''Ronia, the Robber's Daughter'' ( Swedish: ''Ronja rövardotter'') is a children's

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

book by the Swedish author

Astrid Lindgren Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren (; ; 14 November 1907 – 28 January 2002) was a Swedish writer of fiction and screenplays. She is best known for several children's book series, featuring Pippi Longstocking, Emil i Lönneberga, Emil of Lönneberga, ...

, first published in 1981. The book has been translated into at least 39 languages. It was adapted as a film in 1984, a Danish and a German musical, the

Japanese anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

, and a live-action television adaptation.

Plot summary

Ronia is a girl growing up among a clan of robbers living in a castle in the woodlands of early-Medieval

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

. As the only child of Matt, the chief, she is expected to become the leader of the clan someday. Their castle, Matt's Fort, is split into two parts by a

lightning Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...

bolt on the day of Ronia's birth. Ronia grows up with Matt's clan of robbers as her only company, until a rival robber group led by Borka moves into the other half of the castle, exacerbating the longstanding rivalry between the two bands. One day, Ronia sees Birk Borkason, the only son of Borka, idling by the chasm. He is the only other child she has ever met, and so she is sorry that he is a Borka. He engages her in a game of jumping across, which does not end until Birk almost falls down. Ronia saves him, and they eventually become friends. The following winter is long and cold and although Matt's robbers are well fed, their counterparts are suffering on the other side of the chasm. Ronia brings food to Birk through a secret passageway. They grow very close but both know that they cannot tell their families. Later that year, Birk is captured by Ronia's father. Ronia gives herself to the Borkas so she must be exchanged, but as a result, her father disowns her and refuses to acknowledge her as his daughter. Birk and Ronia run away to the woods, where they live in a cave and experience several harrowing adventures with the wood's indigenous wildlife, including

troll A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human bei ...

s, forest

gnome A gnome () is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and widely adopted by authors, including those of modern fantasy literature. They are typically depict ...

s, and

harpies In Greek and Roman mythology, a harpy (plural harpies, , ; ) is a half-human and half-bird mythical creature, often believed to be a personification of storm winds. They feature in Homeric poems. Descriptions Harpies were generally depicted ...

. Ultimately their families repent of their feuding, and everyone is reunited, but the story concludes with both Ronia and Birk deciding that the robber's life is not for them.

Adaptations

Literature

In 1983,

Trina Schart Hyman Trina Schart Hyman (April 8, 1939 – November 19, 2004) was an American illustrator of children's books. She illustrated over 150 books, including fairy tales and Arthurian legends. She won the 1985 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustra ...

illustrated a cover for the book, which is published by

Puffin Books Puffin Books is a longstanding children's imprint of the British publishers Penguin Books. Since the 1960s, it has been among the largest publishers of children's books in the UK and much of the English-speaking world. The imprint now belongs to ...

Film

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

, the book was made into a Swedish

fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually Magic (paranormal), magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The Film genre, genre is considered a form of speculative fic ...

. It was directed by the Swedish film director

Tage Danielsson Tage Ivar Roland Danielsson (; 5 February 1928 – 13 October 1985) was a Swedes, Swedish author, actor, comedian, poet and film director. He worked together with Hans Alfredson in the comedy duo Hasse & Tage. Early life Danielsson was bor ...

and adapted for screenplay by Astrid Lindgren herself. It was a major success, becoming the highest-grossing film in Sweden, and winning a Silver Bear at the 1985

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

. More than 1.5 million people attended its screenings in Sweden.

Musical

In 1991 the book was made into a Danish musical called ''Ronja Røverdatter''. The musical is written by Danish composer Sebastian. In 1994 the book was made into a German musical called ''Ronja Räubertochter''. The musical is written by Axel Bergstedt in the

German language German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western Europe, Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and Official language, official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switze ...

, and has

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

and more than one hundred people on the

stage Stage, stages, or staging may refer to: Arts and media Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly Brit ...

Stage

A production in the Balver Höhle was performed in 1993 and 2004 and in Oberkirch in 2006. A production of ''Ronja the Robber's Daughter'' interpreted by Ronny Danielsson performed at Stadsteatern Stockholm Sweden 2014, 2016, and 2018. A stage play based on the novel was written by Allison Gregory.

TV series

Live-action

A live-action television adaptation of the novel premiered in March 2024. Hans Rosenfeldt wrote the script while Lisa James Larsson directed the series. The series was produced by Filmlance Productions, the company behind Swedish TV productions such as ''

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi mus ...

'', ''

Bron Bron () is a commune in the Metropolis of Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, eastern France. Geography Bron lies east-southeast of central Lyon. It is the sixth-largest suburb of the city of Lyon, and is adjacent to its east side. Climat ...

'', and ''

Caliphate A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

''.

Anime

A CGI television series from Japan debuted in October 2014. Titled ''Sanzoku no Musume Ronia'', the show was produced by

Dwango The Dial-up Wide-Area Network Game Operation, better known by the acronym DWANGO, was an early online gaming service based in the United States. Launched in 1994, it was originally known for its compatibility with ''Doom'', for which it function ...

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

, NHK Enterprises and animated by

Polygon Pictures is a Japanese 3DCG animation studio. History Polygon has animated a wide variety of content, from commercials for Shiseido featuring the studio's original penguin characters , to the 3D CG anime television series ''Digital Tokoro-san'' and ...

with cooperation from

Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio based in Koganei, Tokyo."Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment". ''Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment''. Retrieved 2020-12-14. It has a strong presence in the animation industry and has exp ...

. The show was directed by Goro Miyazaki and scripted by Hiroyuki Kawsaki.

Translations

''Ronia, the Robber's Daughter'' has been translated into 39 languages. The two English versions translate the Swedish names differently. The Swedish word "" is more akin to the English word reaver, rather than robber ().

References

External links

Astrid Lindgren: Ronia, the Robber's Daughter
(blog) {{Authority control 1981 Swedish novels 1981 fantasy novels 1981 children's books 1980s Swedish films Swedish fantasy novels Swedish children's novels Children's fantasy novels Novels set in Scandinavia Children's books set in Europe Novels set in the Early Middle Ages Children's books set in the Middle Ages Female characters in literature Child characters in literature Astrid Lindgren characters Swedish novels adapted into films Fantasy novels adapted into films Children's books adapted into films Swedish novels adapted into television shows Children's books adapted into television shows Swedish novels adapted into plays Novels by Astrid Lindgren Methuen Publishing books Rabén & Sjögren books