Pagten ("The Pact") is a Danish julekalender by DR that first aired in December 2009 and was reused for December 2013.
When the evil ice witch Iselin returns, the existence of nisser are threatened, and they must obtain the pact of friendship made between a nisse and a human many years ago. When Saia, the nisse who with the help of a human created the pact goes to seek out the last known human with the ability to see her, she discovers that the human has grown old and senile, meaning Saia and her family must seek out a new human that can see them.
However, Saia ends up being frozen by Iselin, leaving the task to the rest of her family. While hiding out in a school, Saia's daughter Lyda comes across Malte, a twelve year old boy who is having difficulties in school due to frequently being bullied by the school bully Rune. Lyda believes Malte might be the one who can help them, after he draws a picture of her after catching a brief glimpse of him, but is unable to convince her father and older brother that Malte is the one.
Lyda does not give up, and eventually Malte does fully gain the ability to see nisser, but doesn't believe he can help them. However, when one of Malte's classmates, Viji, is abducted by Iselin after being lured onto roof of the school building as part of one of Rune's pranks, Malte decides to do what he can to help Lyda and her family find the parts of the magical map needed to find the pact.
The show was critized for being noticably Darker and Edgier than previous julekalendere, to the point where some parents wouldn't let their kids watch the show. The reason given, among others, was that the show implemented kid-friendly horror-elements, which, while fairly tame, was too much for many younger kids. In addition, while the subjects of divorce and harsh bullying aren't new elements to christmas calendar shows, the examples given in The Pact tended to be almost too real for many. On the other hand, many felt like these elements only added tension to a type of show which tended to be very much on the fluffy side.
Relevant tropes:
- Adults Are Useless: Poul, the school principal is a Horrible Judge of Character who doesn't realize that Rune is a bully with control over most of the other students, and doesn't take Helle's concerns seriously.
- Batman Gambit: Rune pulls one to try to get his hands on the pact after Malte obtains it. During a conversation with the school, his parents and Malte's mother, he starts to talk about what Malte is trying to accomplish, since the adults won't believe it and he can't prove anything. He succeeds in getting the pact away from Malte, although Iselin is still stopped from obtaining the pact for another day due to Poul confiscating it and taking it with him on a trip to Germany to pick up a motorcycle.
- Big Bad: Iselin.
- Bittersweet Ending: While the show ends on a happy note, Rune's subplot ends on a bit of a bittersweet note. His parents are ultimately forced to sell the farm, but they assure Rune that they are not getting a divorce, and that they've realized that they need to spend more time together as a family like they used to.
- Both Sides Have a Point: While it is pretty clear that Lyda is right in her belief that Malte is able to see nisser and can help them, Fabio isn't exactly being unreasonable in initially insisting on finding an adult who can handle the potentially dangerous task ahead.
- Call-Back: Early in the series, Rune tricks Viji to climb onto the school roof with the intention of leaving her stuck up there, but she ends up nearly falling off due to Iselin freezing the roof. Malte and Lyda try to save her, but she ends up falling and being captured by Iselin. In the second-to-last episode, after Rune betrays Iselin, she throws him out of a window, leaving him in danger of falling off the school's roof. Luckily, Malte, Lyda and Viji manage to save him.
- Cassandra Truth: When Malte tries to tell his teacher, mother and the police that he saw a nisse try to save Viji as she was falling off the school roof. And again when the principal tries to take the pact away from him, and he tries to explain that those two seemingly ordinary mittens serve a special purpose.
- It is subverted later on when Malte tries to explain to his mother Marianne why she needs to let him go retrieve them after she grounds him, and when she initially doesn't believe him, Lyda manages to help Malte convince her of nissene's existance by telling him a story of how she came across Marianne when she had gotten lost in a forest when she was younger, and while Marianne couldn't see her, Lyda helped guide her home. Marianne had never told Malte or Karla this story.
- Chekhov's Classroom: Malte's class is learning about Grundtvig, who happened to be the one who alongside Saia created the pact, hid it away and left behind clues connected to his songs and poems of how to find it. As such, Malte often goes to Helle for information when he needs to figure out which song they need to get to the next part of the map, with Helle assuming that Malte is just really interested in the subject.
- Chekhov's Gun: The first episode introduces three, the knife Saia is seen using, the necklace she's seen wearing just before being frozen by Iselin and the advice she gives Lyda, "the magic is always hidden within". The knife is later given to Lyda, and during the episodes when they need to find a way to restore the magic bush, Lyda notices that the images on the hilt of the knife shows how the magic bush can be saved. Recalling Saia's advice, she also realizes how to find the seeds, which are hidden inside Saia's necklace.
- Chekhov's Skill: Viji is established to be a good swimmer, and shortly after rescuing her from Iselin, Malte and Lyda find themselves having difficulty retrieving pearls from the bottom of a river in the damaged version of the third magical test as neither of them are particularly good at swimming, they decide to bring Viji along on their second attempt. It is ultimately subverted when it turns out the currents are too strong, and it is impossible to get down there.
