Virginia's vice is lust?, I hear you ask. Yes, lust but not the way you think. In the world of fairytales, the issue of lust is dealt with in terms of "sex-before-it's-time". The 10th Kingdom's, heroine Virginia is attracted to Wolf initially but because of her trust issues she doesn't immediately show her feelings. She let's her guard slip when under the influence of the magic slippers, her real feelings surface with her question to Wolf, "Do you think I'm sexy?". Which brings me to Sally Peep, who in a way is Virginia's lusty side. Up until this point Virginia has rejected all or most of Wolf's proclaimations of affection, but enter the saucy sheperdess and Ms. Lewis' jealousy arises. You see Sally comes on to Wolf directly. She, unlike Virginia, doesn't hide the fact that she is attracted to him and let's him know in no uncertain terms. Sally does and says all the things to Wolf that Virginia wants to but won't. She still needs to trust him. To know that he won't abandon her, like her mother did, if she gives him her love. Virginia's sense of abandonment as a child, anchors the whole plot of The 10th Kingdom but her need to examine her attraction to Wolf is the greatest symptom of those feelings. Indirectly, Sally's murder, is the symbolic death of Virginia's lust for Wolf and the beginning of her love for him.

Like Cinderella's ugly step-sisters, Tony is a lesson in envy. He never values his blessing but always focuses on what others possess. He envies the Murrays for their wealth, he envies the Peeps for their ability to always win in competition and he even envies Prince Wendell as a dog! It's his envy that let's him tell Wolf about Virginia's whereabouts in exchange for the "magic beans" six wishes. It also doesn't allow him to stop playing cards against the elderly lady in the Lucky In Love Casino, even though he has clearly won enough money to buy the mirror. After breaking his back in Dragon Mountain, Tony is finally forced to examine what he has, ie. a loving daughter, as oppose to what he doesn't have, ie a ninth kingdom condo. Only then does he realize that the envy of others qualities, good fortune and successes can blind one from seeing their own.

From his first "appearance" on screen Relish, the Troll King commits his first act of deceit: he's invisible. Although the prison guard he's following suspects he's not alone, by hiding his image Relish has robbed the guard of his sense of sight but that's just the way the king of the Trolls likes it. He loves his magic slippers because they allow him to deceive his enemies, who never "see" him coming. That's until he tries to deceive the Queen who is also very skilled at the same game. He shows up at the orchard to meet her "alone" knowing he has hidden his army from her view. Just like Rumpelstiltskin thought he had out smarted the miller's daughter, the Troll King believes he has outwitted the Queen. He unwittingly let's himself and his men fall prey to her deception by eating the apples she poison an hour before their arrival. In the end, the Troll King exits The 10th Kingdom the same way in which he entered, through deceit. And to think, he didn't even see it coming.

Typically in fairytales, boys who are lazy and idle are physically transformed into animals that exhibit similiar behaviour, such as frogs, donkeys and even dogs. Prince Wendell's transformation isn't so much physical as it is mental. Wendell's vice is sloth, an old term for laziness and idleness, both of which are no-no traits for a man-who-would-be-king. Being a dog, the lowest of the low, so to speak, he has to overcome his sloth-like ways by doing things for himself. While his physical change occurs at the beginning of the story, it's not until he feels himself mentally becoming "doggy-like" does Wendell truly appreciate just how spoiled he really was in his human form.

The Evil Queen suffers from vanity, a major cardinal "sin" in fairytales. She has allowed herself to be sucked in by her own reflective image based on pride and conceit. These are elements that were just seeds in her former life as New York socialite Christine Lewis. Once in the Nine Kingdoms and under the influence of the Swamp Witch(Snow White's wicked stepmother), those seeds begin to grow. Looks have gotten the Queen everything she's ever wanted, from her marriage to a rich man(Tony) to the consort of a king. But her vanity has caused her to attempt infanticide not once but twice. First, by trying to drown her daughter and then by trying to poison her stepson. A vain person substitutes appearances, such as clothes, make-up, body shape, etc for character. While physically beautiful, Virginia's real threat to The Queen is her substance. She is real, not a mirror image that can be waved away in an instance. Just as Virginia must confront her mother in order to claim her destiny, the Queen must finally come face to face with the daughter she abandon from her past.

Wolf's behaviour is an example of gluttony which is defined as excessive consumption. And not just of food. For a victum of gluttony the pot is never full nor is the stomach, as Hansel and Gretel soon discover when they start to gorge themselves on the wicked witch's gingerbread house. When Wolf's gluttony over takes him, he raids the Peeps chicken coup, even after he's eaten a large meal at Barbra Peep's tavern, plus, the little bunny that Virginia gave him for "comfort". He just doesn't know when to be full, emotionally or physically.

Sally Peep's murder trial curbs his physical "hunger" by bring him face to face with death. However, emotionally Wolf is still a glutton. He literally tries to buy Virginia's love with fancy restaurants, personally composed songs, flower ladden coaches and to top it off, a singing ring. Had he just turned over his winnings to Virginia to buy the mirror, such an understated act would have gone a long way. But through the eyes of a glutton it's either all or nothing. He showers Virginia with gifts only to have her interpret his actions as selfish, once he tells her how he could afford such presents. Wolf ends up losing Virginia, momentarily, because, like Hansel and Gretel, he didn't know when to stop.

The Huntsman symbolizes greed, in both possessive and collective terms. Armed with his enchanted crossbow, he has declared himself "owner" of the Disenchanted Forest. He makes that clear with all the sign posts and woe be to those who ignore his warnings. He is not willing to share the forest's bounty with anyone, gypsies or otherwise. As for collective greed, he seems to collect lives much like Bluebeard did with his "late" wives. Whereas the gypsies were murdered out of pure selfishness, Viscount Lansky and the old elf in Kissingtown were killed in a methodical, cold-blooded way. Much like serial killers "collect" their victums.

According to Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory there are three basic elements of personality: ID, EGO, SUPEREGO. The three Troll Kids are perfect examples of each. Burly is ID, what the organism wants. He smashes things before even thinking about what he's doing. Case in point, smashing the Lewises' tv, stopping a vehicle with his hatchet, slashing through the elevator floor and torturing Virginia even though she has already said she will tell him anything he wants to know. Blabberwort is EGO because she mediates between her brothers extremes(ID and SUPEREGO) and is in touch with reality. She knows that New York is not apart of the Nine Kingdoms, she also is aware of her father's addiction to the magic slippers. Bluebell, represents SUPEREGO in that he considers what is socially permissible when considering his actions. For example he lies to the Queen about killing Tony, Virginia and Wolf in order to protect himself from her anger. It doesn't work but he automatically modifies the truth in order to lessen the Queen's rage.

The Troll Kids, like the Three Little Pigs and Goldilock's Three Bears, are really one universal character and combined they display several of the afore mentioned faults which plague other characters. Interestingly enough, of all the villians in The 10th Kingdom they survive the story because in real life we all have to deal with the elements of our own personalities, the good, the bad and the ugly.