Runeard watched as his only son and heir disappeared into a portal.
Without looking back.
The former king of Arendelle let out a sad, regretful sigh as the portal disintegrated into nothing. For the thousandth time, he wished that he never killed Vaettir, the leader of the Northuldra. Like his father before him, Runeard became a ruthless tyrant.
But he was taught to follow a warrior's code.
Killing an unarmed, unsuspecting man from behind had been dishonorable.
Runeard paid the price for his arrogance as he and Vaettir fell off the cliff near the fjord. He shuddered. He remembered falling a long distance, the wind whistling in his ears and ruffling his clothing, as he continued to fall.
He instinctively flailed his limbs, trying to find purchase.
Any surface to grab onto.
But he was too far away from the cliffs. It seemed like it took forever for him to reach the ground. There was a sharp, painful impact.
Then everything went black.
When Runeard opened his eyes, he was surprised to find that he wasn't in hell.
For whatever reason, he'd been sent to limbo. Occasionally, he would observe the living through the enchanted pools. He had way too much time to think. Now that he wasn't blinded by madness, ambition and arrogance, Runeard came to a lot of bitter realizations.
A huge laundry list of regrets.
One of which was not being there for his son.
Agnarr had to rule Arendelle from a young age. Thankfully, he had trusted advisors at his side. But Runeard had allowed his warmongering ambitions and arrogance to consume him.
He could say the same about his fear of magic.
Like most humans, he despised what he couldn't control, much less understand.
Runeard knew that he had to help his son make amends with his daughters. Agnarr made too many mistakes with Elsa and Anna. He suppressed a grimace.
If he were still alive, Runeard knew he would make the same mistakes.
Only worse.
As he would have feared Elsa and her growing powers. At least Runeard finally had an answer as to why he was stuck in Purgatory. He had to wait until Agnarr was ready to see him.
FLASHBACK
"Father?"
Runeard could see the shock, anger and disbelief in his son's voice.
As well as his face.
Not that Runeard could necessarily blame him. After all, it was due to his actions that the Enchanted Forest became cursed. Agnarr only escaped thanks to the selfless actions of a young Northuldran girl named Iduna.
The same girl who become Queen and his daughter-in-law.
If it wasn't for her, Agnarr would still be stuck in the Enchanted Forest.
"What are you doing here?" Eventually, the shock faded and anger and outrage promptly filled the void.
"I know you are angry with me, Agnarr." Runeard said. "But I am not here to make things worse. I'm here to help you set things right with your daughters."
"Set things right?" Agnarr echoed, suppressing a rude snort. "That's pretty rich, coming from you of all people."
"Agnarr." Runeard tried.
"No." Agnarr shook his head. He pointed an accusing finger at his father's face. "YOU were the one to start the conflict between Arendelle and the Northuldra. Not only that but you murdered Iduna's father. He was sitting on the ground near the fjord, calmly sipping his tea, while you struck him from behind. The Enchanted Forest became cursed. Iduna and I barely escaped with our lives. And now, you want to set things right? Why should I even believe you?"
"Look around us, Agnarr." Runeard spread his arms. "I was sent here for a reason."
"I don't understand." Agnarr said.
"After I died, I woke up here." Runeard explained. "So to speak. Due to my actions, which cursed the Enchanted Forest and trapped the Northuldra and the Arendellian guards inside, I should have ended up in hell. Instead, I was sent to limbo."
"So your purpose is to mend bridges between my daughters and me?" Agnarr asked sarcastically. He kept a wary eye on his father that came from habit more than anything else.
Secretly, Runeard didn't blame him.
He inwardly grimaced.
He wasn't the best father to his son. Truth be told, Runeard never learned how to BE a proper father. It was family tradition to raise one's heir the hard way. If Agnarr said or did anything to displease him, Runeard would let him feel the back of his hand.
"Yes." Runeard said. Even he knew it sounded ludicrous.
"Forgive me Father, if I don't believe you." Agnarr scoffed before turning to leave.
"Wait!" Runeard held out a beseeching hand.
"Why should I? Haven't you done enough damage?" Agnarr demanded.
