#gunmar tells bular about his mom

[yellowmagicalgirl]

5 headcanons from a Trollhunters AU of your choice?

So there's this AU that I've had vague ideas about for a while, a roleswap where I swap all the canon ships (not counting Word of God ships and ships where we never see one of the characters). Do note that while the canon ships are getting swapped, the only canon ship that definitely gets together in this AU is Jlaire. (Staja and Darby are both maybe's, but I'm leaning no because IDK how much sense they'd make in this 'verse. Everything else is a NOTP for me.) (Also due to the amount of canon ships, you get more than 5 headcanons.)

Stricklake: Waltolomew is Jim's dad. Jim's bio mom walked out on them when Jim turned five - she accidentally saw Strickler in his true form, and she just wanted to escape. She was concerned that Jim wasn't human either, and she didn't want anything to do with him. (She was right that Jim wasn't fully human, though that didn't manifest as anything other than a very mild iron allergy until he got possessed by Morgana.) Meanwhile, Barbara is a local doctor who ends up getting roped in after she sees too much going on with the local teen defenders, and also after she ends up as Jim's foster mom when Strickler went missing.

Jlaire: The last battle between Kanjigar and Bular took place in a slightly different location, one that Claire was able to ride her bike to. She picked up the amulet and wasn't detected as quickly as Jim was in canon due to Strickler not going into the women's locker rooms. This allows her to have just enough time to learn to fight without Bular killing her for not knowing her way around knives like Jim does. Jim, meanwhile, has recently had the truth of his heritage revealed to him. If he serves the Janus Order well enough, then he can undergo the ritual that could make him a polymorph. (He never goes through the ritual but gains the ability anyways thanks to Morgana.) In the latter half of season 1, he became Team Trollhunters' man on the inside because he can't accept a world where Gunmar reigns (and also because Claire is very pretty in her armor.)

Dromura: Nomura became Kanjigar's apprentice, and while she didn't 100% expect to become the next trollhunter, she is miffed that this human girl with no fighting experience became the next trollhunter instead of her. She also briefly had a fling with Draal, who's human form works with Barbara under the alias of Dr. Aalbregt. Nomura once tried to get Kanjigar and Draal to meet in the hopes that Draal would change sides, but Kanjigar claimed that the impure was not his son. Ouch.

Staja: I'm not saying that Aja is the school bully, but she is rivals with Claire & Mary for popularity, with Claire & Mary being the femme popular crowd and Aja being the star quarterback. (Aja and Darci were neighbors growing up, so they're slightly more cordial.) She also teases Eli, but in a more friendly way since he's her little brother's BFF (and also Eli might have a crush on Krel). Eventually, the Tarron twins + Eli find out the truth. Steve on the other hand is the slightly spoiled heir to House Palchuk of Akiridion V. Seklos help us all.

Nanavex: Varvatos used to babysit Darci and the Tarron twins, sometimes at the same time, because he lives near all of them. He taught them to fight and can tell that something is going on. He doesn't know what. Nancy's son, husband, and daughter-in-law were all killed by the Zerons, and she was left to raise her grandson on her own. Between this and

Darby: I just can't see Darci getting the gravity cursed hammer, and I also can't really see her using a bow in this AU despite her using it in my seasonal amulet AU. I'm gonna say that instead she stole a fancy looking flute from the museum at the end of the second battle of Killahead. This flute was actually the flute that belonged to the Pied Piper, and it allows her to control small animals... and also goblins, because of the long-running raccoon joke. Mary never gets quite as involved in trollhunting as the others do due to being squeamish around violence, which causes her to grow distant from Claire and Darci. The coup happens earlier, Toby makes a cool bracelet for her, and Mary is selfish enough that she decides to befriend this foreign weirdo in order to get cool bracelets. (Due to the coup happening earlier, the two supernatural groups meet earlier. Toby gets to meet Vendel, who is more impressed with him than in canon. Vendel also likes Toby better than Steve.)

Stuart x Gwen: "The bounty hunter (Stuart) you (Morando) sent after us (Steve, Nancy, and Toby) became part of our found family." Meanwhile, I have two potential takes on Gwen. The first is that she's an untrustworthy rogue agent, willing to sell alien tech but also willing to sell secrets to whomever she thinks can get her the best deal. The other is that I replace Gwen of Gorbon with Guinevere, who was an alien all along in this 'verse, and Arthur thought that this foul creature killed his wife when he saw her in her true form. (In the latter case, there would be parallels between Guinevere/Arthur and Waltolomew/Jim's bio mom.)

send me an au and i’ll give you 5+ headcanons about it

[albentelisa]

Hi. So you remember the Lady of the Lake, right? Well, what if she had managed to disguise herself as a mortal woman?

That human form she took on is non other Barabra Lake, thus already making Jim half human.

When he gets the amulet in this AU, he knows his mom hates Merlin, so he doesn't tell her at first.

Oh, in this AU Bular is definitely not the only one sent flying. Merlin will get that honor for sure as well. James Lake Sr. too, I guess. And maybe even Strickler (if he ever tries something dumb, LOL).

Jokes aside, I'll say that James Lake Sr is the one responsible for Barbara's disguise. My headcanon is that Nimue can grant wishes, but she chooses to grant those only if someone voices their deepest desires (as she hates hypocrites). So, one day James amid his travel to Britain, somehow wandered into the Nimue's current abode and voiced his wish to meet his perfect woman (he was just fooling around and had no idea that it would be granted). Nimue assumed a mortal woman's form of Barbara appearing right before him. Just to say, their relationship didn't work because there never was any true love between the two of them.

Nimue would prefer to return to her old life after the breakup, but she stays with humans because it's something Jim genuinely desires. And honestly, his wish is the one she is actually happy to grant.

As for Jim in this AU, he knows a bit about his mom, but definitely not everything. Like, he's aware that Barbara is inhuman and even caught a glimpse of her monstrous form once (it's an experience he'd rather forget) and that she dislikes Merlin for some reason (Barbara never told her son about her imprisonment, so Jim is entirely unaware how serious that hatred is).

Jim inherited his mom's abilities but cannot use those as he was traumatized after seeing Barbara's inhuman form and is scared to turn into something similar so he subconsciously seals those.

Why Barbara never learns about Jim finding the amulet despite being able to read souls? Well, she refuses to read Jim's soul, respecting his privacy, and because she knows that Jim doesn't lie or hide things from her (well, he DID before the amulet).

However, Barbara read Strickler's soul. She knows he's inhuman, but well, he has no ill intent towards Jim. And Jim's plan to keep things secret from his mom flies out of the window because she also learns about Strickler's desire to get the amulet from her son.

Barbara is pissed (to put it mildly) that Merlin's amulet chose her son. For her, it's like the hateful wizard's trying to control Jim (like he did with her). However, soon she realizes that Jim wants to be a hero himself and vows to support him. She tinkers with the amulet though as she believes that her son should fight for his own ideals, not her former tormentor's glory.

Barbara becomes a team member, but her abilities are limited (because it's either keeping her human form or regaining her full powers). She isn't ready to drop her human disguise though because of Jim (as she is scared he won't be able to see her as his mother anymore).

Strickler changes the sides pretty fast because Barbara sees that his true desire is the liberating changelings and encounters him about it. The same goes for Nomura. Strickler tries to recruit Otto too, but he is too scared to betray Gunmar. Otto is also the one who frees Angor Rot here, hoping to use him as a bodyguard from both Jim's team and Bular (who is pretty much enraged after the two changelings desert).

NotEnrique gets planted into Claire's family (as well as some other changelings are transferred as the Janus Order has a shortage of manpower now).

Jim still encounters a stalking, and to defeat it he unwittingly goes full monster form which terrifies him to his core. He starts questioning whether he has any right to be with his friends. Toby tells him that it doesn't matter.

Much like in the canon, Claire snoops around and learns Jim's secret about the trollhunting. She joins the team before they learn about NotEnrique, so the eventual reveal hits her the most. Claire tries to find the Killahead alone to travel to the Darklands, and she locates it but gets kidnapped by Angor Rot. Otto uses her as a hostage to get the amulet from Jim.

During the Battle of Two Bridges, Claire manages to wrestle the shadow staff from Angor, Otto and Angor escape, and Bular is sucked into the Darklands (getting his wish to reunite with his father).

Now the only thing remaining is to save Enrique, but it meets more opposition at the Trollmarket as there is a risk to unseal both Gunmar and Bular. Even Strickler thinks it's unreasonable.

Meanwhile, Otto tries to get the bridge back. He still hopes to get Gunmar's trust back. He exploits Angor for that and sends assassins from the Order after different members of Jim's team.

Angor makes a deal with Jim and gets free eventually.

However, Jim goes to the Darklands alone in this AU as he feels guilty because many of his teammates have some injuries after the Janus Order's non-stop attacks.

In the Darklands, Jim notices that something is wrong with him. Apparently, the constant sense of danger makes his inhuman half resurface. So far those are partial transformations that he can reverse but those might get worse. At some point, he stumbles upon Bular who is exiled after his failure. They fight initially but make a truce as Bular is lost and has no idea what to do now.

Together they locate the nursery and save Enrique. Jim plans to bring Bular along with him to the surface and give him a second chance, but they only manage to get Enrique as the bridge is destroyed (and it's only partially Usurna's fault as the guards see Bular walking along with Jim and misunderstand everything).

Barbara is enraged, especially after reading Usurna's true intentions in her soul. Alas, most of the Tribunal doesn't believe her accusations (Vendel and Blinky are the only ones aware of her true identity), and both Vendel and Blinky are accused of treachery and conspiring with Gunmar. The rest of the team escapes and then they are divided into two teams to jailbreak Blinky and Vendel and to recover the Bridge.

Barbara manages to force open the passway to the Darklands (as she had altered the amulet before so she has some control over its abilities now) and the team goes to the Darklands searching for Jim. The fight against Gunmar happens there and Jim defeats him with the help of his team. Bular decides to stay in the Darklands and rebuild the Gumm-Gumm kingdom, but this time make it a better place for other trolls.

However, the victory is soured by the fact that the entire team is considered criminals at the Trollmarket now as Usurna has seized control. She also makes a pact with Otto, who wants to liberate Morgana. Otto steals the amulet from Jim and destroys it to get a map to Merlin's tomb. Initially, Trollhunters have no idea why Otto did it, deciding it was just a revenge plan.

Otto wakes up Merlin by accident but still gets his staff and escapes. Merlin gets out and after some misfortunes finds Douxie and they go to contact Trollhunters. Obviously, Barbara isn't happy. She isn't going to help Merlin but begrudgingly agrees when Douxie and Jim ask her.

Meanwhile, Usurna and Otto free Morgana and get some powers from her. Morgana feels that those two are better for her plans than Gunmar as neither of them would risk opposing her. She also unites forces with Morando.

Jim's team learns about Aja and Krel's secret and all of them realize that their enemies work as the united forces now. The decisive clash happens and the good guys come victorious. The Trollmarket finally is free and Jim's team can go there without any complications.

Merlin isn't happy though as it seems that he anticipates something bad to happen. Not that anyone is interested in listening to his thoughts, especially Barbara who would rather send him flying somewhere.

Some time passes, and Barbara has a visit from Bellroc who proposes a truce to eradicate humanity (as the Arcane Order is sure that Nimue is as pissed about magical creatures' oppression as they are). They are surprised when she refuses.

The Arcane Order still needs Nimue's power so the Green Knight kidnaps Jim, and the Order tries to force his latent abilities out. They also attack the flying castle in the hope of capturing Nari too. Douxie, Claire, Steve, and Toby end in the past. Claire is the one who gets in prison, though as she carelessly uses her magic before Arthur and his knights. Morgana breaks her out together with all the trolls.

While visiting Nimue in the past, the team finally gets why Barbara hates Merlin that much in the present. Nimue also sees that Claire's hidden desire is to liberate Jim from the Arcane Order's control (even though she has no idea who Jim is) and during the parting she gives her a hint that Jim should snap out of it himself.

When the team is back to the present, they are forced to face the Arcane Order, Green Knight, and Jim who lost his human form entirely and pretty much berserk at the moment as he isn't familiar with his new form and all new sensations attached.

Merlin (being Merlin) suggests capturing and sealing Jim somewhere. Luckily for him, Barbara hasn't heard that. Claire is pissed though. She tries to get to Jim and reach his mind, and nearly succeeds but is forced to retreat as the Arcane Order interrupts her.

Meanwhile, Green Knight finds and kills Merlin while seizing his staff (as Jim has learned where the seals are hidden and told the Order about those). Now Bellroc and Skrael only need to capture Nari.

Claire makes an attempt to reach Jim through the Shadow realm. She meets Morgana there (Morgana was sealed there after her defeat and still isn't liberated) and tries to reason with her (Claire wasn't possessed by Morgana in this AU, so she is more open-minded about it). They both try to find Jim's soul and see that he is scared, confused, and lost. This time Claire manages to reach him and ensure that no one is scared of his monstrous form. It helps Jim to regain control and turn human once again.

[uniquely-mystical03]

For the toa ask reader, could you do little whelp Bular asking his father Gunmar about his mom remembering how he meet s/o who is Bular mom, how they fell in love but also remembering Gunmar finding his wife dying and try to tell her that she going to be ok but she said her last word to Gunmar and die.

*Flashbacks are signified by words in italics*

(Your Name = Y/N, Your Title = Y/T, Your Weapon = y/w, Your Height = y/h, Favorite Color = f/c, Eye Color = e/c, Hair Length = h/l, Hair Color = h/c, Favorite Gemstone = f/g/s)

“Father. Father, wake up!” Gunmar groaned as he was awoken from his slumber, only just slightly aware of the small weight on his arm. Peaking his eye open, Gunmar took notice of the little whelp staring at him eagerly, his tail wagging and mane puffed up at odd ends from his impatience. 

“What is it, my son?” Gunmar asked, a tired huff escaping him as he closed his eye again.

“Can you tell me about mother?” Gunmar opened his eye once more, lifting his head as he became fully awake. 

“What’s with the sudden interest?”

“AAARRRGGHH!!! mentioned her today in training.” Bular explained, sitting back on his haunches, “He says that one day, I’m going to be as strong as she was.” 

“Aarghaumont would know of such things for he fought alongside your mother and I many times.”

“What was she like, father?” Gunmar thought for a moment before shifting into a sitting position.

“Come here, my son, and let me tell you the story of (Y/N) (Y/T).” Bular immediately climbed into his father’s lap, eagerly waiting for his father to begin. “Now then, once upon a time…”

~~~

CLANG! RAAWR!

A troll flew across the arena and collided with a pillar, the beast of stone crumbling to the ground with a pained groan. Gunmar raised his sword high in the air, roaring in victory as his army cheered around him. He had been sparring with Gumm-Gumm after Gumm-Gumm for hours now, proving his strength. 

“Who’s next?” Gunmar called, glancing around at the trolls around him. “Who thinks they can best me, Gunmar the Black?” The trolls crowded around him glanced at each other, waiting to see who would challenge him next, but no one dared to step forward. “No one? Not one of you wishes to challenge-” 

“I challenge you!” Gunmar turned towards to owner of the voice. A female troll with a (y/w) had pushed her way through the crowd to stand in the arena with him. She was a (y/h) troll with (f/c) skin and (e/c) eyes, her (h/l) (h/c) hair pulled back into a braid (if you have short hair, just leave it down). 

“And, who might I have the honor of defeating?” Gunmar asked, eyeing the troll as she made her way to the center of the arena.

“I am (Y/N) (Y/T), and it is you who shall be defeated, oh great Skullcrusher.” the troll claimed, bowing in a mocking manner. Gunmar narrowed his eyes at her and smirked, brandishing his sword.

“Do your worst.”

~~~

Gunmar sat atop a small boulder, his back against the tree as he sharpened the blade he held against the stone of his forearm. He was being patient, but he wasn’t entirely sure how long that would last. As confident as he was in his decision, he had never seen something such as this to be in his future. To have it now…

“Gunmar?” a voice called from further within the woods. Gunmar stopped what he was doing and turned to hide the blade in the hollow space within the tree. 

“I am here, (Y/N).” Gunmar called back as he picked up his own sword and started to sharpen that. (Y/N) emerged from the trees a few minutes later, a smile on her face.

“Here you are. I was beginning to think you had forgotten me.” (Y/N) teased, making her way over to him. 

“I would never do that.” Gunmar argued, glancing up at her. She smiled in return. Then (Y/N)’s gaze fell to Gunmar’s blade, watching him sharpen the blade before glancing up to meet his eye. 

“Is something wrong?” (Y/N) asked.

“What makes you think that?” (Y/N) arched a brow, gesturing to his sword.

“You only sharpen your blade like that when you’re deep in thought.” Gunmar glanced down at his sword, a huff of laughter passing his lips.

“Am I truly that predictable?”

“Only to those who truly know you.” (Y/N) clarified, sitting on the ground beside him. “Now, what’s troubling you?” Gunmar hesitated before stabbing his sword into the ground, turning to face (Y/N). 

“We have known each other for many years now, fighting battles and destroying our enemies together.” Gunmar claimed, reaching for the blade within the hollow. “No matter what occurs, I always know that I can count on you.”

“Gunmar…” (Y/N) started, but trailed off when Gunmar brought out the blade. It was an onyx blade with (f/g/s) embedded in the hilt.

“I want you to rule by my side, (Y/N). Now, and forever. You can be my dark queen.” Gunmar said, presenting the blade to her. “You’re always talking about being mated and starting a family. I want that too. With you. So… What do you say?” (Y/N) silently stared at the blade and for a moment, Gunmar worried that she would say no. Then, (Y/N) reached forward and placed a hand on the smooth surface of the blade, her gaze meeting Gunmar’s.

