There is, indeed, a lot of blue on the Internet these days...

The pairing of Jack Frost ("Rise of the Guardians", 2012) and Elsa ("Frozen", 2013) is one of the most popular and widespread pairings to grace DeviantART. The group Jack-Frost-x-Elsa has nearly 2,000 members, and over 2,000 watchers as of 11/2/2014 - over a year since the theater release of "Frozen".

The pairing of Jack Frost and Elsa, better known by the portmanteau nickname "Jelsa", has become so popular that it has even attracted the attention of several independent, online news websites and journalists.

There are many who like this pairing, and some who dislike it. However, some of the people who dislike it seem to dislike it simply because of its popularity. Others dislike what appears to be a vocal minority of Jelsa 'shippers, who are engaging in trolling and flaming behavior in order to promote Jelsa in a negative way over other Elsa or Jack Frost-related 'ships. Still others, to quote Maria, view the Jelsa 'ship as "shallow" and "a simplistic ship with blatant logical errors". Furthermore, Maria also claims that the Jelsa 'ship has a "weak" basis, "surface-level" reasoning, "unconvincing" logic, and "easily refuted" arguments.

I'm here to show that the Jelsa pairing is anything but.

In her opening argument, Maria mentions that a pro-Jelsa shipper friend of her mentioned three reasons why said friend 'ships Jelsa:

Attractive looks
Similar color schemes/appearances
Blatantly obvious shared ability ("ice powers")

When you look at only those three reasons, it does seem that Jelsa is, indeed, a "shallow" ship. However, in most 'shipping, the 'shippers look beyond the characters' appearances in 'shipping them as a romantic couple or pairing. In many 'ships, appearances have little to nothing to do with the 'ship itself, and especially not similar appearances. Take, for example, the 'ship of Wheatley and Chell from "Portal 2": one is literally a robot, while the other is a human woman with tanned skin and dark hair. Visibly, they look nothing alike, and yet people still 'ship them.

The same goes for Jack Frost's and Elsa's shared ability, frequently termed "ice powers". Both characters share the power of cyrokinesis, or the ability to generate and control ice and snow. However, much like appearances, not everyone 'ships Jelsa simply because "they both have ice powers". If that was the case, then Elsa would also be shipped with any character that has ice powers in fictional media outlets, or magical powers in general. However, aside from the Jelsa 'ship, I don't really see that many Elsa ships pairing her with another character simply because "they both have [supernatural] powers", save for maybe Icebreaker. Icebreaker is the pairing of Elsa with Ralph from "Wreck-It-Ralph", who has the ability to destroy, or "wreck", objects and buildings with relative ease; Ralph's ability could also be considered "super strength". However, most Icebreaker shippers don't ship Icebreaker simply because "Elsa and Ralph both have [superhuman] powers".

Similarly, I also feel that most Jelsa 'shippers don't ship Jack Frost and Elsa simply because "they both have ice powers".

Yes, some Jelsa 'shippers use the terms "icy romance" and "frosty love" to describe the Jelsa 'ship. Then again, many Jack Frost and Elsa-related 'ships in general do have ice-related names. For example, the pairing of Jack Frost and Toothiana from "Rise of the Guardians" is titled "Rainbow Snowcone"; Jack Frost and Pitch, "Black Ice"; Elsa and Ralph, "Icebreaker"; et cetera. Pairing titles, descriptions, or names are not a very good, logical reason to simply dismiss a 'ship as "shallow" or "unfounded".

