Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Headscratchers / Trollhunters

Go To

1New entries on the bottom.
2
3[[foldercontrol]]
4
5[[folder:Stolen amulet]]
6
7* The Amulet's magic makes it so that Jim is unable to simply ''throw it away'' of his own accord, the amulet either telepathically throwing itself at him or teleporting near him. In "Gnome Your Enemy" however, it is mentioned that if the amulet is ''taken'' from him by somebody, then Jim would have to get it back himself. It sounds like an obnoxiously ''specific'' design flaw left in the crafting of the Amulet's design, don't you think?
8** Later on, after [[spoiler: Strickler switches the Amulet with a fake]], the Amulet magically returns to Jim after being attacked by an army of goblins. Does this mean there are circumstances that circumvent the "not when it is stolen" rule?
9** There are a couple of ways of looking at this:
10** One is that it's not exactly designed this way, more of the way it happens. Throwing it away, is attempting to reject it, so it keeps insisting on returning, being drawn back to it's owner. But when it's stolen, that is a separate being enforcing it's own will, it's own ownership onto the amulet, so it can't simply return to it's rightful owner. Thus, when Jim ''really'' needed it, his own will and ownership was able to override [[spoiler: Strickler's]].
11** Another is that the will of Merlin is at play. We've seen later, that Merlin's will and awareness is still within the amulet ([[spoiler: When Jim wishes he hadn't picked up the amulet, Merlin specifically goes and retrieve's Unkar to cast a spell on Jim]]) so it may be that Merlin's will is what's returning it. So either Merlin refuses to return the amulet when it is stolen, or else Merlin's will can only wake up/act when the Troll Hunter is questioning it/his role.
12** Considering Merlin's actions in the third season, it's possible Merlin chose not to include a "returns when stolen" power to the amulet in case a Trollhunter turned against him and he had to take the amulet away from them.
13** Do we even know if this is true? Blinky says no trollhunter ever lost the amulet before. We only see Jim lose the amulet twice: The first time he doesn't try to summon it, but the second time he does, and it works (albeit with difficulty). Maybe Blinky was simply wrong.
14*** Unfortunately, I must disagree with this a bit. The first time he loses it—when it’s stolen by the gnome—Jim does try to summon it back, and that’s what prompts the explanation from Blinky that the amulet won’t return if it’s stolen.
15
16[[/folder]]
17
18[[folder:Kairosect]]
19
20* In "It's About Time", Jim uses the Kairosect in a moment of panic and manages to do a multitude of things during his session outside of time (save Claire from a truck, move his mother to her cafe table as he brings Blinky back to Troll Market, take the Inferna Copula from Strickler, etc). He manages to get from place to place via his scooter, but this begs the question on how exactly he got the scooter to work in the first place. Some would argue that inanimate objects can stay unfrozen with him if he was in contact with them at the time (like his cellphone), but he was not touching the scooter at the time. The Kairosect isn't just limited to living beings either, because if this was the case, the various cars in the street would still be functional with their owners frozen and Claire would have been hit by the truck.
21** It's possible (though admittedly unlikely) that the caster can make inanimate objects work by touching them and then keeping contact with them so the scooter is only frozen when Jim isn't touching it.
22** I find this the only possible explanation, as his phone also works when he uses it to set a timer. Blinkey also moved the people and books around, and Jim moved Strickler's face around and it stayed as it was until time moved on. So the person who used the device can move things around and take things out of time, but they go back to being frozen. Tech works so long as you keep touching it, and people are unaware, but you can move them as you like and they'll freeze back as you left them till time starts again.
23
24[[/folder]]
25
26[[folder:Changeling familiars]]
27
28* It's stated regarding Changelings that they are trolls that were experimented on and use kidnapped humans as familiars in order to shapeshift to and from human form. Its also stated that all human familiars are kept in the Darklands and are unharmed to allow the changeling to appear as human form. While this easily works with [=NotEnrique=], whose familiar is a baby, are we also to assume that there are adult human familiars as well, such as familiars for Strickler, Nomura, and the other Janus operatives? If so, how long have they been there? Are they kept alive through artificial means, since Gunmar implies Strickler has been around for years, and does this mean human or troll years? Were they kidnapped as babies and raised/grew up in the Darklands, or captured as adults? Even worse, are the adult counterparts aware of what's going on?
