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The 10th Kingdom: Difference between revisions
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* [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking]]: When the trolls walk towards the Queen's cell in the prison, three signs pop up which say, in order of appearance: "Absolutely no communication with the prisoner", "Absolutely no physical contact with the prisoner", and "No food beyond this point".
** [[Fridge Brilliance|Considering]] who the Queen [[Master Poisoner|is]], that third one makes quite a lot of sense, actually.
* [[Asshole Victim]]: {{spoiler|Sally Peep and Relish the Troll King}}.
* [[Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny|Attention Deficit Ooh Tasty]]: Wolf is extraordinarily distracted by food.
* [[Auction]]: Thanks to the old Elf [[Grail in the Garbage|revealing what it really was]] (and [[Laser-Guided Karma|receiving his reward for it]]), the [[Magic Mirror]] ends up being sold at one of these in Kissing Town. The heroes rush in with the money they'd earned gambling at the local casino...only to have the Huntsman pull a [[Whammy Bid]] on them thanks to the money he stole from the Elf. This of course leads into a [[Inverted Trope|reverse]] [[Hostage for Macguffin]] situation, where the Huntsman will smash the mirror unless they give him Prince for the Evil Queen. Trying to find a way around that, it turns out, [[It Got Worse|just makes things worse]].
* [[Awesome Moment of Crowning]]: A very interesting subversion: the crowning of King Wendell goes off with all the pomp and circumstance you could hope for, with tons of rich courtiers and royals in attendance, a panoply of gorgeous decorations and architecture, and a final speech just prior that borders on [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]]. But not only does the royal toast which follows this end up {{spoiler|seemingly}} killing all the guests, {{spoiler|but it isn't even really Wendell being tested or crowned, [[Freaky Friday|it's the Evil Queen's dog under a spell]]}}. There is, however, a genuine version of the trope later when, after the heroes have saved the day, they're all given medals and other rewards.
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* [[Banister Slide]]: {{spoiler|Fake!}}Prince Wendell at his coronation ceremony.
* [[Be Careful What You Wish For]]: See [[Literal Genie]], particularly the swamp example.
* [[Because Destiny Says So]]: Played with. It is apparently Virginia's destiny to stop the Evil Queen, save all the monarchs of the Kingdoms, and restore Prince Wendell to his rightful throne, but the whole reason she is able to do so is because {{spoiler|the Queen is her [[Mysterious Parent|long-lost mother]]}}, so thus she has a special advantage; this might even be seen as her responsibility, a personal problem she must clean up after. She is also receiving help from her [[Spirit Advisor]], Snow White, and at least part of her motivation in doing so is simply so [[It's All About Me|she can get to the Traveling mirror and go home]]. Yet to judge by the Gypsy Queen's fortune she has "a destiny that stretches way back in time", and Snow White tells her that Wendell "needs you to save his kingdom, we all do," so you get the feeling there's something rather arbitrary about all this. The fairy godmother does do a very good (if slightly [[Anvilicious]]) job of comparing her life to Virginia's to explain why she "found the right person." On the other hand, Virginia would never have come to the Kingdoms if Wendell hadn't [[Contrived Coincidence|knocked over the mirror]] when running from the Trolls and Wolf, then gone through it, there is no indication how or why the mirror ended up in the basement of a prison, and {{spoiler|Christine becoming the Evil Queen}} was made possible by the Swamp Witch having a mirror which opened to New York. So clearly some sort of organizing principle seems to have guided the plot. By the end, after {{spoiler|killing her mother in self-defense [[Karmic Death|with the poison comb]]}}, when Wolf tells her it was not her fault, even Virginia seems to buy into it by saying the fateful words: "It was my destiny..."