However, to dismiss "ice powers" as an irrelevant aspect of the Jelsa 'ship altogether is also not very logical, either. Like it or not, "ice powers" would play an important role in the Jelsa 'ship. It's a crucial aspect and shared quality that both Jack Frost and Elsa, as characters, do share. Many people in real life do bond over shared abilities, interests, etc.; in fact, one of the main reasons why people feel attracted romantically to others in the first place is due to shared qualities. For example, I have autism, which makes me feel a special sort of kinship with other people with autism. Sharing autism with others with the condition also gives one a unique, special insight and experience that 'normal' people could never hope to experience themselves. Shared experiences can, and do, lead to romantic relationships and love, as seen in the "Harry Potter" book series. In "Harry Potter", Ron and Hermione - and Ginny and Harry - do fall in love and get married, mainly because they share so many experiences with one another. Their experiences and shared ability (magic) does bring them together, both as friends, and in romantic ways.

However, personality and compatibility also play a large role in why Jelsa is 'shipped to begin with.

Now, let's take a look at a combination of claims made by various anti-Jelsa advocates.

Claim: "But Jack is taken! He's in a romantic relationship with Toothiana!"

This is a matter of opinion, not fact.

As for the "Both characters are single" aspect, on which Maria says: "I'm not even going to try and pull the whole 'it doesn't matter if they are single or not this is fandom' stuff. This statement is simply false. The directors of RotG literally said that Tooth is Jack's canon love interest. Just because they do not loudly declare their love or make out in the movie doesn't mean there is no romance between them."

I'm afraid that I, and many Jelsa shippers, heartily disagree with Maria's point of view. In fandom, it doesn't matter whether or not a character is single in their respective canon: this is seen with the also-popular Jackunzel, or Jack Frost and Rapunzel, pairing. In Rapunzel's canon, we literally see her get married to Flynn Rider (Eugene), and yet people still 'ship Rapunzel with Jack Frost. Likewise, to quote the aforementioned Hermione and Harry from "Harry Potter", despite both characters getting married and having children in canon, they are still 'shipped with so many different characters that it's staggering.

As for the claim that the directors "said that Tooth is Jack's canon love interest", this counts as Word of God, which is controversial in of itself. Some people acknowledge Word of God as canon, while others apply Death of the Author, or that "Word of God" has no meaning or relevance whatsoever. In nine times out of ten, the existing canon is also ranked higher than "Word of God".

Furthermore, there's no public documentation, on YouTube or other websites, documenting this claim. To top it off, in "Rise of the Guardians", Jack and Tooth do not kiss, much less get married: as a viewer, to me, it was unsure of whether or not Tooth actually had a crush on Jack himself, or a crush on Jack's teeth.

As per canon goes, the fact remains that, on-screen, there isn't much basis to the claim that the Jack/Tooth pairing is an Official Couple, much less the claim that Jack is 'taken'.

Claim: "But Jack and Elsa are do different! They have nothing in common!"

This is certainly not true. Let's look at some of the things they do have in common.

Both share a bond of love with their younger sisters. The entire ROTG movie revolved around Jack and his memories of his sister, whom he saved and sacrificed himself in her place. The entire Frozen movie revolved around Elsa saving her sister, and the sisterly or sibling bond of love between them. They both understand love, especially for their sisters.

Both are eldest children, and great leaders, as far as we know. Despite fun and games, before he died, Jack would have been expected to marry and start his own family someday, and be the head of household. Elsa, being a princess and later queen, also had to accept responsibility to be a head of state. Both characters share responsibilities, or at least a sense/understanding of them at one time in Jack's case. As a Guardian, Jack also accepts responsibility for watching and guarding the world's children from darkness, despair, and fear. Jack becomes the leader of the Guardians, and Elsa becomes the leader of Arendelle.

"Fear will be your enemy" is what Pabie says to Elsa. Most of ROTG has Jack fighting Pitch, who is the embodiment of fear itself. So fear is the enemy of both Jack and Elsa. They are both good characters fight against a common enemy. While Jack and the Guardians face the fear of never being believed in, and for Jack also losing his sister, Elsa's greatest fear is of hurting and destroying everyone and everything she holds dear. That, were people to find out about her powers, no one would believe in her as Elsa the person - only the monstrous Snow Queen. She also fears losing control, and fear itself.
So both Jack and Elsa have self-esteem issues (as well as issues with responsibility) that they have to overcome.

