Three Bogatyrs (Три Богатыря), also known as Three Heroes, is a series of Russian animated films by Melnitsa Animation Studio, set in the period of Kievan Rus' and featuring three warriors with the strength of One-Man Army and other characters from Russian Mythology and Tales or sometimes works of Alexander Pushkin.
Out of many available, the three were chosen from the famous Three Bogatyrs painting by Viktor Vasnetsov, which gets a Shout-Out in the fourth movie where all three meet for the first time.
The movies are family-friendly comedic adventure stories with occasional pop-culture references. The first four films have found fame among Russian media on a level similar to Soviet classics and some phrases can occasionally show up in regular speech due to Memetic Mutation.
The series has started as a take on the Alyosha Popovich myth, then another two were reluctantly pitched. The first two movies were Acclaimed Flops and the third one was expected to be a Franchise Killer. But it proved to be a massive commercial success, resulting in a crossover film and eventually a Cash-Cow Franchise with a new movie released almost every year which have less and less things to do with Russian folklore. The films are also accompanied by Point-And-Click videogame adaptations.
Officially published on YouTube with English subtitles.
Films:
- Alyosha Popovich and Tugarin Zmey, alternatively Alosha and The Snake (2004)note
- Dobrinya Nikitich and Zmey Gorynych, alternatively Dobrinya and The Dragon (2006)note
- Ilya and The Robber (2007)note
- How Not to Rescue a Princess (2010)note
- Three Heroes on Distant Shores (2012)note
- Three Heroes. Horse Course, alternatively Three Heroes: Gambit (2015)note
- Three Heroes and the Sea King (2016)note
- Three Heroes and the Princess of Egypt (2017)note
- Three Heroes. The Heiress to the Throne (2018)note
- Horse Julius and Big Horse Racing (2020)note
- Three Heroes and the Horse on the Throne (2021)note
- Three Heroes and the Navel of the World (2023)note
Three Bogatyrs provides examples of:
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General tropes
- Anachronism Stew: Because the time period of each of the original myths are ambiguous and believed to be somewhere in X-XIII, here all stories happen at the same time. A "1234" stamp in the first movie can be considered the year if taken for granted. Julius remarks in the fourth film that they are living in the tenth century, judging by the "X" on a random book's cover. Though there are also a lot of modern stuff, like storage lockers, ship cannons, hot air balloons and even a mini-hockey machine.
- Art Evolution: From the fourth movie, the franchise has moved to cell-shaded 3D, allowing more dynamic shots and scenery panning.
- Big Bad:
- Tugarin Zmey is the villain in the first movie, the warlord of one of the Hordes from the East, who takes all the gold from Rostov, Alyosha's home village, as tribute.
- Kolyvan is the villain in the second and the fifth movies. A greedy short merchant who wants to marry princess Zabava, even if he has to arrange her kidnapping, coercing the Duke of Kyiv into cooperating with him via blackmail.
- Nightingale the Robber is the villain in the third movie, a thief with tornado-inducing whistle, who, after being released from prison yet another time, steals Duke of Kyiv's treasury and Ilya's horse Burushka.
- Shamakhan Queen is the villain in the fourth movie, a Vain Sorceress who charms the Duke of Kyiv into marrying her and tries to create Fountain of Youth out of tears of Rus' women.
- The gambling tree from the first film returns in the fifth as its true main villain, having scammed the Duke of Kyiv into giving up the key from the city to him.
- The Sea Tsar in the sixth film, having flooded Kyiv due to Julius's suggestion at searching there for a potential bride.
- Durilo in the seventh film, who goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against his father for mistreating him, unaware of the harm he's causing in the process.
- Emperor Basileus in the eighth film, who makes another attempt to conquer Rus by forcing its heiress - Zabava (who is already married) - to marry his son, while simultaneously trying to dispose of the Bogatyrs.
- Breakout Character: Julius, the talking Insufferable Genius horse, effectively becomes the series' mascot and has a dedicated spin-off film about himself.
- The Caligula:
- In the first movie the Duke of Kyiv tries to get Tihon and Grandma executed for intruding the throne room, before they even request to hear them out, while the nobles sitting around mimic his every move. When they leave Rostov's gold to him for safekeeping, he "forgets" about it next time they visit and nonchalantly continues to enjoy cake, then when pushed keeps everything except a single coin as "a fee". Alyosha has to threaten him with the captive Tugarin to get what he came for. Later movies make him a more sympathetic, but still a greedy ruler.
- Emperor Basileus of Byzantine is a Fat Bastard, The Hedonist and a holy autocrat of Tsargrad, threatening anyone who slightly displases him with beheading. He also shows no respect to his brother the Duke of Kyiv, or Rus' integrity.
- Character Catchphrase:
- Alyosha's Pre-Asskicking One-Liner is "Now they'll taste Bogatyr's strength!".
- Julius says "Don't make my horseshoes laugh" whenever he's acting smug.
- Dobryna uses "Am I explaining clearly?" as a to-go threat.
- Emperor Basileus likes to mumble "to execute... or forgive", with the emphasis on the former. He also says "Great, great job!" when someone from his advisors has a good idea and barely manages to switch their fate.
