#toby dershowitz

[moumouart]

I think that might be uncle jack

[two-sides-of-the-same-smexy-coin]

Top Trollhunters NOVEL goths (not to be confused with the show)

1. That troll with all that Coraline shit (needles for the teeth)

2. James Struges Senior-steampunk king that I can definitely see as the next tumblr sexyman

3. Toby, for dressing in all black

Jim, Jack, and Claire are more grunge

Original Gunmar does not make the list

Happy Halloween!

[yellowmagicalgirl]

Toby Dershowitz: Who are you?

Toby Domzalski: I'm you, but I have an awesome warhammer.

Book!Blinky: Who are you?

Show!Blinky: I'm you but I can actually see.

Johanna Mmm AAARRRGGHH!!!: Who're you?

Show!AAARRRGGHH!!!: You, but was Gumm-Gumm. And am male.

Claire Fontaine: Who are you?

Claire Nuñez: I'm you, but I'm Latina and use magic. I also got possessed.

Claire Fontaine: But are you a Trollhunter?

Claire Nuñez: Arguably yes.

Jim Sturges Jr: Who are you?

Jim Lake Jr: I'm you, but I have a magic sword and suit of armor. I also gave up my ability to live a normal human life so I could defeat Gunmar.

Jim Sturges Jr: ...are you sure you're not my Uncle Jack instead?

[mitamicah]

Spoilers from both Trollhunters the book and Trollhunters the series!

While reading the book I was really impressed with how many differences there were between the character so I have worked on giving my take on six characters from both media, book vs series, and how they differ from each other :3 

I should mention that while there was illustrations in the book I tried for the challenge not to copy those but follow along the describtions in the book - when possible - to give my own interpretation of the characters ^v^ 

Steve

First up we have Steve. Starting out as the stereotypical bully in both version their paths seperates quickly resulting in two different ending for the musuclar blond Jorgensen-Warner is the book version of Steve. Here's how he is described from our first encounter with him: "He was handsome but in the oddest way- He eyes were too small and his nose piggish: he had a ridiculous amount of hair and a couple of teeth that looked like fangs. Yet somehow in combination these features were sort of mesmerising. His unnatural muscular bulk and odd way of speaking -crisply, politely, as if he were a foreign student who had learned English in class - completed the strange package." page 21-22 For his outfit I went with the description of him on page 224 "[my clothes] ... didn't cast me in the best light when compared to Steve Jorgensen-Warner, who looked rather rakish in blue jeans and a shirt - definitely not a blouse - opened to the third button. He dribbled the ball casually with his left hand." The bold passages is added by me   This Steve is later revealed to be a changeling aka a troll   Before we go on: can any of you explain to me what a "ridiculous amount of hair" even means :'D? I had a lot of trouble with this prompt because isn't this so darn subjective :'D? and the official art look way less ridiculous than I'd figure it'll be :'D x'D Palchuk is the series version of Steve. His facial appearance being way less specific (I'd say he has normal sized eyes, a big roman nose and some more or less normal teeth) and his way of speaking is definitely not polite. Like book Steve, this Steve starts out with pushing smaller guys into lockerrooms yet after that he becomes way less of a terrifying bully and much more of a silly goose who brings a lot of the comic relief in my opinion Douxie says it best in Wizards when he calls Steve the "village idiot" x'D I do not recall seeing Steve being that sporty in the show, he is much more interested in becoming homecoming king  no basketballs around x'D While book Steve is revealed to be the enemy (a troll) series Steve joins the "good guys" creating the creepslayerz with the character Eli Pepperjack

Blinky

Blinky is just called Blinky in the book  Here's a bit of description of him "The third [troll] had scarlet eyes, eight of them on long stems. (...) The thing from my house glided toward me with a surprising grace for something with an indetermined number of legs, all of which were hidden behind a patched kilt scaled with layers of medals, prizes and trophies and award ribbons. An incalculable tangle of tentacles twined around one another as if dying to squeese something to death. As it passed the oven, the firelight revealed olive-green skin, reptilian texture, and lacquer of slime lubricating its undulating appendages Its moth a horizontal gash.. " The bold passages is added by me   So yeah this Blinky is quite something :'D I stopped caring to draw tentacles after a while but overall this was silly but fun to draw  since his teeth later is described as big as traffic cones I believe he must be very tall :'D Also he's close to blind   Has a bit of a dirty mouth but in a very "read" way if it makes sense :'D cannot seem to stop calling Jim dimwitted and tiny and Tobias big :'D Blinky's full name in the series is Blinkus Galadrigal  he has six eyes instead of eight and they are all working just fine, thank you very much x'D His tons of tentacles and legs has been replaced by four arms and two legs and while he is still olive-green he is now made of tone like texture just like the other trolls  the kilt turned into shorts and he is quite a bit smaller now not even as tall as Jim  He still has this very academic way of speaking yet he is way nicer to Jim calling him "Master Jim" instead of "the short one" x'D

ARRRGH!!!

