Rolli (Rölli in Finnish) is a well-known children's television character in Finland. He was originally created in 1985 by the Finnish actor and screenwriter Allu Tuppurainen as a character in radio dramas and children's songs. The songs led to the creation of the television series that was first aired in 1986 on the children's TV show Pikku Kakkonen (Finnish for "the little two"). The original episodes were produced until 2001 and older episodes have been seen in constant reruns on the program. Tuppurainen not only wrote and directed the show and composed music for it, but he also starred as the main character.
Rölli is a troll-like creature who lives alone in a small wooden cabin in the middle of "Rölli Forest". He prides himself on the fact that he never brushes his teeth or takes a bath. He portrays himself as a terrible scarer like the rest of his species, but in reality he is shy and goodhearted. He occasionally commits thoughtless and silly acts out of enthusiasm, but not out of real malice. He spends his days by telling stories of his amazing adventures, often criticizing and questioning public norms or the activities of people (especially humans). However, Rölli himself has been known to fall prey to human wonders and gadgets, and later regret it.
The series didn't initially have a very well organised mythos. In the audio plays and early television episodes, Rölli would often claim to have met beings such as witches, ghosts, robots and giants, none of whom would actually appear in person.
Rölli has appeared in five feature-length films, portrayed by Allu Tuppurainen in all of them:
- Rölli – hirmuisia kertomuksia (Rolli – Amazing Tales) (1991),
- Rölli ja metsänhenki (Rollo and the Spirit of the Woods) (2001),
- Röllin sydän (Quest for a Heart) (2007),
- Rölli ja kultainen avain (Rölli and the Golden Key) (2013), and
- Rölli ja kaikkien aikojen salaisuus (Rölli and the Secret of All Time) (2016).
One of the themes coming to the fore in Rölli's songs, television series and films is the acceptance of one's own difference. Other themes are respecting nature, encouragement of curiosity, and facing one's own fears.
In 2006, Rölli was voted on the Yle program Satusuomalainen ("Fairytale Finn") as the greatest Finnish fictional character.
The Rölli franchise provides examples of:
- All Just a Dream: Some of Rölli's adventures turn out to be mere dreams. Examples include
- Season 3 episode 4: Rölli saves a maiden in the woods with The Power of Friendship.
- Season 4 episode 3: Rölli works/shops at a kiosk selling "chunks of happiness".
- Season 5 episode 8: Rölli searches for the meaning of life, dying of old age without having found it at the end of the dream.
- In addition to actually dreaming, Rölli also daydreams in episodes 5 and 6 of season 3, until Tiina Tonttu interrupts him.
- All Trolls Are Different: Though troll-like, Rölli isn't really a troll. Allu Tuppurainen has said that he thought the character as part of a strange species which wasn't animal but not human either, and that species is called Rölli.note In season 4 episode 6, Rölli also alludes to a human boy having "what it takes to be a rölli" due to the boy's bullying habits on a playground, though it is not clear whether or not he means the boy could become a rölli.
- In Quest for a Heart, Rölli is actually highly offended when Millie the Elf calls him a troll.
- Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad: Röllis are supposed to be bad, do mean things, and not be socializing with nice creatures.
- Bland-Name Product: Rölli is a subscriber of a magazine named Kauheus ja hirveys ("Horribleness and Terribleness"), which is a pun on the name of Finnish wellbeing magazine Kauneus ja terveys ("Beauty and Health").
- Bungling Inventor:
- In season 1 episode 1, Rölli narrates and sings an instance of him casually building a robot. Robotti Ruttunen, as he is known, also appears in season 4 episode 2, albeit looking completely different.
- Rölli also builds a rocket in season 1 episode 6. Unlike Ruttunen, it does not work, instead falling apart on the launchpad, i.e. the roof of Rölli's house.
- Catchphrase:
- Kautta likaisten varpaitteni! ("By my dirty toes!")
- Rölli Rupeltaja, joka aina luulee tietävänsä kaiken ("Rölli Rupeltaja, who always believes himself to know everything")
- Kaikenlaisia ... sitä onkin maailmassa ("All sorts of ... sure do exist in the world")
- Character Title
- Cheesy Moon: In season 1 episode 6, Rölli builds a rocket out of a sauna stove, trying to fly to the Moon to fill his stomach with cheese. Rupeltaja believes Moon to be made out of orange peels instead, for some reason.
- A Dog Named "Dog": Rölli. The other members of the species have names attributed to their features/roles. In Quest for a Heart, it's stated that the reason why Rölli's just Rölli is because he lacks any special feature/role that'd distinguish him from the others.
