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A troll is a fearsome member of a mythical anthropomorph race from Scandinavia. Their role ranges from fiendish giants – similar to the ogres of England – to a devious, dwarf-like folk of the wilderness, living underground in hills, caves or mounds. Trolls have achieved international recognition, and in modern fantasy literature and role-playing games, trolls are featured to the extent of being stock characters.

Trolls with an abducted princess (John Bauer, 1915).

Nature

Etymology

The meaning of the word troll is uncertain. It might have had the originally meaning of supernatural or Magic with an overlay of malignant and perilous. Another likely suggestion is that it means "someone who behaves violently".

In old Swedish law, trolleri was a particular kind of magic intended to do harm. It should be noted that North Germanic terms such as trolldom (witchcraft) and trolla/trylle (perform magic tricks) does not imply any connection with the mythical beings. Moreover, in the sources for Norse mythology, troll can signify any uncanny being, including but not restricted to the Norse giants. The ambiguous original sense of the word troll appears to have lived on for some time after the Old Norse literature was documented. This can be seen in terms such as sjötrollet (the sea troll) as a synonym for havsmannen (the sea man) – a protective spirit of the sea and a sort of male counterpart to the female sjörå (see huldra).



Family

We can discern the forming of two main traditions regarding the use of troll.

  • In the first tradition, the troll is large, brutish and a direct descendant from the Norse jötnar. They are often described as ugly or having beastly features like tusks or cyclopic eyes. They are often regarded as having poor intellect (especially the males, whereas the females, trollkonor, may be quite cunning), great strength, big noses, long arms, and as being hairy and not very beautiful (Once again, females often constitute the exception, with female trolls frequently being quite comely). This is the tradition which has come to dominate fairy tales and legends (see below), but it is also the prominent concept of troll in Norway.

As a rule of thumb, what would be called a "troll" in Norway would in Denmark and Sweden be a "giant" (jætte or jätte, derived from jötunn).


  • The second tradition is most prominent in southern Scandinavia. These trolls are very human-like in appearance. Sometimes they had a tail hidden in their clothing, but even that is not a definite. A frequent way of telling a human-looking troll in folklore is instead to look at what it is wearing: Troll women in particular were often too elegantly dressed to be human women moving around in the forest.

Reversely, what would be called trolls in southern Sweden and Denmark would be called huldrefolk in Norway and vitterfolk in northern Sweden (see wight). The south-Scandinavian term probably originate in a generalization of the terms haugtrold (mound-troll) or bergtroll (mountain-troll), as trolls in this tradition are residents of the underground. Whereas the large, ogrish trolls often appear as a solitary being, the "small" trolls were thought to be social beings who lived together, much like humans except out in the forest. They kept animals, cooked and baked, were excellent at crafts and held great feasts. In their living quarters, they hoard gold and treasures.



Element

Trolls are mostly associated with the element of Earth.

Behavior

Opinion varied as to whether or not the trolls were thoroughly bad or not, but often they treated people as they were treated. Trolls could cause great harm if vindictive or playful, though, and regardless of other things they were always heathen. Trolls were also great thieves, and liked to steal from the food that the farmers had stored. They could enter the homes invisibly during feasts and eat from the plates so that there was not enough food, or spoil the making of beer and bread so that it failed or did not end up plentiful enough.

The trolls sometimes abducted people to live as slaves or at least prisoners among them. These poor souls were known as bergtagna ("those taken to/by the mountain"), which also is the Scandinavian word for having been spirited away. To be bergtagen does not only refer to the disappearance of the person, but also that upon returning, he or she has been struck with insanity or apathy caused by the trolls. Anyone could be taken by the trolls, even cattle, but at the greatest risk were women who had given birth but not yet been taken back to the church.

Occasionally, the trolls would even steal a new-born baby, leaving their own offspring – a (bort)byting ("changeling") – in return.


