Headscratchers / Rise of the Guardians

Jack carrying Sophie

• So children who don't believe in Jack Frost pass right through him if contact is made, but in the middle of the film, he carries Sophie in his arms as he returns her home? Had he ever tried touching someone before? Would that work? I'm assuming that since Sophie is a very young child, the rules of belief in the Guardians don't apply to her, so if Jack was able to physically touch someone else, how would they react to it?
  • See the Fridge Brilliance & Logic page for theories.
  • Maybe Sophie believes in him?

The last light

• How is it that Jamie is, for a while, the only kid in the whole world to believe in the Guardians when his sister actually met them too?
  • Check the "Fridge Logic" page. It says this there. Twice, actually. They were close together, only a room apart, so their lights were probably so close Pitch thought they were one (heck, on that globe an entire city is pretty much a dot). Or Sophie was just too young to even understand the concept of "belief". For example, Christmas is that day when toys appear under a tree decorated with glowy thingies.
  • Indeed, note that Sophie displays zero surprise at seeing the Guardians, or any of the wacky stuff she encounters. She's just too little for her belief to be a matter of faith, it's all "Ooo, that thing I've seen before that I like!"
  • Or because Sophie fell asleep under the effect of Sandy's sands, she slipped into a pleasant dream about the Guardians, so woke up believing the entire experience was part of the same dream. Nice Job Breaking It, Hero there, Sandy.

Jack's staff

• What is the exact connection between Jack and his staff? It was just an oddly shaped stick when he first picked it up, and before then, he was shown to still have powers. He's shown using his powers both with and without it, but there's one point in the movie where he's falling out of the sky and has to grab hold of the staff again before he can save himself, and when Pitch snaps it in two, Jack seems to feel physical pain as a reaction.
  • Magic Feather.
  • Maybe it just focuses his powers so he has more control over them.
  • This troper saw it as Jack's staff giving him more conscious control and direction rather than his "blunter" winter-spirit abilities (he uses the staff to create snowballs, but not to make it snow).
  • As the staff is what he'd used to save his sister, proving himself worthy of the Man in the Moon's favor, it had probably been a receptacle for his Guardian powers all along: he just didn't realize it, because he wasn't using them to protect kids (as opposed to showing them a good time), so was operating at a low ebb for all those years. That's why Jack himself was caught off-guard when his powers got so much stronger once he directed them against a genuine threat.
  • Probably like a wizard's wand in Harry Potter — wizards' power comes from within, but they need a tool like a wand to channel and focus it. Jack's power comes from inside him, but he uses the staff to channel it. Either because he's used it for so long, or because it's his only keepsake from his previous life (even if he doesn't know it), it's become an Empathic Weapon — that's why he's not as powerful (or at least doesn't think or feel like he is) when it's not in his hand (the scene where he can't fly when loses hold of it), and why damaging it hurts him.

Jack's clothes

• How did Jack get his hoodie and what became of his cloak if we are to assume he is still wearing his white shirt and vest underneath the sweatshirt?
  • He probably lost the cloak at some point in his history. He spends a lot of his time being tossed around in rough winter winds — it's easy to imagine that the cloak was blown off during one of his flights. The origin of the hoodie is also easily explained, in that he probably swiped it from somewhere out of a desire to wear something that would cling to him a bit more easily while in flight.

How did Jack defeat Pitch?

• How was Jack able to repel Pitch and his Nightmares so easily directly after Sandy's death?
  • Symbolism. Jack's center turns out to be fun, which can be a powerful force in the face of darkness and fear.
  • Pitch's Nightmares seem to only work on people who are afraid, or at the very least have minimal effect on those who are not afraid. Jack is irreverent, and thus harder to scare.

