Is Arendelle fortified against invasion?

I've been looking at the pictures for Arendelle for quite some time now, analyzing them in extreme detail as I attempt to recreate it in toybox.

And now that I've been looking at it enough, it doesn't look like Arendelle is built for peacetime.

There's an extended wall shielding the village from anyone crossing the mountain to get in there.

The castle itself forces you to approach from one direction to get inside and is in the middle of the lake.
Additionally, it's surrounded by a high wall which provides a clear line of sight around the entire lake.
The only other entrance to the castle is in the wall and in clear sight, if you tried to approach it, they'd see you parking boats near it.

There's also a wall extending out into the lake which may provide an impediment to ships if they approached from that side (where the second entrance is).


Which got me wondering, given how heavily they've fortified the castle and the village against invasion, is Arendelle expecting such an attack?
Are there nations nearby with hostile intent?
Or are they subject to raids from time to time?

Fairly standard defences for a fairly standard castle at the time, I'd say. So not that they're "expecting" an attack, just that they're prepared just in case. Clearly their neighbours (Hans, Weselton) are not entirely altruistic - also standard - so it makes sense.

Not just Arendelle... check out the Tangled Castle: http://eqohara.files.wordpress.com/2012 ... castle.jpg I'd hate to have to take over that castle... only one bridge for any land invasion and it is an uphill fight all the way to the castle.

Looks like the same architect who built Corona was also responsible for Arendelle's palace.
Isn't that the exact same causeway?

I guess that's a practical defense, if the invaders get close, you can just destroy the causeway and cut off a convenient means of access.
Or shoot them with arrows (and maybe catapults) as they attempt to cross it.

Corona looks like they employed a steeped defense strategy.
It works like this.
The buildings are layered in rings, the highest and most central ring being the castle.
This ensures a clean line of sight from the highest point to the lowest.
So if a lower ring is captured and they try to station archers on the roof to fight back, the higher ring has the advantage of height and cover to position archers to shoot back in relative safety.
Basically, it would be a war of attrition, you'd lose so many soldiers trying to get to the top ring (if they even made it that far!) by the time you got there, your fighting force would be incredbly weakened, leaving you no match for the army held in reserve inside the castle.


Random thought: since they established (via cameo) that Corona and Arendelle exist at the same time, I wonder if Corona is situated at the other end of the fjord that leads away from Arendelle.
I suppose in theory, Corona is the final port of call before you enter out into the ocean properly.

Does anyone know if Corona is close to the sea or is it just on a lake like Arendelle?


Ominous thought, if it's a sea port, it would have been the last place Anna and Elsa's parents visited before

Frozen

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their ship was lost at sea and them along with it.

Rapunzel - the story and some of the stylistic touches - are Germanic. Presumably Corona is in pseudo-Germany, while Arendelle is in pseudo-Norway. Near, but not THAT near. Moreover, the guests of which Rapunzel was a part are credited as Irish and other primarily European nations, which makes sense: key guests for a key continental happening.

Storming a castle like that is going to cost, and it's going to take time. Given the setting, a siege would be subject to rather harsh winter weather, and would also be open to attack from any relief forces. So if the food and supplies inside hold out, have fun camping in the snow! This is assuming a conventional defense without taking Elsa into consideration.