Netflix’s ‘Troll’ is a Norwegian monster film that focuses on the titular creature which awakens in the mountains after an explosion. As it makes its way to Norway’s capital Oslo, the Prime Minister calls in a skilled paleobiologist to deal with this catastrophe.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
The film opens by showcasing the picturesque Troll Peaks in Romsdalen valley, where a young Nora Tidemann climbs a mountain with her father, Tobias.
After reaching the summit, Tobias talks to Nora about a Troll fairy tale in which 13 drunk trolls lost track of time and got turned into stone as the sun rose. He then urges her to look at the peaks in front of her with concentration, and she notices multiple face-like structures in the rocks.
The plot skips forward 20 years, and Nora is now a paleobiologist, working on a dig. Meanwhile, at Hjerkinn in the Dovre mountains, construction workers use controlled explosives to clear out a hole for a railway tunnel under a peak.
The explosions awaken a huge creature that bursts out of the mountain, killing the workers and a group of protestors. Elsewhere, Prime Minister Berit Moberg and her advisor Andreas are briefed on the situation by the Minister of Defence, Frederick Markussen.
They make their way to a confidential base for a meeting and go over footage captured by a reconnaissance aircraft. It showcases a large crater in the ground and huge imprints nearby that suspiciously look like footprints.
Moberg asks Andreas to recruit an expert, and he calls for Nora. She is picked up from her digging site by a military chopper and flown to Oslo for a meeting with the higher-ups.
They discuss various possibilities, including tectonic activity and methane gas pockets, until Nora points out that the imprints do look like footsteps. She is scoffed at by Markussen and the rest until Sigrid, one of the tech experts, discovers footage from the incident recorded by a protestor.
In it, they get a glimpse of a large humanoid creature, almost 150 feet tall, bursting out of the mountain. Elsewhere, in Lesja, this creature flattens a house and runs into a valley.
Nora and Andreas fly out and meet Captain Kristoffer “Kris” Holm at Lesja. He explains that the creature entered the valley, and its footprints stopped two miles south of the destroyed house.
They talk to the residents and don’t get much information. The trio then takes a chopper to follow the footprints. Unable to explain how the creature vanished into thin air, Nora decides to talk to her father.
It is revealed that as Nora grew up, she grew distant from her father, who got so obsessed with his research on Trolls that they locked him up for being mentally unstable. However, he was eventually released and now lives as a recluse.
They reach Tobias’ place and show him the footage. He is convinced that it is a Troll, woken up after thousands of years due to the explosion. Nora gets annoyed at the mention of fairy tales again, but Tobias insists on accompanying them.
They fly back to the same spot where the footprints vanished and land near it. As Tobias examines the ground, the Troll awakens and is revealed to be the mass of rocks they are standing next to.
The rocky creature stands on two feet as the humans get back into the chopper and send the footage back to Oslo. They reach a military base nearby, and Tobias criticises the authorities for tunnelling under the Dovre mountains.
Considering the danger, Moberg orders a military operation to take the Troll down. Nora prepares to head back to her dig, but Tobias convinces her to see the situation through.
They beg Kris to take them along, and he agrees. The military sets up an ambush for the monster but fails to take it down. As the forces fall back, they notice that the Troll smells the blood of a Christian soldier (Just like in the fairy tales) and devours him.
Tobias tries to talk to it, and the creature senses a friendly presence. However, a stranded tank opens fire at the Troll from behind, and as it turns to crush it, the monster’s tail takes Tobias out.
Before dying, the old man speaks to Nora about a palace, a king, and a home, which confuses her. She cries over her father’s dead body as the Troll looks at them but walks away without attacking.
Troll ending explained in detail:
What is Nora’s plan?
After Tobias’ death, Nora turns to fairy tales for clues and comes up with a plan. According to the stories, the Trolls threw boulders at Churches because they hated the sound of the bells.
Therefore, she plans to subdue it using bells attached to choppers. Markussen is in disbelief, but Moberg accepts the use of unconventional methods, given the situation.
They notice the creature moving southeast and realise that Hunderfossen Family Park in Lillehammer falls in its path. The Troll reaches the spot and triggers mass panic among the people.
The choppers with Church bells also fly in and inflict visible pain on the creature. However, the plan fails as it destroys all of them except one. Furthermore, news of the Troll’s existence spreads like wildfire.
They realise that the creature’s next target is Oslo itself. Moberg orders the complete evacuation of the city and gives a statement to the press regarding the same. Also, the Prime Minister relieves Nora of her duties.
Secretly, the authorities plan to carry out an airstrike when the Troll reaches the city. Hearing this, Andreas resigns from his post and goes to find Nora.
What is the secret behind the Trolls?
As Andreas the Nora drive out of the city, the latter goes through her father’s notes and comes across something about a Gatekeeper and a name, Sinding.
Andreas reveals that it could mean Rikard Sinding, the Palace Lord Chamberlain. Suddenly, everything clicks inside Nora’s head, and she instructs Andreas to turn around and drive towards Oslo’s Royal Palace.
They are stopped at the gate by security, who threaten to shoot them down, but Sinding shows up and invites them in. He explains that there was a time when it was believed to be good luck to build the Royal Palace over another king’s home.
He leads them along a secret passageway underground, and they reach a chamber which houses skeletons of deceased Trolls.
Sinding reveals that this was the Mountain King’s home and was nearly discovered by Tobias 12 years ago. His research was correct all along, which is why he was put in an asylum.
He further explains that during the Christianisation of Norway, Olav the Holy rid the land of everything that didn’t fit with the new faith, including Trolls.
The Mountain King’s family was massacred, but one child was spared and was used to lure him into the Dovre mountains. There, he was locked inside a cavern and left to die, until the explosion freed him.
Does Nora defeat the monster?
Nora finally puts everything together and realises that the king is making his way back to his palace. She uses UV light on the Troll bones, and they start disintegrating.
She realises that even though they saw the Troll during day time, the sun wasn’t out, therefore, it didn’t die. She immediately calls Kris, and they come up with a plan to take it down.
Meanwhile, Andreas calls Sigrid and tells her to hack into the system to prevent the airstrike. Nora and Andreas tie a Troll skull atop a vehicle and attract the Mountain King’s attention.
Elsewhere, Kris gathers a few of his buddies from the Home Guard on the outskirts of Oslo, and they construct a huge circle of UV light panels, pointing upwards.
The Troll notices the skull and chases the car as the cables break off. The skull falls off, and the creature picks it up, making a mournful sound. Nora realises that all it wants is to be with its own kind, but there are none left.
Even more enraged, the Troll chases after them as they lead it straight to the target circle. Meanwhile, Sigrid is caught by Markussen, who fixes the problem with the missile system and orders the fighter jet to engage the monster.
However, the pilot notices the presence of humans near it, and the mission is aborted. Kris switches on the UV lights, and the Troll starts disintegrating. As it screams in pain, Nora feels distraught and concludes that this is not the right way to end it.
She switches the lights off and urges the creature to leave. However, before it can react, the sun rises, and it crumbles to its death. Everyone celebrates the victory, but Nora is conflicted.
As the authorities make their way to the site, Nora and Andreas wonder if there are more Trolls in the mountains.
Also Read: A Hollywood Christmas ending explained: Does Jessica save her movie?