Julekongen ("The Christmas King") is a Norwegian Julekalender that first aired in 2012. It follows a boy named Kevin Gran, who lives with his family in Sølvskogen, a quiet town where nothing out of the ordinary ever really happens. Kevin likes to spend his time in a secret cave in the forest, and likes to invent things. One day, part of the cave suddenly collapses, revealing a mysterious glove that was hidden inside the cave, along with a tunnel leading to a mysterious place where it is summer.
Befriending two children training to be knights, he learns that it hasn't snowed in Ridderdalen for ten years. He brings some snow from Sølvskogen to show the kids, which gets the attention of the people, who mistakenly assume he has magical powers, and decide to crown him king so he can bring back winter so that the people of the valley can celebrate Christmas for the first time in ten years.
Due to a fungus infestation in his house, Kevin's family must find another place to celebrate Christmas, so Kevin decides to try to find a way to bring back the magical glove that controls the seasons in Ridderdalen, so he can keep his promise to his new friends and so his family can celebrate Christmas there. But what really happened that day ten years ago, when the queen and the magical glove mysterious vanished?
In 2015, the movie Julekongen - Full rustning, a sequel to the series, came out. It takes place three years after the events of the series.
Julekongen contains examples of the following tropes:
- Abnormal Allergy: Eiril is allergic to lies.
- Bittersweet Ending: Winter finally returns to Ridderdalen, and the people can finally celebrate Christmas for the first time in ten years. However, the tunnel between Sølvskogen and Ridderdalen breaks down, separating Kevin and Eiril. Kevin takes back a letter from Queen Iris, in which she names Kevin the new owner of her and Eiril's home in Sølvskogen, giving Kevin's family a new home. Even though everything has worked out, Kevin and Eiril are left unsure whether they will ever see each other again.
- Brutal Honesty: Since Eiril isn't afraid to state her honest opinion, some of the things she says can come across as this.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Snerk has his moments, such as his response when Kevin accuses him of capturing Sølve: "Of course I did. I'm an evil wizard. That's what evil wizards do!"
- Cassandra Truth: After Peder frames Kevin for stealing the Christmas tree ornaments from various locations, Kevin's mother doesn't believe him when he explains that Peder has been bullying him. Luckily, Mira eventually speaks up about how she and Lamarr took the ornaments from the real culprits, and Kevin finally admits to how long Peder has been bullying him.
- In the final episode, when Mira tries to tell her parents about Ridderdalen while they're looking for Kevin, they won't listen to her.
- Child Hater: One of the first things we learn about Snerk is that he is one of these.
- The Confidant: Kevin becomes this for Eiril, as she deals with her mother continuing to keep secrets from her and revelations regarding her own identity.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: Snerk's punishment for his actions throughout the show is being forced to serve the children of Ridderdalen, having to do whatever they want.
- Deuteragonist: It's not apparent in the first few episodes, but it gradually becomes clear that Eiril is the second main character of the story.
- Didn't Think This Through: Kevin's class is entered into a contest for building the best gingerbread house, and Peder wants Kevin do the work for him after his first attempt collapses, which Kevin goes along with in hopes of getting the silver glove back in exchange. Kevin gets someone in Ridderdalen to make it, but they point out that they had already used most of their sugar to make the sweets for the party Kevin threw for the kids of Ridderdalen earlier. Needing something else to keep the gingerbread house together, the king's assistant suggests using tree sap, which Kevin goes along with. Naturally, the result tastes horrible, Peder doesn't win and Kevin has to think of another way to get the glove back.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: To begin with, Ante and Anti are simply two stupid jerks who got kicked out of knight school when they were younger. After they return to Ridderdalen after getting lost in Sølvskogen for a few episodes, their knowledge of the tunnel between worlds leads Snerk to recruit them for his plan and put them in charge of the army sent to capture Queen Iris.
- Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: When Ante and Anti come across the tunnel between Sølvskogen and Ridderdalen, they suggest a coin toss on which one of them should investigate it, with Anti pulling this on Ante to get him to do it. Ante falls for it.
- Heel–Face Turn: Peder eventually decides to change his ways as he realizes he doesn't have any friends, and even helps Kevin get the glove back without asking for anything in return.
- I Am Who?: Partway through the series, Eiril is revealed to be the daughter of King Sølve, making her the princess of Ridderdalen.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Eiril sometimes expresses this sentiment, initially not wanting to be the princess of Ridderdalen and just wanting to continue living her normal life in Sølvskogen. She eventually comes to accept it, and goes back to Ridderdalen with her mother after dealing with Snerk.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Peder eventually comes to realize how lonely he really is, since he doesn't have any close friends and his mother is busy with work and doesn't bother making time for him. This leads to him having a chance of heart and trying to make things up to Kevin for all the things both he and his mother have done. This ultimately leads to him giving up on finding the secret of the silver glove and helping Kevin retrieve it without asking for anything in return if that would mean he and Kevin could become friends.
- Living Lie Detector: Eiril is literally allergic to lies, as she starts coughing whenever she herself lies, and mentions being able to tell when others are lying because it makes her throat sore.
- Marked Change: After exposure to the silver glove, parts of Eiril's hair turns silver, like her father, King Sølve's hair.
- Mundane Object Amazement: Happens from time to time when characters from Ridderdalen come across items from Sølvskogen that don't exist in their world.
- Must Make Amends: Kevin spends majority of the second half of the series trying to fix the problems he unwittingly caused for Ridderdalen.
- Oh, Crap!: Kevin has a subtle one upon realizing that him pretending to have the magical ability to make snow worked a bit too well, and the people of Ridderdalen are expecting him to make it snow a lot by the 16th of December.
