Chef is the former chef of the Bergen Palace and the main antagonist of Trolls. She is voiced by Christine Baranski.
Background[]
Personality[]
Chef never was the same after the Trolls escaped Bergen Town. She had it all: a sterling reputation, throngs of admirers, and a coveted spot in the Royal Kitchen. In a way, she was happy. But everything she had built crumbled in an instant the day the Trolls fled in tunnels under the Troll Tree. This ended up getting the Chef banished from Bergen Town, causing her to vow to find the trolls "and shove them down their ungrateful throats". After 20 years in exile, her personality has changed for the worst, and she is now a power-mad, conniving, and aggressive Bergen, who plans to feed every Bergen a troll and become ruler of all Bergen Town.
Physical appearance[]
Chef is a tall and ugly bergen with purple skin and nails, yellow eyes with red irises, pink nose, pointy ears, and light blue hair, also with an enormous chin, and wears a chef hat, a white chef coat, a brown fanny pack, gold earrings, and black pants.
Role in the film[]
When the Bergens put the Trolls and their tree in a cage and hold an annual festival Trollstice in which each Bergen gets its feeling of happiness by eating a Troll, Chef was the one who was in charge of the Troll preparation. However, the Trolls, led by King Peppy, manage to escape through underground tunnels on the day that the Bergen crown prince Gristle would taste his first Troll. Enraged, the leader of the Bergens, King Gristle Sr., blames Chef for the Trolls' evasion and banishes her.
Twenty years later, King Peppy's daughter (and the film's protagonist), the extremely happy and optimistic Princess Poppy, throws a big party to celebrate the Trolls's escape, despite the fears and warnings of the grey grumpy glum Troll Branch that loud parties will attract the Bergens. Branch's fears are realized when indeed the banished Bergen Chef sees the fireworks and captures a vast number of Trolls. Poppy is one of the few Trolls who managed to hide but discovers that none of the other Trolls dare to venture to Bergen Town to rescue their friends. She is, however, able to recruit the reluctant Branch, and together, they go to Bergen Town.
Once at the Bergen Town, Poppy and Branch discover that their friends are being guarded by Chef's maid Bridget, and manages to strike a deal with her: if she frees their friends, they will help her get a date with the now King Gristle Jr. With the Trolls' advice (and hair), Bridget gets her date with Gristle and she helps the Trolls escape. However, things go wrong when Poppy and her friends try to rescue the last Troll, the Zen-like Troll Creek who after being apparently swallowed by the young king has been discovered being held captive in the jewel that decorates the king's mantle. While the Trolls are successful in stealing the jewel, they are dismayed to discover that it is empty and even more shocked by being immediately captured afterward by Chef and discovering that Creek has betrayed them to save his own life. Afterward, Chef sends Creek to the Troll village where using Poppy's cowbell he lures the other Trolls out of hiding, letting them be immediately captured by Chef and the other Bergen cooks who lie in ambush.
Fortunately, before being served, the Trolls are rescued by Bridget, who wants them to flee while she is ready to accept the Bergen's punishment for her "treason". However, Poppy does not want to abandon her Bergen friend. Together with the other Trolls, Poppy reveals that Bridget was, in fact, the king's mysterious date and that for being happy, it is not necessary to eat Trolls as the feeling that Bridget and the King had on their date was happy too. The Trolls invite the Bergens to sing and dance with them, making the grey creatures feel the happiness that was already inside them that they just needed help to access. However, The vengeful Chef, who sees her newly re-won position at court jeopardized, tries one last time to kill the Trolls. But before she can do so, she is knocked into the serving cart by a well-aimed spoon thrown by Bridget. Together with the traitor Creek, who was still in her pouch, Chef rolls out of the castle, winding up in the wilderness where she and Creek themselves are devoured by a big monster. In a novel/book, Chef washes dishes along with Creek, but they are not eaten alive by the monster.
Trivia[]
- Christine Barnaski, James Corden, and Anna Kendrick were actors from the film Into the Woods playing the Baker, the Stepmother, and Cinderella.
- In the end of the movie, Chef tries to eat Creek but they both get eaten in the end.
- When Chef and King Gristle Jr. were discussing bringing back Trollstice, Chef quietly said that she would be right behind Gristle, holding a knife, indicating that she may have been planning to depose Gristle by murdering him. Later she tells the Trolls that whoever controls the Trolls, also controls the Bergens. She also knew from the beginning that Gristle would fail due to having only a handful of Trolls when he announced the return of Trollstice, since Gristle wanted his people to celebrate with each getting a Troll. She talked him out of cancelling Trollstice despite his concerns.
- Chef is the sixth DreamWorks Animation character to be a female antagonist, following Mrs. Tweedy from Chicken Run, Eris from Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, Fairy Godmother from Shrek 2, Chantel DuBois from Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted and Ms. Grunion from Mr. Peabody & Sherman.
- Chef created the book "Cookin' with Trolls", which is seen in Trolls. Presuming that she created at each dish in the book at least once, and did experimentation, the number of Trolls that died to complete the book is very high. "Troll Slaw" alone sacrifices 9 Trolls to complete. In addition to the deaths of the Trolls involved, the recipe alone requires "shredded" Trolls, resulting in the Trolls often being killed in gruesome ways. Despite the books existence, the Trolls give the feeling of happiness when eaten whole - making the books recipes completely unrequired. The book is more of a testament to her cruelty, then it is to a practicality.
- According to "The Art of DreamWorks Trolls", Chef gained her position because she was the best chef in Bergen Town. The role came with full access to the Trolls and gave her a celebrity status among her people. However, the drawback was that when the final Trollstice went wrong, King Gristle Sr. purposely put the full blame onto her to escape the unruly wrath of the Bergens. This is why she hated the royal family, viewing them as cowards for blaming her for everything.