The Last Trollstice

The Last Trollstice is the event in which the Trolls escaped Bergen Town, Trollstice being a holiday the Bergens in Bergen Town had before the events of Trolls.

About

Trollstice was a yearly event where Bergens were allowed to eat a Troll as this brought happiness to them. The event was hosted by the Bergen Castle chef, who picked out a Troll for each Bergen and presented it to them. The role of "chef" had become sacred to the holiday.

In Trolls Holiday, it was confirmed that Trollstice was the Bergens' only celebration, and they had no other holidays until Troll-A-Bration Day.

In Trolls Band Together John Dory attempted to return to find Branch, but because of the events of the Last Trollstice, he found no one left and was left uncertain if Branch was alive until Trolls World Tour when news of his baby brother being alive reached him because of The Rock Apocalypse. The fact only Clay and Branch are confirmed present in the escape from Bergen Town, and that John Dory was able to return to look for his brothers, means that while the general population could not escape together, individuals could at times cease moments to escape or return.

While Grandma Rosiepuff remains the only named victim of Trollstice, there are several hints the actual Troll death toll in the time is extremely high. The Trolls: The Junior Novelization notes that the Bergens ate all the Trolls until there was only 1 tree left, while Cookin' With Trolls existence implies Chef herself experimented long enough to make a book on how to cook Trolls. Some recipes require a number of Trolls (Trollsaw for example requires 9), upon reading the recipes its possible to note the number of gruesome ways Chef would cook Trolls include shredding them, freezing them and boiling them alive. For the Bergens, Trollstice was a joyous event - for the Trolls it was a terrifying holiday.

The Bergens had no issues eating Trolls outside of Trollstice, as shown when Grandma Rosiepuff was taken while saving Branch from Chef. Some Bergens like King Gristle Sr. felt the idea of the first Troll they ate should be special. This is inherited as an ideal by King Gristle Jr. who was reluctant to eat Creek outside of Trollstice as he felt it would be less special.

History

General Background

The Bergens caged the Troll Tree for Trollstice.

After a Bergen discovered the Pop Trolls and feeling happy after eating one, the Bergens caged the Troll Tree and created a tradition where once a year, they would gather around the Troll tree and each would get a feeling of happiness by eating a Troll.

It has always been vague about how long the Bergens had the Trolls for, but as of Trolls Band Together the timeline is now relatively brief. BroZone split 24+ years before the events of the 3rd movie. This means Trollstice had been going on for at least 24+ years.

However, this event would end all of a sudden when the Trolls decided to escape.

Poppy's Account

The following was shown in Trolls. Though Poppy was present during the escape, she is not able to give an eye witness account due to her age at the time of the event. The story is instead read by her to a group of young Trolls out of a Scrapbook.

During a Trollstice where Prince Gristle was supposed to eat Princess Poppy, the Trolls (led by King Peppy) escaped. However, the escape was not easy as many got left behind, meanwhile they suffered an attack from the searching Bergens who had figured out they escaped via tunnels and had managed to pinpoint roughly where they were underground. Peppy himself almost didn't make it as he went back for other Trolls as he called "No Troll Left Behind". None the less, not a Troll was left behind in Bergen Town.

As a result, the Bergens were unable to celebrate the holiday for 20 years. This meant also the Trolls lived in freedom and became blissfully ignorant over the course of the next 20 years, having not seen a Bergen during that time. The Pop Trolls were aware of Chef's banishment as it is also shown in Poppy's retelling.

Peppy, Clay and Viva's Account

Poppy's account did not include all of the details and the following was later added in Trolls Band Together. It is an eye witness account from Peppy, Viva and Clay.

The Trolls escaped on the night of Trollstice.

Despite their escape the Pop Trolls had a number of members get separated as many fell behind. Viva and others went back to grab the Trolls who lagged behind. They would be separated by a falling boulder in the tunnels and forced down another route in the opposite direction to the others. Those members later would become the Putt Putt Trolls and were never re-found by the Bergens until the events of Trolls Band Together, among them was Peppy's eldest daughter Viva. Viva herself recalled the last thing she heard of her father was him calling "No Troll Left behind", and its presumed they were separated when Peppy himself went back to save other Trolls.

The Trolls presumed the worst - Peppy found Viva's Hug-Time Friendship Bracelet, later giving it to his youngest daughter Poppy and presumed he'd lost his eldest daughter. Meanwhile, Viva was too scared of the Bergens because of the escape to go find them to confirm they were alive.

Since it is told by all 3 Trolls who witnessed the event and the accounts line up, presumably this is the most accurate version of the Final Trollstice and escape from Bergen Town.

Restoration and Final Cancellation

When Chef returned during the modern day events of Trolls she captured the main group of Pop Trolls, she captured most of The Snack Pack. As a result of luring King Gristle to making promises, the Bergens were going to celebrate Trollstice again, and Chef wanted to make it so that they could celebrate Trollstice everyday. But after Poppy and The Snack Pack showed the Bergens how to be truly happy, King Gristle Jr. abolished Trollstice for good and ending Trollstice before it could return.

Storyline Notes

One of the most notable questions asked by fans and commenters of the Trolls movie after the events of Trolls World Tour is why the other Tribes didn't save the Pop Trolls. However, it was because of the events surrounding the Strings - none of the other Tribes were coming to save the Pop Trolls as they all saw them as a old nemesis, especially the Rock Trolls and the Funk Trolls. Other tribes like the Country Trolls displayed a ignorance towards what Pop Trolls were, so had seemingly forgotten about the events in the past.

The events of Trollstice and the escape from Bergen Town are some of the biggest canon events related to the main protagionists Poppy and Branch, as well as their tribe the Pop Trolls. The event currently creates the most "what if..." event of any storyline thus far in DreamWorks Trolls when it comes to later additions to the storyline.

If the Pop Trolls hadn't escaped, Barb would have to venture into Bergen Town during Trolls World Tour to find the Pop Trolls and their string, the Bergens themselves would have also presented a obstacle for Barb. In addition, if Barb had won during the events of Trolls World Tour she would have still missed Viva and her Putt Putt Trolls, as well as Spruce, Floyd and John Dory. It is unknown how the events of the The Funky Family would have played out as well.

However, in regards to the BroZone brothers if Barb had won, Floyd's capture would have been unimpacted but he would have had no luck being saved as John Dory, Clay and Spruce would have fallen prey to Velvet's trick in the events of the movie. No matter what, without Branch, Poppy and Viva the brothers would not have succeeded.

John Dory mentioned returning but finding nobody home, though if they hadn't escaped John Dory would have found the rest of his tribe still there - but also Branch while he was still grey. This would have changed all events going forward for the Tribe as well.

Etymology

"Trollstice" is a Troll pun on "solstice".

Trivia

• Trolls Holiday shows that Trollstice is on the 17th, but not which month it falls on.
• DreamWorks had trademarks for "Trollstice" trademarks on August 5, 2016.
• Trolls Band Together reveals that The Last Trollstice is the second example of Pop Trolls embellishing a story. The first that was revealed is the account of the Strings.
  • As a note of the Strings, mentioning of the "Pop string" is neglected from all accounts of this tale and it is unknown where it is during the escape, it is not mentioned in Trolls Band Together either.