The Trailblaze Trilogy is a series of Frozen (2013) fanfics written by Michael Golden Heart 23, concerning the Trailblazers, three friends from different nations who band together to defend Arendelle from dangerous invaders. Tomas, The Blacksmith and last surviving member of the warrior organisation known as the Maelstrom: Zi, a Chinese assassin who defected from the Scarlet Sword clan: Benjamin Thatch, an Adorkable Adventurer Archaeologist: and Lucky the Snowgie, the Team Pet. Together, they travel across countries and facall manner of opponents as they work alongside other nations from the Disney Animated Canon''! The series consists of Trailblaze
, Trailblaze II: Wrath of the Scarlet Sword, and Trailblaze III: The King's Quest. They can be read online on Fanfiction.Net.
This Fanfic series contains examples of:
- Adaptational Badass: In the original The Black Cauldron, the Horned King was basically an inactive villain whose dark magic abilities came across as an Informed Attribute, and who ultimately died by being shoved into the Black Cauldron himself. Here, he's the Greater-Scope Villain of the entire trilogy, he's powerful enough to give orders to Hades- and Hades is a Physical God, while the Horned King merely has ambitions of becoming one- and resurrecting him is enough to destroy the supposedly-indestructible Black Cauldron.
- Ambition Is Evil: Back when he was her trainer/boyfriend in the Maelstrom, Carina dreamed of one day surpassing Tomas. And then the Horned King gave her the chance to fulfill that dream by taking the mantle of the then-dead Raven, corrupting her into a Face–Heel Turn.
- Anyone Can Die:
- In the first book, the casualties include Kai, Ada and Nora on the heroes' side, and the Duke of Weselton, his bodyguards, Prince Hans, and the Raven/Carina on the villains' side.
- The second book follows this up with the entire Scarlet Sword clan, along with its founder Shan Yu(though he was technically already dead), the Grandmaster, Tsao, and Kang. The only major hero to die is Lihua.
- As of the third book, we can now add Durag the shape-changing assassin, Medusa, Jafar, and the Horned King to that list. On the downside, Tomas and his horse Thor also die by the end of the story.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Captain Alex of Arendelle serves a queen with ice magic, lives with a talking snowman, and has trolls neighboring his kingdom, but the idea of Talking Animals perplexes him. Eventually, it gives him nightmares.
- Artistic License – History: Frozen is supposed to take place in the 19th century, but the neighboring kingdoms the Trailblazers visit include the kingdom from Sleeping Beauty (14th century), Mulan's Imperial China, and they even meet Hercules (Ancient Greece) at one point. Hercules' presence, though, makes sense, since it's possible that his father Zeus restored his godhood at some point after the ending of his film. And this story is supposed to be a straightforward fantasy.
- Bad Boss: Prince Hans to the people of Weselton. He treats them even more poorly than the Duke did.
- Big Fun: Benjamin Thatch is pretty heavyset and good-natured.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: Durag, the shape-shifter assassin who Hades hires to kill the Trailblazers in the first book. In his natural form, he has black leathery skin, bulbous amber eyes, and slits for nostrils and ears. Additionally, he has black, inky blood, and a Healing Factor so powerful, he can reform his body even if it ends up being squashed to pieces. He also cannot speak in his natural form, only by taking others' forms.
- The Chosen One: Tomas is the hero destined to kill the Horned King and save the world from his undead legions. That's why he was taken from the royal family of Arendelle and trained in the Maelstrom.
- Creepy Crows: The Raven's Animal Motif. A flock of them follow the Raven everywhere. And after Tomas defeats Carina in battle, they turn on her and consume her alive.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: On the surface, Benjamin Thatch appears to be a flighty, fat, clumsy archaeologist and Non-Action Guy. But then in the second book, we see him single-handedly kill a whole squad of Scarlet Sword assassins by starting an avalanche on them with his own weight. And he's the one who kills Kang the ugly Mook by the end of the story.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: As mentioned above, Carina/the Raven ends up being eaten by her own crows.
- Darker and Edgier: More graphic violence and mature content than your average Disney film, with villains who are considerably more depraved than Elsa and Anna have ever faced before.
- Dark Is Evil: The Raven dresses in black armour based on their namesake, is a murderous anarchist wanting to throw Arendelle into chaos, and underneath the mask, they have spiky black hair when they used to have shoulder-length brown hair as Carina.
