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Boy this is probably my longest proposal (besides Optimus Primal) but I truly believe this character can qualify. I highly recommend you read the whole proposal especially the admirable standard section to get a full view of his character despite the length. This is my second and probably last Tales of Arcadia proposal (I’m still debating if I should propose Deya the Deliverer). Without further ado, let’s discuss AAARRRGGHH.
What's The Work[]
Tales of Arcadia is a Dreamworks/Netflix science fantasy franchise consisting of three shows, Trollhunters, 3Below, and Wizards along with a grand film finale known as Trollhunters: Rise of Titans. The franchise takes place in the small town of Arcadia which, unbeknownst to most, has trolls, aliens, and wizards living amongst them. Teenage heroes try to stop numerous threats from destroying the world or even universe in each installment.
Who is He/What Has He Done?[]
Aarghaumont better know as AAARRRGGHH is one of the main characters in the Tales of Arcadia franchise. Specifically he serves as one of the two tetartagonists of Trollhunters (alongside Blinky), and a major character for the rest of the franchise. He was a Krubera troll kidnapped (it turns out he was actually selected by the Krubera queen Usurna to become Gunmar’s champion as she worked for Gunmar all along) when he was just a child and raised to become a fearsome Gumm Gumm general by Gunmar. In Wizards, as preparation for the coming war with King Arthur, Gunmar sent AAARRRGGHH to threaten the Dwoza trolls into joining Gunmar or die, however thanks to a combined effort of a mysterious troll/human hybrid (actually protagonist Jim Lake from the future) and Callista, AAARRRGGHH is defeated and imprisoned under the care of Blinky. He has a heartfelt conversation with Blinky talking about their failures and how AAARRRGGHH will be killed if he goes back for his failure. They bond and Blinky frees AAARRRGGHH when all the trolls lose hope once Merlin’s amulet choose Callista the Calamity. As all hope is lost during the battle of Killahead bridge after Arthur’s death, suddenly the trolls arrive with Callista (her real name is Deya) becoming the first trollhunter and AAARRRGGHH returns to save Blinky from goblins. Following the battle and Gunmar’s exile, the trolls depart for a place that would become Trollmarket and AAARRRGGHH takes a pacifist oath after being inspired by future Jim and Blinky.
Centuries later, AAARRRGGHH and Blinky arrive at Jim’s house, telling him he is the new trollhunter as the amulet chose him after Kanjigar’s death. After a first failed attempt, Blinky and AAARRRGGHH try again to convince Jim to accept the mantle and meet his best friend Toby in the process who convinces them to let Jim sleep on it. They encounter Jim and Toby fleeing Bular and quickly use a horngazel to get to Trollmarket and introduce the two humans to the trolls led by Vendel who are unhappy that the amulet chose a human. Jim later accepts the mantle and defeats Kanjigar’s son Draal. With that the four go on a series of missions and adventures from stopping goblins, exposing changelings, and discovering Bular’s plans to open Killahead Bridge. He and Blinky eventually meet Claire, Jim’s love interest whose brother was kidnapped by Gunmar and who they saved from goblins. AAARRRGGHH particularly bonds with Toby by playing non violent video games and by rescuing Toby numerous times from villains. This culminates in the midseason finale of season 1 which seemingly ends with Jim killing Bular but Bular resurfaces to try and kill Toby but AAARRRGGHH drops his pacifist oath and kills him to save Toby’s life, telling him his life is more important than his oath. Eventually AAARRRGGHH gets fatally poisoned by the new arc villain Angor Rot and hides this from everyone but Vendel who tells him he can’t cure him. His secret eventually gets exposed when Usurna comes to visit but AAARRRGGHH chooses to stay in Arcadia despite having a chance to stay alive by going back to the Krubera. Tragically AAARRRGGHH sacrifices himself in the season 1 finale by taking a poisoned knife meant for Toby and turning to stone.
Season 2 has Blinky keeping the petrified AAARRRGGHH in his library. Eventually it is discovered through Kanjigar’s riddles that AAARRRGGHH can be revived. He eventually is by a deal struck with the villainous Janus Order. He becomes a vessel for Kanjigar to aid the heroes in escaping Trollmarket and reopening Killahead Bridge so Team Trollhunters can rescue Jim, who went into the Darklands to rescue Enrique and defeat Gunmar by himself. AAARRRGGHH and Blinky get captured by Blinky’s brother Dictatious who was long thought dead but actually willingly joined Gunmar as he believed Gunmar was the savior of trollkind. Dictatious tries to kill them but they escape. AAARRRGGHH then rescues Jim from Gunmar and temporarily defeats Gunmar which allows them to escape the Darklands. Unfortunately Gunmar did escape and collaborating with Usurna captures Trollmarket with Usurna personally killing Vendel. AAARRRGGHH temporarily seals the entrance to the Gyre so the remaining trolls and heroes can escape by Claire teleporting them out.
