#mumindalen

a sketch inspired by pin

The two loverboys♡

MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE SNUFKIN SCENE –💥Snufkin literally blowing up the kitchen to murder the Ancestor!🧨

I quickly made the subtitles myself (with English names to make it more "accessible" as footage). This took place at the end of episode 16 Förfadern försvinner ("The Ancestor disappears"), which while he did disappeared from the show however he just hid inside his home of the tiled stove so the title partially lied. Förfadern (the Ancestor) is my favorite character in Mumindalen 1973 where he's adorable and fun. He acts like a tiny mischievous gremlin that makes tiny gremlin-like noises (and I really want that puppet!). Förfadern is otherwise silent in the books (often socially uninterested in Trollvinter and doing non-verbal gestures like stomping in Sent i november), quiet groans or mumbling like a confused old man in Trollvinter i Mumindalen 2018, snorts like a swine in Mumindalen 2019-2025.

More info about Mumindalen 1973 at my Yule/Christmas post.

You probably wonder how the hell we got here...

While Mumindalen 1973 was mostly one-by-one recreation of the books, especially the Trollvinter 1957 section which half of the calendar show took place, it mixes with multiple stories afterwards (most of the new lines and narration aligns with the original mainline books' style, tone and humor). Förfadern (the Ancestor) continue making appearance after the end of Trollvinter section. This extended Förfadern episode is partially based on Historien om den sista draken i världen (that dragon short-story of the anthology book Det osynliga barnet och andra berättelser 1962) where Förfadern's role is similar to the baby dragon (and bits a lot). There he became a living Rorschach ink test as everyone projects their own perception onto him, really confused who the hell he's supposed to be.

Snorkfröken (Snorkmaiden) seems to think he's a pet or a child, calling him cute and ask his name (taken directly from Sista draken short story except it's Förfadern rather than the baby dragon).

Muminpappan seems to view him as some archaeologic discovery enthusiastically explaining how the ancestors survives in his usual pseudo-scientific ways where he said scholars believes it's "partial mummification" and determination ("sisu" if it was Finnish) and that they are stubborn and never change opinions.

Snusmumriken (Snufkin) also seems to view Förfadern as a naughty untrained pet, apparently established himself as his exhausted pet owner trying to assert dominance to discipline him (which is ironic, he hates possessions, let alone responsible for a pet, in favor for independence and solitude), apparently later a dangerous house-spirit or pest that needs euthanized when trying to explode him, into a pet again when that failed.

Mumintrollet (Moomintroll) has the wildest shift of perception from close relative, to pet to apparently a plushie.

Lilla My seems to be the one closest to the truth as a tiny strange old man and sick and weirded out with everyone's nonsensical infantilizing projections.

Snusmumriken's questionable personal hygiene habits...

Just like the baby dragon, Förfadern has an unexplained fondness and attachment to Snusmumriken. However Snusmumriken has a bizarre rationalization that it was because his hat stinks as much as Förfadern does (although more "hemtrevligare" as in more "homely" as Snusmumriken says however whatever he refers to Förfadern or himself being "more homely" is ambiguous) since he haven't wash it for a very long time nor fell into any river lately. I have already suspect his personal hygiene and this seems confirm he only get clean when falling into water or by rain. Snusmumriken has always been rather hilariously unromantic, silly, goofy and slightly unpleasant which I love and embrace. Both contradictable dumb as well as wise like most characters and real life people (his original unromantic Swedish name already does the work, an old colloquial humorous slang often used for peculiar or slightly unpleasant people in real life).

This reminds me of the comic strips he always bathes fully clothed. I satirically imagine he never takes off his clothes because afraid to lose his recognizable identity or one of those people afraid of seeing themselves naked. He literally feels naked without clothes, both physically and psychologically. So I imagine him using the sauna fully clothed as well.

In Trollkarlens hatt 1948 (3rd book) it's mentioned "han trivdes med den gamla kostym han hade haft på sig sedan han föddes (var och hur vet ingen)" ("He was content with the old costume he had already since he got born (where and how no one knows)") to explain his ignorance of "ägandets glädje" ("the joy of ownership") when humorously presents Trollkarlen's hat as a furniture while "grina" (either grinning or laughing, he happens to be the one character who laughs the most, might be one of many aspects he reflects Tove Jansson herself). While the design of his green oversized overcoat variates a lot even within the same book/comic strip arc, that passage likely refers to him wearing the same type of fashion rather than being a part of his biology or dragged the same oversized outfit on the ground as a child.