Powers/Weaknesses

More often than not, though, the trolls kept themselves invisible, and then they could travel on the winds, such as the wind-troll Ysätters-Kajsa, or sneak into human homes. Sometimes you could only hear them speak, shout and make noise, or the sound of their cattle. Similarly, if you were out in the forest and smelled food cooking, you knew you were near a troll dwelling. The trolls were also great shapeshifters, taking shapes of objects like fallen logs or animals like cats and dogs. A fairly frequent notion is that the trolls liked to appear as rolling balls of yarn.

To ward off the trolls you could always trust in Christianity: Church bells, a cross or even words like "Jesus" or "Christ" would work against them. Like other Scandinavian folklore creatures they also feared steel. Apart from that they were hunted by Thor, one of the last remnants of the old Norse mythology, who threw Mjolnir, his hammer, causing lightning bolts to kill them. Though Mjolnir was supposed to return to Thor after throwing, these hammers could later be found in the earth (actually Stone Age axes) and be used as protective talismans.

In Scandinavian fairy tales trolls sometimes turn to stone if exposed to sunlight. Some have attributed this aspect of the myth with pareidolia found in naturally eroded rock outcrops.


Places

Like many other species in Scandinavian folklore, they were said to reside in underground complexes, accessible from underneath large boulders in the forests or in the mountains. These boulders could be raised upon pillars of gold.

In some Norwegian accounts, such as the middle age ballade Åsmund Frægdegjevar [1], the trolls live in a far northern land called Trollebotten – the concept and location of which seems to coincide with the Old Norse Jötunheimr.

There are many places in Scandinavia that are named after trolls, such as the Sweden|Swedish town Trollhättan (Troll's bonnet) and the legendary mountain Trollkyrka (Troll church).


Quote

The Trolls are represented as dwelling inside of hills, mounds, and hillocks--whence they are also called Hill-people (Bjergfolk)--sometimes in single families, sometimes in societies. In the ballads they are described as having kings over them, but never so in the popular legend. They are regarded as extremely rich for when, on great occasions of festivity, they have their hills raised up on red pillars, people that have chanced to be passing by have seen them shoving large chests full of money to and fro, and opening and clapping down the lids of them. Their hill-dwellings are very magnificent inside. "They live," said one of Mr. Arndt's guides, "in fine houses of gold and crystal. My father saw them once in the night, when the hill was open on St. John's night. They were dancing and drinking, and it seemed to him as if they were making signs to him to go to them, but his horse snorted, and carried him away, whether he would or no. There is a great number of them in the Guldberg (Goldhill), and they have brought into it all the gold and silver that people buried in the great Russian war." - The Fairy Mythology by Thomas Keightley


History/Beliefs

Culture

Legends from the Middle Ages and earlier feature a kind of trolls of horrifying dimensions. This might reflect a past view of trolls as distinctly bad creatures that would soften in later folklore, or just be another example of fantastic tales demanding fantastic dimensions.

Many of the fairytales featuring trolls were written in the late 19th century to early 20th century, reflecting the romanticism of the time, and published in fairytale collections like Tomtar och Troll. These tales, and illustrations by artists like John Bauer and Theodor Kittelsen, would come to form the ideas most people have of trolls today.

Asbjørnsen and Moe's collection feature a number of traditional fairy tales where trolls hold princesses captive, such as The Three Princesses of Whiteland, Soria Moria Castle, and Dapplegrim, and two where trolls invade homes on Christmas Eve to make merry, Tatterhood and The Cat on the Dovrefell. Female trolls may conspire to force the prince to marry their daughters, as in East of the Sun and West of the Moon, or practice witchcraft, as in The Witch in the Stone Boat, where a troll usurps a queen's place, or The Twelve Wild Ducks, where she turns twelve princes into wild ducks. In other tales, the hero matches wits with the troll: Boots and the Troll, and Boots Who Ate a Match With the Troll.


