Strings

The Strings were a set of six string-like magical artifacts that appear in Trolls World Tour. Each string represented the six different genres of music, and was in the possession of one of the six Troll Tribes until they were all destroyed near the end of the film.

Appearance

They appeared to be a different color that glowed faintly when struck. They were originally held on a white harp, which is currently in the possession of the Pop Trolls.

King Peppy about to pluck the Pop string, which is itself set in the lyre.

The Rock string in Queen Barb's rock guitar

The complete lyre with all 6 strings (left to right: Techno, Funk, Classical, Country, Rock, Pop)

King Trollex holding the blue Techno string

Queen of the Rock Trolls Queen Barb finds the Classical string inside of Trollzart's baton.

The Funk string sitting in Queen Essence's bass guitar

The Country string in Delta Dawn's banjo

The Strings after being smashed on the ground by Queen Poppy

List of Strings

The Strings are as follows (in the left-to-right order that they were placed within the harp):

• Blue - the "Techno" string. It was under the protection of Trollex.
• Purple - the "Funk" string. It was under the protection of Quincy and Essence.
• Yellow - the "Classical" string. It was under the protection of Trollzart.
• Orange - the "Country" string. It was under the protection of Delta Dawn.
• Red - the "Rock" string. It was under the protection of Barb.
• Pink - the "Pop" String. It was under the protection of Poppy.

Abilities

Each one produced a note of the type of music they represented when plucked. For example, the Pop String played a pop note. Together, the Strings originally created harmony among the Trolls and when played together as individual genres allowed them all to enjoy each others' music, as well as all music genres in between.

It was possible to use a string to overwrite the natural tune of the other strings, and if all 6 were gathered, all music types could be removed except the one of the player's choice. This forms the basis of Queen Barb's quest in Trolls World Tour, as she seeks out the other 5 Strings to destroy all music but Rock. As seen when she places the Techno string, its blue color changes to red to match the Rock string; the music it represented then disappears. Although the Trolls of that correspondent music are unable to play it at this point, there's no other impacts to the Trolls controlled by it.

When used together, the Strings have the power to transform music into one kind. When the ancestors of the Pop Trolls had it, they used the Strings to remix any genre into Pop music, thus forcing only Pop to be heard. The Strings also have the power to forcibly transform Trolls into a different kind under the sway of the one who transformed them, just like when Barb transformed Branch, King Quincy & Queen Essence, King Trollex, Trollzart, and Delta Dawn (as well as Clampers Buttonwillow in this case) into Rock zombies. The transformation didn't change their physical build, but gave them a "Hard Rock" look. The Trolls were reduced to mindlessly obeying the person who transformed them, and overwrote all other behaviors. Barb also had a prediction map that showed she had won: it wasn't just the Trolls that would have been transformed, but the rest of the Troll Kingdom would've been terraformed to look like Volcano Rock City.

Even though, if someone is unable to hear the Strings being used upon them in this manner (as Poppy used gumdrops as earplugs), they'll only change their appearance on the outside, and remain who they really are on the inside.

The destruction of the Strings undo this forced transformation, reverting the converted Trolls back to their original selves. However, this seemingly rids the Trolls of their music and their colors. This proved to be wrong after they quickly realized that they no longer needed the Strings, since their respective favorite kinds of music had always come from their hearts.

The Strings had a strange impact on minor Tribes such as K-Pop Trolls, Reggaeton Trolls, Smooth Jazz Trolls and Yodelling Trolls. Barb offered to spare any of these genres if the Bounty Hunters of those Genres brought Queen Poppy to her, thus Barb was capable of overwriting their music with the Strings as well. Even as the other 5 main genres were overwritten, it was seen they were still able to play their music even with all 6 Strings tuned to Rock. When the Strings were destroyed, however, they lost their music as well, as the Strings impact all music together.

The heart-shaped note produced by the Pop string

The Rock string converting the Techno string into another Rock string

Rock Poppy

Rock Poppy (Rock Zombie form)

Rock Branch

Rock Trollzart

Rock Trollex

Rock Quincy and Essence

Rock Delta Dawn

Rock Clampers

If Barb had won, the entire Troll Kingdom would have been terraformed to match Volcano Rock City's landscape.

History

In the beginning, the Trolls had no music and life was boring. One day, a sound caught their attention, and in an attempt to capture that sound the ancestors of the Trolls heard, the Strings came to be.

