Illustrations by Anton Lomaev, who sets this version during the Roaring 20s:
The trolls having lots of fun before making (and shattering) the Magic Mirror.
You can see Laurel and Hardy impersonators, a general, a typewriter, Napoleon and Livingstone impersonators... these trolls are also tiny. Their leader (Satan? Loki?) looks like a human gentleman, but his shadow is that of a demonic troll!
Gerda and Kai in their vertical garden in their provincial town.
Both of them are golden-haired middle-class kids, and there is a café
on the bottom floor of Gerda's place
This Snow Queen gives less "goddess" and more "noblewoman".
Her dress style is more old-fashioned than the Clever Princess and other flappers
in this storybook universe - like, two decades before them.
Kai playing the drum - looks like he's a boy scout in this universe
In the bottom right you can see Kai having hitched his sledge to the Snow Queen's... car? In a provincial town like this, before tin lizzies, a Daimler-Benz like that would make quite the stir!
In bed she looks more vulnerable - and she wears a candycane-striped pyjamas that, along with her flapper's bob haircut, makes her look androgynous, like an anime character
A very fond farewell. Notice the Robber Maiden is wearing guns and a jackknife to defend herself.
Back in town, in springtime - now young adults, yet children at heart
Kai as co-pilot in the Snow Queen's motor car! Yes, she has a motor car - that works by magic, I presume
Gerda and the Lady of the Garden (at whose place it is always spring).
The Lady appears to be as old as time - she is wearing an Elizabethan collar
(maybe she has made a Philosopher's Stone!)
The nutcracker guards are Potsdam Grenadiers (but maybe some Scandinavian regiment has uniforms like these)?
The Clever Princess and her prince are both Brainy Brunettes and in their 20s (the usual age).
She is a flapper, while he is a young gentleman. Both of them looking quite progressive and fashionable.
The fountain in the royal garden shows Hercules fighting some sea monster, with turtles in the corners.
The royal crest appears in the horses' apparel and on the carriage: a simple crown.
The butler looks quite professional (a middle-aged fellow dressed up like a penguin), while the coachman and footmen wear a mix of 1920s and 18th-century liveries.
Here the Clever Princess is singing royalty - like Rumi in K-PDH, but actual royalty!
She reads all newspapers in the world (in the original languages) to read reviews of her performances...
An international celebrity, irradiating charisma
Right before she had the idea of getting married.
A fond farewell to Gerda in their very best winter clothes
The ambush in the Dark Forest.
All the robbers look like they're Romani and like they're all family.
The Robber Woman was about to shoot Gerda, but her daughter the Robber Maiden pardoned the blonde and took her fur muff.
The Robber Maiden looks like Ronia Robberdaughter, by Astrid Lindgren,
while her mum looks like the same character as an adult.
Entering the Robbers' fortress, here a medieval keep, as usual.
You can see the campfire where they cook all their rabbits on the courtyard - and also the Robber Maiden's reindeer - foreshadowing that Gerda will ride him to the tundra!
They look like they have shared an intimate kiss after sharing a bed - headcanon: Robber Maiden is a lesbian and Gerda discovered she is bisexual after sharing a futon with her in the fortress!
Outside the Laplady's home in the tundra - looks like a hobbit hole.
The Laplady is dressed in Saami folk garb
Supper with the Laplady, who is reading a message written by a friend on a lutefisk (salted cod).
For supper there is kalakukko (Finnish fish pie, that square pie), lingonberries, and lichens for the reindeer.
I wonder what's in Gerda's tankard - could be koskenkorva (Finnish vodka), but that's too strong for a teen. Mulled mead would be the most likely.
Gerda has Arctic ice on her head because the Laplady's home is practically a sauna!
Reunion in the throne room. Both lovers are now young adults.
A war plane and an ocean liner are trapped in the throne room,
and there is a taxidermied polar bear rug right before the throne.
He is wearing a military-style uniform, most surely his boy scout's uniform,
which grew with him at the ice palace - magic once more!
The throne room is so vast that a war plane - sent on an Arctic expedition - is embedded on the ice floor.
Right before she warms his heart...
The final illustration: Gerda and Kai as young adults with both grannies and most townspeople
A family portrait! The photo is b/w because Roaring 20s...
This version is one of my favourites, sharing first place with Christian Birmingham and Miss Clara!
PS: Please read my Snow Queen fics on this blog!
The Queen Beyond the Wall is set in Westeros, starring Brienne (as Gerda), Jaime (as Kai), the Night's Queen (as guess whom?), and other Westerosi characters (to mention: Renly and Loras as a queer Prince and Princess)!
La Fée Verte is set in 19th-century France, starring Enjolras (as Gerda), Grantaire (as Kai), the Green Fairy (as the Snow Queen), and other Les Mis characters (to mention: Éponine as a pretty feisty Robber Maiden)!
