The Bergens are a species of people seen in Trolls, Trolls Holiday, Trolls: The Beat Goes On!, Trolls Band Together and various related media.[1] They were once a society of monsters that captured the Troll Tree and ate Trolls under the leadership of King Gristle Sr., but they experienced a cultural revolution under King Gristle Jr. and Queen Bridget, and are now a peaceful people.
History[]
Evolution[]
A note of the evolution of the Bergens is that the species that the Party Crashers belong to are claimed in Trolls: The Beat Goes On! to be distant cousins of the Bergens. Since the 2D animation is its own Canon, this applies only to the 2D storyline, and should not be considered as official canon.
Pre-Trolls[]
The Bergens were creatures who lived in total misery. This ended when one day a Bergen ate a Troll. The Bergen was filled with a feeling it had never felt before, which was happiness. Realizing that eating Trolls granted the feeling of happiness, the Bergens wanted to feel this again and again. Soon, there was a single Troll Tree left, where the remaining population of Trolls left lived. The Bergens built a town around them, trapping the Trolls in the process. Every year, they gathered around the Troll Tree for an event named Trollstice.
On the year that Prince Gristle was due to eat King Peppy's daughter Princess Poppy, the Trolls made their escape via a hole they had made in the center of the Troll Tree. When the Bergens gathered and their Prince was offered his first Troll by Chef, they discovered that the Trolls were gone, with wooden figures in their place.
Frantically, they dug for the Trolls in the woodland outside of Bergen Town, but didn't find a single one. Later that night, King Gristle Sr. was left dealing with a town of angry Bergens, and to save his own skin he put full blame of the Trolls' escape on Chef, whom he banished from Bergen Town. The Bergens were left fated to never feel happiness again.
At some point afterwards, because of the amount of angry and miserable Bergens growing too much, the King went into exile and left Bergen Town. Wanting a King they could push around and would comply with their desires, Prince Gristle was put on the throne and succeeded his father.
Trolls[]
20 years later, on the day after the 20 year anniversary of the Trolls' escape, Chef returned with Trolls. Through manipulation, she convinced King Gristle Jr. to bring back Trollstice. Gristle later realized that there wasn't enough Trolls to feed the entire town: he had promised to give a Troll to every Bergen. To ensure he went ahead with his plan, Chef force-fed the Troll Creek to him. Even though, Creek managed to avoid getting eaten, and made a deal with the Bergens: he would sell out the rest of Troll Village in exchange for his life.
Gristle later met a Bergen who called herself Lady Glittersparkles, and went on a date with her. Though their date was cut short by Chef, Gristle told her to prepare a place for his date next to him at the table. That same night, the Trolls Chef had captured escaped. She discovered them when they returned for Creek, along with Poppy and Branch who had come to save the other Trolls. The captured Trolls were presented to Creek, who told them his deal with Chef and the Bergens. He grabbed Poppy's cowbell and went with Chef and several cooking staff members to capture the entire village.
Everything was going well; the Bergens gathered for Trollstice and King Gristle Jr. awaited his plus one, but she didn't show and Chef urged him to begin the celebration. However, when the cooking pot containing the Trolls was wheeled into the dining hall, it turned out to be empty. Chef was quick to blame the scullery maid Bridget, who had wheeled the pot in, for eating all the Trolls. As the Bergens rallied into a angry mob against Bridget, Poppy and her friends returned to save her, showing to Gristle that she was Lady Glittersparkles.
Poppy then explained to Gristle that on his date with Bridget he had felt happiness, and so did Bridget. Soon, the Bergens realized they didn't need to eat Trolls to be happy. Chef (with Creek in her fanny pack) was sent flying out of Bergen Castle as the Bergens danced with the Trolls.
The Bergens and Trolls became friends after this, with Bridget becoming one of Poppy's best friends.