“I would love nothing more than to be your mate, oh great Skullcrusher.” Gunmar beamed at her acceptance and leant forward, bumping his forehead against her’s.

~~~

“(Y/N)!” Gunmar bellowed, turning wildly in every direction as he searched the battlefield for his mate. Bodies lay scattered all around him, troll and human alike. He could see his men searching through the destruction for their injured as well as any humans that remained alive. Most of the fleshbags had fled, but not before dealing a blow to Gunmar’s own people. 

“Skullcrusher!” Gunmar turned upon hearing Aarghaumont’s call, catching sight of the brute just at the edge of the carnage. He was holding up a blade for Gunmar to see… An onyx blade with (f/g/s) in the hilt. 

“No…” Gunmar rushed over to Aarghaumont’s side, slowing to a stop only when his gaze fell upon a (f/c) skinned troll lying on their side in the grass, their back to him. Gunmar slowly approached the troll, his eyes roaming their form as he crouched beside them. Their back was littered with cuts and gashes, the wounds already hardened into solid stone. Hesitantly, Gunmar reached forward to grab the troll’s shoulder, tugging them gently so that they rolled onto their back. Gunmar’s eye widened upon seeing the large gash marking (Y/N)’s chest, the stone that was already covering the wound now creeping across her skin. 

“Gunmar…?” Gunmar’s eye shot up to (Y/N)’s face, locking his gaze with her’s.

“(Y/N)! It’s going to be alright. We’ll get you a healer.” Gunmar said, trying to reassure himself just as much as her. Gunmar turned to Aarghaumont, an urgency in his expression. “Aarghaumont. Get the healer.”

“Gunmar… Don’t-” (Y/N) was cut off by a violent cough, scaring Gunmar.

“Now, Aarghaumont!” Gunmar’s general immediately rushed off at his order, going in search of the healer. Gunmar turned back to (Y/N), taking her hand in his. “Everything is going to be okay, (Y/N). The healer will come and they’ll help you.”

“Gunmar… It’s too late for me…”

“No! Don’t say that! It’s going to be okay. You’re going to be okay.” Gunmar argued. (Y/N) smiled weakly, reaching a hand up to touch Gunmar’s cheek. Gunmar turned to look at (Y/N)’s face, his grip on (Y/N)’s hand tightening.

“It’s okay, Gunmar… I’m at peace…” (Y/N) claimed. Gunmar shook his head in denial, wanting so much to argue but the words were lost to him as (Y/N) started to speak again. “I want you… to promise me something…”

“Anything, my love.” (Y/N) took a deep, ragged breath, wincing from the pain she felt all over.

“Promise… you’ll keep him safe…” (Y/N) said softly, the stone creeping up her neck making it harder to speak. “Promise that… you’ll guide him… and love him… for the both of us…” Gunmar stared at his mate in confusion but said nothing, instead reaching up a hand to hold her’s against his cheek. “Promise me…”

“I promise, my love.” Gunmar claimed. (Y/N) smiled again, wincing slightly.

“I love you, oh great Skullcrusher.” Gunmar huffed in laughter, lowering his head to press their foreheads together.

“I love you too.” Just as Gunmar uttered those words, (Y/N)’s arm went slack, her hands going limp as her entire body turned to stone. Gunmar gave (Y/N) one final head bump before lifting his head, howling mournfully into the night sky. Aarghaumont returned sometime after with the healer trailing behind him and the two trolls, under Gunmar’s request, immediately got to work with gathering (Y/N)’s body and carrying her away. Gunmar picked up (Y/N)’s blade as he stood, following the trolls with his gaze before turning away, grief overtaking him. Gunmar was about to make his way home, not wanting to be on the battlefield any longer, when suddenly…

CRACK

Gunmar whirled around, brandishing his own sword as he searched for the source of the noise. His eye roamed the trees around him, his guard up. Gunmar was about to think that perhaps he imagined the sound when it suddenly came again.

CRACK

Gunmar looked down, the direction of the sound clearer now that he was paying attention to it. At the base of a tree, hidden under its roots, was a glowing red crystal, weblike cracks etching their way across its hard edges. Gunmar’s eye widened upon recognizing the crystal, the Skullcrusher immediately dropping to his knees as he ripped the roots from the ground, exposing the crystal. He watched the crystal as it glowed brighter, the cracks growing in number until suddenly, the crystal shattered in a bright flash of red light. Gunmar shielded his eye from the light, only lowering his arm when he was sure that the light was gone. Within the small space beneath the tree, lying among shards of the shattered red crystal, was a black puffball of a whelp small enough to fit in his hand. Promise… you’ll keep him safe… Gunmar realized then that (Y/N) had been speaking of the whelp that lay before him… Their whelp. Gunmar reached out as the whelp stirred, brushing crystal shards from the small creature’s mane. The whelp mewled at the contact, lifting its head as it slowly blinked its eyes open, the small thing squinting up at Gunmar. Small red and yellow eyes met the gaze of one neon blue eye and immediately the small whelp squirmed, trying its best to crawl out of the hole and towards Gunmar. A soft smile graced Gunmar’s lips as he reached down, picking the whelp up by his scruff and carefully placing him in the palm of his other hand. The whelp cooed happily, bumping its head against Gunmar’s claws. 

“I promise…” Gunmar murmured, lowering his head to bump his forehead against the whelp’s, the little creature cooing at the contact. “I promise to protect and guide you... I swear, for as long as I live, you will never have to be afraid.” Gunmar pulled away from the whelp slightly, the little one reaching for him as he did, making him smile. “And, you shall always be loved, my little Dark Prince.” Gunmar leaned forward, allowing the small whelp to grab at his nose. “My little Bular.”

[gotmilk5101520]

Hi. Out of the four au I want to learn about. I want to hear more about the Jim Doesn't Exist au (That and Shrek Forever After happens to be my second favorite Shrek movie)

Thanks for the ask (Can't believe I got one) But here's the Jim Doesn't Exist au

Jim goes back in time, and all that ROTT nonsense. When he wakes up he's in his house, but not in his bed and his house is wreaked. Jim goes to find his mom but she's no where to be find.

Jim looks at the date and it's the day Kanjigar fell and when he finds the Amulet. Jim goes to the canels but Kanjigar's body is no where to be found.

Suddenly Jim is attacked by someone and it turns out to be Toby. Jim is happy to see Toby alive, but Toby doesn't know who Jim is. Jim tells him he's Toby's best friend leading Toby to just run away from Jim thinking he's some crazy person. Jim catches him and asks what's going on. Toby isn't one to explain, but he knows someone who can.

They end up at their school which Toby says it has been a base of operations for this small resistance. Jim sees his friends and classmates and is shocked by how different they all looked. Jim asks Toby who's the one that can explain everything to him. Toby points to the leader, and the leader is Claire.

Jim is overjoyed to see Claire only to get punched in the face by Steve. Claire asks about the new guy but no one knows him. Toby tells her he brought Jim here and that he doesn't know what's going on.

According to Claire (With Toby doing some commentary) it all began 16 years ago on this day. The Trollhunter name Kanjigar was killed and his son Draal took his place. However Draal was eventually killed by Gunmar's son Bular and opened Killahead Bridge and the Amulet of Daylight was destroyed. With Gunmar and his army free, Trolls and magic was revealed to the world. In order to best combat them, humans and trolls have teamed up. This war has been going ever since.

Jim is even more confused then ever. It’s reveal that everyone here are orphans and lost their parents to the battle. Even Toby and Claire lost theirs. Jim asks if they know Barbara Lake. A quick research shows that Barbara was killed 16 years ago and she was never married before her death.

Now Jim must survive in this new world and reconnect with his friends.

[bluemoonnightmare]

So the ending to 'Rise of the Titans' was the biggest slap in the face fandom wide. It was such a stupid goddamn decision to write it the way they did, but seeing as I'm spiteful and there are already a bunch of amazing fix-it-fics in the making: I would like to propose something slightly different.

A fic where we as the audience follow the Story EXCLUSIVELY through Toby's POV through the seasons even though Jim from the TOA Universe still has his memories. If this is a confusing way to put it, I'll try and make more sense with the fic summary:

Tobias Domzalaki is an ordinary kid with a cat obsessed Nana busy helping his best friend who yearns to have more adventure in his life. As it happens, Toby gets stuck with the after affects of his best friend's wish when he finds a magic amulet under a bridge calling to him. With that discovery, Toby finds himself as the next Trollhunter, the champion of the troll world. Dragging with him his reluctant yet supportive best friend, Jim Lake Jr, Toby discovers the world of Trollmarket where he further unravels the mysteries and past of his new amulet.

The fic would follow the formula of four seasons, (it would only cover Trollhunters so far as I have planned) except the first season would be shorter because Angor Rot would not appear.

In season One: Tony would find the amulet, have to fight Bular and he would only find out about Jim and the past timeline he comes from during the FINALE Of the first season. This is the season where it hints that Jim knows more than he lets on. But because Jim has to carry his burdens alone, he never explicitly tries to alter what Toby does or what decisions he makes. He does however tell Draal, Claire and Strickler about his past on three separate occasions, one of which is shown to the audience while the other two are not. Strickler also comes to the good side towards the end of this season. This is the only season I have episodes or Synopsis thought through.

In season Two: We would see Jim and Toby building up their relationship again as Toby learns who his best friend actually is and what he's been through. It would still include the search for the Triumbric Stones, except there would be more emphasis on Jim and Claire finding powers and making them their own. Claire will not have the shadow staff. We also see how The Janice Order react to Strickler's betrayal and how the rest of the cast learn about Jim's past. The season ends with the main cast entering the dark lands.

These are the only two seasons I have even given thought to yet, but for the third season, that includes Gunmar's escape, Eli and Steve's development and the Losses of Vendall and Draal, i have a brief idea of what it is I want to do.

Season 1 of Trollhunters: Fables of Arcadia.

Becoming Part 1 ( On an average day Toby wakes up to find his best friend acting strange and a magical amulet under a bridge. Amazed at his luck, Toby is thrilled to become the new Trollhunter.)

Becoming Part 2 ( when faced with the dangerous adversary Bular, Toby begins to feel as though he's bitten off more than he can chew.)

A rock and a hard place ( Toby deals with a resigned Jim and resentful Trolls as he begins his extensive training.)

Gnome yourself (While dealing with pesky Gnomes, Toby tries to help out Jim with Claire, and in doing so sets off Steve - a notorious bully.)

Waka Chaka (During a field trip to a museum Toby tries to apologize to Jim while juggling the knowledge that the museum curator has a surprising secret.)

Fight, Flight or Vendall (Jim helps Toby deal with the aftermath of his loss against Draal and makes an unlikely friend in Draal while doing so, leaving Toby to feel helpless after a scolding from Vendall.)

To catch a changeling ( Eager to prove himself to Vendall and the others, Toby tries to unmask the changelings living amongst them, while Jim gets closer to Claire.)

Adventures in Trollnapping ( While Jim is training and researching into the museum and it's curator - Toby tries to find out if Claire's brother is a changeling through strange means causing Tensions with Claire.)

Forget me not (Forgetting that it's Jim's birthday due to his new responsibilities, Tony grows nervous when Jim explains that he'd seen a large winged creature immune to the sun on his roof.)

Fools errand ( Knowing more than he's willing to share, Jim invites Toby to spy on his mom and Strickler during a date in the hopes of clueing him in.)

Recipe for disaster ( Overjoyed that his suspicions are correct, Tony goes to examine Strickler's office discovering a small portal to the Darklands while Jim takes the opportunity to level with Stickler.)

Crossing the Bridge ( Suspicious about Stickler's sudden change in motives, Toby questions Jim about how he knows Stickler can be trusted.)

Claire and the Present Danger ( With the play drawing closer, Jim and Toby go to explain what has happened to Claire in hopes of getting her help. Jim shares more with Claire after Toby leaves, leading the audience to a shocking Revelation about his character.)

The battle of two bridges ( Bular hunts Strickler and Baits the Trollhunters to the Killahead bridge resulting in the final battle, Where Toby finally proves he is a competent trollhunter.)

Two truths and a Lie ( With the battle finally over, and the play coming to an end, Toby confronts Jim once and for all about his behaviour and his knowledge - discovering what the audience already knows about what he's been hiding for so long.)

If you have any sort of suggestions or any ideas to add on feel free! This is an incredibly long post, so I apologize. there's a chance that I may begin writing this, we'll see with what time and motivation I have.

[wizardouxie]

Trollhunters but it’s a figure skating au

So Jim used to skate when he was younger

But he left the rink to take care of his mom after his dad abandoned them

Weirdly enough it was his dad who originally got him into ice skating

But it was for hockey and not actual figure skating whoops

Steve constantly tries to bully Jim about it

Apparently it’s a “girl” thing

Toby on the other hand tries constantly to get Jim back into the game

“Come on dude, you used to fly across the ice! It’s super cool,”

“You know I left that behind Tobes,”

When they find out Claire is a skater Jim is Interested™

Toby notices LMAO

“DUDE DUDE DUDE YOU CAN IMPRESS HER!”

“TOBY NO –”

Jim kinda wants to but at the same time he doesn’t really have the motivation for it

Or a coach…

OH BUT HE DOES

Because it’s Blinky and Aaarrrgghh!

They’re really good coaches

Well Unkar begs to differ but THAT’S NOT IMPORTANT

Aaarrrgghh actually teaches Toby to skate as well

“Jim look I’m doing it!”

“That’s great Tobes! A couple of years and maybe you’ll reach my level!”

“Haha nice joke!”

“I was being serious –”

Draal gets lowkey pissed that Jim is trying out for nationals cuz he’s been working up to this to prove to his father Kanjigar

Who by the way, was the one who always faced off Gunmar in the finals

However Bular beat Kanjigar one competition and ever since then the pro skater has given up his claim to glory

Anyways there’s a regionals competition that Jim and Draal are competing to win because after that they can move onto state

Toby somehow lands himself as a commentator for the ice skating competition so you can bet your money he’d yell into the mic over Jim 

Eli is the other commentator

Jim beats Draal fair and square

Draal grudgingly accepts defeat and decides to help Jim on his journey to winning gold

Trollhunter amulet? Nah. Ice skates that make Jim feel confident? YAH.

No they are not enchanted nothing is enchanted in this AU

They’re his lucky skates leave him be ‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )‧º·˚

Meanwhile Strickler is Bular’s coach

…They really don’t get along

Strickler and Nomura try to spy on Blinky and Jim to see what routine and music they’re planning to use

They also steal Jim’s skates cuz they notice how he some gets better with them in comparison to his practice skates

Blinky and Jim find the skates in their bag and exposes them

SCANDALOUS

Lmao doesn’t stop them from sending Angor Rot to do their dirty work

Angor also steals Jim’s skates and Jim’s like bruh

Jim breaks something of Angor’s and Angor freaks but the adult is quickly taken away by security and now banned from all local skating rinks

Jim breezes through state competition thankfully

Unfortunately so do others 

Here comes the Return of Gunmar and Morgana

Aka the two of them getting back in the competition because Bular repeatedly FAILS to demolish Jim and Morgana wants to claim the win she was denied before

They both “need” a coach so Usurna backs Gunmar while Morgana has Dictatious

Blinky is appalled to see his brother fraternizing with the enemy

The Tribunal (without Usurna) are the judges of the competition

Meanwhile Jim really wants to impress Claire

He hopes she’s watching him from home

But get this, she’s going to nationals for the women’s division

Small world we live in, huh?

NotEnrique is her coach but they have a hard time getting along with each other

For the most part she’s been studying Morgana’s routines from past competitions and borrowed some sequences while putting her own spin on it (literally)

Jim loves to see her practice and the feeling is mutual from Claire’s side!

Even if it meant seeing Jim always tripping on his feet

And getting his skates stuck rip

She finds it cute lmao

They begin to fall in love yada yada yada PAIR SKATE

They do a pair skate to Eres Tú for fun

At one point Merlin pops in to give Jim advice and everyone freaks

He’s an ex Olympics gold medalist what’s he doing here???? OMG???

He takes Jim to another room… and tells Jim to switch his entire routine

“Gunmar will easily defeat you with that mediocre performance,”

Jim is Offended

But after some consideration he takes Merlin’s new routine, shuts out everyone from the rink to practice on his own

Quickly reaches brink of exhaustion, like he’s caked in sweat

Still keeps going at it despite the shouts from the other side

Blinky is yelling at Merlin and Claire is trying to break through and it’s BAD

Meanwhile Jim is tearing up because he’s gotten this far and he’s trying his best and everyone is rooting for him

He can’t let them down, he just can’t

He collapses on the ice the same time the door is broken down

The press learns about this and the headlines are raging about whether Jim will participate in the finals or not

“I’m going to win,”

“No, you’re going to hurt yourself,”

“I don’t care,”

“But we do!”

Unfortunately his mind is set

Blinky and Aaarrrgghh can only watch him push himself

Now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for: The Grand Prix Nationals

Jim goes up against Gunmar and Claire goes up against Morgana

Jim takes his chances before getting into the rink

“No lucky kiss for me?”

Claire raises an eyebrow and then kisses him on the cheek

“Go get em tiger.”

After that Jim is absolutely feral on the ice

Homie is out for blood

The commentator remarks that he’s not even human at this point with his new routine

Merlin watches with approval, stroking his beard

Blinky has a strong urge to pull it but Aaarrrgghh holds him back

Jim finishes his routine while looking at Claire and Toby and they give him a thumbs up

Gunmar does his performance and it is definitely professional, after all he’s been doing this for a long time

He ends by smirking at Jim

But let the results speak for themselves

Drum roll please!

…

…

…

JIM BEATS GUNMAR BY A LARGE MARGIN LETS GOOOOOO

And so Gunmar dies figuratively (HA get it figure skating fig- okay nvm)

Press goes nuts that the rookie beat a pro

Suddenly cameras and mics are shoved towards Jim and Toby is loving it

Toby, certified public relationship agent

Blinky is so proud of Jim

“I knew you had it in you.”

Now we move onto the women’s division

So Claire definitely has a few tricks up her sleeve

She pulls off a costume change and her outfit goes from white/gold to black/purple

Then she pulls off a move that Morgana attempted in a previous comp but failed to perform which leaves the crowd shocked

Morgana is utterly stunned to the point it affects her performance

She over rotates, trips, slips, every ice skating nightmare, you name it

Everyone watched the Grand Prix thinking Morgana would win and came out just knowing Claire would seize the gold this time

Morgana is humiliated with a bronze… again

Afterwards Jim and Claire are yelling at each other because they won nationals together

Merlin walks up to them and offers to coach them for Olympics if they’d like

Blinky and Aaarrrgghh definitely tag along

Merlin isn’t about to get all the credit

Toby unfortunately has to fly back to Arcadia while they train :((

But no worries, he can always commentate on the ice skating performances at home!

*sigh* They’re not as fun though, mostly showcases rather than competitions

But one day a new rising skater from Cantaloupia shows up to the rink and changes everything

[magic-and-moonlit-wings]

Becoming The Mask Outline

Updated again, to include or to spite various aspects of 3Below, Wizards, and Rise of the Titans!

It’s now 84 pages and over 40k words. 10k more and, per the terms of NaNoWriMo, this outline can qualify as a novel in its own right. 

Further changes may occur because I sometimes get different ideas as the story goes on.

Version Three:

Jim goes through his morning routine of feeding his mother and best friend, taking care of the house, and checking on his Familiar. His internal narrative reveals that, although he is a Changeling and working for Gunmar, Jim also wants to find a way to keep Toby and Barbara alive after Gunmar is freed.

On his way to school, the Amulet calls him.

He tries to give the Amulet to Stricklander, but it teleports back to him, revealing Jim as the Trollhunter. He summons the armour for the first time.

Stricklander suggests they can use this to infiltrate Trollmarket. Stricklander promises to keep Bular from killing Jim over this.

Jim doesn’t know enough about troll culture to pass as a ‘normal’ troll, and would need to disappear a lot to keep up his human cover, and doesn’t know if anyone spotted him taking the Amulet, so he and Stricklander agree Jim should let the trolls think Jim is a human.

Blinky and AAARRRGGHH approach Jim that night. Narration confirms that Jim has met Dictatious and notices the resemblance between Dictatious and Blinky. Jim goes with them to Trollmarket, swoons over the Heartstone, and gets Blinky to start teaching him to speak trollish. Jim already knows some trollish but they don’t know that.

Draal finds out someone else was chosen as Trollhunter. AAARRRGGHH and Blinky tell Jim about Kanjigar and how the Amulet choses the new Trollhunter when the last one dies.

Vendel tests Jim with the Soothscryer. The Forge malfunctions shortly afterwards, implying to the audience that the Trollhunter ghosts were trying to summon Jim, but AAARRRGGHH hits the kill switch.

Bular postures at Jim, who is intimidated but physically unharmed.

Jim copies the first three volumes of ‘A Brief Recapitulation of Troll Lore’ and gives a copy to Stricklander. He tells Stricklander about Trollmarket and speculates on Blinky and AAARRRGGHH’s relationship.

Jim helps gather Kanjigar’s remains. Vendel gives him a closer look at the Heartstone while Blinky and AAARRRGGHH are taking Kanjigar’s remains to Draal. Vendel describes Jim’s reaction to the Heartstone as ‘troll like’. Jim passes this off as the natural human response to brightly coloured, shiny, or glowing things.

Draal and Jim spar. Jim yanks on Draal’s nose ring and Draal nearly crushes him. Jim has something like a flashback to fighting in Gunmar’s Crucible in the Darklands.

Draal is impressed enough by how long a ‘human’ lasted in a spar against him that he decides to help Jim train the next night. Jim tries to let Draal hold the Sword of Daylight, to demonstrate the proper grip, but it vanishes out of Draal’s hand.

Gnome Chompsky appears. Jim can’t bring himself to kill the gnome because gnomes and Changelings are both considered vermin by trolls. Gnome Chompsky escapes while Jim is putting off the kill, and gets into Toby’s house. Toby adopts and names him. Jim wants to intervene in this, but decides not to, to protect his cover. Toby does not know Jim is a Changeling or the Trollhunter.

Jim steals part of the Heartstone. It is implied the Heartstone gave a piece of itself to him on purpose.

Jim gives the Heartstone piece to the Janus Order, giving Stricklander the credit but not trusting him to share the Heartstone if Jim gave it directly to him. Another Changeling reveals that Killahead Bridge is nearly complete.

Stricklander is angry Jim didn’t bring him the Heartstone shard, but forgives him because Jim was trying to help their fellow Changelings.

Jim spends an evening with his mom, worrying that he won’t be able to keep her alive once Gunmar is freed.

Draal falls off the edge of the Forge platform during a spar.

Jim uses the Sword of Daylight, stabbed into the floor, as an anchor while pulling Draal up. He expresses horror and indignation that Draal’s expression, seeing Jim standing over him with the sword, implied Draal thought Jim was going to kill him. Jim promises that, if he ever does try to kill Draal, he will not use the Sword of Daylight – Draal’s father’s sword – to do it.

Jim also yells at Blinky about the use of actual lava in a training ring.

The class goes on a field trip to the museum. Jim sneaks off to talk to Nomura and Stricklander.

A new Changeling is being brought in. Jim wishes he could send Toby to safety. He suggests they swap Enrique Nuñez, officially because Mrs Nuñez is a local politician, unofficially because he’s acquainted with Claire and she gushes about her baby brother and Jim sees this as doing her a favor.

He ‘fidgets’ with pieces of Killahead Bridge while they’re talking. He steals one to take down to Trollmarket, to buy himself more time to convince everyone they should keep Barbara alive.

Jim babysits Not Enrique, whom he addresses as Enrique. Enrique catches Jim up on what’s been going on in the Darklands since Jim was planted on the surface. The house is not trashed.

Claire’s phone battery dies, so she isn’t able to warn Jim her parents are heading back early. Jim and Enrique switch to human form when they hear the door open. Jim tells the Nuñezes that he and Claire were studying together, and took a break to play with Enrique, and that Claire, sneaking in behind them, is in the bathroom.

The next day, Claire thanks Jim for covering for her. She kisses him on the cheek. He is uncomfortable because, despite appearances, he is actually an adult. He reassures himself she might not have meant it flirtatiously.

Blinky is teaching Jim to speak and read trollish. Jim thinks about how different Blinky is from Dictatious, but suspiciously wonders if it’s an act and Blinky might also secretly work for Gunmar.

Jim considers what will probably happen to the trolls he knows once Gunmar comes back. Draal and AAARRRGGHH will go in the army, probably controlled by the Decimaar Blade. Blinky will probably stay a historian/librarian and Bagdwella would still be a shopkeeper. Vendel would be kept alive to run the day-to-day affairs of Trollmarket, so Gunmar won’t have to and to keep the population at ease.

Jim assures himself all of this would be for the best to ensure their survival, even if it means Jim – a Changeling who will probably be kept on the surface to manage to human livestock, since he can withstand sunlight – will probably never see any of his troll friends again, and none of the trolls are likely to be happy about Gunmar taking over.

Jim invites Toby and Nana to dinner, but has to kick them out immediately after the meal because Bular shows up, wanting Jim to go to Trollmarket for him and get him a Heartstone fragment.

Toby is suspicious and tries to follow Jim, but can’t catch up to him before he uses the horngazel. Toby changes his mind about waiting for Jim to come back out after seeing that one troll who always says “Whatever.”

Jim at school is growing increasingly strained, with two other lives to keep secret from his seeming peers. Toby has noticed it most, but Mary, a committed gossip, also notices, and she mentions it to Claire and Darci. They talk to Toby and all agree to team up and investigate.

Toby, Claire, Mary, and Darci follow Jim into Trollmarket and are caught. Jim thinks at first, when he hears about the ‘human intruders’, that someone from the Janus Order followed him.

Jim is forced to reveal one of his secret lives to humans. Toby questions the title of ‘Trollhunter’. Blinky explains the grammatical difference between trollish and English, making the title mean ‘the troll who is the hunter’ rather than ‘the one who hunts trolls’ in the original language.

Bagdwella interrupts to tell them that the Hero’s Forge is going haywire. (One of the lines I am most proud of: “It’s a giant mechanical deathtrap; how can it malfunction? Is it suddenly non-lethal?”) Vendel learns of the human intruders and is not amused.

Jim is summoned by the ghost Trollhunters. They can see what goes on around the Amulet, so they know he’s a Changeling.

They tell him he shouldn’t let the humans help him fight, because it will only endanger them. Kanjigar comments on Jim’s lack of killer instinct. The Ghost Council tells Jim that, if he wants to keep the humans he cares for safe, he will eventually have to kill Bular and Gunmar.

Kanjigar doesn’t say anything about Draal, but Jim lies to Draal afterwards, saying Kanjigar asked Jim to pass on how proud he is of his son.

Jim leaves out the bit where they yelled at him for being a Changeling, but does say the Ghost Council doesn’t want humans involved, and so the kids will have to swear an oath of secrecy before leaving Trollmarket.

The trolls agree to let the humans keep visiting because they have no practical way to stop them.

Blinky suggests the humans all be tested with a gaggletack; Vendel points out there has been no Changeling activity for decades but does not actually countermand the suggestion.

Jim casually picks up the gaggletack with his gauntlets on. This does not transform him because the gaggletack is touching his armour, not touching Jim. The humans pass it around and Draal ends up pocketing it when they’ve all been tested.

Mary asks Jim if Mr Strickler knows about trolls. Jim panics and says Mr Strickler is lenient with him because their history teacher has romantic feelings for Barbara.

In his later report on the incident, Jim suggests Stricklander could flirt with Barbara to shore up the cover story. Thinking it over, Jim decides it would be a good idea, because if Stricklander gets attached to Barbara, Jim will have backup for keeping her alive when Gunmar takes over the world.

Jim supposes that now he needs to find an excuse to spare Mary as well, to honour this debt.

The humans are eager to revisit Trollmarket. Jim laments their lack of subtlety, since they bring this up in the middle of a high school cafeteria when the girls have rarely been seen speaking to either Jim or Toby before and therefore their first time sitting together might tempt eavesdroppers.

Once in Trollmarket, Jim imposes a buddy system for their safety, and the kids start angling for armour and weapons and training.

Draal decides to move into the Lake basement for Barbara’s protection while Jim is out. Jim has been followed once already, into Trollmarket; anyone or anything could follow him home.

Jim agrees, and suggests putting a tunnel in the basement. It’s an escape route and lets Draal to get about during daylight hours, and prevents Draal’s scent from getting established outside the house. Jim worries about Draal and Bular finding each other and fighting to the death.

Jim complains to Stricklander about his head itching. His horns are growing out to adult length.

Toby and Darci poke around Trollmarket, sticking together in respect of Jim’s ‘buddy system’. (They need to spend more time together socially if they’re going to be a ship later.) Blinky shows up and they tell him that Claire and Mary are at rehearsal.

Conversation leads to Toby mentioning Jim’s upcoming birthday. Narrative establishes that trolls live an average of fifteen to sixteen hundred years and Blinky is six hundred-something.

Jim enjoys the ‘special birthday pancakes’ his mom makes every year. He considers Barbara’s cooking the best of both worlds as it is appealing to both his human and troll palates. After breakfast, he checks on Jay-Jay, who is getting cuddled by a goblin.

Jim also reacts more positively to the blender than in canon, although it is ambiguous if he genuinely likes it or is just better at concealing disappointment.

When Toby shows up talking about an ‘emergency’, Jim wonders if Toby is actually Otto Scaarbach trying to sneak into Trollmarket, but goes anyway just in case there really is an emergency. (As a Changeling, he’s suspicious, but as the Trollhunter, he has to go anyway.)

Jim scruffs AAARRRGGHH. This causes a reflexive relaxation that knocks AAARRRGGH to the ground. Blinky is alarmed and fusses over AAARRRGGHH. Jim is terrified, knowing AAARRRGGHH’s pre-pacifism reputation, and particularly worried about Toby getting eaten. Jim hopes the fact AAARRRGGHH is articulate post-scruffing means Jim won’t have to kill him.

Bagdwella reveals the party. Jim is furious and relieved and ends up crying on Toby for a while. Vendel shows up and cancels the party.

Toby expresses guilt over making Jim’s birthday terrible. Mary thinks Jim just got overwhelmed by the idea of a party due to social anxiety. Toby reveals James Lake Senior chose that day, eleven years ago, to abandon his family.

The other kids have all picked out weapons and are starting to train with them. Toby has a hammer, Claire has a spear, Mary has a sword (a dagger to a troll), and Darci has a crossbow.

Claire wishes Jim happy birthday, and kisses him on the cheek a second time. He awkwardly but politely tells her that he’s not interested in her romantically, and so if she does mean that as a flirtatious gesture, to please not do it again. Claire is disappointed but agrees to this.

Jim test-drives a Vespa and has cake with Barbara. The cake was supposed to have a Vespa scooter drawn on the icing but instead has a simple motorless scooter, because Barbara didn’t specify what kind of scooter to draw and didn’t have time to check it at the bakery, which was about to close.

Blinky is teaching the human kids to speak trollish. Jim has to hold back his jealousy at having to share Blinky’s attention.

Jim warns Claire not to practice at home in case Enrique picks up on it. The official reason is ‘in case a Changeling hears a baby speak trollish and decides to swap him for a Changeling to investigate’. The real reason is ‘so Enrique does not find out Claire has access to Trollmarket’.

Jim gets Vendel’s permission to take another, larger piece of Heartstone, officially ‘for Draal’. Jim breaks the stone into multiple pieces, saving one for Draal, stashing the rest in case he needs bribes for other Changelings, and putting a small piece into the Amulet, which lets him summon a knife.

Jim gives Toby one of the Heartstone fragments, suggesting he could make the crystal grow. Toby agrees it’s worth trying to see if it’s possible. Jim thinks, if Toby can grow Heartstones, it could make him valuable enough to be spared after Gunmar’s escape.

After Jim gives Draal the Heartstone piece, he starts reading troll cookbooks. This is officially also ‘for Draal’, so Jim can offer him ‘proper food’ while staying with the Lakes, but also so Jim can make actual troll dishes for the Janus Order.

Nomura shows up at Jim’s house. She suspects Jim of stealing a bridge piece, but is hesitant to openly accuse him and throw him on Bular’s mercy, because that might just get her in trouble for ‘letting’ him steal it.

Draal attacks Nomura, who is still in her human guise at the time. Jim leaps to intervene in the fight, exposing himself to Nomura as the Trollhunter. Draal thinks Jim just doesn’t know Nomura is a Changeling, but Draal is carrying the gaggletack and gets it out to reveal her. Jim gets hit instead, exposing his Changeling identity to Draal.

This all happens fast enough that the reveals occur simultaneously. Draal and Nomura are both shocked and horrified.

Draal attacks Jim. Jim cuts Draal’s arm with a knife laced with Creeper’s Sun.

Barbara gets home. Jim forces Draal into the basement to hide, and cuts his leg with the Creeper’s Sun dagger to keep him from bolting for Trollmarket through the tunnel.

Nomura switches to her human form. Nomura excuses herself to Barbara by saying she was out for an evening stroll and thought somebody was following her (possibly her ex who lives in the area, referencing her past relationship with Draal), so she ran to the first house with lights on and Jim kindly let her inside. Barbara recognizes her from krav maga and offers to drive her home.

Nomura has Barbara drive her to the museum instead, saying she left her car there. They converse idly.

Jim takes the chance on leaving Barbara alone with Nomura – Nomura doesn’t like leaving a body trail – to try and convince Draal not to tell Trollmarket.

Draal insists on telling Blinky, but agrees not to go to Vendel if Blinky can also be persuaded on that score. Jim gives Draal the Creeper’s Sun antidote. They leave the gaggletack and the Creeper’s Sun knife in the basement when they leave for Trollmarket through the tunnel.

Nomura calls Stricklander and questions him on Jim being the Trollhunter. She does not reveal that Jim knows she knows, only claims she saw him with the Amulet and ‘wondering’ if Bular knows he has it. Stricklander reveals the ‘infiltrate Trollmarket’ scheme to keep Nomura quiet.

Jim tells Blinky he’s a Changeling. He does not transform, only making his eyes glow. Blinky takes it badly. Jim also reveals to Blinky that Dictatious is alive and working for Gunmar.

AAARRRGGHH shows up and Jim panics when Blinky immediately outs him as a Changeling, only to be assured by Draal that Blinky telling AAARRRGGHH “doesn’t count” because that was to be expected.

Everyone questions why Jim didn’t just kill Draal to secure the secret. Jim gets annoyed that everyone keeps acting like he should’ve killed Draal.

AAARRRGGHH is easily convinced Jim is still trustworthy, and instrumental in convincing Blinky to keep Jim’s secret.

Jim reveals the Changelings are working to rebuild Killahead Bridge.

Jim’s loyalty is conflicted. AAARRRGGHH can relate to wanting to escape Gunmar’s control while also fearing to leave it, and to not wanting to fight anymore.

AAARRRGGHH manages to get Jim to realize his justifications for why Changelings would still be useful to Gunmar post-conquest are … not consistent with Gunmar’s established strategies, no matter how logical Jim’s reasoning is, and that Jim’s human loved ones are in danger as well if Gunmar escapes.

Jim has a breakdown and officially changes sides.

Jim goes to Stricklander the next morning. He presents himself as having a crisis of faith because of Trollmarket influences and needing reassurance before he does something stupid. It’s a thin excuse but provides deniability.

Stricklander confirms the Eternal Night is a literal plan – Jim had previously assumed it was a metaphor for conquering the surface – and muses on the possibility of bringing Jim over to his side. (Stricklander considers Gunmar’s plans to be short-sighted and has a backup plan for Changelings taking over the world while leaving Gunmar in the Darklands.)

Toby expresses concern for Jim’s stress levels. Jim claims he and Draal had a fight. Toby offers to let Jim sleep over if he wants to avoid Draal for a while.

Mr Strickler meets Barbara, under the pretext of being concerned about Jim’s sleeping habits and tendency to overwork himself. His charm leaves Barbara feeling almost like she’s on a date.

Draal worries over whether trusting Jim was the right decision. He’s in the basement where Jim let him stay for Barbara’s protection at the risk of Jim’s secret, sitting on the blankets Jim gave him so he wouldn’t just be sleeping on the floor, munching on cans Jim set aside for him to eat, and looking at the little Heartstone piece Jim gave him, to emphasize to the audience that Jim probably is a good guy.

Barbara asks Jim if Mr Strickler is single. Jim says he thinks so. He knows, but if he said that then he might have to come up with an excuse for how he knows.

Jim tells Draal he told their human friends that they had a fight, in case Draal is asked about it, so their stories will match up.

Blinky questions whether Jim actually needs to learn trollish. Jim confirms he did know some trollish already, but that he isn’t fluent and really has been learning from Blinky. Blinky indirectly confirms he will continue teaching Jim the language. Jim answers some questions Blinky has about Dictatious.

Toby, Darci, Mary, and Claire hang out in Trollmarket. They talk about the play, Shakespeare-inspired movies, and gnomes. Narration confirms Darci has the school mascot extracurricular already.

Toby mentions Gnome Chompsky, and implies being hurt that Jim didn’t trust him with the secret of being Trollhunter until Toby forced his hand by coming to Trollmarket.

The kids stop by Bagdwella’s shop because she’ll speak in trollish with them. They find Suzy Snooze (the stuffed rabbit) there. (Because Jim did not chase down the goblin kidnapping Enrique, nobody found the bunny in the alley until a troll happened upon it.) Toby buys the plushie back for Claire.

The goblins show up at Jim’s house and lead him to the museum. The Eyestone, supposedly the last piece of Killahead Bridge, has arrived in Arcadia.

Jim intends to lure Bular down to Trollmarket when the Bridge fails to open, hoping to incite a mob of trolls protecting their homes to overwhelm Bular with sheer numbers and finally kill him.

Otto, Nomura, Stricklander, and Bular are all at the museum. Jim silently wonders why so few Changelings are present. Bular attempts to open the Bridge.

Bular threatens Jim when this fails, thinking the Trollhunter sabotaged the ritual somehow. Stricklander suggests that perhaps the Amulet needs the Trollhunter to be the one to activate it. Jim ‘attempts’ to open the bridge, but there is still a piece missing, so it doesn’t work. Bular attacks Jim.

Stricklander, to Jim’s surprise, intervenes to save him from Bular. Jim ends up unconscious during the escape. It is sunrise, so Bular can’t go after them on the surface. Otto chases them but Stricklander loses him in the woods.

Stricklander brings Jim to the entrance of Trollmarket and settles down to wait for Jim to wake up, just inside at the top of the crystal staircase so no one will spot them in the canal. (The horngazel was in Jim’s pocket and Jim has previously explained to Stricklander how it works.)

When Jim wakes up, Stricklander gives him their cover story: Bular finally discovered and attacked the human Trollhunter, whose history teacher happened to drive past the fight and help Jim escape.

Nomura stayed out of the fight, but she goes to the Lake house afterwards and drugs Barbara unconscious. She can protect Barbara for the Trollhunter, putting Jim in her debt, or use Barbara as a hostage against the Trollhunter, winning Bular’s favour. Either way, Nomura wins.

When Draal storms protectively upstairs, Nomura tells Draal what happened, and they ‘kidnap’ Barbara to Trollmarket through the basement tunnel and one of Trollmarket’s other entrances.

Jim and Stricklander get to the library with relative ease, other than one troll throwing a gnome at Stricklander and necessitating that Jim make a big speech about fighting Bular and needing to confer with Blinky.

When they reach library, they interrupt Blinky and AAARRRGGHH making out, or the troll equivalent. AAARRRGGHH recognizes Stricklander, although both Jim and Stricklander try to deny this is the same person.

Draal and Nomura show up. Nomura and Stricklander are startled to see each other in this setting and address each other by name, accidentally confirming AAARRRGGHH was right.

Jim fusses over his unconscious mother, but isn’t too worried once Nomura identifies the sedative, because he also uses that one on Barbara sometimes so he can sneak out without her waking up.

Jim expresses worry about Toby, who has a dentist appointment that day, being used as a hostage against him. The girls should be safe because he hasn’t talked about them with other Changelings other than Stricklander, so nobody should know he’s attached. Stricklander points out Bular wouldn’t want to involve more Changelings and Nomura points out Otto and Gladys hate each other.

Blinky gets the whole story of what’s going on at last. Stricklander muses internally that Jim turning against Gunmar should make him easier to persuade to join Stricklander’s side instead. Jim talks to Blinky, AAARRRGGHH, and Draal about possibly recruiting Stricklander to their side. Nomura is amused.

By now Blinky insists that Vendel has to be informed of what’s going on.

Vendel is on his way to the library, investigating rumours of the Trollhunter bringing another human to Trollmarket. Vendel is alarmed and confused and frustrated to learn there are actually two new humans, and one of the ‘new humans’ is actually a Changeling. Nomura is in her troll form so Vendel hasn’t really noticed her yet.

Jim urges Vendel not to hurt Stricklander. AAARRRGGHH also vouches that Stricklander could be helpful, which Vendel takes more seriously than Jim’s pleas. Vendel still thinks that Jim is a human and that Jim only believes Stricklander is a good person because the Changeling has been undercover as his teacher.

Blinky reveals to Vendel that Jim is a Changeling. Jim feels hurt and betrayed because Blinky previously promised not to tell anyone about that. Vendel questions whether the Amulet might have intended to pick Jim’s Familiar instead. Jim’s reaction indicates his protectiveness of Jay-Jay.

Nomura is revealed as a Changeling to Vendel as well before Blinky brings the conversation back to what to do about Killahead Bridge. AAARRRGGHH suggests stealing the Bridge and keeping it in Trollmarket’s vault. Stricklander suggests he, Draal, and Jim kill Bular, and Nomura volunteers to help.

Jim suggests they try to take care of this before Barbara wakes up, in hopes they can bring her home afterwards and let her think she fell asleep watching television rather than having to tell her about trolls. He leaves a note just in case she does wake up.

Draal and the Changelings leave Trollmarket by a side entrance and search the sewers. They find some goblins. The goblins run and get Bular.

Bular is run over by Draal twice, repeatedly struck with various knives and swords, some of which are laced with Creeper’s Sun, and Rule Number 3’d. The fight ends with Jim conjuring Daylight impaled through Bular and Draal punching Bular into gravel.

Barbara wakes up and begins exploring the library. Blinky comes in. Barbara attacks him. She knocks him to the ground before Jim gets back and defuses the situation.

Jim gives Barbara a rundown of troll history, explaining Gumm-Gumms and Changelings and Trollhunters, leading to the reveal that he is the Trollhunter. She is upset the Amulet would tell a child to fight giant rock monsters. Jim then explains to her that he is actually a Changeling.

Jim reveals his Changeling form to Barbara. The audience finally gets a full description of troll Jim.

They give Barbara some time and space to absorb all this. She pokes around the library a little more once left alone.

Outside, Blinky expresses shock that Jim brought Bular’s severed head to Trollmarket.

Stricklander offers to let Jim move in with him if Barbara kicks Jim out; Jim says it would look less ‘potentially creepy’ if he moved in with Toby than with his teacher. Jim proposes rescuing his Familiar from the Darklands, using a Fetch rather than opening the Bridge, to bribe Barbara’s acceptance. He can use a glamour mask to maintain human appearances.

Sticklander, Jim, and Nomura speculate on when Gunmar will find out Bular is dead, as no Changeling will want to be the one to report it. Sticklander suggests they can use Bular’s death as a rallying point to turn Changelings against Gunmar, because this proves Jim is strong enough to protect them. Nomura teases Stricklander about his ambition. Jim worries about in-fighting in the Janus Order.

Vendel arrives. Like Blinky, he is shocked Jim brought back Bular’s head. Stricklander passes it off as an old human custom used to prove a foe’s defeat. Vendel brings Jim to the troll pub and announces Bular’s death, using Stricklander’s explanation when Jim presents the head.

Jim objects, quietly, to Vendel leaving Stricklander and Nomura and Draal out of the story, pointing out that Deya set a precedent for Trollhunters operating in teams.

Vendel warns that mentioning Stricklander and Nomura’s involvement could expose them as Changelings, and implies mentioning Draal could sully Draal’s reputation because he didn’t stop Jim desecrating the corpse, which is taboo in most troll cultures (although not among Gumm-Gumms).

Claire, home from rehearsal and doing laundry, gives Suzy Snooze to Enrique. Ophelia notes approvingly how ‘mature’ it is of Claire to give the rabbit to her brother ‘after all’. After Ophelia walks away, Claire grumbles about how she didn’t take the rabbit back, it just got lost. Claire also mutters about trolls, which makes Enrique suspicious.

Enrique switches form once alone, as he often does, and realizes that the rabbit still has a lingering scent of trolls under the soapy smell. He wonders when it, or Claire, might have been around trolls.

Otto, working with the goblins, finds Bular’s remains. He notes Jim and Stricklander’s scents, and also Nomura’s and one he doesn’t recognize (Draal), and realizes fearfully that he has no way of knowing how many Changelings Stricklander has already turned against Gunmar.

Barbara and Jim go back to the Lake house – not through the tunnels, Jim hasn’t told Barbara about those yet – and Nomura goes with them to retrieve her car.

Barbara questions the box of tea Nomura takes, noting Jim has the same kind. Jim ends up revealing that he semi-regularly drugs her unconscious to sneak out without her noticing. She is justifiably horrified and outraged. She tells him to get all his ‘troll stuff’ and get out.

Jim goes to the Domzalskis. Barbara worries about exposing Nana and Toby to Jim but justifies it to herself that Jim does seem to have gone out of his way to avoid physically hurting humans. (She doesn’t know Toby knows about trolls.)

Enrique tries to investigate Claire, and gets caught by her in his troll form. She, Darci, and Mary capture him in a cat carrier and call Jim and Toby. Enrique learns Jim is the Trollhunter. Jim tries to pass Enrique off as a lost baby troll. Toby, who Jim has used as an alibi many times, realizes Jim is lying. Jim and Enrique are exposed as Changelings. Claire is furious.

Jim reveals that Blinky, AAARRRGGHH, Draal, Vendel, and Barbara know he’s a Changeling, but that Trollmarket does not, and also mentions Bular is dead. He tries to encourage Claire and Enrique to get along. He also shows the humans the mirror trick used to check on his Familiar, demonstrating with the sword of Daylight.

Jim tells Toby a little bit about Changeling ‘culture’, but refuses to confirm or deny the identities of any other Changelings. Toby is disturbed by the implications of Changelings not being actively taught to speak, and how Jim is surprised none of them tried to murder him for being a Changeling.

Stricklander tells the Janus Order that Bular was killed by the Trollhunter and that Killahead Bridge has been stolen. They are all instructed to immerse themselves in their human lives to avoid drawing the Trollhunter’s attention, just in case the Trollhunter knows Bular wasn’t operating alone.

Otto starts recruiting other Changelings to investigate Bular’s death, trying to sow suspicion that Stricklander wasn’t telling them everything.

An original Changeling characters is introduced: Dr Bernie Sturges, a genderfluid mad scientist who brews poisons for the Janus Order and has been studying how Changelings work. Otto asks Bernie to do an autopsy on Bular’s remains, and Bernie suggests recruiting another Changeling who is introduced later.

A short scene of Barbara’s day confirms that she struggles with preparing meals, since she’s accustomed to Jim taking care of that for her. She is disoriented to not have breakfast on her bedside table until she remembers Jim isn’t there, and she forgets to pack a lunch to bring to work.

Jim spends lunch in Mr Strickler’s office, officially to avoid Claire. Toby shares his suspicion Mr Strickler is a Changeling, so Mary goes to eavesdrop. Claire complains about Not Enrique.

Jim suggests to Stricklander that they plant a Heartstone shard in Otto’s office to make it look like he’s actually secretly been working with them, to undermine his attempts to work against them.

Claire, Mary, Darci and Toby debate what they should do with this new information and whether they should tell anyone in Trollmarket about it. (They know Blinky and AAARRRGGHH know Jim is a Changeling but don’t know that they know Stricklander is one, and aren’t sure who besides Jim knows about Not Enrique.)

Darci and Toby express concern about putting Jim or Original Enrique or themselves in danger if they make the wrong move.

Barbara considers what might happen if she does get her biological son back – how is she supposed to explain a three-month-old appearing out of nowhere? And is she even prepared to raise another child?

A semi-original Changeling character is recruited by Otto and Bernie to help autopsy Bular. Stephan Jorgensen-Warner, inspired in name and appearance by Steve in the original novel but with the first name adjusted to avoid reader confusion, is eager to help.

Stephan works in a crematorium and used to sneak out bodies for Bular to eat, and feels like he has less of a purpose in the Janus Order with Bular dead. However, he points out that despite knowing some morticians as workplace acquaintances, he does not actually know how to perform an autopsy, let alone how to autopsy a pile of rocks.

Jim has been ‘breaking in’ to leave food, trusting Barbara's perpetual exhaustion and how accustomed she is to there being leftovers in the fridge to keep her from questioning it, and putting the food in disposable containers to mimic restaurant takeout so if Barbara does question it she might think she bought it for herself and forgot. Toby discovers this and calls Jim out on messing with Barbara’s head.

Barbara sets up a lunch meeting with Mr Strickler, since she has questions about Changelings which she feels will be easier to ask someone she didn’t know for years before discovering they were a Changeling.

This conversation is a framing device for exposition, backstory, and worldbuilding on how Changelings work in this fic’s universe. (Although some things are left out; for example, Barbara does not learn about Morgana yet.) Some pertinent data:

The selection of Familiars is mostly random, but usually children from wealthy families in regionally socially-dominant demographics are selected. Sometimes a Changeling with a human friend will suggest their friend’s baby be swapped for a Changeling.

Young trolls are turned into Changelings and stashed in the Darklands, and later brought out and bound to a Familiar. A Changeling’s aging process is ‘paused’ when they become a Changeling, and this enchantment is transferred to their Familiar when they are tied together.

Only one Changeling per Familiar, or the bond gets unstable and only one of those Changelings can be human at a time. A Changeling bound to two Familiars will explode due to unstable magical overload, although the Familiars will be fine.

(Polymorphs are a different type of Changelings who do not have Familiars at all, and they are planted on the surface immediately, but Stricklander avoids telling Barbara about them.)

Scars on the Changeling’s body before getting a Familiar are only visible on the troll body – likewise, any scars the Familiar already had will only be seen on the Changeling’s human body – but any scars the Changeling acquires later will carry over to each form.

The Changeling can only transform while their Familiar is in the Darklands and physically unharmed. A goblin stays with the Changeling after planting to cast an illusion spell if the Familiar’s human caregivers come into the room before the Familiar gets through the Fetch. Goblins are good at chaos magic, including illusions.

Sometimes a Familiar’s hair or eye colour will be passed to their Changeling when they are bound together, or the Changeling will grow an extra finger on each hand. (The extra finger can also sprout when the troll whelp initially gets turned into a Changeling, as happened to Jim.)

A Changeling in human form will appear human by every test that has been devised as yet, other than a gaggletack or a test of genetic compatibility, and the latter is because Changelings are sterilized.

(The reproductive organs were low on Morgana’s priority list of ‘things to keep functional’, and Stricklander speculates that their human bodies lack a ‘blueprint’ for a functional reproductive system because their Familiars are sexually immature.)

A Changeling with a Familiar will age at a human rate until the body is fully mature (twenty to thirty years, they aren’t sure when it stops) and after that will age at a troll rate.

