A detail from the first Trolls movie that always kinda confused me was the fact that Chef was gonna feed Poppy to Gristle.
Poppy is King Peppy's heir, shes the future queen. You'd think that would make her off limits. She needs to survive to be crowned and eventually continue the royal line. The bergens are a monarchy themselves so they understand this importance and the trolls are their livestock so they would have to put some focus on maintaining genetics and keeping the trolls at a somewhat stable quality of life, that includes the social dynamics of the tribe. At least as much as we would keep track of the Queen bee in a hive, the biggest bull in a herd, or the fastest horse in the derby.
But now with Band Together it makes more sence.
Viva is older than Poppy, which means that she would likely have been assumed to be the future queen. As far as the bergens are concerned King Peppy already had his "heir and a spare". Poppy was just the spare.
With that in mind, i wonder if it was a tradition for bergen royalty to be fed a royal troll for their first trollstice. "Every prince deserves a princess" Chef had said. Did Peppy have a sibling that was fed to Gristle's dad?
If Poppy hadn't been born, would Viva had been considered old enough for Peppy to be given to Gristle instead? She managed to lead the Puttputts when she got seperated. Or would Gristle have gotten Viva and the bergens just hoped Peppy would create a new heir?
And back to the genetics bit. Do you think they selectively bred the trolls for the best taste or effect. Like specifically choosing trolls or families with undesirable traits to cook at trollstice so that their genes die out. Is that how the average pop troll of the current generation got to be so... delusionaly cheerful.
Like i know its all played up for the movies because their pop trolls, constantly singing and dancing and eating sugary sweets. But in comparison to the other genres they just seem more exaggerated.
So how much of that happy positivity and optimistic near lack of self preservation that most pop trolls have is natural for their genre and how much is enhanced due to at least 100 years of selective breeding.
I imagine the happier a troll the more dopamine/serotonin they produce naturally so the bergens would probably take care to decrease the the amount of trolls that wernt as "potent". Which likely would have been trolls that sang and danced less, were more likely to develop anxiety or were prone to depression or going grey.
On the evolutionary side of things this would have led to the happiest and more optimistic pop trolls to be the most attractive and ideal mates even if the trolls don't relize the scientific reason behind it or consciously notice that happy trolls had a higher servival rate.
(Which kind of reminds me of that one post that said something about boybands like Brozone who made trolls happy with their music likely being "protected" in some way because bergens wanted them to continue making trolls happy)
And i do think the pop trolls were captive for at least 100 years because i doubt a whole town and castle, essentially a small kingdom can be built in one life time. Especially not one with an established monarchy and near religious holiday that has a "minister of happiness". Honestly i wanna see it as over 200 years, give them plenty of time to forget their pre-trollstice history like the existence of other tribes
This is a bit long and rambling but my world building mind really wants to hyperfixate on the details of the pop troll's captivity and what it means for them as a species and for the ways their culture might have shifted or adapted.
what's your headcanon about the bergens keeping the trolls as prisoners?
OHOHOHOHO! fair warning, my headcanons tend to be really dark and this is no exception.
I'm not typing this anew, I'm just pasting two blocks of text I sent to a friend via tumblr messenger on two different occasions, so it might feel a bit disjointed while reading:
block of text one:
okay basically in my hc trollstice is also a once a year thing but it’s not barbaric in the sense that on that day they let the bergens into the cage and they just go ham catching trolls left and right. in my hc king peppy and chef actually have a fucked up agreement where chef shows up a few weeks/days before trollstice on a particular year and tells him how many trolls she needs that year and then the trolls pick that year’s victims by lot (only trolls who are 40 and older participate (with a few exceptions like obvs the king, but also rosiepuff but more on that some other time)) (also the age limit used to be much higher at the very beginning but they had to adjust to their population growing smaller). they implemented this to keep the kids safe and also to kinda force the population to reproduce more, because everyone starts having kids young bc they want to see them grow up before there’s a chance that they can get picked for the next trollstice (it’s also why jd and freesia we’re already thinking of starting a family at 18) ANYWAY during all this the trolls have been secretly digging the escape tunnels for years, and they are getting close but they keep pushing the date back because of cave ins or other setbacks. ANYWAY the bergen king has a baby son who will be old enough for his very first trollstice in a few years, and the chef being a demon spawn proposes that the prince’s very first troll should be a princess. king peppy and everyone is horrified because viva is still young and he tries arguing that she’s the only heir to the throne. So then Chef is like “then make a new princess for the prince, you still have two years time”. SO THEN the king is forced to have poppy (hence why she’s so much younger than viva 🙃) but the trolls are still all horrified of the idea that the bergens would eat a child so they collectively start working extra hard in the tunnels and they manage to finish them just in time for the prince’s first trollstice…….
