(Tags: Canon Compliant as of Trollhunters S3, New Trollmarket, Ignores Wizards)

Moment One: Comparison

Blinky, leader of New Trollmarket under Hoboken, New Jersey, had caught this scene a few times. In the many months since his transformation from human to half-Troll he had seen Jim looking at himself in reflective surfaces. The sides of his kitchen toaster at the first, then while they traveled in puddles of water or window panes and in the occasional mirror. He'd turn his head this way and that, studying his new appearance in seeming detail. While he could hardly be blamed for it by this point Blinky was beginning to wonder if he should be a little concerned. He knew from his reading up on humans that teenagers could have body image issues under normal circumstances. While he'd never seen such from the Trollhunter before he knew it might have been there, and now the situation was far from normal. At the same time he didn't want to make Jim uncomfortable with any questions; human teenagers also were notorious for being as he'd heard it phrased 'allergic to discussing their feelings.' So when he came into the doorway of Jim's room in their shared dwelling and saw Jim once more studying himself, in specific his horns, in the mirror Claire had acquired on a trip topside he found a method to approach the situation.

"Are your horns hurting?" Jim jumped a bit then turned with a somewhat guilty smile.

"Uh, no. Why?"

"Well, I simply remember how my horns hurt when they were growing, and as yours have so suddenly grown in I thought I could offer some suggestions to help." Jim shook his head.

"No. They feel a little weird but they're not hurting or anything."

"Well that's good." Blinky hesitated a bit, then forged ahead before the opening was lost. "If you don't mind my saying, Master Jim, I have noticed you seem to be concerned with your new appearance. I feel I can assure you are a perfectly acceptable young Troll of approximately two hundred and fifty-six years, and Claire seems to be quite happy with your appearance as well."

"Yeah, I know." Jim rubbed the back of his head. "That's...not what I was doing."

"Oh?" Jim hesitated, so the scholar thought a little encouragement was in order. "You know you can tell me anything, my boy." Jim smiled at the more familiar, and familal, term and that seemed to be the push he needed.

"Well, I was just wondering what made the magic decide to make me look like this." He gestured down at himself. "I mean, even though I'm stronger I'm still a twig compared to most Trolls, and my hands are mix-matched, and why the fangs? Was it just random...or somehow did I decide?"

"Hmm, a good question. But some of those things I believe I can explain, at least in theory.

"As you said, you are still quite lithe compared to many Trolls, especially if you consider your predecessor Trollhunters. But you began your training, learned to wield Daylight and fight, as a human. Though you gained height and breadth you did not lose much of that basic form and had you say gained Aaarrrggghh's stature you would have had to relearn how to fight all over again. You would've been accustomed to your smaller, human form and been continually overreaching, failing to move far enough to evade, and the armor would have had ever more to adapt to.

"As to your hands, I feel this was a compromise on the magic's part." Blinky took hold of Jim's wrists with his upper hands, then held up one of his lower in demonstration. "In sure you've noticed after all this time that most all Trolls have four fingers." Jim chuckled.

"Yeah. Kinda took me by surprise when I first realized it."

"So your 'Troll hand' as it were - " Blinky gently waved that hand. " - was in an effort to do as the magic bid, and make you a Troll. But like your overall physical form you trained as a human, gripping Daylight with a five-fingered hand. Though you might not realize it you utilize every finger when you maneuver the blade, and to take that away could have caused a slip at a critical moment. You would lose about half of your hand strength losing your pinky finger. So your other hand stayed human." He flipped that hand a bit in turn. "I also noticed that hand is your anchor hand, the one on the lowest point of the grip and the hand that controls the direction of your two-handed strikes. You need your strength in that hand." The Troll let go as he gently took Jim's chin in a kind grip, ensuring the half-Troll met his own gaze.

"Your eyes are where I can see that you are exactly who you were when you first accepted the mantle of Trollhunter. Even if you point out how you have our increased night sight, or how they have changed shape or size, I look there and see Jim Lake, our Trollhunter, just as I have from the start. The magic did not touch that." Blinky could feel Jim relax; even now he knew the young half-Troll sometimes worried about exactly how much the magic had changed, of an internal, mental nature. With a smile he let go again and ruffled Jim's ever unruly hair.

"As you saw with Dictatious black hair isn't uncommon among Trollkind, so all it did was darken your natural hair color a bit. Though your hair is getting a bit long, if I may say."

"Yeah. Claire said she'd trim it for me later." Jim ran a hand over his hair though it did little to smooth out down.

"Well, have I covered everything?" Much to Blinky's surprise Jim replied with,

"Kinda."

"Oh? What did I miss?"

"Mostly more cosmetic stuff. Things that I don't think really matter to me being the Trollhunter."

"Ah, I see." Looking at his charge Blinky got the intuition that Jim had already formulated his own thoughts on this, and gave a little prompt. "Such as?"

"I'm blue. I have lower fangs, and horns."

"Things that many Trolls have." Blinky smiled encouragingly. "I take it these are the things you wonder if you somehow determined?"

"Yeah. Because if so... I know why." Jim gave Blinky a small smile. "You're blue, even though it's different shades. You have lower fangs. And - " Jim turned them both so they could be seen in the mirror, turning his head slightly to better show his horn. " - our horns are identical." Blinky smiled, putting an arm around Jim's shoulders and turning his head likewise to put their horns close together.

"Did I not say on the roof of your school that had you another pair of arms, we could be related? My family line tends to have horns like ours, and I noticed it rather quickly. That just reinforced my viewing you as my son."

"And I like the thought that the magic kinda picked up on how I saw you, and that's why I looked like you."

"Well then we'll just go on believing that, my magnificent son, because I like that thought as well."