Branch

Branch is the deuteragonist, of the 2016 animated comedy Trolls.

He was voiced by singer and actor Justin Timberlake, who also portrayed Artie, Boo-Boo Bear, and Will Salas.

Personality
Branch is the over-cautious paranoid survivalist in Troll Village, who lives in fear of invasion from the Bergens. The only Troll in the village who doesn't sing, dance or hug, Branch lives a disgruntled existence, constantly trying to prepare for the worst. Even though he has secret feelings for Poppy, he is constantly flummoxed by the over-the-top positivity of the other Trolls.

Over the course of the film, Branch is challenged to embrace his inner Troll, even if it includes a dreaded burst of singing and dancing.

Physical Appearance
He has straight, dark hair (almost black), and has greyish-blueish like skin. His eyes are a sky blue. His ears sort of stick out. He wears a dull colored, green leafy vest and brown shorts with green patches and stitches on it.

His true colors consists of having teal skin and royal blue hair, brighter clothes, and sparkly cheeks. His color turned grey after he lost his grandmother due to his singing. When all the trolls lost their hope and turned grey, Branch regained his original colors by singing their hopes up, including his own, too.

Backstory
Years before the events of the film, Branch was a happy Troll who lived with his grandmother in the Troll Tree. When singing one day he attracted the attention of a Bergen who tried to grab him to eat. However, his grandmother pushed him out of the way and was taken instead. A traumatized Branch blamed himself, refusing to sing after that, his colour turning grey in the process. Sometime after that, he escaped with the rest of the Trolls from Bergen Town.

Trolls
Twenty years later, a paranoid Branch is invited to a party held by Princess Poppy and her friends the snack pack. He refuses, telling them that their party will attract the Bergens. His warnings are ignored, and he remains in his survival bunker throughout the party. His fears are realised when a banished Chef finds the village and snatches a number of Trolls. Poppy asks for his help to save her friends, but he refuses and chooses to stay in his bunker. However, he soon chooses to travel to Bergen Town with her after the other Trolls came to his bunker to hide (which became unbearable for him after the third Hug Time).

Upon arriving in Bergen Town, Branch agrees to help the other Trolls with getting scullery maid Bridget a date with King Gristle Jr.. At this point, he reveals to Poppy why he doesn't sing, to which Poppy comforts him. During the date, Branch feeds romantic lines to Bridget, presumably talking about Poppy at the same time. When the Trolls discover that one Troll named Creek (who was presumed to have been eaten by King Gristle) is alive, they steal the jewel that he is held in. However, they discover that it is empty, and are captured by Chef, where they discover that Creek has betrayed them to save himself. Creek returns to the village to lure the other Trolls out of hiding, where they are soon captured by Chef and her Bergen Cooks.

With all the Trolls captured and ready to be cooked, Branch watches as Poppy loses hope and turns grey along with the other Trolls. For the first time in twenty years, Branch sings, revealing to Poppy through song that he loves her, which she reciprocates. The song helps restore not only the colour of Poppy and the other Trolls, but also Branch himself. The Trolls are then rescued by Bridget and reveal to King Gristle that Bridget was Lady Glitter Sparkles and say that Bergens don't have to eat Trolls to be happy. The King agrees to this and now the trolls and the Bergens are no longer enemies. Branch, Poppy and the other Trolls lead them with a song. Bergen Town turns colorful and the Troll Tree blumes once more.

At the end of the film, Branch shares a romantic hug with Poppy, who is crowned as the Trolls' new queen. There is evidence that shows they are officially now boyfriend and girlfriend.

Similar Heroes

 * Garrett (Quest for Camelot)
 * Wreck-It Ralph
 * Anger (Inside Out)
 * Nick Wilde (Zootopia)
 * The Grinch (How the Grinch Stole Christmas)
 * Raphael (TMNT)
 * Classified (Penguins of Madagascar)
 * Artie (Shrek The Third)
 * Prince Phillip (Sleeping Beauty)
 * Eddie Valiant (Who Framed Roger Rabbit)