* [[Big Applesauce]]: The portal which opens between our world and the world where fairy tales are real is, of course, located in New York's Central Park. What makes this miniseries a particularly striking example of the trope is how the opening titles quite conspicuously, and jaw-droppingly, magically morph the New York City skyline into a fantasy land to suggest the crossing over of magic into the real world. The sequence, quite justifiably, won an Emmy. To watch the sequence, go [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysNjUGQJ6EQ here.]
* [[Big Bad]]: The Queen.
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* [[Defrosting Ice Queen]]: Virginia shows traits of this due to being [[Parental Abandonment|left by her mother]], {{spoiler|and the Queen, her mother, is finally proud of her daughter as she lays dying}}
* [[Despair Event Horizon]]: {{spoiler|Though she was apparently mentally unstable beforehand, Christine had a complete breakdown after nearly drowning her young daughter. She immediately ran away which led to her discovering the portal to the Swamp Witch’s lair and subsequently becoming the Evil Queen.}}
* [[Distant Reaction Shot]]: To Tony being given [[A Taste of the Lash|fifty beanstalk lashes]], complete with increasingly distant shots of Snow White Memorial Prison.
* [[Damsel in Distress]]: Though sometimes subverted.
* [[The Dragon]]: The Huntsman is the Queen's Dragon. Relish the Troll King was supposed to be this, but went [[The Starscream|out of control]] quickly.
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{{quote|'''Evil Queen:''' If asked, you will say that your master, the prince, has returned and is well. If I hear one whisper, one ''rumor'' that anything is amiss, I will kill your children in front of you... Tonight, every king, queen, emperor, and dignitary throughout the Nine Kingdoms will be attending Prince Wendell's coronation ball. The evening will proceed as planned, with one ''tiny'' exception--we are going to murder all the guests.}}
* [[Goldfish Poop Gang]]: The troll children.
* [[Grail in the Garbage]]: The mirror which allows passage between our world and the Nine Kingdoms turns up for dirt cheap at an auction. When the auctioneers find out what it can do, however... It was also this to begin with, since it was first found amid piles of junk in the basement of Snow White Memorial Prison, something which is never explained.
* [[G-Rated Drug]]: Played straight and [[Lampshaded]] with the trolls' use of dwarf moss (it makes one "see fairies" and all that).
* [[G-Rated Mental Illness]]: Played with. {{spoiler|Christine}} is described as having been mentally ill and was “getting worse and worse”. No specifics are given about the illness but {{spoiler|her homicidal tendencies toward young Virginia are disconcerting to say the least.}}
* [[Happily Ever After]]: An in-universe principle, but one which also comes true for Wendell and, to some extent it seems, for Wolf and Virginia.
* [[Heel Face Turn]]: {{spoiler|Wolf.}}
* [[Heroic BSOD]]: {{spoiler|After killing her own mother in self defence and realising what she has done, Virginia goes into a version of one of these - she falls asleep for almost 2 days from both physical and emotional exhaustion.}}
* [[Hoist by His Own Petard]]: {{spoiler|The Huntsman gets hit in the heart by the magic bolt from his magic crossbow.}}
** The Peep Family, who stole the magic well water that belonged to their town and used it for their own gain for decades, didn't count on Tony and Virginia finding out and using it to their advantage in the Shepherdess contest. {{spoiler|And much later, Sally Peep, utterly embarrassed at having lost, gets back at her grandfather (whom she blames for her loss) by destroying the well water's hiding place. She planned to reveal her family's secret to the town, but Wilfred killed her. She tried screaming his name but everyone who heard it thought she was saying "wolf", so naturally they were planning on executing Wolf. Tony and Wendell discover what really happened and out Wilfred and the entire family to the whole town. Wilfred admits what he did with no other available option, Sally's mother goes into a homicidal rage and tries to kill Wilfred, and a riot breaks out. The next day the town seems all right, but the Peeps aren't heard from again.}}
* [[Hold Your Hippogriffs]]: The fairytale universe has some [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|interesting cover-ups for swearing]]. The trolls are fond of the phrase “Suck an elf!” and the phrase “What in the fairying forest?” is heard at least twice.