29** [[spoiler:It is later revealed that the infants brought into the Darklands don't age. One baby was even born in 1894.]]
30
31[[/folder]]
32
33[[folder:Returning Claire]]
34
35* In "Recipe for Disaster", Claire first sees Draal in Jim's basement and, predictably, squeals in fright. What comes next is that she back into a metal pole and knocks herself unconscious. This is confirmed near the end of the episode when Draal shows the unconscious Claire to Jim. However, the fact is that the returning of Claire to her home that night was never addressed and it made it seem that Jim had an unconscious girl in his basement, an issue that had to be solved, yet it is not shown. The fact that the writers ignored a very important plot point between episodes has me scratching my head.
36** It has been repeatedly shown in the series that all the characters can move around at night without anyone noticing. Would it really be that plot important to show Jim waiting till his mom went to sleep or just got busy, Jim and Draal sneaking over to Claire's and putting her back in her room with out any one noticing leaving, and then Claire waking up in her room, a very easy and minor thing.
37** Pretty much. Simply put, it wasn't dwelt on because her being home in the next episode is enough to imply that she went home or was brought home off-screen in the previous.
38
39[[/folder]]
40
41[[folder:Armor without incantation]]
42
43* Why does Jim sometimes manage to materialize his armor without saying the incantation?
44** Blinky explained that the amulet reacts to Jim's emotions and/or mental commands. So when Jim feels strongly enough that he needs the armor, it shows without the incantation. Jim's emotions are all over the place given Claire, Toby, his mother, Strickler, and his mission. So it stands to reason that he cannot summon it consistently without its activation phrase. Add to that RuleOfCool. It sounds/feels awesome to say "for the glory of Merlin, daylight is mine to command!" ''and'' can be used to intimidate a foe who underestimates the "puny fleshbag".
45** It’s a focus phrase. In order to summon the armor and sword, Jim needs to focus his emotions and thoughts on doing so. Odds are he doesn’t need to use the incantation at all for it to work (and in fact he’s shown both summoning them without saying the phrase as well as saying the phrase and not summoning them), but concentrating the way he needs to while in a dangerous or distracting situation can be challenging so reciting part or the whole thing out loud helps him do that.
46
47[[/folder]]
48
49[[folder:Strickler at the dentist]]
50
51* How does Strickler going to the dentist work exactly? While it is established that "oral hygiene" is a human thing foreign to troll culture, Strickler has been among mankind long enough to properly blend in with society to the point of going native, so he would be the type who could comprehend and use modern dental practices (especially since one of his changeling operatives worked for his dentist). However, he spent his dental appointment in his human guise, which is simply a stolen, glamour identity that belongs to his human familiar. If he had a cavity filled in his human form, does this translate to his natural troll form? If so, how ''would'' he? His natural troll incisors are radically different than that of a humans. If the cavity was exclusively from the humans, what good is altering their own disguise when they could simply alter their familiar? It is clear that the changelings have a wide variety of skills in their human lives (especially since one of them ''was'' a dentist) that could more than accomplish this.
52** This also brings up what kind of shape-shifting the changelings can accomplish. Is it some kind of elaborate illusion cast over them, or can their bodies ''actually'' shift into that form? If the former, why bother going to the dentist with a cavity that isn't even real? If it is the later, what danger is there in leaving the cavity if it does not actually have any heath risks to them, considering it is all aesthetic?
53** Strickler says that they have a completely human form and a completely troll form. There are some questions that remain (such as whether the troll form is vulnerable to daylight), but presumably in human form he would have completely human teeth.
