Gunmar

Overview

Gunmar the Black was one of the primary antagonists in the Tales of Arcadia franchise, serving as the central antagonist of Trollhunters, a major antagonist of Wizards, and a background (later posthumous) antagonist of 3Below.

He was the leader/warlord of the Gumm-Gumms (until he was reduced as the second-in-command by Morgana), the archenemy of Jim Lake Jr. and other Trollhunters before him, and the father of Bular.

History

Backstory

Centuries ago, when humans and trolls started fighting each other for control over the Earth, it created the War for the Surface Lands, and there were many deaths. This led the first Heartstone to rot from within, and Gunmar was born from the corruption and darkness.

Later, Gunmar killed the Shattered King of the Quagawumps, his first victim. He also fought against Orlagk for the right to be the supreme warlord of the Gumm-Gumms, the battle lasting for weeks. Orlagk slashed off Gunmar's right eye, but he finally killed Orlagk and took full control of his army.

After the troll and human worlds are separated, Gunmar led his army to conquer the world and destroy the human race. In the Dark Ages, Gunmar grew resentful of King Arthur for taking much of his territory and ransacking countless troll villages, despite his initial promise to never invade the Wild Wood. When the trolls imprisoned in Camelot escaped the castle, they sought shelter in the woods, until the Knights of the Round Table crossed the Killahead Bridge, the border between the kingdom and the woods, and kidnapped Gunmar's only son, Bular. While sparring with his general, AAARRRGGHH!!!, Gunmar receives word of these events, which enrages him and demands his general to tell the good trolls of Dwoza to join the Gumm-Gumms or kill them all in cold blood. Meanwhile, Gunmar is shocked when someone else has breached Camelot's defenses, whom he discovers was the King Arthur's own half-sister/successor and Merlin's former apprentice, Morgana le Fay, whose dark magics has been empowered by the Arcane Order and now fights for magic's domination. Morgana promises to Gunmar that the Gumm-Gumms will have victory and shall bring forth the Eternal Night, which will permanently block out the sun, ensuring the trolls would live freely on the surface without fear of the sun turning them to stone. Morgana curses Gunmar's Decimaar Blade, which will allow him to turn any creature into a Gumm-Gumm to do his every whim and build his army.

The Dwoza trolls captured General AAARRRGGHH!!! and, due to his ruthless ways and would kill them all without mercy, the good trolls ultimately choose to side with the humans and end Gunmar's reign of tyranny. Also, AAARRRGGHH!!! sees the error of his ways and betrays the Gumm-Gumms to begin a new path of non-violence.

This unleashed a battle between the Gumm-Gumms and the rest of the trolls, known as the Battle of Killahead Bridge. It ended when Deya the Deliverer, the first Trollhunter, defeated Gunmar, sealing him and his entire army into the Darklands (minus Bular, who was thrown away from the battlefield by the goddess/monster Nimue). Meanwhile, Merlin manages to seal Morgana away, preventing her from unleashing the Eternal Night. Dictatious, Blinky's brother, was thought to be long-dead, but in reality, he got sealed into the Darklands as well, where he became Gunmar's advisor by choice.

Following the battle, the pieces of the Killahead Bridge were spread across the world so that Gunmar could not return, and the trolls and humans all agreed to live separately in peace. Trolls lived in hiding, and kept their very existence a secret from future generations of mankind to come. However, Bular conspired with the Janus Order to free his father so he could come back to the world.

Trollhunters (Part One)

Rebuilding Killahead

Centuries later, Bular, Strickler, Otto Scaarbach, Nomura, and the Janus Order completed the Killahead Bridge.

Upon the Bridge's completion, Gunmar was able to speak to his son and his subordinates via projection. Bular then informed Gunmar that the current Trollhunter was a human named Jim Lake Jr. and that Strickler had forbidden him from taking the Amulet of Daylight, the only way to open the Bridge, from him. Strickler, in turn, argued that killing a human child would cause too much scrutiny, but their bickering only annoyed Gunmar. The Gumm-Gumm warlord acknowledged that Strickler was right to spare the Trollhunter so as to keep their plan secret before declaring that Bular shall be in charge. He then sent everyone away so he could speak with Bular privately, suspecting his son had misgivings about Strickler. Bular told Gunmar that in his human guise, Strickler was Jim's teacher and most likely felt affection for him. So Gunmar instructed Bular to subtly reveal Strickler's identity to Jim so the two would be forced into a confrontation in which Strickler would kill the Trollhunter and take the amulet.