Changelings are made immune to sunlight by the process that turns them into Changelings, regardless of whether they have a Familiar yet.

Changelings consider themselves, to varying degrees, to be under the Gumm-Gumms’ protection, in the sense that other trolls might hesitate to attack them for fear of drawing Gumm-Gumm attention and wrath.

Changelings have only been around for seven or eight hundred years. Stricklander was one of the first viable Changelings. Jim was one of the last Changelings made before Morgana vanished, so there haven’t been any new ones for a bit over four hundred years.

This sequence also makes note that Jim was bottle-fed when passing as a human infant.

Jim and Toby go to the museum to admire a mineral display.

Nomura invites Jim to her office and gives him a fake Amulet, which Stricklander made as a ‘lockpick’ to open Killahead in absence of the real Amulet, and then gave to Nomura in hopes she could steal the real Amulet from Kanjigar when she was dating Draal. Jim now has a cover story if another Changeling sees him with the Amulet – that he was holding onto the ‘lockpick’ for safekeeping.

Toby sees Jim coming out of Nomura’s office rather than the bathroom, where Jim claimed he’d been going, and confronts Jim on still lying to him instead of just saying “I can’t tell you”.

Blinky and AAARRRGGHH are concerned because Jim hasn’t been in Trollmarket for a while. Blinky particularly wants Jim to take Bular’s severed head out of the library – AAARRRGGHH won’t let Blinky get rid of it because Gumm-Gumm etiquette says the head is Jim’s battle trophy and anyone else disposing of it is an insult to Jim.

Mary and Claire show up. Mary gives Blinky and AAARRRGGHH a cellphone, with the girls’ and Toby’s phone numbers programmed in so the humans can contact Trollmarket without needing to go through Jim. She also gives them a stylus for using the touch screen if it doesn’t work with troll skin. It does work, but AAARRRGGHH’s fingers are really big so he uses the stylus anyway.

Claire reveals to Blinky and AAARRRGGHH that Jim has told the humans about being a Changeling, and that her younger brother has been replaced by one as well.

Barbara approaches Nomura after krav maga class and invites her to coffee, wanting another perspective on the whole Changeling issue. Nomura reluctantly accepts.

Jim is mildly injured while training in the Hero’s Forge. Blinky and AAARRRGGHH check his injuries. Jim demonstrates how he can summon and dismiss individual pieces of his armour.

Darci, Mary, and Toby complain about Claire telling Blinky and AAARRRGGH that Jim and Enrique were Changelings so quickly. They were planning to lead up to it carefully, to confirm it was true that Jim really had already told Blinky and AAARRRGGHH about being a Changeling, to avoid getting Jim arrested or executed if he hadn’t confessed yet.

Blinky questions Jim about the Enrique Swap. Jim defends why he’d thought it was a good idea at the time. This leads into revealing Jim’s old, now-discarded plan to sell out his human friends as ‘breeding stock’ to keep them alive under Gunmar’s reign. Everyone is horrified.

Nomura advises Barbara to forget about trolls and Changelings and go about her life as if she’d never discovered them.

The Ghost Council decides this is a good time to summon Jim into the Void. Kanjigar is angry Jim lied to Draal about Kanjigar asking Jim to pass on a message to him, and that Jim has been encouraging Draal to be involved in Trollhunting. Deya says that Jim has a point about the merits of fighting with backup.

Deya tells Jim that, according to legend, Merlin found a way to beat Gunmar, though he never told the Trollhunters what it was. She advises Jim to talk to his mentors.

Barbara approaches Nana Domzalski.

AAARRRGGHH claims Gunmar has resistance to any known poisons. Toby and Mary speculate that true sunlight, or a UV lightbulb, could hurt Gunmar even if conventional trollish weaponry cannot.

Blinky brings everyone back to his library and digs up Gunmar’s origins, following what the show said about Gunmar being born from a rotted Heartstone. Jim is inclined to dismiss this as propaganda, but confesses he doesn’t actually know where baby trolls come from.

Blinky looks up the legend of the Triumbric Stones. Darci and Toby comment on the classical quest setup. Blinky speculates that the stones could be in Merlin’s tomb. Mary suggests they ask Mr Strickler about it, since he is obviously a Changeling and would have looked up ways Gunmar could be defeated under the premise of finding ways to protect against these methods.

Jim reluctantly phones Stricklander and asks him to come to Trollmarket. Stricklander reveals he was responsible for destroying all copies of The Final Testament Of Bodus, but that he took the liberty of memorizing the poem about the Triumbric Stones which was enchanted to be revealed when the book burned.

Blinky yells at Stricklander about book burning. The Library of Alexandria is mentioned, to Stricklander’s annoyance, since that wasn’t as big a deal as pop culture would imply because many of the books lost had copies elsewhere, just not centralized.

The poem is recited. Stricklander says that he can get access to Gunmar’s Eye, and speculates the Killstone is in the Quagawumps’ territory. Jim plans to return the Killstone to the Quagawumps once he’s done with it, since it was probably cursed by the Shattered King, and also it presumably has cultural significance to their tribe.

Everyone starts researching mountains, to determine possible locations of the Birthstone. (Stricklander said the Eye was taken from ‘caverns deep’ by Gunmar’s forces, but has not yet directly brought up his suspicions that any attacks on the Krubera Caverns would have to be an inside job.)

Blinky pulls Jim aside and apologizes for implying Jim wasn’t really a troll when Blinky found out Jim was a Changeling. Blinky also tells Jim where baby trolls come from.

This story uses the explanation provided in the novels: that parent trolls each implant a fragment of their own living stone, which have been joined together at the facets, into a ‘birthstone’, in which the young troll incubates for thirty years before hatching.

The explanation is expanded in the fic to say the living stone comes out of the parents’ gronk-nuks, the joined fragments are called a ‘seed crystal’, and that Heartstone is ideal material for birthstones. Jim compares the process to the external fertilization of eggs practiced by some species of fish.

One of the reasons troll birthrates are low is to avoid over-harvesting the Heartstone. Another reason, just now, is because of Gumm-Gumms and Changelings; trolls are still getting used to no longer having to fear that their newborns will be stolen away to be raised as soldiers to fight them, and/or magically turned into something else.

Jim fails to hide his bitter reaction to this. He confirms that Changelings know their birth families wouldn’t want them back even if a Changeling could remember or find out enough to make contact.

Blinky, in a moment of guilt and compassion, swears to help any Changeling who deserts Gunmar find a home and family in Trollmarket. Jim tries to make a joke about adoption rates and alarms Blinky further with the revelation that Changelings are sterilized. (The sterilization has previously been mentioned by Mr Strickler, when explaining Changelings to Barbara.)

Toby and Jim go back to Toby’s house at three in the morning, and find Barbara and Nana together in the kitchen, drinking sherry and baking cookies.

Barbara apologizes to Jim for kicking him out and Jim apologizes to Barbara for drugging her. Barbara implies she wants Jim to move back home, but Jim hesitates to take her up on that, concerned she’ll take it back once she sobers up.

Barbara has told Nana about trolls. It is implied Nana doesn’t quite believe her but hasn’t dismissed the idea either. Jim advises Toby to let Nana keep her impression that trolls are part of a video game the boys have been playing.

Barbara questions Jim’s plans for if Toby gets hurt or killed under troll-related circumstances, asserting Nana’s right to know what happens to her grandson. Jim reveals he’s had a contingency plan since he and Toby were in elementary school. Barbara learns there are other humans who know about trolls and wants names.

Toby suggests they set everything aside to deal with in the morning and hauls Jim upstairs to sleep.

Jim tells Toby about Blinky giving him the talk. Toby jokes about Blinky and AAARRRGGHH being father figures to Jim and Jim comments on seeing Stricklander as a dad. Toby questions this, wondering if, being Changelings, Jim and Stricklander are the same age. The dialogue reasserts that Stricklander is centuries older than Jim. Jim adds that Enrique is roughly Jim’s age.

Bernie has been studying Bular’s remains in the Janus Order’s labs, running the stones through as many non-intrusive tests as possible to avoid degrading specimens with a limited sample size.

Bernie decides to try and get Gunmar’s Eye out of the vault where the Janus Order keeps it, to see if a comparative study between father and son will reveal how blood ties manifest in stone-based organisms. Also, some data on trollish eye structure, to compare once Bernie finds Bular’s eyes. (Bernie doesn’t know Bular was decapitated and the head taken away.)

Stricklander and Bernie meet each other at the vault doors and Stricklander agrees to let Bernie study the Eye for a short period before it is moved to ‘an undisclosed location’.

The vault has several layers of security, including a scanner for which Stricklander has to switch forms so it can read his transformation magic and confirm he isn’t a polymorph impersonating Stricklander.

The Inferna Copula is kept in the same vault. Bernie comments that Angor Rot could potentially be summoned to avenge Bular, since Angor has successfully slain Trollhunters in the past. Stricklander takes the ring to keep Otto from following through with that idea. He begins to consider summoning Angor Rot as a bodyguard for Jim.

Jim moves back home.

Toby, once alone, lets himself get alarmed and disturbed about Jim’s contingency plan to cover up if Toby died for troll-related reasons, and texts the girls about it. They are sympathetic to his panic.

Toby also reveals that Barbara knows some additional human kids know about trolls and wants to know who, to tell their families. Darci suggests they take control of that situation and tell their parents first.

Draal agrees to let Jim keep Bular’s head in the basement. Jim lies to Draal about Kanjigar again, this time saying that Kanjigar is proud of the role Draal played in avenging Kanjigar’s death.

Jim and the humans go to Trollmarket. Claire brings Enrique – not on purpose, but her mother suggested she bring her brother along if she’s going to the park to meet her friends, and Claire couldn’t get out of it without her mother concluding she’d lied about her plans.

Jim insists on briefing Enrique before going down the crystal staircase, so the newer Changeling won’t be caught off-guard and reveal himself. Among other things, Jim forewarns Enrique that AAARRRGGHH will be there and reassures him that AAARRRGGHH is a pacifist now, which confuses the humans because they’ve only ever known AAARRRGGHH as a pacifist.

Claire points out Blinky and AAARRRGGHH already know Not Enrique is a Changeling. Enrique is alarmed and upset. Jim scruffs him to keep him from lunging at Claire and insists it would’ve been better for Enrique’s cover to not know that.

Toby finds it reassured that the Changelings keep secrets from each other, because that makes them seem less like a unified force toying with the foolish humans.

Darci tells Blinky and AAARRRGGHH that the kids want to tell their families about trolls. Blinky and AAARRRGGHH object to the idea.

The humans are allowed to present their reasoning to Vendel, who acknowledges that he cannot stop them, but decrees that if they go through with this, they will be banned from Trollmarket.

Darci, Mary, and Toby argue that Barbara is going to try to expose trolls anyway, but if the trolls will help them explain everything to their parents, it can be made to sound less terrifying.

Jim points out that, if Trollmarket won’t help, the kids might go looking for other evidence and get murdered by some other Changeling, or worse, be captured and interrogated and give the Changelings a lot of information which Trollmarket would rather Gunmar’s forces did not have.

Claire says that Trollmarket is used to them, so other humans being down there wouldn’t be much more of an adjustment. Vendel says Trollmarket figures the human kids are only there temporarily, until the human Trollhunter dies. There is a brief moment of confusion until Jim clarifies that yes, Vendel knows Jim is a Changeling, but no, most trolls do not.

Besides, as children, these humans are less intimidating than adults, which is why they don’t have guards following them around all the time. Trolls aren’t great at guessing human ages but they can tell these ones are young.

Mary starts to make an argument about how cellphone cameras make exposure only a matter of time, but AAARRRGGHH intervenes and physically carries the humans and Changelings away, to let Vendel consider their arguments in peace and for everyone to return to the debate once tempers have cooled.

Over pizza, Jim explains to Barbara that the humans who are involved with trolls are now attempting to persuade the trolls to let the humans tell their families that trolls exist. Barbara agrees to give them thirty days before she starts actively trying to identify these children. She also silently notices that Jim hasn’t called her ‘Mom’ in a while.

Jim informs Stricklander that the teens are trying to reveal the existence of trolls to their families. Jim expresses worry over whether Enrique will be able to remain in the Nuñez home if Claire exposes his identity to her parents.

Stricklander decides to delay telling Jim that Stricklander might be leaving town soon until after Stricklander identifies a suitable Interim Head of the Janus Order.

Jim invites Barbara to come with him to watch the school play. She accepts.

Barbara, wanting to know more about the trollish aspects of Jim’s life, asks about the troll school system. Since Jim doesn’t know much about it, he suggests putting her in contact with Blinky. Barbara suggests that Blinky could come over for dinner sometime.

Claire’s parents confront her about coming home late. She was at dress rehearsal and reminds them about the school play. Enrique tries making happy noises to dispel the tension, which is not effective.

The play is told from Toby’s perspective. He is impressed by Steve’s acting, and laughs at the dirty jokes Shakespeare wrote into dialogue, but is disturbed by Claire’s death scene. Toby has not been involved in fighting or chase scenes in this timeline, and so only has Jim’s word that Trollhunting is dangerous. Seeing Claire pretend to die makes it click in Toby’s mind that he and his friends could be killed.

Toby has a nightmare that Jim approaches him at school and delivers the cover story he’d previously mentioned planning – that Claire ran away to become a rock star – and Toby wakes up half-convinced that Claire has died. He texts her to ask if she’s okay and tries playing Go-Go Sushi to calm himself.

Claire texts back that she’s fine and asks if Not Enrique snuck over to Toby’s house or something. Toby tells her he had a nightmare she’d been hurt. Since she’s had nightmares about what might be happening to Original Enrique in the Darklands, and can’t go to sleep until Not Enrique uses the mirror trick to prove Original Enrique is fine, Claire calls Toby to reassure him.

While Toby was in obvious distress, Chompsky went across the street to get Jim. Jim comes in through Toby’s window, eyes glowing, and frightens him. Jim thought Toby was under attack. When Toby says it was a nightmare, Jim offers to make him food. Jim ends up switching to troll form and carrying Toby downstairs to Nana.

Toby cuddles in bed with his grandmother and several of her cats. Jim exits the scene. Toby tells Nana a little about his nightmare, cutting out the troll context but admitting he and Jim and several other friends are involved in something that has Toby feeling like they are in danger.

After Toby falls asleep, Nana calls his therapist to ask if his next appointment can be rescheduled for a sooner time.

(Toby has a family history of clinical depression, and after Nana found him a good therapist for grief counselling as a child she decided he should keep having regular appointments with the same person, someone he already knew and was used to confiding in, until and unless Toby decided he ought to see someone else or his therapist recommended he see somebody else and provided a referral.)

Toby’s therapist is an original Changeling character, Tiffany Archenn. At the time Nana calls, Stricklander is offering Dr Archenn the job of Interim Head of the Janus Order. He knows she won’t take it, since she prefers low-profile positions, but wants her opinion and suggestions for other candidates who won’t be killed or swayed by Otto.

The simplest solution, killing Otto, would look suspicious. Otto’s fervent loyalty to Gunmar means that Otto’s death at Stricklander’s hand would raise questions about Stricklander’s own loyalty, unless Stricklander can make it look like he killed Otto for being a threat to his position … but polymorphs are rare and it would be out of character for Stricklander to throw such a resource away.

Tiffany suggests the following candidates:

Nomura and Gladys, who are both aggressive and would lead through intimidation. Otto wouldn’t try to turn Gladys to his side because they don’t like each other, and Tiffany correctly suspects that Nomura is already on Stricklander’s side.

Bernie, who is primarily on the side of science.

Jim; Tiffany doesn’t remember his name, but everyone likes a good cook, and he’s new enough on the surface not to seem like a viable threat to anyone’s position.

Jennifer Smith, an original Changeling character, who manages the Janus Order base’s front business Omni-Reach Travel.

After Blinky started teaching more humans to speak trollish, Bagdwella took it upon herself to help with the lessons by teaching them words and phrases they would actually use in conversation.

Bagdwella lets Mary and Darci use the backroom of her shop as a workspace for a writing project, occasionally helping them with translation or spelling. Mary explains that they are writing stories about their families, although she doesn’t tell Bagdwella why.

At home, Claire asks Enrique to check the spelling and grammar of her trollish writing. He reveals he cannot read trollish, although he is starting to learn English and Spanish.

Claire questions the logic of not teaching Changelings to read, especially since, if they’re discovered as a spy by humans, a cipher written in trollish would be harder for a human to decode than a cipher that translates back to a human language.

Enrique speculates that it was done to cut Changelings away from troll culture, since only the highest ranking Changelings (or the recklessly determined ones, like Jim, who don’t tend to live long) can read trollish … or possibly Claire is just more sensible about espionage strategy than Gunmar is.

Darci, Mary and Claire present their project to Blinky. The stories and photos about their families are meant to persuade Vendel that these humans are trustworthy and can be told about trolls. They plan to have Toby and Jim contribute to the book as well.

Blinky doubts this will sway Vendel. Blinky is deeply alarmed when the section on Claire’s family includes a picture of Enrique in troll form at the entrance to Trollmarket. He advises them to take everything about the Changeling out of the book, lest someone else see it and start a panic.

Toby switches from the canon-compliant warhammer he picked out to a smaller one that he can actually lift without magical intervention.

Toby and Jim spar lightly, under AAARRRGGHH’s supervision, until Blink and the girls get to the Forge. Blinky is upset Toby is sparring with a weapon he hasn’t trained with, so Claire takes Toby’s place in the sparring ring. The humans don’t have armour, but they do wear bike helmets, shin pads, and elbow pads.

When Jim hears about the scrapbook project, he agrees to include stories about Barbara. Jim extends Barbara’s invitation for Blinky to come to dinner and expands the invite to include AAARRRGGHH and Vendel as well.

Blinky privately confronts Jim about deliberately losing his sparring match with Claire. It’s not good training for her if Jim simply lets her win. Jim says he did it to help Claire release some of the anger she feels towards Jim for his role in the Enrique Swap.

Barbara decides to vent her frustrations over trolls and Changelings and secrets into painting. While looking for canvas in the basement, she finds Draal and pepper-sprays him.

Jim comes home, hears screaming, and runs downstairs, getting pepper-sprayed as well. He slips up in his dialogue and addresses Barbara as ‘Mom’ for the first time since she found out he was a Changeling. (He’s avoided calling her that to her face to avoid having her tell him not to.)

Once everyone stops screaming, Jim introduces Barbara to Draal and explains why there’s a troll in her basement. Draal and Jim use milk to wash the pepper-spray out of their eyes. Barbara questions why Jim didn’t tell her Draal was living there, which Jim agrees would have been a good idea because then Barbara wouldn’t have read Draal as a threat and attacked him.

Draal and Jim also explain the hole in the basement. Barbara wants it filled in, but settles for insisting they have to put some kind of door over it so random trolls can’t wander into their house by accident after getting turned around in the tunnels.

Barbara sets up an improvised painting studio in the garage rather than the basement.

Barbara and Jim host Blinky and AAARRRGGHH (and Draal) for dinner. Barbara cooks, since Draal confirmed that her cooking tastes good to unaltered trolls as well as to Changelings.

Barbara considers dressing up, but is relieved she didn’t upon noticing Blinky is in pants and suspenders with no shirt, Draal is wearing a kilt with no shirt, and AAARRRGGHH is naked. Blinky admits he didn’t bother asking Vendel to join them because he was positive Vendel would decline.

Coversation wanders through books, Pyrobligst, medicine (Barbara is surprised to learn trolls pack injuries with hot metal; the trolls are shocked to learn humans can get sunburned), and a quick confirmation in dialogue (after the story’s many stating-without-spelling-it-out moments in narrative) that Blinky and AAARRRGGHH are romantically involved with one another.

There is a running theme in Barbara’s thoughts throughout the dinner party about the structure of the different trolls’ hands. AAARRRGGHH’s fingers are each bigger around than her arm. None of the trolls have much definition between their wrist and forearm, other than Jim.

When Jim switches to troll form during the meal she notes his five-fingered hands in contrast to the four-fingers hands of the other trolls present; she hadn’t been sure if this was the case or if she’d been conflating memories of her brief previous sight of his troll form with his human form.

Glug agrees to tell Jim, Toby, Darci, Mary, and Claire about the Shattered King, in exchange for a human song. It’s unclear if she initially means one from each of them or one in total, but she enjoys Toby’s rendition of ‘Boom, Boom, shake the room, say what?’ enough to count this as payment in full.

The saga begins with the king’s birth and how he was discovered to be a sorcerer of great power. He was transgender and able to physically transition on instinct as a child rather than needing the elaborate ritual to recarve his living stone.

Jim and Darci both pay sharp attention to this, Jim because he thought at first Glug meant that the king had been a shapeshifter, Darci because she’s trans and pleased to know that trolls have a concept for this so she won’t have to explain from scratch if outed to her troll friends.

The king (Beljaros? Quag?) grows up, gets apprenticed to a few different troll magicians and outpaces all his teachers in short order, and is one of the first trolls to discover the surface world. (According to the saga he was THE first but this might be poetic licence.)

This also means he discovers the dangers of sunlight. To convince other trolls to join him in this rich hunting ground despite the danger, he casts a spell of perpetual cloud over one section of the swamp to protect any trolls who don’t burrow into the mud fast enough by daybreak. The trolls who join him decide he should be their king, and form the Quagawump tribe.

Troll-human conflict has begun by this point, and Gunmar exists. Because of the cloud spell, the Gumm-Gumms want the Quagawump swamp for a base of operations. The king defends his home with magic. The River and Garden trolls both ally with the Quagawumps for mutual protection.

The power that lets Gunmar forcibly drain lifeforce from the Heartstone (instead of passively absorbing it as most trolls do) also lets him drain lifeforce out of other trolls. During an attack, he tries to drain the Wumpa King’s power but can’t quite get all of it, which is what creates the Killstone.

The Garden and River trolls each blame the other for not guarding the king’s back, which, according to the Quagawumps, is why those tribes hate each other. (The feud between River and Garden trolls comes up a few times in canon spin-off novels and comics.) The cloud spell breaks when the king dies and Gunmar doesn’t know how to cast it, so the Gumm-Gumms stop trying to capture the swamp.

Jim asks if the Quagawumps will let him borrow the Killstone. Glug is unsure but advises that Toby should do the asking since he looks like the Shattered King.

Stephan checks in on Bernie, who has been living in the Janus Order since Bular’s death. Bernie is trying to reassemble Bular and notes that the head seems to be missing. The Changelings start to suspect it was taken as a battle trophy/proof of death.

Bernie goes to the gramophone room to meditate and Stephan finds the Heartstone piece Jim brought the Order months ago. Bernie decides to take a break from studying Bular to study the Heartstone instead.

When breaking into Otto’s office to leave a report, Bernie and Stephan are led to another Heartstone piece by Bernie’s modified Geiger counter. It is implied to the audience that Stricklander planted it there as part of the plan he and Jim discussed a while back to implicate Otto as also being involved in treason.

Jim starts teaching Barbara trollish, to help her feel more connected to that part of his life. And also because she and Blinky want to set up a book swap, which will be easier on her if she has a bit more guidance than just a dictionary.

During these reading lessons, it is revealed that there are two meanings of the word ‘troll’ – ‘member of the species’ or ‘member of a tribe’. Jim lets slip to Barbara that most trolls do not see Changelings as trolls. He tries to cover by saying most trolls see Changelings as tribe-less, rather than ‘not members of the species’, but Barbara is suspicious.

Jim also reveals that Changelings are disowned and presumed dead by their original families, which makes Barbara feel a new surge of guilt for kicking him out when she first learned he was a Changeling.

Vendel is given the scrapbook about the human relatives that the teens are proposing to tell about trolls. He reluctantly agrees to read the book and consider their arguments.

Mr Strickler calls Jim into his office after school and gives him Gunmar’s Eye. Jim is deeply unsettled by it and wonders, since it still looks like living stone, whether Gunmar can still see out of it.

Stricklander tells Jim that he’ll be out of town for a few days, “hopefully acquiring something else of use.” Jim thinks Stricklander has a lead on the Birthstone.

Jim brings Gunmar’s Eye to Vendel, keeping it sealed in a zip-up pencil case until Vendel tells him to open it.

Vendel explains about cleaving stones, and shows Jim the other stones past Trollhunters have used.

Jim immediately asks for on the stone that lets trolls walk in sunlight without harm. Jim, being a Changeling, doesn’t have to worry about that, but his successor potentially will, and if Kanjigar had been carrying this stone he might not have died.

Vendel refuses and gets on with the cleaving lessons.

Vendel wants Jim to be in troll form while cleaving the Eye. Jim really doesn’t want to do that. What if someone comes in? Vendel points out that, if Jim drops the armour, no troll will have reason to suspect who he is. Trollmarket is well-populated and has many visitors. Reluctantly, Jim transforms.

Vendel is taken aback by how young Jim looks. He understands that Changelings are older than they appear and that their apparent age in troll form matches their age in human form, but he hadn’t realized Jim’s human friends were quite this young. No wonder they want their parents to visit Trollmarket with them.

Jim puts the Eye in the Amulet. Vendel sees the Heartstone shard Jim uses to summon a knife. Jim asks what Vendel thinks the Eye will do.

Vendel describes the near-infinite number of elements. Subtle differences in composition, age, environment, and shaping make it extremely unlikely for two stones to be exactly the same, which is why it’s nearly impossible to predict what properties a cleaved stone will unlock.

Jim trains with Gunmar’s Eye in the Amulet, but it doesn’t appear to do anything. Jim worries about his ability to unlock the Triumbric Stones and whether he might have cleaved the Eye improperly.

AAARRRGGHH finds Jim stressing out about this and brings him back to the library to unwind. Jim confides his worries. AAARRRGGHH offers comfort and reassurance.

Toby has an appointment with Dr Archenn. He tells her about fighting trolls, but frames his explanation as getting overly invested in LARPing. She does not suspect he knows about trolls for real.

Claire talks about touching up her roots and Enrique learns what hair dye is. He thinks she meant ‘die’, as in, hair changes colour when it’s ‘killed’, and is confused because Ophelia and Javier have each taken him along while visiting the hairdressers and nobody’s hair clippings changed colour on the floor. Claire explains it and is amused.

Claire decides to teach Enrique how to read. He is an outwardly resistant student but secretly appreciates this.

Blinky drives Jim, Toby, Claire, Mary and Darci to Florida. AAARRRGGHH stays behind because he hates the Gyre.

The Quagawumps are, for the most part, eager to avenge the Shattered King, but Blango does not want to give up the symbol of his authority. Jim has to fight him for the Killstone. Blango won’t surrender, so Jim stabs him with Creeper’s Sun and explains the antidote to the Quagawumps if they want him back.

There is a riot between Blango’s supporters and those who consider him ‘The Pretend King’. Blango is shattered and Wumpa, the one who became Queen in the show, takes over.

Jim feels like he’s undergone a Changeling rite of passage by replacing a head of state like that. The humans are shaken from having been in close proximity to all that violence.

Jim cleaves the Killstone and unlocks the shield, which he really likes. He laments, but still fully intends to keep, his promise to return the Killstone once Gunmar is dead. Jim decides to start looking for another stone that can give him a shield.

Jim also decides to start training more in his troll form, covering up the blue flash of his transformation with the blue glow his armour emits when making adjustments such as opening and closing the faceplate. He can cover his horns and ears with his helmet, so as long as no one is staring at his backside while his tail sprouts or recedes, it should be okay.

Blinky and AAARRRGGHH talk it over and approach Jim with an offer to adopt him.

This would not in any way affect Barbara being Jim’s mother, but it would give Jim the legal right to call himself ‘Jim Galadrigal, son of Blinkous and Aarghaumont’ as well as ‘Jim, son of Barbara’. (AAARRRGGHH and Blinky are not married or engaged yet, but that’s not a requirement for adopting a kid together.)

It would also give Blinky and AAARRRGGHH the right to intercede on Jim’s behalf in legal contexts; although Jim is technically old enough to speak for himself, he doesn’t have centuries of experience with Trollmarket’s culture, laws, and customs to back up his arguments.

The adoption would give Jim an official position within troll society besides his job as the Trollhunter.

Jim accepts. Shortly afterwards, he is called into the Void. Araknak the Agile, one of Blinky’s ancestors, wants to welcome Jim into the family.

Jim asks Araknak for advice about the Triumbric Stones. Deya pops up and reveals that Gunmar’s Eye helps Jim blend into his surroundings.

Deya reveals a bit of her backstory, that she was kidnapped by humans as a whelp and rejoined troll society at about the same age Jim is now. She and Araknak agree that this stealth mode armour will be useful to Jim in hiding from the various petty complaints that trolls ask the Trollhunter to resolve for them.

Jim worries about telling his Changeling allies about the adoption, since they’ve all been disowned by their troll families as far as they know. Jim is unsure how Stricklander, Nomura, or Enrique will feel about to Jim getting a new troll family but assumes they will be jealous.

It does not occur to Jim to worry about how Barbara will feel.

Barbara, when he tells her, wants to be happy for him but mostly feels hurt, like he’s rejecting her as a parent or saying she isn’t enough, and is also upset that he made such a big decision without telling her first – sure, Jim is not required to ask her permission or even her opinion, but he didn’t tell her until it was a done deal, which feels sort of like if he’d gotten married without telling her.

Jim and Barbara end up having a serious heart-to-heart conversation, admitting the fear the other might not see them as family which has been between them since Jim admitted to being a Changeling, and each confirming they do see the other as family and want to keep the parent-child dynamic that they had before.

Barbara gets the calendar reminder that thirty days are up and starts trying to figure out who Toby and Jim’s other friends who know about trolls might be.

Toby reveals to Jim and Barbara that Toby has told his therapist about trolls, claiming they’re part of a fantasy game. Barbara is encouraging. Jim is not.

During a reading lesson, Claire decides Not Enrique ought to practice signing his name and they butt heads over whether he should sign ‘Enrique’ or ‘Not Enrique’.

Enrique tells Claire a bit about what his life was like in the Darklands, including the nicknames that Changelings had among themselves. He does not yet tell her what his nickname was, because for someone to call him that after he has been given a Familiar would be an insult.

Stricklander approaches Angor Rot. He keeps the ring on to prevent Angor from killing him before at least hearing him out. In exchange for Angor’s word to not kill the current Trollhunter or his allies, and to help them defeat Gunmar, Stricklander will return the Inferna Copula and help Angor find a way to restore his soul to his body.

Angor takes the deal, but expresses surprise when Stricklander gives him back the ring. Stricklander explains that, while he believes in opening negotiations from a position of strength, an ally gained through coercion is a betrayal waiting to happen.

The Soothscryer activates, because Angor has freed the souls of the dead Trollhunters he had previously consumed. The ghost Trollhunters don’t actually know what happened and assume Angor finally died.

Jim has no idea who Angor Rot is. The ghost Trollhunters explain that he was a former hero who lost his soul in a quest for power and turned against those he had sworn to protect.

One of the new ghosts realizes Jim is a Changeling and starts to get agitated, so Araknak shunts Jim out of the Void while the rest of the Ghost Council explains the Changeling Trollhunter to the new ghosts.

The humans, along with Jim and Enrique, have a movie night. Jim props up the Amulet on the table so the ghost Trollhunters can watch too. Toby finally figures out why Jim always cries when watching ‘Lilo and Stitch’. Jim and Darci debate the moral of ‘The Ugly Duckling’.

Jim and Enrique talk about family.

Jim tells Enrique about being adopted by Blinky and AAARRRGGHH. Enrique has been thinking it over, and decides to tell these humans his old nickname from the Darklands – Riot – and let them call him that as an alternative to being called ‘Not Enrique’ or fighting to get them to call him ‘Enrique’.

Jim is kind of mad about this but also feels like he doesn’t have grounds to protest, since he’s been so insistent that Enrique/Riot should get to decide on his own name. Jim reveals his old nickname too – Cuddles – but flatly says the humans are not allowed to call him that; Riot can if he wants to, though, since Riot was in the Darklands with Jim.

Otto checks in with Bernie about progress on Bular’s autopsy and is angry Bernie has taken a break from working on it. Bernie defends the decision by sharing the hypothesis Bular’s head was stolen, which gives an obvious cause of death and delays the body reconstruction.

This frustrates Otto, because neither Jim not Stricklander look big or strong enough to decapitate Bular, even in their troll forms, and so Otto cannot use this as proof Jim and Stricklander were the ones to kill Bular, and none of the other Changelings he’s approached have been willing to commit to supporting Otto if he made a play for Stricklander’s position.

Because Otto is obviously angry, Bernie elects not to reveal any findings relating to the Heartstone, since Otto would then be further angered at Bernie for ‘playing around with a side project’ instead of focusing on an assignment.

Bernie assumes Otto knows about the Heartstone pieces on the base, since one was in Otto’s office, but also suspects Otto didn’t want anyone else to know they were there, since it was hidden, and that revealing Bernie found them would get Bernie in trouble.

Otto orders Bernie to test Bular’s remains for poison. Bernie starts trying to figure out how to do that. All Bernie’s usual poison tests are for living subjects, to determine the proper antidote, or for meat-based dead bodies, to determine whether the meat is safe to eat.

Blinky finds reference to the treasures kept in Gatto’s Keep and decides they should look there for the Birthstone.

Nomura and Draal come along as muscle in case Jim has to fight for the stone again, and in Nomura’s case because of her experience dealing with ancient artifacts and stuffy collectors.

Because they have to time the mission around Nomura’s work schedule, Toby is the only human available to join them. Jim hesitates to bring him along, especially after the Quagawump Revolution, but a human could notice something a troll or Changeling would miss.

Jim tries bartering for the Birthstone, offering to trade Bular’s head, a white noise machine (trolls love static), and/or one of Jim’s cookbooks (a “scientific study” that’s been “stolen from a Changeling hideout” about foods both humans and trolls can eat).

Nomura answers Gatto’s riddle, and she and Toby end up eaten. Draal is eaten trying to avenge them.

Jim attempts to slay Gatto.

Nomura grabs a number of artifacts that catch her eye, including a Kairosect, and stashes them in the duffle bag she brought along.

Toby texts Jim that they’re alive, and finds the Birthstone.

Draal is exposed to magic potions while ‘upsetting the stomach’, and shields the other two as best he can with his giant arms while they escape. Draal’s right arm is badly burned by the lava and has to be amputated and replaced by a prosthetic after they get back to Trollmarket.

Jim is highly aggressive in the immediate aftermath of escaping Gatto’s Keep. He won’t let any of the trolls near Toby. AAARRRGGHH is waiting for them at the Gyre Station in Trollmarket and Jim swipes at him with Daylight when AAARRRGGHH reaches for Toby.

Nomura figures out what’s going on – fear of being eaten is very common among Changelings, and Jim is panicking over seeing it happen to Toby – and advises they leave Jim and Toby alone to let Jim calm down and assure himself Toby is safe.

Blinky and AAARRRGGHH aren’t so sure that’s the best idea, but Draal needs medical attention, so they take him to Vendel while Nomura stands guard at the station entrance so other trolls won’t wander in.

Toby manages to talk Jim down eventually, so they can walk through Trollmarket to get back to the surface without Jim lighting his eyes up at any troll who looks at the human.

Nomura goes to check on how Draal is doing, though she covers her sentimental motive by saying she came to show him all the stuff he lost his arm for her to steal.

Claire, Darci and Mary are upset they weren’t invited along on the mission, although they change their minds when Toby tells them about being eaten.

Jim reveals that the poison he used to stab Gatto is a magical neutralizer, which is fatal for trolls because magic is what animates their living stone. He estimates, based on how big the mountain troll is, that Gatto will be dead within twenty years.

It could potentially be treated if Gatto were cursed in some other way, using the neutralizer up, but Jim is entirely comfortable with the idea of killing Gatto, since Gatto ate Toby and Nomura and Draal right in front of Jim. Due to Gatto’s behaviour, particularly the ‘eating a human and thus endangering the secrecy of trolls’ part, Jim does not anticipate slaying Gatto to lead to Jim getting anything worse than a slap on the wrist.

Using the same poison on Gunmar would probably not work as an assassination method, because Gunmar is a wizard and so it would take a much larger dose to actually kill him. By the time Jim could administer enough, he might as well just stab Gunmar to death. It might be useful as a way of weakening Gunmar before the fight, though.

While still in Vendel’s keep recovering from losing his arm, Draal turns into a human. Jim, Riot, and Nomura are all amused by this.

Draal declines to get another prosthetic arm, fitted to his human form, on the grounds he won’t need it once he changes back. He doesn’t say as much out loud, but he feels like getting the prosthetic would be the same as resigning himself to staying in human form long-term.

Jim is excited to show Draal how great human food is. Barbara insists on giving Draal a medical checkup and some inoculations, both to make sure he’s healthy and not going to catch some human disease he never would’ve developed antibodies to as a troll, and to see how deep the transformation goes.

Toby is much more shaken at his next appointment with Dr Archenn. Although he still avoids telling her about trolls, he does admit to some of the danger he’s faced recently in general terms, leading her to wonder if he is in the hazing stage of joining a gang.

Toby claims they were hiking in the woods, and he and another friend ‘Drew’ fell into a crevasse, then were washed out by a flash flood, and Toby was unhurt but Drew broke his arm.

Dr Archenn is annoyed Stricklander is out of town, since, as one of Toby’s teachers, he might be able to intercede or at least keep an eye on the kid without it looking out of place.

Jim cleaves the Birthstone. He unlocks the glaives and the Eclipse Armour.

Stricklander returns to Arcadia with Angor Rot. Angor gets a crash course in modern technology and human cities. Possibly Stricklander shows him a copy of the video the Janus Order made for Gunmar? Angor Rot discovers the fridge light.

Angor is introduced to everyone. Everyone is very alarmed. Angor decides to live in the woods, since Trollmarket wouldn’t trust him, the Trollhunter’s basement is occupied, Mr Strickler’s apartment does not have space for a long-term guest, and Angor wouldn’t voluntarily stay at the Janus Order even if he had been hunting this Trollhunter (or pretending to).

Barbara and Walter go out for lunch, where he explains where he’s been and why he left town, and she catches him up on what she knows of what he’s missed. Barbara also tries to get him to slip up and tell her which humans know about trolls, which he catches.

Barbara asks Walter to back her up if she does find these children’s parents. Stricklander gently reminds her that his first priority is the wellbeing of his fellow Changelings, which is quite heavily tied to their secrecy. He asks Barbara not to put him in the position of having to choose between betraying the Changelings or discrediting her.

The kids start going to Angor for magic lessons, exchanging this for lessons about the modern world. Claire and Toby both have a natural affinity, Claire for magic as a whole and Toby specifically for mineral-based magic. Mary and Darci both struggle but can manage basic enchantments which are powered by the enchantment’s components rather than fuelled by the caster. Angor will not let any of them so much as touch the Shadow Staff.

Draal and Nomura are spending more time together socially now that he’s temporarily living as a human. He feels like this experience is giving him a better idea of what her life is like, as a Changeling.

He makes the mistake of saying so out loud, and Nomura gets offended because, while he does now have a sense of what it’s like to interact with human society while humans think you’re one of them but you are still a troll on the inside, Draal has no idea what it means to be a Changeling.

They end up having a very serious and emotionally-charged conversation about how Changelings are viewed and treated, and Nomura’s life before they met and in the years since they were together.

It segues into discussing when their relationship fell apart and how each of them felt about it, and how it feels being allies and maybe-friends again.

Nomura expresses her resentment over how quickly Draal’s view of Changelings shifted when he found out Jim was one, compared to when he found out she was one.

Draal points out that Jim changed sides the same night that Draal found out, so Draal had only a few hours knowingly dealing with Jim as an enemy, whereas Nomura refused to change sides when he suggested she do so.

Nomura scornfully points out that she didn’t have a viable option of changing sides the way Jim did. It would have been only Draal speaking for her, and with his desperation to please his father she couldn’t trust him not to turn on her.

And unlike Jim, who has a mentor in Stricklander, Nomura didn’t have highly-placed allies to turn to and plead her case that what she did wasn’t really treason, just an attempt at double-agency that didn’t work out, if changing sides had failed but she somehow escaped Trollmarket alive and went back to the Janus Order, and the other Changelings learned she tried to desert.

The conversation ends on a prickly note with a lot of hurt feelings on both sides.

Draal still feels Nomura didn’t try hard enough to find a way to change sides when they were first together.

Nomura still feels Draal is refusing to understand both the precarious position she was in at the time, and that she’d had no intention of changing sides back then anyway and has only recently recognized Gunmar to be a bad choice as a leader.

Draal tells Jim about the fight. Jim is shocked, not only that Draal would claim to understand what being a Changeling is like, but that Nomura would let him live after saying something like that to her face.

To help illustrate his point, Jim asks how Draal got his name. Draal was named after his uncle on his mother’s side, who died at the Battle of Killahead. Jim breaks down a few of the ways Changelings are dissociated from troll culture.

Draal comments on how Nomura initially approached him to use him. Jim has two counterpoints to that. Firstly, from what Jim heard through the gossip chain at the time, Nomura and Draal were already together for a few years before anyone else in the Janus Order found out about it. Secondly, even if her original motives were manipulative, she could still genuinely care about him now; like how Toby is one of the most important people in Jim’s life even though Jim originally befriended Toby as a decoy. (A human child with no friends draws attention from concerned adults, but having at least one friend basically made Jim invisible.)

The high school announces the Spring Dance. Jim, despite not being on the Honour Roll or in any official extracurricular groups nor even having perfect attendance, is nominated. He confronts Mr Strickler about it, since candidates are nominated by the faculty, and Stricklander says that if Jim is more in the public eye it will be harder for Otto to make Jim disappear.

Jim considers withdrawing his candidacy, due to the other demands on his time. He decides to participate because it seems to mean a lot to Toby, although he tells Toby he’s going through with it because dropping out would draw more attention than putting in minimal effort.

Jim discovers he fears public speaking when the Amulet activates and won’t shut down on the day nominees are presenting their dance themes.

He improvises a mantle out of a school banner to cover up the Amulet itself, so any photos that make it onto social media won’t fall into Changeling hands and lead to a search for a human Trollhunter, and suggests a Renaissance theme based on his plate armour.

Mary, Darci, and Shannon also suggest dance themes, because it makes no sense for only the boys to participate in that part of the contest (which is implied in the show by how none of the girl candidates are standing on the gymnasium floor with the boy candidates during that scene).

Jim and Angor start sparring together. Jim is curious about Angor’s supposed ability to ‘steal’ the Sword of Daylight, wondering if it would be possible to have Daylight and Eclipse active at once, but not curious enough to hold still and be marked by Angor’s sigil.

Jim is concerned that such a link might have unforeseen consequences, like getting tangled with his link to his Familiar so Jim forcibly reverts to troll form if Angor gets hurt, or Jim exploding as he would if he tried to bind himself to a second Familiar, or someone managing to steal the Inferna Copula before Angor gets his soul restored to his body and the mark making it easier for Angor to hunt and kill Jim.

Nomura brings Draal along to krav maga class. Barbara is startled to learn that Draal is the ex Nomura occasionally mentioned to her.

Nomura and Draal are able to have a much more productive conversation after Draal picks up enough of ‘how to fight in a human body’ that they can spar, because they both find emotional conversations easier to handle after physical exertion and enjoy sparring. Also, after his talk with Jim, Draal can apologize and know what he’s apologizing for.

Toby tries asking out every girl in school, except for Darci, Claire, and Mary. He jokes that he wouldn’t want to make it awkward on the team if they started fighting over him, but actually he recognizes that rejection would hurt more coming from someone whose opinion of him genuinely matters to him.

Darci considers asking Toby to the dance, since she thinks he’s fun to be around and “reasonably cute”, but decides not to for three reasons.

One, his joke implies he’s not interested in dating someone he already likes as a friend.

Two, Darci is unsure if she has a crush on Toby, or if her feelings are mixed up because she’s not used to being friends with boys.

Three, Toby asking out every girl in school makes Darci suspect he would say ‘yes’ if she asked him, but only because he wants a date, not out of specific interest in her.

Toby, feeling hurt by rejection and blaming his weight and repeated failed diets, asks Angor if there is a magical way to become either thin or buff. Angor says spells affecting shape and metabolism are above Toby’s level of experience and Angor is not experienced in using magic on humans.

Angor does cast one piece of body-altering magic, after Toby leaves. He tries concealing the Inferna Copula under his skin, using one of his pitted scars to hide the new injury, rather than wearing the ring. This makes it harder to steal, but sadly does not restore his soul to him. He doesn’t want to try eating it, because while that might work, anything that destroys the ring could also cost him his soul forever.

Toby goes to RotGut’s. They don’t really understand what he’s asking for because most trolls are inclined to bulk up however they can. After some back-and-forth, Toby asks if there is a magical way to make himself smaller, and they let him use the Fergolator.

(This is all mostly as an excuse to have a chapter titled ‘Tiny Toby’.)

Darci is the first to find Tiny Toby. He confesses his self-consciousness about his appearance. She sympathizes. Toby also ends up confessing to her that he has a crush on the school mascot. Darci blushes but does not reveal that she is the mascot.

Darci takes Tiny Toby to Angor, who says the safest thing to do is let the magic wear off, which should happen within a day or two.

Since Toby is going to mess around with size-changing magic anyway, Angor agrees to teach his students some spells of that nature once Toby is full-size again, starting with how to compress weapons. Most magic is safest when practiced on inanimate objects.

They are all able to carry their weapons with them in disguise now. Mary’s sword still looks like a knife, but Arcadia Oaks High School does permit students to carry knives as long as the blade is shorter than three inches.

Stephan visits Bernie at the Janus Order base again. Bernie has Stephan test a new variation on Glamour Masks – a glove, so it’s harder for the source of the spell to be removed either accidentally or by an enemy, and so it doesn’t intervene with the wearer’s sense of smell.

Stephan tests it by appearing to stay in his human form while touching a gaggletack. When he removes the Glamour Glove, Stephan is in troll form.

Bernie has made a few discoveries about the Heartstone pieces, including unknowingly replicating Toby’s discovery that keeping the stones in reflective containers will create a feedback loop that speeds their growth.

Bernie has also had some hypotheses that did not work out, like trying to use the Heartstone to temporarily reanimate Bular’s tissue for a poison test – instead the Heartstone started ‘eating’ Bular’s remains, and Bernie had to carefully chip them apart again.

Stephan compares this to a lichen infection, leading to some worldbuilding about troll medical perils. A lichen infection can burrow into and break down living stone. If caught quickly, it can be ‘burned out’ with a stinger crystal. If not, amputation is the only way to keep it from spreading to the rest of the body. And if it gets really bad, it might attract a Sloor.

Slorrbeasts eat lichen, and their venom dissolves stone so they can eat more of the lichen rather than just grazing on the surface patch. They can spray venom like a spitting cobra. The venom also smells terrible, so a startled Sloor will spray it in self-defence. For a troll, Sloor venom is a flesh-eating toxin.

Jim gets called into the Void. The Ghost Trollhunters whose souls Angor recently freed want to talk to him. One of them, Unkar the Unfortunate, laments his legacy and wants Jim to set the record straight on what really happened.

Jim goes along with this, taking notes on Unkar’s version of his tragic demise, and then asks if any of the older Trollhunters have similar requests. He is surprised to be approached by Gorgus the Great, the first Champion of Daylight – but not the first Trollhunter.

That’s what she wants to tell him; being the Trollhunter was a job that predated the Amulet, by a lot. The Amulet is only about six thousand years old, and there are Trollhunters in some of the oldest surviving troll histories from millions of years ago.

Gorgus was a Trollhunter back when it was a self-proclaimed job. Merlin approached her with the Amulet, asking her to stop trolls from eating humans, because she was the only active Trollhunter at the time. The Amulet chooses the Champion of Daylight. Her biggest regret in choosing to continue to use her title of ‘Trollhunter’ is that the jobs got conflated so that now, there is only one Trollhunter at a time.

Jim immediately runs to Blinky with all of this information. They dig some ancient lore out of the library and find that, while there are records of Trollhunters as far as eight million years ago, the Amulet doesn’t start to appear in references until six thousand years ago. Blinky writes to some scholar friends around the world looking to confirm this.

Jim’s second course of action is to run to Draal with this information, since that means there is nothing stopping Draal from also being a Trollhunter. Draal says it’s a nice thought, but nowadays being the Trollhunter does mean being called by the Amulet. Jim decides to try and shake that up.

After vigorous petitioning by those who remember him as a hero, Angor Rot is permitted to enter Trollmarket. He still hesitates to live there, but appreciates being in a proper underground structure again and does decide to stay.

This was a lucky choice on Angor’s part, because his attempt to implant the ring inside his body gets infected, possibly because of magic but possibly just because he performed surgery on himself in unsterile conditions. Vendel extracts the ring, treats the infection, and gives Angor a full medical checkup while he has him there. Angor goes back to just wearing the ring.

