 1770s and would conquer it by 1796 when King Agnar I and Queen Iduna disappeared during a voyage in the North Sea.
1799 is when the events of Frozen I happen, and 1800 is when Frozen II happens, with the ending slightly changed with Arendelle becoming a "seasonal monarchy" where Anna rules during the summer and Elsa rules during the winter (Based on a comment in the video mentioned earlier that I thought was cool).
It is now 1803, the Napoleonic wars have started, and the Southern Isles declare war on the much larger Arendelle to avenge Prince Hans and conquer the kingdom.
We now go to the frontlines near the coast roughly a month after hostilities began and the Isles forces took numerous coastal forts where our story begins with the Arendelle counter-offensive.
Karl Adolph looked down at his rifle and began meticulously cleaning it with an oiled dew rag, making sure to scrub every crevice, mechanical, superficial, and otherwise, to ensure its functionality. He had moderately long, curly blonde-brown hair that ended in mullet, constantly getting in the way of his work that he had gotten used to; his face was mostly barren with only small bristles of hair and small marks of battle on it, while his body, while somewhat slender at a towering six foot, was still well toned due to constant drilling over the course of nearly six years. His uniform was a long green trench coat with black belting topped off by a green shoulder cape, a purple collar, and a tall brimmed black shako with a purple and green hackle at its peak.
In an earlier skirmish, after falling in a particularly muddy patch of snow, his weapon was useless for the rest of the battle, and it took complete dismantling and rebuilding of each component and mechanism to unjam it. While cleaning equipment often was not an alien concept for the time, Karl became particularly overzealous with his maintenance, usually doing it multiple times per day, regardless of the conditions. After that, his unit, the 3rd Fredrikstord Grenaderkompani of the Arlandske Regiment, had given him the nickname of "the busiest Royal Guardsman'' due to his standards being seemingly similar to that of the royal guard.
However, over the last month of battles, he had earned a nobler reputation in his unit for being particularly brave or more accurately, completely disregarding his safety. He was a fearless man despite his young age of 22; he was so bold that his commanding officer, Kaptein Magnus Krag, had offered him the opportunity for officer training once the war was over. Despite not being of noble birth, he graciously accepted and became his second in command in their later engagements.
Now, a week after becoming the second in command of the company, they were about to take part in the largest engagement of the war where more than three thousand men would fight, the battle of Oslong.
Oslong was a small fishing village of little significance, but to the south of the town was the coastal fortress town of Sorhold, which was the largest supply hub between the invading army and their homeland to the south. At this point, the Isles' forces had lost naval supremacy and were trying to maintain as much of a presence on land as possible to attempt to live off the land despite it being winter. The Southern army had supplied itself mainly by burning and looting the countryside; and by using anything that wasn't nailed to the ground and digging throughout the month, a massive line of barriers, cannonades, and other defenses to defend a semicircular ring around the village.
When the battle began, the Southern Isles army consisted of ~1,500 men with twenty artillery guns, mostly imported from Sweden and France, and were holding down well-fortified positions. Meanwhile, the Arendelle army consisted of ~2,000 men with only eight guns, but most of their forces were better trained, motivated, and supplied than the enemy army.
As Karl finished cleaning his weapon, orders began being shouted at the forested camp, and soon, his company of 132 men was united and talking of the battle to come. The 3rd Fredrikstord Grenaderkompani would take up their regiment's right flank, while the regiment as a whole would have the left-hand side of the battle. The 3rd specifically would march forward and seize two smaller redoubts, eventually making their way to an artillery position with five of the enemy's guns.
After the men were dismissed to get one last meal in before the battle, Karl began approaching Magnus to discuss their plan. The older man was sitting on a stump; his vibrant green and black uniform clashed with the snow heavily, unlike his nearly perfectly rounded white beard that was topped off by a handlebar mustache, which instead was contrasted by his bald head covered by his tall officers' cap emblazoned with the royal crocus flower of Arendelle.
"You know this is suicide, right?" Karl began, "We'll be exposed on both sides to enemy fire, and their guns will have a field day once we crest the hill."
"I know . . ." Magnus said solemnly, but quickly looked up with a jolly smile, "Were grenadiers son! We're supposed to look death and his face and tell him to go back to hell!"
Karl immediately understood that the old man didn't have a choice, their glorious leader, General Sigmund, count of Aagland, had determined no sacrifice too great and was one to not mind spilling a little blood for the sake of victory.
"Well then . . ." Karl said with a small smile, "I suppose then all we have to do is give those islanders a good kicking!" The kaptein looked down again, giggling as he got up and began to walk with his second-in-command to have his last supper.