Trolls Holiday[]
In Trolls Holiday, the Bergens' only holiday, Trollstice, was now gone. Poppy and The Snack Pack were determined to give them one of the Troll holidays as replacement, but King Gristle Jr. and Queen Bridget instead agreed on making a holiday celebrating the Bergens' friendship with the Trolls known as "Troll-A-Bration Day". The Bergens now had a new holiday, and they were seen singing and dancing with the Trolls near the end of the special.
Biology[]
Appearance[]
- General
The Troll Branch with King Gristle Jr., for size comparison
The Bergens are giants compared to the Trolls, but appear to be roughly the size of a human. The only other species shown far to be a similar size as them are the Mount Rageons, while the Vacaytioners are much smaller, being only one third of the size of the typical Bergens and half half that of their shortest members. They're ogre-like and are usually fully dressed (though some like Chef are barefoot). Their skin tone can be a dull green, blue or purple color, with their clothes often sharing similar tones. They may be covered in moles and have large teeth that are maligned or even broken. The sclera part of their eyes is colored either white, light green, light blue or light red. Their irises are normally red but can also be blue or green, with Bridget having an unique pinkish-red color. They have 3 fingers and a thumb on each hand, and 4 toes on each foot. Their fingers and toes have nails of the same color as their skin. Their faces have blemishes like warts.
According to The Art of DreamWorks Trolls, both King Gristle Jr. and Bridget have height issues (hinted to be related to dwarfism), making them unattractive to other Bergens and atypical examples of their species.
Like randomly generated Trolls, the majority of the Bergen population is made by random design generation. They mix up facial features such as nose, warts, face shape, hair, ears as well as ther body types. Eyelashes indicate a female Bergen and a lack of them indicates a male. Compared to random Trolls, random Bergens have a lot more variety overall in their design. Their teeth are also randomly generated.
- Sexual Dimorphism
Females may have makeup such as lipstick, blush and eyeshadow. Some of them also have distinctively more feminine clothing, wearing dresses and skirts. Females also have breasts, while males are flat chested.
- General
Bergens have far more design variations in the TV series, especially when it comes to randomly generated ones. However, some notable differences are perceived from Trolls and Trolls Holiday. For example, all random Bergens have the same white sclera color (other colors are only applied to named ones), with their pupils usually being the same color as their skin, and they're less likely to have warts. Plus, most random Bergens seen in the series are male, though there are still female ones.
In the episode "Bad News Bergens", Groth says that he would like to see the Trolls beat 1,200 lbs of Bergen, giving an approximate weight for a Bergen.
In the series, the Bergens are also mentioned to be distant cousins of a group of creatures known as the Party Crashers, though it was confirmed that this was done to avoid confusion with the conflicting concept of the Troll Tribes from Trolls World Tour.[2]
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The Bergens appear mostly as they do in Trolls, however, their overall appearance has slightly change; the Bergens now have bolder skin shades across the general population. This gives the colours a more vivid coloration overall. In addition, the clothing they now wear is much more colorful, as they wore mostly dull attires with clothing often now having patterns such as flower on. Overall, the slight changes are to finalize the change of the Bergen's attitudes and disposition as they are no longer constantly unhappy like in Trolls.
Reproduction[]
While Bergens pair up in heterosexual couples to reproduce, everything else about their reproduction process remains unknown. This is likely due more to the franchise being aimed at kids. Though a number of children and babies are seen with their parents, it is unknown if they're viviparous or oviparous like the Trolls.
Lifespans[]
While their lifespans are unknown, they seem to age relatively slower than the Trolls, as Bridget and King Gristle Jr. still appear young, both being children at the start of Trolls. Chef and other Bergens haven't appeared to age in 20 years since the last Trollstice occurred at all.
Predators[]
Due to their massive size, not many creatures of the Trolls world hunt the Bergens for obvious reasons.
The only creatures to pose threats to them come from non-canon sources. Based on the story Bridget told of characters "Janet" and "Derrick", the Bergens fear Greygon's according to the Trolls: The Beat Goes On! episode "The Poppy Horror Picture Show". In the book Branch and the Cooking Catastrophe, they were shown to be terrified of the Wing-Dingle, a fierce bird that is large enough to attack Bergens, being somewhat of a myth to Trolls and Bergens alike. The Wing-Dingle appears on a bib and King Gristle Jr.'s bed for this reason, as its fierceness is legendary to the Bergens.