Stories

In Skáldskaparmál, the poet Bragi Boddason encounters a troll-woman who hails him with this verse (in Icelandic language|Icelandic):

Troll kalla mik
tungl sjötrungnis,
auðsug jötuns,
élsólar böl,
vilsinn völu,
vörð náfjarðar,
hvélsvelg himins –
hvat's troll nema þat? [2]
They call me Troll;
Gnawer of the Moon,
Giant of the Gale-blasts,
Curse of the rain-hall,
Companion of the Sibyl,
Nightroaming hag,
Swallower of the loaf of heaven.
What is a Troll but that? [3]


The following excerpts from the Danish Ballad of Eline of Villenskov describe the physical aspects of trolls within Scandinavian mythology:

There were seven and a hundred Trolls,
They were both ugly and grim,
A visit they would the farmer make,
Both eat and drink with him.
Out then spake the tinyest Troll,
No bigger than an emmet was he,
Hither is come a Christian man,
And manage him will I surelie.



Theories and analysis

Theories about origin and existence

In the genre of paleofiction, the distinguished Finnish paleontologist Björn Kurtén has entertained the theory (e.g. in Dance of the Tiger) that trolls are a distant memory of an encounter with Neanderthals by our Cro-Magnon ancestors some 40,000 years ago during their migration into northern Europe. Spanish paleoanthropologist Juan Luis Arsuaga provides evidence for these types of encounters in his book, The Neanderthal's Necklace. The theory that Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons occupied the same area of Europe at the same time in history has been theorized based on fossil evidence. Other researchers believe that they just refer to neighboring tribes. The problem with this theory is that neither Neanderthals or Cro-Magnons existed in this part of Europe during the ice-age. Most of Scandinavia was covered by a large glacier and the area was not occupied until much later.

A more plausible explanation for the troll myth, is that the trolls represent the remains of the forefather-cult which was ubiquitous in Scandinavia until the introduction of Christianity in the 10th and 11th centuries. In this cult the forefathers were worshipped in sacred groves, by altars or by gravemounds. One of the customs associated with this practice was to sit on top of a gravemound at night, possibly in order to make contact with the deceased. With the introduction of Christianity however, the religious elite sought to demonize the pagan cult, and denounced the forefathers as evil. For instance, according to Magnus Håkonsen's laws from 1276 it is illegal to attempt to wake the "mound-dwellers". It is in these laws that the word troll appears for the first time, denoting something heathen and generally unfavourable.

This fits with the trolls in Norse sagas who are often the restless dead, to be wrestled with or otherwise laid to rest.


Art / Fiction

Literature

In Swedish children's literature, trolls are not naturally evil, but primitive and misunderstood. Their misdeeds are due to a combination of basic and common human traits, such as envy, pride, greed, naïveté, ignorance and stupidity. In some early 20th century fairy tales, by Elsa Beskow, trolls are also depicted as an aboriginal race of hunters and gatherers who are fleeing the encroaching human civilisation. Where man makes a road, the trolls disappear.

Young Scandinavian children usually understand the concept of trolls, and a way to teach children to brush their teeth is to tell them to get rid of the very small "tooth trolls" that otherwise will make holes in their teeth. This is a lie-to-children|pedagogic device used to explain bacterium|bacteria by the Norwegian author Thorbjørn Egner in his story Karius and Baktus.

The Swedish-speaking Finnish author Tove Jansson has reached a world-wide audience with her Moomintrolls.

There is some speculation that the famous story Rumpelstiltskin originated from a troll folk tale which bears many similarities. While the original story of the troll involves a preacher contracting a troll to build a church as opposed to a woman needing to spin straw into gold, the central element of a bargain which is satisfied by guessing the name of the involved party, and the subsequent death of the troll or being whose name is guessed is central to both stories.

In J. R. R. Tolkien's world of Middle-earth, Troll (Middle-earth)|trolls are very large (around 12 feet tall) and immensely strong humanoids of poor intellect, originally created by Morgoth in mockery of Ents though not necessarily from them. They are divided into many kinds: hill-trolls, mountain-trolls, snow-trolls, cave-trolls and stone-trolls, all of which turn to Rock (geology)|stone when exposed to sunlight. The Olog-hai, another type of troll, were bred by Sauron from unknown stock presumably in the Third Age. Unlike previous trolls they can resist sunlight by the power of Sauron's will and had higher intelligence than the presumably incredibly low levels other troll breeds possessed — enough to have learnt some of the Black Speech. (Indeed, the three stone-trolls Bilbo Baggins encountered in The Hobbit must have been intellectual giants amongst their kind.)