Both have issues taking responsibility at first. Jack originally does not want to become a Guardian, and Elsa wishes for nothing more than to be herself ("I'm alone and free!") Both characters feel loneliness, despite taking pleasure in their freedom and solitude, especially to exercise their ice powers. Elsa also used to have fun with her ice powers in playing with Anna, much like Jack would have fun playing with Jamie and the other kids with his abilities.

And, of course, they both have ice powers. (See above for my more in-depth explanation why this is relevant to the 'ship.)

Claim: "But Jack Frost is immortal, and Elsa is mortal!"

We don't know if Elsa is mortal or not.

Elsa could very well have a longer lifespan or become immortal due to her powers. We see no other people in the Frozen movie to compare her against, and in most media, being born with magic powers do prolong the user's lifespan. This is seen in "Harry Potter", especially with Nicholas Flamel; Lord of the Rings, with Gandalf; etc...so we do not know if Elsa is mortal, or immortal. In science, ice and its low temperatures also causes slowing down of bodily functions, which, Elsa having ice powers, could also slow down her aging and body's steady decay with age. If she was long-lived or immortal, Elsa could bond with Jack over that, and become a more suitable love interest for him.

Now, let's explore the idea that Elsa will have "slow or nonexistent aging".

Maybe living forever isn't logical, but it's possible that Elsa could have a longer lifespan due to it. it's a common theme and trope in many media outlets, like TV and books, that people born with magical powers due tend to have a longer lifespan due to them. Usually, this happens when the person reaches adulthood that their aging stops, or is greatly delayed. We don't know if Elsa will live longer or not, as in the Frozen movie, Elsa is the only one we see with ice powers. Pabie mentions that there are others ("Born or cursed?" is what he asks Elsa's parents, implying this has happened before), but we don't see them in the Frozen animated movie.

We do see the villainous Snow Queen, Ingrid, in the latest season of the ABC/Disney-endorsed TV show "Once Upon a Time". Ingrid is Elsa's maternal aunt, and did indeed have her aging delayed (or it's implied it was delayed). In OUAT, we see that Ingrid is visibly older than Elsa herself - in her mid-thirties or mid-forties - and yet her physical age is something that's also in question. In the latest episode, it's implied that Ingrid also did not age, as she's seen in a video from ten-fifteen years prior where she looks exactly the same in terms of appearance. Then again, OUAT characters in general are known for having their ages "frozen" in time, due to the curse placed upon them in the TV show, which keeps them perpetually at the same age. Yet Ingrid is also stated to not be a part of that same curse, meaning the only logical explanation for her "frozen" age means that Ingrid's ice powers and magic must be keeping her the same age throughout time.

Since Elsa inherited her the same ice powers and magic as her aunt did, the logical conclusion is that Elsa's aging will also eventually be "frozen" (or greatly delayed) due to her powers. At least, according to the OUAT take on Frozen. It's also even more likely that the Snow Queen, who has an affection for Elsa, may try to "freeze" her age in time - along with her own - so that she has someone to share her ice powers/experience with.

So, based on OUAT, which is aired on a Disney-owned channel and so far is the only Disney-endorsed sequel content to the original Frozen film, it's entirely possible that Elsa could become immortal (or have her age frozen in time).

Claim: "But Jack Frost and Elsa don't even belong to the same company...they live in different times and different lands!"

That could be applied to pretty much any crossover ship involving Elsa, which includes: Icebreaker (Elsa/Ralph from "Wreck-It-Ralph"), Thin Ice (Elsa/Once-ler from "The Lorax"), Elsa/pretty much any character from another movie, even Disney movies. The only movie in which it's speculated takes place in the same universe as Frozen, "Tangled", has Flynn Rider, who has already married Rapunzel. Meanwhile, the in-universe ships for Frozen usually involve Kristoff, who is already said to be engaged/set to marry Anna in OUAT's version of Frozen, and Hans, who literally tried to kill both Anna and Elsa. Or Olaf, who is, in fact, a snowman.