Diet[]
The Bergens live a mostly junk-food diet. Pizza is the favorite food for most of them, though sardines with mayonnaise are also particularly popular among them, as seen in the Trolls: The Beat Goes On! episode "Two Party System".
They used to eat Trolls, which made them happy, with Chef having a cookbook of recipes involving the use of Trolls titled "Cookin' With Trolls". They often ate them alive without any use of recipes, though.
Habitat[]
The Bergens live in Bergen Town, a town with its own castle. Due to their lack of pride, misery and self-loathing of their own existence, the town isn't well kept. The area around Bergen Town is also littered, and pollution is present nearby it. But by Trolls Band Together, the town has gotten better upkeep and much more polished, indicating how the Bergens have gotten better maintenance for their living environment since befriending the Trolls.
Holidays[]
For a list of holidays that have occurred for this specie, see Holidays & Events#Bergens.
Abilities[]
The Bergens are very strong due to their size compared to the Trolls. Once a Bergen grabs a Troll, there is little they can do to fight back and are completely helpless, which is why they ended up trapped against the Bergens in the first place. Though they can outrun a Troll on foot, some Trolls like Branch can easily keep pace with a running Bergen using their hair to swing through the Trees by grasping branches. Therefore, a Troll's only real defense against a Bergen is to run and hide, as fighting back is not an option and they can barely outrun them at times. The Trolls used camouflage as their most effective means to escape against Chef when she appeared at their village; this tactic, for the most part, works against the Bergens.
Despite their strength and size, it's implied that they're actually not well fit and unhealthy due to their general lifestyle and diet. The average Bergen is considered to be overweight, and even those who are not often lack physical muscles. However, in Trolls Band Together, Bridget and Gristle were tied up by the Putt Putt Trolls and unable to escape - though the two didn't resist their capture as these particular Trolls did not accept the Bergens were no longer eating Trolls.
In Trolls Band Together, they are shown to have a excellent sense of smell when it comes to picking up food based scents. They can smell food such as fries from miles away.
Society[]
Behavior[]
They're shown at the beginning of Trolls as creatures living miserable lives with no concept of happiness.
The only way they believed they could be happy was by eating a Troll. They presevered this activity for Trollstice, an event held once a year, and (formerly) their only holiday according to Trolls Holiday. They, in fact, built Bergen Town around the Troll Tree.
In reality, they're fully capable of happiness, and had merely depended on eating Trolls because they believed there was no alternative. In their pursuit of happiness, individuals like Chef could lead them to easily gain influence over other Bergens simply because they had "control" over their ability to feel happiness.
In the Trolls: The Beat Goes On! episode "A New Bergen-ing", the Bergens come to an agreement with the Trolls to pick them up whenever they dance with them in order to avoid crushing them, remove sensitive topics from games and change their pinatas to rainbows. In turn, the Trolls agreed to not spray glitter in their faces, as well as to not use bright lights and loud sounds around them. The two species are at least willing to finally get to know each other, even if it'll take some time.
Barnald remains the only Bergen unwilling to accept the current status with the Trolls, as he has lived in isolation for a long time and is unaware of the events of Trolls. He is oddly mild-mannered for a Bergen, but still loves eating Trolls.
In Trolls Band Together, their overall culture has changed for the better. The streets are cleaner, the Bergens wear not only more colorful clothing but their clothing shows their now more prideful in their approach to things. They smile much more, and generally are friendly towards Trolls. They have also been implied to be have become more acknowledging and respectful towards Trolls as well.
Social Structure[]
Bridget and Gristle showing class divide. While Gristle would go onto succeed his father, this is all that Bridget expected to be.