In the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett, trolls (Discworld)|trolls are large creatures who are composed of, and eat, rock. They have a cultural tendency towards violence, and their intelligence is inversely proportional to the temperature, making them quite unintelligent in warm climates<ref>To understand why, please note that, as beings formed from rock, troll neuron equivalents are made from impure silicon - similar to semiconductors - and please follow the link to the relevant Wikipedia page for an explanation. For advanced readers, please follow this Band gap|link.</ref>. Their size increases with age, from pebbles to mountains. They have had a bad reputation of eating people, but this stereotype is untrue, as trolls are unable to digest anything but rock (some trolls in the Uberwald mountain regions, however, haven't cottoned on to this fact); they do, however, have to pay special attention to avoid unintentionally crushing humans to a pulp in order to become socially acceptable. The bar 'The Mended Drum' has trolls for security. They are called "splatters" because, as can be gathered from the implications of a silicaceous being belly-bouncing a human, trolls don't actually do so well as "bouncers." Traditionally, trolls are mortal enemies of the dwarfs. The vendetta dates to the infamous Battle of Koom Valley, during which one race allegedly ambushed and massacred the other, although no one is sure which side did the ambushing. Modern, urban trolls are sometimes able to work side-by-side with dwarfs with only moderate friction. Yetis are a subspecies of troll that live in mountainous areas and spin their wool out of rock (although only they know exactly how). Discworld yetis can "save" their life if they think there's going to be some kind of danger, then proceed in the comfortable knowledge that if it dies, it will go back to the saved point and do it all over again, except that "this time it won't be such a damn fool about it". This is described as something of a retroactive premonition.

In the world of Harry Potter, trolls are giant monsters that kill everyone they encounter. In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Harry and Ron Weasley save Hermione Granger from a full-grown mountain troll. In the film, the troll was animated with computer-generated imagery. There are a few other subsequent mentions of trolls; for example it was rumored that Harry's Firebolt, which Dolores Umbridge "confiscated" was guarded by trolls. "Security trolls" are also mentioned in several places, as "the more intelligent of the species have been trained as guardians," according to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. This book also subdivides the species into mountain, forest and river trolls (the latter being known for dwelling under bridges).

In the Artemis Fowl series, trolls are the largest of the fairy races. They are furry monsters of immense strength and little or no intellect. They fight with a pair of tusks and with retractable venomous claws on each "hand". The venom causes the victim to enter a paralyzing euphoria as he/she loses consciousness.

In the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy of fantasy novels written by Tad Williams, the troll is depicted as a relative mixture of dwarf and eskimo. They inhabit the mountains where they live in communal tribes and under strict tennets of laws which include the death sentence for mixing with outside races. They travel the precarious ledges of the mountains on the backs of nimble mountain goats.

In the children's novel, The Sea of Trolls, by Nancy Farmer, trolls are mentioned a great deal. They are also known as Jotuns and Frost Giants. They had come from an island called Utgard, where it was very icy, as they liked it. They had a great fear of deep water, so they traveled to the mainland when a volcano on Utgard went off, either walking off on the ice, or riding whales. They then lived in Jotunhiem, and built their own castle, and elected a queen. See Yggdrasil.



Music

Edvard Grieg, the most important Norwegian composer of the later 19th century, wrote several pieces on trolls, including a score based on Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt, with the famous In the Hall of the Mountain King, and March Of The Trolls. Regarding his motivations, Grieg wrote: "The peculiar in life was what made me wild and mad...dwarf power and untamed wildness...audacious and bizarre fantasy." Grieg's former home, Troldhaugen ("The Troll's Hill"), is now a museum. [4][5]

Like Grieg, conductor Johan Halvorsen was a nationalist Norwegian composer. He wrote, The Princess and the Giant Troll, The Trolls enter the Blue Mountain, and Dance of the Little Trolls.