"Because there's more to the story than you know." Runeard said.
"What?" Agnarr frowned.
"When Elsa first came to Ahtohallan and became the Fifth Spirit, she witnessed what I have done to Vaettir." Runeard winced in remembrance. "She thought I was driven mad by arrogance and my fear of magic. But she is only partially correct."
"Why, Father?" Agnarr said. "Why did you do this?"
"It's because of the curse." Runeard admitted.
"Elsa already lifted the curse she unwittingly unleashed." Agnarr said.
"No, there is a curse on the Arendellian royal line." Runeard said.
"What?" Agnarr took two, staggering steps backwards in shock.
"It all started from when I was a boy." Runeard said. "Stoiske, your grandfather, had grand ambitions for Arendelle. He dreamed of turning our tiny kingdom into a large empire. He wanted to start with the Enchanted Forest and the Northuldran tribes.
"What you never knew was that there were Northuldra who lived outside the Enchanted Forest, at its very outskirts.
"Father sent a large contingent of Arendellian guards to attack and lay waste to one of the Northuldran settlements. They were given strict orders to leave no evidence of Arendelle's involvement.
"There was a treaty between Arendelle and the Northuldra.
"It was a neutral pact between our respective kingdoms.
"As long as we didn't bother the other, both sides would be left in peace. But Father never trusted the Northuldra. He considered them to be nothing more than primitive savages who put too much stock in nature and magic.
"Father always hated what he couldn't control.
"In the cover of night, the soldiers attacked.
"Every man, woman and child was slaughtered. The soldiers pillaged what valuables they could. It was a vile massacre. Men had their throats slit. Women were savagely raped and molested before they were put out of their misery. The children were brutally stabbed dozens of times.
"But with every massacre, there was a survivor.
"Hefnd was the leader of this settlement.
"Not only that but she was a powerful witch. She knew that Father was the one to order the slaughter of her village. Somehow, she managed to sneak into the palace and avoid all of the guards. She appeared one day when Father was holding court..."
ANOTHER FLASHBACK
The words of the French ambassador petered away into nothing.
The gasps of the crowd were audible as a grim looking woman entered the throne room.
People were whispering and muttering amongst themselves as she approached the king. There was nothing but contempt in their eyes. They gave her disgusted onceovers as they took in her wild, unkempt brown hair, blazing blue eyes and her simple, furry wardrobe.
She paid the pathetic courtiers no heed.
All she cared about was the cold, unmoved king who sat arrogantly upon his throne.
Stoiske did his best to look icy and emotionless. He was a tall, intimidating man with dirty blond hair and pale blue eyes. Runeard took after his mother Freya in regards to looks. Both had red hair and darker blue eyes.
Finally, the woman reached the dais that led to the throne.
She gave a mocking bow. "Your Majesty."
"Who are you?" Stoiske demanded. "How dare you enter MY palace without a proper invitation! I don't mingle with, much less entertain, a pathetic commoner like you. Guards!"
"STAND BACK!" The woman snapped, raising her arms in both directions as the guards approached to remove her from Stoiske's sight. Everyone gasped in fright as she unleashed a huge burst of magic to shield her from attack. Their snobbish arrogance vanished as the fight or flight instinct of all humans kicked in at the sight of any threat.
In this case, it was magic.
"Witchcraft." Stoiske muttered in disgust. "I'll have you burned at the stake!"
"You will do no such thing, Your Majesty." The woman sneered.
"Do not presume to give ME, the King of Arendelle, orders." Stoiske jumped to his feet. He was all too ready to punish this witch, this pathetic, unkempt whore, for her temerity.
"And do not presume that you are innocent!" The woman snapped. "My name is Hefnd, the leader of the Northuldran settlement that YOU slaughtered!"
Everyone began muttering once more.
"SILENCE!" Stoiske yelled. "How dare you go about spreading your vile lies!"
