Knife Family

Knife Family is the familyship ship between Jim Lake Jr. and Walter Strickler from the Tales of Arcadia fandom.

Canon
For a long time Jim only knew Walter Strickler as his history teacher who had taken a shine to him and had given Jim the nickname "Young Atlas." As Jim had taken it upon himself to help his hard-working mother, try to do well in school and was having trouble approaching the girl he liked, Strickler felt that, like the cursed Greek titan, Jim bears the weight of the world on his shoulders. This is why he offers Jim his help and support. As for Jim, his father left him and his mother when he was young and his history teacher showing him kindness had gotten Jim to view him as a father-like.

After Jim finds the Amulet of Daylight, Strickler sees it poking out of Jim's bag and knows right away that Jim had been chosen to become the next Trollhunter, making them enemies. Since he had already offered Jim his help with the said boy's home life, Strickler uses it as a means to get closer to Jim without raising suspicion, although Jim isn't so fond of the "affectionate" way Strickler and his mother act towards one another. The weight of the world is truly placed on Jim's shoulders as he is tasked to protect both his world and the hidden world of trolls, one that Strickler is a part of, albeit on the opposite side. Strickler is a changeling (an impure troll, altered by the sorceress Morgana, with the ability to transform into a human) who is trying to free Gunmar while serving under Bular. Jim has no idea that Strickler is a changeling and when Toby speculates that he could be one, Jim finds the notion unlikely.

During the first part of Jim's struggles and training, Strickler instructs Bular not to kill Jim as his death or disappearance would attract unwanted attention. Bular, on the other hand, feels that Strickler is still soft for Jim and comes up with ways to attack Jim without sharing his plans with the changeling. He shares his thoughts with his father, Gunmar, before Bular and Jim have a brief battle. As Jim runs away from Bular, the troll calls him "Young Atlas," Strickler's nickname for the boy, helping Jim to finally realise that Strickler isn't who he appears to be. Strickler finds out Bular's actions and how it is a test the two trolls set to see whether he is truly on their side and wouldn't let the fondness he still had for Jim stop him. His loyalty is not entirely believed, no matter how many times Strickler tells his masters that it is true. After that revelation, Jim and Strickler begin acting hostile towards one another. When Strickler goes over to Jim's house for dinner, the two battle each other without Barbara's knowledge until Strickler manages to switch Jim's amulet with a fake so the Trollhunter wouldn't know that he has taken it. When he tries to open the bridge, Strickler learns that they need Jim to do so, as only the Trollhunter could activate the amulet. Strickler captures Blinky, whom he views as Jim's father figure, to force Jim's hand. Jim comes and opens the bridge to ensure Blinky's safety. However, he and his allies are able to slay Bular and destroy the bridge, thus ending Strickler's plan.

After Jim defeats Bular and made sure that Gunmar was kept imprisoned within the Dark Land, it allowed Strickler to realize that his kind would always be considered as impures to all trolls and that it was time for the changelings to rule themselves. To ensure that Jim doesn't get in his way, again, Strickler summons the Trollhunter assassin, Angor Rot, to deal with him and begins spending time with Jim's mother. At first, Strickler was only getting closer to Barbara Lake in order to gain an advantage over Jim and to make him angry out of spite, but in the end Strickler realised that he had fallen in love with Jim's mother. Those feelings, however, didn't stop Strickler from using Barbara as a means to keep Jim from attacking him when he used a binding spell to tie their fates together, meaning each would suffer the injuries of the other. Jim felt powerless when he learned this from Strickler, and tried to find a way to undo the spell.

After Jim accidentally destroyed Angor Rot's soul, the assassin set out after Strickler, who had been controlling him. Strickler, having been abandoned by the Janus Order, turned to Jim for protection. Jim reluctantly agreed, since if Strickler was killed his mother would be too. He allowed Strickler to stay at his house while his mother was working a long weekend, and the two worked together to prepare booby traps for Angor Rot's eventual arrival. Strickler even remarked that he was surprised at how well they worked together, although Jim made it clear that he was only helping Strickler for his mother's sake and he would still "take [him] down after all this is over." The two were prepared for Angor's arrival that night, but were surprised when Barbara came home early. She subsequently found out the truth about Jim being a Trollhunter, and both Jim and Strickler tried to help comfort her. This interaction was cut short when Angor came and attacked Jim. Strickler made Barbara stay in the basement and left to help Jim, fighting alongside him for the first time. The two managed to trap Angor Rot in a stasis spell, but Barbara came upstairs and inadvertently freed him. Angor then managed to land a hit on Strickler, and therefore Barbara, with his poisoned blade. The three managed to escape to the car, where they are pursued by Angor Rot. Jim directs Strickler to drive to Troll Market, where Vendel will be able to help them.