An hour and a half later, the army was marching towards the white-covered battlefield; exiting the treeline, many men were intimidated by the entrenched positions, most of which had an elevated position. But before they could think further, both sides' artillery began to fill the battlefield with a cacophony of shots and yells; none of the shells made direct impacts with the line, but some did hit the frantic artillery crews positioned roughly twenty feet in front of the men.
Magnus checked his pocket watch constantly during the opening bombardment and after half an hour, he and the other officers began barking orders to move forward. The line was divided into sections, with each company of roughly one hundred men meant to link together once they arrived at their designated redoubts.
"3RD KOMPANI! ADVANCE FORWARD! QUICK MARCH!" After this was said, Karl repeated it, "3RD KOMPANI! ADVANCE FORWARD! QUICK MARCH!"
The soldiers marched forward in two ranks in each section, with drummers and fifers behind them, providing a beat to march with.
As the men began marching, some of the lines were hit by cannonballs, some directly resulting in horrid damage to the unit and others from the shot bouncing off the ground. Limbs, blood, and gore flew all over every time a cannon shot hit a line; some men were so shocked by the sight they froze after the shell hit, only to be yelled at by their comrades and officers to fall back in line. Even after the brutality, the 3rd and the rest of the Arlandske Regiment continued to march.
As the lines began approaching the redoubts, they began to shout cries of battle and glory, egged on by their officers.
"FOR ARENDELLE AND THE TWIN QUEENS!" Magnus shouted over the hail of screams, roars, and shots; just after he had screamed this, the enemy lines on the fortifications had begun to fire by volleys and then at will at the approaching army.
Audio for extra immersion: https/watch?v=jBt-k6veB4k
More cries and screams could be heard, with the buzzing of bullets and crack of rifles, with five men in Karl's company being shot by the enemy; whether wounded or dead, it didn't matter, and the company continued to march. Even as blood got onto his uniform, Karl knew stopping or retreating would be more suicidal than, at this point, taking the redoubt.
Just as the men had reached less than one hundred yards from the enemy, Magnus gave the order to hold the line.
"3RD KOMPANI! HOLD YOUR POSITIONS! MAKE READY!" Even as shots rushed past their heads, Karl and the men repeated and did as they were told.
"PRESENT ARMS!" Magnus ordered, "PRESENT ARMS!" Karl repeated. The men aimed their muskets up towards the fortifications as random fire from it kept raining down on them.
Magnus raised his saber in the air as if about to signal a race to begin and yelled, "FIRE!"
"FIRE!" Karl yelled as the front of the company was enveloped by smoke while the effect was unknown; Karl knew it scared the enemy at the very least.
"3RD KOMPANI! CHARGE AND GIVE THEM NO QUARTER!" Magnus shouted with Karl repeating the command, "CHARGE AND GIVE THEM NO QUARTER!" while rushing forward with his bayonet pointed toward the enemy.
"FOR TH- . . ." Before Magnus could finish his battle cry, he began falling toward the ground; Karl, without a moment's hesitation, grabbed his officer cap and saber while dropping his musket and dawning both, making sure to quickly lay the dead man on the ground before rushing forward with his company. "FOR THE DUAL MONARCHY!"
Most of the men seemingly didn't notice this event as they continued to shout and charge their enemy, taking scattered enemy shots that rushed over the makeshift wall and into the hostile line.
As Karl looked into the trench line, he saw the furious brawl, men stabbing, punching, striking, hitting, and killing each other desperately with anything they could get their hands on. As he entered the bloodbath, a blue-coated southern soldier attempted to charge him; he responded by parrying his musket to the right and slashing his throat open with his saber.
Before Karl could catch his breath, another enemy, an older officer with a long beard, rushed him with his saber, slashing upward and cutting Karl's left eye open. The Arendelle soldier quickly recovered and moved back taking a defensive stance with his sword, while his opponent began preparing to charge at him again. Just before the two could duel, a bang rang out, and the enemy officer fell, screaming in agony from a shot to his stomach. Karl looked to his left and saw one of his comrades holding a smoking gun and nodding at him silently. Karl returned the gestures and rejoined the fight, helping any ally who was getting overwhelmed and continuing to bark orders at anyone who would or could listen.
After about three minutes of chaotic brawling, the southern forces began to retreat, and Karl, attempting to reorder his men by raising his saber and screaming as bullets and cannonballs began landing and buzzing past and around him, "3RD KOMPANI! REFOR . . ."
Before he could finish, sharp, immense pain washed over him, and as looked toward his right arm, it was gone. Cut off in the midsection between the shoulder and elbow must have been a cannonball; he mulled in his mind had he lost balance and fallen to one knee. But he knew he couldn't stop now; his men needed him, so grabbing his saber from his severed arm, he once more raised it to the sky, this time with his left hand.
