The Christian thing didn't technically make sense... - Trolljegeren (2010) Discussion

[–] TomGabel 13 years ago

things like why they turn to stone, how the co-exist, how they blend in to their environment are all pretty well explained and kept as scientific as possible

I can see where you're coming from, and the same thing occurred to me while watching the movie, but the explanations are pretty pseudo-scientific at best.

How the trolls may be able to smell a Christian is more palatable, to me, than the troll being set off by Christian music. Religious belief in and of itself does not change your blood chemistry, of course, but perhaps some common behavior of Christians in Norway would make them stand out to trolls moreso than non-Christians.

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[–] i_am_switch 13 years ago

My thought was that it was entirely a stab in the dark. How would the Troll Hunter even know about the attraction to Christian blood? It's not like he would have taken a bunch of people hunting with him before.

When asked about Muslim blood he simply says that he doesn't know.

He splashes around some Christian blood and the troll goes for it... of course it also went for the goats too... so were they Christian goats?

I think that he just kind of made an assumption that the blood being Christian had something to do with it. The trolls in the cave also didn't notice them until the Christian guy started to panick. Had he remained calm, they may not have noticed him at all.

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[–] drakkar 13 years ago

Every Norwegian kid knows trolls can smell Christian blood, they learned it from the fairytales - eehrm, encounter reports!

Who composes computer music?

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[–] oddball_oddity-1 13 years ago

Every Norwegian kid knows trolls can smell Christian blood, they learned it from the fairytales - eehrm, encounter reports!

And Hans specifically said not to rely on fairy tales for information. Everything else in the film was an attempt to make their existence plausible, except for the Christian angle. Why they're allergic to light is a vitamin deficiency, they're maintained by electric fences, the reason they're acting out is rabies... the Christianity aspect being pure mysticism seems off compared to the feasible explanations.

i_am_switch has a pretty good point that it might not have made a real difference. If the Christianity thing hadn't come up, the cameraman wouldn't have been as likely to perspire to that point, he would have kept his cool like the rest. As for the first time they got chased, they probably half assed it on the troll scent anyway (not like they believed yet). Still, it begs the question as to why Hans would be superstitious about it in the first place.

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[–] drakkar 13 years ago

<<Everything else in the film was an attempt to make their existence plausible,>>

Make it "Everything else in the film was an attempt to make fun of making their existence plausible", then we agree.

Who composes computer music?

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[–] DisturbedPixie 12 years ago

so we are supposed to laugh when they constantly use science to explain the trolls? And we are supposed to take the christian blood smelling seriously? Shouldn't it be the other way around?

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[–] goobikza 11 years ago

Come on man, the Troll Hunter had 3 billygoats on a bridge to attract a troll underneath. That is directly out of a fairy tale, the whole freakin' movie is based on fairy tales and mythology. That's the punch line, don't look too deeply into it. I think it's amazing.

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[–] drakkar 11 years ago

Talking about, wonder where Hans got the Christian blood he spilled on the bridge to get the troll going? ;)

For the heart life is simple, it beats as long as it can.

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[–] BrainGremlin 13 years ago

Ah... Christian goats. There's something sinister about that. And it kind of makes sense, to be honest; Christians do partly worship the Devil-in-disguise (God, not Jesus - or actually, both to some), and goats are commonly associated with him.

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I hear his theme music, he's around here somewhere...

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[–] zaknaf1 13 years ago

The key point to make is that there is nothing that directly suggests that Christian blood made any difference whatsoever. I agree with iamswitch that it's a shot in the dark, as the Troll Hunter always goes alone so he doesn't really know if it has an effect or not.

Let's look at the scenes:
1 - First encounter. The troll smells someone, presumably the cameraman. But that doesn't have to be because he is Christian, but maybe he didn't put enough trollstuff on him, or he sweated it out like he does later.

2 - Bridge. In this case, the cameraman doesn't appear to affect the troll. The troll does stop and look in the camera's direction, but dismiss it. As iamswitch pointed out, we don't really know if the Christian blood being spilled on the bridge makes any difference. It could have been smelling blood in general, like a lot of predators do. Or yeah, it was going for the goats.