54
55[[/folder]]
56
57[[folder:Changeling party]]
58
59* So the trolls hate changelings, they panic when they see one and / or want to kill them. But they won't mind... Going to a party with one? Because there was half of Trollmarket at Claire's house for the party [=NotEnrique=] threw, and no one was screaming 'Changeling! Kill it!'
60** The party shows how off much the Troll world has changed and/or how much good Jim has done. The Trolls by this point know [=NotEnrique=] goes to Troll Market consistently, they also aren't freaking out by Claire's presence even without Jim around and there are Quagalump guests who up until this point have been eating the hearts of outsiders who wander into their midst. Either that or Changelings work both ways; maybe to anyone who hasn't seen [=NotEnrique=] in his baby disguise would be inclined to see him as merely a small troll, particularly since he's not gone Native as Strickler or Nomura have.
61
62[[/folder]]
63
64[[folder:New series]]
65
66* So with the new trailer for Season 2, it's revealed that Trollhunters is getting two sister Series: [[spoiler:Ones about Wizards, which makes a lot of sense, considering {{Myth/Merlin}}'s name is invoked many times Jim has to get into his armor. The other... is about Aliens... Why? Why are aliens involved now? And what are the odds that Aliens happen to be in the same city where Troll's have their strongest presence?]]
67** Perhaps these [[spoiler:"Aliens"]] are just another race of magical beings, like elves or wisps.
68** Nope, they're actual [[spoiler:aliens. Specifically, Aja and Krel from Part 3.]] My guess for why they're in the same place as Trollmarket is the same reason shoggoths, Deep Ones, cultists, and other horrors inhabit New England in the Literature/CthulhuMythos; that there's so much superatural stuff that probability dictates that there's going to be more than one kind of nonhuman thing in Arcadia.
69
70[[/folder]]
71
72[[folder:Sinking Killahead]]
73
74* [[spoiler:If Queen Usurna was a spy for Gunmar, why would she want to sink Killahead Bridge in Skullcrusher?]]
75** [[spoiler:Just as a show to satisfy the Tribunal. By ordering the bridge pieces dumped as they were she satisfied their demands in a way where there was still a window of opportunity where the rest of the Trollhunter Team could retrieve them, which it turned out she was counting on to allow Gunmar to escape. If she really wanted the bridge sealed away for good, then she could've done more to ensure it, like possibly ordering the bridge pieces buried in molten lava, being cast into the Deep "where no Troll has ever returned from", or even scattered across multiple areas instead of all in a single location.]]
76** And don't forget that Usurna is shamelessly self-centered. If the bridge really had been lost forever, what does she care? She's in a good political position with the current troll government.
77
78[[/folder]]
79
80[[folder:Amulet gems]]
81
82* So, we learn in Season 2 that there are more magical gems that can be slotted into the amulet to give the Trollhunter a vast variety of abilities to draw on, including the ability to WITHSTAND SUNLIGHT as spoken by Vendel, with Jim making light of the fact. WHY isn't this constantly in the amulet? Khanjigar could have prevented his own death by sunlight and kept the amulet out of Bulars hands or even maybe end the fight there by forcing them both out into the sunlight and turning him to stone while he would be protected by the Amulet.
83** In fact, why wasn't that a thing Merlin thought of to make inherent to the Amulets magic to begin with? If I was making a weapon and armor with "sunlight at my command" I would have definitely put "immunity to sunlight" in there for my Troll champion
84** Vendel says that it is hard to master stones, implying a lot of it has to do with personality and preferences. We see Jim have problems with two of the stones he tries. So chances are that the immune to sunlight stone is probably a hard one to master, especially since you probably have to overcome your own fear of sunlight to use it. As for why Merlin didn't just make the Trollhunter immune to sunlight, that was probably not within his power (or possibly, he didn't want to make the Trollhunter too strong)
85
86[[/folder]]
87
88[[folder:Amulet and mistakes]]
89
90* Also in Season 2 we have Unkar the Unfortunate show Jim what would have happened if he was never chosen and it ending on [[spoiler:it actually being Merlin and saying]] "The amulet doesn't make mistakes." Yet, the Amulet chose Unkar who died after only a SINGLE DAY of being the Trollhunter. If he was SO bad for the job that a human teenager survived longer and got closer than anyone else to destroying Gunmar thus far, why did the Amulet choose Unkar?