Strickler did indeed steal the amulet in "Recipe for Disaster" and swapped it for a fake to fool the Trollhunter. However, as everyone discovered, only the Trollhunter can use the amulet to open the Killahead Bridge. Despite being engaged in battle by Jim and his friends, Strickler is able to trick Jim into opening the Bridge (by grabbing Jim's hand and using it to take the amulet out and put it into the bridge), allowing Gunmar to call out to Bular. The bridge was eventually destroyed by Draal, who removed the amulet before Gunmar could be freed from the Darklands.

Upon learning of the death of his son, Gunmar sent Jim a message through Gnome Chompsky, who had been sent into the Darklands through a Fetch some time prior, threatening to murder everyone Jim had ever loved for killing Bular. In his threat message, translated by Blinky from Gnome Chompsky, Gunmar promised an 'ocean of blood' for Jim and his loved ones, that he would 'make a throne from their bones'.

Jim then decides to go to the Darklands all alone, so nobody else gets hurts.

Trollhunters (Part Two)

Meeting the Human Trollhunter

Gunmar is alerted of Jim's presence in the Darklands by Dictatious Galadrigal, who had decided to join his army eons ago. Gunmar is skeptical of Dictatious' desire for joining him, but Dictatious manages to convince him to let him into the army upon hearing that he can make the Darklands his kingdom while the other trolls mingle with those pathetic humans. He orders for Jim's capture for he's the only one who can open the Killahead Bridge. Dictatious sends goblins and blood goblins in hot pursuit of Jim, who searches the Darklands for Enrique Nuñez. Jim finds Enrique in the Nursery, escapes the pursuing goblins and goes back to the Killahead Bridge. He activates the portal but seeing this, the Troll Tribunal decide to destroy the bridge, thinking it's Gunmar escaping the Darklands. When the portal is closing, Jim manages to hand Enrique over to Claire, but by then, the portal closes. Immediately afterward, Jim is taken prisoner by Dictatious and two Gumm-Gumms.

Following Jim's capture and subsequent imprisonment, Gunmar requests an audience with the captive Trollhunter. Taken from the dungeon by the guards, Jim is brought before Gunmar in his throne room. There, Jim breaks out of his chains with his sword, attracts the attention of Gunmar's guards and takes them down easily. Disappointed at his guards being overcome by a child, Gunmar drains the soul of one guard, forcing him to fall into a pit, supposedly to his death. Showing interest in Jim, Gunmar attacks, seeking revenge for Bular's death at first, until Dictatious suggests to spare Jim upon seeing a candy sent by Toby and dropped by Jim in the scuffle.

Escaping the Darklands

As Jim is dragged back to the dungeon, Gunmar questions Dictatious about his request. Gunmar is shown the dropped candy and realizes the Killahead Bridge still exists; therefore he could use Jim and the bridge to escape the Darklands. When Jim's friends enter the Darklands to save Jim and bring Nomura with them, Gunmar uses the distraction to go through the open Killahead bridge with the now blind Dictatious, two guards, and some blood goblins, which had been left unguarded when Draal went through to save Jim and the others.

Gunmar is taken to the Janus Order to begin his plans to take over the surface world, as well as gain the Heartstone to restore his lost strength. Wanting to win Gunmar's favor, Dictatious lies to him that the Pale Lady has made him her seer. Finding no more use for the Order, Gunmar decides to kill the members and get the Heartstone himself.

Taking Trollmarket

Gunmar drains the soul of Draal and takes over HeartstoneTrollmarket with Queen Ursuna, who was the real traitor who actually helped set Gunmar free and was trying to rid the Trollhunters all along. He turns a member of the Troll Tribunal into a Gumm-Gumm and later begins to round up every resident in Trollmarket so he can turn them, including the younglings.

However, Gunmar later discovers that Jim has escaped from The Deep (since he's not a troll) and has been helping the surviving trolls escape through the Gyre Station. He sends Usurna, Dictatious, and the possessed Draal to capture them. However, Claire manages to use her Shadow Staff to teleport everyone to the surface.

