Troll follows the adventurous journey of the paleontologist Nora who attempts to stop a deadly ancient troll that has finally awakened from its deep slumber.
Directed by Roar Uthaug, Troll features Ine Marie Wilmann, Kim Falck, Mads Sjogard Pettersen, Gard B. Eidsvold, Karoline Viktoria Sletteng Garvang, Yusuf Toosh Ibra, Bjarne Hjelde, Anneke von der Lippe, Dennis Storhoi, and Fridtjov Saheim. The Norwegian action flick is written by Roar Uthaug and Espen Aukan.
Troll Story Summary
In the Troll Peaks Romsdalen, a young Nora Tiddeman grows up listening to fairy tales, including those of trolls, told by her father Tobias Tiddeman (Gard B. Eidsvold). He also encourages her to believe that fairy tales do have some truth in them.
20 years later, on the Atlantic Coast of Northwestern Norway, Nora (Ine Marie Wilmann) works as a paleontologist and is determined to conduct in-depth studies. The head of Nora’s team is almost on the verge of giving up when Nora finds the remains of what’s presumed to be a dinosaur.
Meanwhile, amid protests at Hjerkinn Dovre mountains, the mountains are blown up to create a path for the Dovre railways. But things turn awry when this action results in an unprecedented mishap – the awakening of an unidentified mysterious creature.
Norwegian Armed Forces Operational Headquarters, Akershus Fortress in Oslo, is informed about the awakening of the mysterious monster at Dovre. Aircraft are sent from Dovre to take satellite images of the location.
The Prime Minister is also warned that the satellite images reflect big footprints. She suggests consulting experts to look into the video footage and satellite images. In the meantime, the media is kept out of the loop regarding the strange occurrences, and a secret meeting is arranged.
While Nora was celebrating her success, military personnel reach the spot to escort Nora to the Prime Minister. When she reaches the place, Andreas (Kim Falck), Prime Minister’s Advisor, takes her to the secret government headquarters. In the meeting, the Prime Minister suggests that Nora must be sent to Dovre to investigate the incident as a scientific advisor.
Accompanied by Andreas, Nora is taken to Dovre where the strange incidents were reported. While on their way to Dovre in the aircraft, Nora tells Andreas that her father used to research fairytales and believed in them with such passion that he lost touch with reality eventually. Her mother passed away when she was just 10 years old, and life had been rough ever since.
Meanwhile, in Lesja, an old couple experiences strange disturbances caused by the unidentified monster. Eventually, they are forced to hide in the basement while the monster destroys their home.
After the special team reaches the targeted location, Nora scans the area for biological traces and ends up finding nothing but just stones and a “hyper-nature smell”. She realizes that the creature is able to camouflage itself and doesn’t leave any biological trace.
The evidence points to no other explanation but to the existence of a strange creature similar to one from the stories her father once told her. Hence, Nora thinks it’s better to take advice from her father Tobias who lives in Steinbudalen. Though he is believed to have almost lost his mind, Nora feels he is the right person to solve the mystery at hand.
When Andreas and Nora meet Tobias, Tobias strongly suggests that the mysterious creature being talked about is nothing but a giant troll. The trio proceeds to track the mysterious footprints. While Tobias was scanning the place for possible explanations, they finally come face to face with the troll who rises from the ground, giving up on his camouflage. On seeing the huge monster, the three are forced to run for their lives in the chopper.
The video footage of the rising troll is sent to the military, and the Prime Minister gives the approval for the army to be sent to attack the troll. Though Tobias and Nora are against it, they accompany Captain Kris Holm and the army anyway.
Tobias believes that trolls were misrepresented by humans during the Christianization of Norway. In his research, he came across trolls as a group who just wanted to live in harmony just like humans. Tobias tries to establish that it’s not right to attack the ancient creature with weapons.
But the military refuses to believe his tales and warnings and starts attacking the troll. Because of the attacks with gunfire and bombs, the furious troll is forced to counterattack, and some soldiers are killed in the violence that follows.
Tobias tries talking to the troll to calm him down. It works for a while until a nearby tanker fires off at the troll, drawing its fury. Unfortunately, the troll ends up unintentionally injuring Tobias. But before he dies, he manages to leave a few hints for Nora. His last words include “palace” and “king”.
After Tobias’ tragic death, Nora goes through his research and suggests that they ring bells around the troll in a bid to disturb him and distract him from causing any major harm. The Prime Minister and the military offer to give Nora’s plan a try.
The troll makes its way to a nearby amusement park, but he doesn’t harm anyone. As the choppers carry bells, the ringing sound ends up disturbing the troll just the way Nora had predicted. Although the bells were supposed to result in the troll’s implosion, before it could happen, the deadly creature catches hold of the helicopters and destroys them. And Captain Kris, Nora, and Andreas manage to escape barely before a similar fate befalls them.