The Bergens have a King and Queen who rule over them. They also acknowledge social status with a class system. Under this system, Bridget believed that as a mere scullery maid the King was beyond her.
It appears that they have no issue employing child labor, with expectations of change low, as evidenced by Bridget's twenty years in her role since she was a young child.
With the events of Trolls overall, by Trolls Band Together, their shown as being a lot more socially active with each other and the Trolls, and are generally a lot more relaxed and friendlier. Hence, their class system and child labor might've been abolished for good by Trolls Band Together.
Events[]
The Bergens don't do many social events. When they do, it seems that they only like competitive-style events.
They practice Bergen Ball, a sport where it's the only time they're willing to do "high-fives". The sport was shown in "Bad News Bergens", and involves 2 teams of 4 hitting a ball against respective walls. A team wins a point if the opposing one misses to hit the ball back to their wall. The winning team is the one with the most points. Bergens can be sore losers, as Poppy found out, but show good sportsmanship at times. The Bergens prefer to win at this event, and like to rub victory in the face of those they defeat. However, they admitted against the Trolls that they enjoyed playing against them despite losing.
The Bergens also like pet competitions to prove who's the best pet trainer and owner. Nangus Skullcrusher used to be the reigning champion for many years, until he was banned to give others a chance.
Culture[]
Music[]
After the events of Trolls they do experiment with music with King Gristle Jr. taking up the keyboard. Bridget did sing, though her song was depressing and hopeless. After Trolls, they mostly are shown to like Pop music.
Laws[]
Chef with two Royal guards from Bergen Castle
The Bergens take things lot more seriously than the Trolls. While Bergens don't have laws protecting Trolls (mostly due to Trollstice), they do have laws that mean they are held accountable for issues like insurance, as mentioned in Trolls Holiday. In this case even Gristle Jr., despite being their king, can be held responsible for anything that results in a insurance claim. And now they are friends with the Trolls, the insurance issue extends even to them. They also will press charges against another species, though the only time they have had this chance is when Gristle and Bridget were captured by Viva and her Putt Putt Trolls. In this insistence, no charges were filed against the Trolls who captured them.
Though no law enforcement were shown, Bergen Castle has trained guards with pole-arms that will react when ordered by the King or head chef and throw Bergens in a dungeon. In the Trolls: The Beat Goes On! episode "Funishment", a number of Bergens were shown in the dungeon. The dungeon was headed by Nangus Skullcrusher. Punishments for Bergens include torture, and the Bergen punish petty thief as well as serious crimes, with even pets not being able to escape punishment.
Technology[]
They have a 1970s-esque level of technology, as they're loosely based on such decade according to The Art of the Trolls.They have working arcade machines, ovens for making pizza, and other types of machinery. Despite their technological advancements over, their technology is at a modest level compared compared to some other societies like the Funk Trolls or Mount Rageons. Other technology notable is the animatronics of the Hole N' Fun, neon lights, cooking technology that allows for burgers and deep fries. In the 20 years since The Last Trollstice, their technology and way of life did not improve, so the Bergens have been in a technological stagnation for a few decades at least shown on screen.
Despite showing car parking spaces around the Troll Tree, no actual vehicles were seen until Bridget's motorcycle in Trolls Band Together. Roads and motorways leading to other locations suggest further vehicles do exist in the Bergens technology capabilities, with Hole N' Fun being so far from Bergen Town it is only be gotten to from the town via travel means. In concept art, 1970s vehicles were also meant to be seen around their town, but this was cut from the final version of the film. As a result of the cut, for the most part, the Bergens seem to have been keen road users but have since lessened the use of vehicles over time with no in-world explanation currently making this relatively old technology to them that they now rarely make use of.
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Despite the technology they do have, Chad and Todd were shown using partisan-like polearms. They are one of the few societies to use military weapons in the Trolls World that specifically is designed to be weapons only, yet the weapons they use are dated compared to the rest of their technology.
Known Members[]
The following is a list of known Bergens in the franchise, divided by the media where they first appeared in.