Book ARRGHHH!!!s full name is Johannah Mmmm ARRRGH!!! and she is a pretty big deal warrior among the trolls in the book - she's so badass in fact Blinky has decided to call her by her last name to honor her for her deeds for trollkind   Here's a qoute from the book describing her appearance   "The goliath emerged from the tunnel as comfortably as a dog from a doghouse, coarse black fur pouring into the chamber before I could make out any actual arms or legs (...) Even beneath the fur I could see loops of muscles flexing. (...) ARRRGH!!! was built like a gorilla but three times larger: Two arms, two legs, and, thankfully, just two eyes. Horns, curled like those of a ram (...) The thing's orange eyes cast about with animal perceptiveness, and it used its snout and sniffed. Its jaws fell open to reveal a purple, slavering mouth armed with haphazard daggers of teeth." Page 75-76 The bold passages is added by me   (Also worth mentioning: the qoute is from before the protagonist knows of ARRRGH!!!'s gender which is why he calls her an 'it') At other times in the story we learn that ARRRGH! has quite scarred arms and really wishes for better tooth hygeine; so much so that Tobias actually end up making her a brace out of chicken wire :'D Idk I find it quite adorable :'D Now unto the serie's ARRRGH!!! - first up he is male, his name is Arghaumont and he is famous for another reason than Johannah: he was a general of Gunmar but retreated from the war making him a traitor to his people yet a hero for the good trolls in the series. Series ARRRGH!!! is likewise built like a gorilla but made of stone and having a mane long and green like it is moss ��his horns is way smaller and less curvy and his teeth hygeine is never brought up  also his face is way less dog like x'D 

Tobias 

Book Tobias' full name is Tobias M. Dershowitz yet he is going by 'Tubby' or 'Tub'. Here is a describtion of him from the book: "You could call Tobias Dershowitz chubby, if you were being cute, or husky if you were being diplomatic. The fact is he was fat, and that was only the beginning of his problems. His hair was a thick, orange, out-of-control hedge. His face spilled over with the kind of freckles that make kids like Tub look like overgrown toddlers. Worst of all were his braces, marvels of modern torment: whips of stainless steel crisscrossing each tooth seperately and lashed to a dozen silver fasteners. The braces clicked so much when he spoke, you expected sparks. At least he was tall..." page 27 The bold passages is added by me   The outfit I went with is described on page 259 like this: "He stood in the driveway decked out in his best approximation of a ninja: black tennis shoes, black sweatpants, a black hoodie, a belt made from a red curtain sash, and an oversize fanny pack holding his gear (...) It was unfortunate that the fanny pack was lime green..." To describe Tub is a bit difficult because sadly he is not much in the story as I'd liked - mostly he is being quite serious and let us know he is not happy by being sidelined not speaking troll nor being invited on hunts which I completely understand tbh :'D What I do find interesting is how Tub and series Jim has seem to have switched roles a little bit: In the series Jim is the one giving a speech about how he is insecure about his place in life and how he wants more - in the book this is Tub in more than one occassion: "We have to accept who we are. And before you ask, I'll tell you. We're nobody. We have no life. We have nothing to look forward to. We're not special. I just want it to go away. All of it. The stupid being scared. Doesn't it seem we've been scared forever?" page 37 "Jim, you're wrong. We were meant to do this. This is exactly what we've been waiting for. They've chosen us. Of all people! Us! (...) Jesus, Jim, take a look at my life! You know what I'm worth! To anyone? Zero! Nothing! I'm a fat loser and will always be a fat loser. Until this. This is like a present. Full of, man, I don't know. Hope?..." page 196 (talking about trollhunting here btw) Oh yeah and book Tobias gets this badass scene where he uses his dentist's tool to kill trolls I loved that   Now series Tobias is way different :'D first up his name is Tobias Domzalski and his nicknames are Toby and Tobes. He is way shorter and has more neat hair (what is it with the series neating up the hair :'D? x'D). He also seems way cheerier and pretty happy with his place in life more or less  Unlike Tub, Toby is in it from the start being an important player in the story   He doesn't have the same drive to be something more than he is as Tub has instead Toby is going with the flow starting out quite afraid of everything troll and ended up being as brave as the rest of the team *tbh Jim's scared out of his wits too so they mimic each other x'D* Where Tub has dentist tools Toby gets a badass hammer so I'll say its an upgrade  