Not Every Continent

• Bunnymund announces that "There will be springtime on every continent" when preparing for Easter, despite that springtime and Easter don't align if you live in the Southern Hemisphere. Shouldn't he have known that it wouldn't be springtime in South America, Africa, or his home continent of Australia?
  • When North America doesn't get their presents or Easter eggs, the news probably spreads to the Southern Hemisphere. And where does it say Bunnymund is Australian? Sure, he has the accent, but he was never stated to be born in Australia.
    • Maybe for Australians and others in the Southern Hemisphere, he embodies the longing for, and future promise of, springtime? Much like how, if the baby New Year had been included as a Guardian, he'd represent the prospect of a whole year's worth of new seasons despite being "born" in the depths of winter.
  • Outside of Australia, the only continent whose majority is located in the Southern Hemisphere is South America. Africa appears to have more land situated north of the equator than south of it, and Bunny only said there would be springtime on every continent; it's not like he said it'd be all over every continent. This still leaves open the question of Australia, of course, but maybe Bunny doesn't consider that a continent or, since it's his homeland, he regards it as existing within his sphere of influence, so to speak, which means it doesn't need to fall in line with the others... If that makes sense.

Seeing & believing

• If enough people believe in a specific Guardian, does that mean that everyone can automatically see him or her? Or is it only people who believe in a specific Guardian that can see that specific guardian?
  • The latter, I believe is the case. When the Guardians all meet in Jamie's room after having collected the teeth, Jamie, who believes in all of them sans Jack, can see all of them sans Jack. And when Jamie is the only person who believes in all of them, he can still see all of them regardless of what the entire rest of the world believes.

Seems paltry for a snow day.

• So, supposedly the town Jack was hanging out at towards the beginning of the movie had a snow day. But there's barely enough snow on the grass to constitute a snow day, let alone the streets.
  • Speaking from experience, that's pretty natural for the area where Jamie lives. (Pennsylvania, going by the location of his light on the globe.) In locales like that, snowfall is rare enough and day temperatures high enough for schools to declare snow days where a good deal of the stuff will be melted away by late morning. It's all about how dangerous traveling is at the time that school starts.

Tunneling in

• When North summons the Guardians to the pole, Bunny's tunnel lets him out outside the workshop, and he travels the rest of the way inside on foot. Why didn't he tunnel directly inside?
  • There's near-constant movement inside the workshop, Bunny didn't want to take the chance that someone was in the area the hole opened to and would fall in, and even if he knew for a fact no one was there, if one wasn't paying attention where they were walking, they could fall in before he jumped out and closed the hole and hurt him or themselves.
  • It would be good manners not to directly transport yourself into someone else's home. It's like knocking before coming inside for non-magical guests.
  • Possibly, Bunny wanted to verify with a view from the outside that the aurora being emitted was a signal for the Guardians to assemble and not just a particularly flashy but otherwise natural northern lights show. He's mentioned being in a rush at the moment trying to prepare for Easter, so he wouldn't want to tunnel directly in if it's not worth his time.
  • It also might not be possible to tunnel into the workshop, for security reasons. True, Bunny can tunnel out of the workshop later on, but that's a different story than being able to tunnel in.

Why was the tooth mouse there?

• Does it work for the tooth fairy or something? And if so, and if she still had people out there working for her, why were so many kids still losing faith so fast if they were outsourcing their work?
  • The mouse is a European equivalent to the tooth fairy myth. It was a nod to other fairy tales. And if I had to guess, it's just about who woke up at the time. Remember time zones are a factor. So while other kids woke up, several others were still asleep. The European division doesn't cover places like North America.
  • Possibly the child in question was a European visiting North America, and the two different divisions got their orders crossed on who was supposed to pick up that particular tooth.

How do the Guardians escape notice from adults?

• Surely parents around the world would notice that they weren't replacing any teeth with quarters, or that there were a lot of gifts they hadn't bought, right?
  • Just standard kids' movie stuff. If there's not a trope for Adults Don't Believe, there ought to be.
  • I would assume that the Guardians have some innate magic that tricks adults into accepting the things they do as normal — when their child finds a quarter under their pillow or they wake up to a huge pile of presents under their Christmas tree, their minds are melted into thinking that they or their spouse was responsible.