- Cool Horse: Ilya's horse Burushka has a golden mane, the might, and combat skills on par with the Bogatyr himself, who treats him more like a friend than a mount.
- Damsel in Distress:
- In the first movie Alyosha accidentally drops Lybava literally into Tugarin Zmey's hands while knocking out the last of his minions. The villain takes the hostage opportunity right away.
- In the second movie Zabava, the Rebellious Princess and a niece of Duke of Kiev, is kidnapped by Kolyvan using Zmey Gorynych as a proxy and is kept at Baba Yaga's hut.
- In the third movie, trying to chase after Ilya, Alyonushka gets captured by Nightingale's goons and get rescued by by Ilya by chance. Later, she gets captured by a slave trader and is delivered to the palace, but is untied for the interview and manages to escape when the commotion starts.
- Greed: Julius, Duke of Kyiv, Kalyvan, Nightingale the Robber and Vasilevs of Byzantine prioritize gold coins over anything else whenever possible.
- Idiot Hero: Alyosha is illiterate, a bit of The Klutz, loves to fistfight and is prone to Leeroy Jenkins.
- Insufferable Genius: Julius likes to boast about his intelligence to his more simple-minded friends and just can't stop talking, while avoiding any hard work himself, which rarely makes others take him seriously.
- Lost in Translation:
- In the second movie Dobrinya asks Elysei if he's tagging along for fun. He replies that he's doing it for Zabava (spelled the same), making Dobrinya confused. This only works in the native language.
- "Horse Course" in an untranslatable reference to the way the Knight piece moves in Chess, as Knight is called Horse in Russian.
- Multiple Head Case: Zmey Gorynych is a three-headed dragon. Each head has a distinct voice, mannerisms, and personality, and they don't conflict with each other most of the time.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Julius's full name is Gaius Julius Caesar, and he knows who is he named after since he has read books in Novgorod's library.
- Nearly Normal Animal: Julius is a talking horse and, other than that, acts like a normal person, even knowing modern physics, biology, math and 10 languages.
- No Name Given:
- Lybava's Grandma is simply called "Grandma" by the cast and the credits.
- Russian Mythology and Tales generally use Vladimir I the Bright Sun as Bogatyr's authority, but the Duke of Kiyv remains unnamed in the movies.
- Vasilevs is a Greek equivalent to "king" and it's not made clear if it's also his name.
- Non-Lethal Warfare: Aside a few scary moments, the films are very kid-friendly. Enemies who have swords and spears would rather attack the heroes with the blunt sides or with their fists, and get bounced like confetti for trouble, while heroes only get a few bruises.
- One-Man Army:
- Alyosha Popovich manages to beat about a hundred of Tugarin Zmey's Mooks all by himself by using a large pot with his friends sitting inside like a hammer.
- Dobrinya Nikitich serves in Duke of Kyiv's military and is sent against Khan Beket's camp. Of course, due to his strength, he operates solo.
- Ilya Muromets knocks out a thousand and a half of Tsargrad's armed soldiers, though with some assistance from an elephant and the Duke.
- Preacher's Kid: Alyosha Popovich is the son of the Rostov's priest, it's even in his namenote .
- The Unfought: The main villain of Horse Julius and Big Horse Racing is never confronted directly and the most he gets is getting his prize horse stolen back and reunited with her original owner.
- Vagueness Is Coming: Ilya Muromets's main personality trait is finding good and bad omens in his surroundings, to the point of believing that You Can't Fight Fate.
- Versus Title: Each of the first fourth films (The fourth one is named differently in original Russian) and also the seventh one has the names of the heroes and the current antagonist in the title. Subverted in the second one, in which Zmey Gorynych, a typical enemy in the folklore, is friendly, though exploited by the real villain.
Alyosha Popovich and Tugarin Zmey
- Acrofatic: Surprisingly, since the stomach makes most of Tugarin Zmey's body, he can Roundhouse Kick Alyosha across the field.
- Badass Normal: Tugarin Zmey is defeated by Tihon and Grandma catapulting the cart with Moses at his face, knocking him out for good.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- When Tihon and Alyosha inadvertently destroy Rostov, the villagers suggest impaling them for it. The next scene shows their legs on top of two wooden pillars, only for it to be a reflection in the water and them just sitting at the lake, though beat up.
- With Svyatogor's pointers where did he last see the Tugars, the gang goes through a tunnel full of skeletons and hears voices they don't recognize at the end. Running and ready to fight, the team sees that they've returned home through the cave they'd left the gold in the beginning of the film and nearly give up.
- Bantering Baddie Buddies: Downplayed, since they are Terse Talker, but the debt collectors of the gambling tree looks identical and serve as minor antagonists near the end of the film.
- Bookends: The first movie starts with a written narration and the plot kick-starts when Rostov gets partially destroyed by a Tihon's rolling boulder after their gold gets stolen. At the end of the movie, Alyosha and the team deliver the gold back, now melted into a ball, to the same hill, which rolls down, jumps around Rostov in the same manner, though without crushing any buildings this time. The end sequence shows the chronicle from the opening finished, with Moses as the writer.