Claire

First off we have Claire Fontaine, a foreign student from no other than Scotland with a taste for military clothing and liqourice   Here's how she's described in the book   "She tucked her long dark hair behind her ear and left ir with an adorable smudge of white dust. I thought she was beautiful, though she wasn't in the classic sense. The popular girl would say she wasn't skinny enough. They would also point to the fact that she didn't wear makeup or do anything to tame that hair. And her clothes -well, what could be said about her clothes? Her boots were not sexy and knee-high: in fact, they were ankle-high and rubber-soled and looked picked from military surplus racks, an array of pea-green coats and multi-coloured slacks, all of which looked as if they'd been through actual World War II combat. And that beret she wore before and after school wasn't of the look-at-me-I'm Frensh variety: it was more in the style of I'm-going-to-invade-your-country-and-be-your-new-dictator. Only one thing didn't make sense: that bright pink, exceedingly girlish backpack that inexplicably hadn't one anti-establidh patch sewn onto it (...) Oh, I forgot to mention that Claire Fontain came from the UK. That's right- the girl had an accent. I think you are starting to get the picture." page 30-1 The bold passages is added by me It is hinted at that Claire is quite tall and a great deal taller than Jim (more when I get to him) and she is actually a whole year older than Jim since they both have birthday May 2 but Claire is 16 while Jim is 15  Since Trollhunters in this story is not a "protected title" (aka the chosen hero type) Claire ends up being one herself even though nobody even herself didn't know: AND. SHE. KICKS. BUTT! She's even better than the guy that had 40+ years experience so yeah safe to say she's badass :'D Even before that she has a hilarious scene calling out Steve in the wildest shitstorm of Scottish slang I lived for it x'D She's described quite a few times with lots of bracelets, sometimes made of wire so I gave her a bit of both   She's not really a part of the popular group but has her own thing going on   Now onto Claire Nuñez the series' version of this badass   Here Claire is hispanic and pretty much one of the most popular girls seen around  her style is way more ... I've called it punk rock in purple but Idk exactly what to call it x'D she's shorter than Jim and slimmer looking than her book counterpart   She enters the story not as a trollhunter but as a victim of having her brother stolen by changelings and as time progresses she becomes a fastlearning and quite competent sorcerer dealing in shadow magic   Unlike Fontaine, Nuñes is seen wearing make up, shorter hair with dye in it and hair clips instead of bracelets  

