Hans Trapp (Companions of Christmas)
$10.00
One of the SchweizerCraft "Companions of Christmas" series (#F 08)
Hans Trapp (once known as Hans Von Trotha) was a German knight in who, in the 1480s, forcibly took possession of a castle fortress that had belonged to a monastery. When the monastery protested, Hans dammed up the nearby river, first depriving the monastery and the town that surrounded it of water, then releasing the water all at once to flood and wreck the town.
Because of this, his generally defiant attitude to the church, and other attacks on the monks, he was excommunicated by the pope, and stripped of his courtly positions and made an outlaw by Emperor Maximilian I.
Losing his earthly position (as well as his heavenly one) drove Hans mad with, first, anger, and then despair, and he survived his outlawry by disguising himself as a scarecrow and falling upon unwary traveler unlucky enough to pass by the fields in which he had laid his trap. Thus he eked out an increasingly miserable existence by predatory cannibalism.
Eventually he found that children made the easiest targets, and this drew the attention of Santa, whose raison d'être is the protection of kids. Santa and Piet went to confront Hans; Piet used himself as bait to draw Hans out, and, when Hans revealed himself, the two North Polers captured him.
By this point, Hans was barely more than an animal, driven by fury and hatred and pain. Though confined, Hans was made comfortable, and Santa spent years working with him, drawing out the humanity that lay hidden inside the monster. First came Hans’s reason, then something he’d never had, or at least never developed: empathy.
A contrite Hans knew that he could never undo the terrible things that he had done, but he could devote himself fully to using his knightly skills to prevent wrongs ever after. He is now the Guardian of the Pole; Santa has enemies, and Hans, who took a vow of silence in penance, ensures that none of them lay a finger on the man who showed him mercy and purpose, that Santa might forever continue to aid children without hindrance.
1/4” Baltic Birch, roughly 3.75” tall
This figure can be purchased individually here, or with the 25-figure Advent Collection.
Figure comes with a 2.75 x 8.5” card telling his story. The card fits in the story shelf on the Santa’s Workshop DisPlayset.