91** Trial and error maybe? [[spoiler:Merlin is a bit of an InsufferableGenius in most versions of his story, so he would be loathe to admit he was wrong. Plus he might have stretched the truth to convince Jim not to surrender the amulet to the Tribunal, since if it were destroyed then there is nothing to stand against Gunmar, and the end justifies the means and all.]]
92** An example of "what ''not'' to do" is a thing. It's rather nasty to the person who becomes that example, but that may have been the point.
93** Perhaps, while Unkar had a worthy character to become Trollhunter, his physical capabilities, unfortunately, wasn't quite up to snuff.
94*** It wasn't his physical capabilities that were lacking. Unkar died because he got overconfident, forgetting Rule One: Always be afraid. Which is also why Blinky is so insistent on instilling that lesson in Jim.
95** I believe that when Merlin says he doesn't make mistakes, he meant that whoever he chooses is always worthy of being the Troll Hunter, but that doesn't give him the ability to see the future. Unkar had all the characteristics needed to be a Troll Hunter, but between bad luck, treachery, or bad circumstances, he didn't last long.
96
97[[/folder]]
98
99[[folder:Changelings and characters]]
100
101* Why is it that changelings seem to have a positive view of in-universe fictional characters and myths are... well, jerks from a human perspective? Strickler compares Jim to Atlas saying Atlas carried the weight of the world, ignoring that Atlas was a Greek Titan who was ''forced'' to hold up the sky as punishment for losing the war with the gods, while [[spoiler:Nomura calls Jim "Little Gynt" despite Jim being a NiceGuy and Peter Gynt is a womanizer that ruins others' lives by being selfish?]]
102** Maybe it's because they themselves are seen as unwanted by both sides, making them feel sympathetic for characters in stories who are disliked by the masses
103** Actually, Nomura calls him "Little Gynt" because he was ignorantly whistling "In the hall of the mountain king" after being imprisoned under them mountain.
104
105[[/folder]]
106
107[[folder:Trollhunter and Gato]]
108
109* Given that the Trollhunter is supposed to protect good trolls from evil trolls, why is Gato not a target for the hunter? Apparently he regularly kills other trolls for nourishment and entertainment, and not only his underlings, but also various outsiders he played his riddle game with ("Nobody ever solved that riddle before... and survived!"). But instead of getting a healthy prescription of daylight sword, he even holds a seat on the troll council? A mentally unstable trickster and murderer?
110** Presumably he's within his rights based off of the customs of his own clan. Troll clans have very different beliefs and mentalities, and we've seen other clans exert the right to execute outsiders as well. He's not threatening other Trolls (as long as they stay out of his land) and he's not risking exposing the Trolls to humanity.
111** Could just be that "evil" in this show = aligned with Morgana.
112
113[[/folder]]
114
115[[folder:Alternate timeline glamour]]
116
117* In the alternate timeline, why did Jim cut and run when Blinky and Aaaargh seemed ready to use a glamour detection spell on him? Wouldn't staying put and letting himself be tested help prove his story and make them take his warning about Killahead Bridge seriously?
118** For starters, if they don't trust him, they may still not trust him afterward, and assume he's a changeling's catspaw. Plus, finding out two of his closest friends (including one who is a father figure to him) don't trust you, probably hit him like a truck.
119** The other possibility is that it was AllJustADream and Merlin was guiding it along to the worst-case scenario where Jim would see Gunmar and Bular win. Thus Jim subconsciously wasn't thinking things through because Merlin wanted to test him right when events seemed at their direst.
120
121[[/folder]]
122
123[[folder:Permanent armor]]
124
125* Now that Jim is [[spoiler:half troll, and has been shown that he is incapable of removing his armor,]] how is he supposed to take care of... certain bodily functions?
