Kanjigar - Tumblr Posts
I was listening to Godhunter by the Aviators, and it got me thinking about Jim again. But specifically about what is provably the most creative kill of the series - his final stand against Bular. It was stunning visually and really good choreography wise, but it got me thinking about another fight involving Bular. One of the very first things we see in the entire franchise.
The fight between him and Kanjigar. And why I think Kanjigar wouldn't even think of doing what Jim did in that final battle. It's fascinating how differently both trollhunters use Daylight, and I have my thoughts on it to share.
Let's start with Kanjigar. As we see in Wizards, he was a warrior long before getting chosen by the amulet, and it's safe to say he has been trained in using a sword. And so even when he fights with Daylight he treats it pretty much the same as a regular blade.
Like over here. He burns himself to reach for the sword, when we know that Daylight can be teleported straight into your palm. But it's not something Kanjigar would have had to use often because, as it's established, he is an excellent warrior. He probably is disarmed very rarely, if at all.
Not our Jim, though. He is a scrawny sixteen year old fighting giant creatures of living stone. The sword is flung from his hands constantly. And so he had to learn how to get it back in an instant or die. He is doing everything in his power to keep up with beings much stronger, bigger, and faster than he is, and so he is using this trick a lot.
So for him, the sword is much less of a physical thing, is what Im trying to say. And that allows him to come up with an idea for something like this:
Like he says in this scene, he is not a troll, and he doesn't fight like one. What a genius way to write a protagonist going against much more traditionally powerful opponents.
TOA AU where…
When the Trollhunter receives their amulet, they hear the name of the next Trollhunter. It's to ensure they're properly trained before receiving the mantle.
And so when Kanjigar receives the amulet and activates its power for the first time, he hears “Jim Lake Junior”.
That… doesn't sound like a trollish name. That doesn't sound like a trollish name at all!
He consults Vendel and Blinkous and they come to a conclusion that it's a human name. Oh woe.
After days spent on trying to rip their horns off from stress because what if they're gonna be a changeling?? Huh?? Vendel whacks him on the head and tells him to stop worrying. Whatever comes, comes.
It's not until nearly four centuries later when he hears the name again. He was hiding from sunlight in a mini-forest near human dwellings when he heard a woman screaming “James Lake, you are not going to leave me here with our son alone!”
He watches, with batted breath as the male human does indeed leave. Feeling a pull of fate he sneaks into the house during night fall, and hears the woman talking to a sleeping child. “Oh Jim… how are we going to get through this…?”
He found him. He found Jim Lake Jr, the future Trollhunter.
He sneaks out, the same way he sneaked in, and goes to consult Vendel.
“He is but a whelp! A human whelp at that!”
“Well, we're gonna have to work with that. Somehow.”
They decide to wait a few more years until the kid looks like he could pick up a training sword and not fall over, and then they reveal themselves to his mother and him.
Barbara Lake is a demon in human skin, Kanjigar swears. The woman is protective as all hell towards her son, and she proved that by breaking a broom over his head. Kanjigar briefly entertains a thought of her being a Trollhunter but drops it quickly. Amulet chose Jim.
And oh Great Gronka Morka is Jim different. He's a soft, empathetic boy who doesn't shy away from them. Sure, he was scared at first, but curiosity and wonder won. And when he learnt about being tasked with protecting a race he hadn't known existed a few hours earlier? He took it in stride, saying he'll do this.
———
Essentially Jim gets three troll dads (one dies, sorry) and learns how to be Trollhunter much earlier on.
So RotT was fun, but I'm not happy with it at all & I'm totally rewriting the ending if they're not gonna do it for us.