- Breaking the Fellowship: The Directional Stone has "Death ahead, marriage to the right, wealth to the left" as directions. Alyosha and Tihon go forward since that's where the Tugars have to be. Discouraged Lybava, her Grandma and Moses go to the right. Julius, after failing to convince others it would be a safer way to get their gold back, follows his Only in It for the Money desire. Shortly, Alyosha decides to be with Lybava and Julius runs away from debt collectors, and the team together continues to Tugar's lair.
- Brick Joke: Alyosha throws a pine cone at Julius while he's climbing the tree, assuming the horse is possessed by an imp. 5 minutes later, after the misunderstanding is cleared up, the cone returns from the sky and knocks Julius out.
- Bridge Logic: While Julius is drawing some catapult's math on the ground to get them across the chasm, the rest of the gang simply falls a nearby tree across. Everyone except Julius jumps down anyway to save Tihon when he falls, but nobody is injured, and they get back on-track offscreen.
- By the Hair: Tugarin's massive nose hair is used as ropes at the end of the movie to drag him to Kiev as a prisoner.
- Chaste Hero: Finding the Directional Stone with one option claiming it will bring marriage, Lybava tries to drag Alyosha there, saying they will be happy if they go that way. Alyosha wonders how can he be happy without "Bogatyr's glory" and not accomplishing his quest, breaking her heart. Subverted, as mid-way and with Tihon's nudges, Alyosha realizes he likes her as well and returns for her.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Lybava was in love with Alyosha since he was a kid, and he admits feeling the same when asked.
- Didn't Think This Through: Alyosha and Tihon's plan to save Rostov is to gather all gold in a cave on top of the hill, and once Tugars come in for it, close it with a boulder. What they didn't take into account is that the entrance to the cave is at an angle, the boulder is very spherical and Rostov is near the bottom of the mountain. The bolder simply rolls out, the invaders leave with the gold without noticing anything, and most of Rostov gets demolished. The population is understandably very angry.
- Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: The two debt collectors know who Tugarin Zmey is, and take Julius away from him in the middle of his interrogation without batting an eye. Tugarin is just as confused as he is pissed.
- Dirty Coward: Despite Julius boasting about his "Bogatyr's horse" status all the time and setting up heroic strategies for others, he always avoids putting himself in any danger.
- Doomed Hometown: Alyosha's Rostov gets almost completely destroyed, accidentally by himself no less, but compared to their gold being stolen, this is treated as a minor issue. Alyosha sets off to take the gold back as an apology, and by the time he comes back both times, the town is shown being rebuilt.
- Evil Is Bigger: Alyosha is already above average human height, and Tugarin Zmey towers over him.
- Expecting Someone Taller: Alyosha is speechless when meeting Svyatogor, another Bogatyr even larger than him, and then shortly gets quiet again after seeing that inside the giant armor is a tiny Scatterbrained Senior.
- Family-Unfriendly Violence: In an otherwise lighthearted film, Tugarin Zmey intimidates Julius by slicing his own chest with his sword, with blood dripping on Julius's snout and causing him to freak out.
- Fisher King: The sky turns into thunderclouds wherever Tugarin Zmey goes. In a comedic way, once he is defeated, all the bad weather gets sucked into his butt.
- Honor Before Reason: Right when the gang is about to take the gold from sleeping Tugars, Alyosha decides being sneaky is not "Bogatyr-like" and wakes the enemies up.
- Letters 2 Numbers: Rostov's valuables in Tugarin's possession have been melted into a golden ball with a "2GARIN" stamp.
- Loan Shark: Julius tries his luck with a talking tree that offers a number guessing game, selling his horseshoes to play. Once he gets too ahead of himself and bets his own skin against two half-kingdoms, the tree simply says his guess is wrong, and the two bouncers chase him for the rest of the movie.
- Locked Away in a Monastery: Lybava threatens to resign herself to a monastery, a male one at that while in disguise, if she can't be with Alyosha.
- Meaningful Echo: The last of Tugarin's Mooks says he "didn't fall" while leaning on Alyosha, the latter just pushes him off and says "fell", signifying him being defeated. When Tugarin Zmey is finally knocked out, Alyosha says "fell", which changes the entire weather in an acknowledgment of victory.
- Mêlée à Trois: The final fight is a fist brawl with Alyosha vs Tugarin Zmey vs the debt collectors, with the latter getting knocked out first.
- Meta Guy: While discussing who should go ask directions in a creepy house, Julius explains that Alyosha is The Hero, he is his main mount, Lybava is Alyosha's potential wife, and he doesn't want Moses to go because he likes him, so the two seniors should go instead. While the two beat him up, Alyosha just goes ahead.
- The Music Meister: Alyosha and Tihon try singing "Bogatyr's Song" during the trip, which is just a baritone choir. Julius gets angry and makes everyone dance to a hip-hop number.
- Passing the Torch: Alyosha asks Svyatogor, another popular Bogatyr from the folklore, for assistance. Since he's very old by now, he gives him his Kladenets sword instead. Which almost falls apart a few times and then completely off during the final battle.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Tugarin Zmey's eyes get bloodshot when he's really angry.
- Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome: Alyosha is the only one to visibly age during his childhood montage, which went through about 15 years. Even Lybava hasn't aged and is still 16 despite being present during Alyosha's infancy.
