The Huntsman: Winter’s War(2016)
Submitted by Steve
POOPER
Freya turns on Ravenna when she learns she was responsible for the death of her baby. Ravenna impales Freya, but Freya freezes the mirror. Eric smashes it, killing Ravenna. Freya blesses Eric and Sara’s love for each other before dying.
LONG VERSION
Years prior to the events of Snow White and the Huntsman, Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron) uses her powers to learn that her pregnant younger sister Freya (Emily Blunt) also has powers, but they have not yet developed. Shortly after giving birth to a daughter, Andrew, the baby’s father, kills the child in the cradle, but he says it was against his will. Freya then kills him with her newly developed ice powers, and leaves the kingdom. She travels north and starts a kingdom of her own, and now-Queen Freya orders all of the children in her realm to be taken and trained up as her army of huntsmen to conquer her foes. She also trains them to avoid the pain of love, like she endured, but that doesn’t stop two of her best huntsmen, Eric (Chris Hemsworth) and Sara (Jessica Chastain), from falling in love. The secretly marry and plan to leave the kingdom when they are captured by Queen Freya and her huntsmen. She places an ice wall between Eric and Sara, and she forces Eric to watch Sara get killed by one of the other huntsmen. Eric is then banished from the kingdom.
Seven years later, following the events of Snow White and the Huntsman, Queen Snow White has fallen ill due to Ravenna’s Magic Mirror calling out to her. She orders the mirror to be taken to Sanctuary, where she hid before attacking Ravenna’s kingdom, so the mirror’s magic can be contained in a safe area. The soldiers tasked with taking the mirror to Sanctuary never returned, so Snow White’s husband William is looking for them. He finds Eric in the forest and tells him what’s happened, but Eric also sees that they are being spied on by one of Freya’s magical ice owls. Now that Freya knows about the mirror, and knowing that her possession of it would make her unstoppable, Eric agrees to take over from William in looking for the men and the mirror. However, William forces Eric to take along a pair of dwarves, Nion (Nick Frost) and Gryff (Rob Brydon). The trio arrive at the last known location of the soldiers, but are attacked by a band of huntsmen. A hooded person comes by and fights them off, then she reveals herself to be Sara. She wasn’t killed, but was actually imprisoned for the past seven years, and she saw Eric through the ice wall run away in fear. She now hates Eric and wants nothing more to do with him.
Eric tells Sara that Queen Freya obviously conjured these visions, but Sara doesn’t believe him. However, she agrees with him that Freya cannot possess the Magic Mirror, and joins them in the search. Later, the four are captured in a net by a pair of female dwarves, Bromwyn and Doreena. Eric is able to convince them to join their cause, and soon the six of them come across the dead bodies of Queen Snow White’s soldiers. They figure out that goblins were responsible for the deaths and have taken the mirror. They get to the goblin village, where they defeat the goblins and take the mirror (covering it with a blanket so they are not affected by its magic). They stop for the night, and Eric tries to talk to Sara. She sees that Eric still wears a pendant she gave him when they started secretly dating, and he tells her he’s never taken it off and still loves her. Sara now believes that he was telling the truth about the visions, and they rekindle their romance.
The next day, as the group is about to reach Sanctuary, they are captured by Queen Freya and the huntsmen. Freya reveals that Sara has been working for her all along to find the mirror, and she orders her to kill Eric. Sara shoots him with an arrow to the chest, apparently killing him, then they leave with the mirror. In that time, Freya froze Nion and Doreena and took them as well. Gryff and Bromwyn go to Eric, just as he gets up. Sara actually shot the pendant, and Eric knows that she is an excellent shot and never misses. Back at her castle, Freya says the iconic phrase (“Mirror Mirror on the wall…”) and the personification of the mirror manifests, and it’s Ravenna. Before she died, her spirit entered the mirror and it has been her voice Snow White has been hearing all this time. Now in possession of the mirror’s powers, Ravenna usurps Freya’s authority and orders the huntsmen to prepare to attack Queen Snow White’s kingdom so she can get it back for herself.
Eric, Gryff, and Bromwyn have snuck into the kingdom, and Eric has made it all the way into the castle. He attempts to kill Freya, but his arrow is intercepted by Ravenna. Now knowing Sara didn’t kill Eric, Freya (at Ravenna’s urging) orders both of them executed. Before it can happen, Eric is able to convince the huntsmen to turn on the Queens, citing the love of brethren. They attack the Queens, but Ravenna uses her powers to kill many of the huntsmen. Freya, who has always seen the huntsmen as her children, builds an ice wall to protect them and starts arguing with Ravenna. Freya then asks Ravenna what really happened, and as the mirror, she truthfully reveals that she learned that Freya’s daughter would one day surpass her as the fairest of them all. She placed a spell on Andrew so he would kill the baby. Freya then attacks her sister, and Ravenna immediately impales her with manifested swords, but Freya uses her powers to freeze the mirror. By now, the surviving huntsmen, including Eric and Sara, have breached the ice wall and attack Ravenna. She is able to fight them off, then Eric smashes the frozen mirror. This causes Ravenna to shatter as well, killing her. As Freya lays dying, she returns to her old loving self and blesses Eric and Sara’s love for each other before she dies. With her death, everything she ever froze instantly thaws, including Nion and Doreena. As the movie ends, the huntsmen look forward to a new future, while Eric and Sara kiss, as do Nion and Doreena as well as Gryff and Bromwyn.