Why Olaf left the fruitcake in Frozen adventure



In Olaf’s Frozen adventure (OFA), Olaf and Sven wander around the Arendelle town to find the family tradition that Anna and Elsa have missed during their separation. Olaf goes from door to door, asks about the family tradition, and gets some presents, such as socks, cookies, and a door. We hear the song ‘That time of year’ during this sequence.

Olaf carrying the presents

After hitting every town in the kingdom, he returns to Arendelle’s castle to give these presents to Anna and Elsa. But as you know, he comes to lose all the presents anyway.

However, you can spot one strange thing here.

Fruitcake

Olaf gets a fruitcake from a family whose family tradition is to bake the fruitcakes during the holiday season. He tries to gulp it, but it passes through his body since it’s too hot.

The thing is after Olaf collects all the family traditions from Arendelle town, he tries to leave the fruitcake at some spot before he leaves the town. Why does he leave the fruitcake? We will examine that reason.

Fruitcake’s whereabouts

First, let’s clarify where he tried to leave the fruitcake and what happened to that fruitcake later.

Olaf holding the fruitcake

Olaf tried to leave the fruitcake somewhere. Right after this scene, we see Olaf still having that fruitcake. This means that he anyway took that fruitcake although he tried to throw it away.

Sauna

Now, let’s examine the spot where Olaf tried to leave the fruitcake.

Olaf leaving the fruitcake in the sauna

It seems that this is a sauna. Technically speaking, this would be a personal sauna where one or two people can use it simultaneously. Here are the reasons.

Olaf receiving sauna from Oaken

After leaving the town, Olaf drops by the Oaken’s store to get the last family tradition. Then Oaken gives him a wooden box, and this is actually a sauna because Oaken definitely says that

“Here’s a sauna for your friends.”

You can see a hole for ventilation (it looks like Oaken’s face), and the size of this sauna is similar to the previous one.

Inside the sauna

The inside looks like this. One or two people can sit at the same time, and we have some heated stones. We can control the sauna’s temperature by pouring the water on these stones. Indeed, the Finnish sauna looks like this.

A man in the sauna

You can also spot a person in that sauna. Olaf is leaving the fruitcake to the person in that sauna.

Olaf and fruitcake

Let’s summarize the ideas discussed up to this point. Olaf goes to every house in the kingdom to collect the family tradition, and he has a fruitcake among them. But he tries to leave that fruitcake in the outdoor sauna. He might have changed his mind or just failed, so he decided to take that fruitcake with him. So, why did he try to leave the fruitcake?

Lyrics

We can answer this question by looking at the lyrics of ’that time of year’.

Olaf obtaining fruitcake

In this scene, the old lady hands over the fruitcake and says that.

“Bake a yummy fruit cake, and you can’t leave till you get some.”

Indeed, this just means ‘grab a bite on this fruitcake’ or ’take this fruitcake’. The thing is that Olaf gets the words literally.

Olaf tries to eat this cake but fails it since it’s too hot and he’s just made of snow. But following the old lady’s words literally, he CAN’T leave till gets some Olaf can’t leave the town until he eats this fruitcake.

Olaf leaving the fruitcake at the sauna

Since he needs to get back to the castle while he did not yet eat the fruitcake, he leaves the fruitcake in the sauna and says

“Can I leave this fruitcake here?”

This lyric actually occurs at the song’s end, before he leaves the town.

One minute

A similar scene also appears in the film.

Anna tells Olaf to wait one minute

In Frozen 1, before Anna gets into Elsa’s ice palace, she says to Olaf that.

“Just give us a minute.”

But Olaf takes those words literally, counts 60 seconds, and gets into the palace. Olaf’s behavior in OFA can be understood in the same sense.

Fate of the fruitcake

If you have seen the film, you would know that all the presents just got burned, so they became useless.

Olaf holding the fruitcake

But at the end of the film, Olaf manages to get back one present, the fruitcake. The fruitcake was the only thing he tried not to carry, but this became the only present he brought to Anna and Elsa. Such an ironic moment.

Summary

In Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, Olaf tries to leave the fruitcake before returning to the castle. He took the old lady’s words ‘can’t leave till you get some’ literally, so he thought he couldn’t leave the town until he ate the fruitcake.

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