From Toy Story to Cinderella, Disney movies are as deeply tied to our childhoods as swing sets, popsicles, and bedtimes. The same movies that enchanted us as children are still worth watching over and over again (no matter how many VHS tapes of Aladdin we burned through as kids). But when adults re-watch their favorite childhood classics, it's easy to start considering them on deeper levels. And when someone goes a little too deep, some totally mind-blowing fan theories are born.

What happened to Ariel's mother? Who was Jessie from Toy Story's original owner? The questions that we didn't even think to ask as kids are finally being brought to light, and some of the conclusions that fans have come up with in answer to them are 100% ready to wow you, astound you, ruin your childhood, and break your heart. These fan theories are wild, so buckle up and strap in for the ride.

15 Aladdin takes place in the post-apocalyptic future

via: tumblr.com
via: tumblr.com

Robin William's Genie character in Aladdin was one high point of our childhoods (even if we didn't get half the pop culture references he made until we grew up). But if the movie takes place sometime in the 3rd century, how would Genie possibly know about Jack Nicholson in order to do an impression of him? Same goes for Rodney Dangerfield—and that's just the tip of the anachronism iceberg.

Some ace Disney theorists believe that the reason Genie could reference things that, if Aladdin is set in the past, wouldn't have even existed yet, is because the movie actually takes place some 10,000 years in the future. Genie was actually imprisoned in the lamp sometime close to present day, Aladdin's magic rug is actually a sophisticated piece of nanotechnology, and a nuclear apocalypse has turned the world into a desert wasteland (or so the theory goes). The Aladdin video game actually even backs this theory up—the game features a very out of place stop sign buried in a sand dune, suggesting that the vestiges of the past are still hidden beneath the desert sands.

14 Aladdin straight up never happened at all

via: slashfilm.com
via: slashfilm.com

If the idea of Aladdin secretly being some kind of high fantasy Mad Max nonsense doesn't vibe with you, try this one on for size: the events of the movie following the introduction of the lamp salesman in the opening don't actually take place at all. Instead, the whole movie makes clever use of a framing device, and the tale of Aladdin is just a thread spun by the lamp salesman, who's trying to convince you—the viewer—of the lamp's magical properties... so he can scam you out of your cash.

An even wilder twist? The lamp peddler was originally planned to reveal himself as the Genie in disguise at the end of the movie (unfortunately, it was cut, but Williams does the voices for both characters nonetheless).

13 Ariel and her sisters each represent one of the seven seas

via: weheartit.com
via: weheartit.com

Why does King Posideon have so many freaking daughters? The answer is so obvious, we're not sure how we ever missed it to begin with: each daughter represents one of the seven seas.

Tumblr has done the work for us and speculated which sister represents which sea—even naming Ariel as—you guessed it—the Red Sea. The theory takes a turn for the dark side when one user jokes about their mother being the Dead Sea... y'know, because she's dead. Okay, childhood ruined, thanks guys, it's been swell.

12 Ariel's mother was in Peter Pan... and Captain Hook murdered her

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via: tumblr.com

We love the idea that all of the movies in the Disney universe are somehow connected as much as the next guy, but sometimes, the implications that has can be totally heartbreaking. Take, for example, the unnamed, human-hating redheaded mermaid in Peter Pan... who bears a striking resemblance to another redheaded Disney mermaid you might recognize (Ariel. We're talking about Ariel here).

As anyone who's seen the straight-to-DVD prequel The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning knows, Ariel's mother, Athena, was murdered by pirates. How strange, then, that there are some scurvy, evil pirates in Peter Pan as well. We certainly wouldn't put it past Hook to kill off a mermaid, bad guy that he is—would you?

11 Hans initially intended to seduce Elsa (and secretly has fire powers)

via: fanpop.com
via: fanpop.com

Hans of the Southern Isles was a villain we could all love to hate—which would explain why there are more fan theories surrounding the character than you could shake a stick at. The first of which being that, when we first see Hans, he seems to be dressed in colors similar to those that Elsa wears. By the time he bumps into Anna, it appears he's changed into something more complimentary to Anna's own outfit—leading some fans to believe that Elsa was his first target, but she proved to be a little too difficult to manage (so he went after the more gullible Anna instead).

