Netflix’s animated children’s series Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia features a powerful amulet that appears in different forms, each with unique abilities. The amulet is key to the adventures of the show’s titular hero, both empowering and protecting him. With the final, feature-length installment of the series, Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans, bringing the world of Arcadia to its possible demise, it’s time to fully understand these amulets.
Trollhunters is one part of the greater anthology series Tales of Arcadia, with spinoff subseries 3Below and Wizards being both affected by and integral to its story. In Trollhunters, James “Jim” Lake Jr. inadvertently comes to possess the Amulet of Daylight, thereby becoming the hero known as the Trollhunter. Though Jim is reluctant to take on the responsibility of defending both humanity and the troll world from evil, he grows to accept his role, forming a heroic team of friends, allied trolls, and eventually aliens and wizards. Together, they keep Arcadia safe and defend each of their worlds against powerful enemies.
Many characters in the history of Tales of Arcadia’s world have wielded variations of the Amulet of Daylight. Each previous or alternate-timeline Trollhunter possessed the amulet in turn, some temporarily adding unique powers while they retained the heroic role. When upgraded, the amulet indicates this by changing its color from the normal blue, such as to green for the Time Stone’s ability. Regardless of the version, the amulet is always activated by reciting an incantation inscribed on the outer rim of the amulet. Generally, the phrase follows a standard form; for example, “For the glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to command!”
For the majority of Trollhunters, as well as the expanded Tales of Arcadia series, Jim Lake Jr. is the primary user of the Amulet of Light. During his time as the Trollhunter, Jim possesses three distinct versions of the amulet, each having special importance to the overall story. Here’s a guide to each form of the amulet, and how they were used during Tales of Arcadia.
The Amulet of Daylight was the original source of magic for the legendary Trollhunter heroes. When activated by the hero, the amulet provides a magical suit of armor as well as the Sword of Daylight, both said to be made of pure sunlight. As the Trollhunter functions as an emissary between humans and trolls, the amulet is capable of translating English to Trollspeak (and vice versa) for the user. The amulet has additional powers for combat and protection: it can produce bursts of light capable of stunning or petrifying trolls, and can occasionally alert the user to nearby danger or foes. The amulet will always return to its owner, if possible, and chooses worthy successors to the Trollhunter mantel, should the holder die.
The original Amulet of Daylight was constructed by the legendary wizard Merlin to combat the world’s darkness. Fascinatingly, Merlin built the amulet from the left hand of Morgana, an evil sorceress and Merlin’s rival. At the beginning of Trollhunters, the amulet is given up by Kanjigar the Courageous, a troll Trollhunter, as a consequence of his death. Though evil trolls pursue the amulet, it is found by Jim Lake Jr., who utilizes the amulet in its original form until faced with defeating the monstrous troll Gunmar once and for all.
In order to defeat Gunmar, the Amulet of Light had to be enhanced with the three Triumbric stones, a solution reminiscent of an Infinity Stone in the Marvel movies. These three magical gemstones were wrought from Gunmar’s life essence, and, when combined, create the only weapon capable of killing him. The Birthstone allows the user to summon twin boomerang glaives, the Killstone provides a large shield, and the Eye of Gunmar creates a helmet that deflects Gunmar’s weapons. When united in the amulet, the Daylight armor and sword are replaced with much more powerful versions, the Eclipse Armor and Blade of Eclipse.
By the end of Trollhunters Part 1, Jim has accumulated each of the Triumbric stones, unlocking the Eclipse equipment. Over the course of Trollhunters Part 2 and Part 3, Jim uses the amulet’s armor to defend against Gunmar, proving uniquely suited to resist the evil troll’s corrupting mind control. In the season finale, their final confrontation ends with Gunmar’s death upon the Blade of Eclipse, his own essence used against him.
In Wizards, the Arcane Order, a group of evil demigods who wish to rebuild the world in their image steals the Amulet of Daylight from Jim. As the amulet contains the last remains of the sorceress Morgana, they destroy it with an incantation, resurrecting her to be a warrior in their crusade. The destruction of the Amulet of Light effectively ends the line of Trollhunters; new heroes are unlikely to be chosen without the amulet’s guidance, leaving Jim as the powerless, last Trollhunter.
Fortunately, a new version of the amulet was built, not by its original creator, Merlin, but by aliens from the Tales of Arcadia show 3Below, Krel Tarron and Stuart. Although this amulet no longer is endowed with its usual magic, it has new powers. Instead of the Daylight or Eclipse armor, this amulet summons the technologically advanced Magiktech armor. This armor has no particular special abilities, but the amulet also conjures King Arthur’s former sword, Excalibur, to the user. Unlike the previous two amulets, the rebuilt Amulet of Daylight doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the Trollhunter hero, and it is unclear whether the magic that picks Trollhunter successors resides in this amulet.
Sometime before the events in Trollhunter: Rise of the Titans, Jim received the new amulet from Krel and Stuart. However, the amulet proves unusable when Jim tries to activate it; unfortunately, Excalibur has yet to be linked to the amulet, and therefore it has no powers. While the Trollhunters, aliens, and wizards oppose the encroaching wrath of the Arcane Order, Jim realizes the unity of he and his friends is the key to becoming worthy of Excalibur. Just in time to combat the volcanic final member of the Arcane Order, the amulet activates, and Jim is able to ultimately save the day.
Long before the events shown in Trollhunters, 3Below, Wizards, and Rise of the Titans, some previous Trollhunters altered the Amulet of Daylight with personalized powers. When used by Maddrux the Many, the amulet was enhanced with the Aspectus Stone. This gemstone provided the wearer the ability to produce duplicates of themselves; Maddrux was famous for conjuring one thousand copies of herself. Using the Aspectus Stone amulet took a toll on Maddrux; for each copy she made, it would inflict psychological damage, as she would develop alternate personalities, an issue even MCU superheroes deal with.
Two other Trollhunters’ versions of the Amulet of Daylight have been mentioned in the series. Deya the Deliverer combined the amulet with an omniscienstone, a gemstone that allows the user to see into the past and future, specifically about events that happen to Trollhunters. Araknak the Agile possessed an orange gemstone while he had the amulet, which allowed him to levitate. It is possible that more variations of the Amulet of Daylight might have existed in the Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia world, but as of Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans, they remain a mystery.
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