- Princess Phase: Kevin's younger sister Mira is in this phase, even seeming to believe herself to actually be a princess.
- Royal Blood: Only someone of royal blood can use the glove to change the weather, meaning the only ones who can use the glove are King Sølve, his brother Snerk, and Eiril, Sølve's daughter.
- Sdrawkcab Name: Eiril's mother Siri, is actually Queen Iris, King Sølve's wife. She took the name Siri while living in Sølvskogen. When telling Kevin about this, Eiril even points out how "Siri" is "Iris" backwards.
- Secret Chaser: Peder starts trying to find out the secret behind the mysterious glove and why Kevin needs it. Part of his Heel–Face Turn ultimately has him accepting that Kevin doesn't want to tell him, and helping him retrieve it without asking for anything in return.
- Trapped in Another World: A sub-plot involves this happening with Ante and Anti, when they wander into Sølvskogen and forget the way back. They eventually manage to find their way home, leading to Snerk recruiting them to help with his plans. This trope also applies to Queen Iris/Siri, who was unable to return to Ridderdalen after the tunnel collapsed after her arrival in Sølvskogen ten years ago. She's finally able to return home after Snerk's defeat.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Mira and Lamar attempt to help Sara catch Ante and Anti, when they discover that they are the Christmas ornament thieves. However, when Lamar takes too long to move the stolen ornaments, Peder spots them and the attempt fails when Ante and Anti get away and Peder secretly takes the ornaments while Mira and Lamar aren't looking. This leads to Peder deciding to get back at Kevin for beating him in a duel earlier by framing him for the theft of the Christmas tree ornaments, leading Sara to lock Kevin in the police car with her for the rest of the day. As a result of all this, Kevin missed his appointment with King Sølve, leading Snerk to capture him and lock him up in a dungeon. In addition to this, Kevin's lies are exposed to Ridderdalen when it doesn't snow on the 16th, allowing Snerk to put his plans of taking over Ridderdalen into motion.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: At one point, Kevin is running from Ante and Anti. They end up running past several guys busy shovelling snow, but aside from one of them doing a slight Double Take, none of them react to the boy running past them while chased by two guys dressed as knights.
Tropes in Julekongen - Full Rustning
- Ascended Extra: Mira was a supporting character in the series, but mostly stayed out of the main story until near the end. This time around, she's the main character alongside her brother Kevin.
- Big Bad: Snerk fills this role again, after obtaining the other pieces of the magical armor that the magical glove used to be part of.
- Call-Back:
- When Kevin and Mira find the entrance to Ridderdalen, Mira wonders if they'd be allowed to spend Christmas there if they let them know that Eiril is there, alluding to Kevin's motivation in first few episodes of the original series. They actually do end up spending Christmas in Ridderdalen this time around.
- When Mira is captured by a group of kids led by Fnugg when following Kevin to Ridderdalen, they have an exchange about a bottle of soda that is somewhat similar to a scene early on in the original series when Kevin first met Ante and Anti and they questioned him about a red marker.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- After growing out of her princess phase, Mira has developed an interest in interpreting dreams. At one point during a conversation with someone, she wonders when she'd actually find a use for this knowledge. She's eventually able to make a good guess on how to hotwire an ambulance based on a bit of knowledge on what different colors symbolize in dreams. Her dream intepreting abilities is also what saves the day in the end, when Mira realizes that Snerk truly cares about Mugg to some degree and uses this to make him back down by claiming to have captured Mugg and asking him to release Eiril and give up the armor if he ever wants to see her again.
- Kevin uses a toy he brought along to Ridderdalen to distract some guards and escape his cell when he's captured by Snerk's men.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: A few characters from the series aren't present in the movie. This is understandable for some of them, but one noticable example is that Kevin and Mira's two older sisters are nowhere to be seen. Fnugg's older sister Skare, a fairly major supporting character from the series is also absent, with no explanation given even though Fnugg does appear.
- Convenient Coma: Eiril spends most of the movie in one. She briefly wakes up to warn Mira that something has happened in Ridderdalen when she hears that Kevin has gone there. She later fully wakes up after Mira and Kevin help save her from the hospital when Snerk's men come after them.
- Creepy Child: Mugg, who willingly helps Snerk in exchange for a place to stay, talks about how she thinks hatred is a good thing and goes out of her way to try to impress Snerk.
- Daddy's Little Villain: Mugg essentially becomes an adopted one for Snerk by the end.
- Elemental Motifs: Turns out the pieces of the magical armor all correspond to one of the four elements. The magical glove that makes snow represents water. The other glove is fire, the chest piece is earth and the helmet is wind.
- Happy Ending Override: Kevin's family had to move back to their old home after their new home in the forest burned down in the time between the series and the movie, and on top of that, their economic situation is pretty bad.
- Love Epiphany: A platonic one is what stops Snerk at the end, when Mira uses her knowledge of interpreting dreams to make Snerk realize that he has grown to care about Mugg.
- Nightmare Fuel Coloring Book: Snerk at one point comes across some drawings Mugg made of Princess Eiril being harmed in various ways. Snerk likes them, which is also one of the hints that he's genuinely growing to care for Mugg.
- Talking in Your Sleep: Snerk does this, which gives Mira some insight into what's going on in his mind with her knowledge on interpreting dreams.
- Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: When Mugg ("Mold") introduces herself, Snerk is quick to comment on her name.
- Would Hurt a Child: Snerk threatens to kill Kevin if he doesn't tell him where Eiril and the glove is.