Trollhunters (Part Three)

Key to the Night Eternal

While AAARRRGGHH!!! goes undercover to reconnaissance the enemy, Gunmar tells his followers that taking the surface world will be pointless if the sun keeps turning them to stone. He expresses his desire to bring forth the Eternal Night, which alarms AAARRRGGHH!!! and he warns his friends what Gunmar's ultimate goal was: to use the dark ritual to claim the surface world and devour mankind, just like he tried to do during the Battle of Killahead.

Morgana uses Claire to tell Gunmar how to bring forth the Night Eternal and he journeys to the Black Sea to claim the stone head of Angor Rot. She also informs him of Dictatious's fraudulence, much to his dismay. When Gunmar returns to Trollmarket, he plans on executing Dictatious for his deception and that he has exhausted his usefulness. However, AAARRRGGHH!!! intervenes and helps Dictatious escape so he can warn the Trollhunters what Gunmar is up to next. Gunmar captures AAARRRGGHH!!! and has big plans for him.

Race for the Staff

He then searches for Aysa-Thoon, along with the possessed Draal and the captured AAARRRGGHH!!! to resurrect Angor Rot. He places AAARRRGGHH!!! in a trap for the Trollhunters so they wouldn't follow him.

He uses Angor to find Merlin's Tomb and steal the Staff of Avalon, where he loses control over Draal and confronts the Trollhunters for the possession of the staff. Gunmar successfully manages to take the staff for himself and escapes the tomb, leaving Angor behind after he served his purposes in his view.

Freeing Morgana

Gunmar returns to Trollmarket once again, where he discovers that the Pale Lady herself has been underneath the Trollmarket's Heartstone all along. He tries to use the Staff of Avalon to free her, yet he failed to realize that Merlin has put in a safeguard: only human hands who can speak Troll can wield the staff. Gunmar demands Usurna to find a changeling (albeit the remaining changelings in Arcadia, who are Stricklander and Nomura, are on the side of the Trollhunters). After Usurna failed to kidnap Nomura, she later captured Strickler, along with Barbara Lake, Jim's mother. Threatening to kill Barbara if Strickler doesn't cooperate, he takes the staff and begins speaking the incantation. He activates the staff while he and Barbara make a break for it, but not before Gunmar breaks Morgana free from her crystal prison. With the Pale Lady free after centuries of being prisoned, she begins to bring forth the Eternal Night by killing several Gumm-Gumms so she can use their dust and the Staff of Avalon to begin the dark ritual.

Before the Eternal Night War begins, he begins a speech for his army while Angor Rot and Morgana listen together. When the war begins, Gunmar confronts the Trollhunter (now transformed into a half-troll). With the assist of Angor Rot, they battle Jim, who manages to take them out almost flawlessly, thanks to his new troll abilities. Jim manages to seduce Angor as Gunmar throws him aside, calling him weak. Gunmar finally pins Jim down, expressing his disdain of a human boy wearing a troll's armor and now shares his kind's skin. He then tries to turn Jim with his blade, but the Trollhunter fights back with his strength of will and shoves the blade away.

Ultimate Demise

When Gunmar lunges at Jim, he reacts by summoning his Eclipse Blade and slices through the Skullcrusher's body. His body begins to turn to stone while the explosion eliminates the rest of his Gumm-Gumm Army. Jim (avenging his surrogate brother, Draal) shoves Gunmar's stone body off of the roof and he watches as it shatters on impact with the ground, finally ending Gunmar's century-year-old reign of tyranny once and for all.

3Below (Part One)

Gunmar makes a brief cameo appearance in "Lightning in a Bottle" when Krel watches a security footage of Jim battling Gunmar (who was actually Otto Scaarbach).

3Below (Part Two)

In "The Big Sleep", Colonel Kubritz shows General Morando a footage of Gunmar's attack on Arcadia.

Wizards

A younger Gunmar was one antagonist in the show as the team go back to the past in which the great battle of Killahead Bridge had not yet happened, it shows more of his backstory and eventually his defeat at the hands of Deya the Deliverer.

Physical Description

“In Gunmar, we wanted a villain who would be invincible, so we chose to base him on obsidian, a hard glass-like volcanic rock. When broken in half, obsidian creates more edges, and that inspiration really informed the character and brought him to life.”

―Rodrigo Blaas, Executive Producer.

