The Folk of the Four Realms[1] are background characters who appear in the 2018 Disney live-action film The Nutcracker and the Four Realms.
Background[]
The folk of the Four Realms wear distinct clothings of color to represent what realm they come from in addition to containing regents Hawthorne, Shiver, and Sugar Plum. For instance, the citizens from the Land of Flowers wear green clothes to represent the colors of vegetation, the ones from the Land of Snowflakes wear white and blue clothes to represent the colors of winter, and the ones from the Land of Sweets wear pink clothes to represent the pink color used on confectionary. They are shown to view Clara as a heroine, as they recognize that she is the daughter of Marie Stahlbaum who was the original queen of the Palace before her death.
In addition to serving as residents of the Four Realms, the Palace also includes staff (aside from the Ballerina Princess and other pageant dancers) who work in the Palace, such as Palace Guards, Trumpeters who blow fanfares, or a Conductor who conducts an orchestra performing a pageant visualized in the form of a ballet such as the story of the Four Realms.
Role in the the film[]
As Clara enters the Palace with Phillip, they encounter various people who wear clothes representing colors from the distinct kingdoms they come from while the trumpeters announce their arrival as the citizens view Clara and Phillip as heroes just before being approaches by regents Hawthorne, Shiver, and Sugar Plum who are worried that Marie Stahlbaum, who was the queen of the Palace, died, just before showing Clara the original throne of her late mother and later discussing a tour of the Realms through a pageant. As Clara arrives at the grand stage, the trumpeters sound a fanfare while Shiver and Hawthorne announce the arrival of Princess Clara where she was applauded by the folk on her way to watch the ballet pageant. Later, as the ballet begins, a conductor begins to conduct an orchestra with the Ballerina Princess performing on stage which tells the story of the Four Realms as portrayed by dancers.
As the Ballerina Princess dances, flower backdrops and flower themed windmills appear on stage dancing with people dressed as residents of the Land of Flowers to represent the First Realm which she dances with the Flower Cavalier just before the scene transitions into the Land of Snowflakes. During the transition, dancers wearing snowflake-themed clothing representing the Second Realm dance together while the Ballerina dances with the Snow Cavalier while a large steamboat prop moves across the stage with snowflakes falling and later the Land of Sweets. As the scene transitions to the Land of Sweets, the Ballerina dances with the Sweets Cavalier and dancers representing residents of the Third Realm. Suddenly, the vision pans to Clara and Sugar Plum traveling across the Lands of Sweets, Flowers, and Snowflakes respectively, interpreting of what the people would do if they visited their homes.
The ballet pageant then continues with props representing the Land of Amusements where a dancer wearing a mouse costume appears while Sugar Plum narrates that the Fourth Realm was where all the troubles began with Mother Ginger. Dancers dressed as clockwork mice appear and dance briefly with the Ballerina avoiding them, which Sugar Plum thinks that she would be the one who would put an end to the war. The ballet pageant then ends with the backdrops representing the Four Realms and the Palace respectively.
The next day, Clara puts on a soldier outfit and gathers an army of soldiers to approach the Fourth Realm, which the army walks on the lowered drawbridge for the, to march towards the Fourth Realm. As they arrive, the army halts to see an arch modeled after a clown and as they search the Realm, they approach the remains of the amusement park and amongst one of the landmarks they pass through is a monkey statue with a mouse perched on its head. While exploring, Clara and the soldiers equipped with lanterns approach an abandoned swinging ride but not before some soldiers unexpectedly become caught by an unseen entity, just before gathering at the carousel to avoid getting caught into a trap. Clara then turns on the lights of the carousel to help the soldiers see what they would fight, which it is revealed that the mice have arrived, attacking Clara and the other soldiers, forcing Clara and the other soldiers to retreat just before she gets taken to Mother Ginger.
After Clara opened the music box whom her mother Marie gave to her using the key she retrieved from Mother Ginger, Clara passes by the citizens of the Four Realms inside the Palace and then approaches Sugar Plum - only to find out that she betrayed not just her and Phillip, but also the citizens of the Four Realms. Sugar Plum orders the guards to use the Engine to create an army of toy soldiers to conquer the Four Realms. As Clara tries to stop Sugar Plum from interfering, she orders the soldiers to hold Clara, Phillip, Hawthorne, and Shiver hostage.
Furthermore, Clara manages to bring in peace for all the Realms by having Sugar Plum turned into the size of a lifeless porcelain doll, causing all the folk of the Four Realms to celebrate their victory. With peace restored, the citizens of the Four Realms congratulate Clara for being a heroine for all her efforts in putting peace just before leaving home to reunite with her family.
Trivia[]
- Due to the fact that there are many adult citizens of the Four Realms, there does not appear to be a single child amongst them.
- Other credited folk of the Four Realms besides a lot of incidental actors playing various folk of the Four Realms and the conductor being credited include the Flower Cavalier (portrayed by Max Westwall), the Snow Cavalier (portrayed by Aaron Smyth), and the Sweets Cavalier (portrayed by Sergei Polunin) respectively.
- Despite the Sweets Cavalier appearing very briefly in the film dancing with the Ballerina Princess, Polunin was credited in the film's starring cast section of the end credits.
References[]
- ↑ The Nutcracker and the Four Realms: The Dance of the Realms book
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