126** How trolls produce waste is treated somewhat inconsistently, with several clearly burping, farting and taking shits while Blinkus is surprised about all of this when he becomes a human. For the purposes of this discussion let's assume Jim doesn't have to deal with that anymore.
127** Alternatively, maybe the method of taking the armor off has changed or become more complicated. Due to his distressed state, Jim was too upset to want to take the time to figure it out, or to go find Merlin for help. Other than it adding to the drama, Jim being unable to take the armor off is also probably because animating [[spoiler: troll!]]Jim in other clothes would be expensive due to new animation rigs being a pain in the ass to make, and LimitedAnimation[=/=]budgets being a thing. Since he ate half the kitchen after getting stuck, let's hope either this, or the previous contributor's theory, is right.
128** [[WordOfGod Aaron Waltke]] said this in a reply to [[https://trollmarket-dog.tumblr.com/post/174393517891/eclipseisminetocommand-trollhunters-season-3 a Tumblr post:]] "The reason he couldn't take off the armor in that moment is because he was in emotional turmoil. The Amulet responds to Jim's emotional state and activates to protect him when he is under duress. When he calms down, it behaves like normal."
129
130[[/folder]]
131
132[[folder:Dictatious at the end]]
133
134* Did Dictatious leave with the other trolls? I don't remember seeing him among them.
135
136[[/folder]]
137
138[[folder:Releasing Morgana]]
139
140* Why did they have to let Gunmar release Morgana for Merlin's plan to work? Couldn't they have just killed Gunmar, gotten the staff (and with it some of Merlin's power), and ''then'' used the staff to summon Morgana while they have her surrounded by armed and armored warriors as well as preferably magic draining runes or something. Letting Morgana out did not require letting her out while surrounded my minions and blood sacrifices.
141** That might have been Merlin's original plan, if Jim had successfully recovered the staff for him. But with only a couple days at best, Merlin figured it was a better tactical choice to just focus all his energies on Morgana and worry about Gunmar later. He wasn't exactly against the idea of fighting Gunmar, he just thought that trying to defeat him before Morgana was released was a fool's errand.
142
143[[/folder]]
144
145[[folder:Lie about Vendal]]
146
147* Why in the world did Usurna's outright lie that Jim killed Vendal even work? He was imprisoned the entire time. Worse, one of the other other council members, who ''saw'' Jim imprisoned, ''and'' Vendal alive, believed her.
148** They didn't have long to think about it before she revealed her allegiance to Gunmar, at which point it was all moot.
149
150[[/folder]]
151
152[[folder:Killing changelings]]
153
154* Why did Gunmar kill all of his Changeling servants before taking over Troll Market? Sure, he was only using the Changelings to his own advantage, but having a large, organized group of Trolls that can blend in with Humans and do things during the day would be good for him. Hell, having such a large army would also help him start taking over other areas of the world before he even started attacking Arcadia during the Eternal Night. And if he wanted to kill all the Changelings, he could have done it after taking over the world...
155** Because Gunmar hates the changelings. It wasn't just that they were of no more immediate use, he is deeply offended by the mere existence of the "Impure," and the second he no longer had a reason to keep them alive, he was happy to kill them all.
156
157[[/folder]]
158
159[[folder:Alternate timeline war]]
160
161* In 'Unbecoming', the Gumm-Gumms under both Gunmar and Bolar start the war immediately, but in 'A Night Patroll', Gunmar complains that any offense against the Humans is worthless without the Eternal Night. So then what made Gunmar so confident in attacking the Humans immediately in 'Unbecoming'?
162** Presumably the Alternate Timeline Gunmar was acting on older information at the time. Main Timeline Gunmar had a chance to watch a specially prepared movie updating him on the state of the world and Human Society and thus would have known how far human military might has come since he last marched against them.
163** Also, they had killed the Trollhunter and destroyed the Amulet, while right in the middle of a human town. With their greatest enemy gone and the army in a position where it would be difficult to get to hiding quickly, it likely seemed like a great idea to strike hard and fast. The American military might have been able to defeat Gunmar soon, but that wouldn't be much comfort to Arcadia.