Jim 

First up we have book Jim. His full name is James Sturges Jr. and lives with his single parent, his dad, after his mother went away the day before his birthday in start May and never returned. Sturges Sr. had been traumatized loosing his brother to trolls although none of the characters didn't know this yet - only Senior had seen the creatures making him paranoid and in turn making Jim very embarrased about his father. At the same time Jim seems to honestly worry for his father and his behavior too makes Jim very cautious and fearful a character. Book Jim is pretty much a typical teenager for the most part  He is seen to be a tad clumsy and not exactly brave really. And the author's choice of basically not describing him anywhere made my job way harder trying to be book accurate :'D So I've mostly inspired him of the official illustrations in the book   Here's what I could find about our little trollhunter   First off: he's a short fellow  that is first mentioned on page 14; "Sunshine is important for growing boys." (...) "I am not growing" I took after my dad when it came to size and was still waiting for that growth spurt everyone kept raving about. "In fact I think I'm shrinking." This is brought up most of everything Jim through the movie from him not being able to reach a point of a chalkboard (page 32) to people's dissapointing sighs taking meassurements when he is chosen as Romeo (107) and him wearing super high heels for the same reason (224) but also Blinky directly calling him a "little fellow" (page 127) On page 27 we learn that he is getting a bruise on his chin after being slammed into his locker by Steve  Lockers he has been thrown into enough to have learned to open them on the inside :'D He is a skinny fella which Tobias so politely call "lack of muscletone" due to "glandular" at page 120 He is not very good at anything describing his room full of stuff from hobbies he tried and failed at (page 63) The longest describtion about his appearance is probably page 105: "I lowered my eyes and regarded the chewed, dirty fingernails holding my script, thes scuffed shoes on my feet, and realized that these were the symbols of my pityful life: worn-out, insignificant, ready to be thrown beneath Dad's industrial mower" It pretty much says it all when this is the longest quite I could find :'D For the outfit I mostly went by the small describtion on page 89-90: "I tucked the medallion beneath my shirt. After a full day of wearing it, maybe the rest of the suffocating fear would go away too. My plan was to dart into the kitchen, grab my sweatshirt and be out of the house. " I added jeans since he is said to wear jeans on page 283 - the medallion sneak out beneath the sweatshirt/shirt on page 97 which is why I added it on top here as well   Now since there's a bit more to both versions of Jim due to their role as the protagonist I've added in a little extra features here being the medallion in the book vs the amulet in the series and the weaponry given to the characters   For Sturges we have the medallion who's described like this: "It was a bronze medallion conntected to a rusty chain. It was engraved with a foreboding crest: a hideous, snarling face; indecipherable markings of a sevage language, and a magnificent long-sword across the bottom." page 9 The medallion is treated like it is a common artefact if a bit rare in the book - its purpose is to translate trollspeak for the wearer. Jim is giving two swords in the book; a rusty longsword he calls Clairesword (do I need to explain this one?) and a cutlass he calls Cat #6 after the one cat at Tobias' house that liked Jim  x'D For Sturges' personality my feeling about him is that he is a bit more ... passive than his series counterpart. He is not really standing up for himself that much and would rather blend into the background. This qoute from Claire sums him up pretty nicely I believe   "You're a good person, Mr. Sturges. A bit gloomy, but good" page 246 I do like that Jim in this version is a Taurus  (I am a taurus too x'D) born on May 2nd so that's a plus   It is probably also worth mentioning that in this world trollhunters aren't a chosen hero type like in the series: trollhunters or paladin was once a title held by many warriors yet now there's very few left. Sturges was a proud paladin family making Jim a chosen candidate for the honor of becoming a trollhunter but he is not the only one - or even the best - in the book. In fact out of the three trollhunters we learn about I'll say Jim is the weakest (and he is not even the least trained; ouch :'D) Jim doesn't get a nice armour like his series counterpart either but is seen in the illustrations wearing a blue hoodie (like the one in the little doodle)   The full name of Jim in the series is James Lake Jr. He is the child of a single parent and lives with his mother whom Jim "mothers a lot" (Tobias' words in the first episode) This Jim is pretty "tall for his age" (Jim's own words uttered quite a few times across all three series) yet with quite skinny legs (he is called out for this by multiple characters). He is much more competent in life than his book counterpart being an exceptional cook, good at Spanish, seemingly alright in PE and at school he seems to stand pretty good if only holding himself back. Unlike book Jim, series Jim seems much more active and longing to be something more than he is - he is seen to be quite brave and protective of his friends, very kind and selfless. Also even from the start he seems much more nimble than his book counterpart being able to climb the robe (a feat book Jim didn't do before later) and with his training as trollhunter he becomes even more badass   Trollhunter status in the series is way more important since the title is given to only one chosen warrior of Merlin chosen by the amulet of daylight (the medallion in the book). This also makes the amulet way more special and important in the series which probably explains its shine up from rusty bronze thing to silver and blue. While Lake Jr doesn't have named sword he does have a magical armour and sword made of daylight   We do not know the exact birthday of Lake Jr but the creators have replied to a fanquestion saying it would be around fall especially October so by that estimate Jim is probably a scorpio  pretty far from the before mentioned taurus in the book   While Jim Lake Jr isn't seen with long lasting bruises in the original series he does get two more permanent scars in Wizards  

[sopafa]

Book Jim: Fatty! Fatty come here! Did you see it?

Book Toby: What?

Book Jim: Come closer. Look Points to the sewer

Book Toby: Gets closer

Book Jim: NOW do you see it?

Book Toby: I DO! omg, what is that?

Book Jim: A Monster.

Book Toby: Picks up a Chewed gum No, I believe is strawberry favour.

[yellowmagicalgirl]

Toby Dershowitz from the original novel is canonically Jewish (though he tries to pray the Our Father, once, in a life-threatening situation). You can probably argue that Toby and Nancy Domzalski are Jewish as well. (Speaking of Judaism, I'm 99% (lacking the 1% because I'm Catholic and thus don't have the firsthand experience) sure that it's a bad idea to headcanon Jim or any of the trolls as Jewish because he has horns by the end of the series and that's an Antisemitic trope).

Claire uses pencils to make a cross to try and protect herself from the floating message before she is broken from the illusion Morgana trapped her in, so this is further implication that the Nuñez family is Christian, likely Catholic.

I've headcanoned the trolls to not worship any gods, but rather folk heroes and possibly ancestors.

Sekros and Galen is a phrase multiple Akiridions have used, and I think they're implied to have created Akiridons as a species? So they might worship these people as a pair of gods.