Geirr Tveitt was heavily influenced by Grieg's romanticism and cultural exploration of Scandinavian folklore and Norwegian folk-music. Tveitt's Troll Tunes, includes works such as Troll-Tuned Hardanger Fiddle, and The Boy With The Troll-Treasure. Tragically, 80% of Tveitt's oeuvre was destroyed in a fire.

Troll metal is black metal or folk metal music dealing with trolls, goblins and related subjects. Finntroll is one of the most famous troll metal bands. Singing Trolls relate their hate of humans, especially Christians, which are for them a plague to eradicate - and to eat. Another troll metal band is Trollfest - they have released two albums, one called Willkommen Folk Tell Drekka Fest!! In English this means Welcome, folks, to the drinking fest!!. And the other one Brakebein


Comics

In Elfquest, trolls are the descendants of the gnomish servants of the High Ones. In PvP, one of the main characters called Skull is a Troll.

Troll appears in the Monster in My Pocket series, wearing green clothing and carrying a heavy-looking axe. He appears in only two panels of the comic book and is never identified. Requests to identify him have often been confused with Charon (mythology)|Charon.

In the Crossgen comic Sojourn, trolls are green-skinned humanoids, with glowing green eyes whose role is similar to that of orcs in the Lord of the Rings books. Here, they are the loyal and fierce servants of Mordath and were his instruments in his conquest of the Five Lands of Quinn.


Games

In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, trolls are tall and skinny monsters with large, pointy noses and green skin. These trolls steadily regenerate all damage unless it is caused by acid or fire. Gary Gygax took this idea from the Poul Anderson story Three Hearts and Three Lions.

In the Runequest and HeroQuest role-playing games set in Greg Stafford's world of Glorantha trolls, known as the Uz are one of the Elder races. They were originally denizens of Hell, descended from their Goddess Kygor Litor and other darkness entities. They come in several forms, some of which are extinct. The Mistress Race are the direct descendants of the gods and spirits, they were once the predominant race, however when Burning Death, the Sun God Yelm came to Hell many Mistress trolls were slaughtered and their kin were forced in exodus to the surface world. The Mistress race were weakened and became the Dark Trolls. Over time and through many conflicts the Dark Trolls themselves were weakened by a curse that lead them to give birth to the scrawny Trollkin. Cragspider, a leader of the trolls tried to lift the curse and created the huge, but slow witted warrior race known as the Great Trolls. Several other races exist, the mutated Cave Trolls and Mountain Trolls, the Snow Trolls that dwell on Valind's Glacier and aquatic Sea Trolls. Trolls are large, between six and nine feet in height (apart from the pathetic Trollkin), they are obese, with grey skin mottled by other colours. They are omnivores and will eat anything, including rocks and are driven by intense hunger. They make powerful warriors, dark magicians and deadly nocturnal foes. Trolls have a specialist sense, called Darksense that allows them to operate by night, several members of the race are demoralised by sunlight and no sane troll comes out in the day. The Uz have been covered in great detail by Greg Stafford featuring in the products Trollpak, Troll Gods, Uz the Trolls of Glorantha, The Haunted Ruins and many more. They are one of the most detailed fantasy races in any game, the depth of their characterisation took them from being just monsters and made them into characters.

In the Earthdawn role-playing game, trolls are a tall, muscular and honorable race which players can role-play. Earthdawn trolls have curling horns like goats, lots of body hair and enlarged lower canines.

In the Shadowrun role-playing game, as well as in Changeling: The Dreaming, trolls are also a race available to player characters.

In the Palladium Fantasy Role-playing Game, trolls a race of vicious giants. Though they are fully as intelligent as humans, they tend towards impulsiveness and violence, and so do not acquire much in the way of civilization.