"3RD KOMPANI! REFORM WITH ME! HOLD!" The men did as they were told, and together, they completed all of their objectives during the battle despite Karl taking three more major wounds, all bayonet stabs, and the company taking more than 80 percent casualties, with half of the company dead. Only after seizing the artillery battery, they were tasked with taking, did Karl finally pass out and was dragged back to a hospital.
The battle of Oslong resulted in both sides taking roughly 1,000 casualties, but while the Arendelle forces could afford these losses, the Southern Isles army could not. Less than a week later, Sorhold and the rest of the invading army were forced out of the country in a daring night escape from the Arendelle blockade. The 3rd Fredrikstord Grenaderkompani, for their bravery during the battle, would become known as "The Heroes' Kompani,'' their heroic tale spreading like wildfire through the country in the days after the climactic battle.
After the battle, the remainder of this right arm was amputated to avoid any risk of infection and would be greeted by General Sigmund and his command staff, who had initially assumed the one-armed commander of the 3rd was still Magnus but were shocked instead to find his commoner protégé. Regardless, Sigmund could not understate his respect for the soldier and would personally recommend him for the Flower of Chivalry, the highest military honor in Arendelle, saying to him, "You best get brushed up, young sir, because you're about to become a hero! And also shave that thing on your face; it's quite unsightly." Karl merely responded with a nod, yes sir, and saluted with his left hand.
The next few weeks became a blur for Karl; after being discharged from the hospital, the Arlandske Regiment would be marching in a parade at the capital with an award ceremony with him being the centerpiece as the "Hero of Oslong," which became one of many jokes that the 3rd had about their new commanding officer.
Meanwhile, at the capital in the aftermath of the battle, Queen Elsa read the reports on the battle and sighed, so much pointless death and destruction, she thought, but something had caught her attention, an apparent hero of the conflict. A soldier who had led his company to glory despite his officer's death and personal injury, although the details were vague apart from his name and rank, now Kaptein Karl Adolph. Just as she thought about the newly promoted kaptein, a knock came on her door.
"Come in . . ." She said absentmindedly, still lost in thought.
"HELLO SIS!" The sudden noise had caused her to jump, though she should have gotten used to her sister and co-ruler's ceaseless energy, even as an adult.
"Oh, sorry about that. . ." Anna said with a nervous giggle.
"It's fine, I wasn't doing much anyway, just catching up on the situation on the frontlines," Elsa responded.
"Oh? What's been happening down south? Nobody has told me anything, and it's killing me!" Her sister said, annoyed.
"Well, actually mostly good news, the recent battle has caused the invaders to fall back. They most likely will leave or be defeated in less than a month, and apparently, a hero has . . ."
Before Elsa could finish, Anna interrupted, "A HERO?!?"
"Uhh, yes, a hero, a man who led his men in front, taking multiple enemy positions and cannons, and has been recommended for the Flower of Chivalry," Elsa said, as Anna's mind was full of childlike wonder and images of Joan of Arc, Richard the Lionheart, King Arthur and all sorts of legendary heroes of the past.
"Oh, I can't wait to meet him! I wonder if it was like fighting for justice against evil! I wonder what a true hero is like?" Anna said proudly, as Elsa just listened to her sister's fantasies, but she found herself wondering the same question. What is a real hero like?
As the Arlandske Regiment made its long march towards the capital, its men wanted badly to celebrate their victory through drink and other vices, but their commanders would have none of it. Karl, particularly, was put under the microscope constantly to ensure that the "Hero of Oslong," who would be representing the entire Arendelle army, was to look and act the part. While the cleanliness he didn't mind, the lack of freedom, especially, rubbed him the wrong way; how to act as an officer, never to curse, to behave like a noble, not a soldier, and he hated it. But, as he saw it, he would need to deal with it eventually as he would become an officer one way or another, and sooner was better than later.
When the Arlandske Regiment entered the capital, they were given a true hero's welcome, banners, ribbons, and cheering crowds and all. As they marched in formation through the city, few knew who the "Hero of Oslong" was or what he even looked like but one of the last units marching hid him on their left flank, which left many unable to see his missing eye and appendage. The parade ended with the regiment entering an area in front of the palace where the nobles, royal advisors, and the twins sat waiting in anticipation to see the brave men Arendelle make their appearance.
At the end of their march, the regiment stood at attention in two long columns in front of a slightly elevated platform that the nobles sat at as first their General Sigmund gave a speech on their honor and bravery during the campaign. Then, a few officers and other nobles spoke, giving thanks, praise, and honoring the soldiers of the regiment, but they would be footnotes to the main event of precession, the queen's speech.