Barbara and Walter meet for coffee. Nomura and Draal show up at the same coffee shop. It becomes an awkward unintentional double date.

Claire’s parents find a few pages of trollish writing mixed in with her homework. Claire gets angry and defensive when she finds out her parents went through her stuff, which only convinces them she has something she wants to hide from them and therefore it is their responsibility as her parents to snoop.

Rot and Gut have a device that works as an emergency shut-off switch for magical artifacts. It gets damaged in a way that causes it to randomly power up and overload, shutting down other things that should be insulated against its effects.

They bring it to the Trollhunter for advice on what to do with it, followed by a growing crowd of trolls whose things have been shut down by the malfunctioning device as it was carried from RotGut’s to the Forge.

The device shuts off the Amulet of Daylight as Jim is switching to human form, so all these trolls see Jim shapeshift.

Ophelia and Javier call Mary’s and Darci’s parents. Darci and her parents sat next to Toby and Nana at the school play and Darci and Toby clearly knew each other, so Detective Scott speculates the girls are sneaking around with boys. This reminds Claire’s parents of the time they came home and found Jim in their house, saying he and Claire were doing homework together.

Mary’s parents (mother, stepmother, and father) all follow her on social media. Mary has posted innocuous stuff which includes Jim and Toby, since she hangs out with them outside of Trollhunting.

Cross-referencing this with information Councilwoman Nuñez can access via her connections with the schoolboard (since this version of Jim and Toby never broke into the museum and so do not have criminal records for Detective Scott to look up), the parents find Jim and Toby’s full names and contact information for their guardians.

Jim has to escape Trollmarket. AAARRRGGHH helps, creating suspicion among Trollmarket’s citizens that maybe he didn’t really desert Gunmar after all.

Angor uses his teleporting staff to evacuate the actual humans while the trolls are distracted chasing Jim and AAARRRGGHH.

Barbara is very willing to meet with the concerned adults who contact her about their children acting strangely after spending time with hers. Yes, she has time this evening, she can come over right away. She’ll even give Nancy Domzalski a ride.

Unfortunately, Barbara’s strongest evidence of trolls being real, the troll living in her basement, is currently human-shaped, so instead of bringing him to the Nuñez house or inviting them to hers, the best Barbara is able to do is show them some pictures and videos on her phone and encourage them to question their children.

None of the adults, other than Mary’s stepmother Jennifer, believe Barbara. Jennifer is an original Changeling character previously mentioned; the one who runs Omni-Reach Travel and whom Stricklander left in charge when he went to find Angor Rot.

Jennifer tries to defuse the situation when she realizes Barbara is talking about trolls, desperately hoping Barbara doesn’t also know about Changelings.

Jennifer claims that if Mary discovered a magical world, she would have bragged about it on social media, and if later convinced it had to stay secret, her redaction would have been in the form of insisting it had been a filmmaking experiment and not intended to be mistaken for reality, so as not to destroy her online credibility by implying she participated in a hoax.

Jennifer justifies overthinking this with her passion for paranormal romance novels. Nana supports Jennifer’s explanation by sharing her own theory that this is related to video games.

AAARRRGGHH ends up moving into Toby’s house, and finally finds out about Gnome Chompsky. (Bagdwella, Blinky, and AAARRRGGHH all thought Jim had killed the gnome after taking it out of Trollmarket.)

Riot (Changeling Enrique) phones Claire to tell her what’s happening and warn her not to come home yet. The kids instead agree amongst themselves that this is as good a time as any to come clean to their parents about trolls and do damage control on anything Barbara said that scared them.

They can’t go to Trollmarket right now, but they can introduce their families to AAARRRGGHH, the sweetest and least-threatening troll they know.

Jennifer attacks AAARRRGGHH, whom she only knows by reputation as a general, a deserter, and a human-eater. Mary manages to get the UV flashlight away from her stepmom, so Jennifer switches to her troll form. She’s about Draal’s size, with shiny dark green skin and bright orange hair.

Jim recognizes Jennifer as an old friend, nicknamed ‘Sneaker’ for how well she blended in with the Darklands’ crystal formations in her youth. He lights up his eyes and starts trying to talk her down in the Changeling dialect, a mix of trollish and goblin with a few loanwords from various human languages. Jennifer thinks at first Jim is claiming AAARRRGGHH is back on Gunmar’s side, which is not particularly reassuring.

Mary tries scruffing Jennifer, remembering how AAARRRGGHH collapsed when Jim did that. Jennifer tries to attack whatever grabbed her scruff, but realizes it was Mary and stops herself before Mary gets hurt.

(Detective Scott doesn’t carry his gun while off-duty, and after he learns trolls really do have stone for skin he’s glad he didn’t have it on him, because if he’d shot one of the trolls, a bullet could have ricocheted and hit one of the humans present instead.)

Jim and Jennifer each carefully ‘persuade’ each other why it would be totally reasonable to keep these humans alive even though they ‘know too much’. They are still speaking Changeling, so nobody else quite catches what they’re saying.

Once combat has been avoided and Jennifer switches back to human form, trolls are explained to the human adults again, now that they’re willing to take the explanation seriously.

Jim explains why he and the teens can’t go back to Trollmarket anymore anyway, giving a quick summary of how Changelings work and how they’re viewed and how Jim was recently exposed to the market as one and any humans he brought in will now face the same suspicion.

Jim is very apologetic about not being sneaky enough to prevent the teens from learning about trolls in the first place. The teens are a bit annoyed that this is the part for which Jim feels he ought to be apologizing.

Claire tells her parents about Enrique and Riot. They are naturally upset. Jim and Jennifer each confess to having nominated Enrique as a possible Familiar, intending this as a favour to the Nuñezes. This is responded to with horror.

Jennifer also confesses her plans to swap one of the Killahead Bridge pieces for a fake stone, which she didn’t get an opportunity to do before the whole Bridge was stolen, as a delay tactic so Gunmar wouldn’t escape until after Laurel and Mary had died naturally. Jim is appreciative and envious of this idea and tells her about the ‘human farms’ idea, which Jennifer agrees would be a good back up plan.

Regarding the teens’ involvement in troll affairs, Nana Domzalski is neutral leaning towards supportive. Detective and Mrs Scott are alarmed and disturbed, but willing to hear out why their daughter wants to stay involved in the supernatural world despite the dangers. Mr Wang gets Javier’s “this is awesome” response from the show.

Laurel, Mary’s mother, is mostly in shock over learning her wife is not human.

Councilwoman and Mr Nuñez are outraged and horrified and want to get both their children as far away from the supernatural as possible.

Jennifer points out that, if anything happens to the Changeling, there is no need for the Familiar, and therefore if they plan to get the original Enrique back, they will need to make some kind of peace with the other Enrique in the interim.

The Nuñez parents officially meet Riot. It is very tense and awkward. Everyone else decides to leave.

Barbara attempts to offer support, as a fellow parent who has gone through learning her child was replaced by a Changeling, and is harshly shut down because Ophelia and Javier aren’t ready for that conversation yet.

Vendel is trying to calm Trollmarket, a few hours after Jim was publicly revealed as a Changeling. Vendel points out Bular’s death and the capture of Killahead, and Jim’s mission to unite the Triumbric Stones, as evidence the Changeling Trollhunter really is on their side. The rioters settle down, but the citizens are not wholly convinced.

Draal is phoned by Blinky and strongly advised not to come back to Trollmarket until he changes back into a troll. Draal didn’t plan to do so, embarrassed to be seen like this, but that feels different from not being allowed.

Blinky is concerned that the trolls might turn on Draal and use his transformation as evidence that the Changeling Trollhunter is trying to make more trolls into Changelings, reigniting the riots Vendel just finished averting.

Krax, the Changeling spy planted in Trollmarket centuries ago, contacts Usurna to report the Changeling Trollhunter.

He has mixed feelings about doing so. Krax is pretty sure Jim really is still working for Gunmar, and either killed Bular to shore up his cover or as a power play, and Killahead Bridge being in the market means that Gunmar will be in an advantageous position to attack right away.

But ultimately Krax would rather Usurna get this information from him, proving what a valuable agent Krax is, than from some other source, which could cause her to doubt either his skill or his loyalties.

The Touch-the-Truck-a-thon occurs. After Mary forfeits to run to the bathroom, Jim attempts to psyche Steve out by complimenting how brave Steve is, for attempting to destigmatize adult incontinence by publicly confessing to wearing a diaper.

Steve lets go of the truck while trying to punch Jim. Shannon is accidentally knocked over by Steve, and Jim lets go of the truck to help her up, so Eli and Darci win the challenge.

Blinky, as Jim’s mentor and one of his adopted parents, has been trying to convince other trolls that Jim is harmless. Several trolls mock Blinky for not noticing Jim being a Changeling when usually Blinky can spot a conspiracy even when one isn’t there.

Blinky admitting he did find out and chose not to tell anyone is not well-received. Vendel has to intervene to keep Blinky from getting thrown out of Trollmarket as well.

Angor is very surprised no one has turned on him yet, since he explicitly showed up as an ally to this particular Trollhunter. Of course, Angor is also very sneaky and intimidating.

Rather than Toby purchasing an animal without considering its containment and enrichment and dietary needs just because he wants the volcanic slag that houses it, a Helheeti gets loose directly from Mervin the Monster Dealer’s shop and ravages Trollmarket.

Several trolls go to Angor for help. He teleports away and gets Jim, since this kind of thing really is the Trollhunter’s job and Angor is not going to be roped into doing it for him.

The two of them are able to corral the Helheeti and force it back into the volcanic slag. Angor decides to keep it for a pet. He has to go to Vendel for permission, since Helheetis are native to the Darklands and were banned after the bridge was sealed.

Mervin the Monster Dealer insists he thought it was a Luminere and promises to aid the investigation in how this happened. Mervin gets his Lumineres from the Krubera, implying to the audience that Usurna might be behind this. (She actually wasn’t – it was a genuine mixup with old and poorly labelled stock. Helheeti slag dens and Luminere slag dens look very similar.)

Javier goes to Barbara, taking her up on the offer to talk.

Ophelia ends up telling everything to her therapist, Dr Archenn, instead, desperately wanting all of this to be some kind of stress-induced illusion.

Tiffany is furious to learn that at least three Changelings have voluntarily revealed themselves to humans. Tiffany does not reveal that she is a Changeling, nor that she also suggested Enrique Nuñez as a Familiar, thinking the Nuñez parents were ideal candidates for a Changeling’s host family.

(The Nuñezes are affluent, politically well-connected, and rarely present, appearing to want kids more because ‘this is what successful adults do, they find jobs and buy houses and cars and get married and have children’, rather than because ‘I would find it fulfilling to care for another person and raise them to adulthood’. )

Tiffany reports the compromised Changelings to Stricklander, as per Janus Order regulations if she isn’t going to kill them and the humans they’ve been exposed to herself. He does not admit that his identity has been compromised to at least some of these humans as well.

Blinky gets a message back from one of his correspondents, confirming they have old records of multiple Trollhunters being active at the same time, which they had previously assumed was an error in the timekeeping by the writers.

As the Trollhunter hasn’t been around Trollmarket of late, except for during that one emergency, Bagdwella has to give the package meant for Sagdwella to the carrier mice trolls rather than sending it through the human post office.

The mice trolls gnaw through the package, and the gravity hex infects Trollmarket.

Bagdwella ends up phoning Mary to ask Jim for help, since Bagdwella doesn’t have Jim’s phone number.

Since they know about it in advance this time, instead of finding out after like they did with the Helheeti, the kids are able to insist on coming with Jim to aid in the crisis. They’ve had magic training and Jim hasn’t had the time to work that into his Trollhunter training yet.

With Angor’s guidance, the kids are able to contain the curse in the warhammer Toby had stopped training with a while ago in favour of one easier to lift.

Angor then uses this as a prop in a lesson on how spells can stack together, by putting the weapon compression spell on the warhammer. Toby reclaims the hammer and starts learning to dual-wield.

Nobody ever learns Bagdwella was responsible for the gravity hex being unleashed.

Bernie is now pretty sure xe knows how to test for poison on a troll corpse, and starts debating which of Bular’s remains to use. The tissue sample will be damaged and possibly destroyed by the testing process, so it can’t be anything Gunmar will notice is missing if Bular’s head is ever recovered and his body rebuilt. Bernie doesn’t want to use the sample already damaged from the Heartstone experiment in case that throws off the results.

A mortician who is a mutual work friend of Barbara’s and Stephan’s tries to set them up together. This comically fails for two reasons.

On Barbara’s side of things, she has a boyfriend; well, sort of. Walt isn’t officially her boyfriend yet, but she calls him that reflexively upon realizing she and Stephan are being introduced as potential dates rather than potential friends.

Meanwhile, on Stephan’s side of the table, he is demiromantic and would have to get to know Barbara a lot better to be able to tell whether he was interested. Blind dating does not work for him.

Barbara tells Walter about reflexively referring to him as her boyfriend when a friend tried to set her up on a date, and asks if he is interested in this being true. The two officially start to date.

Walter brings flowers when he comes to pick Barbara up for a date. Draal, who Jim and Toby were teaching video games in the living room, sees this and is confused by the gesture, so the boys explain.

Draal wonders if Nomura would like flowers, since her human cover is a big part of her life, or if she’d think Draal was implying he saw her as less of a troll by acting out a human courtship ritual.

Draal asks Jim for advice. Jim’s response is to suggest phoning Nomura and asking her how she would feel if Draal gave her flowers. Toby points out that it ruins the surprise of doing something romantic and spontaneous to just ask her, to which Draal and Jim simultaneously point out that Nomura doesn’t like surprises.

Jim makes the phone call. Nomura says her favourite flowers are yellow Gerbera daisies and she will honestly be impressed if Draal knows what a daisy is.

Blinky contacts the kids by group text to say that the mood of Trollmarket has stabilized enough it should be safe to come back.

AAARRRGGHH, who has been putting off this conversation, borrows Toby’s phone to tell Blinky that the kids’ families now know about trolls and will want to visit Trollmarket too.

Blinky gripes about having to explain that to Vendel, and worries how they can convince Trollmarket that Jim isn’t leading some kind of Changeling invasion if he brings down a bunch of new humans.

AAARRRGGHH reveals one of the parents is a Changeling. Blinky facepalms with the three hands not holding the phone.

Jim worries about bringing anyone else along when he isn’t sure how safe Trollmarket is right now, but Toby, Claire, Mary and Darci point out that they all helped with the gravity hex, and it’ll be good to keep Trollmarket accustomed to human visitors if they’re going to bring their parents down there eventually.

Mr Strickler also joins them – the trolls still think he’s a human, since the full story of Bular’s death has still not been made public.

On Jim’s first night back in Trollmarket, Queen Usurna also arrives. Jim asks if she’s there about the Helheeti, and commends her initiative in aiding the investigation of the possibility of a Darklands breech. It must be such a comfort to the Krubera to know their leader will take prompt action on these matters.

Usurna has no idea what Jim is talking about and wonders if he is hinting that he knows she works for Gunmar.

AAARRRGGHH introduces Jim to the Krubera representatives as his adopted son.

Usurna wants to take AAARRRGGHH back to the Krubera Caverns. She claims he is unsafe with a known Changeling having access to Trollmarket. As a pacifist, AAARRRGGHH cannot protect himself, and it falls to his Queen to do so for him.

Trollmarket’s citizens protests that Jim is definitely not working for Gunmar. It’s both comical and disturbing to Jim, how completely their view of him has shifted now that they’ve calmed down after their initial panic and taken Vendel’s words to heart.

Jim killed Bular, and sealed Killahead, and risked his life to save them all even after they found out what he was, and somehow even brought Angor Rot back to the side of good! (They don’t know about Stricklander recruiting Angor.) The Trollhunter has found the Triumbric Stones and is going to slay Gunmar!

Usurna questions why the Trollhunter has not reassembled the bridge and fought Gunmar already, if this is really true. Jim says it would be safer to stab Gunmar through a Fetch, rather than risking the Gumm-Gumms escaping their imprisonment, and he still hasn’t been able to acquire one.

Actually, Jim is worried about the inevitable power struggles in the Darklands once Gunmar dies. The situation now is undesirable but stable. He wants to get his fellow Changelings out before killing Gunmar, if he can.

Usurna says she’ll be staying in Trollmarket for a few nights to observe the Trollhunter and confirm her subject’s safety. Vendel proposes a Pyrobligst match. Everyone disperses and goes about their business.

Vendel and Usurna go to the pub. Jim fails to get close enough to eavesdrop. Jim ends up talking to the other Krubera about the Helheeti mistaken for a Luminere. Vendel and Usurna make their bet to determine whether AAARRRGGHH must return with the Krubera or gets a choice in the matter.

The human teens finally learn AAARRRGGHH’s backstory. Jim is shocked they hadn’t figured it out already, based on how literally every Changeling they’ve seen meet or hear about AAARRRGGHH has initially reacted with fear.

Stricklander shares his theory that, if it is true that only Krubera can survive the pressures of the deep caves where they live, any attacks on them had to have been inside jobs.

Blinky finds himself paying closer attention to how Stricklander and AAARRRGGHH are interacting after mistaking some innocent behaviour on Stricklander’s part for flirtation. Blinky does not think AAARRRGGHH will be wooed away from him, but is suspicious whether Stricklander intends to try.

Jim initially refuses to play Pyrobligst on the grounds that he did enough fighting to the death to entertain an audience back when he lived in the Darklands. He changes his mind when he learns the outcome of the game will determine whether AAARRRGGHH has the option of staying in Trollmarket.

Jim does not learn that participants must begin unarmed – he thought Vendel just took the Amulet because that particular weapon would be an unfair advantage – until right before the game.

Not wanting to give Usurna any excuse to claim that Jim cheated and therefore AAARRRGGHH must go back to the Krubera Caverns, Jim switches to his troll form, on which he keeps most of his weaponry, undergoes a comically long disarming sequence, realizes he doesn’t actually know how many weapons he is carrying and so cannot be sure he’s removed them all, and decides to play naked.

Blinky notices Jim appears to have runes carved into his legs and makes a mental note to question him on these later.

Angor is Jim’s teammate, since AAARRRGGHH is still a pacifist, Draal is still human-shaped, and Blinky doesn’t play.

When Jim enters the field of play, the Krubera initially assume that a lost child wandered into the Forge, because Jim in troll form appears so young. When they find out that, no, this is the Trollhunter, they almost forfeit, again because Jim looks like a child. The two Krubera players ‘go easy’ on Jim and Angor.

After returning to the Krubera Caverns, Usurna retires to her private quarters and contacts Gunmar. This is how he learns of Bular’s death and that the amulet picked a Changeling as Trollhunter.

Gunmar had assumed the Trollhunter had captured Killahead Bridge and that Bular hadn’t contacted him since the bridge’s fall out of shame at having it snatched away when they were so close, and that Bular wanted to make some progress towards recovering the bridge – or at least killing this particular Trollhunter – before facing his father again.

Gunmar is suspicious that the Changelings never reported this. A Changeling with command of the Amulet should have come forward in hopes of gaining status and special treatment … unless they were a traitor from the beginning. Figuring out Gunmar plans to get rid of the Changelings once he doesn’t need them, and acting out of self-preservation, counts as treason.

Unfortunately, Gunmar may still need the Janus Order’s help to escape, so he can’t take out his wrath on all the Changelings yet.

Blinky asks Jim about his scarred legs. Jim explains how, when he was learning to read back in the Darklands, there wasn’t much to write with or on, so Jim carved each letter of the trollish alphabet into his own stone skin once he learned it. Ambiguous phrasing leaves Blinky under the impression Dictatious was the one to do this to Jim.

Jim convinces Vendel to let him start training with other stones past Trollhunters have used.

Jim superglues and duct tapes the Umbra Stone, for sunlight immunity, into the Amulet.

There are six slots built into the Amulet. With the three Triumbric Stones, the Heartstone chip, and now the Umbra Stone, Jim has one slot left for trying out new stones.

Jim goes into the Void to get advice from the Ghost Council about which stones to try, and goes for the Aspectus Stone because he likes the idea of always having backup in the form of clones of himself.

While Jim is visiting the Void, Deya offers to adopt him as her nephew. Jim accepts.

The first Jim Clone he summons is a manifestation of his academic curiosity, quickly nicknamed ‘Scholar Jim’, or ‘Schol’ for short. The next one is his resourcefulness, the bit of himself that always keeps an eye out for potentially useful things (and steals them), who is nicknamed ‘Scavenger Jim’ or ‘Scav’.

Jim, when in armour, can summon clones who are also wearing armour, but if the clone dismisses the armour, the cloned copy of the Amulet will vanish and the clone cannot resummon it.

A clone in armour can switch to the Eclipse Armour if Jim or another clone is not already wearing it, but there can be only one Eclipse active at any time.

Any clone can wield either the Sword of Daylight or the Sword of Eclipse, regardless of which armour the clone wears or whether they are in armour at all.

Jim dismissing his armour does not affect whether the clones already summoned will keep or lose their armour.

Jim cannot summon a clone wearing armour if he is not wearing armour himself.

Jim, wearing armour, can summon a clone not wearing armour.

A clone summoned without armour can only summon armour if Jim gives that clone the original Amulet.

A clone will appear as the same species as Jim is at the time of summoning, but can shift like any other Changeling, and Jim changing forms later will not affect clones already summoned.

The clones appear to have continuous memory between summonings and Jim’s memories of the time while that clone was not active.

Jim confirms that night that he reintegrates the clones’ memories into his own while he sleeps, which Maddrux said would happen.

Also, maintaining clones is hungry work. Jim suspects his metabolism is running however many times as fast as there are Jims for it to maintain at any given moment. One Jim Clone means Jim’s metabolism is twice as fast; two Jim Clones makes Jim’s metabolism run three times as fast. He’d best not summon a Jim Army after all, or he’d starve himself in a minute.

(This is not actually true. It just takes energy to summon and dismiss them, which Jim was doing over and over to test the possibilities.)

Jim learns through later testing that a clone will vanish if the clone falls asleep or is knocked out. A clone can exist continuously for as long as that clone remains awake – as a Changeling, Jim can comfortably stay away for about sixty consecutive hours (not quite three days), but after that he starts to get tired like a human would after being awake for more than twenty consecutive hours.

Draal turns back into a troll while at the museum. Nomura just barely hauls him into one of the archive rooms before anyone can see him. It’s where Bular slept when he spent the day at the museum, so it’s mostly empty and has no windows.

Nomura helps Draal out of the shredded remains of his human clothing and it is implied that they have sex. The scene cuts away before anything graphic occurs.

Jim wakes up early in his troll form and can’t shift to his human one. He wonders if it might be inoculation day.

The goblins regularly vaccinate all the Familiars, so the new babies won’t catch some disease still asymptomatically carried by the older babies that modern humans don’t have resistance to anymore, and the old babies won’t catch any diseases brought in by the newer babies that previous generations of humans couldn’t have developed resistance against because it didn’t exist back then.

But there’s usually some forewarning about the day, so the Changeling won’t be caught out in public if their Familiar reacts to the vaccine and this shifting problem happens. Of course, the Janus Order has been on lockdown since Bular’s death, so maybe Jim just missed the notice?

Jim tries spitting on the mirror, but cannot see Jay-Jay. In increasing panic, he spits on various reflective surfaces and tries the selfie camera of his phone (which the spell acknowledges as a mirror), but nothing happens.

In order, he calls Stricklander, Nomura, Riot, and Jennifer, confirming each of them are still able to shift. Jim calls Stricklander again and gives a more detailed explanation of what’s happening.

Stricklander comes over and gives Jim a Glamour Mask.

They conclude Gunmar must finally have learned about Jim’s involvement in Bular’s death and taken vengeance.

Stricklander never reported to Gunmar that the new Trollhunter was a Changeling to avoid exactly this outcome (potentially levied against all Changelings) if anything went wrong with the bridge reconstruction; although it was possible Bular would mention it, it was unlikely Bular would bother when he had ‘more important things than the Impures’ to talk to his father about.

Otto is suspected as the leak, because he knows who Jim is and because, as a Polymorph, he doesn’t have a Familiar to worry about.

Stricklander takes a sick day in case he’s next, and calls Nomura to advise her to do the same. Then Stricklander and Jim have to tell Barbara what’s going on and why they think it happened.

Jim demands access to the Fetch. His Familiar is dead and his mother is heartbroken and Jim needs to make Gunmar PAY for this. He has to kill him, has to get the other Familiars out of his reach, has to get the other Changelings out of his reach …

Stricklander tries to calm Jim. He fails, but Jim puts on an appearance of calm, and when Jim leaves for the day, Stricklander stays at the Lakes’ house in case Barbara (who has locked herself in her room to cry) needs anything.

Jim decides to go through with Usurna’s ‘suggestion’ of opening Killahead Bridge to fight Gunmar. That way, even if Gunmar survives, he’ll be out of the Darklands and cut off from most of his forces and won’t have access to the Nursery anymore.

Jim skips school, missing the textbook stacking challenge, to go to Trollmarket and start rallying volunteers to form an army. It’s harder than he’d hoped, because despite being a culture in which solving problems with violence is common (functionally, duelling), most trolls don’t have an appetite for sustained warfare.

Riot sneaks into Claire’s backpack and goes to school with her, which she doesn’t realize until she puts the bag in her locker. He’s concerned about Jim after that early morning phone call, and considering how abruptly Jim hung up, Riot wonders if maybe the phone line was compromised and decided to come talk to Jim in person … except Jim isn’t at school.

AAARRRGGHH hears what Jim is up to and drags him to the library to find out why Jim changed his mind so suddenly and radically about strategy. Jim has an emotional breakdown and tells AAARRRGGHH and Blinky what happened.

Walter, in a fit of desperation and with Barbara’s permission, calls in Dr Archenn, so Barbara can talk to someone trained in grief counselling and to whom Barbara will not have to lie.

Tiffany is angry Stricklander broke both their covers but professional enough not to take this out on her new patient. Tiffany is also very concerned about this other Changeling who just lost his Familiar, but agrees she can approach him later, while Barbara is here and in need of help now.

Riot decides to phone Jim after all. With permission, Blinky takes the phone and explains on Jim’s behalf. Riot is shaken up enough to decide he wants to get his Familiar out of the Darklands as soon as possible, since the goblins are clearly no longer sufficient protection for the Nursery. Riot breaks into Stricklander’s office and takes the Fetch.

Riot gets a text from Javier, who noticed he wasn’t home and wants to know if he’s okay. (Riot told all the Nuñezes his phone number.) He texts back that he’s fine, just had to run an errand. Javier points out Riot could have just told Javier what he wanted, now that Javier knows he can talk.

Riot doesn’t have an answer for that, but this conversation affirms for him that he’s doing the right thing and might not even lose his home once he’s given Original Enrique back.

Riot calls Jim again. Jim agrees to help with his plan. They decide not to tell anyone, in case they’re too late.

They don’t know what exactly is happening on the other side and for all they know Gunmar’s just decided to forget about escaping and feast on all the Familiars, or Skarlagk’s forces found the Nursery and obviously have no motive to leave the babies alone and the Changelings’ covers intact.

(Skarlagk the Scorned is a character from the novels – her father Orlagk was the Gumm-Gumm Warlord before Gunmar, she wants to kill Gunmar to avenge her father, and she leads a rebellion of Gumm-Gumms who blame Gunmar for getting them trapped in the Darklands.)

Jim leaves Trollmarket, telling Blinky and AAARRRGGHH he’s going home. He and Riot meet up and go to the Janus Order base to get a map of which Darklands locations match up with which surface locations. There are entrances to the base besides the travel agency, so they don’t have to get past anyone to get inside.

Bernie comes to meet Jim and Riot, because the labs now have a monitor hooked up to the security cameras, but easily accepts they are there for classified reasons.

But, since they’re there … while Riot gets the map, Jim is waylaid into helping Bernie brew a few poisons and antidotes and test out the Glamour Glove.

Jim has assisted in the Janus Order’s lab in the past. Bernie needs more data on the Glamour Glove’s user-friendliness than just how well Bernie and Stephan can use it, and wants to test whether the copies work like the prototype.

Jim also learns what happens when a Changeling without a Familiar touches a gaggletack; it stings just like it does when it forces the transformation, and there is the flash of light, but obviously he doesn’t shift.

Jim took off the mask before testing this, and tells Bernie he can’t shift right now because it’s inoculation day and his Familiar must be reacting to it, which throws off Bernie’s test results because Bernie is now specifically testing if that would override a gaggletack.

Since Jim is going to be wearing a mask “all day” in any case, Bernie lets Jim take one of the Glamour Gloves for a field test.

Navigating the Darklands by peeking through the Fetch is … tricky. Whatever Deya did to seal the Darklands basically folded the dimension in on itself, which is also why gravity is inconsistent in some places and why the Gumm-Gumms can’t just dig a tunnel out.

The landscape is internally consistent but can look like it jumps around from an outside perspective. Sometimes you peek through the Fetch, go a few paces, peek through again, and the two spots you see would be vast distances apart if you were travelling in the Darklands, or in a different direction relative to one another than the direction you just travelled on the surface.

This folding is one of the reasons Fetches can only be made so large before destabilizing.

There are also multiple places on the surface which each correspond to the same place within the Darklands. Janus Order bases are traditionally built in spots that correspond with Gunmar’s throne room, which, fun fact, means their aboveground locations and front businesses often, though not always, correspond in location with the dungeons.

Jim and Riot use a toilet paper tube, which Riot was carrying for a snack, to check where they are.

The nearest spot that matches the Nursery is in the woods. They can climb a tree to get at the cradles, but don’t trust themselves to be able to safely pull a baby through the Fetch in that position.

They confirm there are no Gumm-Gumms or goblins nearby, and Riot goes through the Fetch.

Jim watches through the tube, both out of nerves and so that there is a marker for Riot to find the Fetch again once he’s got Original Enrique.

It’s hard to find the portals from the Darklands side – goblins can do it by magic, but Gumm-Gumms and Changelings cannot usually notice the Fetch, even if they touch the space where it should be, unless something is coming through it. (Like a door with a mental key? You have to know the door is there in order to open it.)

Riot realizes he can transform while in the Darklands once Original Enrique is back on the surface, and decides to stay there so the goblins won’t realize Enrique is missing and go after the Nuñezes.

He’s also got his phone with him – somehow the Nursery is a WiFi hotspot – so Riot is going to report to Jim if anything else happens, and help coordinate future rescues if other Changelings want to get their Familiars out.

Riot has one of the crystal arrays used in Trollmarket to charge electronics, so he doesn’t have to worry about his phone dying, and as long as he keeps those things on his troll form the goblins won’t know he has them.

The human kids have gone to Trollmarket and realized Jim is not there. Toby calls Jim’s house when Jim doesn’t answer his cellphone, and confirms Jim is not at home either.

To sum up, Stricklander thought Jim had gone to school to try and block out what had happened by immersing himself in the human part of his life while he still can; the teens thought Jim was spending the day in Trollmarket handling some kind of crisis; and Blinky and AAARRRGGHH thought Jim had gone home to seek the comfort of more familiar surroundings.

Clearing this up leads to the teens finding out what happened to Jay-Jay.

Claire throws what can best be described as a tantrum, screaming things to the effect of, so much for Jim’s promise all the Familiars were kept safe, and, what’s going to happen to her brother now? This has clearly been building for a while but she cries herself out surprisingly quickly.

Angor shows up in the library and agrees to teleport them to Jim.

Jim being in human form confuses the kids, since although Stricklander told them about the Glamour Mask, they were expecting to see Jim troll-shaped after hearing he had lost his human form. Jim is holding Original Enrique, whom they think is Riot in human form.

The Fetch has been disassembled to keep the goblins from swarming through if they notice the missing Familiar. Disassembling the Fetch does not permanently break it; it’s more analogous to taking the battery out of a phone.

Claire’s phone blips. She’s got a text from Riot. This confuses her because she thinks Riot is right in front of her and also not holding his phone. The text says he figures they’ve caught up to Jim by now, and not to worry about Riot, because he has Suzy Snooze for company.

Once Jim is brought home, Stricklander demands to know what Jim was thinking.

Jim defends his actions by saying he and Riot had to act quickly and in secrecy in case Stricklander, Nomura, or Jennifer tried to stop them.

Obviously, they weren’t going to pull another Changeling’s Familiar out of the Darklands without clearing it with that Changeling first, but they didn’t have time to have that conversation three times when they weren’t sure how much time they actually had.  

Toby is distracted from this argument by his therapist being in Jim’s house and apparently knowing about trolls.

Dr Archenn, who has decided to make herself known to the Trollhunter, points out that they’ll need to remove the Age Pause on Original Enrique if they plan to reintegrate him into human society, and only the goblins know how to do that.

Stricklander points out that Riot’s cover could be compromised at any time now that Original Enrique isn’t being kept in a contained, controlled environment to ensure he isn’t hurt.

Jim starts crying and yelling because the goblins don’t seem to think of the Familiars as pack members the way Jim had always believed, so it’s not safe to leave the babies in the Darklands after all. What he and Riot did proves the Changelings can pull off a rescue.

Barbara hears Jim and comes downstairs. Jim can’t bring himself to face her. He still has the glamour on. She thinks he’s shifted to human form again, which means Jay-Jay is okay after all. Barbara grabs Jim and hugs him. He starts crying again, thinking she’s trying to comfort him and be comforted herself. When he goes to hug her back, he sees his human-looking hands and realizes what she’s thinking.

Jim has a desperate urge to not tell her and let Barbara keep thinking Jay-Jay is alright.

But, between all the talks he’s had with various people about the importance of honesty, and the knowledge that this lie would fall apart very quickly with all the other people in the know and Jim no longer being able to use the spit-check to show Jay-Jay, and mostly his own desperate need to express his grief, he reveals the truth, and both their hearts break all over again.

Walter explained the Glamour Mask to Barbara earlier, when Jim first left the house, and she remembers when Jim reminds her, but strong emotions overrode the memory; or possibly it didn’t really sink in when Walter told her, since Glamour Masks are a new concept for Barbara and she was distracted by more important and emotionally-charged information.

Claire brings Original Enrique home and tells her parents where Riot is, although she does not tell them about Jay-Jay. Ophelia and Javier have a fight.

Javier wants to get Riot back, and ground him for life, (and is texting him to that effect, to which Riot points out that he can hardly get more underground than he currently is, which Javier replies is not what that means and Riot knows it).

Ophelia wants to get as disconnected from the supernatural world as possible now that they have Original Enrique back.

Ophelia holds a position of leadership in this town, so she has a responsibility to deal with … trolls, now that she knows they exist, but she also has a responsibility to protect her family and she does not have to put up with her children being involved with trolls. Maybe they can find a nice boarding school for Claire to cut off her access to Trollmarket.

Claire lies and says Angor taught her how to teleport, therefore sending her away won’t work.

Draal returns to Trollmarket, gets his prosthetic arm back, and starts training in the Forge. Angor comes in and they spar. Angor tells Draal what happened, which explains to Draal the odd phone call Nomura received from Jim that morning.

Draal vows to join the army Jim is trying to assemble.

Angor thinks they should advise Jim to wait and give himself time to grieve before trying to fight Gunmar, so Jim won’t make sloppy mistakes.

Jim goes back to school the next day. Other students assume he is upset because he missed the final Spring Fling King challenge.

Nancy Domzalski comes over to talk to Barbara. Toby told Nana what happened, and she can relate to having lost a child.

Claire tells her father, but not her mother, about Jay-Jay. Javier also attempts to reach out to Barbara, wanting to return the emotional support she gave him when he was adjusting to the Enrique Swap.

Jim channels his grief into a research binge, summoning four clones: Schol, Scav, his vindictive side (nicknamed Vinnie), and a clone he initially thinks is a manifestation of his guilt but is actually the part of Jim that craves his parents’ attention and approval (eventually nicknamed Kiddo).

Angor and Vendel, as the two experts on magic, discuss the Triumbric Stones and the Fetches with Jim, trying to sway him to go back to his original assassination plan.

Barbara and Jim each have individual appointments with Dr Archenn.

Barbara has decided to take some time off work, and is considering telling people she’s had a miscarriage, which is the closest analogy to the situation she can think of that won’t expose the supernatural world but still allows her to express her grief.

Jim shows Dr Archenn how the Aspectus Stone works. She is fascinated by how parts of the personality can manifest as separate individuals, although she also suspects Jim is using this as a distraction to avoid talking about what’s upsetting him. She allows it in the name of building rapport with her new patient.

Jim accidentally summons a new clone, who is still in his human form and cannot shift, even when tested with a gaggletack, which Dr Archenn keeps in her office for some reason. Jim thinks this clone is a manifestation of his most human traits and nicknames him Hugh, as in Hugh Man.

(Hugh is actually a manifestation of the Changeling Identity Crisis, Jim’s feeling of being divided between being human and troll. Not all Changelings have that issue – Nomura, for example, identifies exclusively as a troll – but it is pretty common.

If summoned before Jim lost the ability to shift, Hugh would have always appeared in the opposite form of the form Original Jim is currently in and would switch whenever Original Jim did – unlike the other clones, who appear in the form Jim currently wears and can shift freely – but since Jim only has access to his troll form now, Hugh always appears as a human.)

Toby has an appointment with Dr Archenn, too. Since he knows she knows about trolls now, he tells her everything.

That appointment ends up focusing mainly on how Toby tried to use magic to change his body in response to feeling rejected, which ties into a lot of Toby’s issues about feeling inadequate and expecting people to abandon him.

Also, Dr Archenn knows enough about magic to recognize how dangerous shapeshifting can be, and wants to be sure Toby has been taught enough since then to recognize the risk he took.

Toby finds an angel aura quartz in the museum gift shop. He’s more interested in the scientific aspect of geology, but the superstitious part is also interesting, and now that he knows trolls and magic are real, he wonders more about it.

Angel aura quartz is supposed to help people cope with stress, anxiety, and overstimulation, and to help recharge energy. Toby decides to give the stone to Jim in case there is any truth to this idea.

Mary and Darci both update their families on what’s been going on.

Laurel and Jennifer discuss the possibility of bringing Jennifer’s Familiar, Guinevere, to the surface and raising her as another daughter, with Jennifer using a Glamour Mask to keep up her human life. Jennifer is opposed to this idea, not in the name of keeping her ability to shapeshift, but because she is uncomfortable with babies.

Claire, Mary and Darci spend a night at Darci’s house trying to do normal teen things and forget how weird their lives have gotten. It doesn’t really work, since the last time they did this, at Claire’s house, they discovered the Enrique Swap, so this time Claire and Mary end up talking a lot about their Changeling family members. Darci feels a bit left out of the conversation.

Jim spars against Draal, Angor, and Nomura all at once in the Forge. (Trollmarket has only seen Nomura in her troll form, so the trolls all think she is an unaltered troll.) Jim is trying to get used to fighting alongside his clones.

Jim discovers the Amulet can divide, allowing a clone to re-summon armour while Jim is still wearing it.

Jim rants to his human friends about how he keeps getting distracted when sparring with Draal by how shiny Draal is and the way he moves. Mary puts the pieces together and realizes Jim has a crush.

Jim does not see how that’s possible, since he’s never had a crush before, and this is the least convenient time to develop such feelings. Toby hypothesizes that seeing Draal get turned into a human and back made Jim subconsciously see him as a fellow Changeling, and therefore, like … eligible?

Toby’s other hypothesis, since Toby now knows about the theory Changelings’ emotions change a bit when their brains physically change during shapeshifting, is that Jim being stuck in troll form is stabilizing Jim’s ability to feel attraction to other trolls. Sharing this thought feels like it would be really insensitive to Jim’s grief over Jay-Jay, so Toby keeps his mouth shut about it.

Walter spends a few hours each day and the full weekend at the Lakes’ house trying to be helpful and make things easier for Barbara and Jim. He’s spent hours researching how to help people deal with grief, and being physically there sounds like the most useful and active thing he can do.

Jim ends up absentmindedly clawing apart the angel aura quartz Toby gave him. The activity is soothing, but he feels bad about destroying a gift once he’s done. Since the stone is so small now, Jim swaps it out for the Heartstone piece that gives him knives (since the Birthstone also does that) to see if it will do anything.

It turns out this crystal functions like a portable Soothscryer, letting Jim talk to the Ghost Council from anywhere.

Kanjigar is mad at Jim for having a crush on Draal. Jim protests that, if anything, Jim should be the one mad at Kanjigar, because it’s hardly Jim’s fault that Draal is attractive but if troll genetics work like human ones then it’s at least half Kanjigar’s fault.

A few of the other ghost Trollhunters pop up to comment on how Kanjigar can’t expect to control Draal’s life after cutting himself out of it and then dying.

Barbara talks with Nana and Javier again. Ophelia is also there this time.

Jim, looking over old maps, finds an isolated and disused gyre station which he thinks would be perfect for rebuilding Killahead Bridge and containing the resulting battle.

At Jim’s request, through Vendel, the Tribunal is summoned. Jim wants to clear his plan with them, so he won’t be accused to treason for letting Gunmar out. He also hopes that having the Tribunal backing his plan will make it easier to recruit an army.

Meeting the Tribunal is how Jim learns Gatto is on the Tribunal.

Gatto struggles to maintain his connection, since the poison Jim used on him was a suppressant of magic.

(Like how a tranquilizer makes it hard to move, the poison makes it harder to use magic. It is particularly dangerous to innately magical species such as trolls. A Changeling will usually die in a few days, and an unaltered troll within a week; Gatto takes longer because he’s huge and only got a small dose. It can also be used medicinally, to slow the effects of a curse while seeking a counter-curse.)

Jim refuses to tell Gatto the loophole (get cursed to use it up) on account of Gatto eating Toby.

Despite Jim and Gatto’s conflict, the vote still ends up four-to-one in favour of letting Jim rebuild the bridge and lure Gunmar into a trap.

Usurna contacts Gunmar to tell him what the Trollhunter is planning, so he can have his army ready to swarm out of Killahead Bridge the moment the portal is activated, or choose not to leave yet and lure the Trollhunter into a trap in the Darklands instead. Gunmar decides to go with the swarming option.

Spring Fling happens. Jim is dragged along and spends most of it on the bleachers texting Riot. Toby dances with the mole mascot and Darci reveals she’s the one in the costume. Claire and Mary end up kissing during a slow song at the end of the night.

Barbara notes that Walter is spending more time at her house than his apartment lately and suggests he move in. Walter declines, saying it’s too soon in their relationship to consider that. They talk it out and agree not to discuss moving in together (or marriage) until they’ve been together for at least one year.

Tiffany Archenn contacts some original Changeling characters who deserted in the 1700s. She tells them that the latest Trollhunter seems to have a feasible plan to kill Gunmar and might be inclined to take their Familiars out of the Darklands. It could be in their best interests to approach him as potential allies before he goes through with this plan.

Most of them don’t tend to use their human forms anymore, but they appreciate the warning that this might become an issue.

The self-proclaimed Jersey Devils left the Janus Order after discovering and claiming a Heartstone near their base. Most of the Janus Order thinks they were discovered and wiped out by humans, and gutted their own base so the humans couldn’t find any other Changelings.

The Jersey Devils are led by Tiffany’s on-again off-again lover, and Stricklander’s former rival for leadership of the Janus Order, Carla Fontaine. Tiffany and Carla met again by accident in the early 1900s, but Tiffany agreed to keep the fact Carla was still alive a secret. Tiffany learned about the rest of the Jersey Devils fifty years later.

Tiffany tells Carla that the new Trollhunter is also a Changeling, which makes Carla agree to talk to him.

Jim is eager to welcome new potential allies. Carla and Stricklander, who came along to the meeting as backup, posture at each other, since the main reason they aren’t rivals anymore is because she broke off into a new faction and he thought she was dead. Tiffany finds their posturing amusing.

Carla is impressed enough by Jim’s track record, successfully killing Bular and convincing other trolls not to kill him, that she agrees to ask the Jersey Devils to consider an alliance. She won’t order them to fight, but she’ll provide the opportunity for them to volunteer.

Stricklander’s followers, the Janus Order agents on board with the plan to take over the world without Gunmar, are divided in whether they’re willing to actually fight Gunmar or not.

Jim ends up with enough Changelings willing to fight alongside him that he feels obligated to tell Vendel about them and ask for help getting Trollmarket on board with the idea of having more Changelings around than just the Trollhunter. That’s been something Jim wanted to do anyway; it just feels more time-sensitive now.

Bagdwella and Glug both agree, as a favour to Jim, to help sway public opinion in the Changelings’ favour. Krax subtly and unofficially volunteers as well, thinking a more Changeling-friendly marketplace could be to his advantage if Jim wins and Krax somehow gets revealed as a Changeling later.

Stricklander reveals himself as a Changeling to Trollmarket as a test of how well this attitude shift has sunken in. There are some harsh words, but nobody throws a gnome at him this time, so he counts it as a win.

Killahead Bridge is reassembled. The tunnel is rigged to blow, using dwärkstones and a variation on stasis traps that can all be released at once.

The army consists of Jim, Stricklander, Nomura, Jennifer, Carla, Angor, Draal, Blinky (who provided the dwärkstones), eight other Changelings and eight more unaltered trolls, making a total of two dozen fighters before Jim starts summoning clones.

AAARRRGGHH is still a pacifist, Tiffany is not a good melee fighter, Jim would not let the human kids come, and due to tight quarters it was decided not everyone who volunteered to fight should be brought in at once.

Angor is ready to portal in reserves. Those reserves are waiting in the Vault, which is sealed, so that if the Gumm-Gumms get through Angor’s portal they won’t have run of Trollmarket.

Various family and friends of those going to fight are waiting outside of the Vault door for news, including the human kids, and most of their parents and Nana Domzalski (all visiting Trollmarket for the first time, except Barbara who is technically visiting Trollmarket for the second time).

Claire’s parents are not there, because they didn’t want to bring Enrique or leave him with a sitter. Claire is to contact them with updates, even just “no news yet”, every fifteen minutes. Ophelia is preparing statements in case she has to announce to Arcadia that they are going to be under troll attack.

Jim summons Eclipse and a few clones, and puts the Amulet in the bridge. One of the Jim Clones is stationed on top of the bridge to remove the Amulet once Gunmar is through, before Gunmar’s whole army can get loose.

Gunmar’s troops swarm out. One of them sees the clone on the bridge and climbs up there to fight him, keeping him from pulling out the Amulet.

Gunmar exits the Darklands.

Draal uses his rolling attack to plow through the Gumm-Gumm ranks and uses his prosthetic arm to rip the amulet from the bridge before the full army can get free.

While fighting Gunmar, Jim drops Eclipse, which one of the clones picks up. Another clone has stolen a Parlok spear from a slain Gumm-Gumm, and disarms Gunmar. Jim, thinking the Decimaar Blade will vanish if held by someone else (like Daylight did when Draal tried to wield it), grabs the sword before Gunmar can, and discovers he can wield it.

The half of the Amulet from the bridge zips back to Jim and rejoins the other half, causing Jim to revert to the Daylight armour. Decimaar vanishes from his grasp.

The Eclipse sword is doing only minor damage to Gunmar. Daylight is doing even less. Jim’s knives don’t even seem to be cutting Gunmar, and Jim can feel that they’re making contact.

Someone trips the anchor that releases the stasis traps and activates the dwärkstones, which were supposed to be a last resort. Angor teleports out all his allies who are still alive. He grabs Jim last and doesn’t have time to get the clones.

When a clone dies, Original Jim has all the clone’s memories forcibly reintegrated into his mind at once. It is very unpleasant.

AAARRRGGHHH fusses adorably over Blinky and Jim. Jim ends up crawling onto AAARRRGGHH’s shoulders and taking a nap in his fur. He’s pretty burnt out. Barbara also wants to fuss over Jim, but is occupied providing first aid.

Laurel pounces on Jennifer and they kiss. Various trolls, including a number of Changelings, who explain the gesture, are disturbed by the face-smushing.

Angor decides maybe he should start teaching his human apprentices how to use the Shadow Staff after all, so there’s a backup teleporter if anything happens to Angor.

Everyone is deeply shaken but hopes the explosion will at least buy them time, since any surviving Gumm-Gumms will be too hurt to dig themselves out quickly. The tunnel was already collapsed and sealed off further away from the cavern in which they set up the battle, so Gunmar cannot easily get to the Gyre tunnel network to march on any troll settlements.

The Pale Lady contacts Otto and gives him the information needed to retrieve Gunmar. Otto seizes his moment to denounce Stricklander as a traitor, lift the lockdown on the Janus Order base, and gather the Changelings still loyal to Gunmar (and a few loyal to Stricklander who have concealed their true loyalties.)

The Changelings dig Gunmar and the surviving Gumm-Gumms out. Dictatious is alive but was blinded in the explosion.

Bernie brings Dictatious into the lab, since, as a scholar, Dictatious should be the best at adapting to modern human tech. Dictatious finds Bernie irritating but silently acknowledges that he needs to find ways to prove to Gunmar he is still useful.

