Trivia / Trollhunters

• Actor Allusion:
  • "She's already dead, Jim!"
  • Thomas F. Wilson is a coach who is dating one of his students' mother, much to said student's dismay.
  • The scene in "KanjigAAARRRGGHH!!!" where Dictatious reveals he's alive to Blinky is a scene featuring Mark Hamill and a character going "No! Impossible!"
• Cross-Dressing Voices: Bagdwella is voiced by Fred Tatasciore, who also voices Señor Uhl. This is later Played for Laughs when Steve struggles to figure out whether she is a man or a woman in “In The Hall Of The Gumm-Gumm King.”
• The Danza: Steven Yeun as Steve Palchuck, although this is a coincidence, since the character from the book was already named Steve.
• Dawson Casting: 27-year-old Anton Yelchin played Jim, who is 15 at the start of the series.
  • Similarly, Emile Hirsch, who replaced Anton after his passing, was thirty-three when Season Three premiered.
  • Also 55-year-old Lauren Tom voices Ms. Nomura and the teenage Mary Wang.
  • Averted with Yara Shahidi (who voices Darci) as she was sixteen when the show debuted.
• Fake Nationality:
  • A subversion. While Jim's first voice actor Anton Yelchin was born in Russia, his family moved to America when he was just a baby.
  • Caucasian American Steve Palchuk is voiced by Korean-American Steven Yeun.
• In Memoriam: The series is dedicated to Anton Yelchin who died in a car accident before the release on Netflix.
• The Other Darrin:
  • Kanjigar the Courageous is voiced by Tom Hiddleston in the first episode then by James Purefoy when he comes back as a ghost.
  • With Anton Yelchin's passing, this was presumed to be the case for his character. Upon announcing Season 2, however, Guillermo del Toro subverted this by revealing Anton had already recorded seasons worth of dialogue. It would later turn out that Anton only recorded his dialogue for season 2, meaning that a recasting for season 3 (which has been confirmed as the last) was now likely. It was confirmed that Yelchin's close friend Emile Hirsch will be voicing the character. It was also revealed that Yelchin did record a considerate amount for season 3, with del Toro confirming that he and the crew will be doing a unique way to incorporate a voice transition organic to the story and create a path for Hirsch to carry on his legacy and role. Yelchin’s performance has been left intact where possible and some portions have been merged with Hirsch’s performance to complete season three.
  • Andrzej Blumenfeld, the Polish voice of AAARRRGGHH!!! and Strickler, died in August 2017, during the recording of Season 2. Starting in the season 2 finale, AAARRRGGHH!!! is now voiced by Jacek Król, while Andrzej Chudy is the new voice of Strickler.
• Playing Against Type: Steven Yeun became a household name for his role as Glenn in The Walking Dead, who was a loving, kind sweetheart. Here, he plays the narcissistic bully Steve.
• Posthumous Credit: Anton Yelchin died six months before the series premiered.
• Prop Recycling: Various episode have a habit of using object items from the How to Train Your Dragon franchise despite not sharing a universe (as stated in Word of God below).
• Production Posse: David Bradley (Merlin) and Jonathan Hyde (Strickler) worked with Guillermo Del Toro before (and during) Trollhunters in The Strain, while Ron Perlman (Bular) is GDT's life-long and trusted signature actor.
• Recursive Adaptation: The animated series, adapted from a book, has tie-in novels.
• Those Two Actors: With Dictatious working as Gunmar's Dragon, it basically boils down to "the Joker working for Lex Luthor."
• Trolling Creator: Aaron Waltke is this, and it would make sense considering the show he created, as he might answer potential spoiler questions with Artful Dodging or snarky remarks.
• What Could Have Been: The show was originally going to be a live-action TV series but del Toro felt it would be impractical due to budgetary concerns, so instead turned it into a book.
  • The second half of Part One, starting from "Return of the Trollhunter", was meant to be Part Two. But Netflix opted to release both parts at the same time.
  • After the book came out, Dreamworks wanted to do an animated film adaptation, however given the risk that it could have resulted in several story details to be Adapted Out, it eventually became an animated series, which del Toro stated in hindsight during a 2017 interview, turned out to one of the best decisions he ever did.
  • Steve was originally going to be a Changeling, much like in the book. The design for his Troll form was later reworked into Draal.
• Word of God:
  • Series writer Aaron Waltke says what looks like Gaslighting in episode 8 is not Toby trying to undermine Jim. Instead, it's Toby poorly expressing denial at the idea that an evil exists that would take sweet, helpless babies from their families and replace them.
    @goodaaron: Not gaslighting but rather in denial himself! Toby loves babies; the thought of one being kidnapped by goblins is so awful he rejects it.
  • When asked how one guy (The Trollhunter) could protect multiple troll caverns around the world, especially given the likely chance that two or more would need him at the same time, Aaron responded by saying that the Trollhunter is sort of like a wandering knight, going where he is needed despite the fact that it can be rather hard.
    @goodaaron: Think of him as a knight errant, like Lancelot. His duty is to roam and protect as best he can. Sometimes it is hard work.
  • The Human/Troll war is known as "The War For the Surface Lands."
  • Trollhunters takes many cues from How to Train Your Dragon in terms of storytelling and style, but they don't share a universe.
    @goodaaron: Spiritually and thematically, I would say so. But canonically, no.
    • They are also office neighbors and sometimes steal props from them
  • Claire can't just go into the Darklands by using her Shadow Staff. It only works on Earth.
    @goodaaron: Her Shadow Staff doesn't work in the Darklands. Wouldn't be much of a magical prison if you could use magic to escape it!
  • Agnor can't cause the one who wears the Inferna Copula to be hurt in any way.
    @goodaaron: The Inferna Copula prevented him from causing harm to Strickler, direct or indirect. No guns, no driving off cliffs, etc.
  • Troll lore states that all rocks and trolls (who are made of rock) have magic potential, even human cut ones. Their potential does vary though.
    @goodaaron: In Troll lore, all rocks (and Trolls made from them) have a certain potential for magicks, some more than others— not unlike gem carats.
  • Changlings aren't trusted too much by either side, because they have a tendency for Heel-Face Turns.
    @goodaaron: Perhaps that's why they aren't fully trusted by either side...
  • One of the writers confirmed that if a Trollhunter is under sufficient emotional duress, the Amulet activates and locks them into the armor until it's safe again. Assuaging quite a few fans' fears that Jim had been permanently mode-locked into Trollhunter form when he couldn't remove it during "Jimhunters".

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