3 - The cave. The cameraman is sweating like mad, removing the effect of the trolljunk. The trolls smell him, but that may be because he has sweated everything out and he smells like a human...not a Christian.

4 - Giant. This one is simple. The loud annoying music attracted the troll, not the actual lyrics.

Thus, it seems perfectly plausible to dismiss that a Christian near a troll have no different effect than a non-Christian near a troll. Trolls can smell humans and smell blood, whether Christian or not. Whether faith mattered or not, just believing that it matter was enough to make the cameraman very nervous and often panicking. This would make him sweat more and take away his trollsmell, and so the troll would smell his normal odour.

So you can perfectly plausibly dismiss any effect of Christian man's blood. The hunter knew of the legend, but not whether it was true or not, so why risk it? That's why he asked.

It's what I think anyway.

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[–] Jumping_Elephant 12 years ago

Hm. I like your theory. The whole 'Christian' angle did bug me out of a lack of explanation, but this seems to make the most sense so far.

*My lists: http://www.imdb.com/user/ur7367234/lists

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[–] CommanderKoenig 13 years ago

I was wondering about this, and it occurred to me that Christianity started to invade Norway round about the 12th Century (I think)and it would certainly be inimical to troll culture so, although I can't explain why they might be able to smell a Christian, I think it totally explains why they might hate Christians particularly. They're invaders who drove out the 'old ways and beliefs'.

Worth seeing, but not worth going to see.

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[–] drakkar 13 years ago

Maybe they remember the christening and connected it with something bad? Trolls gets very old, so several of those appearing in the film were born before Norway was christened.

Talking to the dead is easy. The hard part is getting the dead to talk back.

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[–] rothoehler 13 years ago

Norway was never "invaded" by christianity. No other European people would have been able to force Norway into anything, let alone changing their faith. They decided to become christians by themselves, in democratic votings.

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[–] joniteig 12 years ago

I think you are confusing Norway with Iceland.
Iceland voted on becoming christian after a Norwegian king threathened them with invasion unless they became christian.
Norway was christened "with blood and steel", as the saying goes. There were kings who were raised in England, and who became christened there. Such as Haakon the Good, also known as Haakon Athelstanfostered. These kings wanted to christen Norway when they started their reign. And one of them, Olav Haraldsson, also known later as Olav the Holy, or Saint Olav, fell in a battle at Stiklestad in 1030, while fighting a pagan army that was trying to prevent him from forcibly christening Norway. He lost that battle, and died. But afterwards they noticed that his hair and nails were still growing. This was considered a proof of the power of christianity, and this helped spread christianity more than he had managed to do while living. So this is considered to be the year of the christening of Norway. Of course it took a lot longer time to root out the rest of paganism.

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[–] JemyM 13 years ago

I do not believe that every theory and every line spoken in movies can be taken for granted. Even movie characters have their flaws, biases and wrong ideas.

If you lived up with a culture that believes Trolls go for Christian blood, it's not that difficult to imagine how the Troll Hunter is influenced, even if he try to skip the fairy tales. His primary field is Troll Hunting, not troll psychology or human anatomy.

It could be that the troll just go for blood, not Christian blood. He haven't just tried "regular". He must have gotten the blood from somewhere and it could be that source have a special "smell" to it, which he falsely attributed to the blood being "Christian" when it could be something else.

The Christian guy panics partially because he believe what Troll Hunter have said. "He said trolls go for Christians, I am a Christian, thus trolls go for me." He begins to sweat and panic, and the Troll Hunter who believes Trolls go for Christians also "panics" and decide that they have to go. Nothing supernatural is required there, just psychology.

Finally the music could be the same. Perhaps the Troll Hunter just tried his tape with Christian music and it worked.

The Troll Hunter aren't an academic, he do not use any scientific method. He have some experience with Troll Hunting and what works, but there's really little room for him to verify whether or not his theories are true. When you are dealing with a dangerous work you aren't in the room for experimenting either. People can become very ritualistic and superstitious when they live under constant danger.

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[–] oddball_oddity-1 13 years ago

Yeah, I'm swinging more towards that interpretation. He assumed there was a correlation that wasn't there. It makes sense, and it does call back to Christianity destroying that aspect of culture and how certain myths can persist despite the sciences known. I'm sure there's atheists who wear lucky jerseys when their team plays despite the lack of logic.