In the days following the battle, Barbara gets practical experience with troll medicine, helping Vendel patch up the injured survivors. The Changelings are more willing to accept medical aid from Barbara than from Vendel, since they’re mostly more accustomed to human medicine despite some of the Jersey Devil Changelings living primarily in troll form.

Jim hasn’t left Trollmarket since the battle. He uses the Aspectus Stone to send a clone to school on his behalf – Schol, the aspect who loves learning for its own sake. Jim wants to stay on hand in case there’s any sign of Gunmar, to go after him right away.

Jim goes to the Ghost Council to see if they can tell whether Gunmar survived the explosion, since some of the clones were still there and in armour. Does that count as seeing what’s around the Amulet? Technically yes, but the clones died in the explosion and therefore automatically vanished, so there were no Amulet copies for the past Trollhunters to watch through afterwards.

Now that Jennifer has been in Trollmarket, and is a known Changeling and also known to be one of Mary’s parents, Mary has to explain her family tree a few times to clarify that, no, Mary is not part-troll somehow as far as she knows.

Jennifer backs up these statements. This is how Trollmarket as a whole learns that Changelings are pretty sure they’ve been sterilized.

Bernie has been teaching Dictatious how to use text-to-voice and voice-to-text computer programs, and has set him up with a laptop and Wikipedia. Once Dictatious is competent with these, Bernie steers him towards the articles on nuclear winter.

Officially, this is a suggestion for a potential way to bring about the Eternal Night. Unofficially, Bernie has realized that the Eternal Night would kill off all the tasty meat-creatures on the surface, and so defeat the purpose of conquering the surface in the first place, but suspects Gunmar would take this better if informed by his Esteemed Counsel rather than by a Changeling.

Enrique bumps his head crawling under the coffee table, and Riot is caught in troll form by the goblins. Riot has to make a run for it.

The goblins catch Riot and, instead of killing him, drag him back through the Fetch instead, which is in Stricklander’s office again. They need Riot to get them past the Changeling lock; the locks are two-way, so no one can get in or out without a Changeling.

Riot calls home to warn them when the goblins swarm out of the office, leaving him behind. He follows them.

Claire uses a forcefield spell Angor taught her to hold the goblins back. Her parents fight the goblins using improvised weapons. Claire texts her friends for help; Darci has a driver’s licence, so she picks up Mary, Toby and Jim on the way over.

Once the goblins are driven off, Javier insists Riot stay with them. Ophelia points out they wouldn’t have had any kind of advance warning if Riot hadn’t stayed in the Nursery. Javier counters that Riot wouldn’t have gotten caught if he wasn’t in the Nursery.

Riot points out the goblins know which cradles should be occupied, so if he stays, the goblins will be back.

Of course, Claire says, the goblins will probably be back either way, to avenge the ones that got squished tonight … This is the deciding factor in Riot staying with the Nuñezes, as an extra line of defence against the now-inevitable goblins.

Unfortunately, Gunmar is not inclined to listen to his Counsel if Dictatious is telling him something that the Dark Underlord does not wish to hear. Dictatious’ concerns about how the Eternal Night could negatively affect trollkind are met with dismissal, then annoyance, then violence.

Between this incident and Otto’s vying for Dictatious’ position, Dictatious no longer feels safe at Gunmar’s side. Bernie wants to help and doesn’t want to just turn Dictatious loose on the streets of Arcadia, so Bernie calls Stricklander to ask him to set up a meeting with the Trollhunter.

This gives evidence to the Trollhunter team that Gunmar is indeed still alive.

Jim and Stricklander meet Bernie and Dictatious. Blinky and Angor are watching from a nearby roof. Blinky is suspicious of his brother’s motives; Angor is there as backup and to keep Blinky quiet.

Jim is easily swayed into bringing Dictatious back to Trollmarket. He could have useful information about Gunmar’s strategies and plans, things that Gunmar wouldn’t have told the Changelings about.

Vendel has a phone by now, and is on speaker or video-call with Jim, and agrees that Dictatious could be useful. If Trollmarket was willing to accept AAARRRGGHH, centuries ago, then they at least owe Dictatious a fair trial.

Stricklander and Angor decide Dictatious should be teleported to the marketplace, so as not to lead Bernie to the entrance.

Blinky insists Dictatious be held in the Stronghold until they can be sure of his loyalties. This is, everyone agrees, a sensible precaution.

The trial preparations nearly hit a snag when Blinky refuses to speak in his brother’s defence. He feels he doesn’t know Dictatious anymore; the brother he looked up to would never have joined Gunmar. Jim, as Blinky’s adopted son and therefore Dictatious’ nephew, says he will speak in Dictatious’ defence instead.

Jim drops his armour and goes into the Stronghold to talk to Dictatious and let him know what’s happening. Jim assumes Dictatious will recognize the Trollhunter’s voice, and intends this as a secret test of character, to see whether Dictatious will accept a known Changeling as his adopted nephew.

A few things add up to create a miscommunication.

Dictatious has only seen the Trollhunter in armour and has only heard the Trollhunter speak in English. Jim approaches Dictatious without armour and speaking in trollish.

Dictatious has not heard the current Trollhunter’s name. Jim does not introduce himself as the Trollhunter, and his human-sounding name can be explained by Blinky’s lifelong curiosity towards humans.

Blinky is technically old enough to have had a whelp in the time Dictatious was missing and presumed dead. Dictatious cannot see Jim clearly, but if he could, well, Jim only looks about half the age he actually is due to Changeling age distortion, and the pitch of his voice sounds as young as he looks. Jim is also a similar colour to Blinky, and introduces himself as Blinky’s son, not Blinky’s adopted son.

Therefore, Dictatious assumes Jim is his biological (or geological, haha) nephew, and does not mentally connect him to the Trollhunter at all. He assumes Jim is talking to him because the whelp is curious. Blinky presumably used to reminisce about Dictatious before learning the truth and renouncing him.

Gatto sends a representative instead of a projection, due to the poison’s effects getting worse. The representative’s job is to vote against the Trollhunter, whatever Jim says.

Usurna is concerned Dictatious will identify and expose her as a traitor, although she can probably deflect that by saying he’s lying to distract them from his own crimes. She plans to use Jim’s action of bringing a Gumm-Gumm into Trollmarket as proof to the Tribunal that the Changeling never truly left Gunmar’s service, to get Jim executed, once a proper window for this accusation arises.

Vendel and Wumpa both trust Jim and are inclined to vote in his favour.

This means, since the Tribunal has five members, the deciding vote on Dictatious’ fate rests with the one who looks like Nomura. (Bjork, the head of Trollmarket’s trade guilds, according to a mention by Aaron Waltke on tumblr.)

Dictatious is absolutely shocked when, at the start of the trial, Jim presents himself as the Trollhunter. Blinkous is old enough to have a whelp, sure, but not old enough for that whelp to be old enough to have been stolen and warped into a Changeling! Was the Impure Trollhunter felled?

Jim facepalms and finally tells his Uncle Dick that he’s adopted.

This moment hurts Jim’s case, since a large part of it was based on Dictatious’ intelligence. Jim does his best to rally.

First, Jim calls AAARRRGGHH to the stand. AAARRRGGHH confirms that, back when he served Gunmar, he would receive reports from spies; usually Changelings, but not always. Dictatious was not one of those spies. Furthermore, AAARRRGGHH never saw a troll matching Dictatious’ description near Gunmar or with any of the spymasters.

AAARRRGGHH and Angor Rot, as witnesses who have seen the Decimaar Blade’s mind control in action, both assert that Dictatious does not show signs of being mind controlled.

Stricklander confirms his personal history as an active agent in Gunmar’s forces prior to the First Battle of Killahead Bridge, and says Dictatious did not serve Gunmar until after that battle. He also testifies that, while imprisoned in the Darklands, Gunmar issued many orders and plans that did not work; plans that an intelligent advisor would advise against.

Jim then calls some character witnesses – Blinky, some old trolls Dictatious used to be friends with who are still alive, and finally Deya, Kanjigar, and Araknak, using the angel aura quartz to let the ghosts speak to the Tribunal. They all attest that Dictatious did not show signs, before his disappearance, of being a Gumm-Gumm sympathizer. They also each affirm Dictatious’ intelligence.

Jim was planning to have to call the character witnesses first, to open the trial, but wanted to give everyone time to be distracted from how Dictatious didn’t figure out Jim was a Changeling.

Araknak obviously never interacted with Dictatious, having died centuries before his great-grandson hatched, but he kept an eye on his descendants through the Amulet as best he could.

Dictatious was one of Deya’s strategic advisers during the war, which is why he was at the First Battle of Killahead Bridge and part of how he persuaded Gunmar that he could be more useful alive.

Jim posits to the Tribunal that, after being trapped in the Darklands and ‘joining’ Gunmar to avoid being killed or mind controlled, Dictatious in fact worked to sabotage Gunmar’s organization from within for centuries.

Dictatious should therefore be forgiven for any wrongs he had to commit in order to maintain his cover, and welcomed home as a war hero.

Jim also tells the Tribunal about Dictatious teaching Jim to read. Jim is trying to spin this to imply Dictatious was willing to risk his cover through acts of kindness in defiance of Gunmar, since Changelings were not usually taught to speak proper trollish, let alone read it.

Blinky derails this part of Jim’s testimony by objecting to Jim’s defence of Dictatious mutilating him. Jim has no idea what Blinky is talking about. After some back and forth, they clear up Blinky’s misunderstanding; the alphabet carved into Jim’s legs was self-inflicted.

Lots of Changelings give themselves markings like that, Stricklander adds, gesturing to his chest carvings.

Yes, exactly, says Jim, and therefore Dictatious would have had no reason to take notice of that. Dictatious never hurt Jim. Well, except that one time, which was an accident.

Ordered to clarify this statement, Jim describes the time he was perched above and behind Dictatious, reading over his shoulder, lost his balance trying to see the lowest line on the page, and fell on Dictatious, who was startled and threw him into a wall. Reflexes like that are a survival skill in the Darklands. Besides, Jim was fine, he only cracked one rib.

Dictatious suggests that, if the Trollhunter truly wishes to help him, perhaps he should stop trying to help him.

Dictatious is sent back to the Stronghold while the Tribunal discusses their verdict.

Stephan brings some bodies from the crematorium to the Janus Order base for Gunmar to eat. Gunmar is insulted by the taste of formaldehyde; the bodies were preserved for funerals before being sent to be burned. Stephan tries to justify the selection, and offers to get more palatable meat. Gunmar eats Stephan instead.

[[Alternatively, Otto is explaining to Gunmar why Stricklander isn’t there, denouncing Stricklander is a traitor, and Gunmar learns Otto also know about the Changeling Trollhunter but didn’t report it, and is enraged? Kind of want the massacre to have nothing to do with Jim, though.]]

The Gumm-Gumms ravage the Janus Order.

Bernie manages to evacuate some Changelings to the laboratory and seal it off. The blast doors are designed for troll strength because the labs were also meant to double as a panic room if Bular ever went on a rampage.

Otto, disillusioned by seeing in person how little Gunmar truly values Changeling loyalty, escapes the Janus Order and uses a series of disguises to make his way into Trollmarket.

The humans are out of Trollmarket by this point, except for Barbara and Laurel, but the Changelings who were around during the Third Battle of Killahead Bridge are all still there.

Otto is caught, and Usurna uses him as a prop to accuse the Trollhunter of convolutedly scheming to turn Trollmarket over to Gunmar. Jim keeps opening Trollmarket’s doors to humans, and Changelings, and Gumm-Gumms, and now this newly-discovered type of Changeling who could be anyone and so who knows how many Jim has already snuck in?

The logic doesn’t really hold, especially since Jim was the one to catch and expose Otto, but the existence of polymorphs alarms everyone enough that Jim gets arrested anyway.

Jim is ordered to surrender the Amulet and submit to being sent to the Deep. Rather than fighting the charges and demanding a trial, Jim complies. AAARRRGGHH and Angor are present for this, but Blinky, Barbara, and Stricklander are not.

Angor teleports away as Jim surrenders the Amulet, looking like he can’t bear to watch Jim be executed

AAARRRGGHH tries to convince the Tribunal to let Jim go. The cage is still being lowered, so there’s still time to change their minds.

Usurna breaks the chain so that the cage falls and cannot be pulled up, and smashes the Amulet. She expresses gloating surprise at how easy it was; she’d really thought a magical artifact would be harder to destroy.

Angor actually watched from a hidden spot and teleported to Jim’s cage when it first dropped out of sight, to rescue Jim and berate his foolishness. This is when Jim reveals his actual plan.

Jim surrendered the fake Amulet he’s been carrying, the one that Stricklander made. Jim intended to pick the lock (it looks like a very simple lock and Jim carries lockpicks at all times), jump for the wall (the chasm isn’t that wide), and climb out – but he’ll take Angor’s offer of a portal instead, gladly. They leave a second or two before Usurna snaps the chain.

Vendel and Usurna fight. Usurna stabs Vendel, and the other Tribunal members, with Creeper’s Sun. AAARRRGGHH is injured with it too.

Usurna reveals to AAARRRGGHH that she willingly gave him and other Krubera whelps to Gunmar centuries ago. She plans to revive AAARRRGGHH later and ‘give him the opportunity’ to rejoin Gunmar’s forces.

Usurna traps AAARRRGGHH and the ‘dead’ Tribunal in the room, thinking AAARRRGGHH is now too weak to break out.

Some Krubera, the queen’s guards, were outside the room and heard all of this. They exchange significant looks among themselves behind Usurna’s back but do not act against their queen yet.

Gunmar and Usurna have been in contact since his escape somehow (cellphones from the Changelings?), so they are able to coordinate her getting him into Trollmarket. (Seriously, how did they set that up in canon? It was entirely off-screen.)

The Krubera guards try to attack Gunmar, but are put under mind control.

Angor has brought Jim to Barbara and Blinky, who were in the library. Jim explains his arrest and ‘execution’, and Blinky and Barbara tell him how reckless he was and question why he didn’t push for a trial or at least push to let his parents know he’d been arrested.

Angor leaves during this to check on Otto, who is imprisoned alongside Dictatious and being carefully watched. Dictatious and Otto are snapping at each other while Stricklander eggs them on.

The other Changelings still in Trollmarket are also held in the Stronghold, and bitter about how they should’ve expected this to be how the trolls show gratitude after the Changelings agreed to help them. Otto reveals what Gunmar did to the Janus Order, which does not surprise any of them – most of them deserted because they were disillusioned with Gunmar’s leadership.

Draal, one of the volunteers to guard the Stronghold, is indignant on the Changelings’ behalf. He and Nomura start up their old quarrel, much less heated now, about how he can’t understand why she wouldn’t desert centuries ago.

Usurna gathers Trollmarket and tells them the Trollhunter attacked the Tribunal and she was the only survivor, thanks to her faithful subject Aarghaumont sacrificing himself to protect his queen from his treasonous adopted son.

Various characters immediately recognize this as a lie. The scene jumps between a few perspectives to show their reactions, their speculation on Usurna’s motives, and what they try to do in the half minute before Gunmar appears.

AAARRRGGHH does not break through the sealed door, but sneaks out through a side passage Usurna didn’t know about. It’s a bit of a tight fit for him, but he makes it, and gets to the library around the time Gunmar’s attack begins.

Some of the Gumm-Gumms go to the Stronghold to finish off the rest of the Changelings. Angor starts using mini-portals to get rid of the locks on the cages, so the Changelings can protect themselves, but the Changelings quickly stop him and reveal they already picked or broke all the locks.

Laurel is also there (Mary is at her father’s place for the night, or maybe it’s his week with her anyway). Since she refuses to leave, Jennifer hastily arms her wife with a full-spectrum flashlight.

It won’t kill an unaltered troll unless you get a sustained shot at their mouth and nose to prevent breathing, but it’s painful and a deterrent against them grabbing her, and it won’t harm the Changelings except by sudden bright light in their eyes.

Angor goes to get the Trollhunter. Angor brings Dictatious, since Dictatious is the only troll still locked up (and also someone the Gumm-Gumms would see as a traitor to be executed), and Nomura, who says she has an idea that can help but needs to get to Draal’s keep.

Jim is trying to get everyone to the Gyre Station. It’s harder than in canon since his human friends aren’t there to divide the work of sneaking around to rescue people, and because there is no improvised Gyre tunnel to the woods, so the trolls are needing to be ferried all the way to other settlements.

Angor opens a portal to the Lakes’ basement. This time of day, their backyard is all in shadow. Angor’s been to the basement, but ‘the woods’ are a more ambiguous location so it’s easier to make the portal to the Lake house. Barbara goes through to direct the trolls to the woods behind the house.

Dictatious is in the basement with Barbara, but unwilling to go outside before sunset since he can’t actually tell where the shadows are.

The Gyre tunnels are cut off. Angor pushes the portal to be larger. The blue lights of his inner minerals, exposed by his scars, begin turning purple. Shadows start creeping up his fingers and out from around his eyes.

Blinky expresses concern they won’t get out alive. AAARRRGGHH insists they will survive, and asks Blinky to marry him. Blinky is shocked AAARRRGGHH would pick now of all times to propose. Blinky wonders if AAARRRGGHH, despite his words, secretly doesn’t expect them to live long enough for there to be another chance. Blinky tells AAARRRGGHH to ask him again once they’ve lived through this.

Angor’s scars are all purple now. His eyes start to fade from yellow to white.

Nomura has been keeping the things she stole from Gatto at Draal’s place rather than on the surface. She uses the Kairosect to stop time, and attacks Gunmar, who had been about to use the Decimaar Blade on Bagdwella when time stopped.

Nomura’s swords cannot cut Gunmar, but she is able to take the Decimaar Blade and cut his head off with that. Nomura uses the rest of the Kairosect’s first time-stop to get back to the Gyre Station.

(What about the Triumbric Stones, you ask? Well, if Nomura hadn’t been along during the quest for the Birthstone, she wouldn’t have had the Kairosect, and although she’s a good fighter she might not have been able to beat Gunmar in single combat.)

Nomura pops up a second before they have to seal entrance the Gyre Station to keep the Gumm-Gumms out. Jim is being held back because he still wants to get back out there and help everyone else. Nomura is alarmed and confused to find herself mind-linked to everyone Gunmar was using the sword to control.

AAARRRGGHH is the one to figure it out: because Nomura used the Decimaar Blade to kill Gunmar, the sword now recognizes her as the Gumm-Gumm Warlord, meaning she now controls all the trolls Gunmar was mind-controlling.

She is able to immediately stop the rampages, but she has to undo the mind control one troll at a time because she isn’t used to this ability. Nomura’s eyes turn blue while she actively uses Decimaar’s magic, and back to green when she isn’t focusing on it. Jim comments on this.

Angor’s irises are white now, and the shadowy cracks on his body are starting to creep over the Inferna Copula as well. The sigil on the ring is still glowing gold, but the metal turns black. When Bagdwella calls Blinky to say Gunmar is dead, Blinky tries to tell Angor he can drop the portal, but Angor does not seem to hear him.

AAARRRGGHH grabs the Shadow Staff to make Angor drop the portal. AAARRRGGHH’s eyes and carvings light up purple for a moment. He and Angor both collapse once the portal drops and need to rest for a while.

Dictatious and Barbara start to panic when the portal vanishes. Jim calls Barbara to explain. She snaps that he could’ve come through to tell her in person, or called before the portal dropped, instead of giving her a heart attack.

Barbara has to go get the trolls who were evacuated to the forest, and tell them it’s safe to go back to Trollmarket. She doesn’t want to leave Dictatious unsupervised in her house, so she gives him a tarp to use as a cloak and takes him along.

The Gumm-Gumms who were not under mind control have one of two responses to Nomura – yield or attack – but vary in their motives.

Some yield because the right of conquest means Nomura, Slayer of Gunmar, is their new liege, demonstrated by how Nomura can wield Decimaar; or because, like AAARRRGGHH, they want to change sides, but unlike AAARRRGGHH, they haven’t seen an opportunity before now; or because they’ve decided to bide their time and see how to turn this new situation to their advantage.

Some attack Nomura because they refuse to serve a Changeling, or they want to avenge Gunmar, or they’re trying to get the Decimaar Blade and become the Warlord themselves.

Most of the Gumm-Gumms who came out of the Darklands were mind controlled, though; Gunmar got more paranoid about loyalty over the years, what with AAARRRGGHH deserting, and Skarlagk creating a schism within the Gumm-Gumm ranks and eventually breaking off to form her own band and stealing Gunmar’s soldiers, and Changelings slipping out of Gunmar’s control.

Jim decides he ought to dig up Killahead after they’ve taken care of the Gumm-Gumms currently on the surface and go deal with the ones who are still in the Darklands. This will take a while. Hopefully the mind-controlled ones won’t starve in the meantime – they tend to be very still without orders to act on, and if they aren’t ordered ‘eat, drink, and sleep as needed to stay alive’, they just … don’t.

Jim and Nomura take a moment to briefly reminisce on how the mind-controlled Gumm-Gumms were actually some of the safer Gumm-Gumms for young Changelings to be around, since they wouldn’t attack the Changelings without being ordered to do so.

They’re going to get the Familiar-less Changelings out of the Darklands, too, of course, but that will be pretty easy compared to digging out the bridge, since ‘young’ Changelings can fit through a Fetch.

The ex-Gumm-Gumms released from mind control are returned to their tribes and families, if those survive; they are also welcomed to stay in Trollmarket, if they have nowhere else to go or simply aren’t yet ready to face the trolls they once knew.

The Gumm-Gumms who yielded are imprisoned and going to be put on trial, to decide on a case-by-case basis who actually wants to change sides, who might be swayed to do so, and who needs to be executed.

The Changelings are released and apologized to, except for Otto, who is also awaiting trial still.

For trials to happen, they need the Tribunal back. Luckily, Jim and Angor both know the antidote for Creeper’s Sun. They are able to revive Vendel, Wumpa, Bjork, and Gatto’s representative, and also treat AAARRRGGHH’s wound before he is fully petrified.

The first trial, a very brief one, is Usurna’s. Creeper’s Sun allows its victims to hear everything said around them, so the rest of the Tribunal (and her now-un-brainwashed bodyguards) heard her confess to giving her tribe’s younglings to Gunmar centuries ago.

Usurna is sent back to the Krubera Caverns for formal execution. Jim is mildly surprised that this is not something he, as Trollhunter, is called upon to handle.

Usurna has an heir, Keteven; a distant cousin who, for the past few centuries, has been acting as regent whenever Usurna had to leave Krubera territory for an extended period of time. The Krubera are not certain Keteven can be trusted or if she was secretly working with Usurna, but she is the most qualified candidate to take over their leadership on short notice, so for now, Keteven is named the new queen.

Keteven therefore ends up replacing Usurna on the Tribunal. This is a rough adjustment for her, since although she has been trained to lead the Krubera, she has not been trained in dealing with other tribes. Keteven has never left the deep caves, and therefore never met a non-Krubera troll in person before.

While Keteven and some of the Krubera elders are meeting the surviving Tribunal members, the Changelings go to see what can be salvaged from the Janus Order base.

Jim, the only one not told of the massacre because everyone else forgot he wasn’t there when they found out, has a breakdown at the sight of all the skeletons and shattered remains. Stricklander tries to comfort him while everyone else searches the base.

They realize the laboratory has been sealed off. The controls on that side of the door are smashed apart. One of the Changelings knocks on the door in an old ‘all clear’ pattern they used back in the Darklands. Bernie unseals the laboratory.

The survivors have been in there for a couple of days. They wanted to be sure the Gumm-Gumms had truly abandoned the base before venturing out, but most of the surveillance cameras were broken in the massacre. Since there hasn’t been any sound for a while, they’ve been debating whether to unseal the doors and check things out.

There are some emotional scenes between various Changelings. The Jersey Devils reveal their survival to the Janus Order members who weren’t in Trollmarket and therefore didn’t know already. Nomura is viewed with some suspicion, in case her carrying Decimaar means Gunmar is actually controlling all of them and this is a trap, but once Jim is outed as the Trollhunter everyone agrees Gunmar would not have let him live.

Stricklander is basically reinstated as Head of the Janus Order, although it’s a little debatable whether he was deposed in the first place because so many of the survivors were loyal to him anyway.

The Jersey Devils continue to think of themselves as a faction of Changelings separate and distinct from the Janus Order.

The Janus Order starts contacting agents in other countries, who weren’t in Arcadia, to tell them Gunmar denounced the Janus Order and is now dead at the hands of one of their agents. They ease into explaining the ‘Nomura is the new Warlord’ and ‘there is also a Changeling Trollhunter’ parts until after the shock of Gunmar’s death wears off.

Most of the agents who didn’t come to Arcadia when Otto started trying to gather them were suspicious of how much Gunmar would need them once he was out of the Darklands, so although it is anticipated that some of them will take advantage of this to advance their own rank, it is not anticipated anyone will specifically be trying to avenge Gunmar.

Walter takes Jim home. Barbara, as a doctor, is also in a good position to sympathize with Jim about the lives he couldn’t save. With Gunmar gone, Jim feels able to stay at home on the surface again instead of needing to stay in Trollmarket. (Although Blinky and AAARRRGGHH did set up a room for Jim, so he’s starting to feel more at home down there, too.)

Walter brings Dictatious back to Trollmarket. Their arrival interrupts AAARRRGGHH’s second attempt at proposing to Blinky.

Nomura and Draal attempt to have a talk about where their relationship is going now, since Nomura’s new status and associated responsibilities shake up their possible future a bit.

Schol and Toby learn from Barbara what’s been going on. Mary learns from Laurel what’s been going on. Mary and Toby inform Claire and Darci, respectively, and Claire tells Riot. They are all a little mad at Jim for not contacting them. In Jim’s defence, it’s been a busy few days.

Also, Schol should really be reabsorbed into the Amulet. The clone has been active for about four days now and shouldn’t have even gone a full three; he’s exhausted from staying awake to avoid ‘fading out’ without Jim around to confirm a new clone will be summoned. Schol, being a manifestation of Jim’s love of knowledge, is treating this as an experiment in how long he can go without collapsing.

Jim’s human friends talk to him, and Jim has another breakdown, expressing his guilt over what happened to the Janus Order and all the other trolls who got killed before Jim could kill Gunmar. The kids try to comfort him but are obviously in over their heads. Barbara sends them home.

Jim reabsorbs Schol into the Amulet and falls asleep. There are some short scenes of the kids at school, indicating Jim assimilating Schol’s memories.

Riot is distressed over what happened to most of the other Changelings. He and Jim have both seen fellow Changelings being killed by Gumm-Gumms before, but not on such a large scale. Riot doesn’t want to talk to Claire about it – she’s already worried about how Jim is taking it; she doesn’t need to also be worried about Riot – so he ends up talking to Javier and Ophelia.

Angor starts teaching his human apprentices more dangerous spells, including teleportation. Riot also attends the lesson, though he does not cast anything. Angor tells them a bit about what happened during Gunmar’s invasion of Trollmarket, and they tell him about how guilty Jim feels.

Angor takes Jim to Angor’s old village, which is abandoned and in ruins. Angor is trying to show Jim that Angor understands his feelings and the reasoning behind them, but also to show Jim that Gunmar’s capacity to cause harm was massive and long-lasting and Jim cannot hold himself responsible for it or he’ll drive himself mad.

Dictatious doesn’t cast much magic himself, but he does have a solid grasp of the theory behind it. He and Angor start discussing magic with one another.

Nomura debates going to Angor for magic advice, now that she has a magic sword attached to her, but concludes he would not be a helpful resource due to his trauma involving Gunmar. She is getting better at this ‘feelings’ thing. She instead talks to Jim, since Jim also has a magic sword attached to him. Jim involves Angor anyway.

Bernie starts spending time in Trollmarket, particularly Vendel’s workspace. Vendel does not notice this, because Bernie can be quiet and unobtrusive.

Bernie is very excited to learn that the Glamour Gauntlet is being so exhaustively field-tested, but annoyed Jim threw off the gaggletack experiment by lying about which factors were in play.

Jim has more or less assumed responsibility for ensuring the prisoners are fed. The Gumm-Gumms get to know the Trollhunter when he brings them food.

Jim channels his grief over the loss of so many other Changelings into using the Fetch to find the ones who were never brought out of the Darklands in the first place.

It turns out Skarlagk has recruited them to the faction of Gumm-Gumms rebelling against Gunmar’s rule. Jim, AAARRRGGHH, and everyone else who’s heard of Skarlagk the Scorned had assumed she would never let Changelings join her, but centuries leading a rebellion have taught her the value of sneakiness.

The Gumm-Gumms turned to Skarlagk for a variety of reasons – the main two are resenting Gunmar for getting them stuck in the Darklands, or no longer trusting his leadership and fearing for their minds because he’s been controlling more and more of his forces using the Decimaar Blade lately.

The Changelings were drawn to her side through polite treatment (not just claiming she’ll give them equal status once she takes over the world, but actually demonstrating basic courtesy) and because Skarlagk feeds them, as opposed to Gunmar, who ignored the existence of any Changeling that wasn’t in his way and he wasn’t giving an order to.

Most of the eighteen surviving Familiar-less Changelings immediately take Jim’s offer to come through the Fetch, but one insists on telling Skarlagk where they’re going. Jim has no objection to this. It will probably be his best opening for making first contact with her.

Skarlagk actually recognizes Jim when she sees him, and is pleased he isn’t dead. Her forces hide deep in Nyarlagroth territory, to avoid Gunmar’s troops, and she’d seen Jim a few times (before he had a name) when he was stealing Nyarlagroth eggs to eat.

He always bolted whenever she tried to approach him, so she never managed to recruit him. When he vanished, after being assigned to the surface, she assumed a Nyarlagroth finally caught and ate him.

She is pleased to hear Gunmar is dead, and cautiously optimistic about Jim’s offer to let the Gumm-Gumms out of the Darklands if they swear off eating humans and stop trying to conquer other troll tribes.

In return, Jim can probably avert any large-scale retaliation against the Gumm-Gumms in revenge for past conflicts. Skarlagk questions how Jim thinks he can keep other trolls from initiating attacks against them. Jim reveals he is the Trollhunter.

Skarlagk is displeased to be negotiating with a Trollhunter, but acknowledges that this supports Jim’s claim to be able to protect them. She asks what happened to the Decimaar Blade.

Decimaar is magically tied to the Gumm-Gumm ruler. (Well, Ga-Huel ruler. Ga-Huel was their original tribe name. Their enemies called them Gumm-Gumms and they adopted the name over time.) Jim didn’t actually say who killed Gunmar, just that Gunmar was dead. Skarlagk assumes Jim killed Gunmar with Daylight, and therefore whoever can conjure the sword next (presumably her, especially if she’s first to attempt it) is the next rightful Warlord.

Jim reveals he actually did not kill Gunmar, but rather his fellow Changeling Nomura did it, using Decimaar, and the sword has already bonded to her. Skarlagk swears a few times, turns away to beat up the wall, and calms down.

She is disappointed the sword is currently out of her reach, but she can use this as evidence to some of her more traditionalist followers that recruiting the Changelings was in keeping with tradition after all, since only a Ga-Huel can wield Decimaar and this proves the Changelings Morgana gave into Gunmar’s service are Ga-Huels.

She asks Jim to introduce her to Nomura, to get an idea of what the new Warlord is like. (And to assess whether Skarlagk can or should challenge her, but that bit remains unspoken.)

Jim tells Skarlagk about the trials, which have recently begun and which any troll retrieved from the Darklands will have to go through to assess whether it’s safe to unleash them on the rest of troll society.

Skarlagk tells Jim that the Decimaar Blade has weaker versions of mind-control which can compel someone to be truthful, or at least tell the wielder whether they’re lying, which should be useful if Nomura doesn’t plan to simply compel them to adopt new values.

Jim and Skarlagk arrange to meet again after discussing next steps with their allies. Jim promises to get her and Nomura an introduction.

The new Changelings are brought to Trollmarket. Some of them end up having conflicts with other trolls because, although the Changelings are adults, they look like babies, so the other trolls are not sure how to respond to them yet.

Jim tells Nomura, and the Tribunal, about his meeting with Skarlagk. Nomura takes it better than the Tribunal does, and has a first meeting with her via the Fetch.

Skarlagk and Nomura have a conversation about what it means for Nomura to be the Warlord now, and the qualities each of them think are important in a leader.

Some of the Janus Order’s sorcerers, who have been looking over Morgana’s notes for centuries, think they know how to transfer the Age Pause. They cannot get rid of the spell entirely, but they can move it around. The nature of the spell means it has to be placed on a living organism.

Once the spell is successfully transferred, Claire brings her brothers down to Trollmarket so Enrique can start aging again before he gets misdiagnosed with ‘failure to thrive’. While there, Riot reconnects with some old friends from the Darklands.

Nomura begins experimenting with the Decimaar Blade. She discovers she can split it into two swords, which better matches her fighting style.

Draal volunteers to let Nomura test the low-level mind-control on him. Nomura is uneasy about this power, which Angor says is good. That means Nomura will be able to restrain the mind-control spell to a low level instead of completely taking over Draal’s mind by accident.

Angor and Dictatious get into a debate about how exactly mind-control spells work.

Bernie is still running experiments on Bular’s remains, now comparing them to Gunmar’s remains. Bernie has also managed to get tissue samples from Blinky and Dictatious, although these are hard to work with because living tissue samples do not remain viable for long after being removed from the troll’s body.

Jim finds out about Bernie’s experiments and gives Bular’s head to Bernie, as well as Gunmar’s Eye since Jim no longer needs the Eclipse Armour to wield Decimaar or the Eclipse Sword to fight Gunmar. Jim returns the Killstone to the Quagawumps, as promised.

Jim gives the Birthstone to Toby, since Toby was the one to find it, and Toby has some ideas for more Heartstone experiments since his first one is growing so nicely. Jim does worry about the ‘Gunmar was spawned of a corrupted Heartstone’ idea, but figures Toby is smart enough to go for help if it looks like a baby troll is growing inside one of his rocks.

Bernie is trying to determine trollish genetic markers, to see if it’s possible to identify which trolls are related to one another. This is mostly out of curiosity but partially so that Changelings can potentially reunite with their birth families, since, in contrast to everything the Changelings have been taught, the unaltered trolls appear willing to be accept them into the community.

Jim spends time in the Void looking at the memories of past Trollhunters. He is hoping to get a better idea of what to watch out for from the Gumm-Gumms, now that he is interacting with them regularly and can’t just avoid them like back in the Darklands.

When Vendel and Draal are both in the Hero’s Forge at the same time, the Soothscryer activates. Vendel’s brush with death allows Kanjigar to possess him.

Kanjigar does not reveal that Jim lied about his past ‘messages’ for Draal, only ‘repeats’ how proud he is of his son, and how much he loves and misses him. Draal and Kanjigar finally get a hug. Kanjigar does reveal, however, that he never wants Draal to be the Trollhunter, because he fears for his son’s safety.

Draal officially tells Kanjigar that Draal is romantically involved with Nomura. Kanjigar had figured this out but is still uncomfortable with it. He tries to be accepting, but cannot entirely hide his disapproval. Draal is fine with this – he just wanted his father to know he’s serious about this woman. It’s good practice for when he tells his mother.

Nomura is stunned that Draal wants her to meet his mother. Very few of her past relationships have involved being introduced to her partner’s parents. This is in part because many of her relationships have been with fellow Changelings, who don’t know their parents, but still.

Also, she’s not sure how Ballustra’s going to react to the ‘Warlord’ thing. Kanjigar at least had some time to absorb that information before he and Draal spoke.

The Tribunal and Krubera elders decide they’ve interviewed Keteven sufficiently to let her assume at least an interim role on the Tribunal. Trials can begin for the prisoners.

Nomura uses the Decimaar Blade to link into the defendants’ minds and watch for insincerity. Jim suggests that she not use an honesty compulsion, because that could easily slip into subconsciously ordering them to say what she wants to hear, which in turn could slip into her literally changing their minds by magic instead of by persuasion, which would wear off as soon as she disconnects the spell. She thinks he’s overthinking it but decides to indulge his request.

AAARRRGGHH also attends the trials, as a sort of example to the defendants that it is possible to survive desertion and find a new home, and to translate occasional cultural misunderstandings.

Otto manages to stay alive.

Steve finds a goblin in his garage.

At school, the kids are assigned to take care of flour sacks. Schol suggests to Claire that they name theirs ‘Ceres’, after the Roman harvest goddess whose name is where the word ‘cereal’ comes from. They name the flour baby Petunia Ceres.

Claire is uncomfortable sharing the assignment with Jim, even a clone of him who primarily cares about academics, since the last time she trusted him with a baby he had her brother kidnapped, but she knows he regrets that, and she does have Original Enrique back now.

Toby and Darci have Sir Isaac Gluten, as in canon. Also as in canon, Mary is paired with Logan (with whom she is acquainted from when they were in the play together), and they accidentally ‘kill’ their flour baby Dwight D. Eisen-flour by bathing him.

Toby and Darci take Sir Isaac Gluten to the rock show. They do not bring friends along, deciding to make this a date rather than a group thing.

Steve shows the goblin to Eli after school. Rather than typing Jim’s name, the goblin types Claire’s name, because the goblin is one of the ones trying to re-steal Enrique.

Steve and Eli conclude Claire is an alien planted in the Nuñez home because she can influence human politics through her mother.

Eli wants to go public with this idea, since one of his main goals in investigating the paranormal is to expose it to the world and become a trusted authority on the subject – to be admired and praised as the one who proved it was all real.

Steve points out one obvious flaw in Eli’s plan, besides their lack of proof: if two white boys start calling their Latina classmate an “alien”, people will assume that they mean it in the racist way rather than the outer space way.

Therefore, it’s obviously up to them to save the world from Claire themselves, rather than going to any human authorities for help.

The goblin uses their distraction to escape. Steve and Eli lose the goblin in the woods, but correctly deduce they can catch up or get ahead if they go to Claire’s house.

Schol and Claire are at her house, as are Riot and Original Enrique. Mary is there too. Ophelia and Javier are out for the evening. Officially Claire is supposed to be babysitting, but in practice Riot is doing it.

Goblins enter the scene.

With Steve and Eli watching through the windows like creeps, Schol and Claire and Riot defend Original Enrique and Petunia Ceres from goblins. Schol drops his glamour during the fight.

Schol yells at the goblins in their language to “stay away from the babies”, using the plural form. The goblins pause, confused, because the flour sack is obviously not a baby. Schol explains the assignment.

The goblins recognize him as ‘Blanket Thief’, the Changeling who used to sneak into the Nursery to steal blankets from the extra supplies. They ask him how he’s doing. Riot is translating the conversation for Claire (and, unintentionally, for Eli and Steve) in the background.

Claire is puzzled partially because she thought Jim’s nickname in the Darklands was ‘Cuddles’. Riot explains Jim had more than one nickname – Cuddles was what his fellow Changelings usually called him, but Blanket Thief was what the goblins tended to call him.

Schol gets mad at the goblins about Jay-Jay’s death. The goblins reveal Jay-Jay is not actually dead.

Goblins are good at magic and illusion spells, and very protective of their swarm. Whenever Gunmar wanted to eat a Familiar – this was not the first time, but usually the Changeling was already (at least supposedly) dead – the goblins put the Familiar in a cradlestone and cast an illusion on a rock for Gunmar to eat. The magical insulation of the cradlestone was why Jim stopped being able to transform.

After some hard negotiating, the goblins agree not to take Enrique back to the Darklands, but will be leaving one or two goblins to help keep an eye on him. Since Gunmar is dead, it is safe to bring the Familiars out of the cradlestone and put them back in the Nursery.

Negotiation for release of the Familiars back to the surface is put on hold until they can discuss the matter with the other Changelings, and because Enrique is now sort of a test-case for proving to the goblins that the babies can be kept safe outside goblin supervision.

Based on Claire and Mary’s use of magic and interactions with trolls and goblins, Eli and Steve now think the girls are Good Witches, or Sailor Moon-esque magical girls, trying to rescue magically-kidnapped babies. This is … somewhat correct. They vow to find out more and help the girls however they can. The boys are still confused about what exactly Jim is.

The goblins also decide to give the kids some lessons on baby care, since Schol said they’ve been assigned to learn that. The kids call Toby and Darci over after the rock show and politely sit through a lecture that Schol and Riot do their best to translate. The goblins’ seriousness is both touching and comical.

Claire’s parents get home and are startled to find goblins in their house again. Ophelia takes offence at the implication she and Javier need to be ‘supervised’, as parents, by goblins’ insistence that a few of them stick around. Schol gets on her bad side by pointing out that, in fairness, Javier and Ophelia did not notice the first time a magical creature snuck into their house and abducted their son.

Schol brings one of the goblins home with him to tell Barbara about Jay-Jay still being alive. She is in shock.

Of course she’s happy her baby is alive, but this also means she is once again in the position of having to make the decision of whether to bring him out of the Darklands and raise another baby, or leave him in another dimension forever.

(Or bring him out of the Darklands and arranging for someone else to adopt him, but this does not occur to her yet.)

Toby is the one to call Jim and tell him about all this. Jim needs to sit down. Among other reactions, Jim feels guilty about doubting the goblins’ protectiveness.

He contacts Carla – the Jersey Devils have mostly gone home to New Jersey – to tell her about this, since she and the Changelings who follow her were written off as dead centuries ago, so some of them might have Familiars in the cradlestone as well.

Jim goes home. He and Barbara have dinner and talk about what’s going on. Jim mentions an idea he had a while ago.

During the period where he’d thought the goblins were untrustworthy after all and he was planning to get all the Familiars out of the Darklands, Jim had been thinking, once his human identity aged up a bit, he could take in and raise some of the Familiars as his kids.

Now that he knows Jay-Jay is alive, Jim is thinking about adopting his Familiar as his son in a few years.

Barbara is open to this idea.

Jim and Barbara each have another appointment with Dr Archenn to discuss how they feel about recent developments.

When the goblins take the Familiars out of the cradlestone, Jim and several of the Jersey Devils abruptly switch back to human form.

Hisirdoux Casperan notices an increase of goblin activity in Arcadia Oaks but, to his frustration, is unable to track their movements.

Killahead Bridge is dug out and reassembled again. The brainwashed Gumm-Gumms are rescued and the non-brainwashed Ga-Huel are tried on a case-by-case basis.

A careful sweep of the Darklands is done by the Changelings to ensure no Familiar-less Changelings are still stuck in there.

Skarlagk nearly blows her trial. She is immediately struck by how attractive Keteven is and tries to flirt with her. Unfortunately, her flirting comes across as ominous, such as when Skarlagk says Keteven looks like she’s decorated herself in the blood of her fallen enemies. (Troll blood is purple.) AAARRRGGHH, realizing what’s going on, intervenes and smooths things over.

Once released, on probation, Skarlagk goes to AAARRRGGHH. When the Krubera reclaimed him as a tribe member after he deserted the Ga-Huel, (he flinches, thinking she’s picking a fight,) did they teach him their courtship customs?

AAARRRGGHH takes this opportunity to gush about how wonderful Blinky is, and invites Skarlagk to the wedding.

Skarlagk learns about AAARRRGGHH adopting Jim. By Ga-Huel law, the children of a deserter have the right to rejoin the tribe if they so choose and will be considered ‘born into’ the tribe despite their parent’s desertion, just like if they’d been born or adopted before that happened. Jim is not sure what he wants to do with this information.

Once Keteven gets over the … intensity … of Skarlagk’s initial approach, she notices Skarlagk is actually very attractive. However, Keteven hesitates to accept Skarlagk’s overtures for two main reasons:

One, Keteven’s hold on the Krubera throne is still tenuous. If she begins a relationship with a Gumm-Gumm, any rival claimants for the throne will say Keteven was obviously just as much a traitor as Usurna, and that the only difference between them is which side they supported during the Gumm-Gumm civil war.

Keteven would not entirely mind abdicating if she could trust her replacement to have the Kruberas’ best interests in mind, but she does not know who would replace her and cannot take that kind of risk with her tribe’s wellbeing.

Two, even if the Krubera did accept Keteven having a relationship with Skarlagk, it could hurt the trust that other troll communities have in the Krubera; trust that is already on shaky ground after Usurna’s actions.

Blinky and AAARRRGGHH are inviting people to their wedding. They discover that several of their friends were under the impression that they were already married and had just not made a big deal about the ceremony.

Barbara and Walter go on a double date with Jennifer and Laurel. This was mostly Barbara’s idea, wanting to get to know another human-Changeling couple better. Jennifer feels very awkward being on a double date with her boss.

The Ga-Huel who have been cleared by the Tribunal are given open access to the Hero’s Forge as a training ground. They are also introduced to video games, which prove extremely popular.

Skarlagk learns Nomura altered the Decimaar Blade into dual blades. This is actually very exciting, because it indicates Nomura has a particularly good bond with the sword.

Some old Ga-Huel history gets exposited – they were originally a band of Trollhunters, back when it was a self-appointed job. The spellwork of the Amulet of Daylight is partly based on the spellwork of the Decimaar Blade.

Jim, as a Trollhunter, has the power to officiate weddings. Blinky and AAARRRGGHH ask him to officiate theirs. He agrees. The past Trollhunters call him into the Void to give him lessons on wedding officiation.

Now that all the Gumm-Gumm trials are over with, Jim approaches the Tribunal and lobbies to have Gatto removed and replaced. Jim’s candidates are Carla Fontaine of the Jersey Devils, and Skarlagk of the Ga-Huel. Jim is particularly hoping the Tribunal will select Skarlagk.

The Changelings have been managing their own affairs separate from unaltered trolls for centuries; it would be nice to have a spot of the Tribunal occupied by a Changeling leader, but unless somebody else is going to start making more of them, Changelings are only going to be around for another thousand years or so.

The Ga-Huel, on the other hand, are basically a lost tribe being reinstated into mainstream troll society. Having one of them on the Tribunal would make the rest more willing to acknowledge the Tribunal’s authority.

Skarlagk is the one who has been leading most of them for the past few hundred years, so the Ga-Huel know and respect her. Warlord Nomura has promoted Skarlagk to general (which means she can act in Nomura’s stead and is expected to advise her, or to overthrow her if Nomura isn’t doing a good job.)

Technically, as leader, Nomura should get the Tribunal job if the Ga-Huel get a seat on it, but she pre-emptively turns it down in Skarlagk’s favour.

Gatto has been having to delegate all his Tribunal duties rather than appearing in person, since he’s dying, so the Tribunal has already been considering possible replacements.

Skarlagk is, in fact, a good candidate, and so, like Keteven, she is instated onto the Tribunal on a probationary basis.

Skarlagk is new to the concept of making decisions by voting. She thought the Tribunal operated by consensus, debating issues until all of them agreed on the decision.

AAARRRGGHH and Blinky get married.

Because Jim does not have to attend trials all the time anymore, he starts going to school in person again rather than sending a clone.

Jim meets Aja and Krel Tarron. Jim does not know what a Daxial Array is, but he half-remembers hearing about it somewhere, and thinks it has to do with exploding the planet. (Spar the Spiteful met an Akiridion once, and Jim saw the memory in the Void.) Therefore, Jim must ‘befriend’ Krel to keep an eye on and possibly thwart him!

Someone advises Krel to talk to HexTech, describing them as ‘miracle workers’ with machinery.

Claire, Darci, and Mary form their Papa Skull cover band, Mama Skull, and begin preparing for the Battle of the Bands at the end of the school year.

The Changelings have finished gathering the bodies of those murdered by Gunmar when he turned on the Janus Order, and matching up the skeletons as best they could.

Barbara comforts Jim and Walter after the mass funeral.

Krel’s mind-reading goggles pick up Jim thinking in trollish. Krel and Aja confront Jim, thinking he is a bounty hunter.

Jim is indignant. He is not a bounty hunter, he is a Trollhunter; there are key differences. One of those differences is that Jim does not get paid. He should get paid. He’s going to take that up with Vendel.

Now that Jim knows Krel and Aja are Akiridions, he introduces them to Bernie. Jim does not know that Bernie used to work in Area 49-B, but he does know that Bernie built a lot of the Janus Order’s lab equipment and therefore might know how to fix a spaceship. Jim might be missing a logical step there.

Jim’s natural curiosity means he finds Krel very interesting, even though he lacks background knowledge to follow all of Krel’s tech-talk. Aja is less interesting to Jim, because her personality is very similar to many women and girls he already knows – so she benefits from a kind of ambient fondness due to reminding him of other people he likes, but it’s hard for Jim to appreciate her on her own merits.

Toby and Darci go on a date playing laser tag. This time they bring their friends along, since that activity is more fun in a large group. Jim invites Krel and Aja along.

Jim persuades Aja and Krel to tell Toby, Darci, Mary and Claire about being Akiridions.

During laser tag, Claire and Mary kiss again, and finally talk about that time they kissed at the school dance. They decide to start dating and see where it goes.

Varvatos Vex meets and befriends Stuart, for a certain value of the word ‘befriend’, when Skeltegs escape the Mothership and end up in Stuart Electronics.

Douxie and Archie also encounter the Skeltegs and believe they are supernatural in nature. They get into Douxie’s band’s rehearsal space. Douxie’s phone rings and he notices music bothers the Skeltegs, so he blows them up with an epic electric guitar solo.

Jim uses his clones to track and surround Porgon before the trickster troll finds the broken-off piece of the Akiridion ship, therefore the time loops do not happen. Jim does, however, find the ship piece. Rather than touching the mysterious object – he learned his lesson with the Amulet – Jim phones Bernie, who comes and collects it.

Jim’s science fair project is ‘edible batteries’ – potatoes are not the only food that can be used to generate electrical current. He teaches Krel to fist-bump, because Jim thinks they should fist-bump over being the only two who didn’t resort to baking soda volcanoes.

In Toby’s defense, his project is actually about the formation of rocks, and the volcano is more of a prop for the igneous rock subsection. He’s also got a tray of water, gravel, and sand, to demonstrate sedimentary rock. Metamorphic rock is harder to demonstrate on a high schooler’s budget, so that’s just a flow chart.

Toby feels jealous that Jim seems to be getting close to Krel, since Toby is used to being Jim’s closest and sometimes only friend. Toby is annoyed at himself for being jealous, since Jim doesn’t seem bothered about Toby having a girlfriend now, and Jim was always nice about Toby hanging out with Eli back in their first year of high school even though Jim didn’t seem interested in having Eli around.

