Clara Stahlbaum is the main character in The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, portrayed by Mackenzie Foy.
Role in the film[]
Clara is the middle child of the very wealthy Stahlbaum family. Unfortunately, her mother, Marie, died at an unknown age, though it's known to have been years after she had left the Four Realms. While opening presents at home on Christmas Eve with her family, she receives a post-humous present from Marie, which happens to be a golden egg locked with a Pentumbler's lock (a lock that can't be opened without a specific key.)
Clara's father tells her not to "disappear off into the night", but she disobeys him, visits her godfather, Drosselmeyer, and helps him repair a music box. They talk about Marie and her death, and about how the Stahlbaum family is coping. She then returns to the party, after getting helpful advice and a bit of history about Marie. However, her father is absolutely furious, and they have a short argument about the importance of maintaining their family's social status and Marie, causing her to storm off.
Soon, Drosselmeyer comes out of his workshop and comes out to tell all the children to find their presents. Each guest's present must be found by following a red thread attached to a Christmas tree, which lead to various different locations around the estate. Clara returns and follows the only golden thread. As she does so, she is greeted by her younger brother, Fritz, who's already found his gift, which is a nutcracker. She laughs at his antics, before going up a grand staircase and down a dark red hall. The pattern of owls on the wall soon turns into one of rats.
Clara follows the thread into the hall, which soon turns into a log. She goes to the end of it, in which she follows the line of string through a twisted thicket of white trees, in which she finds the key to the egg inside a decorated Christmas tree. As she is about to grab it, it is snatched by a mouse. Angered, she chases it, and it hops across a frozen river that she is unable to cross due to the thin ice and risk of drowning.
Refusing to "be bested by a small mouse", Clara instead attempts to cross the river by crossing an abandoned-looking bridge, attempting to hop over the barrier. Doing this, she causes Phillip the Nutcracker to awaken, who then threatens her, asking her name. He mixes up her name at first, so she explains that she is Marie's daughter, who, as it turns out, was formerly queen of the Four Realms.
After Phillip apologizes profusely for the misconception, he takes Clara to the unnamed center kingdom, where the council of Regents resides, including the regent rulers of the Realms, the Sugar Plum Fairy, Shiver, and Hawthorne. Clara is greeted by them, who are saddened after learning that Marie is dead. Even though they considered it a tragedy, the Sugar Plum Fairy enlisted them to create a parade to show Clara a trip around all of the 4 realms, excluding the Land of Amusement. She is then given Marie's prized dress, before attending a ballet that showed how Marie discovered all of the realms.
Clara is then led to Marie's machine, which is only unlockable by using the key. So, with a new quest instead of just opening the egg, Clara assembles a small army to take on Mother Ginger and goes head-on into the fourth realm. Even though it starts off well at first, multiple rats start digging holes that suck Clara and her fellow soldiers into the ground. Screaming, she arrives at Mother Ginger's giant version of herself, and is greeted by a group of terrifying clowns that are able to detach their body parts.