- Solo Mission Becomes Group Mission: Alyosha leaves Rostov to deal with Tugars alone. Tihon and Lybava worry about him and decide to tag along. Lybava's Grandma doesn't care about Alyosha, but can't let her go by herself. Tihon purchases Julius from Romani merchants shortly after.
- Sure, Let's Go with That: While Alyosha is barely standing or awake, Tugarin gets beaten by Tihon, Grandma and Moses. When Alyosha comes to his senses, everyone praises him for beating the villain and he doesn't question it.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: When the gang finally gets Rostov's gold, Julius suggests splitting everything between themselves, while letting himself keep over a half of it. When Alyosha finally snaps at him, he tries to pass it as a Secret Test of Character.
- Token Evil Teammate: Besides some barely effective pep-talk, Julius does nothing to contribute to the team, only caring about his hide or the money get can get.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: During the village meeting, Lybava proposes waiting until Tugars starve to death after getting trapped in a cave, which shocks everyone around. She retracts with "until they get weak".
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Tugarin Zmey wears nothing besides boots, pants, and a spiked bracelet.
- William Telling: As a child Alyosha tries to shoot an arrow into an apple on Lubava's head. Seeing this, her Grandma shields her and the arrow hits her in the rear.
- Worthy Opponent: Tugarin Zmey is excited to hear that his opponent is a Bogatyr and looks happy that Alyosha is still conscious after his Roundhouse Kick.
Dobrinya Nikitich and Zmey Gorynych
- Acrophobic Bird: Zmey can't fly, allegedly because of his small wings. Near the end of the film he manages to fly through bravery and can do so freely in future appearances.
- Arranged Marriage: Duke of Kyiv tries to wed Zabava to someone of Blue Blood, so she'd stop hanging out with Elysei. She points out that every candidate is a Gonk, accidentally saying the same to his own portrait. Kalyvan convinces the Duke to give his niece to him in exchange for voiding a debt, while the Duke has to call him the savior from Zmey Gorynych.
- Artistic License – Geography: The map of Rus is justifiably a crude drawing, but the relative positions of Kyiv, Rostov, Crimerian Khan Beket's fort and the rivers don't make sense with regard to real geography.
- Ascended Fanboy: Elysei is a fan of Bogatyrs and takes him being assigned to Dobrinya (so both would be away from Kyiv when the plot happens) as an excuse to become his pupil. Overtime Elysei gets to be a hero in his own right.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- Duke of Kyiv overhears Elysei telling Zabava to purse her lips and close her eyes. He's just teaching her to make soap bubbles.
- When Zmey appears for the first time at his Monster-Shaped Mountain, both him and Dobrinya speak in deep voice and are ready to fight. When it looks like they're about to clash, they hug each other, subverting expectations of Zmey being typically evil in myths.
- Big Bad Friend: Dobrinya goes into Tranquil Fury after realizing that Zmey Gorynych is involved in Kalyvan's scheme after all and gives a long "The Reason You Suck" Speech next time they meet.
- Bridge Logic: Dobrinya makes a tree bridge with a light tap without slowing down.
- Character Filibuster: Early in the film, to Dobrinya's annoyance, Elysei doesn't understand the meaning of "be quiet and listen to me" and keeps monologuing about his future heroics.
- Co-Dragons: Khan Beket and Baba Yaga are in Kolyvan's debt and have to work for him. Duke of Kyiv also cooperates with Kolyvan, but plays no active role.
- Continuity Cameo: Tugarin Zmey appears as a portrait in Khan Beket's fort.
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Alyosha is in effect a giant Kid Hero, but he's also Idiot Hero with a case of Chronic Hero Syndrome. Dobrinya is a Supporting Protagonist to Elysei and is much stronger and serious Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
- Covers Always Lie: Elysei and Zabava have blue and yellow color schemes in the second movie's poster. In all their appearances they have red and orange color schemes respectively.
- Crocodile Tears: The Duke cries in front of the nobles and Dobrinya about Zabava being kidnapped by Zmey Gorynych, but speaks normally discussing Dobrinya's recent campaign. When Dobrinya offers to investigate it himself, the Duke panics and tries to force him into vacation.
- Damsel out of Distress: Zabava brings up how Gorynych, being a dragon, could just break free from the basement. They both escape shortly before heroes find them.
- Defiant Captive: When Kalyvan explains to Zabava that he is her rescuer and should be her future husband, she beats him up, making him to look for dark magic instead.
- Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: The second movie starts with Duke of Kyiv humming Julius's song from the first movie.
- Disney Acid Sequence: Duke of Kyiv eavesdrops on three women being impressed by Elysei going to rescue Zabava, do a hip-hop music number with every suggestive dance move imaginable, and resume the conversation.
- Distressed Dude: To the point of Running Gag, Elysei tries being a hero while Dobrinya is sleeping and gets captured three times.
- Dramatic Thunder: A lightning strikes when Baba Yaga finds a potion with dark magic, and again when Kalyvan throws everything she has into the pot.
