YMMV / Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans

• Alternate Character Interpretation: In the end, why did Jim indirectly ask Toby to become the Trollhunter, rather than take up the burden again? Is it to protect him from Bular and Strickler, since Strickler found out Jim was the Trollhunter by sheer chance and Jim is going to be bait for them? To stop Merlin's foolish decision to make the Trollhunter an actual troll? Some would even go so far as to say that Jim just wants to live a (relatively) simple life without the burden of being the Trollhunter, while allowing Toby to take on the responsibilities and powers since Toby previously complained about how moral support is a useless power.
• Angst? What Angst?:
  • Steve just carried seven babies to term in a day. This forces him to sit out of the fight, and he suffers painful childbirth but finds it Worth It on seeing his and Aja's kids, with both of them ready to become a family. Then they willingly agree to reset the timeline, giving that all up, for a chance that the friends who died along the way will have a chance to live.
  • Apparently It Runs in the Family: his stepfather Coach Lawrence has seen so many apocalypses that in the previous series he told his students with annoyance that school is canceled and they should just spend the rest of the day home when a crashed Camelot destroyed the main building. To keep their spirits up, he takes them on a field trip, reasoning that if they stay out of the city then they should be away from the weirdness. What does he do when the Titans rampage through the national park, cutting the trip short and endangering their lives? Order the kids back on the bus, and personally drive them out of the line of fire with minimal fear. He shows no terror about the thought that Steve is probably in the fray, though Steve isn't, or about dying: all that matters is protecting his students.
• Audience-Alienating Ending: The Grand Finale to the series ends with Jim pushing the Reset Button following Toby's death and rewinding time to the beginning of Trollhunters (the first show in the franchise) to save everyone from suffering, while changing the timeline to make Toby the Trollhunter instead of him. Fans were outraged at how everything they had watched over the past few years was now rendered completely pointless.
• Badass Decay: Between Wizards weakening Jim and Rise of the Titans having him go through the same self-doubt he experienced back at the beginning of Trollhunters, many viewers felt Jim went backward in his development as the Trollhunter.
• Complete Monster (includes Wizards):
  • Bellroc, Keeper of the Flame, is the master of the Arcane Order and one of the primordial demigods who shaped the universe. Discontent with humanity and their corruption of their order, Bellroc grew blind to the damage they inflicted upon the world, simply deciding to destroy it and start over. Bellroc mortally wounds King Arthur to fully corrupt Morgana le Fay and see her overrun and annihilate humanity, attempting to awaken the Titans by forcing the one repenting member of the Order, Nari, to assist despite her will. Bellroc proceeds to awaken the Titans and lead an attempt to uncover the Heartstone at Arcadia Bay, intending to destroy all that lives according to their own ego.
  • Skrael of the North Wind is Bellroc's subordinate and partner in the Order, being perhaps the most viciously sadistic of the trio. Forsaking his own vow of neutrality, Skrael happily joins the fight to kill many humans with intent to completely exterminate them. In between battles, Skrael enjoys torturing his captives, as he viciously does to Steve, later showing a similar glee in hurting Nari as well before forcing her to attempt to awaken the Titans and unmake all in existence.
• Continuity Lockout: While the movie provides a recap for newcomers going over all the significant events of the previous three series, watching Trollhunters and especially Wizards wouldn’t hurt to be up to date with the characters and the world.
• Designated Hero: Jim doesn’t seem to care that he literally just erased the existence of Steve and Aja’s children, gave up his chances at true love, sacrificed the friendships he made along the way, essentially brought back all of the villains who died, and undid the heel-face turns of Strickler, Nomura, NotEnrique, Angor Rot, Tronos Madu, and Morgana, all because of one individual. He even sets up said individual to do his job in the new timeline, as opposed to using his new experience to be a better Trollhunter.
• Esoteric Happy Ending: Many fans have pointed out that while the time-travel brought back characters who died, it came at the cost of three series of character development. Not to mention, all the villains would be back as well.
• Fanon Discontinuity: Most fans tend to disregard the ending where Jim goes back in time and creates another timeline which will render all Tales of Arcadia stories to be null and void. In fact, said fans seem to hate the idea that Toby becomes the new Trollhunter since they think it doesn't seem fitting for him.
• Fanfic Fuel: The time-travel fix-it ending leaves a lot of room for speculation, especially given this is the last entry in the franchise.
  • What will Toby be like as the Trollhunter? How will the relationships shift?
  • With the ending leaving a lot of viewers less than satisfied, there is also a lot of room for fix-it fics.
    • Aaron Waltke goes on record stating that any headcanon is canon to the franchise to semi-appease disappointed fans.
    • Aaron also spills a few beans of what the new reality Jim creates will be like (from his viewpoint, at least).
  • Several fans begin to write an alternate ending where Jim remains as the Trollhunter but this time, with the knowledge he has, everything will be better.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • When Douxie and Nari prepare for the Arcane Order to confront them, he reassures her that it will be okay, and "No more running."
  • Akridions were established as being highly protective of their blades. The fact that Krel lent Jim his blade for the plan to ambush the Arcane Order speaks volumes of how their friendship has grown.
  • Toby officially refers to Steve as a Creepslayer.
• I Knew It!: Many fans were correct when they believed Jim would be the one to pull out Excalibur, even before the trailer's release.
• Narm: Krel gushes about Jim's "hero speech." Unfortunately, his accent makes it sound uncanny like he's saying "hero's bitch."
  • Not helping matters is Varvatos Vex letting out a sudden war cry when Jim’s speech ends, which makes him look like he is screaming for no reason.
• Nausea Fuel: Steve getting pregnant should speak for itself! The audience is later treated to a graphic scene of Eli getting sprayed with blue fluid when assisting with the birth.
• Ships That Pass in the Night: The duo doesn't interact much in the movie, but a number of fans have started shipping Douxie/Krel regardless.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Steve has had several seasons' worth of Character Development across multiple shows hinting at a greater role in the finale, only for him to be casually brushed aside in favor of keeping him the entire trilogies only remaining Butt-Monkey even after every other character gets an upgrade in badass.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • Steve gets sidelined since he ends up carrying Aja's kids. This means he doesn't get to show off any fighting skills, Character Development, or Determinator qualities that made Aja fall for him or Galahad to turn him into a knight. Even Eli gets to contribute to the battle by creating a giant Gun Robot that rips off the Fire Titan's arms.
  • Thanks to the ending, a lot of fans feel like it could've been used to undo the damage caused by the Arcane Order rather than rendering the entire saga null and void.
  • There are fans who think Nari should've survived the battle against Skrael as she could've used her powers to revive Toby as a result.
  • Toby dying could’ve been a good way for Jim to finally accept that sometimes you can’t stop people from perishing, learning to let go of the past and that death doesn’t mean it’s truly the end, but a whole new beginning. But nope! He goes into another timeline and can’t accept it.
  • Apparently, there was an ending where the gang all went to college and they were shown adjusting to their new lives after the events of the movie. The writers scrapped that because they thought that it would be anticlimactic and a cop-out. How ironic that turned out to be.
  • Some fans feel like Claire should've been the Trollhunter in the revised timeline instead of Toby.
• Writer Cop Out: Jim going back into the past and changing the timeline was generally seen as disappointing. Many felt this ending devalued the preceding shows and the film itself, as all previous deaths, hardships, and character arcs are now rendered null due to Jim being the only one who knows any of it ever happened.

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