Religion in ToA

As a Christian, I would love to know if any of our characters are religious in any way. I feel like Jim and Toby wouldn’t be. Claire, on the other hand, especially as a Latina girl, might be. Catholicism is an incredible huge and important part of Hispanic culture. This rings especially true in Mexico, where Claire’s family is from. So there’s a good chance her family at least is religious.

Outside of our human characters, I would love to know about religion amongst trolls and Akiridians. Do they have their own faith, or variety of faiths? It seems Akiridian 5 is smaller, with only one language. Do they have one universal religion? I would love to hear your thoughts and theories.

[spacegunmar]

poly bisexual troll murderer kids and Certified Nerd™ blinky

[narnian-neverlander]

So with the second season out, I decided it was about time to binge-read the Trollhunters book. I just finished and HOLY SHIT. It's very different from the show (not in a bad way, both are freaking amazing, much like the HttyD series), but my god, I've seen horror movies that were less terrifying to watch than this was to read. It's del Toro, I guess I shoud've expected it, but if you think the series is a "kid's show" not suited for kids, this thing is on another level. Let's take a look at some things out of the book compared to the show:

[SPOILER WARNING if you haven't read the book yet!]

(I'm sure I missed a few things, so feel free to add)

- Jim doesn't grow up with his mother, but his father, who's a paranoid wreck, desperately trying to protect his son after he watched his older brother being abducted by a troll when he himself was just 8 fucking years old

- Jim's first time in Trollmarket isn't filled with wonder and amazement and shit. OH HELL NO. Try the beginning of Spirited Away instead: A kid running for his life in an unfamiliar place filled with monsters beyond his imagination chasing after him

- The beautiful Trollmarket you know, all pretty with crytals and shit? Forget about it. Instead imagine an entire underground city out of mud, electrical wires, pipes, with sewage rivers and the garbage of the human world

- Trolls, in general, are fucking HORRIFYING. ALL of them. Even ARRRGH!!! and Blinky - especially them, actually, but I'll get to that in a second. Every troll looks like it's straight out of a goddamn horror movie, most of them walk around naked, gambling, alcohol and drug addiction are BIG with them and they're not afraid to... 'modify' themselves (like, I dunno, replace their teeth with sewing needles) and some of them vomit up their entire inner structure to walk around as floating skin pillow cases (it does make using yourself as a bag to kidnap babies much easier though, gotta hand it to them), all the while spraying satanic symbols onto the houses of their victims to fuck with the humans

- Blinky is still a scholar who likes to hear himself talk A LOT. But that's as far as the similarities go: He's a tentacle monster wearing some sort of skirt made out of medals and has 8 eyes, all mounted on different stems, all of them blind

- ARRRGH!!! is still a behemoth, always fighting for what's right. Just not as cute and fluffy. More like, most of the depictions of demons/devils: claws, fur, giant horns, rotten teeth, etc. Also, she was the one who took Gunmar's eye here, taking a boulder to the head in return, impairing her speech. And no, that's not a spelling error: ARRRGH!!! is a GIRL, her full name being Johannah Mmmm ARRRGH!!!

- She still dies, tough. Like, REALLY dies (as a hero on a bloody battlefield) with no chance of coming back

- Speaking of Gunmar's missing eye (The Eye of Malevolence): it's not just a tiny crystal, ready to be put into the amulet. It's a living, breathing thing as big as a basketball. It's used to spy on him by ARRRGH!!! but it really hurts her and works vice versa as well - you know, like fucking Sauron

- The amulet itself doesn't have any powers, besides being able to grant it's wearer the ability to understand the troll language, since humans aren't able to understand it otherwise, unless they learn it (for example, by spending 45 years underground with them, because you were kidnapped to be their champion when you were 13 and didn't have any other choice)

- Keeping that in mind, forget about the badass 'For the Glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to command!' and don't even think about 'For the Doom of Gunmar, Eclipse is mine to command!'. Instead, get used to this loser actually naming his two swords 'Claireblade' and 'Cat #6'

- All these theories about Jim being a descendant of Merlin and shit? Not that far off: He's part of a long lineage of warriors. There are several of these families, who have been fighting trolls since the beginning of time basically and their warriors are called paladins. Yet, trolls and those humans fighting alongside each other is still rare, it hadn't even happened yet until the first defeat of Gunmar in 1969. Jim is only the second human to fight with the trolls. Also, because of his bloodline, he's naturally skilled at fighting, even enjoys it - that's some Ackerman family shit right there, folks. Did I mention Claire (who's a junk-food loving, punk-y Scotswoman (still invested in theatre though) instead of the cute Spaniard from the show) turns out to be part of such a family as well?