- The Dreaded: For a very good reason, the closer Dobrinya is to Kolyvan and Baba Yaga's location, the more they panic.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: The hen hut drops a rope ladder for Kalyvan. He demands it to sit and put the entrance right in front of him instead, which it reluctantly does. He also threatens Baba Yaga for speaking up while she's failing to curse the Bogatyr. Only when he gets more humble does Baba Yaga come up with something effective.
- Everyone Has Standards: Downplayed. The Duke really doesn't want to give Zabava to Kalyvan, despite planning to web her to whoever, but agrees anyway since he's in debt and Dobrinya is yet to return with Khan Beket's tribute.
- Fake Ultimate Hero: Zmey tries to impress Zabava with a tale of how he's rescued Dobrinya from knights. Dobrinya later mentions he first met Gorynych after he got arrested for stealing vegetables.
- Funny Background Event:
- One of the road signs labels two directions as "Rus" and "Enemies".
- Khan Beket snatches an Oscar figure from the treasures he had to give to Dobrinya.
- Groin Attack: Dobrinya rescues Elysei from a rope trap, but while upset with Zmey's treachery, pulls the entire thing, with a branch hitting Elysei between his legs.
- Heavy Sleeper: In the prologue Elysei pretty much starts attacking sleeping Dobrinya to deliver Duke's letter before resigning himself to sleep till morning. It's also his Achilles' Heel, and while he's still invincible, he can't respond to whatever enemies are doing at night, and him sleeping at the worst time becomes a recurring problem.
- Henpecked Husband: Dobrinya's wife rants how he's always away doing heroics or on a military campaign. He can't really talk back to her except to use Elysei's fake summons order as an excuse to leave. Later he mentions that his house life isn't so bad.
- Horse of a Different Color: Dobrinya's horse is seized by the Duke of Kyiv, so Elysei finds them a camel.
- Hypocrite: The Duke publically offers his niece's hand to whoever rescues her from Zmey Gorynich who would be the The Scapegoat, as Zabava is in Kalyvan's custody by his agreement with the Duke's. When Kalyvan is defeated and Zabava is returned, the Duke refuses to call Elysei the husband due to him not being of Blue Blood, even though he reluctantly agreed to give her to Kalyvan, and has to be quietly persuaded by Dobrinya.
- The Immune: Baba Yaga tries to curse Dobrinya with a deadly disease, but being a Bogatyr he only gets a few coughs. On the second try, instead the nearby Elysei is hit with Potty Emergency. Then, a poisonous agaric mushroom is slipped into their food, and Dobrinya notices it before either of them take a bite, throws it far back, comically hitting Baba Yaga in the face.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Dobrinya pins Khan Beket's hat to a tree with Elysei's tiny bow from across the forest.
- I Work Alone: Dobrinya makes it clear to Elysei that he's going to settle the issue with Zmey Gorynych alone, but takes him along anyway.
- Karma Houdini:
- Baba Yaga decides to stay in the swamp and improve her living conditions, and nobody cares she tried to kill the heroes.
- Kalyvan escapes capture, though his debt papers get destroyed.
- Nobody figures out that the Duke effectively sold Zabava to Kalyvan, though Dobrinya brings up a suspicious debt paper to blackmail him, and he has to agree to let Zabava marry Elysei.
- Knight Templar Parent: Duke of Kyiv is Princess Zabava's uncle, but upon seeing that she and a courier Elysei are lovers and are planning to run away, he immediately decides to wed the former to any of his acquaintances and send the latter to a Bleak Border Base.
- Love Makes You Dumb: Dobrinya points out that watching a hero in action and a few dramatic poems won't make Elysei likable with girls. Trying to become more impressive despite Zabava already being in love with him makes Elysei a Distressed Dude several times.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Upon hearing how kindly Dobrinya thinks of him, Zmey considers confessing everything before deciding to rescue Zabava himself and leaves the explanation in a letter. Dobrinya was not happy that his sword friend has lied to him and left instead of confessing in person.
- Not His Sled: In the folklore Zmey Gorynych is a woman-stealing drake and one of the popular monsters to put heroes against. The second film builds up his fight with Dobrinya, only for their fight be interrupted with Bait-and-Switch and turns out he's one of Dobrinya's long time friends. Still, it turns out Kolyvan has been Blackmailing him into kidnapping Zabava.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: The hen hut, after being used for comedy, proves itself to effectively be an Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever sized Kick Chick and gives Dobrinya a tough fight.
- Professional Gambler: Kalyvan has a near-supernatural proficiency with games, and with several characters being gambling addicts, it makes him a real threat despite not being a fighter.
- Rolling Attack: With round shields in each hand, Dobrinya rolls over some Khan Beket's Mooks during the siege.
- Super-Soldier: Dobrinya Nikitich serves Duke of Kyiv as his own military unit. Unsurprisingly, he can destroy a Crimean Khan Beket's base with hundreds of soldiers single-handedly.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: When Dobrinya says he trusts Zmey like a brother, Zmey gives a Cathartic Exhalation and has to quickly brush it off as an illness.
- Tagalong Kid: Elysei during the second movie is very fast and is good at archery, but for the both of Dobrinya's missions he's The Load and only went along because Zabava is his love interest.
- Threat Backfire: Zmey threatens to set Kalyvan on fire... with a matchstick. Cue Zmey being beat up by the hen hut and getting locked in the basement.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Kalyvan offers a honey gingerbread to everyone.