In computer games with a fantasy theme, trolls appear in many shapes and dispositions. In one of the most successful MMORPG, EverQuest, trolls are one of the choices for players to assume as their character. In Dark Age of Camelot, trolls are also a player race but appear more like a rock golem although they appear among the ranks of the Midgard|Norse "Midgard" side.

Most computer games adopt the Dungeons & Dragons type of troll, with regeneration of some sort and a tendency toward extreme size, strength, and stupidity.

Warhammer Trolls are similar to Dungeons & Dragons Trolls. In addition, they have highly corrosive stomach acid that can dissolve anything from flesh and bone to rocks and metals. There are many different varieties of Troll, such as slimy River Trolls, magic resistant Stone Trolls and any number of mutated Chaos Trolls. Trolls are rather stupid, and are typically allied with Orc (Warhammer)|orcs. They are known to be constantly hungry and altogether undesirable creatures to be around. Their blood is also a component of magical brews (or potions) of strength. In the Warhammer world, Trolls' nemesis are Dwarf Troll Slayers.

In the Warcraft series of PC games from Blizzard Entertainment, Trolls are an agile, mohawk-sporting, sentient race. They are savages, wielding axes and spears and practicing voodoo. There are five varieties of trolls in Warcraft. The green Forest Trolls of Zul'Aman (the Hinterlands), the icy blue Ice Trolls of Northrend and Khaz Modan, the large Dark Trolls of Ashenvale, the mysterious Desert Trolls of Tanaris, and the numerous Jungle Troll (Warcraft)|Jungle Trolls. Of the many tribes of Jungle Trolls, the Darkspear Tribe was exiled from their native Stranglethorn Vale, and allied with the Horde when their new island home came under attack. These trolls regenerate from damage quite fast due to the fact that their skin is actually a moss-like substance. The Trolls of Warcraft are different from most representations of Trolls, for they are extremely clever and are one of the craftier races in the game.

Games Simon the Sorcerer and King's Quest portray trolls that guard bridges, who are repelled with the help of goats (a reference to the folk tale). In The Secret of Monkey Island, the main character Guybrush Threepwood encounters a troll who does not allow him to use a bridge. Shortly after, it is revealed that the troll is just a man, resembling George Lucas in a costume.

In the universe of The Elder Scrolls, trolls are green skinned, shaggy creatures, slightly larger than a grown man. They generally have the intelligence of a cave rat, build of a large Chimp, but their flesh regenerates itself very quickly, making them difficult to kill. TES trolls are well known for being vulnerable to flame, and their three eyes are instantly recognizable.

Trolls are the main enemies in the Xbox 360 game Kameo: Elements of Power.

Trolls are a repulsive looking enemy race in the MMOPRG Guild Wars. They are savage looking and attack by swinging their massive arms. Apparently, the skill 'Troll Unguent' is based on these creatures, as they use both Troll Unguent (a ranger skill) and Warrior skills.

In the MMORPG RuneScape, of all the races of RuneScape, few are as unintelligent as the troll. The trolls have a remarkable lack of rational intellect, but this does not seem to have held back their advancement, much to the puzzlement of the scholars in Falador and Burthorpe who have been studying trolls for many decades. All that any of them can figure is that trolls need no intellect because they are simply massive and durable enough not to need it. After all, if they don't know they have a problem they don't need to fix it, right?


References

Sources

  • Folktro från förr, Ebbe Schön (2001), ISBN 91-7203-420-3
  • Troll och människa, Ebbe Schön (1999), ISBN 91-27-06873-0
  • Svensk folktro A-Ö, Ebbe Schön (1998), ISBN 91-518-2892-8
  • Trollmakter og godvette, Olav Bø (1987), ISBN 82-521-2923-4
  • Camilla Asplund Ingemark's, The Genre of Trolls. The Case of a Finland-Swedish Folk Belief Tradition is the first doctoral dissertation on traditional forest trolls received in Finland. Her research describes trolls according to the folklore of Swedish-speaking Finns. Ingemark compares the style and content of Troll tales folklore with biblical stories.


External links