(Toby now suspects this was because, even then, Eli was keen to investigate the paranormal, and Jim was trying to keep trolls a secret.)

Toby tells Jim and Vendel about the success of his Heartstone-growth experiment. The sample Jim gave him has now doubled in size. The Birthstone is also starting to grow – no sign of corruption yet.

The Jersey Devils let Toby have a piece of their Heartstone to test if he can make it grow as well. It is important that experiments can be replicated!

Bernie and Vendel are both deeply intrigued by Toby’s notes. Vendel finally discovers that Bernie, when staying in Trollmarket, has been living in Vendel’s workspace while somehow avoiding Vendel’s notice.

When the bounty hunter Birdie is pretending to be a schoolboard administrator and demanding the Tarrons produce identification, Stricklander steps in. He’ll provide fake papers to Jim’s friends this time, but signs up Jim, Krel, and Aja for the Janus Order’s next seminar on crafting fake IDs so that they can handle it themselves if it comes up again.

Bernie has examined mineral samples from enough trolls that Bernie can now identify family ties. Several Changelings and unaltered trolls agree to be tested for matches to see if biological families can be reunited.

Jim openly declines to be tested. He’s happy with his found family. Also, he doesn’t want unaltered trolls getting tested simply because they’re hoping to raise their social status by being related to the Trollhunter, and then hurting any actual Changeling relatives by not wanting to claim them.

Bernie has also been comparing Changeling mineral composition to unaltered trolls, (and also AAARRRGGHH’s compared to other Krubera, since he is noticeably less light-sensitive) to see if it’s possible to identify and replicate the Changelings’ sunlight immunity.

When the campfire is arranged, Jim’s friends ask him whether there is any truth to the legend of the Billycraggle. Jim speculates that it could be based on sightings of Bular or other trolls, but it could also be something the humans made up on their own, like how the Jersey Devils named themselves after a local legend instead of being the source material for it. Or it could be real.

Jim is willing to fight bounty hunters to keep his friends alive, but not willing to vow aid in taking their planet back from Morando. Jim is already stretched thin with all his responsibilities; he doesn’t want to commit to anything interstellar. His priority is Earth. (Also, from Jim’s perspective, right of conquest means that Morando holds the throne of Akiridion-5 legitimately.)

Vex is introduced to Trollmarket and has a lot of fun fighting in the Forge. He and Draal are fast friends. Angor, who also enjoys fighting in the Forge, finds Vex overbearing and tiresome. Angor ends up spending more time with Dictatious while avoiding Vex.

Jim goes into the Void to use its ability to ‘play back’ things that happened around the Amulet to try and figure out where he’s heard of a Daxial Array before. He sees Spar’s memory again, and then Kanjigar shows him the memory of meeting Queen Coranda and King Fialkov and hiding Galen’s Core on Earth.

Jim decides not to tell anyone else about this, since revealing a hidden superweapon feels like it could draw trouble and there are enough problems in his life.

Stuart, Aja, Krel, and Vex tell Bernie, who has been helping with Mothership’s repairs, about their recent break-in to Area 49-B. Bernie is upset not to have been in on that plan from the beginning, since Bernie’s information about that base is more up to date than Stuart’s (not that the Akiridions or Stuart could have known that). Bernie also rants about Colonel Kubritz’s unscientific mindset.

Bernie was discharged from Area 49-B for questioning Colonel Kubritz’s motives and the base’s methods, which Bernie considered ‘unscientific’.

Among other things, Bernie finds it very easy to acquire voluntary test subjects if one is willing to put in minimal effort to build a rapport.

For example, Area 49-B could have learned all they wanted to know about Durians from Stuart, without imprisoning him and then losing the opportunity for further testing when he escaped, if only they had offered to help him fix his crashed spaceship and then asked questions and did some non-invasive testing in the name of keeping Stuart healthy while he stayed on Earth.

The results of those tests would be more accurate, too, since baseline readings would be of a subject at rest rather than a subject in distress.

Bernie made a fuss about how, if they’re going to keep Buster in a cage all the time, the enclosure should be at least five times larger and the giant insectoid extraterrestrial should have literally any kind of enrichment in there.

It's also very suspicious to Bernie where the base’s funding is coming from. Who is paying the big bucks for this research, especially since they have such limited data to work from, and they haven’t been adapting the spaceship engines for commercial or military aircraft, and the laser-guns are only being used on the base itself?

Sure, Kubritz says it’s ‘the government’, but which branch? Which politicians authorized this? Who all knows what’s really going on, and who has some information but not the full picture? What are the funders actually hoping to discover or gain?

Has Kubritz gone rogue and been falsifying expense reports, claiming to her superior officers that the base does something else while it actually serves her personal goals?

Or is it all a front, with scientific investigation being used as a thinly-veiled excuse for the imprisonment, torture, and eventual execution of extraterrestrial organisms?

Colonel Kubritz had Bernie reassigned off-base and shuffled through a few positions before being discharged and kept under observation.

Bernie waited a few years for the surveillance team to grow complacent and start slacking off. Once Bernie felt it wouldn’t look like they were just trying to vanish and sneak back into the base, they faked their death.

This is why Bernie was living in the Janus Order base; they have not yet established a new human identity and don’t want to rush that process when there isn’t urgent need for them on the surface. There are still three other Janus Order operatives in Area 49-B – it always pays to keep an eye on anyone who might be out to vivisect you.

Nomura, Barbara, Nana, Jennifer, Laurel, Ophelia, and Darci’s mom use the Gyre to have a “ladies’ weekend” in Rome.

Barbara returns to her job at the hospital.

Aja tries to tell Steve she is an Akridion. He knows she and Krel have been hanging out with Jim and Jim’s friends, and thinks at first that she is confessing she’s a witch. Eli and Krel are both spying on the date. All four of them get captured by the Zerons but escape in a manner basically similar to canon.

The Akridions plan to leave Earth. Jim is sorry to see them go, but thinks this is for the best, to draw Morando’s attention away from the hiding place of Galen’s Core.

Steve laments Aja’s impending departure, since she’s “not like other girls”. Unfortunately, if he was hoping for sympathy, he fails, because he says this in front of Jim. Jim laughs in Steve’s face, and then, upon realizing Steve meant it, tells him that Aja’s personality and interests match up with most of the girls Jim has ever met and suggests Steve has simply not been paying attention.

Bernie really wants to study Angor’s ring – a chance to quantify what a soul is! – but respects that Angor is not comfortable with this.

Angor Rot decides his pupils have reached the point in their studies where they can learn new spells without his supervision. He leaves Arcadia to find a way to fully restore his soul. The Janus Order and Jersey Devils give him copies of all the information they have on the Pale Lady.

Dictatious wants to get away from Trollmarket for a while and asks Angor Rot if he can join him on his quest. Angor agrees, mostly so he’ll have someone to talk to and a second opinion for his research, and in case the restoration of his soul requires another person to cast the spell.

The school year ends. Since Krel has friends in this timeline, he actually gets some personal messages in his yearbook.

Zadra arrives on Earth. Jim sympathizes with Vex’s motives when Vex is exposed as a traitor, since Vex’s mistake was trusting the wrong person to be honest and mean well. It feels similar to Jim to his old misplaced trust in Gunmar.

The Battle of the Bands happens, but the Tarrons have to rush away before the winners are announced, when Mothership sends a distress beacon to their phones. Because there is not a Gumm-Gumm invasion going on at the same time, the Trollhunter team and Creepslayerz attempt to help the Akiridions when Mothership is hacked.

All that magic training really comes in handy. They are able to disassemble the Omen and contain the pieces in force fields to keep them from reassembling. Lucy and Ricky are similarly restrained, but not dismembered, because the humans are uncomfortable doing that to robots that look human.

The ship is damaged and will probably not be able to fly again, but seeing the portal spell gives Krel the idea of creating a wormhole.

Draal and Nomura leave Trollmarket for a while so he can introduce her to his mother, Ballustra. Skarlagk is in charge while Nomura is gone; she and Nomura joke that Skarlagk could save Nomura a lot of trouble if she just took over in Nomura’s absence. Ballustra is not up to date on current events, so Draal and Nomura have to keep backtracking in their explanation of how they got together again.

The Nuñezes have a barbecue with the families of their daughter’s friends. They learn Claire and Mary are dating.

Javier sneakily gives Riot the soy dogs to avoid having to barbecue them. Jim and Riot split them. Jim discovers, after eating his half of the package, that he is allergic to soy in troll form. (He’s only ever eaten it in human form.) He has to be teleported to Trollmarket for medical treatment.

Rather than Krel getting unwitting humans to operate parking drones through a video game to stop Morando’s spaceship launch, Jim asks the Ga-Huel to ‘defend their territory’ (Earth). It’s not the kind of battle they’re used to, but a lot of them have been introduced to video games and love them. Skarlagk proudly reports their victory to Nomura when she and Draal return.

Kubritz attempts the fake summer school quarantine. The scene is told from the perspective of one of the Janus Order’s operatives within Area 49-B, who recognizes Mary and is terrified of possibly being killed by Jennifer if anything happens to Mary during this. The Changeling is duly impressed when Mary is the one to scare Kubritz off.

Skarlagk continues her attempts to woo Queen Keteven.

Keteven explains why she thinks a relationship between them would, politically, be a bad move at this time. Could they wait and see how things are going in, say, fifty years? Skarlagk follows most of Keteven’s logic and agrees to back off.

Toby, Krel, and Eli decide to make a movie. Jim is willing to help but insists he will not appear on camera. He also intervenes when they want to film in Trollmarket.

When the asteroid is discovered, Bernie speculates it will eradicate all life on the planet, not just this region, remembering scientific articles speculating about impact winter.

Bernie joins the laser-making team. Kubritz does not recognize Bernie until midway through the escape.

Tronos Madu is not abandoned in Area 49-B after saving the world, because it made no sense for the protagonists to just leave him like that. He is teleported to safety and takes up Bernie’s offer to stay in the Janus Order base for a while. The base is mostly empty.

Angor Rot finds information about Nari of the Eternal Forest, who can supposedly sense every soul in the world. Shadow Magic is the second-most-effective way to manipulate a soul, but actual Soul Magic is even better.

Angor hesitates to go looking for her at first, because last time he asked a magic-user to help him, he got his soul ripped out. Dictatious insists that he should take a chance following this lead.

A troll accuses Bernie of faking the results in identifying troll relatives. This troll’s sister got tested and found a niece whose bio-parent refuses to claim her as family. Bernie is righteously indignant that this troll would imply Bernie would corrupt the data set by falsifying test results. That would be bad science! The Trollhunter is called in to mediate the dispute.

The Tarrons find out Morando is searching for Galen’s Core. Their friends are over when this happens, so Jim reveals he knows where that is, rather than Krel and Aja having to go into their parents’ minds. Jim also expresses the belief it would be safer to leave it hidden, rather than try to use it to stop Morando.

That guy from Area 49-B who defected in canon defects. Kubritz cannot really be protecting Earth if she thinks allying with someone who freely confessed to conquering another planet is a good idea.

Bernie sends evidence, gathered over decades, to various officials regarding what Kubritz has really been up to. Kubritz is arrested under suspicion that she was going to use this alien tech to usurp power and take over the country (or planet) herself. Therefore, she is unable to attack Arcadia Oaks.

Morando tries to attack Trollmarket, since before her arrest, Kubritz speculated whatever ‘energy source’ he is searching for is likely there. Many of the Ga-Huel leap at the chance to fight again. The trolls soundly defeat Morando’s forces.

Tronos Madu is instrumental in fighting off the Omens. He can use his electrical powers to overload and explode them, or drain their power source and shut them down.

Jim swarms Morando with clones and cuts him down to his core. Jim considers killing him then, for attacking Jim’s home, but decides it would be more diplomatic to turn him over to the Akiridions for sentencing.

Coranda and Fialkov come out of their comas. Morando is executed. The Tarrons go home. Aja and Krel intend to persuade their parents to let them return to Earth in a few weeks for the next school year.

Angor goes looking for Nari, and finds her on the run from the Arcane Order. Nari restores Angor’s soul to his body, and then asks him for help.

Bernie thinks they’ve discovered enough of how Changelings were altered that it’s possible to undo the sterilization. Still no luck on giving trolls widespread sunlight-resistance, though.

Krel sends Jim and Toby some mineral samples from Akiridion-5 after noting its similar composition to Heartstone. Jim cleaves one of the crystals, which lets him summon a shield again. He is delighted with this.

Nomura and Draal start discussing the possibility of having a child.

They want to be on the same page about upbringing before they make or adopt a youngling; Draal remembers one of the factors in his parents’ divorce being disagreement on how best to raise him. Nomura suspects Draal is misremembering, since a lot of children blame themselves if their parents divorce, but does not argue with him.

Blinky and AAARRRGGHH decide to have another child. (Another, because they’ve already adopted Jim.) They actually end up having two more, creating a birthstone and adopting one of the young Changelings who has decided to ‘grow up slowly’ rather than insisting on being acknowledged as their chronological age.

Steve and Eli go looking for more ‘creepers’ and see Douxie and Archie fighting something. They decide to recruit Douxie to the CreepSlayerz. He joins them mostly because he’s worried that they’ll get themselves killed without his help. Zoe joins at Douxie’s invitation, for the same reason.

Krel has gotten enough data on magic, and anti-magic wards, to create a field of anti-magical radiation, which Jim helps him test when Krel comes back to Earth for a visit. It doesn’t hurt a troll inside it (despite them being animated by magic) but it does shut down magical devices just like that thing Rot and Gut had. Changelings get ‘locked’ into whichever form they were in when the field activated.

Angor and Dictatious return, escorting Nari, to Trollmarket. She wants to go to Merlin’s Tomb, but they need the Trollhunter’s Amulet to find that.

Once caught up on who the Arcane Order is and what their goals are, Jim asks whether they can be killed without creating a magical backlash that would destroy the Earth, and suggests they skip waking the wizard and go directly to the part where they kill Skrael and Bellroc. If Nari’s right and Merlin really does know where the Genesis Seals are, it would be best to keep that knowledge inaccessible.

Nari agrees that Jim has a point, but she’d still feel better with a wizard along. In compromise, she suggests Merlin’s apprentice, Hisirdoux Casperan. Jim is surprised this is someone he knows; not well, but enough to recognize the unusual name. Nari explains that Earth, specifically Arcadia, is the magical centre of the universe – which is different from the geographical centre – and so magical beings are drawn to it.

That also means it’s only a matter of time before Bellroc and Skrael show up in Arcadia anyway.

Since Krel has figured out wormhole technology, Jim suggests Nari go to Akiridion-5 so the Arcane Order can’t find her. Nari is unsure she can survive leaving Earth, so she stays.

Douxie and Archie agree to help, and bring Zoe, Eli, and Steve along. They decide to set up an ambush for the Arcane Order in the bookstore.

Jim is curious about the details of Archie’s shapeshifting but feels they don’t know each other well enough for him to press for information.

They hash out a plan and Jim texts his friends for backup. The details of the plan are not revealed to the audience yet.

Douxie is upset that Jim is unwilling to find Merlin’s tomb. Jim and Douxie get into an argument about what exactly happened between Merlin and Morgana. Douxie wasn’t there – it happened over six thousand years ago, and he’s only in his nine-hundreds – but he’s heard things from Merlin. Jim’s source is from things Morgana wrote down which the Janus Order has, and a bit of stuff the Ghost Trollhunters have told him about what Merlin was like as a person. Obviously, all sources are biased, but neither boy will admit that in the heat of the moment.

After Douxie reveals Morgana’s hand was infused into the Amulet, Jim changes the incantation to, “By the hand of Morgana, Daylight is mine to command,” which summons gold and blue armour.

Angor gets upset. All this talk about Morgana, especially the reveal that Jim (whom Angor considers a friend) still reveres her, is distressing for him considering how he suffered because of her.

Dictatious, unable to clearly see what’s going on but close enough to Angor Rot to tell he’s getting upset, yells at Jim and Douxie and reminds them they have other concerns right now. They go to different parts of the bookstore to set up the wards and barricades. Stuart comes by with a delivery of weapons that Jim texted Toby about.

Meanwhile, under the Heartstone, Bernie shows Vendel and Nomura a startling discovery that Bernie made while exploring: Morgana’s body, trapped within the stone. They start debating how and if to chip her out and whether it’s even possible she’s still alive.

Zoe and Archie talk to Douxie about why he wants Merlin back in his life so badly and whether he really expects Merlin to have more respect for him or anyone else now than he did hundreds of years ago.

Eli and Steve talk to Jim about Morgana, and their questioning of his descriptions of her force Jim to recognize that Morgana actually treated the Changelings terribly.

Dictatious and Nari both make attempts to comfort Angor, who brushes them off to focus on the mission at hand.

The Arcane Order attacks. The full plan is revealed. The magical wards on the bookshop were decoys; Jim’s friends set up generators for the anti-magic rays surrounding the building from outside. Zoe has a gun and shoots Bellroc and Skrael dead within ten seconds. Angor and Jim dismember the bodies, just to be sure. Once the all-clear is given and the rays are turned off, Nari confirms they are dead.

Angor Rot offers to let Douxie steer a shadow-portal to find Merlin, which Douxie accepts. They teleport to outside the mountain. Taking the staff does not collapse the tomb, because that was dumb. Since Jim doesn’t go with them, the Amulet doesn’t wake Merlin up.

Morgana is chiselled out of the Heartstone. She remains unconscious, too, because she wasn’t freed by enchantment. Magic is picky that way sometimes.

Merlin and Morgana both end up in Arcadia Oaks Hospital and make slow recoveries.

Angor is upset Morgana is around, and chooses to move to New Jersey, which is becoming more of a Trollmarket now. Dictatious goes with him. They have grown accustomed to one another’s presence. One of Blinky’s friends wonders aloud whether it will take Dictatious and Angor longer or shorter than the two hundred years it took Blinky and AAARRRGGHH before deciding to marry.

The Changelings are displeased Merlin is still alive, but agree not to attack him unless Morgana wakes up and explicitly orders them to. (It was the best compromise Douxie could wring out of them.) Not all of them are particularly devoted to her, and those ones remain neutral.

Barbara has incredibly mixed feelings about both Morgana and Merlin, and is grateful they aren’t in her ward.

It is revealed that Nana knew Zoe back when Nana was young. They and Nari hang out. Nari decides to move into the woods around Arcadia. She frequently visits the Domzalski backyard, growing patches of catnip for the delighted cats.

Toby, very aware of story tropes, worries that there is some kind of ‘cosmic balance’ that will require them to kill Nari as well, now that two of the three ‘primordial wizards’ are dead. Jim dismisses this as unlikely, since if it were true Nari would have urged them not to kill Bellroc and Skrael. Unless it was a long-term scheme to get them to doom themselves. Toby does not find Jim’s attempted humour comforting.

Merlin and Morgana start waking up enough to be coherent. Still physically weak, they have to stay put and hear out other people who try to talk to them.

School starts up again. Krel and Aja return for the new academic year.

Steve tries to kiss Aja to welcome her back, but she stops him. When she starts explaining, he thinks at first that the ‘seventh kiss’ is a big deal because it would make them married in her culture.

Akiridions are energy-based life forms. Aja tells Steve there is a transfer of energy during the seventh kiss between romantic partners, which causes whichever partner initiates it to become pregnant. She’s not sure it would work on a human, since humans are carbon-based, but she’d rather not find out by chance.

Steve is pretty sure she’s messing with him, but doesn’t feel ready for parenthood if she means it, and also is capable of respecting boundaries and not kissing his girlfriend if she doesn’t want to be kissed.

Jim tells Krel about how his invention may have saved all life on the planet. Eli approaches Krel about the possibility of building a real Gun Robot.

Being dependant on others initially makes both Morgana and Merlin more bitter, especially when those they’ve hurt take advantage of the circumstances to air their grievances. Then, as it goes on, and as some therapy gets pushed on them (Dr Archenn’s not the only Changeling who’s worked in psychology), they get more introspective and acknowledge the aspects of their problems that they caused for themselves. [Note: expand on this, the hows and whys of the inner change.]

The school decides to start doing an annual student film festival, so Toby, Eli, and Krel get to show their movie there. Claire, Mary and Darci do a music video of their band. Jim, as a joke, does a video of a closeup of his hands as he peels vegetables, in grayscale, with no audio, and the title ‘No Symbolism’, figuring people will assume it’s a pretentious art piece when it’s really exactly what it says it is.

The goblins allow a few of the Familiar babies, ones whose Changelings are already dead, out of the Darklands to be adopted into goblin-approved homes.

Because it’s been brought up a few times, and there is history to back it up, that there can be more than one Trollhunter at a time, Draal and some other trolls deputize themselves as Trollhunters, which takes some of the pressure off Jim.

Merlin and Morgana meet up and agree to a détente.

Morgana wants to apologize to Angor, who won’t speak to her, so she asks Jim to deliver him a letter. Jim does so, but Angor chooses not to read it, and doesn’t forgive her. This is okay because he’s not obligated to forgive someone who hurt him even if she is genuinely sorry.

Since it’s been over a year since they met, (which was the waiting time they’d previously agreed should occur before discussing it seriously,) Walter and Barbara talk it out and decide to move in together.

As Strickler moves his stuff into the Lake house that weekend, it segues into a montage of what some other Changelings are up to:

Jennifer Smith and her human wife Laurel, out for coffee and discussing movie options; 

Carla Fontaine organizing the Jersey Devils in a new construction project; 

Nomura, in her position of leadership, consulting with the surviving Ga-Huel elders about something; 

Bernie Sturges, now practically Vendel’s apprentice, learning troll medicine; 

Otto Scaarbach, helping Morgana with her physical rehab; 

Dr Tiffany Archenn, mediating a family therapy session for Douxie and Merlin; 

Riot Nuñez, glamour-masked for the moment, in Dr A’s waiting room with Ophelia and Javier and Claire, Enrique sleeping in the stroller;

and Jim, in troll form, unarmoured, bidding goodbye to Blinky and AAARRRGGHH and his adopted sibling as he heads back to the surface to help with the move, greeting various Trollmarket citizens (including Changelings who openly live there now) on his way out. He opens the doorway with the horngazel, switches to human form, and walks out into the sunlight.

[taggerbug]

tell me why I just saw a post about how some modern animation fans refuse to watch tales of Arcadia because it's 3D??

Listen, I understand the knee-jerk reaction to cgi animation. If you've followed me for any period of time, you know I am That Guy. I don't like most modern 3D productions because they tend to place technical achievement over any kind of artistic or narrative value, thus sacrificing the potential of cgi for an impression that all new 3D pieces are cash cows created solely for maximizing profit. It's very easy to find my criticism of The Mouse and my praise for studios that get it right, like Cartoon Saloon and Laika Studios. I have an instinctive distrust of 3D animation for fear that I'll watch it and find out it's actually a soulless waste of time meant only to sell merchandise.

Which is why I was so impressed that Tales Of Arcadia isn't like that!

The focus in ToA animation isn't realism, but artistic advancement! Characters are clearly stylized and have funky designs. The textures are detailed and refined, but not to the point where you wonder why they didn't just film it in live action. The lighting and color theory is phenomenal. This is gorgeous animation for THE SAKE OF gorgeous animation.

Perhaps most importantly, the writing is very good. It's not perfect, but it's pretty damn good, especially for a kid's show. ToA very much achieves the effect of reaching an older audience than it was meant for. To an adult viewer, the story is not only enjoyable but thoughtful. The characters face real consequences, most of which are permanent. Small actions have huge repercussions later on. Imperceptible details lay the foundation for incredibly clever foreshadowing. Is there filler? Sure, like any children's show! But at least the filler has meaning and is used for character development. By and large, the writing in ToA is refreshingly good.

There's also the obligatory name-drop of its creator, Guillermo del Toro, the visionary behind movies like The Shape of Water and Pan's Labyrinth and legendary proponent of hot monster characters. His hand in the ToA trilogy is very apparent and lends a rich undercurrent to the narrative that, frankly, most animated shows nowadays don't have. For that matter, the genuine appreciation and talent of the entire crew really shines through in every episode through the attention to detail and artistic innovation.

If you've read all that and haven't been put off... here's a summary of the trilogy! Its genre can best be approximated as "science fantasy", and includes the shows Trollhunters, 3Below, and Wizards in that order (as well as a feature film coming in 2021 called Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans)!

Trollhunters begins with Jim Lake Jr., our protagonist, inheriting the role and title of Trollhunter - a chosen warrior who is bound for life to protect "good" trolls from Gunmar the Black, a troll warlord who was banished to a realm called the Darklands with his army. Meanwhile, Gunmar's vicious son Bular roams free in the world of men with the singular purpose of killing Trollhunters and looking for ways to bring his father back to Earth. Jim has only the Amulet of Daylight, which gives him magical armor and a sword, and a couple of overeager troll mentors to protect him as he struggles to navigate his new duties alongside typical teenage shenanigans and supporting his single mom, Barbara. It begins as a fairly typical "teenage hero with a secret identity" plot but quickly grows past that and introduces interesting new twists and characters. The writing is especially strong in this one, and it's beautifully cinematic.

3Below begins off-world, on an alien planet called Akiridion-5. The main characters, Aja and Krel, are children of the king and queen, who are almost immediately overthrown in a military coup led by the previously exiled General Morando. Aja and Krel are forced to flee to Earth with their badly wounded parents and a bodyguard, and have to try to blend in with human society and avoid intergalactic bounty hunters while they wait for their parents to heal. The real strength of this show, in my opinion, is how it explores the characters' relationships with each other and the metaphor of Aja and Krel being immigrants. It's handled very well.

Finally, released only yesterday at the time of writing, we come to Wizards. Wizards focuses more on expanding the concepts introduced in Trollhunters, and continues to put the protagonists in extremely difficult situations as previously introduced characters are fleshed out and given a chance to develop. Despite a controversial ending, Wizards was by and large an utter delight to watch - the animation in Tales of Arcadia somehow improves from series to series (even though Trollhunters sets a high bar to begin with), and you can clearly see that progress in the absolutely stunning composition and execution in Wizards.

I can't wait for the feature film Rise of the Titans next year. Tales of Arcadia not only delivers a solid narrative, but also lays the groundwork for expansive fan exploration in a richly detailed universe that manages to tie together mythological creatures, aliens, and high fantasy spellcasters in one world and one story. If you're on the fence about 3D animation, I can say with authority that you should give Trollhunters a try. Watch the first season and see what you think. You won't regret it.

[troublesometrollhunters]

Yooo let me contribute my thoughts to Yan!Momgana

The gumm-gumms all revere you as her child, you're the only person in the world who could ask them to dress in a pink frilly dress and play house with you and they'd agree

Starts as begrudging compliance, but as time goes on you start to grow on them

"Ah, yes. Precious child, our child. The Pale Lady's offspring will be indulged in their games, and no, don't you dare say no to the tiny whelp, you might make the whelp sad!!1!1"

Morgana is happy with the outcome, but that doesn't mean she let's you play with the goblins any longer than she's gone doing evil war stuff. When mom arrives it's shoo shoo, give momma her precious baby they're gonna play peek-a-boo now.

Because you were an infant when Morgana left the castle and joined the gumm-gumms, you have little to no knowledge of human world nor have you interacted with any. All your manners come from your momma, who raises you pretty good and proper.

You probably will grow some of your childhood in the surface world, but only in fortresses and gumm-gumm territories they've captured.

You know nothing about the war, but you've probably been revealed the truth a few times when a random human has managed to sneak in and mistaken you for a prisoner and tried to take you with.

It would probably go pretty easy for the intruder, you won't have a normal sense of stranger danger when literally everyone around you have been real nice to you all your life, so you'd probably just go along with whatever, thinking it's a game or just being confused as to why the weird pale troll is so anxious.

These incidents end really quick, because when Morgana finds out her precious child is gone she absolutely decimates everything within a 5 mile radius.

The intruder always dies an agonizing and slow death.

Morgana is too enraged to think about what her child sees in those moments. And you probably will see everything.

It doesn't matter though, Morgana's got it.

"Oh no, sweetheart, don't cry. Here, let mom make it all go away..."

The memories of any violence or pesky humans are wiped and you go back to the carefree and happy life in some stolen palace.

You probably grow close with your mother and are very attached to her as a child. How could you not? She always plays with you when you ask, she almost never says no to you, she gives you all the treats and toys you ask and she never gets mad (or that's what you think).

You're spoiled and you don't even know it, and it's not like anyone would point that out to you or Morgana.

But then the Killahead fiasco happens...

I stand by that Morgana and the gumm-gumms had operated in the Darklands prior, since it's stated to be the trolls' original homeland.

The time you hadn't spent in the surfacelands, you had spent in the Darklands.

Morgana probably had a real nice castle built there just for your and hers sake, so you could have a place to be 100% safe from all those traitorous trolls and humans. They never came to the Darklands voluntarily.

You've spent a good portion of your childhood there, so you probably don't see the place as anything bad. It's just another nice home where you, your mother and her subjects live and play all day and night.

The big fight and the portal thing happens and suddenly big Gunmar is here.

(Gunmar and Bular are totally your self appointed godfathers, at least)

You go and run to meet him, asking him to play with you, but Gunmar seems really unwell. Is he okay?

Gunmar takes some time to fully process the turn of events, and what he has to do now.

You're told more than you ever before about any conflict in the world right then and there. That Gunmar and the other trolls are trapped in the Darklands now.

Of course Gunmar knows better than to tell you of the war, that'd be way too hard on your innocent, pure whelp mind! So you get something along the lines of this:

You're told that bad monsters trapped you here, but Bular and your mother are outside and coming to free you very, very soon. 

He paints your mother in a very heroic light, and you drink it up because as if a child like you would think of your mother as anything else than a hero.

Gunmar now has his trolls and court take care of you, keeping you entertained and trying to keep as many things as the same as they were before for you. You probably will have to deal with worse food though.

This means you living the majority of your unnaturally long life in the Darklands.

Now that your mom's gone, you'll enter a rebellious stage sooner or later. You don't really take what rules the gumm-gumms give you seriously since they're not your mom!

You'll live with uncharacteristically much freedom for a yan!parent's kid, or any kid for that matter.

Gunmar of course cares about you, but is by no means a yandere or good at raising human whelps, so he kinda leaves you to your own devices and let's you do whatever. He doesn't really give you any rules or whatever.

It's the servants who are responsible of your raising and if you get hurt.

You'll probably start to manifest magic in your time down there, making you even harder to contain.

In other words, you're living your best life, causing chaos, playing around with nobody to discipline you and even if you get caught messing around you'd be able to point a finger at any of your servants and Gunmar wouldn't doubt you for a second.

Now then, you've lived the majority of your life with the gumm-gumm's, you have like no experience of people being mean or other's taking advantage of you, and the little human mannerisms and morals you have came from your mother in a distant childhood.

= an innocent but very immoral teen, who probably doesn't  act their age and has very weird logic and mannerisms.

I'd imagine you'd think disemboweling some creature because you were curious of what was inside was totally fine because you've done that with the worm-monster-things in the Darklands and the gumm-gumms didn't bat an eye.

The little interaction you've had with the "Surfacelands" has probably been the little trinkets and weird trivia by the changelings or goblins who've been able to traverse through the small gates.

For the longest time you probably didn't even care about the surfacelands, since you've got everything you'd ever want here ('cept your beloved mom...), but kids tend to get more curious and adventurous when they grow up to their teens.

And then some additional things about the changelings! They're probably a bit concerned with how you've grown, being the only ones who understand what is "normal" for a human your (mental) age, but won't be able to bring themselves to tell you to stop or inform you about right and wrong, lest they want Gunmar to rip their heads off for making you upset.

On top of that, being nearly direct creations of Morgana, I think they'd hold you on an even higher pedestal than the other gumm-gumms. We've seen the Janus order treat Morgana like a goddess at times, perhaps their view of you would be something akin to a messiah or something similar.

In conclusion, once again, like with everything else in your life, you're being kept in the dark about it.

Then bam-bam-Baam! The trollhunter has entered the arena!

You start finding the most delicious brown sticks wrapped in silly crinkly paper around the Darklands and collecting them.

Then one day you're running around the castle from your servants and notice a weird changeling in the dungeon!

He's acting all weird and panicky and doesn't seem to recognize you, and on top of that all he's still in a human form. You introduce yourself merrily and scurry off in search of something else to do, maybe to find more funny crinkly paper with super tasty sticks inside!

Meanwhile Jim is had a slight heart attack, because first of all, he saw a human in the Darklands and his first thought was that they had fell into the Darklands and were in great danger. They seem fine though, even pretty cheery for someone in such a place, introduced themselves and ran off before Jim has any time to tell them to help him out.

Then Nomura goes and casually tells him that's MORGANA'S FREAKING CHILD.

Meanwhile you go to ask uncle Gunmar why there's a funny changeling who's looking like a human

Gunmar almost does a spit-take and tells you not to go there anymore. He's an monstrous criminal and your mom wouldn't want you associating with such trash

Hah, referencing your mom, works every time. One more point for Gunmar and his masterful parenting skills... 'CEPT NOT THIS TIME.

Your no longer a kid who would just accept that as an answer and forget about it. No, you're an old kid, you're a teen and you know what Gunmar actually meant...

Clearly, this was one of the traitors against your valiant awesome hero mom and Gunmar just wanted to keep you safe.

But no fear! You're old now, and with your magic you can hold your own against some puny traitor weirdo! And so you go and sneak immediately after that to the weird changeling's cage

Jim is confused by you more than anything. You think your mom is the good guy? And he's evil??? Jim takes time to talk and explain things to you the best he can, and from what he can gather he's succeeding in lowering your defenses, even if by a little

You don't have much experience with lies, but you're sure he's tricking you. All your life is built up on idolizing your mother and she has never done anything bad to you or anyone before you.

But on the other hand, he doesn't seem mean at all. He seems really nice, even if he is weird. Maybe he's been tricked.

Eventually you come to the conclusion that this changeling is alright, only brainwashed. But then he says something about being able to go to the Surfacelands and your interest is immediately peaked. Your mom is there! If you manage to play your cards right you'll be able to free him from his tyrant overlords, meet your mom again and be a totally awesome mom-kid duo with supercool magic powers and save the world!

When Jim escapes you end up coming with on accident, teleporting into the gyre because you thought it looked fun right before they go through the portal.

I have a feeling that the surface trolls don't recognize you, you're existence was probably kept secret by Morgana, and are panicked when an additional "halfling" crashes outside.

Jim calms them down and you're immediately enraptured by what you see. The ceiling is suuuper high and has like, a million diamonds in it, and there are so many trees and colours and the floor is super soft. You can even hear singing from the grass.

Jim says you're Morgana's kid and if you hadn't been so invested in ripping grass off the roots you would've seen a total of five trollhunters nearly leaping to maul your ass

Jim and Nomura manage to stop them. Jim says that you clearly have no idea about what's going on, you don't know about any war and think your mother is well and alive and fighting to free the trollkind and vanquish evil. Nomura in turn says that if you get hurt all hell will break loose, the Janus order will definitely drop all subtlety and end the humans' families and friends before your body hits the ground, and the act of killing you will generally do no good.

You seem innocent enough, you're not doing anything bad, really. You're just looking at the trees.

"Hey, what's this?"

"That's a stag beetle- wait WHAT NO DON'T PUT IT IN YOUR MOUTH WHAT!?"

The group is uncertain of what to do with you. They could bring you to troll market but you'd probably either blurt out your mother's name and get killed, or try to attack the market because you think they're all evil.

They decide you need to be let in on the events slowly.

When Strickler sees you he has a near aneurism.

"WhY IS ThE chILD oF MOrgANa hERE?!?!"

They decide to let Nomura, Strickler and the humans to keep you with them and hidden from both Angor and the Janus order.

Turns out to be easier said than done, mostly because you keep teleporting around like it's nobody's business and are so blatantly clueless about how the human world works. Most of their stress is caused by having to keep an eye on you and stop you from casually stealing things or ripping some poor lady's hand off because you liked her rings.

You are mostly confused by it all, and why you can't do certain things, but don't mind it too much. The world feels really alien to you, even if it's pretty, and a part of you is happy that there's someone to guide you through it. But you're getting more and more frustrated with the lack of your mom, nobody believing that your mother is the righteous heroine in the story and that you're constantly told not to do this and that.

Despite all the effort, it doesn't take much time before the Janus order finds out about you.

We all know that Otto is a major bootlicker of Gunmar, but just you wait until he finds about you.

The second you're found out about all their resources are on bringing you to base.

Happens pretty smoothly after he explains that he's working for your mother. You join voluntarily and enthusiastically.

Otto practically worships the ground you walk on, and you bet your ass he has a huge room filled with anything he thinks you could possibly want made for you in 1 day sharp.

Gunmar is shocked to see you on the Surfaceworld, and makes it clear to Otto that if any harm comes to you or you get sad/mad he will bite Otto's head off.

Also, Morgana.

Morgana is absolutely panicking now that her baby's in the surfaceworld without her around. She's extremely happy to see you once more, to see you've grown up happy, but oh god she has to be there with you! She has to hold you, keep you safe!!!

She tries her damnest to contact you, to make you see she's here for you, but to no avail. Although you are cruel and selfish at times, it's not because of any darkness inside you, it's because you don't know any better. So she settles for the next best thing, she tells her changelings to keep you safe, inside and entertained and orders them to hurry with bringing her back. Everyone's working overtime now.

Meanwhile you're having fun again. Everything's like it's been before, you've got toys and playmates and everyone's doing their best to keep you happy, but...

You kind of miss the trollhunters... Your... Friends...

You haven't had a mutual and equal relationship for a long time, not to mention they taught and showed you so many incredible things... You kinda want to see them.

Morgana's ripping at her ghost-hair when you sneak out to meet with the trollhunters.

You're still adamant that they have no idea what they're talking about, but you're having so much fun with them.

You don't play in any team to say, you just kind of pester and get into shenanigans with the trollhunters when they're not fighting your own allies. If they are, you just shrug, say "Then stop being evil" and teleport away.

When the Heartstone saga happens you're watching mostly from the sidelines until someone says something along the lines "something something free Morgana."

The first time you actually fight is in that battle. You're a difficult opponent, teleporting around and being able to cast minor dark magic at your foes. 

It's not like you contributed much to the fight, your side won in the end either way.

This is the first time you actually see the trollmarket and its trolls. If it would've been you from before, you would've shown no mercy, partly because you didn't really grasp the concept of death and partly because they were traitors, but now... You know better about death and empathy, and you have at least a tiny bit of understanding that these trolls are just misled, not completely at fault or evil.

I think this also the first time Angor sees you. He's shocked for many reasons, 1. you've grown so much, look at you! Just like your mother! 2. You're in the surfacelands? He thought you were in the castle in the Darklands. 3. You're fighting so valiantly for your mother, he's so proud of you!

This all ends when Morgana breaks free.

It takes about 0.00001 seconds before she has you in her tight embrace. It's a really emotional moment for the both of you.

Uuuntil all the eternal night and all you shall die stuff.

You're standing beside your mother with the brightest smile on your face when she gives the speech. All the troops are here and now you can free the Darklands and go to the surface world and when all the bad trolls are defeated you can live in Arcadia with all the people you love and-

That smile falls like stone when Morgana attacks her own troops

You cling to her and ask her to stop. You don't understand, this isn't right!

Morgana in turn just smushes your face and coddles you, telling that it's fine.

You ask if she's gonna hurt the humans and she says she'll kill every single one of them.

You're very against this, but keep quiet and feel silently torn. You don't know what to think.

I feel like Angor seeing you so troubled played a tiny part in his betrayal too.

You notice very quickly how tight Morgana is holding your wrist and she doesn't let go. You ask her to let go of your hand and she refuses, looking at you with frantic eyes. For the first time, you feel like something is very wrong. She starts dragging you around with her, acting all cheery and gleeful with you here.

No, this isn't right... You don't want this...! This is all wrong!

You start struggling, you want your freedom back, you want to go be with your friends and everyone else!

Morgana recognizes this as a sign that she should probably wipe your mind again and takes away all memories of time she was gone.

Now you're back to normal, back to the bright-eyed little child who clung to her hand like always and Morgana's happy.

When Merlin and the others come to stop her, you're still with her and she tosses you to the side, away from the harm, and you dutifully stay in place like your mother asked.

Merlin, more out of spite than anything else, nullifies all of  the memory wipes Morgana had performed during your life and you're back to normal, now with the realization that your mother isn't all what she was cracked up to be.

(Now Angor has seen Morgana kill his comrades, had his soul stolen, witnessed Morgana traumatize, memory-wipe and employ some very dubious parenting tactics on you, so he really is at his wits end here)

Now they have one more mage against Morgana in the final battle, even if you're heartbroken and reluctant to face off against your own mother.

(Yes, this is my cheap excuse for saving Angor)

Morgana stares right at you as she is sealed to the shadow realm with such heartbreak.

Morgana's child, ripped away from her once more!

She's way too attached to you and waaay too far gone to think it's your fault for betraying her. No, it's Merlin's, it's the trollhunter's, ANGOR ROT'S!!

She's furious, she will have you back, she will SLAUGHTER everyone on that damned land to save you! You two will rule together like you were meant to, you would be happy in her wonderful world without traitors or humans, just the two of you! She'll save you from all those monsters, those delusions they put in your precious little head! If only you hadn't known, you shouldn't have known, you're still a child, too young to have to know the cruel world of grown-ups, if only they would've let her keep you in the dark and safe!!! She's in hysterics.

Meanwhile, you are too. You are absolutely heartbroken, soul-shattered. To you, you've just killed your own mother. No matter how cruel she was to others around you or how restricting she was to you, you loved her so much. Your gumm-gumm family's all gone, killed by the friends you sided with.

You have no idea what to do anymore.

Angor and you probably move together, him being the only one understanding how close you were with your mother and the fact that you feel truly alone now.

There is a minor outrage with the trolls when they hear about you and your heritage, but you are ultimately left alone due to the fact that you assisted in bringing Morgana to justice.

You're enrolled in Arcadia High, and although it starts rocky with your now estranged friends, you start to move on with everyone's help and support.

You're now an honorary trollhunter and in the process of getting to understand humankind and it's culture with just slightly less insane friends and family, and living the closest approximation to a normal human life possible.

Happy end! Jesus, this got long. Okay, I dub thee "Momgana's teen AU"

This could be an entire fic. Honestly I love this. Morgana is so well written and the Orders absolutely hilarious. I also love dad Gunmar and Gum Gums trying to reign in a magical teen lmao

Honestly remind me a lot of Dawn. Thankyou so much for this gift!!!!! 🎃 🎃 🎃

[writings-of-a-daphodil]

Fire Keeper: Chapter 6

Douxie x fem reader

Chapter 1

Masterlist in bio!

Series Summary: You are Jim’s older sister who is taking a break from college and has moved back home to Arcadia. You end up joining Jim and his friends on their adventures. Chapter 6 Summary: One day you are having a normal lunch outing with Douxie, and the next you are fighting to keep Gunmar in the Darklands.

“Hi, Y/n,” Douxie said as you left the back room. He was holding a flower and he handed it to you. You smiled at it and tucked it behind your ear.

"Shall we?" You asked, offering him your arm. He took it and led you to a table where the two of you could enjoy your lunch together.

The two of you began chatting and you found yourself really enjoying the time. It was nice.

You began to talk of your hobbies, excluding magic. After, Douxie went on to talk about his hobbies and how it would be 'nuclear' if you went to one of his band's rehersals.

“Huh, I didn’t know you were in a band.” You smiled at Douxie, so far it was a lot of fun getting to know each other.

“Yeah, we call it Ash Dispersal Pattern. I play the guitar.”

“That is quite a name, how did you ever come up with that?”

“Well...” Douxie went on to explain and the two of you enjoyed the rest of your outing. Typically your lunch breaks were spent alone with you reading or on a mission, but it was nice and normal to spend it with a friend.

You weren’t ready for it to end, but being the gentleman Douxie was, he paid and you went back to work while he went back to the bookstore.

Your mind was filled with thoughts of Douxie all throughout your shift and when you arrived at your house they were still focused on him. However, your thoughts were moved when Jim sent you a text. I’m at Toby’s house.

Do you need me? You replied.

A few seconds later Jim responded, Yes.

You arrived to see Jim holding a slack rope. “What’s going on?”

“Chompsky, he went into the darklands to find Claire’s brother,” Toby explained, crestfallen.

“No,” you whispered horrified at what the slack rope implied. You were startled out of your mourning by a pounding on the window.

“Open up! Let me in!” NotEnrique called through the glass.

“What’s he doing here?” Jim asked.

“A goblin came at me. I made mincemeat out of him, but now the rest of them want their pound of flesh,” NotEnrique explained. “I’m lucky to have escaped with only a soiled diaper.”

“You’ve drawn the ire of goblin vengeance and have led them here!” Blinky yelled, pinning him down on Toby’s desk.

“Blinky, take it easy!” Jim called, going over to pull Blinky off the poor troll.

“Relax! They think the girl did it. Now, they’re after her,” NotEnrique elaborated. However, the moment he finished speaking, Jim pinned him down.

“They think Claire’s responsible? They’re gonna go after her!” Jim exclaimed angrily. He let go of NotEnrique and backed up to the door. “I have to save her!”

“Ain’t no one goin’ after him? Bular’s got all the bridge pieces,” NotEnrique asked after Jim ran out of the house.  

“They’ve got every piece of Killahead Bridge?” Toby growled, pinning down the small troll again.

“And now I hear all they need is the boy,” NotEnrique wheezed.

“You mustn’t lose sight of Master Jim,” Blinky proclaimed. “Toby, Aaarrrgghh you protect the Trollhunter. Y/n, go to Trollmarket and warn Vendel with NotEnrique.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to go help Jim?” You asked, concern for your brother consuming you.

“Yes, Vendel must know what we have learned,” Blinky said and you nodded.

You turned to Toby and Aaarrrgghh. “Keep him safe.”

“Don’t worry Y/n we’ve got Jimbo’s back,” Toby reassured.

“Yes, got back,” Aaarrrgghh added then they left.

“What are you gonna do?” NotEnrique asked Blinky.

“By my six eyes, I will find the bridge if it kills me. And you are going to tell me where it is,” Blinky threatened and NotEnrique whimpered.

“It’s at the museum, they knew it’d be the last place you’d look after it wasn’t there,” NotEnrique explained in a rush.

“Okay, NotEnrique let’s go.” You turned to Blinky and gave him a hug. “Good luck Blink. Stay safe.”

“I wish you the same Ms. Lake.”

You and NotEnrique ran through the night to Trollmarket, only stopping to catch your breath when you arrived at the Heartstone.

“What is wrong, Ms. Lake?” Vendel asked upon seeing both you and NotEnrique wheezing.

“Jim. Danger. All. Of. Killahead. Found. Came. To. Bring. Message,” you rasped out.

“Oh dear.” Vendel paused for a seemingly endless moment, allowing your anxiety to fester. “I suppose today is the day we truly begin to stray from peace.”

“What do you mean?” You asked.

“Today I will teach you how to summon a sword. You will need a physical weapon if you are to help your brother.” Your eyes widened, summoning something was entirely new to you. You were moving up in the magical world.

He taught you the spell and you repeated Vendel's movements. As soon as you were done an orange light flowed in your hand, forming a silver sword. It was a medium size and the blade has a single, orange line down the middle. It was simple yet beautiful and you could tell it could be very deadly.

“Now that is cool,” NotEnrique said in awe. You swung it and an orange glow followed its movements.

"I love it." You grined.

Vendel then went on to teach you a few forms and how to send it away. You were so  engrossed in your learning you almost didn't here your phone ring. You sent your sword away in a flurry of orange sparks and picked up the phone.

“Y/n?”

“Toby? Is everything okay?”

“Jim’s unconscious, something bad happened. Go to Claire’s house, Aaarrrgghh will meet you there,” Toby informed. He sounded worried and your euphoria from advancing in your magic faded quickly.

“It’s Jim. I have to go,” You informed the two trolls. You began running, once again fueled by worry for your brother.