- Dumb Muscle: Big Rölli is the largest and strongest rölli, but he's also clumsy and dim-witted.
- In the fifth audio play, Rölli and Tiina Tonttu encounter an even larger rölli named Öykkäri, who is entrusted with guarding the books of rölli law despite being illiterate.
- The Ghost:
- As stated above, Rölli speaks of his encounters with a lot of creatures, but none of them appear in the series.
- One particular character who is mentioned often and never introduced in neither the audio plays nor the TV series is a rölli called Rupeltaja. He often makes the front page due to his achievements among the röllikind, but Rölli (likely due to jealousy) thinks he's a Know-Nothing Know-It-All. It's not until Quest for a Heart that he appears (named Longwind in the English dub) as an inventor.
- Hates Baths: Rölli dreads having to go to a sauna for his annual bath in episode 3 of the 6th season, though he starts to feel better through a conversation with a spirit residing in the sauna stove.
- Hypocritical Humor: In episode 6 of the first season, Rölli laughs at how Rupeltaja claims that Earth is shaped like a die and the Moon is made out of orange peels, before he claims as facts the outdated beliefs that Earth is as flat as a pancake and the Moon is made out of Emmental cheese.
- Ignorant About Fire: In season 2 episode 5, Rölli reveals how he accidentally started a small fire in the forest by playing with a box of matches he found lying on the ground.
- Insane Troll Logic: When moving house over a great distance in season 5 episode 2, Rölli deliberately fills part of his travois with rocks the size of a fist, so he can slowly throw them off one by one and ease the load over time.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Rölli intentionally tries to act like a terrible monster his species is portrayed as, but he's just too nice to successfully carry that out. He can still be cranky and thoughtless, but his heart's in the right place.
- The Magic Goes Away: In season 5 episode 4, Rölli reads that "fairytale beings" are being phased out, because they don't exist. Terrified of the prospect of him ceasing to exist, he goes to see a good fairy, who assures him that nothing is going to happen, as fairytales will never go away.
- Misplaced Vegetation: In S02E06 Rölli comments having collected mistletoes that grow in the Rölli Forest, but the species does not actually appear in Finlandnote . Then again, Rölli Forest is a magical forest, so who knows.
- Odd Friendship: Rölli with Tiina Tonttu since röllis aren't supposed to socialize with nice creatures. Which is why he wants to keep their friendship a secret.
- Our Gnomes Are Weirder: Tiina Tonttu, Rölli's friend in the series, is a gnome/elf-like creature, but also attractive and kind.
- Public Domain Artefact: Sort of; Rölli contemplates the Philosopher's Stone in one audio play and episode 2 of the 3rd season, though as it is known as "the stone of the wise ones" (viisastenkivi) in Finnish, he is only interested in becoming wiser with it, instead of the usual turn-stuff-into-gold ambitions.
- Really 700 Years Old: Rölli refers to himself being "under two hundred years old" a few times in the series. In episode 4 of season 4, he also wants to have a nightmare of the kind "that under-one-hundred-year-olds are prohibited from viewing".
- Ring-Ring-CRUNCH!: Part of Rölli's morning routine involves smashing/drowning his alarm clock. In episode 4 of season 5 he mentions having been awake for most of the night just to drown the alarm clock in the stream moments before it would have rung.
- Shout-Out: Rölli discusses the local human children and their comic books in season 4 episode 5, mentioning Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, He-Man, Tex Willer, The Phantom and Mandrake the Magician.
- Super-Strength: Big Rölli, the largest and strongest rölli, is frequently portrayed to be strong enough to move boulders.
- Uncommon Time: "Omituisten otusten kerho" ("The club of weird beings") full stop. This picture
tries to explain it. - Underwater City: There is one at the bottom of a lake in Rölli Forest, as it used to float on a piece of ice that later melted. It is depicted in the seventh audio play and in the sixth episode of the fifth season.
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Values Dissonance: Part of the song Rölli sings in season 1 episode 4 is censored in more recent airings, as the lyrics include Rölli's father spanking him over his bad behaviour at bedtime, which is now illegal in Finland. - You Don't Look Like You: Robotti Ruttunen looks completely different in his two on-screen appearances. In the episode about Rölli building him (season 1 episode 1), he's an orange metal barrel with a smiley face and with two buckets attached to his side, i.e. like this◊. Later in season 4 episode 2, he looks a lot more like an actual robot.