- Curse of The Ancients: When Iselin gets worked up, she usually let's loose a few kid-friendly curses on her enemies.
- Evolving Credits: There are three versions of the opening credits, the first doesn't list Iselin at all, as her face has not been revealed. The second version, after it has been revealed that Aris and Iselin are the same person, shows Iselin both in her disguise as Aris and as herself, with her name in place of Aris', and the third shows her only in her true form, as it comes after she discovered that Gibbus had figured out her true identity, thus meaning she no longer has any reason to disguise herself as Aris.
- False Friend: Iselin convinces Viji to willingly come with her by claiming to understand her feelings and that she wants to help her. It doesn't take long before Viji realizes her mistake.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: Iselin. Cornered and exposed to the magical heat of the Pact, she slowly melts into a puddle of silvery goo, screaming horribly all the way. The kids and the nisse simply stand by stoically, watching their enemy die. Good lord.
- Happily Adopted: Somewhat subverted to begin with, as Viji (due to trust issues heavily implied to have been caused from her biological mother abandoning her) doesn't seem to realize how much her adoptive parents care about her, and is mentioned to have often run away from home. It's not until after returning home after being rescued from Iselin, and comes across copies of the fliers her parents had set up around town after her disappearance that she realizes that they do care about her. She then hugs her adoptive mother and promises never to run away from home again.
- Harmless Freezing: A bit of a variation, as Iselin outright states that as long as the pact exists, she can only freeze nisserne, not kill them. Her powers also don't work on humans. Or at least, she can't freeze them the same way, according to Saia.
- Heel–Face Turn: Rune near the end, after Lyda points out to him that Iselin may not keep her promise to help him save his parents' farm once she has won, as well as reminding him that Gibbus (who had previously saved Rune) would die if Iselin were to win.
- Heroic BSoD: Malte spends an entire episode in one after his failed attempt to obtain Iselin's ice stones, causing Fabio to be frozen by Iselin, and cost him his friendship with Lyda. Lyda also has one around the same time.
- Gibbus has one later on, when he learns that Aris was Iselin in disguise all along, and that he unwittingly gave her the information she needed to be one step ahead of their plans.
- Hostage For Macguffin: Iselin's reason for kidnapping Viji is so she can invoke this trope later on, which she does when Malte and Lyda only have one more test to pass before obtaining the last part of the map.
- How Many Fingers?: Episode 6 has Fabio doing this as a way of checking if Malte can see him:Fabio: (holding up three fingers) "How many fingers am I holding up?"Malte: "Three."Fabio: (holding up one finger) "And now?"Malte: "One."Fabio: (waving his arms) "And what am I doing now?"
- Identical Stranger: Discussed at one point, when Gibbus is still somewhat in denial after finding out that Aris is Iselin in disguise and suggests the possibility of this trope.
- Invisible to Normals: Both nisserne and Iselin are invisible to most humans (and presumably so are the other magical beings that are mentioned to have already given up against Iselin), leaving nisserne in a bit of a tough spot as they can't find or use the pact without a human's help. Malte eventually gains the ability to see nisser, and so does Viji after Lyda's attempt to save her from falling down from the roof. Later in the series, Rune also gains the ability to see them, after Iselin shows herself to him in order to manipulate him into helping her. Judging from what Lyda says shortly after Malte finds out about Rune being able to see nisser, it seems that if one can see one magical being, one can see others too.
- Kill It with Fire: Iselin is weakened if the temperature around her is not sub-zero. She can also be kept at bay with fire. This is only a temporary solution, however, and the wielder should make sure that the fire is in ample supply. Saia found this out the hard way.
- Lotus-Eater Machine: The flowers that can be seen throughout the hidden realm where the three magical tests are tempt people with what they desire most, and can trap them so they end up staring into them forever. Lyda nearly succumbs to the effects of one during the first test, but Malte manages to snap her out of it. Later, when Viji joins them on their second attempt to pass the third test, they need flowers, but the only ones available are those very same flowers. Turns out the flowers can be made harmless if a group of friends all look into the same flower at the same time.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Early in the series, Gibbus befriends a cute nisse girl around his age named Aris, who he regularly visits and tells her about what his family is doing in order to defeat Iselin in order to reassure her that things will be okay. Unbeknownst to him, Aris is actually Iselin in disguise, and she is using him to get the information that allows her to be one step ahead of them.
- After Malte fails the second test to obtain the second part of the map, but is afraid to admit it to Lyda, he instead decides to try to steal the ice stones Iselin gets her power from, after being told of them by Viji. He comes up with a rather crazy plan to obtain the stones, which fails. This ultimately results in Lyda's father Fabio being frozen by Iselin, leaving them without any way of communicating with the crows. Gibbus also has some of the blame, since he tipped Iselin disguised as Aris off to what Malte was trying to do in the first place.