How the Strings came to be varies per source:

• In trailers, the Trolls created 6 Strings to represent different types of music: Pop, Funk, Techno, Classical, Country, and Rock.
• In King Peppy's explanation from the Trolls World Tour movie itself, he says that each tribe "took 6 Strings".
  • The imagery backing that Peppy accounts implies the strings came from the hair of a Troll from each tribe, as the ancestral Trolls shown in the flashback had hair colors that matched their tribal Strings' colors.
• The Funk Trolls, meanwhile, claim that the Trolls found the Strings instead.

Each String belonged to a different Tribe of the same name, and was as different to each other as the Tribes were to each other. The six Strings governed each kind of music, as well as everything in between the Tribes' music.

The Troll Tribes had a party, and life was good until the Pop Troll ancestors decided to steal the Strings. They remixed the genres of the other Tribes into Pop music, refusing to let the others play their sounds. In order to get their music back, the leaders of the 5 other Tribes each took their Tribe's string and ran from the Pop Trolls to the corners of Troll Kingdom. The Troll tribes thereafter lived apart, isolated from each other.

The Pop Trolls' ancestors with the stolen Strings

The Pop Trolls themselves remained with the lyre and having only their String left. They would go on to claim in their Scrapbooks the reason for their split was that the Trolls had a fight and the elders called for separation, but this was confirmed false.

Poppy moments before smashing the Ultimate Power Chord guitar holding the Strings.

Things remained that way until the events of Queen Barb's Rock World Tour. According to her, it was King Thrash who suggested the idea of taking the Strings. She took each String with the intention to unite the Tribes under one kind of music: Rock, with everyone being turned into Rock zombies using the Ultimate Power Chord. The only Trolls spared was whoever brought her Queen Poppy, after Poppy (unintentionally) annoyed Barb. Barb succeeded in obtaining all the Strings, and converted Branch into a Rock zombie after he shielded Poppy from the Chord, then doing the same to all the other Tribe leaders. A severe miscalculation on her part in regards to Poppy spared her from being converted fully into a Rock zombie, as she used gumdrops as earplugs to keep herself from being brainwashed. When Poppy tells Barb that a world where everything is under one type of music isn't harmony and that a good queen listens to her people, she destroyed the Strings, turning every Rock zombie, alongside her appearance, back to how they originally were and ending Barb's dream and plan of uniting the Tribes under the Rock music once and for all.

With the Strings gone, the music the Trolls had was seemingly drained. They quickly realized that they could make music without them, as what kinds of music they love now came from their hearts, thus ending the need for the Strings.

Trivia

• When told the truth of the Pop Trolls having stolen the Strings previously, and the Rock Trolls having now gone on a conquest to find the Strings, Poppy pointed out to Quincy this won't stop with the Rock Trolls. She notes the cycle will continue after the Rock Trolls and that it was only a matter of time before one of the other Tribes eventually goes after them. With the Strings now destroyed, however, this is no longer a threat.
• During Just Sing, Techno Trolls hearts' glow blue or green, and the It's All Love depicts the Techno String to be green as opposed to blue in the movie itself. This may be a reference to some languages that don't give distinction to the two colors.
• The color of the strings is often present in groups that represent the Tribes, including:
  • Most of the tribal leaders. Poppy's body is mostly pink, Barb's hair is red, Delta's skin is orange, Trollzart's skin is yellow, Quincy's skin is purple and Trollex's skin is blue.
  • The TrollsTopia Tribal Council. Val has red in her eyes and accessories, Holly has orange skin, Dante has golden skin, Lownote has purple in his hair, and Synth has blue skin, with Poppy once again filling a spot and being pink.
  • This also extends to many of the supporting and minor characters in the Trolls: TrollsTopia series.
• A fan Twitter account noted that the instrument that the Strings were originally on is a "lyre", and that it sounds similar to the word "liar". The official Trolls twitter according would go on to retweet this.
• The story of the strings is the first time its revealed Pop Trolls embellish stories - it was not the first example. In Trolls Band Together it turns out to be the second when it was revealed The Last Trollstice story had also been embellished by them.
• During Just Sing, Cooper's heart glowed pink, matching the Pop string rather than Purple like the rest of his tribe. This is likely due to the fact he was raised with the Pop Trolls.
  • His heart also glows brighter than most other's hearts for unknown reasons.