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The Six Companions - Behind the Scenes

Lookout looked in.

I briefly thought about using one of those four-eyed pictures. Not this one though. That's the silliest result I got.

Alternative version of the sleeping-spell.

Way too excited.

Keen-Eyes trying to explode himself.

First I meant to use this alien-animation for Keen-Eyes' gaze. (He's brain-feeding Frosty here :) But it turned out much more powerfull without any effects at all.

I took way too many explosion-pictures.

Frosty is not actually unburnable.

Lookout and listen!

Posing a chariot-driver

Fat-Fellow off his resizer-OMSP. Also featuring the first pose I made for Listener in this scene, which didn't make it into the story.

I often use the first thing by Aroundthesims in the Plants category as a "look at" target. (In this shot the war-machinery came in at the wrong angle - not where Lookout is pointing - so I had to do the whole scene again.)

BOOM!

Outtake of them all looking very cool

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The Six Companions - Thoughts and Background (Part 2)

Moving to Middle Earth

The Lord of the Rings theme came from reading the German Wikipedia entry on the fairytale. It's not the best entry actually. It’s trying to say that both are stories about a group of adventurers with different abilities. The way this is written and formatted implies that Tolkien’s 1954 novel is one of the “myths” which inspired the fairytale. I smiled at this first, but then I realized it was a perfect fit. There’s a fellowship, there’s a ring, there’s a character with prominent ears, there’s a fiery mountain.

I totally love Lookout and Listener as elves. It really made them stand out against the other four and gives a sub-structure to the group. Listener in particular always tended to be the most overlooked of the companions.

What I didn’t fully realize at the time was, how popular the telescope-neck of Lookout’s character actually was! Nothing against that version, but it was not feasible to do in Sims 3 and didn’t match the elf-aesthetics. Also I felt it makes him too similar to Long-Fellow. Of course he’s not to be confused with Keen-Eyes either. The latter’s gaze is just very intense.

Some more on Psychology

While it’s been mostly left aside by movie-adaptations, The Six Servants is very popular with Freudian analysis. Some of it totally has a point. The Queen’s original three tasks do relate to marriage. Even the eating-contest, with some goodwill. And that makes perfect sense. Her supposed purpose is to find a good husband for her daughter. But somewhere she took a wrong turn. Sadly, what I've read of psychological analysis ignores the Queen and goes all out on the companions and the Princess.

My reading is that it’s the Queen's own wedding ring which she dropped into the Red Sea, never to be seen again (as she thinks). The Princess must have had a father after all. And after the Queen freed herself from a marriage which she considered insufferable, she wants to spare her daughter that fate. This leads to the cruel and toxic situation.

What I’m not a fan of, are the marriage/relationship interpretations of the remainder of the story. As I said, some of it is just plain misogynistic and Freud doesn’t improve this. Instead of seeing that the Princess is just trying to cancel the situation, her "tasks" have been interpreted as symbols of marriage as well. And in the end it all comes down to the difficulties of possessing a woman. Then poor Frosty got to hear a lot on frigidity. But what everyone in that department fails to see, is the closely related Six get through the World. That’s more an Ocean’s Eleven kind of story. An out-of-work soldier and his gifted recruits make a similar journey to steal the King’s treasure. Solving the Princess-marriage-task is a step of their plan. But they don’t even want the Princess, they make off with the money. Their Frosty doesn’t get burned as a proxy, he saves them from being roasted in a prison of iron by keeping it cool. I still think with the marriage theme The Six Servants makes a better story. If you don’t take it too serious in the wrong places.

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The Six Companions - Thoughts and Background (Part 1)

Background

As I said on the outset, Die sechs Diener (The Six Servants) is a very little-known story from Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Even in Germany it stands in the shadow of Sechse kommen durch die ganze Welt (Six get through the World), which is similar in structure, but much sillier in tone.

I only came across the story because it was featured in the 1999 TV show Simsala Grimm. It was the only fairytale in the series that I hadn’t known previously. Although I never liked the drawing-style, I enjoyed the story. I always loved the teamwork of the group and I liked that they were all outsiders before the Prince found them.

