East of Sun West of Moon

Here are the character designs I came up with for my final project in my Folk and Fairytale class this semester. Awesome class! For our final, we got to take an existing fairytale and pitch it as a production proposal for a Disney movie. I chose to do "East of the Sun and West of the Moon." This story was my favorite we read all semester. It's an enchanted bridegroom story, meaning it's kind of along the same lines as Beauty and the Beast.

Anyway, here's a plot summary of what the Disney version would look like. I changed some characters and plot elements from the traditional version.

.............................................

The movie follows the trials of Callan, a girl in her late teens raised in northern Europe in a large family around the end of the 16th century. Callan is the oldest child, and her father has recently become ill, so Callan and her mother must support the family. Her mother is forced to leave the home and journey into the enchanted forest to seek the help of a feared wizard to heal Callan’s father. Afraid that her mother will not survive the journey, Callan sneaks out of the house the night before so that her mother will not have to go.

She becomes lost in a snowstorm and finds a White Bear ensnared in a trap. The bear tells her the wizard Mardrom is trying to capture him, but before Callan can journey home, the blizzard blocks the mountain pass. The White Bear brings Callan back to his hidden castle in the mountain to ride out the storm. It is revealed that the White Bear is really a prince named Peter. The evil Mardrom wants to capture Peter, but most of all, the wizard wants his daughter, Brigita, to marry Peter so that Mardrom and his daughter will obtain Peter’s kingdom and wealth.

When the passage home clears, Callan returns home, but is sad to leave Peter, who has shown that even though he may be a bear on the outside, he is still very human within. Callan has even caught him sleeping on occasion and seen his true form, a handsome prince obscured by the darkness of the castle.

When she returns home, Callan finds her father in worse condition. If he does not receive a cure soon, he will die. Mardrom has given her mother an enchanted candle to give to Callan. If wax from the candle drips on Peter while he is sleeping, then the wizard will be able to find him. Callan’s mother agrees to do this only if Mardrom heals her husband and promises Callan will not be harmed. Her mother gives her the candle and instructs her to attempt to view Peter in his human form.

Callan later returns to Peter's castle. There, her curiosity gets the better of her, and she uses the candle to light the room where he is sleeping and accidentally drips wax onto him. The wax allows Mardrom to find the location of the mountain castle, and he magically transports him to the castle that is East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Callan must then find the castle so she can save Peter from marrying Brigita. In the Asbjørnsen and Moe version, the daughter has a nose three ells long. Brigita has a longish nose, but her personality, which is harsh and uncompassionate, is more unflattering than her physical appearance.

With the help of the four Wind Brothers who transport her to the castle, Callan tricks Brigita and her father into renouncing their claim on Peter. Mardrom and Brigita get their just desserts, and Callan and Peter live happily ever after.