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[–] JemyM 13 years ago

Being Swede where about 55-85% of the population are atheists I can reveal that there are no end of irrational ideas even without Christianity... :)

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[–] DisturbedPixie 12 years ago

but if you believe Christians have specific smell, and no other people do, then wouldn't you believe in Christ's power or god being with Christians, and that in turn would make you christian, wouldn't it?
Because you recognize that even a monster/demon/ ancient creature like Trolls know a christian when they smell it? That must mean something other than some purely factual, it must mean something spiritually to the trollhunter. I think the only kind of religious person who can believe that while not being christian would be a satanist because they believe the same as Christians except who's the one we should be worshiping, more or less.

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[–] JemyM 12 years ago

Here are other explanations;

A secular explanation;
The Trolls detect the scent of red wine used in the communion.

A trollish explanation;
There's no christ or god, but there are Troll shamans who can use their magic to reveal Christians for no other reason than Trolls hating Christians for past crimes against the Trolls.

A folklorian explanation;
There's no christ or god, but there are avenging forest spirits who specifically hates Christians and create the scent.
(plenty of such playful tricksters in folklore)

All of these have the power that there's nothing else that needs to be explained like the Christ's power theory needs. Like;
* Where do Christ's Power and Trolls come from? Same source or different?
* If different, what is the other source and why is it stronger than Christ?
* Why is Christ's Power smelly instead of useful against trolls?

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[–] databyter 13 years ago

Wow, your serious?

This is a movie about trolls and asks us to believe that a strong flashlight can blow them up or turn them to stone.

And the Christian thing has you puzzled?

It's a fun movie and I think the Christian thing was just code for relax and have fun with this.

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[–] grrrdevin 13 years ago

Just because you don't like to think, it doesn't mean others don't.

"I've been living on toxic waste for years, and I'm fine. Just ask my other heads!"

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[–] Fat_Lives_Matter 13 years ago

I think you're reading a little too much into it. The Christian blood stuff was just a humorous plot device based on real Norwegian folklore.

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[–] tbs1 13 years ago

Personally I suspect that it is atheist or pagan propaganda.
This is what they are saying: Jesus will not help you. To be Christian is bad and dangerous for you.

And since Norway is maybe the most religious country in Northern Europe I doubt 80 % of the Norwegian population are atheists.

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[–] Pietus 13 years ago

''And since Norway is maybe the most religious country in Northern Europe I doubt 80 % of the Norwegian population are atheists.''

That's just a complete lie. Norway is probably one of the least religious countries in the world. You can't assume all members of the Church are practising Christians, since the Church is known to keep people registered even after they've said they want out, just to get as much money from the state as possible. I'm probably a member, and I'm definitely not religious. Come to think about it, I can only come up with 3-4 people I know who believe in God.

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[–] tbs1 13 years ago

I said Northern Europe.
I did not compare with Poland, USA and some African country.

What your friends believes has nothing to do with what the majority believes. There are probably people in Norway that only have Buddhists as friends too.

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[–] mdv_666 13 years ago

And since Norway is maybe the most religious country in Northern Europe I doubt 80 % of the Norwegian population are atheists.

I do not know from where you get your facts, but Norway is fourth least religous country in the world, judged from how many people say that religion plays an important part in their lives.

My facts are from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway#Religion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Europe

I do know though that Wikipedia has to be read critically, but I am sure there are some source references in there somewhere.

Of course, your quote may not be entirely wrong, depending on how you define "Northern Europe". If you mean Sweden, Norway, Estonia and Denmark, you are certainly right, but that begs the question of why you have left out the other baltic countries, Finland and Iceland. Also, perhaps UK, Germany, Poland and a few others could be included in "Northern Europe", no?

Being Swedish myself, I just had to stand up for my neighbours.

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[–] lapd96 12 years ago

So you stand up for your neighbors by telling lies about them?