** Cinderella apparently went through "magic surgery".
* [[How Do You Like Them Apples?]]: The Queen's [[Spirit Advisor]] suggests she use poison apples to gain the upper hand. {{spoiler|She follows through by poisoning an entire orchard of apples to kill the trolls.}}
* [[Hypocrite]]: The Peep family. They call Virginia a cheat during the shepherdess contest, but they themselves having been cheating for years because they blocked up their village's wishing well.
** Also Wolf, a victim of [[Fantastic Racism]], having prejudices against Gypsies. Granted, that particular band ends up placing a [[Curse]] on Virginia, but that is only because she frees the magic birds and ruins their livelihood...
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'''Wolf:''' You're gonna regret this moment. }}
** And of course, [[Implacable Man|he's right]].
* [[I'll Take Two Beers, Too!]]: Two examples, both from the Grill on the Park. One diner, there with his wife, orders a slew of drinks and dishes, then follows this up with "And my wife will have..." Meanwhile Wolf's order of lamb with six glasses of warm milk highlights his [[Big Eater]] nature.
* [[I'm a Humanitarian]]: Wolf {{spoiler|tries to cook and eat Virginia's grandmother, but the stove's a bit too small.}}
** {{spoiler|Well he is the grandson of the Wolf from Little Red Riding Hood.}}
* [[Implacable Man]]: The Huntsman.
* [[Important Haircut]]: Virginia has a Life-Saving Haircut.
* [[Intoxication Ensues]]: Despite being told by the fairies to not eat anything in the forest under any circumstances, {{spoiler|Tony and Virgina eat the wild mushrooms}}. They get giggly, pass out, and end up in [[Mushroom Samba|a strange, joint nightmare]].
* [[It Tastes Like Feet]]: Subversion. Tony tastes baked beanstalk (no, not baked beans. BEANSTALK). "It tastes like an old mattress!" "No, it doesn't. Old mattresses have a sweaty, meaty taste."
* [[Jerkass]]: Prince Wendell, at the beginning (he [[Break the Haughty|gets]] [[Character Development|better]] through his time as a dog), and plenty of minor characters encountered throughout the kingdom. The Troll King also, if he doesn't qualify for an outright [[Complete Monster]].
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* [[If You Know What I Mean]]: [[Invoked]] by Virginia when she tries to defend Wolf during his trial and suggests that the Peep girls are the easiest shepherdesses in the village. Cue shocks from most of the people present, as well as quite a few giggles from some of the other shepderdesses. Of course, it seemed to do more harm than good, considering what this "trial" [[Kangaroo Court|really was]].
* [[Large Ham]]: Wolf, most certainly, and also the Troll King and his children. The Queen mostly averts [[Evil Is Hammy]] and is normally underplayed and calm, outside of a couple of scenes.
* [[Literal Ass Kissing]]: Because of his wish, [[Pun|Butt]] [[Butt Monkey|Monkey]] Tony has his boss follow him around and continually try to do this. Tony ends up having to shoo him away frequently. The rest of Murray's family eventually shows up and ends up giving him the same treatment. It doesn't help that at least one of the Murrays must have been something of a brown-noser already, since he insists on kissing Tony's ass repeatedly. (Or could that also have been covered under the "and be my slaves forever" part?)
{{quote|'''Tony:''' No, no! Once was enough.}}
* [[Literal Genie]]: Tony's dragon dung bean fulfills this trope to a tee: his first wish of making his landlord and his family become his slaves included the phrase 'and kiss my ass'...so every single Murray family member insists on doing exactly that with obsessive attention. The beer in the fridge is indeed neverending, to the point of making it explode, the vacuum he asked to 'clean the entire house' follows the directions to the letter (including trying to vacuum up the curtains), and even the beneficial wish of being able to speak to Wendell the dog is limited to only Tony being able to hear him, since he said "I" rather than "we". And when he wishes for money, {{spoiler|it is stolen from the bank, and the cops are quick to track it down.}}
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'''Tony:''' Hey! When I said we wanted to be separated, I didn't mean ''literally''! }}
* [[A Little Something We Call "Rock and Roll"]]: In a "shepherdess contest" which includes a singing portion, Virginia goes with "We Will Shear You" (in the style of Queen's "We Will Rock You").