- Out-Gambitted: A few episodes after learning that Aris is Iselin in disguise, Gibbus thinks of a way to exploit this and the fact that Iselin doesn't yet know that he knows this so they can lure her into a trap and save Viji.
- Parents as People: The parents of the characters are each trying to do their best to raise their children, but each have their own problems to work out.
- While Marianne is happy to see Malte's Character Development over the course of the series, as he finds more confidence and starts making more friends, she is also frequently concerned about him due to some of his actions that she lacks context for and that she can tell he's keeping things from her.
- Rune's parents keep arguing due to the financial issues they're dealing with, and while they mean well by trying to keep Rune from finding out due to not wanting him to worry, it's clear that it's not helping much since he keeps seeing them fight and eventually discovers the truth anyways.
- Poul is trying to be a good role model to Emil, but as Jens eventually points out to Poul when Emil reaches the point where he refuses to speak to him, he's too caught up in his role as principal, suggesting he try to set it aside for a bit and just be a father.
- Pet the Dog: Rune starts off as mostly a jerk and bully, but we get our first glimpse of a more sympathetic side to him when he is seen holding and petting one of the piglets of the farm belonging to his family.
- Playing Sick: Malte tries to do this in episode 4 to get out of attending the school arrangement where Rune plans to use him as bait to lure Viji into a trap. In a later episode, Malte is sick and has to convince his mother that he is healthy enough to go to school so he can talk to Viji and ask for her help with the third test to get the last part of the map.
- The Power of Friendship: The pact was created from the friendship between a human and a nisse, and is the only thing powerful enough to destroy Iselin.
- Really 700 Years Old: Nisserne are much older than they look. Lyda looks to be about Malte's age, but is actually 120 years old, which is apparently still considered very young by nisse standards based on one of Gibbus' conversations with Aris. And Fabio claims that Saia was at about Lyda's age when she and Grundtvig discovered the pact 200 years ago, meaning that Saia is at least 320 years old.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Helle, the newest teacher at Malte's school. Too bad the principal, nor most of the other adults really take her seriously, until Rune finally admits that he was the one who tricked Viji onto the school roof, and the other students at the school begin admitting how Rune has treated them all, thus proving Helle's suspicions about Rune correct.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: After the first attempt at the third test fails, Karla reflects on the poem leading to the test referencing India, and suggesting he bring Viji along since she's a great swimmer. Viji does manage to help clear the third test, but it is her memories of India rather than her swimming skills that allows them to find the solution.
- Secret Test of Character: Each of the three tests Malte and Lyda must go through to obtain the pieces of the map leading to where the pact is hidden could be considered one of these.
- In a twist, Malte actually fails the second test, and when Rune later goes through it with Gibbus, he ends up cheating with Iselin's help.
- Sleeping Dummy: Malte makes one out of pillows in episode 5 so he can sneak out at night to search for Lyda.
- Spanner in the Works: Malte discovers that Aris is Iselin in disguise after following Gibbus after noticing him sneaking away from the school, which gives him, Lyda and Gibbus an advantage as Iselin doesn't know that they've figured it out.
- In the last episode, Iselin has seemingly destroyed the pact, and Malte and Lyda have not been able to revive it. While he, Lyda and Viji are trying to save Rune, who Iselin had thrown out on the roof for betraying her, Iselin is in a good position to get to them. However, Malte's little sister Karla secretly followed them to the school, and happens to come across the room Iselin is currently in while looking for them. While Karla can't see Iselin, she quickly realizes who is in there with her and tries defending herself with a kitchen torch. While this doesn't do much, it does distract Iselin from seeing Malte, Lyda and Viji managing to save Rune, and in the process, restore the power of the pact, and they even have enough time to save Lyda's family, before leading Iselin into a trap and finally destroying her. Malte even lampshades how they won only because Karla happened to distract Iselin at just the right moment when she finally catches up to him and reveals how she "fought" Iselin.
- Taking the Heat: In episode 22, when Poul is about to report Malte to the police for breaking a window in his house, Emil, who saw the window freeze over and shatter on its own, tells him Malte is not to blame. However, since he knows he won't be believed if he tells him what he saw, Emil chooses to claim that he was the one who broke the window instead.
- The Snark Knight: Viji.
- Speaks Fluent Animal: Lyda's father, Fabio, can communicate with crows.
- Spoiler Opening: They attempt to avert spoiling the "Aris is Iselin in disguise" twist ahead of time via Evolving Credits, but Genre Savvy viewers may figure it out anyway, particularly if one notices that the end credits of every episode list Aris and Iselin as being played by the same actress.
- Villainous Breakdown: Iselin has a rather scary one when Gibbus out-gambits her, and traps her in a ring of fire, forcing her to release Viji.