- Defector from Decadence: Zi decided to leave the Scarlet Sword assassin clan upon realizing that the Grandmaster was now corrupt and no longer fighting for the good of China, like they were supposed to do. Her friend Lihua also ended up defecting.
- Dragon Their Feet: Downplayed. In the second book, Kang, an ugly, sadistic Scarlet Sword Mook, ends up outliving both the Grandmaster and Shan Yu, but then Ben Thatch takes revenge on him for his earlier mistreatment of him by knocking him off a cliff to be eaten by wolves.
- Everybody Hates Hades: As per Disney canon, Hades is a villain seeking to overthrow his brother Zeus and get revenge on Hercules for defeating him the first time.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: When Tsao faces his former wife Zi for the last time in the second story, he calls her out for betraying him and siding with Tomas "To stop me, you would fight the only man who loved you." Zi replies, "No, I'd fight FOR the man who loves me(Tomas). Because I... love him." Tsao doesn't seem to realize that Zi would no longer love a man like him after he repeatedly refused to defect from the Scarlet Sword for her, brainwashed her, and killed her friend right in front of her.
- Exact Words:
- How Hercules manages to punish his uncle Hades for working with the Horned King: he promises to appeal to Zeus to get him not to imprison Hades in the Lightning Vault for an eternity. Once Hades reveals everything he knows, Hercules hauls him off to imprison him for a few centuries.
- The Raven uses this against Elsa in the first story. He holds her butler Kai captive on a rooftop, after having his supporters set fire to Arendelle, and challenges Elsa to use her powers to save Kai's life. She desperately tries shooting ice magic at the Raven, but she expended all her strength fighting the flames, so she can't hurt him. Then the Raven drops Kai to his death, taunting that Elsa could have used her powers to create a cushion of snow for Kai to land on instead.
- Expy: Benjamin Thatch is basically Milo Thatch, only fatter, with more facial hair, and he's from Corona, not America. They even have the same surname!
- Family Versus Career: This was the whole reason Audrey of Arendelle left her former husband Captain Alek. She found she was pregnant, and one of the conditions for fulfilling the prophecy that Tomas would defeat the Horned King was that she would give birth, but she would never be able to remember what happened to those children afterwards. She begged Alek to leave Arendelle with her and raise their family together instead, but when he insisted on staying behind to serve the King and Queen, she declared that if it came down to her loved one vs. her job, she'd never truly loved him. Luckily, this debate is solved peacefully once she discovers that their children are still alive- they're Tomas' foster siblings, Hilda and Herfinn.
- Faux Affably Evil: Any villain who seems polite. Key word being seems.
- Female Misogynist: The Raven is constantly abusing and insulting their slave Nora for being a former abused prostitute who they took from the brothel. We later find out that the current Raven is actually Carina from the Maelstrom, which adds disturbing implications to their hatred of Nora.
- Genius Bruiser: Tomas is pretty intelligent and pretty powerful. As a blacksmith, it makes sense.
- Greater-Scope Villain: The Horned King is revealed to be this for the entire Trailblaze series. He corrupted the Scarlet Sword from the formerly-heroic clan they used to be, he created the persona of the Raven and corrupted Carina into taking up the mantle herself, and he's the one giving Hades and all the other villains orders in the third story.
- Happily Married: Tomas and Zi, at least until he dies by the end of the third story. Also Captain Alex and Audrey, once they finally make peace with one another.
- Heartwarming Orphan: Hilda and Herfinn, Ada's wards, and Tomas' foster siblings. The "Orphans" part is subverted, though, when we discover their birth parents, Captain Alek and Audrey.
- The Hero Dies: By the end of the third story, Tomas himself dies after killing the Horned King, and is reunited with Queen Idun and King Agdar, Nora, Lihua, Thor, and Kai in the afterlife.
- Hypocrite: Tsao, Zi's former husband. He berates his wife for betraying the Grandmaster of the Scarlet Sword, but when Hades offers him a chance to gain more power by betraying the Grandmaster himself, he doesn't hesitate.
- Interchangeable Asian Cultures: Lihua is Chinese, just like her friend Zi and the rest of the Scarlet Sword, but she fights with sais, Japanese weapons. Then again, the original leader of the Scarlet Sword was Shan Yu, a Mongolian mercenary.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Captain Alek had a point that Princess Anna's decision to trust Prince Hans made her a Horrible Judge of Character. However, he himself was letting opinions color his view of Zi sneaking out of Arendelle after a Scarlet Sword in the night.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Captain Alek is not always the friendliest person, but he has Arendelle's best interests at heart. The same applies to his former wife, Audrey, once we learn about her Family Versus Career conflicts.