Making things even more interesting, some fans have suggested that since Hans, like Elsa, wears protective gloves for most of the film, he could have Southern Isles fire powers. There's even a point that Hans extinguishes a candle's flame with his bare fingers... which, we guess sort of makes him a suitable opponent for icy Elsa. We smell a sequel!

10 Hans really loved Anna, he was just under a troll spell

via: tumblr.com
via: tumblr.com

Sound like a reach? That's because it is. But hardcore Hans and Anna shippers who couldn't bear the thought of handsome Hans being truly evil have come up with a genius theory that clears Hans' name: the trolls, seeking to bring Kristoff happiness, actually turned Hans evil so that Anna and Kristoff could be together.

The theory largely hinges on a line from the song "Fixer Upper," in which the trolls sing, "Get the fiancée out of the way and the whole thing will be fixed." Hans, who has been the picture of a perfect love interest up to this point, is apparently somehow "turned" off-screen sometime after.

9 The countries in Frozen and Brave have been at war with each other

via: pinterest.com
via: pinterest.com

In Brave, we hear of a great invasion from the north that forced the four warring clans featured in the movie to band together and form into the kingdom of DunBroch. The prevailing theory? The conflict could have been with Arendelle, the kingdom that Anna and Elsa rule over in Frozen.

Apart from strong, snowy evidence that Arendelle is located north of Brave's Scotland, there seems to be evidence that ice magic similar to what Elsa is capable of could have been used in the war. Merida's mother has a pale streak in her hair that is strikingly similar to the streak that Anna receives when she was hurt by Elsa's ice powers.

8 Anna and Elsa are Rapunzel's cousins

via: Instagram @franglcd
via: Instagram @franglcd

After spotting Rapunzel and Eugene in a scene before Elsa's coronation (and noting that Rapunzel, Anna, and Elsa all do look strikingly similar) some fans began putting two and two together to come to the conclusion that the stars of Tangled and Frozen are, in fact, totally related. Not only would it make sense for monarchs of neighboring countries to have family ties from a historical perspective, but it would also explain why Elsa's father was so keen on ensuring that no one found out about her ice powers (after all, he'd just seen his own niece kidnapped for her own special abilities).

Why cousins? Well, the theory speculates that when Anna and Elsa's parents set off to attend their cousin's wedding (which they never made it to, since, y'know, tragic shipwreck), the event they were actually traveling to was Rapunzel's wedding to Eugene.

7 Ariel hangs out in the shipwreck that Anna and Elsa's parents died in

via: weheartit.com
via: weheartit.com

If the connections between Brave, Frozen and Tangled aren't enough for you, how about adding a fourth princess into the mix? Princess Ariel of The Little Mermaid might seem a little out of place in the new continuity... until you consider the shipwreck that our favorite mermaid hangs out in, which bears a striking resemblance to the ship that we see Anna and Elsa's parents leave on in Frozen.

... A ship that, now that we think about it, totally wrecked mid-journey and could very well have ended up in Ariel's territory beneath the waves. So, that Dinglehopper that Ariel brushes her hair with? It just may have once been a fork that fed royal mouths.

6 Tarzan is Anna and Elsa's brother

via: etonline.com
via: etonline.com

If the idea of Anna and Elsa's dead parents rotting away in Ariel's fave hangout skeeves you out (and it probably should), never fear—there's a fan theory for this, too, and it's wilder than all the rest of them combined (literally). It goes something like this: Anna and Elsa's parents actually survived the shipwreck, washed ashore on an island, and eventually gave birth to a son... named Tarzan.

And then, they're killed by a leopard and actually dead, like, for realsies this time, leaving poor little Tarzan to be raised by gorillas and poor Anna and Elsa unknowing that they had a baby brother at all. Which is... well, almost as dark as the underwater corpses thing, really.