In Muminpappans memoarer (Tove Jansson’s longer recent edition of Muminpappans bravader in Swedish that English mostly ignores although all three are like three different books), Muminpappan’s first impression of Joxaren is that Muminpappan has this vibe of not washing himself for a very long time and not intended to do so and I think Snusmumriken might inherent his father’s questionable personal hygiene habits (heavily altered Joxaren’s introduction where instead of a stranger clumsily fell from the window at their houseboat, he becomes Fredriksson’s acquaintance that Rådd-djuret didn’t know and mistook Joxaren from trespassing Fredriksson's ship which Joxaren don't care. Anyway, Joxaren himself is definitely always goofy, clumsy, lazy and unromantic by design across all versions as much as he’s clever, very fitting with his name being a Swedish colloquial term with too many contrasting meanings depending on context. More of this in later posts.).

While these might be character-specific quirks, some trolls in Swedish folklore sometimes noted showering in the rain in the sunlight (they tend to not be sensitive to light like Norwegian trolls do, they are highly diverse). (Yes those are trolls, there's brief summary about that and links at my New Years post)

Although that goddamn 90s anime adaptation broke the streak (no pun intended) so I sarcastically interpret it as just a staged commercialized reality show reenacting events in sanitized version but they pressingly bribed him for 5 seconds awkward fanservice gig for 5000€ with he agreed only just so that everyone could take a break go on vacation together rather than die from overworking burnout where Hemulen passed out for the 7th time from heatstroke. Afterwards he continues bathing fully clothed so all that 5 seconds fanservice with fake smile (while dying inside) became false advertisement. So combined with the knowledge from Trollkarlens hatt 1948, that might be the only time he took off his clothes for his entire life all for a gig. No one wants that, it's like Super Mario without his mustache, Mickey mouse without ears or Sonic without spines.

Keep in mind these interpretations of mine are more like possibilities or humor for fun, especially across mediums and adaptations (even the mainline books themselves lacks consistencies such as Förfadern's age is 1000 in Trollvinter but 300 in Sent i november). I never truly really believe Mumintrollen (Moomin) has fixed rigged "lore/canon", it's a flexible developing series like Donald Duck comics and Les Schtroumpf (the Smurfs). The only "lore/canon" are few basic fundamental "rules" like IF Mumintrollet has parents, they are Muminpappan and Muminmamman. However things like whatever My (later books), Sniff (early comic strip arcs) or even Rådd-djuret (a continuous theater tradition of him being Mumintrollet's peer or younger that predates Muminpappans bravader) are adopted depends on the story but never an universal fact.

Förfadern's shenanigans accelerates

Just like the Sista draken short story, Snusmumriken don't appreciates Förfadern's emotional attachment. When Mumintrollet compliments that it's fun that Förfadern likes him, Snusmumriken dismiss it by calling Förfadern a "gammal gaggig råtta" ("old senile rat") but also says "snart så lär han sig vem som är husse i huset" ("Soon he'll learn who's the pet owner in the house.", "husse" means male pet owner and Google Translate mistranslate it as "boss"). That last line was borrowed from the Sista draken short story before Snusmumriken departs with "Ett par timmar till så vet den vem som är dens husse. Nå. Ge dig av. Flyg till husse." ("A couple of hours more and it know who's its husse. Come on. Go away. Fly to husse.") where the last lines refers to Mumintrollet although the last lines didn't make it to Mumindalen 1973 so it becomes ambiguous what Snusmumriken means. His gesture was ambiguous if he points at Mumintrollet or just raising his pipe to look more clear. If Snusmumriken suddenly establish himself husse of the house, it sounds like he's going to throws his dirty muddy boots onto the table as if he owns the place like a boss.

Förfadern overly enthusiastically trying to assist Snusmumriken by gifting him "offerings" like a piece of wheat bread, old crumbs, a dead winter fly he found at the sugar bowl, 13 sugar cubes (shown him just pours everything from the sugar bowl) and a bit of a coffee cozy, all this Förfadern put directly into Snusmumriken's coffee cup.