- Karma Houdini:
- After assisting the heroes in the second story, and then attacking them in the third story, Sao Feng and his crew escape unpunished. Though, if this story is meant to be canon with Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, it's possible he'll be killed at the hands of the Flying Dutchman eventually.
- Hades, Pain and Panic are the only villains still alive, but imprisoned, by the end of the story. Then again, since Hades is a god, it's not like the heroes can kill him.
- Karmic Death: After abusing and raping Nora, his Sex Slave, The Evil Prince Hans of the Southern Isles dies at the hands of her righteously enraged boyfriend Tomas.
- Laser-Guided Karma: After all the torment he's put his estranged wife Zi through, Tsao finally dies at her hands.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: The third story reveals that Tomas is actually the firstborn son of King Agdar and Queen Idun of Arendelle, thus making him Anna and Elsa's older brother.
- And not only Tomas. His foster siblings Hilda and Herfinn are identified as being the children of Captain Alek and Audrey, who Audrey could remember giving birth to, but not what happened to them afterwards.
- Made of Iron: Tsao, Zi's Jerkass former husband, apparently dies after Tomas destroys the amulet of Hades, engulfing him in its flames, then being kicked over a cliff by Zi. But then he reappears alive by the final battle, Covered in Scars but still alive, and he makes his presence known by stabbing Zi's friend Lihua In the Back. Ultimately, Zi has to cut off Tsao's head to finally kill him for good.
- Never My Fault: After Tomas kills Hans, thereby depriving the Raven of their hold on Weselton, the furious Raven blames Hans for failing to maintain order. This falls flat when you consider that the Raven is an anarchist. If they're angry towards Hans for failing to maintain order, then that makes them a Hypocrite.
- Our Gods Are Different: The Olympians from Hercules appear in the third story. Hades is, as per Disney canon, plotting against them.
- Prophecy Twist: Anna discovers a mysterious magic stone containing lost memories that can only be accessed when the entire royal family of Arendelle stands together. She takes this to mean that her and Elsa's parents, who supposedly died at sea, are actually still alive, and goes on a journey to find their ship. Turns out that no, King Agdar and Queen Idun were Dead All Along. But then Anna and Elsa discover that the family they needed to unlock the secrets of the stone was Tomas, their older brother.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: As if Prince Hans of the Southern Isles wasn't evil enough in Frozen canon, when the Raven sets him free from prison and puts him in charge of Weselton, the first thing he does is rape and abuse his bed-slave, Nora, who the Raven gave to him as a gift.
- Savage Wolves: Tomas runs into a violent pack of white wolves in the Chinese mountains in the second story. They also kill Kang of the Scarlet Sword after the final battle.
- Sequel Hook: At the end of the third story, we see young Herfinn, Captain Alek's son, being chosen as the next wielder of the Sword of Heroes.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Granted, Prince Hans was already The Sociopath in canon, but here, he's ended up becoming a lot crueler and a lot more low-functioning. He treats the people of Weselton with less care than the people of Arendelle, and sends the militia to open fire on them when they speak out against him, and he's an unapologetic rapist and abuser now. Which makes it all the more satisfying when Tomas kills him.
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: The Duke of Weselton was a man driven by Greed and Fantastic Racism, but he was ultimately an incompetent, cowardly man who posed no danger to Arendelle. Once the Raven decides he has outlived his usefulness, however, he has Prince Hans murder him and take his city as a base of operations for the Raven's plans. And Hans treats the people of Arendelle even more brutally than the Duke did himself.
- Unsettling Gender-Reveal: Doubles with Samus Is a Girl. When Tomas discovers that the Raven, the murderous anarchist Evil Overlord he's spent most of the story fighting against, is actually his former apprentice/girlfriend Carina, he doesn't take it well. At all.
- Walking Spoiler:
- The Raven is actually Tomas' first love, Carina, gone evil.
- The Horned King was the villain responsible for corrupting the Scarlet Sword and creating the Raven in the first place.
- Tomas is the firstborn son of King Agdar and Queen Idun of Arendelle, and therefore Elsa and Anna's older brother.
- Hilda and Herfinn are actually the children of Captain Alek of Arendelle and his former wife Audrey the Guardian.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The Raven decides this of the Duke of Weselton once they release Prince Hans and bring him to Weselton.
