Get out your salt shaker Ryan, cause she tracks as amoral pragmatist rather than evil.
This was all in the file I sent you Erik, but I figured I'd better post something here so I didn't look like I was just lurking.
The phrase all the trolls in the mountain doesn’t necessarily mean all at once it just means that he is greater than any one of them, so that all are less than him. You are the writer so ultimately it’s your choice, but I think you’ve allowed the characters to twist out of your control and play semantics games that don’t promote the flow of the story.
A better foil would be for reginn to claim that the king is the greatest of them all so kail must best the king to prove himself. It would be a cunning way to drive a wedge between kajsa and kail. If he flinches he looks the coward, if he goes ahead he beat and possible killed her daddy. Either way he loses. Then, after some suspense, an alternative become a relief instead of a cutsey magic bullet.
Also the problem of challenging the judge as the only way to win the trial can become a huge delay as the legalities are worked out. It could even force granny Wind to put in an appearance. This makes their stay in the mountain days or weeks instead of one night, then on the road again. That gives Mordred time to really get used to the Sword of light.
Also it would allow for be some set up even a quest before Kail reaches some infamous hallow that has been embedded in stone. It would be more suspenseful. what if he fails the quest? What if the trolls don’t honor his success, etc. Plus it put’s Kail more in the vein of Arthur and sets him up to battle mordred. Plus he needn’t keep borrowing his wife’s sword to get his business taken care of. Just something to consider.
There's no reason not to allow the trial to be the recovery of a hallow from a stone or an anvil, it just doesn't track right as an impromptu challenge that happens in the middle of a trial. World changing prophecies and events require reflection and leaders always look to delay those rather than jump to them in a public free-for-all.