- Villains Want Mercy: Both times Khan Beket folds when Dobrinya outmatches him and pretends he just didn't recognize who he was going against.
- Visual Pun: When Dobrinya talks how Zmey has deceived him, ashes from the campfire get into his eyes.
- When Trees Attack: Baba Yaga summons an army of strong animated trees against Dobryna, which march into the swamp and sink when he knocks out the controlling pan from Baba Yaga's hands.
- Wicked Witch: Baba Yaga is an elderly witch with a gag nose and works for Kalyvan due to her debt, but is more willing to use dark magic when he offers her a house outside the swamp.
Ilya and the Robber
- And Your Little Dog, Too!: Nightingale threatens to make two drums out of Burushka's skin and send one to Ilya as a gift while playing on the other.
- Bait-and-Switch: The Duke expresses his desire to decorate Kiyv with statues of himself, like Vasilevs has done in Tsargrad. The ending shows such a statue, but it turns out to be a small figure in front of a window.
- Big Bad Ensemble: When Nightingale loses Burushka and the gold in Tsargrad, Emperor Vasilevs tries to claim both as his own and sends soldiers against everyone, then makes the Nightingale his Psycho for Hire when Ilya gets to his doorsteps.
- Bizarrchitecture: The military stable in Kyiv is a large tower with no inside walls.
- Blow You Away: Just Nightingale's regular whistling is enough to send people flying. His special whistling creates a gust of wind strong enough to blow anything but a Bogatyr away, even the sun, and creates numerous tornados all over the area.
- Bound and Gagged: Alyonushka twice, first by Nightingale's men while trailing Ilya, then after being captured and delivered to Emperor Vasilevs.
- Brought Down to Badass: Burushka is considerably weaker without his golden mane, though he's still a muscular horse with fighting experience.
- The Casanova: Nobody is typically allowed in the palace, but Alyonushka's appearance made enough impression on the Duke to not only let it slide, but he offers her a stay in his "private room". Basileus makes the same offer to her, but it's implied he has a Royal Harem he updates regularly.
- Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends: Early in the story Ilya thinks about marriage, but dismisses everyone, and also tells Alyonushka off for being an unwanted sidekick. At the very end of the movie they get romantically close.
- Con Man: In Tsargrad streets, the Duke tries a comfortable chair, but turns out it's not free. Then he takes an elephant taxi, with the owner assuring the ride being free, but getting off is evidently not. Subverted in that both are considered legitimate business.
- Continuity Nod: Alyosha Popovich is engraved on a ship's figurehead.
- Establishing Character Moment: The Duke's brother, Basileus, the Emperor of Byzantine, whom he holds in high regard, turns out to be even worse ruler than him, and in his first line proposes to his advisors to claim part of Kyiv's land, then all of it, while eating icecream, and is looking to behead anyone who speaks up.
- Going for the Big Scoop: Alyonushka the scribe wants to write an article about the corruption in Kyiv and a historical chronicle on Bogatyrs. On Ilya's mother request to deliver a luck charm, and also promising to fix Duke's public reputation, she becomes a Tagalong Reporter.
- Good Is Not Nice: When Ilya says I Work Alone, he means it. He leaves the Duke and Alyonushka in a dark forest because they were tagging along with personal motives.
- Good Is Not Soft: Burushka eats all of Nightingale's gold out of spite despite being at his mercy, and manages to escape.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Ilya's Bogatyr horse Burushka has a shiny golden mane. It's also the source of its strength.
- It's All About Me:
- The Duke has a problem understanding that, outside of Kyiv and with no money, he can't get anything he wants, and fails to get a ship to Tsargrad, then gets arrested for bothering the guards.
- Do not speak up to Basileus, period. Multiple people got lucky that the executioner was on a vacation at the time.
- It's Personal: The Duke informs Ilya that Nightingale stole his Burushka, while avoiding mentioning that his treasury was taken as well. This is enough to turn Ilya's Resign in Protest into 10-Minute Retirement.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Ilya casually admits that he used the Duke as a bait for the bandits, so he can beat up info on Nightingale from them. The Duke is infuriated that the head of state was put into danger like that.
- Karma Houdini:
- For letting Nightingale rampage in his lands, the Duke eventually... gets all his gold back.
- Vasilevs' entire military is knocked out and nobody questions why he had it assembled against Rus.
- King of Thieves: Nightingale the Robber is the powerful leader of village-pillaging bandits, who take everything and burn the houses.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Out of personal greed, the Duke of Kyiv lets Nightingale the Robber roam free after taking bribes from him. The bandit repays him by stealing his entire treasury. And the only available Bogatyr just so happened to resign out of spite. Subverted when Ilya returns Duke's gold while catching Nightingale for own reasons.
- Living Mood Ring: The elephant Business turns pink when happy.
- Never My Fault: When Ilya kicks the Duke from his party, he starts ranting how the treasures, Ilya's horse and Ilya himself are his personal property, disregarding that he has caused the mess to begin with.
- Phlebotinum Battery: Ilya Muromets's powers come from Rus's soil or temporarily from anything that has touched it, such as Burushka's horseshoe. Without them, he barely has the strength to stand.
