Mythological Humanoids - #32 Trolls and #33 Gnomes

Trolls

As mentioned in the last post, trolls have some overlap with goblins: nocturnal habits, inhuman strength, bestiality and hairiness, hunger and the desire to eat humans, and the tendency to turn to stone in sunlight (Tolkein made this trait exclusive to trolls, but folklore is less precise). For this post, I'll focus on the differences between goblins and trolls (and gnomes.)

Mission Statement

This is the first anniversary of my first blog post. I want to share the mission statement I've been working on for myself as an author, teacher and blogger. This will get its own page a little later, but for now I want to make it accessible and easy to find.       

  K.C.Trae Becker

Self Proclaimed Ambassador for Trees and Forest Communities; Purveyor of Forest Related Myths

Mythological Species # 30 – Goblins and #31 - Brownies

The nights are coming earlier and the dark loving creatures are more and more on my mind. The elves and fairies, creatures of twilight, came stealing along the hedgerows and at forest edges, but now there are the creatures of darkness. Creature of the pitch black mines and the midnight hours. Among the most famous denizens of the night are the more treacherous counterparts to elves, the goblins and their ilk.

There are many names for goblins and goblin-like creatures: Hobs, hobgoblins, orcs, bogie men, boggarts (boggles, bogles), bodach (Highlands), brownies, spriggans, Fenoderee (Isle of Man), redcaps (Scottish) – said to redye the caps in human blood - brags, gremlins, Puck, phookas (Irish), Pwca (Welsh), bwca (Welsh) Trows (Shetland Islands), trous (Scandinavia), knolls, knockers (Cornish and Devon), Coblynau/Koblernigh (Welsh), Kobolds (German), wichtlein (Southern Germany), dwarfs/duergar (Scandinavia, Germany, North England), Pixie/Pisgie/piskie/pigsey/puggie/(Cornwall), Will o' the Wisps.

Mythological Species #29 – Ghosts

One of the most popular Halloween ghouls are ghosts. Ghost stories are so abundant around camp fires, at sleep overs, in the movies and on TV, that I expected to claim that they had a universal presence among the cultures of the world, to find an abundance of information about them and then move right on to the different presentations they made. [WRONG!]

My first go-to reference book, The Dictionary of Celtic Mythology (MacKillop, Oxford, ISBN 0-19-869157-2), stated that the word "ghost" is a foreign word to the Celtic language, borrowed from another