- He still starts crying on his first mission - but that's probably because he had to slash apart a changeling in the middle of transformation (no fancy, flashing lights here, the body is built from the ground up, bones, muscles, flesh and everything, right before your eyes) and the goddamn thing sounded and looked like a HUMAN BABY

- Oh yeah: Steve's a motHERFUCKING CHANGELING

- By the end of it, the entire fucking town knows about trolls and trollhunters

And my personal favorite is this little gem, which, I shit you not, is a literal sentence out of the book:

"You put a troll fetus into my dad's mouth?"

[magic-and-moonlit-wings]

Trollhunters: “the book” versus “the books”

The Book

Trollhunters, a standalone horror-suspense novel by Daniel Krauss and Guillermo del Toro. It inspired the animated series produced by Dreamworks. 

This is the story people are usually referring to in Trollhunters fanfiction when they say they got an idea from the novel, or, the original novel. 

A general and spoiler-tastic summary: 

In San Bernardino, California, Jim Sturges Junior and his best friend Tobias ‘Tub’ Dershowitz discover trolls are real, and that Jim’s dad had legit reason for his paranoia because James Senior’s older brother Jack really had gotten stolen by monsters when they were kids. Jack works with the trolls, fighting Gunmar alongside Johanna M. ARRRGH!!! and Blinky, and has not aged since disappearing. 

Now they’re recruiting Jim because being a Trollhunter is a matter of genetic predisposition - the amulet is solely a translation device - and it looks like Gunmar’s going to escape from where Jack imprisoned him and they’re going to have to actually kill Gunmar this time, so they need all hands on deck. 

Jim’s crush, Claire Fontaine, is one of several kids who go missing in the next few weeks. Those kids are luckily rescued before they can be eaten, and it turns out Claire has the same genetic predisposition for Trollhunting. 

Gunmar spawns many unnamed babies on the football field during his attack on the surface. Jim’s dad acts as a cavalry in that scene, mowing them down with a landscaping vehicle. Steve Jorgensen-Warner, the school bully, is exposed as a Changeling when forced to touch a football helmet for the rival team, who use a horseshoe logo. We never do learn exactly what was up with Professor Lempke, but he was involved in the rebuilding of Killaheed Bridge (respelled as Killahead in the show) and implied to also be a Changeling. 

The Books 

Dreamworks Trollhunters Tales of Arcadia, a series of six novels by Richard Ashley Hamilton written as supplementary material to the animated series. 

These are the stories people are usually referring to in Trollhunters fanfiction when they say they got an idea from the novels, plural. 

A general and spoiler-tastic summary: 

The Adventure Begins: overlaps the first couple of episodes, Jim discovering the Amulet and becoming the Trollhunter. Also has some bonus scenes, like Kanjigar pleading with the Amulet not to pick Draal as Kanjigar falls to his death, and Jim’s knife-spinning trick being to dry the blade after cleaning it, and Barbara meeting Claire and Claire revealing Jim got the part of Romeo but learning Barbara didn’t know he was auditioning and Barbara promising to act surprised when Jim tells her. 

Welcome to the Darklands: in the start of the gap between Seasons 1 and 2, showing what the kids told Barbara had happened to her house, how they got the Glamour Mask, what Jim’s first few days in the Darklands were like and some interesting characters he met there, and why Nomura ended up in Gunmar’s dungeon. 

The Book of Ga-Huel: some time in mid-Season 2, a Changeling polymorph tries to assassinate the main characters and Blinky has to thwart a prophecy that implies he will die. Uhl is allergic to iron and thus mistaken for said Changeling. 

Age of the Amulet: early Season 3, a broken Kairosect results in Jim, Blinky, AAARRRGGHH, Toby, and Claire getting sent back in time and fighting a Trollhunter who cracked under the pressure of the job and joined Gunmar. In the present, Vendel’s grandfather has been brought forward in time and wants to eat humans, and Eli attacks Gunmar while under the influence of a grit-shaka. (Previously misremembered in this post as Gravesand - thank you @goodfish-bowl for the correction.)

The Way of the Wizard: Merlin, despite supposedly having almost no power, tampers with the Shadow Staff so they can’t portal from his tomb back to Arcadia, and the cast meets Draal’s mom while walking home, but Draal’s body gets exploded (possibly to justify why he can’t be revived with the Creeper’s Sun antidote they used on AAARRRGGHH) and his soul ends up in the Void. Somehow this is supposed to show Merlin being nice? Porgon the Trickster, who appears in 3Below, is also in this novel. 

Angor Reborn: Jim turning into a troll was a gradual process after the bathtub teleported him to a lake in the forest. During this, he meets troll versions of Romeo and Juliet, befriends a wolf cub, considers running away to live in the wilderness because he can’t fit in among humans anymore, and fights Angor Rot. Meanwhile, Barbara yanks Merlin around by the beard searching for Jim. 