According to Norway's own website, Norway.org, 80% of the population belongs to the state church and gets baptized, christened, married, buried through the church. Denominations include Lutheran, Methodist, Roman Catholic, Evangelical free, and Pentecostal, with thousands belonging to each group....only 6.2% of the population does not belong to any religious group.

On top of all that, there is no separation of church and state in Norway.

This sounds like a pretty religious country to me.

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[–] BrainGremlin 12 years ago

I'm Swedish as well, but...

I've been baptized & christened, I hope to get married, and I will surely get buried through the church. They're beautiful traditions. But, like my parents, I am no believer, and I gather this is the case for most. Perhaps we're just afraid of driving religion out because we know it will offend many, even if not the majority. At least Sweden is a pussy country like that.

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Sad story. You got a smoke?

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[–] lapd96 12 years ago

I understand, but we are not talking about Sweden, we are talking about Norway....two different and separate countries.

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[–] omegasupreme5000 12 years ago

Po-tay-to, Po-tah-to.....

What, they're not the same country?...... lol

________________________________________________________________________________

It is the year 2005. The Decepticons have conquered the Autobots home planet of Cybertron.

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[–] BrainGremlin 12 years ago

So we're completely different people? I'm just saying it's very possible, because I know it's not far out.

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Sad story. You got a smoke?

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[–] lapd96 12 years ago

No more different than Americans and Canadians..we are neighbors and we look the same on the outside, however there are still some pretty significant differences.

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[–] BrainGremlin 12 years ago

Okay then. There are no non-believing church members outside of Sweden, let alone a lot of them.

"Norwegian religious expression is largely private; whereas most individuals state that religion is important to them, this is not generally expressed through active religious participation in organized communities. While roughly 80% of the population belong to the Church of Norway, only 10% attend church services or other Christianity-related meetings more than once a month."

I think that says SOMETHING.

Also, http://tinyurl.com/cmj27sh

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Sad story. You got a smoke?

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[–] lapd96 12 years ago

You just said it yourself in your post, ' whereas MOST individuals state that religion is important to them'......if any country in the world has MOST of its population saying religion is important to them, that is a pretty religious country

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[–] omegasupreme5000 12 years ago

Ding Ding Ding, we have a winner!

________________________________________________________________________________

It is the year 2005. The Decepticons have conquered the Autobots home planet of Cybertron.

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[–] BrainGremlin 12 years ago

Probably right, but the point was saying but not showing it.

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Sad story. You got a smoke?

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[–] sandifay62 13 years ago

As far as some creature being able to sniff the difference in beievers and non-believers, it wasn'r really proven wihter way. The Troll Hunter didn't really know for sure. He's not a scientist. He's going by assumptions and what seemed to work. Like others said, it could be a part of legend that he believed. The fat that the camera guy was a Christian didn't mean that the Trolls knew or sniffed him out because of his religion. He was freaking out and sweating more than the others. As for the blood on the bridge, it could've just been the scent of fresh blood that got the troll's attention.

On the other hand, just like a dog can smell cancer, who knows if a fictional troll has a strong enough scent to recognize belief? It doesn't have to make sense to us. It just has to make sense to the trolls. Lol

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[–] fantasyescapist 13 years ago

I immediately though 'fee, fi, foe, thumb, I smell the blood of an Englishman!'
Even though that concerns a giant like this, it deals with fairy tales so within the film's logic, I just accept it.

Subtitles misread: 'the Arch bitch of Canterbury'

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[–] imdb-20360 13 years ago

What bothered me more about the troll lust for Christian blood is that the trolls are supposed to live for 1000-1200 years (how do they know this?). Christianity has only been around for 2000 years. That's a relatively quick time for them to develop a taste for Christian blood.

Perhaps more annoying was the movie's statement that Muslims don't believe in Christ. They do, they just don't believe that Jesus was the son of God.

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[–] drakkar 13 years ago

Perhaps more annoying was the movie's statement that Muslims don't believe in Christ. They do, they just don't believe that Jesus was the son of God.

Now you're jumping on conclusions, the movie doesn't state anything like this. The trolls can smell blood from a Christian (Kristenmannsblod), and Hans simply states he has no experience with Muslim blood and trolls.
Since we don't know the mechanism behind this trait, we cannot eloborate much on why and how the trolls can do this.

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