Some, like the Fat and the Long Fellow are always busting the limits of everyday life. Frosty and Keen-Eyes are more or less handicapped with their special abilities. What I already loved about the Simsala Grimm version were these little moments where someone has to guide Keen-Eyes, although he’s the strongest weapon they have and a really cool, scary guy. Listener reminds me a little of myself, trying to listen to the world despite the random noise his fellow-people make. After his introduction scene had posted, I discovered in another version of the story he doesn’t say he can hear the grass grow, but he can hear the dead sing. I’d totally have used this line if I’d known earlier.

Between Simsala Grimm and myself, there were quite a lot changes to the story:

Originally, there are three quests to win the Princess’ hand. The ring in the Red Sea is the first, and the night-watch is the third. In between there's an eating-contest, which the Fat Fellow wins of course. Frankly, I found that a bit boring and not visually interesting either. He had already drunk the Red Sea, and that’s a lot more unique as something the fat character does. And there’s no teamwork at all on this task.

In the third task, the Princess is just sealed in an ordinary mountain, without fire, so Long-Fellow and Keen-Eyes solve this alone.

(Long Fellow and Keen-Eyes arrive at the mountain. Illustration from 1835. Image: University Library Braunschweig*)

Then, after the Queen has poisoned her daughter’s heart, the story takes a bit of a misogynistic twist. She now becomes like her mother and sets the Prince a fourth task: He’s to sacrifice himself or one of his servants to be burned at the stake. She thinks he loves his servants so much that he’ll sacrifice himself. But of course he picks Frosty, who of course doesn’t burn. Again I thought this too much of a one-man-show, and also a bit stupid on the Princess’ part. It’s not even really a task. I went with the Simsala Grimm version where the fire comes in at the mountain. Especially as there is the fieriest of mountains available in Middle Earth World.

Simsala Grimm kept the Princess entirely good, and had the Queen send the army after the group herself. Which is fair enough for a children’s show. But I actually liked the idea that the Queen puts a psychological curse on her daughter, just as she escapes from her clutches. It’s totally understandable that the Princess suddenly panics. She’d rather stay in the marble prison she's used to than start a new life with a man she has known for 48 hours. So the army scenes are from the original. Also I love how the Red Sea suddenly comes back and adds a biblical dimension out of nowhere. Originally, it's the entire Red Sea which the Fat Fellow forgot to put back. I went with the Simsala Grimm modification that it was only a part. That's a bit more credible and also easier to shoot.

But still that’s not the end of the story. Then there’s also a taming-of-the-shrew miniature-version of King Thrushbeard at the end, in which the Princess gets cured from her “avarice”. The Prince pretends to be poor and she has to live with him in a lowly hut until she accepts her fate. The companions don’t appear in this episode at all. When the couple is finally reinstalled in their kingdom, the six servants suddenly reappear, only to ask leave to travel the world together.

I like King Thrushbeard because it's a realistic scenario: The Princess has long lost touch with the realities of life and judges her many courtiers solely by appearance. That's why we did it in Rococo style back in the day. Being thrown together with one humble man makes her appreciate him as a person and take responsibility. There's no magic in this story, and King Thrushbeard runs the show entirely on his own. Because he sees a good character underneath some bad habits.

This is The Six Servants / Companions though, and the story should be about them. That's why I ended with the return journey and made the Princess see the power of teamwork. It still makes her look a bit calculating, but she's a Princess raised by a power-hungry queen. Of course she'd judge her situation according to these values. She's not cruel though, so I'm optimistic she will learn what friendship and family really is and to use her sense of power to the best of the kingdom.

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The King was overjoyed to see his son again and welcome his bride and new friends.

Although his court was not as splendid as the Queen's, the Princess soon felt at home there, with her husband and his Six Companions.

Merry Christmas!

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When the Princess saw all this, she finally realized the Prince was more powerful than her mother, thanks to the friendship of his loyal companions.