Gunmar has two large horns on his head which span out big. His skins glow in a bright teal colored design. He has yellow teeth and what appears to be black hair. He has a missing right eye (which is one of his lifeblood stones) from his battle with Orlagk the Oppressor, the original Gumm-Gumm warlord.

After absorbing the Heartstone, his skin now glows a bright orange-yellow colored design.

Personality

“It's been hundreds of years, but Gunmar's imprisonment in the Darklands doesn't stop him from making moves to reassemble the Killahead Bridge. With his son, Bular, leading the army of Changelings and Goblins on the surface, it's only a matter of time before the Skullcrusher is released.”

―The Art of Trollhunters

A psychopathic and ruthless tyrant, Gunmar had made it his life goal to dominate both the Dark Realm with Earth and dominate all of Trollkind.

In addition, despite the Janus Order helping him regain his full strength and his army, he merely saw them as tools and even exterminates the Changeling members, just because he thought that they served their purpose (and he never saw them as equals of trolls in the first place). In fact, Gunmar's extreme prejudice against Changelings is what causes Nomura and Stricklander to see the error of their ways.

However, despite his ruthless and tyrannical nature, Gunmar was not without honor as he wouldn't kill someone who is weak and in despair, like during his very brief encounter with Barbara Lake, who he did not kill despite her being the mother of his worst enemy. Although, when he promised that he'd only let Barbara go if Strickler releases Morgana, it's unknown if he was willing to keep his end of the promise (though Strickler's attempt to escape with Barbara would sort of vaguely show otherwise). He did care deeply about his son, and he acknowledged the fact that he was impulsive and reckless and should've known better than to rush into battle, which led to his death at the hands of Jim.

He also is capable of showing respect, as shown with Jim. At first he though lowly of Jim, but later he learns to respect him as a powerful adversary. Despite hating Changelings, he does seem to respect Stricklander. He openly admitted to respecting and even praising Stricklander for his manipulations and scheming.

Powers & Abilities

Powers

Gumm-Gumm Troll Physiology: As the leader of the Gumm-Gumms, Gunmar was one of the strongest Gumm-Gumms in the Darklands.

Superhuman Strength: Gunmar’s strength was greatly feared by many trolls. Even in his weakened state, he was strong enough to brutally strangulate a Stalkling and go horn-to-horn with AAARRRGGHH!!! until his former general managed to overcome him. After he absorbed Trollmarket's Heartstone, his strength was greatly enhanced to where he was deemed unstoppable to fight head-on.

Superhuman Endurance: As a troll, Gunmar could endure more than an average human.

Superhuman Durability: Thanks to his stone skin, Gunmar had excellent durability, as he managed to survive many battles without being killed.

Superhuman Stamina: Gunmar could physically exert himself for long periods of time without tiring. In his weakened state, his stamina was greatly worn out.

Enhanced Speed: After absorbing the Heartstone, Gunmar was faster than his followers.

Superhuman Senses: As a troll, Gunmar's senses were much more acute than a human's.

Longevity: As a troll, Gunmar was capable of living for hundreds of years, but is still capable of being killed and can fall in battle.

Heartstone Energy Absorption: Gunmar was able to absorb the energy of a Heartstone to augment his physical strength.

Conductive Energy: Once he absorbed the energy of the Heartstone, he was capable of administering the energy into explosive blasts through touch.

Mind Control (via Decimaar Blade): With his cursed blade, Gunmar was able to brainwash others and/or turn trolls into Gumm-Gumms. He was also able to communicate through the possessed, like he did with Draal and Otto.

Abilities

Swordsmanship: Gunmar was an accomplished swordsman, though his large structure made him somewhat slow.

Combatant: Despite his large structure, Gunmar was a skilled fighter, being able to go on par with Nomura, AAARRRGGHH!!!, Draal, and later Jim after he was transformed into a half-troll.

Skillful Orator: In his own rights, Gunmar is a powerful speaker, giving out countless speeches to his army.

Weaknesses

Direct Sunlight: Like all trolls, Gunmar had a natural weakness to sunlight as it burns and turns him to stone.

The Eclipse Blade: The Trollhunter's Eclipse Blade is a weapon capable of executing Gunmar as it contains the Triumbric Stones that are tied to Gunmar’s lifeblood: his birth, his first kill, and the battle in which he gained control of the Gumm-Gumms.