Movies[]
- Miss Maxine (voiced by RuPaul Charles) - is the wedding officiant who marries Bridget and King Gristle Jr. in Trolls Band Together. She has white puffy hair. She wears yellow checkered scarf and coat, a white garb, and a pair of six-pointed star shaped earrings.
- Aunt Smead (voiced by Melissa Mabie) - is Gristle Jr.'s aunt, and Gristle Sr.'s sister. She has heavy pink makeup, purplish hair, and buck teeth. She wears yellow framed sunglasses and blouse.
Trolls: The Beat Goes On![]
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- Buzby (voiced by David Koechner) - seen in "A New Bergen-ing", "Two Party System" and "Bad News Bergens".
- Janet and Derrick - seen and mentioned in "The Poppy Horror Picture Show". Janet is the pink skinned, dark magenta hair female Bergen with dark teal dress, and pale cyan heels and waist belt. Derrick is the light brown skinned, dark brown haired male Bergen with red T-shirt, grey trousers, and red and white accented sneakers.
- Maitre'D (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) - seen in "Sorry Not Sorry". He is a blackish green haired and dull green skinned Bergen in a red collared shirt.
Also mentioned is:
- King Gristle Jr.'s grandfather - mentioned in the episode "Sorry Not Sorry".
Trolls: TrollsTopia[]
Comics[]
- Enid - a chef who was a competitor against Chef herself in a cooking competition. Enid failed to pass round 2, as Chef cheated by using all the ingredients that were meant for the three competitors' usage between them.
- Bert - another competitor who appeared in the same comic as Enid. Bert made it to round 2 of the competition, but lost to Chef when she ate his ingredients, meaning that at the end of the round she had something to hand to the judges and he didn't.
Books[]
- Grub Grubbington - appeared in Branch and the Cooking Catastrophe. Grub owns the local grocery store in Bergen Town.
Trivia[]
- The kind of Trolls that they consumed and interacted with were known as "Pop Trolls". It is unknown how they would react to the other Troll Tribes, as well as the subcultures.
- However, during the end of Trolls World Tour, when Gristle Jr. expressed disappointment on how he and Bridget arrived at the Troll tribes' gathering late, it can be presumed that Bergens are currently eager to interact with the other Troll tribes.
- The Bergens' pursuit of happiness from Trolls may be a reference to the older TV series The Magic Trolls and the Troll Warriors. In it, the "Magic Trolls" themselves were the ones who lacked happiness and they were kept suppressed by the "Warrior Trolls". In the series, the Magic Trolls were the size of Trolls, and the Warrior Trolls the size of Bergens.
- Bridget and King Gristle Jr. are the only Bergens who appear in Trolls World Tour. However, they don't speak during most of their screentime, having lines only in the closing credits sequence.
- "Bergen" means "mountain" in several European languages, which is the most likely correct meaning of their name; it refers to how their height appears to the Trolls. It's likely that this is also why the song Hair Up is composed to the tune of In the Hall of the Mountain King at Bergen Castle, as it can referred to as "the halls of the Mountain King [King Gristle]".
- The use of the "Bergen" term for the species may come from the Norwegian city in which the song's writer Edvard Grieg resided, also named "Bergen".
- In other languages, it also means "recover", and it has been used in English as a name for people (in this case surnames) and locations; though these two origins are unlikely to be the true.
- The Bergens resemble the actual folktale trolls from Norse mythology, which were the inspiration for the Troll Dolls.
- The "King" from In the Hall of the Mountain King was also a Troll.
References[]
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- †: retired lore
| Bergens | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leader: | ||||
| King Gristle Sr. (former) • King Gristle Jr. | ||||
| Other named members: | ||||
Chef • Bridget • Bibbly Bibbington • Chad and Todd • Captain Starfunkle • Miss Maxine • Aunt Smead
Groth • Nangus Skullcrusher • Bernice • Buzby
| ||||
| Misc. related articles: | ||||
| Bergen Town • Trollstice • Party Crashers | ||||