~~~~

You sat by Jim’s hospital bed, barely awake. You had been up most of the night, answering questions for Claire, but now you were waiting for Jim to wake up. Toby sat on the chair next to you, fidgeting nervously.

“Still no word from Blinky?” You whispered to him.

“Nope.”

“Well, I’m going to get some food and coffee, want to come?”

“Please.” The two of you grabbed some nourishment and when you arrived back at Jim’s room he was awake and staring, horrified at his phone.

“Jim!” You exclaimed, excited to see that he was awake and looking well.

“I got a message from Blinky,” was all Jim said, filling you with worry. He began to play it.

“Master Jim, you must listen to me very carefully. They’ve captured me and want you to come to the Bridge...alone.” Blinky paused for a second before shouting, “Don’t come! It’s a trap!”

“Give me that,” Strickler growled. “It appears things have grown awkward, Mr. Lake. Meet me in the alley beside the theater if you ever want to see your friend again. And if the witch shows up I will have your troll friend killed.”

“Don’t open the bridge!” Blinky shouted trying to get another warning in. “Under no circumstan—“

“I’ve listened to it a hundred times now, and I still don’t know what to do,” Jim mumbled.

“You don’t have to do this alone,” Toby reminded him.

“Yeah, You’ve got Aaarrrgghh, Draal, Toby, me,” you chimed in.

“They said I have to be alone. If I’m not what do you think they’ll do to Blinky?” You gave Jim a hug, he had so much resting on his shoulders.

“Blinky made it clear. ‘Under no circumstances,’” Toby said.

“Enough friends have gotten hurt because of me. No more.”

“Well, it’s your call. You’re the Trollhunter,” Toby said sadly.

“Here. We picked it up in the woods after they dragged you away.” You handed him the amulet.

“I thought since we found it together, we’d always be in this together,” Toby mumbled and you agreed.

“Hello Toby, Y/n,” your mom said, coming into the room, preventing any more talk of troll hunting.

“Hey Dr. Lake. I was just leaving. He’s all yours.” Toby said. “Can you believe it? Coyotes!”

You followed Toby out, giving your mom a quick hug. As you left you heard your mom begin to give Jim a hard time. You were tempted to stay and listen, but you continued out to the waiting room with Toby.

“What do you think they’re talking about?” Toby asked, taking a bite out of a nougat nummy.

“You smiled at him. “I think mom’s upset about Jim not telling her about everything. He wrote her a letter too, but she didn’t open it.”

“Oh,” was all Toby said. He seemed to be lost in thought.

You were too, you wanted to include your mother in all of this. You knew that she could help and that it would be safer for her to know what potential danger she, you, and Jim were in. You wouldn’t say anything, though, it wasn’t your secret to share. Telling your mom you were a sorceress would force Jim to reveal he was the Trollhunter and you weren’t going to force him to reveal his secret.

~~~~

You stood behind the curtain with Toby and everyone, waiting for Jim’s signal. It felt like forever, but Jim eventually yelled, “Not Trollhunter. Trollhunters!”

Toby took this as his cue and Aaarrrgghh pulled away the curtain. “I am Toby! Grandson of Nana! Fan of hard rock!”

Soft jazz music began to play and everyone looked confused for a second and you giggled. “Sorry, wrong playlist. Hold on one second. Oh, okay here it is!”

As Toby finally began to play Papa Skull you got ready to jump into action.  

“For the glory of Merlin, daylight is mine to comand!” Jim yelled.

“Kill them all,” Bular called in return.

Before you could attack Draal roared and rolled to fight Bular “I am Draal the Deadly, son of Kanjigar, and you will suffer for my father’s death!”

“Kill them all!” Toby repeated and Aaarrrgghh tackled Nomura. You ran over to Strickler with Toby, already about to chat the sleep spell.

“I didn’t mean to do that!” NotEnrique called as he kicked a Goblin.

“Bad Baby!” Strickler growled, but then Toby charged. “Toby Domzalski! You are in way over—”

Toby cut him off by using the third rule. “Rule number three,” Toby growled.

“Ha-ha you led the others right to us. Of course! Strauser’s move from a brief recapitulation: volume 43. I never doubted you for a moment!” Blinky called.

“Tobes! Help Blinky!” Jim yelled and you stood guard over Strickler.

“Hang on Jim! Wingman!” Toby yelled and Aaarrrgghh threw him to Jim. In the meantime you summoned your sword.

Strickler slowly stood up and growled, “You have no hope of winning, Witch!”

“Call me ‘witch’ one more time!” You yelled charging.

You began to fight Strickler who tried to go after Jim. Parry after parry, you could not land a hit on him. You had never fought with a sword before and Jim made it look easy. You knew, however, it was your best bet. You might need your magic for later.

Strickler jabbed and hit you in the face giving you a nosebleed. You yelped and fell to the ground. Stunned you watched him go after Jim.

“Tenebris exilium” you yelled, sending an orange blast at Strickler in an attempt to hit him. It struck his feet and he stumbled.

Jim began to fight Strickler and your attention fell to Toby and Blinky. You leapt into the air and levitated over to them.

“You know I never thought I would need this spell,” you commented as you said a spell that untied the ropes binding Blinky. Toby and Blinky fell to the ground and you softened their fall.

“Rekindle this!” Draal yelled as Nomura attacked him from beneath you. You landed after them and watched Jim swing from the rope and hit Strickler, hopefully gaining the upper hand.

Your attention was monopolized by goblins, however, as they attacked Blinky, Toby, and NotEnrique.

You once again leapt into the air and began blasting some and slicing others. You were on the other side when you were forced to watch, horrified as Strickler forced Jim to put the amulet in the Bridge.

A vortex formed at the base of the Bridge and you used your telekinesis to keep your friends from going in.

“Whoa! Hey people! The Bridge!” NotEnrique yelled as he began to fly toward the bridge. You caught him just before he fell in. The orange glow of your magic surrounded him as you moved him to a safer spot.

“Guys!” You yelled, unable to do anything but keep your friends from taking an impromptu trip to the Darklands.

“I ain’t ready to let go of this world! Seriously, is no one gonna turn this blasted thing off?” NotEnrique asked. “Fine I’ll do it!”

“Not many people are lucky enough to say they were there when history was made,” Strickler called out and you rolled your eyes.

“Suzy, this is for you!” NotEnrique yelled, grabbing the amulet. You screamed as he got blasted off and hit you. The two of you hit the floor by Toby and Blinky.

“Son!” A deep and terrifying voice, which you assumed belonged to Gunmar called from the vortex, which was still sucking people in.

“Father!” Bular cried, growing distrated.

“We’ve failed!” Blinky mumbled. You looked in horror at the shadow under the bridge. This was bad.

“Nothing can stop his return!” Strickler exclaimed triumphantly.

Draal roared in response and charged to the bridge. He leapt onto it and grabbed the amulet, attempting to pry it from the bridge.

“No! Let go, Draal! Let go!" Jim cried out when the amulet began to hurt Draal.

“No!No!Don’t let him!” Bular roared and you couldn't decide whether or not to agree with him.

The bridge exploded before anyone could do anything. All you could do was shield Toby, NotEnrique, Aaarrrgghh, and Blinky from the blast.

“Draal!” you heard Jim call. You slowly got up, you were feeling tired. You had used a lot of magic and energy.

You manage to get up and run to Draal. You weren't going to let him die, so you began to recite any and all healing incantations you knew.

His arm was crumbled so you couldn't do anything about that, but you could keep his heart, or whatever trolls had, beating.

“I’d hand you the amulet, but—“ Draal mumbled and you collapsed to your knees in releif.

“You’re alive!” Jim's voice was filled with releif and hugged your brother tightly. You had won.

“Master Jim we must leave at once!” Blinky called when he saw rocks shifting on the bridge.

“Help me, Aaarrrgghh!” Jim called, but you began to levetate Draal.

“Father!” Bular roared. You had never seen him as blood thirsty and that was saying something.

“Oh, you gotta be kidding me!" Jim groaned when Blinky gestured to a sewer grate.

“Ewwwww!” you gaged, but your disgust was soon replaced with weariness. Aaarrrgghh took Draal from you and you nodded your thanks. Aaarrrgghh nodded back and got ready to jump.

“No way! I’m not gonna jump in the sewer. There’s gotta be a chicken surprise down there! Maybe two!” Toby groaned, grossing you out more. However, fear and exhaustion overruled your disgust.

“Yuck!” You screamed as you jumped in after Bular roared again.

You were imidietly pulled by the current as you tried to think of a spell to help you. Aaarrrgghh sank to the ground ahead of you, catching Blinky who reached out to you. You grasped his hand and watched in horror as Jim floated past. You tried to grab your little brother, but the effort was futile.

 Bular rushed past you and you summoned enough magic to blast him away from your group. Then Aaargghh let go of the ground and you were carried by the current and into the chanel.

 All of you surfaced gasping for breath. You were exhausted and cold and wet and it didn't make you feel better to see Jim struggling to fight Bular. You swam to the shore and dried you and Toby off using a little more magic. It would not be good if you got sick.

You made it to the top of the bridge just as Jim climbed up.

“You’re alive!" you and Toby laughed. All of you had made it. Things would be okay.

“Master Jim!” Blinky chuckled.

“Fleshbag!” Draal called.

“Jim!” Aaarrrgghh yelled.

“You’ve done it! I...I can’t find the words.” Blink teared up and huged Jim, you joined in and it turned into a group hug.

“Dude! Victory hugging!” Toney exclaimed.

“Happy,” Aaarrrgghh sighed.

“Guys, I was almost squeezed to death. Ease up a little,” Jim mumbled and you laughed.

“I can’t believe it. You killed Bular, the son of Gunmar, man!” Toby said as you all pulled away.

Draal took a deep breath. “My father has been avenged. Thank you, Trollhunter.”

“And with minutes before your play starts! " Toby gasped. "Oh no the play!”

“The play! I almost forgot!” Jim groaned.

“Hurry, Master Jim! Leave Killahead to us. We’ll take care of...” Blinky 's voice faded and you turned to see Bular. He roared and swiped at Toby, but before he could hurt him, Aaarrrgghh punched and shattered him.

“Aaarrrgghh, your oath...” Toby mumbled, remorse etched in his face.

“Your life more important. Not pet. Wingman.” Aaarrrgghh said firmly.

“Ditto Buddy.” Toby said and you leaned over to give Aaarrrgghh a hug.

“Now, let’s go take care of that bridge and make sure it never opens again," You exclaimed.

“And, you, Master Jim...the play must go on.” Blinky smiled.

~~~~

You walked into the theater and sat down next to your mom. You did your best to focus and not drift off before the play started, but it was a struggle.

"Is this seat taken?" someone asked and you were so tired you just shook your head.  

"What's got you down, love?" the person asked and you looked over and saw Douxie was sitting next to you.

You smiled, "It's been a long day."

"Well, it's nice to see you."

"You too," you mumbled as the play began.

After the play–during which you definitely did not fall asleep on Douxie's shoulder–you, Toby, and Jim went to Trollmarket.

“All hail Jim, the Bular Slayer!” Bagdwella toasted as you say down in the tavern.

Trolls began cheering for your brother and it soothed you. You felt lucky that you had been giving Him for a brother.

“Hey! Who wants tacos? Who wants tacos? Taco for you. Taco for you. Tacos for everybody!” Toby asked, walking through the room. You gratefully excepted a taco, you were starved.

“Mm! This Tate’s better than socks! " you heard a random troll praise.

“We love you, Jim!” Another troll said.

“You’re my favorite fleshbag!” Called another one.

“Don’t let it go to your head,” you said to your brother.

“Yes, you still have training to do. Hero’s forge is unforgiving to those who are not afraid,” Blinky added.

“And don’t forget midterms,” Jim joked.

Vendel chuckled as he walked by. “Oh, lighten up, Blinkous. Why do you always have to be such a grump? We have the bridge. Trollmarket is safe once again.”

“But his teacher changling is still at large.” Blinky reminded.

“I trust out Trollhunter can handle it. Oh-ho! He has an excellent trainer,” Vendel complimented.

Blinky smiled and you patted him on the back. "I heard of your part in this too, Ms. Lake. We'll done," Vendel praised, then wandered away. You, your brother, and Toby wandered away soon after.

“Well, you said you wanted adventure and something more. Did that amulet help you find it?” Toby asked.

“Hmm...No,” Jim said and Toby choked.

“You two did” Jim explained.

Toby coughed and then laughed. “I knew you needed me.”

“What about me?” you joked, elbowing Jim gently.

“I’m gonna need the both of you now more than ever. I don’t know how, but we are going to get Claire’s brother back.” Jim said, determination burning in his eyes.

“That place is huge, Jim! Enrique could be anywhere! I wouldn't even know where to start looking. Then, there’s Gunmar, of course.” Toby made a motion with his hand and you nodded. You wanted to help Claire, but the Darklands were scary and dangerous.

“We’ll figure it out. We always do,” Jim reassured and you smiled. He had grown so much. It wasn't an easy life, but you were excited for more.

****

Here ya go. I just want to say thank you for all the wonderful and kind feedback I've been getting, so thank you! I'm really excited to write more! Have a fantastic day/night and stay safe!!

P.S. if you want to be on the taglist feel free to ask. I hope it works and please message me if it doesn’t.

P.P.S. I'm so sorry for any typos, I'm super tired and technology hates me right now. Anyways thank you for reading!

Chapter 7: https://writings-of-a-daphodil.tumblr.com/post/628035346963300352/fire-keeper-chapter-7

[fear-before-valor]

Sweet dreams Jimbo, 😨 brings you a Draal~

Dreams and Nightmares II No Longer Accepting II Warnings: Major gore, graphic depictions of body horror, extreme grief, death, gravesite, bodies, burial practices, soul-crushing angst, 0 comfort in sight; y’all this one is rough, so please don’t read unless you are in a state of mind where you can handle these things II Also, this one is longer than the other ones, coming in at 1882 words, so brace for that as well II And don’t forget to take care of yourselves after this <3 

Final note: if you see anything you think needs to be tagged, please let me know!

--

He was in the void. There were stars above him, and trails of blue around him, as spirits bustled through the space, not seeming to pay him much mind, really. Briefly, he wondered if ghosts could even be busy, but he dismissed the thought as he drew Daylight, instead, the warm metal familiar in his two-handed grip.

Although, as for why exactly he’d drawn his sword, he wasn’t entirely sure.

Was he here to train?

Kanjigar liked getting to test his reflexes every so often, so that must have been why he’d gone into the Soothscryer in the first place, right?

…So why was he all alone…?

When his predecessor didn’t show, Jim straightened from his readied stance, relaxing his posture. Snapping Daylight to his back, he stepped forward, eyes grazing bit by bit over the void and its runes, searching for any sign that could refresh his memory, remind him why he was there.

Scouring the room, he jogged lightly around its perimeter, wondering if Kanjigar might have just missed him. Maybe if he ran into the spirit…

Something freezing appeared at Jim’s elbow, causing him to stiffen, as he felt prickles of frost across his skin, beneath the armor… maybe even through his muscles and down to the marrow of his bones.

It certainly felt that way, at least, as he wrapped his arms around himself, in an unsuccessful attempt to warm himself up.

Turning to find the source of the chill, he found himself face-to-face with a tunnel, black as pitch and foggy by his ankles.

It was odd.

He’d never seen it before… had it always been there?

Shooting one glance back into the spirit hub, none of the other Trollhunters seemed to have noticed what he was doing… or even that he was there, at all; so, with one last deep breath of the temperate air in the other room, he turned to the tunnel and stepped inside.

The tunnel was long, impossibly so.

Though, how he knew that, he wasn’t sure. Because, as he blinked, he was coming out the other end.

Whirling on his heels, and… panting, for some reason—perhaps because he’d been walking for what must have been a day? (how did he know that?)—he stared back into the mouth of the blackened door, and tried to piece together what had just happened.

Why was his memory blanking like this? First he couldn’t remember why he was in the void; next, he was missing an entire day of walking?

What had he eaten? Had he slept?

He frowned, and almost walked back into the tunnel, but as he stepped foot into it, the walls around him lurched, scraping inward. Giving a yelp, Jim removed his foot from the threshold, just in time to watch the hole in the wall close up.

Oh.

Okay.

He was stuck here, then.

…great.

Sighing, Jim hoped to everything that there was another way out, and the only reason that one closed up was because it was a one-way tunnel… for some reason.

Deciding to think more on that in due time, he instead focused on taking in his new surroundings. He couldn’t look for a way out if he didn’t know where he was in the first place.

Heart plummeting, he wasn’t sure he was so thrilled about that decision, though, as his eyes flew to the thing that his foot had just crunched.

Milky white and still fresh—he hissed in panic— it looked like a bone. Going to take a step back, he froze when the crack he’d just heard sounded again, as he felt dust and a sickening grinding beneath the metal heel of his armor.

Breath quickening, Jim stood in place, then, and reached for Daylight. Activating its blue flames, he used it like a flashlight in the dim room, and pointed it at the ground.

And then dropped Daylight, knees going numb.

Mouth dry, he tried not to stumble in his panic, over the pit of skeletal remains he was standing on.

They were everywhere.

Some of them were old and powdery, ancient and horrifying to look at. Others were fresh and gleaming, still wet, some of which had meat left on them, rotting and grey. He was sure he’d seen maggots boring holes into femurs, into knee sockets, into teeth.

Hand flying to his mouth, as he felt his throat seize, and his stomach roll violently, Jim breathed through his nose, a technique his mom had taught him when he was a kid, to help when he’d had trouble with the tongue depressors during his checkups.

Here, though, it didn’t help nearly as much, as the stench of rot and chalky remains flooded his senses. Eyes tearing from the smell, he tried not to gag, as he bent and picked up Daylight, gritting his teeth against the nothing his body was trying to expel.

It felt like he hadn’t eaten after all, but after this, he wasn’t sure he’d ever eat again.

His mind supplied him with the image of that grey, sliming flesh, and all of its rot and chewy sinew, slipping down his throat, and—

The acid burned when it came up, as he fell to his knees with a convulsion.

Choking in a breath, he spat the last of it out, and pushed himself upright. Kneeling on what he really hoped was a cleaner patch of the floor—at least his armor had hand coverings—Jim took a moment to get his bearings, reorient himself.

He could handle this. He could get out of this. He’d faced down his own living nightmare before; he’d defeated Bular, Gunmar, Morgana, and he’d even time travelled. He could get out of there. Jim would find a way, and if he couldn’t, then, he’d make one.

Shoving himself to his feet, he hefted Daylight once more in both of his hands, and started walking along the walls of the room, using what little light he had to search for another tunnel, or a door of some kind, even a window.

Jim wasn’t sure there was one, though, as he finally came to a halt after what might have been closer to three passes around the perimeter. It was hard to tell, but by now, he was certain he’d seen that bone formation before.

His chances of getting out started to feel a little more doomed than they had a few minutes ago, but he refused to give up hope.

Hadn’t they also thought there was no way out of Merlin’s tomb?

They’d found an exit then; he’d find an exit, now.

Having a wise, old wizard’s help would be nice, though, he had to admit. No matter how angry he was at Merlin, he’d take anything the guy could offer him right now, over… this.

This, which was…

He sighed. Not even the Darklands had been this bad.

The bodies were everywhere, and… it was getting hard to ignore—the pull in his chest toward the center of the room. It was getting hard to ignore.

It had been just a little stirring at first, nothing he’d even paid attention to.

Now, it was a desperate longing, an inflamed tug in his sternum, straining against his will, begging him to go and look. Go and see what was there.

It was waiting, just for him.

Somehow, though, as surely as he could feel that pull, he could also feel a draining, parasitic dread, which wormed nauseatingly in his already twisting stomach.

Swallowing in anticipation, he decided to take the risk. The pull was bordering on painful, and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to get out of here without it crumbling his resolve.

Stepping over spongey flesh and brittle tendons, Jim approached the center of the grave, anxiety rising.

As the thing in the center emerged, Jim knew in a crushing heartbeat, like a blow to the lungs, that he’d been right to dread what was there.

His eyes teared again, but this time, it wasn’t from the fumes of death, but from the visage of it.

Draal, with his arms folded over his chest, and a peaceful expression on his face, stood squarely in the center of the room—and it shattered Jim to see.

He felt cleaved down the middle, as his knees fell with a wet squelch into something meaty and writhing. Not that he even noticed.

His hands grazed the stone as Daylight clattered to the dirty floor, abandoned.

“Draal…” Jim wheezed, voice empty and hollow, “Draal, I’m so sor—” He hiccuped, “I’m so sorry.”

Repeating it over and over again, a desperate prayer, Jim sobbed into the decay beneath his friend’s feet, hands becoming fists against the statue’s knees.

No hand was lowered to grip the back of his head and tell him that it was okay. No wry smile emerged to remind him not to make it weird. No warm, gravelly chuckle sounded, to reassure him that he was alive.

The floor collapsed.

Jim’s vision whited out, for just a moment, and when he came to, he was falling.

Tumbling through the sea of remains and death, Jim watched Draal’s statue plummet in front of him, just out of his arm’s reach.

Setting his jaw, Jim swore that he wouldn’t let Draal’s body break again. He deserved a proper rest, a proper memorial, in the hero’s forge with the rest of the Trollhunters—he didn’t care of Draal technically wasn’t one to the spirits—he was a Trollhunter to Jim, and Jim was—

Jim was—

…Jim was—…

Jim was nothing, anymore.

He wasn’t the Trollhunter, anymore.

The amulet at his chest spun its hands wildly, as if it, too, had remembered. Snapping off of him, it hovered in front of Jim’s face, spiraling in the air before him, falling down, down… and then it burst, into a powder that flooded Jim’s mouth with chunks of hardened marrow and clots of blood, thick and bitter.

He coughed, swallowed, and then squinted through the dust, at Draal’s still peaceful form. He had to grab it.

It didn’t look right, to see it at such odds with the rain of death matter around them.

Tucking his arms against his sides, Jim kicked with his feet, going for Draal.

Speeding too hard, too fast, he slammed into his friend, scraping his arms to hell, but—but it didn’t matter. He’d caught him.

He’d caught him.

Jim clung to the statue, wrapping his arms around its neck, holding it to his chest, as they descended lower.

Tucking his head into Draal’s shoulder, he couldn’t see the ground coming.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he couldn’t brace for impact.

When he hit whatever barrier was at the bottom of this pit, whatever it called a floor, his eyes flew open, huge and round, as he felt Draal crumble in his arms, and then—his own arms followed suit, splintering into rough, rocky sediment, along with his chest, his heart, his teeth, his hands.

He laid in pieces on the floor, struggling to turn his head to look at Draal’s face, which had chunked off and cracked down the middle, marring the smile he’d previously been wearing. He looked like he was grimacing now, in pain, furious.

…Jim’s eyes grated shut.

[misssilencewritewell]

Overall review of wizards. Spoiler warning. This is just my opinion. If you enjoyed it, I’m happy for you. I think it was far too rushed.

Five episodes in we finally started to get introduced to interesting characters. But the pace never slowed down long enough to understand their role, their personalities, purpose, etc. It was a quick flash of ‘Oh that’s cool-and they’re gone...but I wanted to see more and understand...’ The quick glimpse of Angor Rot (my boy 😭) Why did he fish Morgana from the river? He hates humans...I’m confused??? He has magic. Did he learn from the evil magic squad?

The graphics are incredible. It looks amazing but I feel like for me to have a connection to this part of the story it had to have been longer. Another ten episodes of us getting to know Douxie in Arcadia would’ve been nice. When you dump as much information and new things on viewers it’s just too much for us to handle. I was so distracted by going “the heck is happening” to ever bond with Douxie. This makes me sad because I was enamored with him in Trollhunters. Also, he went from super suave bad boy to derpy bard boy. Not necessarily bad...but personally, I enjoyed his confidence in Trollhunters. Straight up hit a gum gum with a guitar. Not a magic one...just a regular guitar. Chad move. But this...felt weird. I personally think it would’ve been a much better plot twist had he been Mordred. Would’ve given him a darker edge, a vendetta, an interesting character arc. His goal to be to avenge his mother Morgana and kill Merlin/Trollhunters. Instead we find out that he’s basically a edgy, awkward bard. Which isn’t bad but not enough character development for me to be excited about any apparent growth or newly discovered powers.

Steve Palchuk (while I love his character) was unnecessary to this plot. I would’ve preferred Eli. His brains would have been helpful and I think his comedic relief would’ve fit better than Steves. Steve’s jokes just didn’t seem to land. The comedy relief was not timed right. Again, I absolutely loved Trollhunters and 3 Below...but there was never a moment to stop and catch your breath to know the world and characters which made it difficult to enjoy.

I still don’t fully understand how magic works. Douxie taught Claire for a minute and that was it and now he’s her teacher? Morgana and Merlin walk to the other side and say that sorcery dies with them but Claire and Douxie are left. Magic is...emotion? Kinda? Idk they never explained. 🤷‍♀️

Arthur’s character was...confusing to say the least. He misses his love and hates “dark” creatures because they killed her. But he comes back from the dead...to atone for his sins...by being evil? That didn’t make sense to me. Same with Morgana coming back and him being like sup sis! Know I tried to kill you but we are blood family! His super quick switch to asking for trolls help and loving his sister again was unexplained and made 0 sense. Just make him a dislikeable character and leave it at that. Sometimes it’s better to keep things simple. Over complicated plots can be messy and unenjoyable.

Morgana going from villain to hero was expected but executed poorly. She would flip like a switch and I just couldn’t sympathize with her as much as I did when she was a villain. I enjoyed her passion while being dark. Her redemption arc could’ve been handled so much better. Her having a romantic thing with Merlin and Merlin betraying her becoming the true villain while she is thirsty for revenge would’ve been top tier world building. We got butt jokes from Steve instead.

Strickler and Nomura. I want to see them. Especially back then? Oh they would be so evil and dark and I LIVE FOR IT. Especially since we love them now. It’d be cool to be reminded of their past. Back to the Jim smelling of human without being a changeling. Could’ve seen more on that and an interaction with him. They’d be fascinated I’m sure. Morgana created changelings but that could’ve easily been explained that she was working behind Arthur’s back the whole time. Working with Gunmar and creating changelings to infiltrate the castle while pretending to be submissive in court to Arthur and Merlin. It would explain why Changelings value cunning even more so and it would’ve been more believable than her talking to Claire one time and saying “yes! I’ll just tell my bro he crazy and needs to stop! Thank you kindly foreign hand maiden with dark magic!” Like there’s no reason for Morgana to trust her. Use her...sure. She would want Claire power, but Morgana’s character was far too rushed to make sense. I miss it when she was just a villain.

Also...Jim gets stabbed by a blade and they don’t call his mom? They don’t let her know her son could be dying? She’s a doctor. She doesn’t know much about the dark Magicks but she’s so smart and Strickler is her boyfriend. She should’ve been told. She should’ve shown up. I love her character and she adds a lot to the dynamic. Steve was the focal point far too often.

Bular. (Inhaled deeply). I missed him so much. It was cool to see Gunmar and Bular again. Bular I feel could’ve been interesting to build more too and I’m grateful for what we received. He obviously was more impressionable than his father. Morgana saved him and he immediately vouched for her while touching his fathers shoulder saying softly “she spared my life.” Like...Bular is an excellent character because even when fighting Jim in his final moments, Jim talks to him about dad issues and you can see Bular think about it and ultimately decide his fate. Just...ugh yes I missed the angry tall charcoal man.

Confusing part though...Gunmar and Bular declare that forest their own. Jim and Deya are there and watch as they scare off Arthur. You’re telling me they just let them go??? When they’re trying to recruit trolls for the war? They just go welp...see ya. Nah. There should’ve been dialogue there. The strange troll that smells of human but isn’t an impure. Cue the changelings. Could’ve been an awesome Segway into the life of the gum gums because honestly...Arthur was a douche and I sided with the Gum gums. Like yeah they eat people but Arthur was so...weird and uncomfortable to watch that I’d rather see the Gum gums who make no qualms over what they want or who they are.

The...giant dragon that’s the familiars dad. No reason for him at all. An attempt at a quirky dad character that landed flat. He went from oh lemme get you a cup of tea to DONT ChALlenge Me BoY I KnOw KaRAte!!! And I was like...ummmmm excuse me??? And then he went on to give a lesson on grief and show pictures of his son and I was like Soooooo we aren’t burning Douxie to a crisp? We are just going to throw in a quick ill timed lesson on grief?

The fight between Krel, Claire and the gang vs evil Jack Frost, eye ball raven, and evil Arthur electric boogaloo. Instead of showing the fight they did a recap. That fight would’ve been so awesome to watch and instead we got a recap of them getting their booties kicked. It’s an effective time saver but lazy story telling.

The fawn earth bender woman is important because she was part of the secret magic club and decided she didn’t want to kill people anymore...or something. As if her club ever lied to her about what they were about to do. Like Oh we are killing people? I thought you were joking for millions of years.

They all need her back to do...something evil that I can’t remember which I assume the movie will be about. I want more lore on evil Jack Frost and eyeball raven. They just were like “Congrats Morgana! We are the cool super old magic squad. We are the dopest thing in this show and we won’t say anything about ourselves besides a vague description in under 3 secs that leave our viewers confused and disappointed because they want more.”

Like seriously. They were the best part. Their intro was on a flying castle and I kinda hate that their intro was Merlin yelling “Oh no! Them!” Like we are supposed to know what and who they are. Build up is so important for an aundieces understanding. Like who they are? What they want? What they are? I spent the first half of the show mostly confused and the last half moderately confused and bewildered.

In conclusion, not my fave. It lacked the charm and quirkiness of 3 below and the depth and character development of Trollhunters to deliver a mediocre segway to a film. I really want this film to do well...but they will be on a time crunch and I was not impressed with how they handled this one in ten episodes. Fingers crossed the movie does better.

[p-artsypants]

Arcadia or Bust (16) Corner of Main and State

"Yeah, so mom…we made it to New Jersey, and we're all safe...but the Heartstone isn't really...impressive. So, we're bringing what we found home. See you soon!" In Which Arcadia welcomes back it's underground citizens, Jim gets used to mundane life as a Troll, and drama seeks them all out like a magnet.

Ao3 | FF.net

I’m rewatching Trollhunters, because it’s been like a year since I watched it, and the more I listen, the less the plot of Wizards makes sense to me. Don’t get me wrong, I loved it, but there’s some lore and continuity issues. That being said, I’ll continue to write this story using Trollhunter’s lore primarily, with a sprinkle of Wizards and 3Below lore as I see fit. :)

—

Jim had been through a lot of trauma in his life. At least since becoming the Trollhunter. But nothing was as jarring as looking down to his chest and seeing his ribcage, muscles, and heart beating. 

They had taken the amulet from where it was nestled, and in return, left the gaping hole wide open, oozing with blood, and exposed. Could trolls get infections? Because humans certainly could, and this was just asking for infection. 

He had been lying here alone for a few hours now. It was hard to tell exactly how long in the vast passage of time while drenched in pain. 

When Colonel Kubritz appeared at his side, he wasn’t even surprised. Had he fallen asleep?

“How do you get this to work?” She bit. In her hand, she held the cleaned amulet, and it glowed, aching to be back with him. 

“You can’t. You have to be chosen by it. Even if I die, it will pick someone else. And it might not be you.” 

She slapped him for that, but it looked like it hurt her more than him, by the wince on her face. “Don’t give me that crap. Tell me how to work it!” 

“Just speak the incantation inscribed.”

“We already tried that.”

He shrugged. “That’s all it is.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Teach me to use it, and I’ll let you go home.” 

Jim sighed. It was pointless, but he may as well try. 

—

Claire rang the doorbell at the designated house. 

A surly man opened the door. “Yeah? What do you want? No solicitors! Unless you’re a girl scout…no, you’re too old. Are you with the tamale lady?” 

“Hello sir, I’m not here to sell anything, I actually came to ask about the car you had totaled a few days ago.”

“Are you here to hunt down that devil that flipped my baby?!” He gestured to the smashed in car in the driveway. It looked drivable, but one bump away from death. 

“Not quite...I’m actually here to fix it.” 

“Fix it? You want to fix that? My mechanic couldn’t even fix it! And you want to! What are you, 15?” 

“17, actually.” 

“I doubt you have the experience for this, little lady.” 

“Oh, I’m not a mechanic, I’m a sorceress.” 

“A what now?” 

“Sorceress, a witch! Do I have permission to fix your truck?” 

“Girlie, if you can fix my truck, I’ll owe you a huge favor.” 

“I was hoping you’d say that!” With a little skip, Claire went over to the truck and rested her hands on the hood. “Ad initium redire...” Her hands glowed purple, and pulsed against the metal, making it groan. Then it began to twist and crunch, popping out dents and welding pieces back together. 

The old man stood in shock as his beloved truck knit back together, and when she was done, it was in perfect condition. 

“How did—where did you—?!” He rounded the car, circling it like a vulture. “It’s perfect! You even took out that bump from years ago! You’re a miracle worker, girlie!” 

Claire fell on her butt on the driveway, dizzy and winded. “Glad to help.” 

“You alright?” 

“Just a little winded. I’m still getting used to using magic, especially without a staff. It’s exhausting.” 

“Well why don’t you take a seat up on the porch instead of the road? I’ll get you a beer.” 

“I’m seventeen.” 

“You’ve earned it!” 

Claire chuckled to herself and climbed to her feet. She followed the man up his steps and took a seat on the porch swing while he went inside. 

Only a minute later, he returned with beers in hand. “Here you are darlin’. Summertime ale. I’m partial to dark ale myself, but my neighbor got me this pale ale. It’s pretty good! You have a favorite?” 

Claire took a sip and tried to hide the grimace. “I don’t really get to drink very often, unless it’s a special occasion.” 

“Right right, we’ll keep it our little secret. Now then, I owe you a favor. You just saved me a whole chunk of change and a basket of anxiety. You must have something in mind since you offered?” He suddenly sat up straight. “Oh god, you don’t want my soul do you?” 

Claire snorted. “No no, you can keep your soul! Don’t know what I would do with it anyways...You know the boy that damaged your truck in the first place?” 

“I only saw a glimpse of him, that blue devil? What about him?” 

“He’s actually my boyfriend, and he’s really very sweet and usually not like this. But he was...fed something he shouldn’t have had and it made him go berserk.” 

“Crying shame.” 

“I’ll say! So the army came in and took him away! They wouldn’t listen to us at all!” 

“So what do you want me to do about it?” 

“We are going to run a campaign to get him out. Hopefully, if we get enough attention on the issue, they’ll let him go.” 

“Oh, I gotcha.” 

“So if you could just...spread the truth around town? He’s actually the one that stopped that troll invasion back at the beginning of summer.” 

The man looked surprised at that. “No kidding, that was him? Well, he’s a local hero! He’s been talked about a lot since then! Sure I’ll set the record straight! What’s this kid’s name?”

“Jim Lake Jr.” 

“Got it! Don’t worry, I’ll bring it up at the lodge, and the rotary, and the chess club...”

—

The phone was ringing, he had been successfully patched through. Strickler sat in his office after hours, wanting to make the call as private as possible. 

“Stricklander, I haven’t heard from you since the fall of the Janus order. What reason have you called on me?” 

“Can’t I just call an old friend to catch up?”

“You? No.”

Walt cracked a smile. “Fine. I need a favor.” 

“Changeling to changeling, or school principal to army general?” 

“The latter, actually.” 

The man on the other line laughed. “Color me intrigued.” 

“You know of the human Trollhunter, correct?”

“Just what you wrote in your dossier, a human male, 16 years old, lives in Arcadia Oaks, California, turned half-troll by the wizard Merlin. Responsible for the death of Bular and Gunmar. Quite a remarkable young soul. Is there anything else to know?”

“He’s been captured by the United States Army.”

The man let out half a chuckle. “Captured? What dumb trouble did he get into?”

“His deadbeat father left out some cocaine for the boy to find, he thought it was trash, and ate it.”