Kids who don't believe

• What about all the kids who aren't celebrating Christmas or Easter?
  • The Tooth Fairy and Sandman are wholly secular. And while Santa and the Easter Bunny are associated with Christian/Catholic holidays, they're just big jolly figures that even other kids probably enjoy the sight and thought of. Anyway, the Guardians protect all children, including the ones that don't believe in them, so it's not like it matters in the big scheme of things.
  • Not to mention, Easter and Christmas are both related to even older holidays celebrating the solstices.
  • They're both very much representations of the secular side of Easter and Christmas anyway, which is an element that a lot of non-Christians get involved in (if only because they coincide with school holidays and so forth).
  • It's subtly implied that "belief" in a Guardian constitutes believing in their center more than actually thinking they're real, or celebrating their holiday. We aren't meant to take it that children across the globe stopped believing in Santa and the Easter Bunny just because they've stopped having dreams - it's rather that they've lost their senses of wonder and hope, which is what North and Bunny are all about. Children who don't believe in Santa himself may not be able to see North, but as long as they have some sense of wonder in them, they're still considered a believer. (This also explains how Jack is still powerful despite no one believing in him - they dismiss the character of Jack Frost as "just an expression," but their fun and enjoyment still give him strength.)

Pitch's true motivations

• Pitch spends most of the movie mocking Jack about how he doesn't belong with the Guardians and that they'll never consider him one of them. However, when the two meet up in Antarctica, he reveals that he views Jack as a kindred spirit and suggests they work together, only to go back to being a jerk when Jack rebuffs him. So what were his true feelings about Jack?
  • When Pitch first reveals himself at the Tooth Palace, there's no indication that he knows that much about Jack, apart from that children don't believe in him and he doesn't usually hang out with the Guardians. Later on, he shows some intrigue in learning why Jack is so concerned about the teeth he stole, which is probably what inspired him to do a little digging into Jack's past — hence him taunting him about it in his lair. He could have viewed him as a kindred spirit at that point but was still using his usual fear tactics to turn him off from the Guardians to prove to Jack that they were alike. And he would go back to being a bully once Jack rebuffed him; that's what he's been doing the entire movie, after all. If all this was true, it would just mean that his feelings about Jack changed accordingly to what he knew about him.

Teeth of a baby, mind of a teen

• How could Jack's baby teeth contain the memories leading up to when he'd died, when he was at least a teenager?
  • Likely some sort of a domino effect. The memories in the teeth would've helped him remember his home and his parents, which in turn could awaken memories of his sister, the fun they had together, and ultimately how he saved her. One of the easiest ways of remembering something is by associating it with something else.

Ice skating barefoot

• Why doesn't Jack appear to be wearing ice skates during his memories of when he saved his little sister?
  • He had ice skates too. You can see this in the scene with his sister. He probably took them off when his sister was trapped on thin ice.
  • He took them off to avoid breaking the ice. Ice skates are, effectively, a boot with a blade on the bottom. The blade means the full weight of the wearer is on two thin strips of ice, whilst taking his skates off when he realized the ice was thin helped disperse his weight across a larger area and therefore avoid putting more pressure than needed on the ice. He probably figured that he could warm his feet up again after he saved his sister. Anyone looking to rescue someone will do things that are temporarily uncomfortable (like standing on ice) because the overall aim is more important than being comfortable.

Undead Guardians

• If Jack Frost became Jack Frost after drowning in a frozen lake, does that mean other Guardians and Pitch came around similarly?
  • Tooth states that all of the Guardians started out as ordinary creatures, with past lives and families, before they were chosen for their roles.

Protecting children through fear

• Quote from Pitch's character page: "He was once a Well-Intentioned Extremist who used fear to protect children from danger." How, exactly, did he do that?
  • In the sense of using fear as a warning. For instance, say a child comes across a dog that's twice their size, barking wildly at them. They'd instantly be terrified and run away. Pitch once used fear as means to veer them away from danger, not outright protect them from it. And the books and movie seem rocky on Pitch's plot, constantly zig-zagging his story and morals. The movie takes place far long after the books, so it's likely Pitch has become a permanent no-good-doer.
  • The character page is referencing how children's scary stories like the Boogeyman originally served a purpose, namely keeping kids safe from genuine threats by presenting the danger as something their imaginations could engage with. For instance, if Jack's little sister had been told that a ferocious monster awoke in the frozen pond each winter and lurked under the ice, waiting for careless little girls to walk onto a thin patch so it could break through and gobble them up, she'd have been pretty scared, but she'd have stayed off the ice and wouldn't have needed her big brother to drown saving her life.

Why did Jack bring Sophie home?

