Ronja the Robber’s Daughter – Season 1 Episode 1 Recap & Review

One Eye to the Sky

Episode 1 of Ronja the Robber’s Daughter begins with a man riding on horseback at night. He is being chased by harpies – half-human, half-bird creatures – that circle over him as he flees to safety. 

We then cut to a woman named Lovis giving birth. Her husband, Mattis, sees the harpies outside his window and waves them away.  When the baby is born, Mattis tells the infant girl that she has his “robber’s heart in her little hands.” This is our first indication that Mattis is a bandit – the robber of the title.

A harpie stands at the window and watches Mattis with an ominous stare. The creature leaves when Mattis aims an arrow at it in warning. 

Mattis lives with his bandit crew and wife in a fort. It’s here where the horseback rider we saw at the beginning arrives with an arrow in his side.

There is time for celebration in the fort’s dining hall as Mattis and his wife present their daughter – Ronja – to the motley group of bandits. These celebrations cease when lightning strikes outside, causing damage to the fort. Thankfully, nobody inside is harmed. 

We move forward to the future to a scene where Ronja is a little older. She and her mother watch Mattis and his men head out into the forest on one of their bandit raids. We see scenes of these men robbing various folk until the episode moves forward into the future again where Ronja is 10 years old.

Ronja is bored with life in her small community and this is recognised by her parents who know she is longing for something more than her simple lifestyle. Mattis decides it’s time to let Ronja experience her first night in the Mattis Woods alone. 

He warns her of the Wile-wings, gray dwarves, and the Borka robbers, who all pose a danger to her out in the woods. She seems unfazed by his warnings and ventures forth with joy and excitement on her first big adventure.

We cut to a village, where a local woman named Valdir reminds a lawman named Halvert of his responsibility to keep the village safe from the Borka bandits. However, in another scene, we see Halvert taking payment from Borka instead of arresting him.

Back in the woods, we see Ronja wandering around at night. The gray dwarves peer out at her from the dark and then attack the poor girl. Luckily, her father arrives just in time and he takes her home to safety.

The next day, Ronja ventures out again. She is in awe of a waterfall but her happiness is swiftly ended when harpies attack her. She manages to escape by jumping into the lake and then taking shelter away from the winged beasts. A short while later, she is once again rescued by her father. 

The episode returns to Halvert who has decided it’s time to raid Borka’s hideout. We see his soldiers attack Borka’s cave, causing the bandits to flee. The soldiers then take the valuables the bandits left behind. 

Back at the fort, Mattis and his crew have heard about the raid in Borka’s cave. They don’t seem afraid of the soldiers coming for them, largely because they are living in a fort that offers them more protection. 

But the next day, it’s apparent the fort isn’t the safe place they thought it was. Ronja awakens and heads outside, where she meets a boy named Birk Borkason. He’s the son of Borka and tells Ronja that he, his parents, and the Borka bandits, have now moved in. 

The Episode Review

This new Swedish fantasy series, based on the famous tale by Astrid Lindgren, gets off to a fine start. Younger viewers might find the scenes of the shrieking harpies and grey dwarves a little scary, but older kids and adults who enjoy dark fantasies might enjoy this episode’s nightmarish tone.

The episode isn’t a complete scare-fest, however. Seeing Ronja explore the world outside her home is a joy. It might bring to mind your first time away from home if you have ever embarked on an adventure away from the comfortable but boring confines of your home town. 

The daytime scenes in this episode are beautiful to behold, with waterfalls, forests, and other natural sights that we see through Ronja’s eyes as she experiences them for the first time. More time exploring these places would be welcome but as we expect Ronja’s adventures to fall on the dark side, it’s probably best to prepare ourselves for less-attractive locations as her journey continues.