Distantly on the other line, there was laughter, a strong bark of laughter that lasted far too long. When he came back, he was calm. “How unfortunate.” 

“He’s a good kid. Why would there be a kilogram of cocaine in the trash anyways? I fail to see the humor in the situation.” 

“Of course. So, I assume, he went on a rampage following his meal, and then attracted the attention of some of us?” 

“So you haven’t heard about it?” 

“Not where I’m stationed. But give me a moment.” The line went silent, only a very distant and quiet tapping of keys on a keyboard being tapped. Then the man returned. “I’m glad you told me about this. This incident hasn’t been reported to our database. That shows evidence of misconduct. Did you get the name of the commanding officer responsible, by chance?” 

“Colonel Kubritz, I believe.” 

More typing. “Area 49-B.”

“That name was also passed around.” 

“Technically not my jurisdiction, and since she didn’t report it, I’m not supposed to know about it.”

“I’m afraid you will officially know about it soon.” 

“Oh?”

“His friends and family, myself included, are going to put on a protest for his freedom. Drawing attention to the situation.” 

That echoing laughter was back again. 

“It wasn’t my idea, in case you were wondering.” 

“I know, you wouldn’t come up with something so bold. Regardless, go ahead in through with it. I’ll make sure whatever protest happens gets brought to my superior’s attention, and then I will take it from there.” 

“Thanks. I will owe you one.” 

“Oh come now, Walter, we Changelings that survived the Fall of the Janus order have to stick together. Besides, I heard rumors that you’re caring for my familiar?”

“He’s still in the cradle stone, and the moment. One baby at a time, for now.” 

“Then we’re even. Besides, this is the most interesting thing that’s happened in a while. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” 

“Your kindness is refreshing. I’m glad Gunmar didn’t eat you.” 

“Gee, thanks.” 

“We’ll be in touch then, Samuel.” 

“Of course, Walter.” 

—

“How goes the car repair?” Asked Merlin, as he met up with Toby and Claire in the park. 

“Ugh, exhausting. First I stopped at the mechanics, and they’re still backed up with fixing other cars. Apparently, Gunmar’s army did a number and backed them up for months. But they gave me the names of all the clients who got totaled from Jim. I had to hit the scrap yard for four of them, and I just finished another two in driveways.” 

“How many does that leave you with?”

“Seven more,” she sighed. “How goes the road work?”

“It goes. Now come along, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.” He didn’t wait for them to follow as he turned and started walking away. 

Sharing a dubious look, Toby and Claire quickly caught up with him. He led them to a bookstore, where a young man was sweeping outside. 

“Hisirdoux, my faithful and loyal apprentice—“

“You're damn straight I’m loyal!” He shouted. “Where have you been? I’ve been cleaning tables for the last 900 years!” 

“Calm yourself boy, I’m here now, aren’t I? And I need your help.” 

“Finally! What is it? Just say the word!”

“I need you to go with Miss Claire Nuñez and help her restore recently smashed vehicles.”

“What?”

“Or, you can repair street damage.” 

Douxie crossed his arms. “What is this? I saw what happened! There were trolls, and evidence of Morgana! And now you need my help? To clean up, several months later?”

“That is correct.” 

“Why didn’t you call for me back then?!”

“I forgot.” 

“You forgot? About me?”

“Oh come now, don’t take it personally. I was busy trying to prepare the Trollhunter to fight Gunmar. And get my magic back from Morgana.” 

Douxie seemed to become more sympathetic at that. “Morgana stole your magic?” 

“Yes, but it’s all in the past now. Everything is fine. Well, not really. Seems that the US Army has declared the Trollhunter as a menace to society. We must get the trust of the city on our side if we are to get them to trust us, and agree that his capture is unjust.” 

“Please,” said Claire. “We need all the help we can get.” 

Douxie sighed. “Alright. Afterwards, you’re training me again.” He gave Merlin a hard look. “And no amateur magic either. I’ve been doing the same drills for 900 years. I think I’m ready for more advanced work.”

“Oh, you will be. Starting with helping Miss Nuñez field her shadow magic.”

Douxie looked at her, in awe. “You’re practicing shadow magic? Truly?”

“It’s a recent development…”

“She took Morgana’s Skathe-Hrün, and wielded it without any training. Because of that she has a tether to Morgana in the Shadow realm, who has been teaching her ever so slightly. I’m not allowed to train her, but she could use the guidance of a Wizard in the physical realm. Do you understand Hisirdoux?” 

“I do, and I’ll be happy to teach her…I’m just…I’ll need a moment or two to digest the sentence you just said.” 

“Well, don’t take too long, we have a Trollhunter to rescue!” 

—

There was a heavy knock on the door, which was never a good thing. Especially nowadays. 

Still, Barbara went to the door. 

Standing there was Detective Scott and James Lake Sr. 

“Does this belong to you?” Asked the detective. 

“I don’t claim him, no.” 

Her almost ex-husband smiled at her, pleadingly, “Please Babs?” 

“What is he even doing out? You arrested him!”

“About that…” Detective Scott winced. “We don’t have enough to keep him on.” 

“What!” She shouted. “He confessed in front of a bunch of people!”

“Which would be helpful if we had a case for a trial. But as it stands, he doesn’t actually have any drugs on him. And we don’t have a confession on tape. So…we’re shit out of luck.” 

“Oh come on Louis, you know the cocaine came from him! Where else would Jim have gotten it from?” 

“Look, the chief’s not thrilled that we didn’t arrest the guy responsible for trashing the town, but we’re supposed to arrest someone else without evidence?” 

Barbara threw her hands up in the air. “With probable cause!” 

“That doesn’t work with drug dealers. He’s clean, Barbara. All the blood tests came back clean too.” 

“Ugh.”

The house shook slightly, and Barbara felt the floor bow behind her. “Is there a problem, officer?” Asked Draal. 

“Nothing you can help with, Draal. Thank you.” Barbara sighed. “James is not being charged.” 

“But he is a criminal, this degenerate flesh bag poisoned the Trollhunter! He should face banishment for his crimes!” 

James withered a little with the glare Draal gave him. 

“Well,” said Officer Scott. “Maybe you can keep an eye on him from now on. If you have evidence that he is dealing, like physical traces of cocaine on the premises, call us. But for now, there’s not much else we can do.” 

“This is ludicrous.”

“I know, I’m sorry Barbara. How is Jim?”

She frowned. “You haven’t heard? The army came and collected him from the hospital!”

Louis sputtered. “The army came?!”

“Yes!”

“Where were they when Gunmar was terrorizing us?” He scoffed. “Again, sorry Barbara, I can’t help you here.” 

“It’s alright. We’ve got a plan.” 

“Love to hear it, but I’ve got to get back to the office. I’m sure Toby will tell Darci, and she’ll tell me. Good luck!” And he left James on the porch. 

“Babs, I’m sorry…” 

“Save it.” Barbara scoffed, but allowed him in the house. 

Draal never took his eyes off the man. 

“Well, you’ll be happy to know I have no more supply. And after Rudy found out what happened to my last Kilo, she’s not getting anymore for me. So…”

“I’ll have to thank Jim for keeping a kilogram of Cocaine off the streets of Arcadia. We have a fairly low rate of drug use around here, and we don’t need you to ruin people’s lives.” 

James sighed, knowing he had dodged a huge bullet by being let off the hook. He’d rather deal with his wife than with his ex-associates in jail any day. “I think I’ve still ruined people’s lives anyway.” He walked into the living room, only to halt at the signs on the table. 

Release Jim Lake Jr. 

Justice for Jim

Let Lake Go!

“Babs, what is all this?”

“That’s part of our plan to free Jim! I’m friends with the councilwoman, and she suggested that we campaign for his release. Bringing a lot of unwanted attention onto his capture will stir the government to let him go!”

James jutted out his jaw, a sign of barely concealed rage. An expression Barbara had grown very used to in the last few months. “So, you’re going to put his name—my name in the news? You’re going to broadcast what city we live in?” 

“Yes.” 

He whirled on her, grabbing her arm. “Babs, people are looking for me! Horrible, mean, and ruthless people! If you put his name out there, they’ll know where to look!” 

“All the better! Then they can come take you off my hands!” 

“You don’t understand! I owe them a lot of money, and they’ll take it anyway they can! That includes extorting you, Jim, and whoever else they connect with me!” 

Draal stepped in, removing his hand from Barbara’s arm. “This house is under my protection. If anyone dare tries to enter, they will be dealt with swiftly.”

“You don’t know what these men are capable of.” 

“I assure you, I’ve decimated armies of flesh bags in my day. These men are no different.”  

Barbara smiled. “If you’re really that scared, I hear Vermont is lovely this time of year.” 

James just narrowed his eyes, before storming out of the room.

—

The first rally took place from 3pm to dusk, starting from after school, and leading up to when Trolls would be able to participate. Granted, it was only a handful of people, but standing in the middle of downtown did garner a lot of attention. More than a dozen people walking past had stopped to ask about the cause. They were then given a short synopsis of the situation, as it pertained to them:

“Jim is a 16 year old student who was chosen by the trolls to be our protector. He willingly gave up his humanity to defeat Gunmar the Black, the monstrous troll that attacked the city at the beginning of the summer. Now, he looks like a troll, and was sabotaged to go into a rage and damage the city. The US army took him away without a trial! He’s a hero to the city, and deserves fair treatment!”

Reactions ranged from: 

“Oh, he stopped that thing?”

To:

“Oh my god! He’s just a child!” 

Overwhelmingly, there was no negative feedback, at least in person. But it was only day one. 

—

“This daylight...is it significant?” The colonel asked, as she circled his table. 

“It’s just a name.” Jim lied. “A sword with a name is stronger than one without.” 

“Interesting. Interesting indeed. According to my notes, trolls turn to stone in daylight. Any correlation there?” 

So she already knew? Then what was the point? Was she just playing with him?

“I’m the Trollhunter, and I fight bad trolls. It would make sense to name my sword after something they’re afraid of.” 

She hummed. “And what about you?” 

“What about me?” 

“Are you afraid of daylight?” 

“Why would I be?” 

The colonel laughed. “Oh Jim Lake Jr. You’re the worst liar I’ve ever met. You are honest and forthcoming with truths that work in your favor. You freely told me of your transformation, and of your victory against a Troll tyrant. But now that I’m edging on the topic of your weakness, you clam up and give me vague answers. I can do this all day, beast. What does daylight do to you?”

“Nothing. It doesn’t do anything to me.” 

“Really? Even as a troll? That’s interesting.” 

“It’s fortunate.” 

“I would say so. Though, now you’ve got me curious. These burns on your skin…where did they come from?” She dragged her fingernail over one of the dark marks.

Jim winced. “I don’t know. I wasn’t aware in my rage state.”

“Then you won’t mind if I find out for myself?” She crooked a finger towards the shadows. Jim could hear the creak of wheels before a lamp with several fixtures was wheeled forward. 

“Oh no…”

“UV lights, all different wattages. Let’s see what works the best, hmm?”

—

ARCADIA TRIBUNE

Justice for Jim

By Nadja Chamack 

Who is Jim Lake Jr. anyway? This is a question I asked myself as I drove downtown three days ago. No doubt, you’ve seen the crowd of students and teachers holding signs on the corner of Main and State Street. It’s pretty hard to miss, quite honestly. Among the students, there’s also Councilwoman Nuñez, and resident Troll Mascot, ARRRGH! Signs range from ‘Justice for Jim’ to ‘Free our Lake’. 

But who is Jim Lake Jr.? And what happened? A precursory search on my end showed only a scant few facts. Jim is a student at Arcadia Highschool, in his Junior year. He was nominated as Spring Fling King last year, and played the part of Romeo in the school play. His criminal record seemed pretty clean too. A misdemeanor for scratching a rental scooter was all that showed up. But hey, who hasn’t done that?

So I went to the source, his family and friends campaigning for him. On Saturday, the group was downtown, campaigning all day long, so I had the chance to interview each and every person about why they were there.

Turns out, Jim Lake Jr. might be the most amazing person in Arcadia. 

From his mother, Dr. Barbara Lake, I learned that Jim is an Arcadia native, born and raised here. He enjoys cooking gourmet food, working on his vespa, and acting. 

Oh, and he’s the first human Trollhunter. 

What? You’ve never heard of a Trollhunter? Me neither. But Barbara and Blinky, another resident Troll, gave me the scoop. 

You all remember that night at the beginning of the summer that we all promised not to talk about? Well, I’m going to talk about it. In fact, I’m here to give you all the answers you’ve been craving. 

Many months before that fateful night, a new Trollhunter was chosen, after the previous one had perished. “The Trollhunter is chosen according to his mettle, by the amulet of the Trollhunter, as created by Merlin, the wizard of Arthurian legend. Jim was chosen after the fall of Kanjigar, his predecessor. Jim is the first human to be chosen, also the smallest and weakest. But, he was the first to defeat Bular, son of Gunmar!” Said his mentor, Blinky. None of this made any sense to me at first, though it was said with great enthusiasm. 

It turns out, the trolls that we’ve gotten used to seeing around town, mostly ARRRGH, are ‘good’ trolls. The bad trolls, ‘Gum-gums’ are what invaded our town and destroyed my car. The Trollhunter’s whole job is to fight off these bad trolls, and gnomes, and goblins, and everything else that goes bump in the night. And so he did. The Gum-Gums invaded from the ‘Darklands’, being led by a fearsome troll named Gunmar the Black, the Skullcrasher, the Dark Lord…he had a lot of names, and it was obviously a bad dude. Gunmar had plans to invade the whole world by blotting out the sun, a.k.a the eclipse we saw. And he would have gotten away for it too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids! 

Mainly Jim Lake Jr. and his friends. 

And how does a sixteen year old defeat a couple millennia old, bloodthirsty, all powerful tyrant? With a fancy sword? Close. With some magical armor? Closer. By giving up a part of his humanity and becoming a half-human, half-troll hybrid? Now you’re getting it! Yes, to protect Arcadia, to protect us, Jim Lake Jr. allowed himself to be changed. You may have seen him around town. Blue skin, big horns...okay, I just described most of the trolls that are around here. 

“Jim works the night shift at my store,” said Stu Harding, owner of Thrifty Furnishings. “He’s a very hard worker, and always willing to do the heavy lifting that is hard for the other employees to do.” 

“Despite his appearance, Jim ultimately decided to attend school,” said Principal Walter Strickler. “After the school found out about why he had missed so many days of school, they were willing to move him onto the next grade to be with his peers. He was a good student before all this, and he fought really hard to keep his grades up regardless. We felt he should still have the opportunity to graduate. We were looking forward to having him on our football team, and in our spring production of Beauty and the Beast.” 

So what happened to Jim? And why is there such a big campaign for his freedom?

Well, the truth is that Jim is a victim of unfortunate circumstances. In more ways than one, obviously. Trolls eat our trash. That’s why Arcadia has such a small carbon footprint! (Be sure to thank ARRRGH next time you see him!) And this trait was adopted by Jim too, when he was transformed. 

“He just picked a bunch of items out of the trash. Cans, an old sock, and what looked like a VHS wrapped in duct tape,” said Jim’s best friend, Toby Dolmzalski. “It was a normal lunch for him. But right in the middle of gym class, he turned crazy town banana pants and took off! I had never seen Jim act like that! Ever!” 

After an 8 hour rage through town, Jim collapsed and was taken to the hospital for evaluation. It turns out what Jim had ingested turned out to be a kilogram of pure cocaine! 

At this time, it is unknown where the cocaine came from, or if it was planted purposefully. (Seriously, who throws away a kilogram of cocaine?)

But the damage that Jim caused was extensive enough to catch the attention of the US army, who has taken Jim into captivity from the hospital. No trial, no rights, they even took him while he was unconscious. His friends and family have not heard from him since. 

“I’m so worried,” said girlfriend, Claire Nuñez. “He was injured from the battle with Gunmar, and didn’t completely heal. In the hospital, he was covered in burns from the sun. I have no idea if they’re caring for him properly, or dissecting him like some creature. But he deserves so much better than this. He saved our town, he saved my life, and the life of my baby brother. That’s why we won’t rest until he’s home!” 

“Not bad,” said ARRRGH, long time friend of Jim. “Good troll have bad days, best trolls have worse days. Jim need some good days.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself, ARRRGH. 

Friends and family of Jim are asking everyone share #JusticeforJim on social media, hoping to get the attention of someone in charge. All the damage caused by Jim has been repaired, and there were no casualties from his attack.  

Of course, the whole ‘troll’ aspect of this story has to be a local legend. So when sharing it to social media, kindly leave that part out.   

—

“C-Bomb!” Mary shouted from the other end of the hall. She came running and almost crashed into Claire and Toby, holding her phone up in the air. “My twitter feed is blowing up, girl! Look at all of this!” She held the screen up so they could see. 

“Citizen abducted by the government, is this China or North Korea? Neither! It’s the US! #JusticeforJim” 

“Imagine if this was your son. So sad, and so scary! #JusticeforJim”

“This is real life, not science fiction #JusticeforJim” 

“Whoa, where did these all come from?” Asked Claire. “What did you post?” 

“Did you know Snapper Karr did a report on it!?”

“Snapper Karr? From KTTV in LA?” 

“Yes! Thankfully, he left out the whole troll thing. I’ll send you a link. In his story, Jim is just a kid that has a rare genetic disorder that makes him look different, and so the government took him away!” 

Claire winced. “This is…kind of spiraling out of control.”

“I don’t know why you’re worrying, Claire,” said Darci. “We want people talking about Jim getting abducted. It doesn’t matter if the world outside Arcadia doesn’t have all the facts. They still know he’s been taken away without a trial, and that’s all that’s important. Besides, Jim doesn’t want the whole world knowing about Trolls, right?”

She nodded. “As long as this works, I’ll be happy.” 

“And sensationalist stories like this blow up for like a week, and then they die out and are forgotten. This won’t last.” Mary waved her hand. “It should work long enough to get Jimmy Jam out though.” Then she squealed. “OMG you know what we should do?! We should totally have a welcome home party! Or-or a parade! Like they have for veterans!” 

“Mary, I don’t think—“ 

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it! You’re not the only one with ties to the city!” And she hurried off, texting frantically. 

“What’s up Claire? I would have thought you’d be ecstatic the hashtag went viral.” Asked Toby. 

“Don’t get me wrong, I am happy. And I’m happy that Snapper Karr chalked the troll thing up to local legend or superstition…but I can’t help but worry that something bad is going to come out of this.” 

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. It’s just a gut feeling.” She scoffed and went to her locker. “It’s dumb, don’t worry about it.” 

No sooner had she said that, did Strickler appear. “Claire, Toby, come with me.” 

“What?” 

“I’ve already spoken with your teachers, now come along.” 

Claire and Toby shared a look, but followed regardless.

—

They were led to the parking lot, where a black van with tinted windows waited, a huge red flag, if there ever was one. 

“Umm…” said Toby. 

“Don’t worry.” Strickler assured. 

A man in an army uniform stepped out of the driver seat. “Walter, good to see you again.”

“Glad to see you as well, Samuel. And thank you for following through with your promise.” 

“As I said, this is the most interesting thing to happen in a while.” He glanced at the two teenagers in attendance. “We’re just waiting for his mother, correct?” 

“She should be here soon.”

Toby muttered to Claire, “Who’s Jorgen Von Strangle over here?”

“No idea.”

And just like that, Barbara pulled into the parking lot, haphazardly parked, and ran over to them, still in her scrubs. “I came as soon as I could! We’re going to get Jim?!” 

“What?!” Screamed Toby. “We’re rescuing him?!” 

“That is the goal,” the man answered. “I’m General Samuel Attila. I’ve been given authorization to intervene in this situation, given that this project, whatever it is, hasn’t been officially recorded. But, bear in mind, you may not like what you see. We may be bringing home Jim, or just his body. I don’t know. So if anyone is uncomfortable with that idea, I suggest you stay behind.” 

“I’m going,” Said Toby. “No matter what.” 

“Me too,” said Claire. “It’ll hurt, but I want to know what happened to him.” 

“Alright, then let’s hurry. The facility is about an hour away.” He ushered everyone into the van, which had two front seats, two benches along the walls, and a gurney in the middle. As soon as everyone was buckled, they headed out.

“Hey, if you know Mr. Strickler, does that mean you’re a…?” 

“A what, Toby?” Asked Walt, with a hint of amusement in his tone. 

“A…man of culture?”

“Yes, I am a changeling.” 

Toby exhaled. “Okay, it’s like super hard to ask that question when you don’t know who knows, you know?” 

“I owe the Trollhunter a debt of gratitude for stopping Gunmar. After he ate the entirety of the Janus order, we the few that weren’t present for his return stayed in hiding. Had Gunmar taken over the world, my death as a traitor would have been slow and painful. We were thinking about sending him a thoughtful gift basket, but I think this is more fun. I love to bully those in lower ranks. The fleshbags get a few pretty badges and think they’re invincible. I love watching them cower!” 

Toby leaned closer to Claire. “He was so nice and helpful, I was beginning to wonder if he was actually a changeling.” 

“Same! But I actually feel better knowing he’s got ulterior motives, and that they have nothing to do with us.” 

“Have you heard from Nomura lately?” Samuel asked Walter. 

“She was in Arcadia for a while. She helped with the fight with Gunmar. Right now, I believe she’s on her way back from New Jersey.” 

“New Jersey? What was she doing out there?”

“After Morgana and Gunmar destroyed the Heartstone, Jim and Blinky went in search of a new one.”

“Oh, yes. I forgot there were rumors of a source in New Jersey. Did they find it?” 

“Yep,” said Claire. “But it wasn’t very big, so we brought it back to Arcadia in a truck. The rest of the tribe is making their way back on foot.”

“Ah, that explains it.” Samuel nodded. “You’re both very lucky. Not many Changeling’s are allowed in Trollmarket.” 

“Now that Gunmar’s out of the picture, I’m sure you could visit too!” Toby exclaimed, before getting elbowed in the gut by Claire. 

“It’d be nice to see it once. I’m sad I didn’t get to see the Heartstone in its glory, but such is life.”

The rest of the ride continued in relative silence. Strickler and Samuel spoke to each other, mostly catching up. But Toby, Claire, and Barbara were far too anxious to keep up with the conversation. 

There were no windows in the back of the vehicle, so there was no way of knowing where they were. From the front, they looked to be in a weaving forest trail. 

Then there were huge cement walls in front of them. 

Samuel pulled in the front gate. 

The man at the gate didn’t look up from his computer. “You’re not authorized to be here.” 

“Excuse me?”

“I don’t recognize your vehicle, so I know you don’t have clearance.” 

Samuel sat up a little straighter, glaring at the soldier at the gate. “How about you scan my badge first, and then tell me if I have clearance, Lieutenant.” 

The soldier gave a little shrug and reached out for the badge, his eyes widening as he caught a glance at the four stars on the man’s shoulder. “Oh.” 

“Problem?”

“No, sir. I just…I don’t need to scan your badge, you can go in.” 

“Thank you. At ease soldier.” 

Toby held back a snicker.

“And, let Colonel Kubritz know she has company.” 

“Yes sir.” 

“As you were.” 

The gate rolled open, and they pulled through. 

It seemed like Samuel’s message was received pretty quickly, because the woman that had taken Jim was waiting for them, flanked by soldiers with strange weapons. 

“Stay in the car.” He told everyone, before getting out. 

“I was not aware of any sort of inspection. You are not my commanding general, and therefore not welcome here. This facility holds highly dangerous equipment and confidential projects.”

“Stand down, Colonel. I am here on behalf of general Adele. I’m here to recover Jim Lake Jr. General Adele will be speaking to you about your discharge.” 

“What are you talking about?” She demanded. 

“You kidnapped a teenage boy from a hospital. Surely you didn’t think that wouldn’t go unnoticed? I have video evidence of you leaving the hospital with him.” 

“He’s not a normal boy—“ 

“I’d say so! His whole town is hailing him as a hero for saving them from an invasion! I thought this facility was for research on protecting Earth from invaders. And you’re punishing a boy for saving a town?” 

“He also destroyed it. Don’t give into their little campaign. Jim Lake Jr. may have done something good once, but that doesn’t stop him from being a monster.” 

“I was just in Arcadia, Colonel. There is no damage. There’s no lawsuits against Jim Lake Jr. There’s not even any pending arrests.” 

“I have video evidence of his destruction!” She barked. 

“Then let the local police handle it.” 

She growled, then commanded her men to stand down. “Fine. But if he does this again, no one will stop me from taking him.” 

“Actually,” he clarified with a smirk. “You’re being discharged. So you won’t have any means to take him again.” 

Her mouth opened in shock, as she fought to find an argument. 

But he was a general, he was above her. 

“Now, Jim Lake Jr.?” 

She grumbled something and started off towards a big central building.

Samuel was quick to beckon the others out of the car to follow him, and headed towards the same building as Kubritz. 

When Barbara reached them, she spoke, “you didn’t hurt my son, did you?” 

Kubritz didn’t even look at her. “I don’t have to share information with civilians.” 

Claire clenched her fists in anger, a black haze coming over her hands. 

But Toby simply patted her on the back to ground her. 

Colonel Kubritz led them through the research facility, ignoring their questions. 

They reached the room Jim was being held in, and she entered her code to open the door. 

Of course, Jim wasn’t the only thing in the room, being surrounded by specimens of all sorts of living creatures, but he was right in the center, with a spot light right on him. 

“Jim!” Claire shouted first as she ran to him. 

The poor boy was naked, lying on his back and strapped to the table with thick iron bonds. His wound from Morgana wasn’t the worst on him anymore, as he was covered in blackened burned spots. The spot that had the amulet was now just a hole in his chest, that went right down to the ribs. Claire could see his heart beating, and his lungs moving, thank god. 

“Jim...” she cried, seeing the carnage. 

“What did you do to him?!” Toby shouted at the Colonel, but she didn’t respond. 

“Honey? Jim? Can you hear me?” Barbara asked, as she assessed the damage. 

His eyes opened ever so slightly. “Mom? Is that you? Are you...really here?” 

“Yeah kiddo,” she wiped some tears from her eyes. “It’s me, I’m here. Toby, Claire, and Walt are here too. We’re going to take you home.” 

His smile was just a hint, and he stated, “I’m tired.” 

“I’m sure you are. We’re going to get you fixed up!” She turned to the Colonel. “Get me a gurney or a wheelchair!” 

She scoffed. “I don’t take orders from civilians.” 

Samuel interceded. “Then get me a soldier who isn’t completely incompetent! If you’re going to continue to endanger the life of this young man, then I suggest you get out of my sight before I endanger yours.” 

The Colonel didn’t waver, though a tremor went down her spine. “Lieutenant!” She called. 

A man hurried into the room, standing at attention.

Kubritz just gave a roll of the eyes. “Follow whatever order the general gives you.” 

“But—“ 

“No, I’m done.” With one last glare to Samuel, she added, “I'll be sending my evidence to General Adele, then we’ll see who’s the one putting the nation in danger.” 

“Go ahead, I’ve already given my report.”

She growled at him, turned and left without another word. 

The lieutenant just stood at attention in front of Samuel instead. “Orders sir?”

“Get someone to fetch the gurney from the back of our van, and send for the medic! And get someone to get these shackles off this kid!” 

“Sir yes sir!” 

Meanwhile, Claire stood right by Jim’s side, holding his hand, brushing the bangs away from his face and combing his hair with her fingers. He had a pretty strong fever. 

“You’re going to be alright Jim. We’re going to take good care of you.” 

“I’m…cold…” He breathed. 

Barbara found some vinyl gloves nearby and got to work examining her boy. “I don’t know about the Troll half, but this tissue looks alright. I don’t see any infection yet, or any tissue death. Of course, we need to get this covered immediately.” 

“Where’s the amulet?” Asked Walt. “That’s what’s missing.” 

“The amulet!” Barbara addressed Samuel. “His amulet, we have to find it!” 

He nodded, “we can’t let these psychos have it. They have no idea what magic it possesses, even without being the chosen wielder.” 

Only a beat passed before the army medic came with the gurney, and another soldier came with a crowbar to undo the shackles. 

“Lieutenant, we’re looking for an amulet that came with Jim. It’s what’s missing from his chest.” 

The Lieutenant blanched. “I don’t know anything about it…I can ask the Colonel?”

“She won’t tell.” 

The shackles fell free from Jim’s limbs, but he didn’t seem to register it. 

“Alright,” said Barbara, “Let’s move him onto the gurney. We can worry about the amulet later.” It took everyone to lift him and carefully slide him over. Then, he was covered up to his stomach with a blanket. 

“You’re going home, Jim. Mi amor, you’re safe now.” Claire whispered, kissing his forehead. 

“Hmm…” Jim weakly groaned. “…for the…glory…” But before he could finish, he fell back into sleep.

[arcadiaoaksusedbooks]

♡ Bular x Nadia (we need a ship name...)

SEND ME ♡ + A SHIP AND I’LL TELL YOU…

Hmm, I haven't been able to think of one. Bulia? Nadlar? B&W (black and white, because color schemes?)? War And Peace? Checkmate?

Who is the most affectionate? Nadia, by a long shot, but Bular can get affectionate when he's in the mood.

Who initiates the handholding? Nadia! She's more open to feelings and getting touchy-feely before Bular is.

Who worries more for the other? Nadia, the mom friend! When is she NOT worrying about Bular?

Who is more likely to ask for help? Both are pretty stubborn about asking for help, but Nadia would crack first once she realizes that nothing she does by herself works.

Who is the one always losing the keys? Both are pretty good at keeping track of their things. But since Nadia actually HAS keys, it would be her.

Who leaves little love notes for the other? Nadia, but rather than love notes, it's little gifts or snacks to eat here and there.

Who can’t sleep unless the other is there? Both are pretty used to sleeping alone, but when it comes to sleeping together, Nadia tends to drift off to sleep first.

Who is more likely to propose to the other? Mmm... Nadia is the queen of slow burn as well as old fashioned. Bular is probably never going to ask. But I predict the first one to crack would be Nadia.

Who introduced the other to their family first? Of the two, Nadia has family, so she'd introduce Bular to her kids and sisters. Which... probably wouldn't go well. All of them hate Bular and Gunmar.

Who is more likely to play with the other’s hair? Nadia plays with Bular's mane ALL the time! Once she's told to stop braiding his hair, she'll twirl the longer strands under her fingers to make curls. Bular isn't usually in the mood to play with Nadia's hair, but there's so much of it, and she wouldn't mind as long as he doesn't cut anything.

Who makes sure the other has meals/stays hydrated? Nadia is usually providing the food, while Bular makes sure both have clean water to drink from the river.

Who is more likely to stand up to anyone for the other? Nadia, 100%. She'll defend his time for a second chance, and protect him from the others. Bular would certainly come to Nadia's defense if anything happened to her. ((But one has to wonder, since Nadia is canon divergent as is the one who made Killahead Bridge to trap Gunmar, if Gunmar ordered Bular to kill Nadia, would he?))

Who is the most likely to prepare a surprise for the other? Nadia makes it a point to bring a good surprise almost every day. But Bular might get her something nice if he finds something.

Who makes the other pinky promise not to do certain things? Nadia, since humans invented the pinky promise, but if Bular was serious about something, it would call for a troll pact.

Who puts a blanket over the other when they fall asleep on the couch? Bular, if he ever found Nadia passed out from all the busy work she does.

[gotmilk5101520]

Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia Watch Episode 13 The Battle of Two Bridges (Part 1)

Of course the finale is 2 parts. Cause why not?

“Maybe you should stay in bed, Arcadia” That’s what i do everyday.

“Master Jim, you must listen to me very carefully”

“They’ve captured me and want you to come to the Bridge...”

“Alone”

“DON’T COME IT’S A TRAP!” “Give me that!”

“It appears things have grown awkward, Mr. Lake”

“Meet me in the alley beside the theater if you ever want to see your friend again”

“DON’T OPEN THE BRIDGE! UNDER NO CIRCUMSTAN-” Classic.

“Here”

“I picked it up in the woods after they dragged you away”

“I thought since we found it together, we’d always be in this together”

“Can you believe it? Wile E Coyote!”

“You have good friends”

“One even stayed by your side all night”

“Yeah, there’s really no one like Toby”

“Actually, it was a girl”

“She said her name was Claire”

“Huh...” Psst. Where are the fanfics?

“The truth, Jim”

“Those scratches weren’t from coyotes”

“I swear! You can ask Claire”

“Stop lying to me!”

“You come home from school covered in bruises”

“Sneak out in the middle of the night”

“Get arrested for a silly Chubby Tracker?”

“I know you’re angry, but-”

“Angry?”

“I’m not angry and i’m long past worried”

“I’m terrified!”

“You’re young and you think you’re invincible”

“But one of these days, you’re gonna...”

“Find out you’re not”

“We all do”

“Please, tell me what is happening to my son”

“I found this in a cookbook”

“It’s... still sealed”

“Whatever is happening, whatever it is you’re afraid to say”

“I want you to tell me, face to face”

“Believe it or not, there was a time when you used to share everything with me”

“Fine” “Mom...”

“If that’s the way you feel, your doctor has discharged you, Mr. Lake”

“Good luck at the play”

“Mom, i’m sorry”

*Cries in Troll*

“You are walking into a den of death”

“For what?”

“Blinky?”

“I’d do the same for you”

Jim would do the same for Steve.

“Uh... If anything goes wrong, if it means anything”

“I hope you’re the next Trollhunter”

“I am Draal, son of Kanjigar”

“And the amulet’s rightful heir!”

“You cannot be the Trollhunter! You’re a boy!”

“I am the son of Kanjigar!”

“And i hope it won’t come to that”

“I get that i need to act normal and everything”

“because, hey”

“now trolls exist” And she’s not talking about Internet Trolls.

“And, Claire, thanks for saving my life in the woods”

“You find my brother and we’ll call it even” Haha... Yeah.

“Drama queen?”

“You’re the drama queen, mister!”

“Claire-bear, come on! Let’s keep it crispy”

“Say “Crispy” one more time!”

“Oh! Save that fire for the stage, you two!” 10/10 imitation.

Suddenly Strickler, and, no one is there, but after something passes by someone’s suddenly there cliche.

Okay, how come Jim didn’t bring an umbrella, or Strickler gets him one? Jim is getting more wet than i am when i get out of the shower. Hell he’s getting more wet than Claire when Jim bec- Eh, never mind.

“Just between you and me”

“When Gunmar rules the surface, i’ll do my best to look after your mother”

“So kind of you” Hey at least he volunteered.

“He won’t come, Bular”

”Jim is a trained and true Trollhunter”

Spoke too soon.

“Oh, Master Jim”

“Why did you not heed my warning?”

“You promised we’d build that Vespa together. Remember?”

“I thought perhaps one day we could build it together”

“No, Master Jim, don’t do this!”

“If you release Gunmar and his Gumm-Gumm army, you will be unleashing darkness! The world will not survive Gunmar’s reign!”

“One troll’s life is hardly worth putting everyone at risk!”

“Think about Trollmarket!”

“Your friends!”

“Your own mother!”

“I trained you better than this!”

“For the glory of Merlin, not another step!”

“He’s wearing a tracking device”

“You said the Trollhunter was alone”

“Not Trollhunter”

“Trollhunters!”

“I am Toby! Grandson of Nana!”

“Fan of hard rock!”

“Tobias, this isn’t the ti-” “No, no, no. I like this song”

“Sorry. Wrong playlist”

“Hold on one second”

“Oh, okay, here it is!” “But i liked the other one”

Okay, now we can fight.

“I am Draal the Deadly, son of Kanjigar”

“And you will suffer for my father’s death!” “I didn’t kill your father! He jumped off the bridge himself!”

“I didn’t mean to do that!”

“Bad baby!”

Kicking the gremlin.

“Toby Domzalski!”

“You are in way over your-”

“Rule number 3!” Always kick them in the gronk-nuks.

“I never doubted you for a moment!” Yeah, he was not panicking a minute ago. He knew what was happening.

“So, this is how a pacifist fights”

Goblin with a mustache count: 5

“Waka chaka!”

“No, this is”

“Not again!” Nomura can’t escape the goblins.

“What is taking so long, Tobias? Are you using the sharp side?”

“I know how a knife works”

“Oh shoot”

“Okay, there we go”

Always make sure you’re using the right side of the knife, kids.

“Care to rekindle what we had, Draal?”

“Rekindle this!” “Okay, seriously, what was your relationship in the past?” “I asked Nomura this last episode, Young Atlas, but she didn’t answer” “Does Bular know?” “No i do not!” “Goddamn it, does someone know?”

Jim, how about a little warning next time.

“Oh, no”

“Waka chaka!” Hey, that was Jim’s fault.

To be continued

Part 2

[akozuheiwa]

What do you think would be angstier: Trollhunter!Aja and Changeling!Krel or Changeling!Aja and Trollhunter!Krel? (This assumes that Fialkov and Coranda are normal humans, btw)

Bold of you to assume, first of all, that I couldn't make both of them equally, horribly, beautifully angsty. There are SO MANY WAYS both of these could be played. Both of these will be assuming that the changeling sibling is aware that they're a changeling and an active part of the Janus Order. It got hella long so it’s under a read more to hopefully save your dashes.

I'll start with Trollhunter Aja and changeling Krel. Aja is, in true Aja fashion, thrilled to have been selected for this awesome, sacred duty, and if Krel wasn’t there for the finding of the amulet he’s immediately told. Krel, meanwhile, is quite horrified, because like it or not he's gotten quite attached to his familiar's sister. He'd had this whole plan; get far enough into Gunmar's good graces that he could get Aja and the parents spared. No amount of being in Gunmar's good graces is going to get her spared if she's the Trollhunter, though. No, now he needs a back-up plan and fast, before Aja figures out about changelings and before anyone figures out that Aja's the Trollhunter. That goes about as well as expected, because Bular sees them together and then it's all over.

So, obviously Bular's like, well, you're in the perfect spot to kill her and take the amulet. There are a couple of problems here. First of all, Krel knows that, changeling or not, he could not take on Aja in a fight. Problem two – the main one, the one preventing him from killing her in her sleep or something – Krel likes Aja. Krel doesn't want to kill Aja. He's broken all the rules in the changeling book and gotten woefully attached to his familiar's family. As far as he’s concerned, she’s his sister and he can’t kill her.

So he starts fabricating all sorts of failed “attempts” to kill Aja, which makes him look incredibly useless but keeps her alive. He also does his best to get in the way of Bular and his fellow changelings. He claims most of the time that he’s trying to keep his cover, and all of that, and he’s smart enough to be able to have believable excuses most of the time – and then his cover is blown. Like in canon with Strickler, when Gunmar doubts his loyalties, Bular finds a way to reveal him to Aja.

The fall-out is – bad. Aja is crushed by the fact that the person who she thought was her brother is actually a changeling and betrayed her. Krel’s stuck with a choice – tell Aja he’s been on her side this whole time or let her believe he’s a traitor. If he wants to keep protecting her, he has to let her believe they’re on opposite sides. He can only protect her in secret, because in his mind he’s not strong enough to do so out in the open. So he runs away, lets her think he’s one of the bad guys, lets the bad guys think he’s one of them.

Of course, since it’d be me writing, it would all go terribly horribly wrong. Krel wouldn’t be able to keep his double-crossing a secret for too long. I think Gunmar might end up giving him a task that there’s no way he could fail – not sure what – so he’d be forced to give up his charade. Or maybe Bular, upon finding out, would simply try to kill him. In that case, I think Strickler, maybe, would get him out under Bular’s nose and bring him to Aja.

Aja is initially wary, and maybe she thinks it’s a trick, but ultimately this is still the Krel she grew up with and now she’s hearing that he’s been protecting her all this time. She’s tried to kill him and he’s been protecting her. Once he gets better, Krel will rejoin Team Trollhunters (which at the moment may… just be Aja and Blinky and Aaarrrgghh!!! to be honest) and instead of working from the shadows, he’ll use his intelligence to help. Trollmarket is wary to trust him, so that’s rough, but Aaarrrgghh!!! and Blinky trust him if Aja does.

Now since that’s gotten long I’m gonna switch to Trollhunter Krel and changeling Aja. I had a lot of fun thinking of this one especially. To, you know, up the angst in this one, Krel does not immediately tell Aja. Because it’s me, we’re going to go ahead and say that a Krel raised on Earth has been friends with Seamus for a while, so it’s actually Seamus who’s with him when he finds the amulet. Krel decides pretty quickly not to tell Aja and makes Seamus swear not to tell her also.

Aja, meanwhile, finds out that the amulet has chosen a human. She does not know which human. She does notice Krel and Seamus acting strangely, but after some careful thought she determines the obvious explanation: they’re dating and don’t want it getting out to Seamus’s father. That settles her mind, because there’s no way Krel could be the Trollhunter. It’s Krel! So she keeps an eye on the rest of her classmates even though she kind of doubts it’s a teenager.

So Aja’s busy being convinced Krel can’t possibly be the Trollhunter, and Krel’s busy actually being the Trollhunter with Seamus’s help. It goes… surprisingly smoothly. Krel’s able to use his tech skills and intelligence to his advantage. Now, of course, you might be wondering about the whole Not-Enrique plot that I forgot to think about in the Trollhunter Aja part. Well, the way I’ve envisioned this AU, Coach and Steve’s mom got together a good it earlier. And Steve just became a big brother. So baby Palchuk-Lawrence gets taken and replaced with a changeling.

Krel, like Jim in canon, catches them taking the baby and finds a little stuffed bear and brings it to school. Seamus immediately recognises it, and he’s like, “Oh, yeah, that was Steve’s when he was little but he gave it to – oh, no.” So, much like Claire, Steve gets dragged into the Trollhunter business because of his little brother. We’d probably get a beautifully ironic comment from Krel about how he can’t imagine finding out his sibling was secretly a changeling.

Okay, so, anyway! Cut to that fun battle of Killahead! Aja still doesn’t know about Krel, but she obviously is supposed to be there to open the bridge and welcome Gunmar. She knows the Trollhunter will be showing up. Krel knows it’s a trap, and much like in canon, he has his backup ready to join him. So Krel gets there. And Aja is in human form. So that’s how they both find out, Aja that Krel is the Trollhunter, Krel that his sister is actually a changeling. He’s understandably shaken and betrayed. Aja is incredibly alarmed to find out her brother is her enemy.

The fight… happens. Similar to in canon. Aja probably really doesn’t want to hurt Krel, but Krel – I mean, we saw Krel after it came out that Varvatos betrayed him. He doesn’t take to kindly to betrayal. Anyway, the Trollhunters win. But, instead of Nomura getting sucked into the Darklands, it’s Aja. Krel is understandably cut up about this. They have to find an excuse for his parents, and Krel’s really not sure what to say. I’m thinking Steve gets the war-hammer and Seamus gets the shadow-staff, so that would also be really fun when we get to the Morgana stuff. But, anyway, ultimately, when it comes to the season one finale, a lot of Krel’s motivation to go into the Darklands is to save Aja.

This got really long but I love both of these ideas so I got carried anyway. Hope this is the sort of answer you were hoping for, and sorry it took so long to get to! <3