"Lies?" Hefnd echoed in disbelief. "I never lie!" She pointed an accusing finger at Stoiske's face. "I was visiting my friends in the Enchanted Forest when I had visions of the massacre. Women were raped and molested before they were strangled to death! Some of those bastard soldiers even defiled their corpses! Men were shoved onto their stomachs, held down, being forced to watch as their wives and daughters were raped, as their precious children were being murdered, one by one. Until finally, they were put out of their misery.
"It was all under YOUR orders!
"Even worse, your men defiled and eventually murdered my daughters!"
"Get out!" Stoiske said. "Before I have you burned at the stake!"
"Like I said before, you'll do no such thing." Before Stoiske could order her removal, Hefnd unleashed a large burst of magic that froze everyone in the throne room.
Including Stoiske and Runeard.
"Mark me well, all of you." Hefnd intoned. "Your soldiers attacked and destroyed a peaceful settlement that never bothered anyone. Men, women and children were butchered. It's time to follow the old code of the Bible.
"An eye for an eye, so to speak.
"A life for a life.
"King Stoiske, for your crimes against the Northuldra, I place a curse upon you and your line." Hefnd gave him a sick, savage smile, tinged by madness. "You will never know peace and plenty. You will never achieve your ambitions. You will suffer and lose the very thing you cherish the most.
"May you eventually rot in hell for your sins!"
Before anyone could stop her, Hefnd disappeared.
FLASHBACK ENDS
Agnarr continue to listen in shock.
"Hefnd more than lived up to her word." Runeard continued. "Barely a week after Hefnd's appearance in court, Mother was struck down with a vile illness.
"The doctors did what they could, but there was no cure.
"Mother was the only bit of humanity that Father had left.
"She was everything to him." Runeard appeared haunted as he remembered the past. "She slowly wasted away. It was clear that Hefnd wanted her to suffer. Father begged and pleaded for her not to leave him. But the curse was too powerful.
"Eventually, she died.
"Father didn't last too much longer either.
"During one of the battles with a Northuldran tribe, Father was struck down in battle with a poisoned arrow. Like Mother, he slowly wasted away.
"He became feverish and delirious.
"Losing my parents, watching them waste away, made something snap in me. I became consumed with vengeance and blamed the Northuldra for everything. I thought that if I could conquer them all, if I could find Hefnd or another powerful Northuldran witch, I could get them to lift the curse."
"But you didn't try to attack the Northuldra until I was twelve." Agnarr said.
"Your mother convinced me to seek an alternate path." Runeard admitted.
"What changed?" Agnarr dreaded the answer.
"It changed when your mother became pregnant our second child." Runeard said.
"How did Mother's death involve the Northuldra?" Agnarr was confused.
"Skirr was the best thing to happen to me." Runeard said. "She was so pure and kind, determined to make peace, to see the best in everyone. Our wedding day became the happiest in our lives. Our family seemed complete when you were born. Skirr wanted to give you a sibling. She felt you were so alone as we were busy with our royal duties.
"What we didn't know, was that Hefnd wasn't through with us.
"She secretly dispatched one of her nieces to the palace.
"Viti served as one of the midwives while your mother gave birth. I wouldn't learn until later that she had poisoned Skirr so that she and the babe would die horrible, agonizing deaths. Before my men could capture Viti, she took poison to kill herself.
"Unfortunately, it worked.
"My desires for vengeance returned a hundred fold that night." Runeard went on. "But I disguised it with my desires for expansion. No one knew that it was personal, with the exception of my advisor, Ráða."
"One of the Northuldra murdered Mother and my unborn brother?" Agnarr was horrified.
"Yes." Runeard said. "Soon, I painted all of the Northuldran with the same brush. I felt they took too much away from me. That magic took too much away from me. So, I sought to punish them all. I would conquer the Northuldra and the Enchanted Forest.
"I would wipe away magic and the slightest bit of knowledge about it.
"I thought my vengeance would be complete." Runeard said.
"Father, there's something more to the story, isn't there?" Agnarr said.
"Yes." Runeard said.
"What?" Agnarr clearly dreaded the answer.
"Just a few weeks after you were born, a Northuldran seeress came to court." Runeard admitted. "Her name was Volva. She warned that you would sire two daughters and that there were two separate prophecies. One for each of them."