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For the species, see bridge trolls or rock trolls. For the Enchanted Forest location, see Troll Bridge. |
The Troll is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It débuts in the first episode of the seventh season.
The troll was inspired by the real life Fremont Troll in Seattle. It is also an allusion to the titular character from novel The BFG[1] and the BFG from the Disney film of the same name.
History
For years, Alice spends her days trapped in a tower alone after her mother poisoned her father's heart so they couldn't be near each other. On her seventeenth birthday,[nb 1] she prepares herself a cupcake with a single candle in it and wishes that she could escape the tower and not be alone. This wish causes the giant troll to appear, having been summoned by Alice's magic, and it rips the roof off of Alice's tower and frees her. Alice is at first terrified by the monster, but quickly realizes it means her no harm as it smiles down at her. When it offers her its hand, she climbs in. ("The Girl in the Tower")
Some years later, on another one of Alice's birthdays, the giant troll, scared and alone, begins accidentally rampaging villages and destroying them. A group of hunters, led by Clayton, plan to kill the giant troll, and so does Robin, who hopes to live up to her father's legacy by killing it with her bow and arrow. Robin and Alice are conversing when they hear the giant troll's roar. Although Alice tries to assure Robin that it is her friend, Robin is intent on slaying it. Alice's attempts to stop Robin and Clayton's hunting party get them both imprisoned, but once Robin breaks out, she manages to find the giant troll in a cave just as Clayton and his gang do. Clayton allows Robin one chance to take out the giant troll on her own, but as it emerges from its cage and she takes aim, Alice grabs her and causes her to miss, startling the giant troll and giving it time to escape. Alice and Robin escape the hunting party in a replica of the Yellow Bug, conjured by the same magic Alice once used to summon the giant troll, and when they arrive at Alice's tower, Robin encourages her that she can use the magic to stop the giant troll. Alice realizes her wish to not be alone is what caused the giant troll to appear all those years ago and Robin assures her that she is no longer alone, as she has her. As the giant troll picks up the bug and prepares to smash it, Alice runs out and begins speaking to it, calming it down. She assures it that she is fine and it doesn't need to worry about her anymore. The giant troll gently smiles at her, then turns to stone, ending its rampage. ("The Girl in the Tower")
After Drizella, Regina, and Gothel's coven of witches cast the Dark Curse, the petrified troll is taken to Seattle where it becomes known as the Fremont Troll, a public art piece under the Aurora Bridge. Tilly, the cursed counterpart of Alice, is fascinated by this statue and is regularly found hanging out around it. She once mentions to Detective Weaver that the troll has its own story. ("Beauty," "Wake Up Call," "Eloise Gardener," "Pretty in Blue," "The Eighth Witch," "The Girl in the Tower")
After being framed for the murder of Hilda Braeburn, Tilly becomes concerned that she may have actually done it since she cannot remember what she did that day and has no alibi. She retreats to the troll statue but laments that a statue is her only friend and prepares to run away. She is almost hit by a car but is saved by Margot, who encourages her to look up and face her problems head-on. Taking Margot's advice literally, Tilly looks up at the statue and realizes that a blinking light, resembling the troll winking at her, is a security camera. As Rogers and Henry arrive to bring arrest her, as they've since run out of time to prove her innocence, Tilly assures them that there's no need as she already has proof. Rogers loads up the security camera footage and finds Tilly walking past the troll at Hilda's time of death. Tilly is overjoyed that her friend saved her and Rogers explains that the camera was added quite recently due to an issue with graffiti. ("The Girl in the Tower")
Dealing with a persistant buzzing in her head, Tilly tries to distract herself with sketching a drawing of the troll statue. Margot, noticing how bothered she seems by it, asks her out on a date, which Tilly happily agrees to. After using Roni's potion to locate the missing Dark One's Dagger, Weaver follows the signal to the troll statue, where Tilly arrives in a panic over the buzzing she keeps hearing which now sounds like a voice talking to her. Going by a hutch, Weaver reaches into Tilly's bag and finds the dagger, though Tilly insists she didn't steal it. As Tilly notices the voice has now stopped, Weaver remarks she was guarding it for him, to which a confused Tilly asks if he is angry with her. Weaver, upon sitting down on the troll statue, tells her that she's not the one he is angry at. ("The Guardian")
Intending to rescue Jacinda and Lucy from Wish Rumplestiltskin, Roni and Weaver meet up with Henry and Rogers in front of the troll statue. Roni mentions Rogers was right about checking Tilly's boxcar for a looking-glass, however, Weaver shows them that the glass is cracked and the magic may not work. Henry believes in trying anyway and considers going to the Wish Realm alone, but the latter three agree they are with him for the journey. Henry then places the looking glass on the ground and steps back. As the troll statue looms in the background, a portal opens up from the glass and takes the four into it. Later on in Hyperion Heights, Tilly senses something has gone wrong in the Wish Realm after she loses her Guardian powers and persuades Sabine to help find a way to the Wish Realm. Sabine, using the troll statue as her speaking platform, implores the citizens of Hyperion Heights to come forward if they possess any kind of magical item that could potentially aid them in their cause. After saying her piece, Sabine steps down from the statue and is approached by Remy, who offers up a magic bean. Drew joins Sabine near the statue later on when Tilly and Margot are preparing to leave for their journey to the Wish Realm. ("Homecoming")
After the uniting of the realms, the giant troll becomes animated once more and is transported to the United Realms, where it's briefly seen near Gothel's tower. ("Leaving Storybrooke")
Trivia
Character Notes
- The Troll's statue form is featured in the title card for "The Girl in the Tower."[2]
Production Notes
- When the writers were talking about the seventh season being set in Seattle, someone brought in a picture of the Fremont Troll statue and they all thought, "Oh my god, a troll under a bridge, we have to do it." They then noticed that the troll was holding a Volkswagen bug, the same kind of car that Emma drives. This seemed too bizarre and coincidental and it "really sparked something in them." In order to create their own version, the show creators contacted the artist who created the statue and got the rights to it.[3]
Props Notes
- For the Land Without Magic scenes, a copy of Seattle's Fremont Troll, which is known for clutching a Volkswagen Beetle similar to Emma's yellow bug, was recreated under Vancouver's Heatley Avenue Bridge, which doubles as Aurora Bridge for the show.[4] The show's version of the statue consisted of four pieces and was brought to the location every time they needed to shoot there.[3]
Appearances
| Once Upon a Time: Season Seven | ||||||||||
| "Hyperion Heights": | "A Pirate's Life": | "The Garden of Forking Paths": | "Beauty": | "Greenbacks": | "Wake Up Call": | "Eloise Gardener": | "Pretty in Blue": | "One Little Tear": | "The Eighth Witch": | "Secret Garden": |
| Appears | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Appears | Appears | Appears | Absent | Appears | Appears |
| "A Taste of the Heights": | "Knightfall": | "The Girl in the Tower": | "Sisterhood": | "Breadcrumbs": | "Chosen": | "The Guardian": | "Flower Child": | "Is This Henry Mills?": | "Homecoming": | "Leaving Storybrooke": |
| Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Appears | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Appears | Appears |
References
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Notes
- ↑ Alice tells Robin that she lived in the tower for 6,205 days, which is exactly 17 years. ("The Girl in the Tower")
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