* [[Love Is in the Air]]: The entire purpose of the ludicrous [[Tastes Like Diabetes|Kissing Town]], which makes this trope quite literal, since not only are there magical hearts floating everywhere around every happy couple getting married, but every time Virginia seems ready to dismiss Wolf as a love interest, in swoop the hearts to change her mind and turn her into a hopeless romantic. [[Anvilicious|They even form a gigantic heart over the pair's heads when they share their first kiss]].
* [[Luke, I Am Your Father]]: {{spoiler|Gender-switched ''and'' inverted!}}
* {{spoiler|[[Luke, You Are My Father]]}}: {{spoiler|[[Gender Flip|Gender-flipped]]. Virginia has to tell the Evil Queen that she is her long-forgotten daughter.}}
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* [[The Man Behind the Man]]: Or in this case woman behind the woman, since it's the Swamp Witch behind the Queen.
* [[Methuselah Syndrome]]: {{spoiler|Cinderella}}, complete with humorous implications.
* [[The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body]]: {{spoiler|After a while, Prince Wendell becomes dumber and starts to think and act like a dog, while the dog also slowly starts thinking more like a human (but never quite gets it) although this may simply be training.}}
* [[Missing Mom]]: Christine is even stated to be missing. {{spoiler|Until we find out she's the Evil Queen.}}
* [[Mood Whiplash]]: The entire first disc (or third, roughly) is very goofy and humorous, but the second grows far more dark to the point that the troll children are the only steady comic relief. {{spoiler|Though they're out of commission for awhile.}}
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** Alternatively, the "I always lie" rule might only apply once the puzzle has properly begun (his descriptions of the doors certainly are truthful), in which case Virginia and Wolf are majorly overthinking a very straightforward puzzle.
* [[Our Dwarves Are All the Same]]: Though conspicuously beardless. And apparently Communist. (Which considering what hard workers they are, and how much they would surely hate being exploited and [[Incredibly Lame Pun|looked down upon]], [[Fridge Brilliance|makes a twisted kind of sense]].)
* [[Our Werewolves Are Different]]: Though admittedly we only meet a half-wolf, not a true werewolf. To judge from Wolf, Nine Kingdoms wolves do not seem to be vulnerable to silver, change only on the three nights of the full moon, and while changed have no control over their actions and no memory of what they have done. They also seem to be afflicted by the 'take on lupine mannerisms and characteristics' aspect of this trope, since Wolf is constantly scratching at his temple, whines and whimpers and growls, nuzzles Virginia, and scrapes the ground with his feet to cover his tracks—although this may merely be a product of actor Scott Cohen's enthusiastic character immersion. What makes the half-wolves interesting is the twists: they ''always'' possess tails, even in human form, [[Freud Was Right|which change size with the time of the month]] and apparently act as [[Fantastic Arousal|erogenous zones]], and explicit reference is made to the female cycle by how Wolf starts gaining PMS-like symptoms as the full moon approaches and, when fighting the change, ends up with...[[Does This Remind You of Anything?|cramps]]. Still more interestingly, it is never truly explained what the term 'half-wolf' actually means. Are they the literal product of [[
* [[Out-Gambitted]]: The Troll King arrives early for his meeting with the Queen in an orchard to position his men to ambush her. The queen had already been there hours before to poison all the apples, even choosing a poison that would take just long enough to kick in at the dramatically appropriate moment.
* [[Plot Device]]: The [[Magic Mirror]].