- Plot Hole: The Duke of Kyiv locks "other national expenses" in a safe in his palace's basement and is shown to keep the key on his person. It's not explained how the Nightingale manages to get through such security measures and steal all the gold.
- Puff of Logic: Ilya can fight at full strength only on Rus's soil, which is a problem when he's in Tsargrad, but he only gets weak after Duke reminds him about it. Then he gets back stronger after finding Burushka's horseshoe.
- Put on a Bus: The Duke says he has other Bogatyrs in his service, but can't come up with anyone available. It's not stated where Alyosha or Dobrinya are.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Nightingale's eyes go red when he's about to unleash his tornado whistling.
- Resign in Protest: Ilya quits Duke of Kyiv's service after hearing he let Nightingale out of prison yet again for a small bribe. He has to leave Burushka behind for technically being a military horse and works on a farm to purchase it back, though the horse getting stolen prompts him to return.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Ilya takes no shit from anyone and is bold enough to boss the Duke himself around. When Duke continues to be uncooperative during the travels, Ilya just lets him get captured by Nightingale's gang before saving him. And when he hears that Duke's treasury is at stake, he straight up leaves him behind and gets a boat to Tsardgrad alone.
- Shadow Archetype: Basileus inherits and exaggerates most of Duke's early negative moments, lusting over gold and women despite having more than enough, tries to execute anyone who doesn't do the job the way he expects, and collects an army to invade Kiyv on a whim. While Duke of Kiyv has shown similar traits, he at least tries to look like a competent ruler and, while small, still leaves some money for proper government expenses.
- Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Alyonushka gets "help" from a Tsargradian star manager and gets locked with future prostitutes. Luckily, she is delivered to Vasilevs as his potential musician or concubine, who she wanted to talk to anyway.
- Straw Character: Duke of Kyiv is annoyed by the "democrats" and "western scribes". He's really not a role model and is questioned by Alyonushka, who is a positive take on public journalists.
- Toon Physics: Nightingale's Signature Move involves twisting himself like a corkscrew enough times to become a giant man-tower, then vertically slamming himself back to his lower half with all the twisting disappearing.
- Torture Always Works: Basileus' executioner threatens Nightingale with an enema. He spills out all the details, though making himself the victim.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Nightingale's powers come from his whistling. In Tsargrad a grandma knocks his tooth out because it's a bad omen, ironically depowering him until he gets a golden replacement. Being knocked out near the end by the same grandma renders him completely harmless to the point that Ilya doesn't even bother punching him.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Ilya is superstitious against black cats on his way, so he has to chase one away with a glove and find another path.
How Not to Rescue a Princess
- Adaptation Deviation: The movie follows The Tale of the Golden Cockerel, a fairytale by Alexander Pushkin. But King Dodon is replaced by the Duke of Kyiv and the Cockerel is not present.
- Advice Backfire: Julius tries to explain to the brainwashed Duke that the Queen only wants his lands and is dangerous. The Duke then gives her half of the Rus as a wedding gift.
- Awful Wedded Life: All three pairings show that Bogatyrs make incompetent husbands. When the chance presents itself to do heroics, they all quietly escape from their house duties.
- Bait-and-Switch: Alyosha finds Moses Caught in a Snare, insects the rope, and pulls it. Somehow, a pit trap opens below him.
- Balance of Power: Duke tells he'll keep "the best Bogatyr in Rus" as his personal assistant while he's away. Each of the three initially call themselves the best, then to avoid arguing, all refuse the job.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: The Queen has all three Bogatyrs, the only defenders of Rus, at her mercy. Instead of killing them (or even better, brainwashing them), she throws them into a deep well and leaves, which doesn't even injure them and is easily escapable.
- Brainwashed and Crazy:
- The Duke of Kyiv gets hypnotized to marry the Queen and offers her the Rus.
- Alyosha charges to Queen's palace first, gets hypnotized, knocks the other Bogatyrs out, and all three fall into a deep well.
-
Broken Aesop: The film tries to tell that marriage requires mutual trust and independence, and the Stay in the Kitchen approach is detrimental to everyone. Still, Bogatyrs' wives end up as Damsels in Distress again and forgive their husbands for leaving them alone. - Cardboard Prison: The Duke has left buttons in his jails specifically in case he gets locked in one, though he can't recall which one and activates multiple traps before being rescued by Tihon. It turns out pretty much everyone knows the jail has an underground passage, the Queen of Shemakh included.
- Ceiling Cling: Julius hides from the Queen in a corridor by holding onto the walls right above her.
- Charm Person: The Queen of Shemakh has Hypnotic Eyes that make any man love her unconditionally, though it's not a complete obedience. A photo of her has the same effect.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Juilus is immune to the Queen of Shemakh's hypnosis, but her female horse instead takes his interest, which makes him realize Rus is in danger much later.
- The Conscience: Upon hearing that the Duke is in danger, Alyosha rushes into heroics without telling others, then starts hallucinating regarding leaving the other two Bogatyrs in the dark for own glory, and goes back for them.
- Continuity Nod: The Duke plays with a golden figure he got at the end of the last film.