The queen's speech was different; while she did thank the men and officers of the regiment, she wanted to remind everyone of why they fought, not to conquer nor destroy, but to live on toward a future peace, and no soldier showed this love of the nation and piece more than the "Hero of Oslong," Kaptein Karl Adolph.
When Karl heard his name, he marched forward of his regiment and entered the corridor between the regiment silently but briskly. Once he revealed himself, the nobles and royalty sat there in morbid awe of what a real hero looked like.
What they saw was a well-groomed and uniformed man who had slightly long hair with a long saber at his hip. But the gasps came from his face while well-groomed; it had dozens of small and long scars, and a black eyepatch on his left eye left little to the imagination of what was behind it or not behind it, to be specific. But then the greatest revelation was that a gust of wind came from his left and blew his right sleeve up and parallel with his shoulder, showing that the contents were missing.
As Anna sat there in shock after the wind had revealed his lost limb, her mind raced with thoughts and justifications. Is that really what a hero looks like? He looks so young and . . . hurt. I thought the battle was a victory, then why did he lose so much? What exactly happened on that battlefield? Somebody should help him, he's not going to be sent to fight again, is he?
As Anna was lost in thought, Karl had reached the stage and bowed on one knee in front of Elsa; with the same stern yet emotionless stare he had maintained throughout the precession.
"Thank you for your brave service to this kingdom and fellow soldiers. For your great sacrifices and actions, you have proven to the entire kingdom what true virtue is. I pray that this award is enough to repay you for all that you have done in service to this land's people. kaptein Karl Adolph, I am most pleased to present to you the Flower of Chivalry for your actions and courage." Elsa said solemnly, unable to comprehend or even imagine the pain this man had been through. As she finished she reached for a purple and green ribbon with a golden medallion in the shape of the Arendelle crocus.
Karl stood up and allowed the woman to place the medal on the right side of his chest, bowing slightly and saying, "Thank you, Your Majesty. I am honored to fight for you and this kingdom and will continue to fight."
Elsa returned the gesture with a bittersweet bow and smile, and they both turned back to face the crowd and were meant by parade drums, fifes, and other military instruments. The nobles stood and clapped while the men in the crowd let out a cheer of jubilation as Karl stood there and saluted with his left arm. Meanwhile, Anna was nearly about to burst into tears. There is no way he can go back out and fight! It's not fair! Does he even want to keep fighting? Maybe he isn't allowed to leave? I'm not an expert on how the army works, but . . .
As the praise died down, the two stood in front of each other once more and gave a last bow, but before Karl could fall back in line, a command to stop was heard from behind him.
"Wait!" The crowd turned to see the other queen standing with one of her arms outstretched toward the soldier despite being about five feet away from him.
Anna stood in silence for a moment before continuing, "Uhhh, I just remembered! We determined that the kaptein should also receive another great, umm, honor due to his actions!"
It was clear to everyone that this was spontaneous, but everyone wondered what other award could be given. The Flower of Chivalry was Arendelle's highest military honor, and a promotion to the kaptein would require officer training, so what else was left?
"We have uhh . . ." Anna thought for a moment how to help him; she couldn't bear to have him simply continue as a soldier and bear through more terrible injury, or worse. She needed to think of something safe and easy for him to do, but what? What was a nice and peaceful military job he could have . . .
Just then, it came to her. "We have decided to induct Kaptein Karl Adolph into the royal guard!"
Everyone in the area, including her sister, looked visibly shocked, but none more so than Karl, which was the first show of emotions he had dispensed all afternoon.
Elsa was somehow mad, disappointed, proud, and shocked at the same time but understood why her sister was doing this; she wanted to save him; why did she have to be so nice to everything in existence?
"Uh, Yes, we both discussed this and thought that we would rather have no one else but a true hero of Arendelle as one of our guardians." Elsa quickly said after recovering from the initial shock.
Karl stared bewildered at his two queens and wondered how he had gotten into this situation; why was he joining the royal guard? That thing was a tool for nobles to get their sons in high places and for old men to retire gracefully, not a, albeit wounded, soldier in the prime of his life and was ready to continue the fight. It was complete madness that royalty would want a commoner, even one as capable as himself, to guard them.
As Karl's mind thought the clapping slowly and awkwardly came back, the music and cheer started once more for the first commoner member of the royal guards to be picked.
As the music began to crescendo and Karl stared at the crowd and then back at the two smiling monarchs' faces, he cursed the old man for dying at Oslong and his entire company for the endless amount of grief the "busiest Royal Guardsman" was about to get from them, due to his new "promotion." And he wondered what divine 'kindness' had led him to receive this curse.