• What was it that prompted Jack to offer to take Sophie home after the egg-decorating scene? The other Guardians reminded him that he would be their best bet for bringing Easter to the surface if Pitch showed up, and he's just found out that all of them could use some more time spent with children...So even though he couldn't have foreseen Pitch using his memories to lure him off-track, why didn't he just let one of them return her home through a quicker method, like a snow globe or those tunnels in the ground?
  • Bunny sure was needed at that moment, being the leader of the ordeal. Perhaps Jack simply got excited? He liked being in Burgess and he was probably thrilled to find out that he could hold Sophie, as opposed to passing through her.
  • Or maybe he unknowingly retains some feelings from his last moments as a human, and subconsciously he wanted to be able to take the little girl home safely because he wasn't able to bring his own sister home and tuck her safely into bed.

What is Tooth's center?

• The movie doesn't spell out the centers for all the Guardians, but in addition to North's being wonder, it can be inferred that Bunny's is hope and Sandy's is dreams and creativity. But what is Tooth's meant to be? She only says she safeguards the memories stored in people's baby teeth, not any virtues or aspects of childhood contained in the teeth.

  • The way I gathered, though I might be wrong, it is simply "memories". Alternatively, she says the teeth are used to help people remember "what's important" when they start to forget. So perhaps it's meant to be something like "innocence", which does fit with her ditzy, easygoing personality.

Abandoning Pitch?

• Jack rebuffs Pitch's offer to join forces when they meet in Antarctica, but instead of doing anything more to stop him, he just turns and walks away. Was he really going to turn his back like that? He might've been able to defeat him right then.
  • In addition to the fact that he'd just fought Pitch to a stalemate, by that point in the story, Jack was in a very dark place, metaphorically speaking. He's spent 300 years being ignored and overlooked by the children he's expected to protect. He was just turned out by the only family he's ever known. And he has the box containing the answers to every question he's ever asked himself, but he's too scared to open it. He couldn't justify getting into the fight again at that point, so far removed from everything that was going on, but once Baby Tooth was brought out and things became more personal, he jumped back into the fray.

Manny's three centuries of prep work

• Why did the Man in the Moon decide to make Jack a Guardian 300 years early? Did he even know that Pitch would make his return in the future and that Jack would be needed? If so, why couldn't he have the decency to direct him to the other Guardians, Tooth especially, so that he could reclaim his memories, figure out who he was, and thus be self-assured and ready when Pitch came to power?
  • Let's assume that he can't bring people back from the dead whenever he pleases (like, 300 years later), so he made Jack a spirit at the time he died because it was either then or never. It's also safe to assume he knew exactly what would happen in the future and when (most Big Goods with this much cosmic influence are omniscient) and the best way to move the pieces to win the game. Why couldn't he have just told Jack who he was, how he died, exactly how he would be needed in 300 years, what his job would be, make him a Guardian immediately, and give him all the information and power he would need for an easy victory? Because would Jack have become the type of person who could defeat this enemy under those circumstances? He would have spent years pining for the family he knew he had but couldn't speak to, he might not have embraced his power so eagerly, and he probably wouldn't have spent so much time bonding (albeit, one-sided) and playing with kids if he had such a huge responsibility on his shoulders and a dangerous battle to look forward to, and he wouldn't have proven himself like we see him do both in battle and through the choices he makes. A person doesn't become a hero — the type who's strong and smart enough to defeat evil — by having everything handed to them; you have to learn things and prove yourself on your own. That's what The Hero's Journey is for. Manny gave Jack his Supernatural Aid, but Jack had to undergo the journey himself, just like how a teacher gives students all the knowledge they need but can't take the test for them. (Maybe Jack thought he needed more information handed to him instead of wanting to find it himself, but given how he ended victoriously, he had exactly what he needed.)
    • Still, he could've at least told Jack "You will find everything you've wanted soon enough."
  • The book's version of events has Nightlight becoming Jack Frost, which makes things even more confusing.

How is Sandy more believed in than Jack is?