Trivia
Considering that he became gray when he was a child, (around five or six) Branch has been without his true colors for most of his life.
 * Unlike most Trolls, at the beginning, Branch dislikes hugs and always tries to avoid Hug Time.
 * Branch doesn't wear a Hug Time bracelet at any time in the film. But we can see that in the flashback of him as a kid he used to wear one. He must have gotten rid of it after he became grey to avoid Hug Time for himself.
 * It is unknown what happened to Branch's parents, though it is theorized that they sacrificed themselves to save Branch and possibly Grandma Rosiepuff from being eaten.
 * Branch was a child when the Trolls escaped from Bergen town, which makes him in his early to mid twenties by the events of the film, meaning that he is a few years older than Poppy.
 * It can be implied at various moments in the film before he regained his true colors, that he longed to be happy again and was quite lonely. For example, when he looked sadly at invitations he was given by Poppy that he keeps behind a curtain in his bunker, and when he became sad when Poppy was leaving his bunker.
 * Branch may suffer from manic depression.
 * Branch's hair was shorter than the other Trolls' for the majority of the film. When his true colors are restored, his hair grows longer and brighter.
 * Branch has always had secret feelings towards Poppy. This can be concluded by the fact he has been keeping Poppy's cards for years. He saved her from spiders and multiple times calms her down and comforts her when she gets scared or fussy. Also, when Branch was feeding Bridget romantic poetry to say on her date with King Gristle Jr., he was actually talking about Poppy, with the bright smile and beautiful, deep eyes, and smiled at her for a second before looking away. He later confirms this when he confesses his love/feelings for her by singing True Colors. She admits through song that she fell in love with him and now loves him back and then they sing True Colors together.
 * The possible reason for Branch refusing all of Poppy's invitations and acts of kindness towards him is because he's worried that if he shows his true colors again, he'll end up getting someone else killed and he did not want to make a list. In a better sense, Branch was being a jerk the whole time because he was trying to protect her.
 * Branch doesn't like Creek. Probably because of Poppy's former crush on him. Since Branch liked her, he was possibly jealous of Poppy's crush on him. You can see evidence of this:
 * When He immediately chokes Creek using his hair, knowing he's going to sell them out, after Chef told them that Creek will be the one who will help her find the other Trolls; but after Creek confirmed that he WILL be selling them out, Branch is seen very glad, and proud of Poppy for strangling Creek again. He must of waited a LONG time to see her do that. And he finally did.
 * Branch hates playful humor so much he chased Cloud Guy, who was just playfully teasing him, with two broken sticks, trying to attack him.
 * Branch has a few similarities to Red from The Angry Birds movie.
 * Both were loners in the begining.
 * Both got frustrated easily, and had "anger issues".
 * Both were not believed by others (The other birds didn't listen to Red's suspicion about the Pigs and the other * * Trolls didn't listen to Branch's warning that Poppy's party would attract the Bergens).
 * Both were very loyal to their friends.
 * Branch is similar to Kristoff from Disney's Frozen:
 * Both are loners.
 * Both go on a journey with an optimistic princess. (Anna and Poppy).In both movies they fell in love with that princess, but in Trolls it's different because Branch fell in love with Poppy a long time ago, long before their journey. Kristoff fell in love with Anna over the COURSE of their journey.
 * Both were orphans since they were kids.
 * Both were, and still are, survivalists.
 * Both were sarcastic, self-absorbed, and lonely until the princess changed their hearts.
 * Branch is similar to Po from Kung Fu Panda.
 * Branch wears the same patched shorts Po does in all the films
 * When Branch snaps a big stick in half when he loses his patient with Cloud Guy, it proves that he is quite physically strong. This might be because since Branch is a survivalist, one of the things that comes with preparing for the worst is retaining some decent muscle mass. Po is a giant panda, which are already known for immense strength.
 * They both have a strong sense of loyalty. Po is already loyal to Shifu and the Five even though they treated him like dirt before becoming a warrior. In this case, it's the reverse. Poppy continued to respect Branch even though he doesn't respect anyone given his hatred of just about everything that's a noun.
 * Both lost their parents when they were very young (Branch's Grandmother was taken away by a Bergen and Po lost his mother and apparently his father when Lord Shen ransacked the village in the mountains where he was born).
 * The course of their adventure is similar to the plot of the first Kung Fu Panda film.
 * The way Branch becomes an unlikely hero by being dragged on this epic adventure is similar to the way Po is dragged into the world of Kung Fu so he could defeat a renegade warrior. In this case, Branch is dragged along with the master on a rescue mission to save their friends from being eaten by huge, "bloodthirsty" monsters.
 * When Poppy finally helps Branch unlock his happiness and become a real troll again, it's similar to when Po banishes Tai Lung to the Spirit Realm and brings Peace back to Shifu's heart.