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* [[Rapunzel Hair]]: Virginia gets to deal with the realistic consequences of this at one point.
* [[Redemption Equals Death]]: {{spoiler|1=For the Evil Queen, since it also frees her from [[Mind Control]]/[[Demonic Possession]].}}
* [[Refuge in Audacity]]: While various points in the miniseries could be called this, none stands out more than the entire character of Wolf (and how Scott Cohen chose to portray him). Of particular note is his scene {{spoiler|trying to cook Virginia's grandmother}}, especially his commentary during it.
* [[Rescue Romance]]: Subverted: Wolf believes his rescue of Virginia from the Trolls will earn him her love, but she refuses to trust him because, as she points out, "You tried to eat my grandmother!"
* [[The Reveal]]: {{spoiler|The Queen is Virginia's mother}}. See also {{spoiler|[[Luke, I Am Your Father]]}} above. Made particularly well done because the few bits of [[Foreshadowing]] relevant to it were very subtle. {{spoiler|The [[Backstory]] about Christine seems on first viewing to be merely setting Virginia up as yet another protagonist dealing with [[Parental Abandonment]] issues, not a [[Missing Mom]] who will actually become directly relevant to the plot; the fact the Queen has another Traveling mirror (and thus could conceivably have come from Earth) is only noticeable using [[Freeze-Frame Bonus]] or if the viewer is paying very close attention (and is revealed in the narrative only a short time before her identity is); and the "strange feeling" Virginia gets in her cell could easily be chalked up to magic.}}
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* [[Skewed Priorities]]: From the first meeting of Wendell's privy council, after they have been discussing Wendell not stopping in Beantown, his conspicuous absence and lack of communication, and the Evil Queen's breakout.
{{quote|'''Lord Rupert:''' Now to the ''real'' crisis. There is a shortage of bluebells throughout the Kingdom, [[Camp Gay|my color scheme for the coronation banquet will have to be]] ''[[Camp Gay|completely]]'' [[Camp Gay|rethought]].}}
* [[Sophisticated As Hell]]/[[Precision F-Strike|Precision H Strike]]
{{quote|''The magic mirror being consulted can only hear rhyming verse.''
'''Virginia:''' Our mirror's smashed - what can we do? Where the hell are the other two? }}
* [[Spirit Advisor]]: Snow White. She calls herself a fairy godmother, but also freely admits she is actually dead (something which is never really stated about fairy godmothers). Only Virginia and Wendell (the latter either because he's gone doggy at the time or because he's her grandson) can see and speak with her—Tony cannot. She later appears in Virginia's dreams. [[All There in the Manual|According to the]] [[Novelization]], she was also disguised as the old woman from the forest who gave them [[The Power of Friendship|a lesson in solidarity]] and warned them of the Huntsman, and the little Cupid girl from Kissing Town who told them where to find the cart which had [[Plot Device|taken the mirror away]].
** [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Mirroring]] this, the Swamp Witch (Snow White’s [[Evil Stepmother]]) acts as an advisor to the Evil Queen.
* [[The Starscream]]: Relish the Troll King swiftly becomes this, since he doesn't have the patience to wait for the Queen to carry out her [[Xanatos Gambit]]. And, to be fair, because he got tired of her constantly ordering him around like a [[Mook]] and giving him headaches and [[Deadly Nosebleed|hemorrhages]] with her [[Magic Mirror]] summons.
* [[Stealth Pun]]: See [[Punny Name]].
* [[Strange Minds Think Alike]]: Tony questions the gold watch he receives from Mrs. Murray as "not being one of those cheap imitations". This same suspicion is brought up by the Tooth Fairy when Tony tries to pay him with it.