• The two of them would seem to be on equal footing in terms of being regarded as full-fledged cultural icons, so why is one held as being in higher esteem than the other?
  • In the folder regarding belief in children of different religions, it's suggested that the Guardians' powers derive from people partaking in their center specifically, as a separate matter than whether anyone believes in the Guardian as a folkloric figure, which dictates whether they can see them. Like Jack, Sandy has immense power because everyone has dreams, but the only characters who we know for a fact can see him are Jamie (who's a total nerd when it comes to holiday figures like the Sandman) and Jamie's friends, who were clued into his existence by Jamie. In the bigger picture, it's very possible the number of people who can see Sandy is not as high as the other Guardians because he's so obscure — which might be why Jack shows such an affinity for him over them.

Jack keeping to himself

• I know Jack and the Guardians had a mutual dislike at the beginning of the movie, but how come Jack didn't approach any of these guys about his memories and purpose when he learned of their existence?
  • Why would he think they'd have answers for him in the first place? He had no idea Tooth had his memories stored away until she explained it to him, nor did he have any idea that he or any of the Guardians had past lives.
  • Jack does mention having tried to break into the complex at the North Pole in the past but was never able to get past the yetis. And the way North reacts to this implies he was never made aware of these attempts It's presumably a case of poor communication; he could've approached one of the Guardians personally, but as noted, he didn't really think they could help him and was too carefree to seriously consider trying.

Why not fly ahead?

• Jack and Tooth can both fly on their own, obviously - when the team sees Sandy being ganged up on by Pitch's nightmares, why doesn't one or both of them try flying ahead to help him, instead of all of them riding up in North's slower-moving sleigh? I do realize that between them noticing Sandy fighting on his own and Pitch shooting him through the back, there probably wasn't enough time for them to have made it to him before it happened, but it still raises the question of why neither of them tried before he was struck.
  • They did. Jack flew up first, followed closely by Tooth, though she was immediately cut off by a stream of Nightmares and was forced to retreat. That's why Jack was all alone to tank the giant wall of nightmare sand.

Where Do the Elves Come From?

• At one point, North makes mention of how the elves only think they're the ones making the toys, whereas the yetis are doing all the actual work. But if that's the case, then the elves are outclassed in terms of both combat and everyday labor - even if North simply doesn't want to get rid of them, where did they come from in the first place?
  • Going to the first part, I assumed that when North replies "We just let them believe that (the elves made the toys)" that "them" meant everyone who thought the elves made the toys, instead of the yetis.
  • Maybe the elves do the work that doesn't have to do with making toys? Don't know where they come from, though.

How to Entertain Kids From the Tropics

• If Jack's only way of spreading fun amongst the children of the world is through blizzards and snowball fights and the like - winter things - then what happens after he becomes a Guardian when a child from the tropics needs help with having fun?
  • The Tooth Fairy has mice working for her in Europe instead of tiny hummingbird fairies, so presumably Guardians can adjust their motif to suit different cultures and regions. Possibly once he takes up responsibility for children year-round, rather than just amusing them in winter, he can become known as Jack Fun in winter-free regions and summertime. Tropical specialty? Ice cream and shave ice.
    • There is a Rise of the Guardians app which states “Jack likes the beach - but only to have fun freezing waves.” This probably means he can go to warmer climates. And whilst he does specialize in wintry types of fun as he is now, we see in his memories of his human life that he had other ways of keeping kids entertained, through telling stories and generally goofing off.

Keeping secrets

• Why do the Guardians keep themselves secret if they want everyone to believe in them?
  • Because true faith is believing in something even with the notion that it may not exist. Also, the only people who can see the Guardians are children who already believe in them anyway.
  • Also, they aren't keeping it secret. People still pass down stories of Santa and the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, all of them...The Guardians rely on those stories (along with their respective holiday roles) to instill their importance in children. It's only up to the children whether they choose to believe.

What if a child felt indecisive?

• If a child never outright denied the existence of a Guardian, but kept in mind that they might not exist, where would they fit into things?
  • There's a difference between knowing something and believing in it. You can believe in Santa Claus even when armed with the knowledge that he maybe doesn't exist.