164
165[[/folder]]
166
167[[folder:The Deep]]
168
169* What exactly happened to Jim while he was in the Deep? The way things seem to unfold is that he's sent down there, fights with someone or something dressed in armor similar to his, gets cornered, then the episode ends with Blinky coming across Vendal's remains. The next episode opens up with Jim climbing up out of the pit, and when asked about how he escaped when no troll ever has, he simply responds with "I'm not a troll." Did I miss something? Is this explained later? Because it feels like there's an entire episode concerning what went on down there that got skipped over.
170** 3below answers this: [[spoiler: The Deep was the Vault for Gaylen's Core, designed to confront a person with their worst fear. Jim was somehow able to overcome his fear.]]
171
172[[/folder]]
173
174[[folder:Changeling ages]]
175
176* It is made clear that Changelings are able to shapeshift through the use of human familiars that they have kidnapped and are holding in the Darklands, many of which having been babies who have been taken from their cribs and swapped, with the Changelings in their place growing up and living among human society for years. It is even made aware that Strickler's human guise has been out and about for centuries. What exactly do the Gumm-Gumms do with the children when they age? They have been doing this for centuries, so they obviously have a plan.
177** It is stated that the Changeling race were once normal Trolls who were stolen at birth and experimented on, having been turned into Changelings. Could the process work on humans as well?
178** If they capture adults as familiars, what do they do with them? Are they kept in stasis as to keep them calm, or are they imprisoned, frightened and traumatized?
179** It is stated that ''no harm'' must come to the human or the Changeling's disguise will fail. Likely mental/emotional trauma still qualifies as harm.
180** Part 2 answers this. The children simply don't age. At all.
181
182[[/folder]]
183
184[[folder:Destroying the sword]]
185
186* The Sword of Daylight/Eclipse is made from magically-metalized energy, and created by the Amulet of Daylight. So when Morgana destroys it at the end of the show, why does Jim take it so hard!? Can't the Amulet just rebuild it!? Why did Merlin have to!?
187** The sword is probably actually made up of a material, instead of being made of pure magic. Whenever it's gone it's likely just inside of the Amulet, which is already proven to be some sort of pocket dimension for the previous Trollhunters.
188*** It is specifically stated early on that it is indeed made of Daylight and, not actual metal and besides that still leaves, all of the previously mentioned questions, without any answers!
189*** From Website/TheOtherWiki: ''"Initially the concept of the armor was that it should feel somewhat bulky on Jim, as it was not meant to be worn by a human, representing Jim's struggle with his sense of responsibility of being a Trollhunter. That idea, however, negated the concept of the armor being its own magical being that adapts to its wearer. The armor itself is a character. We decided to streamline the concept and make it fit as much like a second skin on Jim as possible."'' Basically, it might be purely symbolic: Because skin can heal itself, so can Jim's armour. But the sword isn't "skin", sooo... Adding to this, there's nothing to really... Suggest the sword can repair itself. If it were shattered then stored in the amulet, it would still be in pieces.
190
191[[/folder]]
192
193[[folder:Timeline Troubles]]
194
195* Okay, so in 1297 Angor Rot goes to visit a sealed away Morgana to get sweet magic powers in order to protect his home from Gunmar's war (which obviously didn't work but that's not the point). However, in [[WesternAnimation/Wizards2020 Wizards]], the Battle of Killahead, which ended the war, happens ''before'' then (sometime between 1100 and 1200) meaning that Angor Rot's home can't be ravaged by Gunmar's war and Angor Rot has no reason to go to Morgana to get neat powers. This could be chalked up to changes in the past by the heroes, ''however'', when they get back to the present nothing seems to have actually changed, which means that Angor Rot has to have been enslaved by Morgana since he was important to several events in Trollhunters. And you could say they just [[Film/AvengersEndgame Endgame'd]] it but Merlin remembers everything that happened so that's not possible. So what gives?
196
197[[/folder]]

Top