Season 3 has AAARRRGGHH infiltrate Trollmarket to spy on Gunmar. He eventually blows his cover to rescue Dictatious from being executed by Gunmar and discovers Gunmar’s plan to bring forth the Eternal Night with the help of the legendary witch Morgana but gets captured and has Dictatious deliver the news to Team Trollhunters. They go out to rescue AAARRRGGHH and evade a trap a revived Angor Rot made to kill them and find Merlin’s tomb. Unfortunately Gunmar gets the Staff of Avalon needed to free Morgana and Draal sacrifices himself to save Jim although Merlin is awoken. AAARRRGGHH is perhaps the only hero happy that Jim is now half troll and trains with him. In the finale, AAARRRGGHH and Merlin face off against Morgana in Trollmarket with AAARRRGGHH rescuing Merlin with the help of the past Trollhunters. He goes back to the surface to tell the rest of team trollhunters that Merlin’s plan failed and destroys the Shadow Staff with Toby to trap Morgana in the shadow realm forever. He and Toby remain in Arcadia as its protectors while Jim, Claire, and Blinky depart to find a new trollmarket.
AAARRRGGHH appears in the second/final season of 3below. He is introduced to Aja by Toby when Aja bumps into them and later saves her from the bounty hunter Tronos Madu. He is later in summer school with Toby and others mostly eating books when it is revealed that Kubritz is there and trying to capture Aja and Krel, although Toby and AAARRRGGHH escape her wrath but AAARRRGGHH comes back with Zadra and Varvatos Vex to defend the tarron children. He later appears to help them with Toby by going into Trollmarket to get to Gaylen’s Core and open the vault in the Deep with Aja saying the Arkidion part of the seal and AAARRRGGHH saying the trollish part.
AAARRRGGHH also appears in Wizards with the past version being mentioned previously. In the present, he, Toby, and Steve meet Archie and Douxie who lead them to Merlin who tells them of Jim’s sickness, the mysterious Green Knight, and the Arcane Order. He reunites with Blinky and Claire but unfortunately during a battle with the Arcane Order, Douxie, Archie, Claire, Jim, and Steve get sent back in time to the 12th century. Once they come back, he fights off a brainwashed Jim and tries to convince him to snap out of it.
AAARRRGGHH also appears in the movie, Trollhunters: Rise of Titans where he helps Douxie and Nomura stop a brainwashed Nari. He later helps Jim lift the Excalibur with the help of the other 7 main heroes of the franchise with Jim stopping Bellroc for good.
Admirable Standard[]
Needless to say, Tales of Arcadia has a very high admirable standard. AAARRRGGHH himself is probably the physically strongest hero in the franchise with Varvatos Vex and Charlemagne possibly being physically stronger. However, for the first half of season 1 of Trollhunters, AAARRRGGHH is a pacifist who refuses to use his strength to harm others and cause mass destruction and besides his strength and screen time, he doesn’t have much resources at his disposal since he is one of the least intelligent heroes and doesn’t have magical weapons like the trollhunter amulet, shadow staff, or warhammer and doesn’t have the strategic expertise as say Blinky. Anyway with all that, I still believe he crosses the admirable standard with his heroic actions which include:
Despite growing up in two corrupt systems, the Krubera trolls led by Queen Usurna (who is PE) and the Gumm-Gumms led by Gunmar (who is NPE) and his limited intelligence, AAARRRGGHH still defects and adopts a pacifist oath to atone for his villainy
Saves Blinky from goblins during the Battle of Killahead Bridge
Along with Blinky, they are the only trolls who aren’t disgusted that the new trollhunter is a human
Rescues Toby and Jim from goblins
Makes NotEnrique open Strickler’s hidden room as only changelings can use Strickler’s key
Detects smoke from Strickler’s Antramonstrum which allows him,Toby, and Blinky to get to safety and trap it, making him responsible for saving Blinky and Toby’s lives
Saves Toby from being struck in the head by Jim’s amulet that was speeding towards him
Rescues Blinky and Jim from Bular with the help of Draal and Toby
Defeats Nomura without ever laying a hand of her, using her arrogance and sloppiness against her
Holds the group together in the sewer to prevent them from flowing away (unfortunately Jim does slip from his grasp)
Drops his pacifist oath to kill Bular in order to save Toby’s life
Throws Jim to a fire hydrant so Jim can put out a fire cat’s flames
Blocks Angor Rot’s eye with a book so he can’t spy on Team Trollhunters
Powers the Gyre that allows Team Trollhunters to go to different places to find the triumbric stones
Battles Angor Rot with Jim to prevent Angor Rot from stealing the second triumbric stone
Trains Toby in the Hero’s Forge
Tries to stop Claire and Toby from fighting