Jack's memories

• If Tooth hadn't known that Jack couldn't remember his past, that hints at it being normal for a Guardian to be able to remember their life before they became a Guardian. So...that brings us back to this enigma - why can't Jack remember his? Unless the Man in the Moon took away his memories, and he would have no reason to, since it only delayed him from stopping Pitch because of his indecision...
  • According to Word of God, the Man on the Moon did take away Jack's memories. Twice. It appears to have been out of some misguided but good-faith attempt to protect him from pain because you're right, there is something that makes Jack different: Jack's the only one amongst them who died before becoming their current self. And before that, Jackson Overland was apparently—somehow—what remained of the person that had once been Nightlight after he gave up his powers, so, understandably, the Man on the Moon would be a bit protective of his friend, even if his idea of protection seems to have ended up ultimately doing more harm than good.

What to do, what to do...

• While the Guardians are busy battling Pitch during the climax, we cut to Jamie looking at a stream of golden sand moving by. He gets excited, exclaims "I know what we have to do!", and tells his friends to follow him. I guess the implication is that they did something to bring the Sandman back, but what was it? The movie never shows us...All we see is Sandy reappearing amidst a cloud of sand, but there's no mention of whether the kids were involved or what they did to cause it. (Apart from them running around purifying nightmares, but they were already doing that before Jamie's eureka moment.)
  • It was the fact that Jamie recognized the purified sand as the Sandman's, and therefore figured that he could be brought back with enough belief.

Why hasn't he done that before?

• Jack bringing that bunny to life from the window frost seemed to come out of nowhere a little bit, and it seemed like seeing it was all it took for Jamie to believe in him. Which makes sense - a mystical frost-bunny leaping out of your windowpane and hopping around the room before bursting into a shower of snowflakes is a lot more mystical and awe-inspiring than, say, blizzards and snowball fights. But how did Jack know (or why did he think) he could do something like that, and why hasn't he ever tried it before?
  • Perhaps the idea was that Jack was too free-spirited to ever consider slowing down and connecting with any child on such a deep, personal level. As much as he boasts about understanding kids more than the other Guardians do, the problem is that he only connects with them on a relatively surface level that doesn't leave a lasting impact.

Jack's dissension

• One thing I've never understood about this movie is why Jack is so dead-set against being a Guardian. I can see how being "cooped up in a hideout thinking up new ways to bribe kids" (roughly paraphrased) would clash with his personality, but Sandy doesn't spend his time hidden away somewhere - he's out there every night just giving sweet dreams to children, not "bribing" them with money or presents or eggs. And Jack knows this. So why does he act like the roles North, Bunny, and Tooth have are all there is to being a Guardian?
  • There are several reasons. 1) Jack Frost is the Guardian of Fun, not the Guardian of Responsibility. 2) He has had a conflict with Bunnymund in the past, and only seems to truly respect Sandman. 3) He is upset at the Man in the Moon on account of being ignored for 300 years. It was a "Get in the robot" moment.
    • Jack's been playing by his own rules for the last 300 years and naturally isn't fond of the idea of suddenly being bound up by rules and responsibilities. He also probably feels some misguided resentment towards the other Guardians since he knows they can communicate with the Man in the Moon who has steadfastly been ignoring Jack all this time. He seems to have lumped them all together as a "hero brigade" of sorts that he feels a level of condescension towards because he thinks of them as a bunch of stuffy goody-two-shoes.

The Moon's mission

• Why does the Man on the Moon care about the Happiness and well-being of Human Children?
  • According to one of the books the movie was based on, the Man in the Moon started off as a baby who lived on a starship with his parents. The baby had never experienced nightmares, which angered the Bogeyman Pitch, who attacked the ship and killed Manny’s parents in a failed attempt to rectify this. The ship’s remains became the moon where Manny lived, and he felt a kinship with the children of Earth because they were like him, so he anointed the Guardians to do little things that would make children happy. Why he wanted to protect children didn’t go much deeper than that, except for him lighting up the moon at night — he did that to help protect children from fear, because they did experience nightmares while Manny never had before.

Jack can't float?