* [[Surrounded by Idiots]]: The Troll King, who is fairly clever and competent (though no match for the [[Magnificent Bitch|Queen]]), is supported only by his dimwitted children and soldiers. He doesn't seem happy about this lack of competence in his henchmen. (In the [[Novelization]], when one of his advisors questions why they were in the apple grove so long before meeting the Queen, Relish thinks to himself that this Troll was no longer his advisor, though "[[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|he didn't know that yet]]".)
* [[Swamps Are Evil]]: The [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Deadly]] [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Swamp]]. Not only is it the home of the Swamp Witch (Snow White's [[Wicked Stepmother]]), it has [[The Fair Folk|mischievous fairies]] that enjoy being "naughty" to travelers and [[Mushroom Samba|magic mushrooms]] which tempt people to eat them...after which they fall asleep and are [[I'm a Humanitarian|consumed by the swamp]].
* [[A Taste of the Lash]]: Tony's punishment for trying to break into the Governor's office with the copied key. What is particularly odd, considering the history of flogging in Britain and Simon Moore being British, is that there seems to be no consequences to this: the very next time Tony is shown [[Unexplained Recovery|he doesn't seem to be unduly suffering]], nor is he ever shown favoring his back, nor is it ever mentioned again in the miniseries. Either despite Tony's cries beanstalks aren't particularly painful (note that in [[Real Life]] whipping can kill at ''forty'' lashes), or this is another example of straddling the line between [[What Do You Mean It's for Kids?]] and [[What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids?]] due to it being a [[Bowdlerized]] [[Fairy Tale]] world.
* [[Tempting Fate]]: See [[Rock Bottom]].
* [[Trailers Always Spoil]]: NBC was notorious for doing this during most if not of all of their miniseries "events", but a particularly [[Egregious]] example occurred twice for [[The Tenth Kingdom]]: just after the suspenseful scenes in which Virginia and Tony were trying to buy the Traveling mirror at auction, the trailer revealed {{spoiler|that it gets broken}}, and right as we're wondering if the heroes will get to the ball and stop the Evil Queen's plot in time, the trailer revealed {{spoiler|all of Wendell's guests collapsing from poison}}. Next commercial break then shows us both {{spoiler|the same guests awakening, revealing they weren't really dead}} and {{spoiler|Prince and Wendell switching back—though granted, this was something of [[The Untwist]] by that late in the game}}. About the only major plot point not revealed by the trailers, thankfully, was that {{spoiler|the Evil Queen was Virginia's mother}}. Not to mention {{spoiler|Wolf stopping the Huntsman from killing Virginia at the end}}.
* [[Transformation Sequence]]: For Wendell/Prince.
** [[Transformation Trauma]]: For Wolf.
* [[Unusual Euphemism]]: "Suck an elf!" Although this could be very wrong sounding...
* [[Urine Trouble]]: The Dog Prince with a pillar, early on when he is still resisting the Queen's "human training".
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{{quote|'''Wolf''': The days of Happy Ever After are gone. These are dark times.}}
* [[Wacky Marriage Proposal]]: Wolf's proposal to Virginia. Not only does he preface the evening, when Virginia initially tries to weasel out of dinner, by saying he "spent a lot of time planning this spontaneous evening", he: has a song composed especially for her, played by a string quartet ''on the roof of their carriage'' (which is filled to overflowing with flowers); rents an entire restaurant just for the two of them, with a meal consisting of 13 main courses; and purchases the most expensive engagement ring he can find—a magical singing ring with a saccharinely cute cherub face and shimmering, bell-like voice which extols the virtues of their love to Virginia. She turns him down out of outrage when she learns he spent money they could have used to accomplish their goals on the proposal instead. At the end of the miniseries, he tries again, in a much more restrained manner, and she accepts.
* [[What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?]]: The three Troll children, thanks to their love of shoes and leather, consider it [[Serious Business|a terrible crime]] when shoes are "very badly cared for--scuffed and cracked and neglected", and Blabberwort tells Virginia so. Lampshaded in the [[Novelization]], first when Virginia notes Blabberwort's tone "suggested she had committed mass murder" and then when she decides they weren't "bent on destruction, only on defending shoes".