this would also explain why chef was so confident about where baby poppy was located at the last trollstice at the beginning of the first movie when she walked into the cage and knew which pod to grab - it all had to be planned in advance.
AND there being no “old” trolls would also explain why so much life wisdom and knowledge about the outside world managed to disappear during the time the trolls were imprisoned. no grandmas or grandpas to pass the knowledge on.
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block of text two:
in my hc rosiepuff isn't the brothers’ grandma but is actually their great or maybe even their great great grandma, who was alive when the bergens arrived. she was from a family of like “biologists” who studied plants and fungi and knew how to take anything in their natural surroundings and use it as food or to make medicine. they were like witch doctors or folk healers, something in those lines. rosiepuff was pretty young when the bergens arrived and by the time the bergens and trolls implemented trollstice and the rules about picking who gets eaten, she was the only one left from her family. and the troll king at the time chose to excuse/prohibit her from participating in trollstice in the hopes of her passing on what was left of her family’s knowledge about wild plants because they will need it when they escape and will have to survive in the wild and build their society from scratch. so rosiepuff was basically the wise elder at the troll tree and she also drilled her knowledge into all her children and grandchildren and this is why branch and the other four were able to survive so well on their own. especially branch, who lived alone with her for a few years before she died and just hyperfocused on her teachings and his promise to build a bunker. the reason she died the way she did is that chef was experimenting with a new recipe for the bergen prince’s first trollstice so she quickly popped into the cage the day before trollstice and just snatched the first troll she could get her hands on… she basically died just the day before the trolls escaped. :( which is also why clay didn’t find out about it (in my hc clay didn’t escape the troll tree the way jd, spruce and floyd did)
I'm discussing with my friend and we decided that the trolls can have phones, but only some of them and all of their phones are like early 2000's technology
Techno trolls and later Pop Trolls have Flip Phones (Pop Trolls have those pink like, Motorola ones? Very cute with a lot of charms, at least a lot of girls in my school had these)
Funk trolls have those fancy slider phones
Rock trolls have blackberries or Nokias
Thank you for coming to my worldbuilding 3 am trolls thoughts
Headcanons that the trolls have a memorial for the deceased at Trollstice.
It's located in the more darker bits of the forest, but the stones are decorated with flowers and beautiful nature. Each stone has the names of the Troll that was eaten during Trollstice, including their names, year of death, occupation, etc. Since they were eaten, there's sadly no burials for the Trollstice Trolls. Each year, all the Trolls gather around the memorial and pay their respects to those who lost their life due to the Bergens. A holiday, if you can call it that.
The memorial is open for anyone to visit all year. It's untouched by the Trolls and creatures in the forest, and remains in perfect condition as a result. It's most commoner visitor is Branch (although haven't fully confirmed, Trolls have reported him greyer then usual and walking in the direction of the memorial), and other Trolls who lost their relatives or loved ones during Trollstice.
I’m finally posting it! Even tho it’s rambly, even tho I’m not done with my stupid one-shot of it...but I’d like to thank @pixelsandawestrucks for giving me that nudge
Anyways here’s some groundwork / a snippet for my Trolls AU, Lore Reversal! I’ll keep the bulk of it....hidden? (Is that the word...) to save space. I’m sorry if it seems broken too
So I’m guessing it’s been pretty much accepted that the Bergens arrived AFTER the whole tribal separation. What kind of world would it be if the opposite happened instead?
Like, all the trolls were in harmony, and then the Bergens attacked.
There was a big party, loud and cheerful and lots of different music being played & shared. A group of Bergens, mostly just hunting for food, were attracted to it and went to investigate. They saw all these tiny colourful creatures having a great time, being happy. They also saw some of these tiny creatures leaving a pod, and they’ve eaten a pod thinking it was just plain ol’ fruit (not knowing it was occupied until the screaming started, but then cronch) and for a brief, brief, GLORIOUS moment, they were happy. Oh so happy. They wanted to feel that happiness again.