• When Jack fell into the pond in the flashback, why didn't he just float to the top? Was he that dense when he was human?
  • My best guess is that the Man in the Moon was able to keep him from floating to the surface, probably to spare his sister the trauma of seeing his frozen corpse lying there and to keep her and others from endangering themselves to try and recover the body.
  • While the average human is slightly less dense than pure water, the emphasis here is on the "slightly". Further, fat is less dense than muscle and bone, and Jack is a pretty skinny guy, so his overall density would be slightly higher than the average. Thick, heavy clothing (like, say, the kind of clothes that people wear during cold winter days) could easily have been dense enough to overcome that slight positive buoyancy and drag Jack to the bottom.

Is the Mouse a Guardian?

• So, a previous headscratcher established that the mouse is a nod to European mythology and that the confusion might have come from a European kid visiting North America... but another question about the mouse is... is it also a guardian? Because it does the same job as Tooth, but Pitch doesn't seem to be going after it, and it doesn't attend meetings.
  • The mouse is probably comparable to the yetis and the elves who work at the North Pole, as well as the smaller fairies that Tooth has doing the collecting for her. Early in the movie, the four Guardians give a nod to other folkloric creatures that exist who aren't direct Guardians when the Man in the Moon is choosing a new one — Sandy suggests it could be a leprechaun, and Bunny alludes to the eponymous groundhog of Groundhog's Day... And obviously, Jack Frost has to consider himself something when he initially declines to become a Guardian. "Guardian" is a specific and bestowed title given to figures with centers that cater to a certain aspect of childhood. It's not a catch-all term for any mythical being.
  • As for why the mouse hasn't been targeted by Pitch, we don't know that it hasn't. If we assume the mice do ultimately work for Tooth, the Nightmares could still be in the process of capturing them all, just like they'd be sent after any fairies who weren't at the Tooth Palace during the attack. Pitch doesn't need to incapacitate every last one of them, anyway; he just needs to capture enough of them that people stop believing in the Guardians, and then even the ones who remain free (like Baby Tooth, as an example) will still run out of power.

Helping people remember

• Tooth explains that she and her fairies collect and store the teeth containing people's memories so that they can help them recall important things when they need to. However, how does she know when people have something that needs remembering? Jack's inability to remember his past (or even that he had a past) was a major problem for him since he woke 300 years ago, but Tooth wasn't clued into it at all until he told her directly.
  • Going with what’s suggested above, that Tooth protects the memories of childhood innocence stored in the teeth, it’s probably because Jack never let his amnesia keep him from being his usual, fun-loving self. He wanted to know his past so he could understand his purpose; the problem is that he was already fulfilling his purpose without ever realizing it. It’s only when he does lose sight of his center in the aftermath of Pitch’s attack that Baby Tooth thinks to show him his memories.

Jack drowned?

• Everywhere I look says Jack drowned in the lake. But... if the water was cold enough to freeze over, wouldn’t he have frozen to death long before he could drown? Also, his family lived next to a lake, you’d think he’d know how to swim...
  • Even in cold water, it can take an hour or more to succumb to hypothermia. Comparatively, being exposed to a rapid cold like that triggers an instinctive gasping reflex that could’ve caused Jack to breathe freezing water directly into his lungs. Overall, it’s not that big of a deal exactly what it was that killed him; people simplify it by just saying he drowned because it’s easy shorthand for “He fell into a lake and died.”

Jack Did Nothing Wrong

• What's with all these tropes picking on Jack Frost about the Easter scene? Everyone knows that Pitch was the one who ruined all those eggs and lured him into his lair using his memories as a distraction. So, why are they saying it was Jack's fault when it obviously wasn't?
  • Also, on that note, how could the other Guardians do the same thing when they've dealt with Pitch before? They should be well aware of what he does and what he's capable of, so why didn't they stop to think that it was his doing?
    • They didn’t think that Jack was personally responsible for what happened, that he ordered the Nightmares to attack. They’re upset because they needed him there to defend against the Nightmares like only he can do, and they find out that instead he was with Pitch in his lair. They asked him to stay at the Warren, but he insisted on taking Sophie home and promised to return quickly, only to renege on his word — because Pitch distracted him with his memories, yes, but it still doesn’t look good on Jack’s part.
    • On top of that, the only one who directly blames Jack is Bunny, who held the most animosity toward him before they teamed up, was personally counting on him to help protect the eggs, and has the most to lose if Easter falls through. North and Tooth are both disappointed and upset about what happened, but Jack is the one who decides to leave.