The Other Books 

Yes, there’s more. There were a few “bonus content” books released. These are less likely to be referred to by writers, but handy for artists. 

Jim Lake Jr.’s Survival Guide: A journal written by Jim about the events of Season 1, added to here and there by other characters. (Unlike most of the Tales of Arcadia spin-off books, this one is credited to Cala Spinner instead of Richard Ashley Hamilton.) 

A Brief Recapitulation of Troll Lore: Volume 48: A glossy book with screenshots and descriptions of key moments and artifacts in Trollhunters Season 1. Has a framing device implying it was somehow put together in the, what, twelve hours?, between Strickler leaving Arcadia and Jim going into the Darklands. There are a few pull-out pages. 

The Art of Trollhunters: A coffee table book with production notes and concept art from the show’s development. This one goes all the way through Season 3.

The Comics 

You know, while we’re here. The comics disconnect from what was established in the show in jarring ways sometimes (like Draal joining Kanjigar on Trollhunting missions in the comics, when the show says their relationship suffered because Kanjigar started avoiding Draal after being called as Trollhunter), but they’ve got some fun ideas in them. 

The comics were written before Wizards aired and do not share a continuity. In the comics, there were Trollhunters before Deya, Deya herself was Trollhunter for at least a hundred years before the Battle of Killahead took place, and Kanjigar was Deya’s immediate successor. 

These, obviously, are the stories people are usually referring to in Trollhunters fanfiction when they say they got an idea from the comics. 

The Secret History of Trollkind: Blinky tells Jim, Toby, and Claire about the Battle of Killahead Bridge, the trolls’ decision to leave Europe for the Americas, Deya the Deliverer’s death, Kanjigar’s first few centuries as a Trollhunter, with sidenotes about Blinky and AAARRRGGHH’s slow journey from enemies to acquaintances to friends. 

The Felled: After the events of ‘Hero With A Thousand Faces’, Jim returns the Aspectus Stone to Vendel, who tells Jim and Toby some stories about various past Trollhunters: Spar the Spiteful (who met an Akiridion, which I was expecting to come up in 3Below but did not), Maddrux the Many, Araknak the Agile (mentioned here as being one of Blinky’s ancestors), Unkar the Unfortunate, Deya the Deliverer (on a quest to punch Merlin in the face), and Kanjigar the Courageous. Jim then goes to fight goblins with Claire.

[alyatg]

The original Trollhunters novel by GDT and Daniel Kraus isn't related to the show, to the point that Jim, Toby, and Claire are named Jim Sturges Jr., Toby Dershowitz, and Claire Fontaine.

The other Trollhunters novels are all based on the show, but they are of varying levels of canon due to contradictions with the show. (Of course, that also applies to Wizards and Rise of the Titans ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) They occur in the following order:

The Adventure Begins: Retelling of the first two episodes.

Welcome to the Darklands: Focuses on those two weeks between season 1 and 2.

The Book of Ga-Huel; I'm unsure when this takes place. Do note that there are some antisemitic elements in this book.

Age of the Amulet: You know how in Wizards Jim went back in time and met the first trollhunter? Well, now imagine that this happened before Jim became a troll there were trollhunters prior to Deya.

The Way of the Wizard: Takes place between "For the Glory of Merlin" and "In Good Hands"

Angor Reborn: Takes place between "A House Divided" and "Jimhunters". If you're a fan of Angor Rot, you probably won't like this due to the victim-blaming in this book.

There's also a 3Below novel, Arcadia-Con, and two comic books that have been retconned by Wizards. The Secret History of Trollkind focuses on the lore behind the Battle of Killahead Bridge and the journey to Heartstone Trollmarket, while The Felled focuses on a variety of previous trollhunters, including Deya (who is not Callista in this), Kanjgaar, and even a trollhunter who met an Akiridion.

