Defrosting Ice Queen: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Cold demeanor can mean anything from [[Rich Bitch]], to haughty and proud, to [[Emotionless Girl]], to being a [[Jerkass]]. Occasionally, she has—legitimately or not—misunderstood the hero. Over the story, the hero successfully melts the [[Ice Queen]]'s cold cold heart, giving her [[Character Development]] into a nicer character.

 

{{examples}}

* Shirogane of [[Karakuri Circus]] is brusque and even insulting at first, but levels out later on.

* ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00|Gundam 00]]'''s Colonel Kati Mannequin is this. She's totally serious, hard nosed military officer who happens to have a [[Dogged Nice Guy]] in love with her. She originally uses his crush to positively motivate him to follow orders, but he starts growing on her with his [[Undying Loyalty]], and eventually she cries when she thought he died. In truth {{spoiler|he survived, and they got married.}}

** Her [[Mai-Otome]] incarnation also defrosted and opened up to others after meeting Mai at Garderobe.

* Sheryl Nome of ''[[Macross Frontier]]'' is the archetypal example. She starts out as the "Galaxy Fairy," an [[Idol Singer]] loved by all, tremendously arrogant and haughty. However, her meetings with Alto Saotome (who refuses to take any of her crap) and Ranka Lee (whose innocence and optimism rub off on Sheryl) change her outlook on life, making her a much more sympathetic character. Of course, the series goes one further by {{spoiler|giving her a fatal illness}} and doing everything possible to [[Break the Haughty]], which only makes her even more human.

* [[Suzumiya Haruhi|Miss Haruhi Suzumiya]], of course. More than an ice cold queen (or, perhaps, what happens when an ice queen defrosts too quickly), though, she's a [[Genki Girl|cheerful]] but sociopathic [[Jerkass]] without any concept of human interaction. Her [[Character Development]] is all about having her re-learn [[What Is This Thing You Call Love?|what love and friendship are]].

* Ai Shinozaki from ''[[Corrector Yui]]'' starts as the local [[The Snark Knight|Snark Knight]], snarky and aloof and really disliking to team work. Slowly, we get to see how she was a [[Cheerful Child]] until her dad's death, how her mother's accident affected her, and how Yui's persistence and optimism is slowly thawing her...

* In ''[[Captain Tsubasa]]'', Carlos Santana and Stefan Levin are [[Emotionless Girl|Emotionless Boys]] due to [[Break the Cutie|the different traumas in their lives]]. As they start to heal, they become this.

* Lala Ru from ''[[Now and Then, Here and There]]'' starts off hating all of humanity after all she's been through; by the end of the story, she has {{spoiler|sacrificed herself to keep humanity alive by restoring water to the dead Earth}}.

** She gets defrosted even further in the novels {{spoiler|when Touma helps her get over her past.}}

* Setsuna of ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]''. Started as cold as ice due to seeing herself as a [[Failure Knight]], but after the events of the Kyoto Arc, she opened up a lot more and became friendlier. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by [[Our Vampires Are Different|Evangeline]] during their match in the Mahora Festival [[Tournament Arc]], where she told Setsuna to give up her newfound happiness because it made her boring and weak.

** The [[tsundere]]ish [[Harem Nanny]] Miyabi Kagurazaki is tsun-tsun to Kaoru and the rest of the cast at first, but shows more of her dere-dere side when she sees how kind they are to her and Aoi.

* Maria, Shunsuke's girlfriend from ''[[Yuria 100 Shiki]]''. You have to wonder why Shunsuke puts up with her. (She only really has a couple of redeeming qualities.)

* Male version from ''[[Bleach]]''. Byakuya, oh Byakuya Kuchiki.

** Byakuya is the definition of [[Aloof Big Brother]] to Rukia, mostly because she resembles his dead wife (who is her sister). She doesn't know this and he is keeping it a secret as a promise to the dead wife, which explains his coldness to her, at least. However, this doesn't explain his Ice King attitude towards other characters.

 

 

* Princess Kinuko in ''[[Usagi Yojimbo]]'' seems to be a [[Rich Bitch]] to Usagi. After being attacked by ninjas and going on the lam, they eventually see that they're [[Not So Different]], as she is nervous about going into an [[Arranged Marriage]] while Usagi is upset that his beloved Mariko has married his rival. They briefly contemplate running away together, but after they're rescued Kinuko decides to err on the side of duty and honor and the two part forever in a [[Bittersweet Ending]].

** It's a double [[Bittersweet Ending]]: {{spoiler|the whole story is a flashback sparked by Usagi hearing Kinuko's name as her entourage approaches. As it passes, Usagi wonders if she remembers him, and stares straight at Kinuko's palanquin while the rest of the townspeople have their heads down. When nothing happens, he accepts that she probably doesn't remember him anyway and walks away... just as Kinuko drops a chrysanthemum flower (her favorite flower) out of her palanquin door.}}

 

 

 

== Films ==

** Miranda Frost in ''[[Die Another Day]]'' appears to be a straight-up version of this trope, right down to her [[Meaningful Name]], but is actually a subversion {{spoiler|as she's secretly working for the villain, and thus didn't 'melt emotionally' as she appeared to.}}

* Linus Larabee from both film versions ([[Humphrey Bogart]], [[Harrison Ford]]) of ''Sabrina''.

* Arguably, Robert in ''[[Enchanted]]'' is another male example.

* Captain Von Trapp in ''[[The Sound of Music]]'' is also a male example.