He apologizes to a troll for getting angry at him for asking about his creeper sun poison wound
Saves Jim from being crushed by Krubera trolls
Decides to stay with Team trollhunters to help defeat Gunmar despite the fact the he had a choice to go with the Krubera trolls to save his life, placing the greater good over his well being
Sacrifices his life in the season 1 finale by taking a creeper sun poison knife meant for Toby, turning to stone and dying
Once revived, he willingly serves as a vessel for Kanjigar to possess in order to reopen Killahead Bridge to rescue Jim
Fights off and defeats Gunmar to allow the other heroes to escape from him
Discovers that Blood Globins are in Arcadia and informs the rest of Team Trollhunters
Realizes Chompsky is still alive by smelling his scent which prompts a rescue mission from Team Trollhunters
Stops gnomes from successfully stealing Senor Uhl’s truck
Seals the entrance to the Gyre to buy time so that the trolls can escape a captured Trollmarket and so Gunmar and the Gumm Gumms can’t break through
Infiltrates Trollmarket as a disguised Gumm-Gumm to spy on Gunmar and learns about the Eternal Night informing the rest of Team Trollhunters about it
Scares burglars with Blinky to save Toby’s life
Blows his cover to rescue Dictatious from being killed by Gunmar despite the fact that Dictatious tried to kill him and Blinky and discovers that Gunmar plans to revive Angor Rot
Recruits other trolls to fight against the Gumm Gumms with Blinky
Refuses to fight his Krubera troll brothers since the true enemy is Usurna and they are simply following orders and forgives them when they redeem themselves
Confronts Morgana and Angor Rot with Merlin and later rescues Merlin from Morgana with the help of Kanjigar and the past trollhunters
Holds the Shadow Staff in place for Toby to destroy, trapping Morgana in the Shadow Realm forever
Stays with Toby in Arcadia as the city’s protectors as Jim, Claire, and Blinky depart in the finale of Trollhunters
Saves Aja from Tronos Madu
Comes to rescue the Tarron children with Zadra and Varvatos Vex from Kubritz
Causes a cave in to slow down Morando and the Omen so that the heroes can reach Gaylen’s Core first
Realizes Gaylen’s Core is in the Deep and later opens the vault with Aja by reading the trollish part while Aja reads the English
Saves Blinky and an encased Jim from falling to their deaths
Defends the main heroes from a brainwashed Jim twice and tries to get Jim to snap out of it
Fights a brainwashed Nari with the help of Douxie and Nomura, and tries to slow her down
Allows Jim to pull out the Excalibur with the other 7 main heroes
Corrupting Factors[]
As mentioned AAARRRGGHH does kill Bular in the midseason finale of season 1, but he only did it to save Toby whom Bular was about to kill. Also in AAARRRGGHH’s defense, his punch wouldn’t have been lethal if Bular hadn’t already turned mostly to stone thanks to daylight. He also kills two goblins to save Blinky’s life in the past during the Battle of Killahead Bridge. Another user pointed out to me that AAARRRGGHH says he will kill Usurna after finding out she works for Gunmar and killed Vendel. However, AAARRRGGHH doesn’t actually go through with this threat even though he had multiple chances to when he infiltrated a captured Trollmarket. Even when Usurna pushes him into a swamp, he doesn't try to take Usurna with him, and when she ends up drowning, there is a brief shot of him looking at her with a solemn and remorseful facial expression before looking down as he couldn’t watch her drown, heavily implying he didn’t want her to die. Him saying he will kill her is more of an empty threat and righteous anger at her betrayal and cold blooded murder of Vendel. Other than that, AAARRRGGHH actually doesn’t kill anyone else in the series and seems to remain a technical pacifist after dropping his absolute pacifist oath.
Final Verdict[]
I believe he qualifies for defecting from villainy after growing up in two corrupt systems and for saving the lives of Toby, Blinky, and Jim numerous times. He also is the only troll to defeat an arc villain (Bular) as the other arc villains were defeated by protagonist Jim and Aja and deuteragonists Toby and Krel. Numerous times he puts his life on the line for others like Toby, Team Trollhunters, and even Dictatious who tried to kill him. He is the only hero who actually rescues a villain out of the goodness of their heart as Jim only rescued Strickler because his fate was tied with his mother’s and Nomura because she saved him, not to mention rescuing Dictatious gets him captured and nearly killed but he still did it anyway. He is also responsible for letting the rest of Team Trollhunters know about the Eternal Night as without him, it would have been too late to stop it. Overall he stands out as a selfless hero who places others over his own life.