When the plan doesn’t yield the expected results, Nora is taken out of the team. But Captain Kris and Andreas continue to place their trust in Nora and decide to help her out if she finds a solution to the menace created by the deadly troll.
Troll Ending Explained
Meanwhile, the military plans to launch a missile on the troll as none of the other plans panned out the way they wanted, and the other weapons failed to cause the troll any harm. However, Nora knows that weapons of any kind won’t help in killing the troll. Nora, instead, manages to connect the dots between the Royal Palace in Oslo and the words uttered by Tobias before he passed away.
Did The Military Capture The Troll King?
Andreas and Nora set out to the royal palace and Sinding, the owner of the Royal Palace, welcomes them by saying that he was expecting them. He leads them into an underground tunnel that leads to a securely locked dungeon. When he opens it, it blows Nora and Andreas’ minds away as the place turns out to be the Troll King’s palace. A pile of huge troll skeletons lay across the dungeon.
Additionally, Sinding reveals that there was a time when it was believed to be good luck for a royal palace on top of another king’s home and that the troll king’s palace was discovered in the 1920s during construction for the subway.
Sinding informs Nora and Andreas that 12 years ago, Tobias had discovered the truth about the troll king’s palace through his brilliant research, but they had to keep him out and that’s why he was proved to be insane when in actuality he was speaking the truth. They had kept the secret of the trolls from the world for years.
Sinding narrates the real story to Nora that during the Christianization of Norway, Olav the Holy, got rid of everything that was incompatible with the new faith. The trolls lived and died together as a family and just like human beings, families held great significance for the trolls.
The humans had ambushed the trolls and the trolls were massacred. But the humans didn’t kill one of the mountain king’s children. Instead, they used the troll child and used him to lure the Troll King into the mountains of Dovre, trapping him in one of the caves and leaving him there to die.
After listening to Sinding’s story, Nora realizes that Tobias was right. The king is now on his way back to his castle. When Nora shines her UV torch on one of the skeletons of trolls, she figures out that trolls came from the darkness, and hence, they can’t survive in the daylight. But Andreas points out that they did see the Troll King in broad daylight. To that, Nora replies that the trolls only die if they are under direct sunlight.
Accordingly, the only way to kill a troll is to get it out in the sunlight. Based on the story she heard from Sinding, Nora comes up with a plan to lure the Troll King using one of the troll skulls from the dungeon. But it’s already evening and with the military deploying the missile soon into the city at the troll, Nora realizes they don’t have much time.
Andreas assures that Siggi, one of his closest friends and an employee at the military office, will help them out by hacking into the military system and stopping the missile from launching. True to her word, Siggi successfully hacks the system and the launch of the missile gets delayed.
Is The Troll King The Last Of The Trolls?
On the other hand, Nora seeks Captain Kris’ help, and he gathers a team of soldiers who agree to help him out. With the soldiers waiting with UV lights, Nora tries to lure the troll out into an open field.
Nora and Andreas tie one of the skulls of the dead troll on their truck to lure the Troll King behind them. The plan works as the Troll King gets emotional and moans in pain when he sees the skull tied up behind a truck. Eventually, he starts chasing the truck at full speed. His howling also signals the pain he goes through as he realizes that he is the only one of his kind left in the world, having lost his entire family.
Chasing the truck, the Troll King ends up being lured into the trap set by Nora. With the troll in the middle of the field, Captain Kris turns the UV lights on, causing great harm to the ancient being.
Meanwhile, the military officials figure out that Siggi had hacked into their system and plans to send in the missile again toward the Troll King. But upon realizing that Nora’s trick was working, they decide not to fire the missile.
The Prime Minister, along with the military, bears witness to the agony experienced by the troll as he howls in pain. When Nora couldn’t tolerate seeing the Troll King in such pain, she decides to turn the UV lights off, bringing the Troll King’s misery to an end.
With the UV lights now turned off, the Troll King calms down. Nora tries to convince the Troll King to return to the mountains, his rightful place. But by now, it was already time for sunrise. When the first rays of the sun fall on the Troll King, the Troll King’s life is brought to an end.
In the end, although everyone is shocked beyond belief, they are relieved to have finally stopped the havoc created by the troll. Mixed emotions wash over everyone who bears witness to the incident. The Prime Minister reaches the spot to thank Nora and apologize for not trusting her.
Though she is disappointed with the death of the Troll King, Nora somewhat finds relief in the fact that the people have nothing left to be scared of. On the way home after a long fight with the Troll King, Andreas questions Nora about the possibility of another troll hidden somewhere in the mountains. While the question sounds like a joke at the time, unbeknownst to both, another troll has woken up somewhere else after a long sleep, hinting that it is not going to be Nora’s last encounter with the mythical creatures.
Troll is now streaming on Netflix.
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