** Er. That was in ''[[The Fountainhead]]'', not ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]'', and it was Dominique Francon.

** They blend together...

* Lady Aliena in ''[[The Pillars of the Earth]]''. She eventually defrosts enough to fall in love with the lowly Jack Jackson/Builder.

* In [[Poul Anderson]]'s ''[[Operation Chaos]]'', Virginia is cold, brisk, and businesslike when she and Stephan first meet. When they get a chance to actually talk, she thaws.

* [[Sherlock Holmes]] becomes this towards Watson; especially shown when Watson gets hurt.

* While the titular character of ''[[Beachwalker]]'' is a kind and giving person, it takes a {{spoiler|bullet wound}} for her to let anyone start to get close to her.

* Hermione Granger in ''[[Harry Potter]]'' starts off as a stuck-up know-it-all, but calms down after [[Fire-Forged Friends|Ron and Harry defeat a troll for her.]]

 

 

== Live Action TV ==

* Quinn from ''[[Glee]]''. Santana also seems to be headed down this path.

** Kurt is a rare male example, especially after his {{spoiler|transfer to Dalton}} means he no longer needs to be constantly on the defensive just to survive high school.

*** And [[Incredibly Lame Pun|he is indeed a queen...]]

* Kochanski in later seasons of ''[[Red Dwarf]]''.

** [[Super sentai]]

* In [[Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger]] we have Houji who initially started of as a cold,arrogant and a standoffish person especially towards Ban as the series progress he become much more matured and a [[Friendly Sniper|compassionate person]] and began to warm up to Ban.

Tetsu also counts as this he was initially arrogant and distant towards other dekarangers but quickly became very close with them and treats ban like his own brother

** For that matter, [[Star Trek: The Original Series|Spock]].

* Dr. K from ''[[Power Rangers RPM]]'' goes from treating the Rangers like weapons (and, in Ziggy's case, a total idiot) to caring for them as friends ([[Mentor Ship|and]] [[Official Couple|more,]] [[Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other|in Ziggy's case]]). Well, in her own way.

* Helena Peabody is very icy for most of season 2 of [[The L Word]] but warm and likable in the subsequent series.

* In an interesting case of a role defrosting an actor, the title role on ''[[Murphy Brown]]'' did a '''lot''' to soften up [[Candice Bergen]]'s image after years of being known as a cool debutante. Her dry wit has been a staple of most of her roles since.

* Penny of ''[[Penny and Aggie]]'', in early strips, describes herself as "too pretty to share any feelings with the likes of you" and, despite her popularity, keeps boys and even her girl friends at arm's length. She begins to open up in stages when she falls in love with "bad boy" Rich, supports her best friend Sara as she comes out and most of all during "The Popsicle War" when, after losing all her friends due to Karen's gang's machinations, {{spoiler|overcomes her rivalry with Aggie and works with her to stop Karen and win her friends back}}. She now shows her feelings, positive and otherwise, much more readily.

** [[Double Subverted]] in regards to Charlotte. She's introduced as nutty, cold and eager to "punish" whomever she thought deserved it, but her interaction with Duane showed her getting mellower... Until [[The Stinger]] of the second chapter of the ''Missing Person'' arc reveals that {{spoiler|she is the one who kidnapped Cyndi}}. But in the third chapter her motivation for doing so is implied to be related to {{spoiler|Cyndi's actions}} hurting others, especially Duane, and Charlotte tells him that she is a better person for having met him.

* The Korean webcomic [[Trace]] has a {{spoiler|Double subversion}} of this trope with Jang Mi and Morrienoah Jin.

* Lucy from ''[[Bittersweet Candy Bowl]]'' slowly defrosts over the course of the story. Quite appropriately, a lot of this happens during the Summer Arc. {{spoiler|More recent events do seem to be pushing her back towards the freezer, though.}}

* Susan from ''[[El Goonish Shive]]''. She started out as a [[Straw Feminist]], but various events have caused her to actually open up and become friends with [[Chivalrous Pervert|Tedd]].

 

 

== Web Original ==

 

 

*** Orube, however, really ''is'' a good example of this in the comics, beginning as a rather typical emotionless warrior woman-type and ending up being an older sister of sorts to the main characters, and falling in love with {{spoiler|resident [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain]] Cedric.}}

* In the first season (especially the first episode) of ''[[Drawn Together]]'', it looks like Princess Clara will go this way. Ultimately, however, they end up taking her in the other direction.

* [[All Guys Want Cheerleaders|Cheerleader]] Liz Allan from ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'' [[Animated Series]] shows signs of doing this; she is kind and encouraging to Peter, but immediately turns into the [[Alpha Bitch]] around the [[Jerk Jock]] Flash... and she looks like she regrets the quasi [[Face Heel Turn]]. By mid-season, she's pretty much completely defrosted, having broken up with Flash and directly expressed interest in Peter.

** Of course, given this huge amount of [[Character Development]], when compared with her mainstream comics counterpart, Peter actually comes off as something of an unintentional [[Jerkass]] when he breaks up with her to be with Gwen. She attempts to cover the whole thing up by making a huge scene and implying she is doing the dumping in front of a crowd, but then later is seen hiding behind a corner, crying her eyes out, showing that she genuinely did have feelings for Peter.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Stock Characters]]

[[Category:Love Interests]]

[[Category:Emotion Tropes]]

[[Category:Introversion Tropes]]