Then again, Jack Frost is not exactly a new character to come about. Disney in fact does have their own takes on him from past movies, most notably from "The Santa Clause 3". Dreamworks may have done their own take on Jack Frost as interpreted by William Joyce, but Disney could in fact create their own version of Jack Frost that belongs to Disney. Additionally, "Jelsa" could refer to Elsa and any of these different forms/interpretations of Jack Frost. If Disney did create and introduce their own version of Jack Frost, different from Dreamworks' version, Jelsa could technically happen - and in a Disney setting.

Claim: "But Dreamworks and Disney would never make a movie with Jack Frost and Elsa! They're rival studios!"

Not entirely true. For this, I point to "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" (1988).

Dreamworks and Disney could collaborate together to make a crossover movie, like when Disney collaborated with other studios to make "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?".

William Joyce, the creator of "The Guardians of Childhood", has worked with Disney before, most notably on "Rollie Pollie Ollie" (Disney kids' TV show, for which he won three Emmys), "Toy Story", "A Bug's Life", and "Meet the Robinsons", it isn't certainly out of the range of possibility that Jack Frost - a William Joyce-created interpretation of a mythical character - could appear in future Disney works.

It's a fact that William Joyce, who created the Dreamworks Jack Frost, can and has worked on major Disney film and TV projects in the past. It's a fact that Disney can and has collaborated with "rival" animation studios to create major film projects ("Who Framed Roger Rabbit?"), including "rival" characters (Daffy Duck and Donald Duck having a friendly piano competition, for example). To dismiss it as such is not exactly a very sound thing to do. It is possible that Jack Frost, the Dreamworks version or a Disney version, could appear in future Disney work.

Furthermore, a crossover work or film, based on previous evidence, would be highly beneficial to both Dreamworks and Disney.

"'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' received high critical acclaim. The film is also considered by many as one of the best films of 1988." (Wikipedia) If anything, the success and quality of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" points to that a film featuring both Jack Frost and Elsa would also receive critical acclaim, and be of high quality. "Roger Rabbit" also won 4 Academy Awards.

Dreamworks also doesn't consider "Rise of the Guardians" to be among their "best" movies. For one, ROTG actually lost Dreamworks a lot of money - $87 million dollars, to be exact. They had to fire many employees due to it to save costs, and were practically hemorrhaging money after ROTG failed to make back expected profits. It's money they could get back if they sold/leased ROTG and/or its characters, including Jack Frost, to Disney. It would be a win-win for both companies: Disney would get the rights to Dreamworks' Jack Frost, and Dreamworks would get some of their money back.

Or, if Disney wanted to use Dreamworks' version of Jack Frost, they could pay Dreamworks to use their Jack Frost in a crossover movie, or in one of their movies - or even buy Jack so that Disney itself now owns the character [like they bought Marvel and Star Wars].

Claim: "But the point of Frozen was that 'a strong, independent woman don't need no man'!"

This is an opinion, not a fact. In my opinion, the moral of Frozen the movie was all about Elsa and Anna, their relationship, sisterly bond, and their love for one another. The fact that Anna ended up in love with/infatuated with two male characters in Frozen (Hans and Kristoff) also refutes the "a woman don't need no man" moral that many claim Frozen's moral is. Anna is just as much as a princess as Elsa was, and just because Elsa didn't end up with a male character romantically in Frozen doesn't mean that she won't have a male love interest in the future.

Claim: "But Jack is only 14, and Elsa is 21!"

This is a fair point, but there are ways around this. For one, there are differing Word of God opinions on Jack's "official" age in ROTG. William Joyce puts Jack at 14, while the ROTG app/other directors place Jack's age at 17-18. Many different Jack Frost fans view Jack as different ages. If one views Jack as 17/18, then he is above the legal age of consent, which is 16 in most US states and European countries.