He was just the man she would have picked for herself.

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Now Lookout saw the war-machinery coming up. He told Keen-Eyes what was going on and removed his blindfold.

Keen-Eyes gave one stern look and the war-machinery exploded.

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As the Queen’s horsemen appeared behind them, the Fat Fellow coughed up a little remnant of the Red Sea, which he had forgotten to put back.

The soldiers were caught in a swamp and narrowly escaped the same fate as the Pharaoh’s army.

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Listener had of course heard all the whispered words.

“What are we to do?”, he asked his companions. They did not want to give the misguided girl away and spoil the Prince’s happiness.

“Leave this to me!” said the Fat Fellow.

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Her mother’s words were like an arrow of poison to the girl’s heart.

It was as if the Queen’s proud spirit now ruled within her. All the love she had felt before was blotted out. She could not bear to be sold to the Prince as if she had no will at all.

She could only see her shame of having to leave her mother's palace to go with a stranger and his group of misfits.

Secretly she spoke to the captain of the guard. When the Prince carried her off, he was to send all his army and war-machinery after them and return her to her mother’s court.

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At twelve o’clock sharp, Long-Fellow ushered his two companions through the window, having fetched them back from the mountain. The Prince and the Princess were sitting together again, like nothing had happened.

A moment later, the Queen appeared with an evil smile, expecting the company to be in fear and confusion and her daughter three hundred miles away in a fiery mountain.

When the Queen saw her daughter in the Prince’s arms, it was her turn to fear. “Here’s someone who can do greater things than I”, she thought. But still she would not be defeated.

“Shame on you”, the Queen whispered to her daughter “You didn’t pick a husband for yourself, but had to take the first adventurer who won you.”

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The Frosty Fellow hurried through the fire, picked up the Princess and carried her through the flames.

“Really”, said Frosty, “I’ve never been so cold in all my life!”

Long-Fellow ran back to the palace with the Princess, hoping to be in time.

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Within five minutes they stood in front of the mountain. Keen-Eyes took off his blindfold and his sharp gaze pulverized the rock in front of them.

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He listened for a moment and then said: “I can hear her crying, sealed under stone in a fiery mountain three hundred miles from here.”

“I’ll be there in under five minutes”, said the Long Fellow. “And Keen-Eyes must come with me to clear the way.”

“I’d better come too”, said Frosty with a shiver.

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The companions slept until fifteen minutes to twelve. Then the spell was broken, just to let them feel their plight.

“Alas!” cried the Prince. “The Princess is gone!”

“I can’t see her anywhere on the face of the Earth!” Lookout added in dismay.

They all broke into lamentations, until suddenly Listener said: “Hush! If you can all be quiet for a moment, I’ll listen into the night and try to locate her.”

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For most of the night, the Queen’s task seemed like pure bliss to the Prince and the Princess. The moon was shining through the window and they were content to pass the hours just looking at each other. The company kept watch.

This went on until eleven o’clock. Then the old Sorceress cast a spell over them all, which made them fall asleep immediately. And a moment later, she had removed her daughter by magic.

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“Now this one sounds like an easy task”, the Prince said when they held council. “But I have a feeling it isn’t. We’d better be on our guard and prepared for anything.”

So, when the Queen brought her daughter at dusk, they all knew their positions: The Long Fellow curled himself up around the pair. The Fat Fellow stood in front of the door. Lookout and Listener were at their posts by the windows. Frosty and Keen-Eyes did their best to be watchful.

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“I trust that this is the right ring?”, said the Prince when they returned. “I have completed the task and have the honour of asking for your daughter’s hand in marriage.”

“Of course, of course…” The Queen eyed him thoughtfully. “But coming to think of it, it isn’t right to give my only child away to the first successful adventurer. I don’t know anything about you. Surely you will agree to a very small second task that proves you love her? Tonight, you will stay here in the palace and I will bring my daughter to your chamber. You must hold her in your arms until midnight. Nothing more. But if I don’t find her safe with you at that hour, your life is forfeit.”