- “You don’t know anything, Poppy, and I can’t wait to see the look on your face when you realize the world isn’t all cupcakes and rainbows, because it isn’t. Bad things happen, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
- ―Branch to Poppy
Branch is one of the two main protagonists (alongside Poppy) as well as the secondary protagonist of the Trolls franchise. He is the deuteragonist of Trolls, the secondary protagonist of the Netflix TV series and the deuteragonist of its upcoming sequel Trolls World Tour. He is voiced by Justin Timberlake.
Background
Personality
Branch is the over-cautious paranoid survivalist in Troll Village, who lives in fear of invasion from the Bergens. The only Troll in the village who doesn't sing, dance or hug, Branch lives a disgruntled existence, constantly trying to prepare for the worst. Even though he has secret feelings for Poppy, he is constantly flummoxed by the over-the-top positivity of the other Trolls.
Over the course of the film, Branch is challenged to embrace his inner Troll, even if it includes a dreaded burst of singing and dancing.
Physical Appearance
He has short straight, dark blue (pretty much black) hair, and has greyish-blue skin. He has dark lavender colored cheeks, and his eyes are a grey sky blue. He also has a large lavender colored nose. His ears stick out but sort of droop. He wears a dull colored, dark green leafy vest and dark brown shorts with dark green patches and stitches.
His true colors consist of having bright teal skin, long straight dark royal blue hair, a bright green leaf vest, light brown shorts with light green stitches and patches, bright sky blue eyes, a light purple nose, and sparkly bright rosy cheeks with slight glitter freckles. His colors turned grey after he lost his grandmother years ago, due to his singing. When all the Trolls lost their hope and turned grey, Branch regained his original colors by singing their hopes up, including his own, too.
Branch's P.O.V
Years before the events of the film, Branch was a happy Troll who lived with his grandmother in the Troll Tree. When singing one day, he attracted the attention of a Bergen who tried to grab him to eat. However, his grandmother pushed him out of the way and was taken instead. A traumatized Branch blamed himself, refusing to sing after that, his color turning gray in the process. Sometime after that, about a year, he escaped with the rest of the Trolls from Bergen Town.
Twenty years later, a paranoid Branch is invited to a party held by Princess Poppy and her friends the Snack Pack. He refuses, telling them that their party will attract the Bergens. His warnings are ignored, and he remains in his survival bunker throughout the party. His fears are realized when a banished Chef finds the village and snatches a number of Trolls. Poppy asks for his help to save her friends, but he refuses and chooses to stay in his bunker. However, he soon chooses to travel to Bergen Town with her after the other Trolls came to his bunker to hide (which became unbearable for him after the third Hug Time).
Upon arriving in Bergen Town, Branch agrees to help the other Trolls with getting scullery maid Bridget a date with King Gristle Jr. At this point, he reveals to Poppy why he doesn't sing, to which Poppy comforts him. During the date, Branch feeds romantic lines to Bridget, presumably talking about Poppy at the same time. When the Trolls discover that one Troll named Creek (who was presumed to have been eaten by King Gristle) is alive, they steal the jewel that he is held in. However, they discover that it is empty, and are captured by Chef, where they discover that Creek has betrayed them to save himself. Creek returns to the village to lure the other Trolls out of hiding, where they are soon captured by Chef and her Bergen Cooks.
With all the Trolls captured and ready to be cooked, Branch watches as Poppy loses hope and turns gray along with the other Trolls. For the first time in twenty years, Branch sings "True Colors", revealing to Poppy through the song that he loves her, which she reciprocates. The song helps restore not only the color of Poppy and the other Trolls, but also Branch himself. The Trolls are then rescued by Bridget and reveal to King Gristle that Bridget was Lady Glitter Sparkles and say that Bergens don't have to eat Trolls to be happy. The King agrees to this and now the Trolls and the Bergens are no longer enemies. Branch, Poppy and the other Trolls lead them with a song called "Can't Stop the Feeling". Bergen Town turns colorful and the Troll Tree blooms once more.
At the end of the film, Branch shares a romantic hug with Poppy, who is crowned as the Trolls' new queen. They are now believed to be boyfriend and girlfriend.
Although they are believed to be a couple, in Trolls Holiday it was implied they were just friends. However, many fans speculate and hope that Branch and Poppy will be a confirmed couple in the sequel Trolls World Tour.
Trivia
- Trolls is the second DreamWorks Animation film to have Justin Timberlake voice a character, after King Arthur in Shrek the Third.
- Unlike most Trolls, at the beginning, Branch dislikes hugs and always tries to avoid Hug Time.
- Branch doesn't wear a Hug Time bracelet at any time in the film. But we can see that in the flashback of him as a kid he used to wear one. He must have gotten rid of it after he became gray to avoid Hug Time for himself.
- It is unknown what happened to Branch's parents, though it is theorized that they sacrificed themselves to save Branch and possibly Grandma Rosiepuff from being eaten.
- Branch was a child when the Trolls escaped from Bergen town, which makes him in his early to mid-twenties by the events of the film, meaning that he is a few years older than Poppy.
- It can be implied at various moments in the film before he regained his true colors, that he longed to be happy again and was quite lonely. For example, when he looked sadly at invitations he was given by Poppy that he keeps behind a curtain in his bunker, and when he became sad when Poppy was leaving his bunker.
- Branch may suffer from manic depression.
- Considering that he became gray when he was a child, (around five or six) Branch has been without his true colors for most of his life.
- Branch's hair was shorter than the other Trolls' for the majority of the film. When his true colors are restored, his hair grows longer and brighter.
- Branch has always had secret feelings towards Poppy. This can be concluded by the fact he has been keeping Poppy's cards for years. He saved her from spiders and multiple times calms her down and comforts her when she gets scared or fussy. Also, when Branch was feeding Bridget romantic poetry to say on her date with King Gristle Jr., he was actually talking about Poppy, with the bright smile and beautiful, deep eyes, and smiled at her for a second before looking away. He later confirms this when he confesses his love/feelings for her by singing True Colors. She admits through song that she fell in love with him and now loves him back and then they sing True Colors together.
- The possible reason for Branch refusing all of Poppy's invitations and acts of kindness towards him is because he's worried that if he shows his true colors again, he'll end up getting someone else killed and he did not want to make a list. In a different sense, Branch was being a jerk the whole time because he was trying to protect her.
- Branch hates Creek. Probably because of Poppy's former crush on him. Since Branch liked her, he was possibly jealous of Poppy's crush on him. You can see evidence of this:
- When poppy said he was kidnapped, Branch doesn’t act surprised. He even tells her to go to sleep after she said his name.
- When He immediately chokes Creek using his hair, knowing he's going to sell them out, after Chef told them that Creek will be the one who will help her find the other Trolls; but after Creek confirmed that he WILL be selling them out, Branch is seen very glad, and proud of Poppy for strangling Creek again. He must have waited a LONG time to see her do that. And he finally did.
- Branch hates playful humor so much he chased Cloud Guy, who was just playfully teasing him, with two broken sticks, trying to attack him.
- Branch possibly has an unnamed father in Trolls: The Beat Goes On.