Just like the baby dragon, Förfadern bits a lot, often when felt threatened but also for no particular reasons. Lilla My (she's big here and should be called Stora My!) thinks it's because you show fear and tries to approach Förfadern and we got this best scene of Lilla My getting bitten by Förfadern with exclaiming "DITT LILLA AS!". In the Sista draken short story, Lilla My even exclaims "Din fan!" which did carry its way in Mumindalen 2019-2025 in the Finland-Swedish dub (although did that so casually that it sounded normal). Lilla My really love the word "as" a lot and she sounds like a tiny little gangster doing so in Mumindalen 1973, calling Förfadern "asgammal" and even has a song starting with "Haha ditt lilla as!". Swearing is a common norm in Sweden regardless of target audience. While rarely encourage you to use Google Translate, I encourage you spell these fine phrases on Google Translate and you get various results depending on capital letters and punctuations, sometimes you get something more vulgar so have fun!

Mumintrollet thinks Förfadern is understimulated and gave him a squirrel wheel he made so that he could use as treadmill which Förfadern got pissed and threw it away. Lilla My calls out that he's not a squirrel who want to spin a wheel but a tiny old man. Lilla My gets weirded out when Mumintrollet told her he want to let Förfadern sleep on his pillow (despite repeatedly bitten like a stubborn child refusing to admit his plushy has sharp needles), Lilla My suddenly roasts Mumintrollet with “Och DU vill sova med någon som är 1000 år?!” (“And YOU want to sleep with someone who’s 1000 years?!”, keep in mind “sleep” is not a suggestive euphemism in Swedish). Of course Mumintrollet comically missed the point and nervously explains he don't think about his age much but because his tiny size.

And there after we got the scene when Snusmumriken wants to murder that poor little creature for either losing his patience or found him dangerous.

Possible logical reasons why using explosives...

While it's just a sudden brief cartoony gag without much explanations, there's possible logical reasons behind why Snusmumriken want to use a saucepan full of gunpowder against Förfadern.

Gunpower as practical survival toolkit: As a wanderer, carry gunpowder in his backpack could be practical such as he could use to clear blocked passages, light signal fires and scare away threats rather than weapons.

Mercy logic: There could be a mercy logic where he tries to "euthanize" Förfadern where something must end quickly and painless which explosive strangely enough fit that logic. Also, explosives don't leave bodies to grief over.

Indoor oversight: As someone who rarely indoors and spent most of his time outdoors, Snusmumriken might be so used with open spaces that he have oversight with enclosed rooms. He did live in Muminhuset (the Moominhouse) as Mumintrollet's roommate for a while in Trollkarlens hatt (3rd book) but he might have forgot that. You wouldn't really trust him to take responsibility alone at the kitchen, it's like letting a wild deer take responsibility for the microwave. That's simply outside his knowledge and outdoor lifestyle.

Snusmumriken seems to initially admit he feels bad to murder such a cute little creature with "Det här är väl inte snällt förstås..." ("This certainly isn't nice of course...") but immediately start rationalize "...men en 1000-årig förfader tål nog besvikelser bättre än ett mumintroll" ("... but a 1000-year old ancestor can probably handle disappointments better than a Mumintroll) as if he thinks the creature is old anyway, had lived a whole life and maybe manage the emotional fallout afterwards, even if he was ancient. Snusmumriken remains strangely polite as always even during attempted murder with saying "ursäkta..." as in "pardon me..." right before lit the saucepan full of gunpowder and tries to run away.

Aftermath

Förfadern unexpectedly survives the explosion like a Looney Tunes cartoon so Snusmumriken just exploded the Mumin household's kitchen in vain. So right afterwards Snusmumriken just bathes Förfadern like a soot-covered kitten or toddler in a bucket full of water and wiping with a towel which panics Förfadern. Förfadern bits Snusmumriken and ran off hiding inside the tiled stove (still continue making angry gremlin noises in the background).

Snusmumriken grumpily walks towards Mumintrollet and told him he doesn't believe they two were related and show his bitten index finger. In low resolution it hilariously looks exactly like it was the middle-finger as if Snusmumriken flipped the bird at Mumintrollet which would be hilariously very fitting with the context of his grumpy mood for getting bitten and previously exploding the kitchen as if he projects his anger against his best friend. As if Förfadern knew exactly what finger to bite just to make Snusmumriken to flip off everyone everytime he show Förfadern's bite mark. That's one old man's "F you!" cursing response to a youth trying to confront him by biting his middle finger so he got a curse to flip off everyone.