Addition as of 12/02/2014

Recently I've been seeing more and more anti-Jelsa Journals popping up on DeviantART, despite the waning amount of attention and fanart given to the Jelsa pairing as time goes on. I wanted to add a bit why I 'ship Jelsa, from a personal standpoint.

It's quite simple. I ship Jelsa because I like them together.

At its core, I think that Jelsa as a pairing is interesting and has a lot of potential. While both Elsa's and Jack's stories have been told, there are so many possibilities and scenarios for them to meet - and how they would get to know one another, first as friends, then as possibly more. I think that Jack, being the Guardian of Fun, would also help Elsa to bring a little more fun into her life, whereas Elsa would help Jack to consider things more maturely - a dynamic originally mentioned by J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, as being the Ron/Hermione dynamic. Speaking personally as someone who relates deeply to Elsa's character - as I know that many, many other people do as well - I think that Elsa would really come to love Jack, even if just as a friend, or maybe even have some friction with him. Or maybe as that "annoying little brother" type. But you know what? That's what makes Jelsa such a great 'ship to begin with. The pairing isn't perfect. It has its flaws, just like any good character does, of which I consider both Elsa and Jack to be. Though recently, a friend of mine expressed her distress and fear at having Elsa get a love interest, I would also like to mention the fact that we - as an audience - already know the message of "you don't need a man to succeed" from Frozen.

However, should Elsa be denied love as a character, simply for the sake of a single message or politics? The undeniable answer is no. This also goes for people who identify with Elsa because they assume that she is bisexual or lesbian. While I think a bisexual or lesbian relationship on Elsa's part would be very interesting if done right, Elsa shouldn't be given a love interest (including a bisexual or lesbian one) simply for the sake of her having a love interest.

That being said, as a Jelsa 'shipper, I do not deny that most likely, if Disney ever makes a Frozen 2, it will not include Jack Frost. But you know what? That makes 'shipping Jelsa all the more fun. Why? Because we still have all of the beautiful, well-done, and well-written fanfic; fanart; friends; and, most of all, we have the Jelsa 'shipping community. And honestly, that's what matters most, regardless of whether or not Jack Frost and Elsa meet in some sort of 'official crossover'.

I'd also like to impart a final word to all Jelsa 'shippers: don't let the anti-shippers get you down, and don't let them dictate what you do - or do not - decide to 'ship. Most recently, the so-called 'shipping wars' I've seen have not been between Jelsa and Jackunzel, Jelsa and Icebreaker, or even Jelsa and other Jack-or-Elsa-related ships. No, on DeviantART, most of the friction seems to come from annoyed, irritated members who post anti-Jelsa rants, comments, and Journals. From what I've seen, the core reason why most of these people have been posting because they are annoyed and irritated that Jelsa is so popular. If I didn't know any better, I'd say myself that the anti-Jelsa movement seems to be of the 'hipster' flavor: that is, people claiming to be anti-Jelsa simply because Jelsa, as a ship, happens to be so popular. In my opinion, some of these anti-Jelsa people are also letting their hearts and emotions get the better of them at times - namely, being blinded by their irritation or anger - without considering the facts, other people's feelings, emotions, thoughts, or even reasonings. Some of these anti-Jelsa shippers don't seem to care that Jelsa shippers themselves may be irritated, hurt, or annoyed when they see these anti-Jelsa Journals popping up in many ROTG-, Disney-, and Frozen-related groups [and even other groups as well].

One anti-Jelsa Journal isn't the end of the world. But seeing more than one, or several, popping up? That's becoming a problem. Especially since some anti-Jelsa content is specifically being submitted to pro-Jelsa groups.

So, Jelsa 'shippers, stay the course! Just keep doing what you're doing and 'ship Jelsa!

Wow I love this one. *cries *