Upon arriving, Jim stands up for Strickler when he is treated harshly by the trolls for being a changeling. Strickler tells Jim where Toby and Claire can find the instructions to break the bonding spell, and is put in a cell while Barbara is treated by Vendel. While waiting, Strickler calls for Jim and tells him that he will not go through with the ceremony to sever the magic bond between him and Barbara unless Jim promises his protection, as the trolls in the area are openly hostile toward him. Jim reluctantly agrees and the ceremony is performed, causing Strickler immense pain. It also makes Barbara forget about Jim being a Trollhunter and Strickler being a changeling, as well as about Angor Rot and the battle that wrecked part of the house and the car. After the ceremony, Strickler is put back in the cell. Claire realises that, while she was getting the instructions for the spell, Angor Rot stole her key to Troll Market. Strickler helped Jim and the trolls prepare for the upcoming attack and even guides Jim to cut Angor Rot's eye, revealing the heartstone inside. After this, Jim had Strickler leave in the Gire, as neither he nor the trolls trusted him to fight alongside them. Strickler remarked that he was impressed by Jim's integrity and honesty, and that Jim had once again "proven why you are the hero, and I am..." Jim added that Strickler was someone who could change, and Strickler responded that Jim's idealism was "nearly contagious." Before leaving, Strickler gives Jim the eye of Gunmar, which he has been holding onto for centuries, and wishes Jim luck.

When Jim and his friends are discussing their parents, Jim mentions that the closest thing he ever had to a father "turned out to be a changeling." This proves that Jim saw Strickler as a definite father figure.

At the end of Part Two, shortly after Jim and his friends were able to save a handful of trolls when Gunmar took over Troll Market, he returned home to find Strickler in his house with Nomura. The two offer to help train him, and Jim smiles upon hearing their proposal.

After Jim brings Nomura out of the Darklands with him, she tracks down Strickler and convinces him to return to Arcadia with her so they can help Jim prepare for his upcoming battle with Gunmar. Knowing that Jim's humanity will prove a fatal weakness if Jim doesn't awaken his inner killer, Strickler and Nomura begin to secretly train him in the sewers. Since Blinky is busy with the escaped trolls and hasn't had time to continue Jim's training, Jim feels lucky to have Strickler's help on the matter, although he isn't so fond on the way Strickler fights during their training sessions, as well as keeping them a secret from Blinky who isn't aware of the changelings' return or the way they are training Jim. He also keeps Strickler's return a secret from his mother, who is still in love with him and was hurt when he left.

When the teachers at Jim's school are affected after accidentally consuming gravesand, Jim decides he would have to be the one to emotionally bond with Strickler. Strickler forced Jim to fight him and, when defeated, tried to convince Jim to deal a fatal blow. Jim, however, refused, and was able to emotionally connect with Strickler by telling him that his mother still had feelings for him. Later, when Claire was possessed by Morgana, Jim once again turned to Strickler for help, and trusted him to keep a portal open while Jim and Toby went in to rescue Claire's soul.

Fanon
Due to the fact that Strickler is a father-like figure to Jim, has formed a soft spot for him and is in a relationship with Jim's mother, fans view Strickler as Jim's future step-father and commonly ship them as a family. Some of the ship's fanwork includes Barbara due to her being Jim's mother and Walter's romantic partner, even though it is mostly focused on Jim and Strickler. In some AUs that have Jim as a half-human Changeling, Strickler uncovers ChangelingJim and takes him under his wing. During the time of their antagonist relationship, however, fans prefer to have Blinky as Jim's father figure. The age gap between them hasn't stopped a few fans from shipping them romantically, but many others prefer to ship them as friends or family-like figures to one another.

After Wizards ended with a cliff-hanger, as well as the fact that the amulet's destruction and Jim not being able to pull Excalibur from the ground has slightly shattered his confidence, some fanfics have Jim turning to Strickler for help and advice with the things that are worrying him. Those fanfics also have Strickler helping Jim to accept his new siblings and work through the struggle of what the Green Knight and the Arcane Order had forced Jim to do.

On AO3, the ship has 41 gen fanfics and 16 romantic fanfics, while FanFiction.net has 39 with only 1 placed under pairing in its Trollhunters category.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Jim/Stricklander tag on FanFiction.Net
 * Jim/Stricklander tag on FanFiction.Net
 * Jim/Stricklander tag on FanFiction.Net

TUMBLR

WIKI
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Trivia

 * The ship's name comes from the fact that both Jim and Strickler are skilled with an knife and have used them to fight each other, most notably during the dinner scene of Recipe For Disaster.
 * Before the timeline reset at the end of RoTT, Strickler had proposed to Jim's mother and was going to become Jim's stepfather. He even went so far as to ask Jim to be his best man in the wedding, and Jim accepted.