The smart and natural thing to do, would be to run away and hide. Bergens are big. Most trolls did run to hide, but the leaders stayed to confront them. One leader, probably Pop, tried to reason w/ the Bergens. The leaders also lagged in case of stragglers (mostly Country carrying the others w/ carts) and even tried to fight back (mostly the Rock leader and other rock trolls). The trolls were still relatively new to the whole music thing; at most, the strange noises of a song were creepy and unknown to predators, scaring them away. They haven’t weaponized music yet, let alone use all the strings in such a fashion.
Speaking of which, the lyre + strings were accidentally nabbed, being mistaken for one of those finned, yet brightly and multi-colourful, creatures.
Bergens got hurt, but they’re pretty much used to getting hurt (from each other), so they shrug the attacks off. Each Bergen of this hunting party got to eat a troll, but they made sure to capture more to bring home in. When they found out that one of the trolls they captured was not, in fact, a troll, the leader of the Bergens kept it as a colourful trophy. Of course everyone wanted more, especially after noticing that the happiness wears off after a while (the next day). They arranged for another hunting party, this time a Troll-hunting party. Literally. Everyone wanted to join in and taste happiness again.
Good news! They found a large group of trolls on the way to where the celebration was held. It also seemed like the small things were practically running up to meet them! Even if most of them were hidden in the shrubbery.
Bad news! The trolls were on their way to rescue their fellows (some of them being the leaders that survived the initial attack). They were desperately hoping that their friends and family were still alive. And if the opportunity arose, get back their music.
The failed rescue party were shocked to discover that there were actually MORE Bergens instead of just that hunting party. After another happy feeding, the Bergens continued on their now-merry way. The trolls began to lose their colour, looking just like before their music. The Bergens were concerned about this, these moving, tasty packages of joy were looking duller than them! Thankfully, the trolls were still edible, and the Bergens still got a taste of happiness! Not as strong as when the trolls were colourful, though.
Noticing the direction in which the Bergens were going, the small handful that managed to keep their colour, however dulled, became as loud as they can to try and warn the rest of the their entire species of the approaching danger. The Bergen leader noticed this and ordered for the best warriors and hunters to move ahead while the rest stayed behind w/ the trolls. Once out of sight of the group, a veteran hunter ordered the rest to split up and surround the area.
And, well. Bergen town was eventually built. The Troll tree is in a netted cage, and with lots of space. Either than the giant tree, there’s also a small, intentionally hollowed mountain that contains a machine that filters and simulates a shallow, artificial stream. Said stream partially encircles the Troll tree and leads to a deeper, but still shallow enough to see the bottom, pond.
And so! ALL the trolls are in the Bergen cage. Surrounded by Bergen Town. And eaten biannually by the Bergens. These 2 holidays were named the Summer Trollstice and the Winter Trollstice. The strings, usually kept in the king’s chambers with other trophies, were brought out and into the dining hall as a shiny and colourful prop every Trollstice (Bergens had sharp nails and were generally unwieldy with small things. And no one really thought to strum the lyre) Like it was unexplained in the 1st canon movie, the Trolls managed to keep / regain their colours.
Due to an accumulation of bad decisions & unfortunate circumstances, namely that a favorite delicacy to Bergens are Pop Trolls, (that I’ve written in a one-shot I’ll post later), and even though they managed to get their Strings back, the Tribes separate. The other tribes managed to escape Bergen town entirely, the Pop trolls didn’t make it & were recaptured.
What sort of world can be built from this? How could Harmony and Happiness be restored?
Well...I have this short little gem that might give you a sense of direction:
“... ‘If we’re gonna rescue my friends AND make sure that the Bergens never capture any of us again like you said, we’re gonna need more people.’
A hand reached out, lips stretching in a now-familiar wild grin. ‘That’s right. So, Popsqueak. What do you say about a World Tour?’ ...”
Anyways, like I said, I’ll post the one-shot later. I’ve got most of it written, but it’s not done yet. And to look it over a few times; cohesion is not my strong point. A hint for that one-shot would be: I’ve been reading some Naruto fanfics lately. But enjoy this rambly idea.