5 Andy's mom was Jessie's original owner

via: wattpad.com
via: wattpad.com

Jessie the cowgirl doll was a fan fave when she made her debut in Toy Story 2, forcing us all to reflect on what might have happened to the toys we outgrew as we grew older and giving us all guilt complexes in the process. Her story is one of abandonment—when her original owner, Emily, grows up and loses interest in her, Jessie finds herself in a donation bin. Luckily, Jessie's story has a happy ending when she's adopted by a new owner, Andy.

Which is crazy, because Andy just might be the adult Emily's son. We see in a flashback that Emily had a red cowgirl hat that matches Jessie's perfectly... a hat that, in fact, is identical to the hat that Andy wears throughout the series. Emily must have saved the hat and passed it onto her son, totally unknowing that he would someday become the new owner of her own abandoned doll.

4 Up was really about Carl's journey to the afterlife

via: the-chive.com
via: the-chive.com

As far as tearjerker go, this beautiful, quirky little movie had us sobbing within the first five minutes. So is it any surprise that it has an equally tragic fan theory to go along with it? We think not. If you loved the upbeat imagery of the multi-colored house, the pretty balloons and the positive story about an old man finding a reason to live again, turn back now—because the whole time, cranky old Carl might have been totally dead.

In this spin on the movie, the house being lifted up by the balloons is a metaphor for Carl's ascension to the afterlife—his own personal Paradise Falls. Russell, the adorable little scout who accompanies Carl on his journey is a guardian angel of sorts—and he's only one badge away from earning his wings. Russell insists early on that he needs to help Carl cross something, and as it turns out, that something just might be crossing over into the afterlife, where Carl will finally be reunited with his beloved wife, Ellie, again.

3 Wreck-It Ralph's Calhoun murdered her husband at the altar

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via: tumblr.com

For a character who's already known to have been "programmed with the most tragic backstory ever," we can't imagine how poor Calhoun—whose wedding day was rudely interrupted by a fearsome swarm of cy-bugs that proceeded to eat her husband-to-be—could have it any worse... Only, just kidding, we totally can.

Cy-bugs begin to take the form of anything that they eat—including humans. So when we see Calhoun tragically avenging her husband's death, that look on her face isn't just mournful—it's downright horrified. Why? Because the cy-bug that she's shooting at has already begun to morph into a cruel, monstrous version of her beloved, and she's having to face him one last time... by shooting him full of lead.

2 The Lost Boys never grew up because they were dead (and Peter Pan might have killed them)

via: pinterest.com
via: pinterest.com

The nice theory: The Lost Boys of Peter Pan, a gang of ruffians who were supposed to stay in childhood forever, were actually dead for the whole movie—and Peter Pan was their guardian angel, a benevolent spirit who led the departed souls of dying children to Neverland.

The not-so-nice theory: The Lost Boys were a group of real children, whom Peter Pan lured into Neverland as companions... and then, once they'd overstayed their welcome and started to grow up despite all his best efforts, he would just straight-up murder them. The Lost Boys we see in the film are just his latest set of playmates, fated to be murdered once they start hitting puberty and ruining Peter's fun. Yiiiiiikes.

1 The real (ruthless) hero of The Incredibles was Edna... the costume designer

Via: imgur.com
Via: imgur.com

We all kind of wish that we had an Edna in our own lives—a costuming genius who can help us demolish any themed party and rock every Halloween. In The Incredibles, Edna is seemingly the only woman on the planet who has the know-how to make costumes that can withstand the trials and tribulations of being a superhero. She only has one rule: no capes. It's a rule that she set for her designs following the tragic death of a young superhero, in which the hero's cape was caught in the engine of a plane (you can probably imagine the rest).

So why, then, do we see supervillain Sinestro wearing a cape? Perhaps he outsourced his costuming, but as the theory goes, he went to Edna and forced her into making a super-suit for him. She responded by giving him the one thing she was certain would lead to any hero's defeat: a cape. And it does. Gruesomely. Go Edna! Slay, girl.