Oh my, thank you so much @yellowmagicalgirl! This helps a lot =D

@queendeathviper5000-shadowrealm you said you would also want to know, hope you don't mind me tagging you here :)

[nukachemistry]

something ive been thinking about a lot lately (moreso after bothering @ichibankasuga about it in his replies) is a general lack of a global perspective in games journalism circles. 

frequently, western indie titles take inspiration from more obscure japanese games, as seen with undertale taking inspiration from moon and doki doki literature club taking inspiration from You and Me and Her. and when western devs emulate these japanese titles, they are often met with critical praise for their originality.  

this is somewhat understandable as few of these titles receive official english translations, and if they do, it is to little fanfare outside of niche communities. so, when someone like toby fox apes elements of Moon, most see it as an entirely new perspective rather than something that has taken clear inspiration from another work. and im not immune to this either. i have not played many weird fan translated jrpgs or visual novels, but also, i am not paid to write about games professionally. it is literally these people’s jobs to know and write about video games, and very few of them have anything even approaching an international perspective.

this is not limited to japanese games, either. one needs look no further that eastern europe to see games that western journalists simply fail to understand. pathologic was an obscure cult classic for over a decade until it received a critically acclaimed sequel just last year, when suddenly, everyone loved pathologic. but going back ten years, you can see reviews of the original game from outlets that now praise it calling it a buggy, confusing, and unfun product. this critical reappraisal years after the fact is nothing new, especially for video games. but unlike with mediums such as film or literature, these reevaluations are not led by a knowledgeable group of experts, but by amateur youtubers and fans on forums and social media. pathologic likely wouldnt have received that critical reevaluation were it not for youtubers like mandalore gaming, grimbeard, and sulmatul, who put the game under a far closer lens than any professional journalist.

a more recent example of this can be seen in an article just last week by this tumblr’s very own colin spacetwinks, who writes in vice that “ 'Disco Elysium' Was Too Afraid of Sincerity to Be Revolutionary,” seeming to not understand why a game developed by leftists in a former soviet satellite state may not share the same uncritical enthusiasm for revolution held by those in america.

while there are other things to criticize in that article, and in games journalism in general, i do have a mild sympathy for those working in the field, as so much the journalism industry is reliant on chasing trends and sucking up to major publishers in exchange for exclusive features or access. when people are only clicking on articles about the new assassins creed or call of duty, why would you waste valuable money and screenspace on a game maybe a fraction of your audience has even heard of. at the end of the day, journalists need to eat and make rent like anyone else, so until a viable alternative to the current method is made, game journos will remain precisely in the middle of my shit list, just below alan dershowitz and just above people whose only shin megami tensei game was persona 5.

[infographicisminetocommand]

Absence of Gravity

An AU focused on Toby Domzalski and Claire Nuñez, and how Jim Lake Jr. can only watch as his two best friends slowly lose their humanity, just like he lost his.

Uses the Alien Toby Theory and Clairegana.

Partly inspired by @tunafishprincess's dark AU and fanfic, Fallen Too Far.

Premise:

Sometime after 3Below but before Wizards, the trio reunite in Arcadia and figure out how to defeat their newest foes. Claire makes a hasty decision to give herself power, and accidentally merges her mind and soul with Morgana yet again - this time, irreversibly. Jim is unable to bring himself to face her, and thus Toby takes it upon himself to chase after Claire to try and save her soul.

Years in the future, Josh, a regular human man, moves into an apartment complex full of magical beings and monsters alike. There, he meets his landlord Mordred Dershowitz, a silent and reserved but kind man, despite the name. He tells him the story of five Trollhunters, but Josh has reason to suspect he knows more than he's letting on.

---

The story's perspective will switch between Toby, in the past, and Josh, in the present. Mysteries are abound, but the answers will be revealed sooner or later.

Here's some art for it that I made a few days ago (Warning for dark themes, plus spoilers for the AU).

[lexxicona]

Steve Jorgensen-Warner (Steve Palchuck) bullies Tobias "Tub" F. Dershowitz (Tobias "Toby" Domzalski) while a horrified Jim Sturges Jr. (Jim Lake) looks on

[ricet-photographie77-blog]

Tweeted

"Iranian Terror. Argentinian Cover Up. Justice at Last?" by MARK DUBOWITZ and TOBY DERSHOWITZ via NYT The New York Times http://bit.ly/2jPPHPJ

— Rhys Taylor (@rhystaylor77) December 11, 2017

[javierpenadea]

"Iranian Terror. Argentinian Cover Up. Justice at Last?" by MARK DUBOWITZ and TOBY DERSHOWITZ via NYT Opinion http://ift.tt/2nS5D8M

[iragreenbacker]

"Iranian Terror. Argentinian Cover Up. Justice at Last?" by MARK DUBOWITZ and TOBY DERSHOWITZ via NYT https://t.co/eJzdWypdGu

"Iranian Terror. Argentinian Cover Up. Justice at Last?" by MARK DUBOWITZ and TOBY DERSHOWITZ via NYT https://t.co/eJzdWypdGu

— Ira Greenbacker (@IraGreenbacker) December 11, 2017

from Twitter https://twitter.com/IraGreenbacker December 11, 2017 at 11:49AM via IFTTT