* [[What Happened to the Mouse?]]: We never actually see what happens to the Troll siblings. {{spoiler|The novelization reveals that they were originally going to be put to death, but Tony pleads for them and they are returned to their kingdom to rule as the Troll King is no longer living. A deleted scene reveals that they did originally film something along the lines of this. Funny enough, it was a blooper scene that was shown during the credits of the ''Making of'' featurette.}}
** {{spoiler|We never find out what happened to the Peep Family after Wilfred Peep is revealed to be Sally's killer, and that the family had stolen the magic well water and hoarded it for themselves for decades. Chances are, they either fled the town in shame, they were banished, or some of them might've been jailed.}}
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** Also invoked by Wolf when they have the Huntsman at their mercy. Virgina stops him from doing it. Justified, since Virginia doesn't want to be [[Technical Pacifist|a murderer]].
* [[Wicked Stepmother]]: The Queen to Prince Wendell. Snow White's shows up {{spoiler|as the Swamp Witch.}}
* [[With This Ring]]: Conflict arises when Wolf spends all his money on a magic engagement ring with a sentient, singing pearl on top. Virginia is upset that he didn't use the money to buy the mirror they've been chasing the entire series. See [[Wacky Marriage Proposal]].
* [[Wolf Man]]: Wolf. Duh.
* [[Would Hurt a Child]]:
** The Huntsman {{spoiler|inadvertently killed his own seven year old son}} to prove his worthiness to the Queen. Later, he kills {{spoiler|an entire gypsy camp including an innocent half-wolf boy}}.
** It's also highly implied that the Queen killed an entire family including a young girl because the Dog Prince told them too much about her plans. {{spoiler|Not to mention that she tried to drown her own daughter years before becoming Queen}}.
* [[Wrong Genre Savvy]]: Virginia and her father know their fairy tales. Too bad this world is based on the originals instead of the child-friendly versions they grew up with...
* [[Xanatos Gambit]]: The Queen's main plan would be one of these, with even a bit of [[Xanatos Speed Chess]] thrown in: originally she clearly intended to hold Wendell prisoner while training the Dog Prince, with his escape necessitating the involvement of Wolf and the Troll children (to ensure he did not warn anyone of her plans or find a way to switch back) but her training plan continuing without a hitch. This plan, in turn, was meant merely to allow her access to Castle White and the chance to poison all the ball guests; whether or not the Dog Prince succeeded in passing his tests, was crowned, or even fooled anyone was only a smokescreen to keep anyone from becoming suspicious until the toast could be performed, so in the end it didn't really matter what happened to the prince. Explained by the fact she had seven years in prison to plot it.
** Her method of dealing with the Troll King is even better: after using [[I Have Your Wife|a threat to his children]] (whom she didn't even have) to get him to agree to a meeting, if Relish had agreed to withdraw his armies and cease threatening the Fourth Kingdom, her plans would be back on schedule. But if he didn't agree and [[The Starscream|tried to kill her]], she planned to poison him, counting on his greed and [[Through His Stomach|gluttony]] (as well as being [[Genre Blind]]--meeting the protege of Snow White's stepmother in an apple orchard?) to be his undoing. This not only eliminated his threat to the kingdom (and Wendell's advisors signing away sovereignty so she couldn't use the Dog Prince's coronation for her murder spree), it provided an "act of bravery" to present to the courtiers at the ball. And when Relish revealed he had arrived early and broken her demand to [[Come Alone]], she in turn revealed [[Out-Gambitted|she'd arrived even earlier]], and the poison was thus there to eliminate not just him, but his soldiers too.
* [[You Shall Not Pass]]: Tony does this when the heroes are pursued by the Trolls in the castle, [[Took a Level In Badass|eventually]] [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass|defeating]] [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|all three]].
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