Line #22 Literature/TheSteadfastTinSoldier


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5	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/steadfasttin.png]]
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7	"The Steadfast Tin Soldier" (Danish: "Den Standhaftige Tinsoldat") is a FairyTale by Danish poet and author Creator/HansChristianAndersen about the love a one-legged [[TheHero tin soldier]] holds for a paper ballerina. After several perilous adventures, the tin soldier and his love [[BittersweetEnding perish in a fire]]. The tale was first published in 1838.
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9	Like "The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep" (1845), "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" displays Andersen's talent for investing ordinary household objects with life, character, and personality. Both tales narrate romances between household objects but differ in that the 1838 story ends with the lovers joined in death while the 1845 story ends with the lovers living (in fairy tale fashion) happily ever after. Andersen may have taken inspiration for the tale from memories of his few cherished childhood toys.
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11	Though the title has been translated variously as "The Brave Tin Soldier" and "The Courageous Tin Soldier", the story is generally known in the English-speaking world as "The Steadfast Tin Soldier". Interestingly, in some languages, such as French, he's not a "tin" Soldier but a ''lead'' one. The tale has been adapted in various media including ballet and [[WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}} animated film.]]
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13	You can read this [[http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/TheSteadfastTinSoldier_e.html here.]]
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15	!! "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" has examples of:
16	* AdaptationalAlternateEnding: The Disney adaptation for ''Fantasia 2000'' changes the ending so that the Tin Soldier and the Ballerina live. The George Balanchine ballet ends with the Ballerina burning up, but not the Tin Soldier.
17	* AdaptationSpeciesChange: The bogey in the snuffbox has been interpreted as a troll in many versions, as a jack-in-the-box in the ''Fantasia'' version, and a goblin in the 1992 Ottawa Ballet version [[Series/TheToyCastle and its 2000 television adaptation]].
18	* ArchEnemy: The "black bogey" in the snuffbox. He only appears early on to threaten the Tin Soldier, though the narrative constantly insinuates he was involved in his bad luck. Somehow.
19	* BittersweetEnding: The soldier and his love both get destroyed in a fire, but at least get to be TogetherInDeath. Borders on a DownerEnding depending on the version you read.
20	* ContrivedCoincidence: The Tin Soldier is swallowed by a fish that is caught and sold to, out of anyone else, a cook who lives in the house he fell from, who finds him after gutting the fish and places him back among the other toys.
21	* {{Disneyfication}}:
22	** The ''WesternAnimation/Fantasia2000'' segment based on this story had an [[ScaryJackInTheBox antagonistic jack-in-the-box]] [[DeathByAdaptation burn]] in the place of [[SparedByTheAdaptation our hero and his squeeze]]. This change was only due to the SoundtrackDissonance that would have resulted if they kept the original ending, which did make it as far as the storyboarding stage and appears as one of the many bonus features in the ''Fantasia Legacy'' DVD box set.
23	** The 1992 adaptation ''The Tin Soldier'' by Ottawa Ballet also spares the Soldier and Ballerina, while shattering the Jack-in-the-Box in their place.
24	* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: Burning alive in a stove is ''not'' a fun way to go.
25	* TheHero: The titular Tin Soldier.
26	* HonourBeforeReason: The Tin Soldier can talk, but refuses to do so while in uniform. Which is always.
27	* KidsAreCruel: One throws the soldier into a stove [[ForTheEvulz for no reason at all.]]
28	* LivingToys: The toys come alive when the humans are asleep, and play their own games.
29	* NamelessNarrative: As it is often the case with Andersen's stories, nobody is named.
30	* ScaryJackInTheBox: One is featured in ''WesternAnimation/Fantasia2000''’s adaptation of the tale. He also has a crush on the ballerina and thus tries to kill the Tin Soldier.
31	* SparedByTheAdaptation: The [[spoiler: Tin Soldier]] survives at the end of George Balanchine's ballet, as well as the ''Fantasia 2000'' version and the 1992 Ottawa Ballet version. Unfortunately, the [[spoiler:Ballerina]] isn't so lucky in the first of these...
32	* SwallowedWhole: Happens to the titular character in the sewer drains.
33	* TogetherInDeath: And all that remains of the lovers the morning after their demise is her sequin star (turned black in the fire) and a heart-shaped lump of tin. The ''Enchanted Musical Playhouse'' adaptation from TheEighties goes further with this, not only including a version of this detail but also showing the lovers' spirits emerging from the fire, waltzing with each other and drifting out of the playroom window.
34	* TragicKeepsake: George Balanchine's ballet ends with the tin soldier sadly retrieving his heart - which he had given to the ballerina - from the fire, before returning to his post.
35	* UniformityException: The titular tin soldier is distinguished from his peers by only having one leg, due to the maker running out of tin.

Context Literature / TheSteadfastTinSoldier