- Contrived Coincidence: Dobrinya falls into the river and gets washed off a beach near a Chinese martial arts dojo, where Gorynych just so happens to be in and helps him get back on-track.
- Creepy Crows: The Queen of Shemakh uses a talking and old-looking crow as her minion.
- Disappointing Promotion: Juilus became a royal librarian before the movie, but he just sleeps on the job. Then he's literally dragged around by the hypnotized Duke as his map-reader.
- Dramatic Unmask: The Queen of Shemakh's wardrobe leaves only the eyes open. Without her shawl, she's just an elderly Wicked Witch. Though, nobody comments on her appearance.
- Drawing Straws: After escaping the Queen of Shemakh's palace, the Bogatyrs come across a large army of orcs and, after a small argument, decide to draw the straws regarding who shall stay to fight. Dobrinya is the one to stay, having secretly rigged the drawing to his favor out of care for his comrades.
- Enraged by Idiocy: The Queen of Shemakh has heard the Duke is an awful ruler, but did not expect him to be an idiot as well, and almost regrets enslaving him. Then at the wedding party she's the only one to not have fun and wants it to hurry up.
- Establishing Character Moment: In her first appearance the Queen of Shemakh is being carried by servants, then hypnotizes a temple guard to fall off the cliff, then abuse her crow servant to solve the puzzle for the Fountain of Youth.
- Fountain of Youth: The tree requires being fueled by tears of the thousand maidens to produce a fruit that grants eternal youth.
- Honor Before Reason: Julius overhears that he's going to be sent to the knackers after the wedding for being annoying, and accidentally falls right before the Queen of Shemakh. To save his life, he throws Blatant Lies at her that a Russian wedding involves an Engagement Challenge. Unexpectedly, she does as he says because she wants to make sure the marriage is done properly, though unfortunately for Julius, the Brainwashed and Crazy Duke manages to clear it.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: The Narrator boasts how with three Bogatyrs on duty, not even a fly can pass through. Cue a fly bothering the three.
- Irony: Before the movie, the Queen of Shemakh got rid of all beautiful women in her lands. Then she discovers that she requires the tears of a thousand maidens, making her desperately resort to subjugating Rus.
- I Will Only Slow You Down: Dobrinya rigs the draw to fight orcs alone while the other two Bogatyrs move on.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Bogatyrs need to confirm if the Duke is alive and also prepare for a plan against the Queen. Alyosha charges the front gate as soon as they stop talking.
- Left Hanging: After being turned into a baby, the Queen of Shemakh is delivered to the Duke. However, she seem to still be conscious and have her powers. The next films do not follow up on this.
- Magic Mirror: The Queen has a hand mirror that shows whoever looks into it as ugly, which she orders Rus' women to look into it and cry into a jug. It can also summon an army of glass orcs.
- Named in the Sequel:
- Dobrinya's wife, who was only mentioned in Dobrinya Nikitich and Zmey Gorynych, is named Nastasya in this movie.
- Dobrinya's camel is now called Vasya.
- Never Trust a Title: The film's Market-Based Title is How Not to Rescue a Princess, instead of the Versus Title like Three Heroes and the Queen of Shemak. There are no princesses in the movie, the only one needs rescuing is the Duke of Kiyv.
- Noodle Incident: The narrator mentions that among other things the Duke told the Queen of Shemakh, he included having scarlet fever
for the first time, getting the first F in school and even trying to smoke. - Official Couple: Zabava and Alyonushka got married to Alyosha and Ilya respectively before the movie.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: Alyonushka writes an article about "the opening of the northern log road, also known as Nord Stream". The Nord Stream gas pipline's construction began shortly before the film's production.
- Road-Sign Reversal: The crow messes with a road sign to separate Alyosha and Ilya.
- Self-Disposing Villain: The Queen manages to collect the full jug of tears and escape. One fruit de-ages her to her prime, but in her greed she eats all of them and turns into a baby.
- Series Continuity Error:
- Somehow, the Bogatyrs reach Shemakh within a day and without a map, something that took Julius and the Duke of Kyiv at least several days.
- Being away from Rus doesn't make Ilya weaker, unlike the previous film.
- Shout-Out: The opening scene replicates the Three Bogatyrs painting by Viktor Vasnetsov, with Lybava drawing the actual painting.
- Skewed Priorities: While escaping Descending Ceiling, the Duke feels appropriate to stop and chat with Tihon, who has to pull him away from death.
- Spared by the Adaptation: In the original fairy tale, The Tale of the Golden Cockerel, King Dodon gets killed by the end, whereas the Duke of Kyiv survives.
- Summon Magic: The crow's feather can summon an army of orcs. Subverted in it being just an illusion and Dobrinya falls into a river. Later the Queen's Magic Mirror spawns an army of real ones.
- Tempting Fate: Many characters wonder if with three active Bogatyrs We Have Become Complacent. Cue a new villain.
- That Russian Squat Dance: The Duke does the Cossack dance, alongside reading his entire biography, to impress the Queen.
- Your Eyes Can Deceive You: To reduce the chance of getting hit with Hypnotic Eyes, the Bogatyrs do the final fight blindfolded. It makes them completely useless against the orcs, and they hit each other instead. They drop this and then fight normally with ease.
