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.
One of the things I noticed when I first compiled a list of these creatures was the similarity of many of the names, frequently with an “oo” sound in the them, spelled: “or”, “od”, “og”, “ol”, “ob” [hobgoblin getting a double treatment of the syllable] “ock”, “ook”, “uck”, “wc”, “ow”, “ug”, “ig”, “isk”, “ix”, “uerg”, or just plain “o”. My curiosity was peaked, so I broke out my trusty dictionary to find the meaning of the syllable. The Latin root of "ob-" means toward, against and down, among other things. And I found words like obscure and occult (to hide), obstetrics (childbirth), ogling and occular (eyes), occlusion, oracle and oral (mouth), the Latin root for many of these syllables seems to be related to orifices, or openings to the body, especially the mouth. I immediately connected this to the idea that these monsters might eat you or gobble you up, or at least love to eat. [Can anyone say hobbit?]
My
suspicions were confirmed when I found the book The Hobbit Companion,
David Day. His searches turned up similar interpretations and he went
even farther. If you like pseudo- linguistics, like what I have
above, I recommend this book.
Goblins are often used in fantasy
literature as the racial foes of elves and dwarfs, but that's a
Tolkienism. Goblins are not from Norse Mythology, the primary source
material for Tolkien's elves and dwarves, [his dwarf names coming
primarily lock, stock and barrel straight out of the Prose Edda.] But
Tolkien's elves are also based on Celtic elves. Instead of goblins
here we find the primary foes to be the Fomariianns and the Fir
Darrig, who seem goblinesque, due to deformities and baleful
eyes. In Celtic mythology the goblin-like beings were even related to
the fairy/elves, sometimes called the Tuath de Dannan, occasionally
intermarrying [a trait Tolkien definitely chose not to incorporate
into his elves and goblins, per say, but in the Silmarillion, he
did say goblins were formed from twisting and torturing captured
elves.]
Unlike Tolkein's goblins/orcs, in the
legends goblin-like creatures were sometimes helpful, though always
mischievous. They were often associated with dark mines, where they
would sometimes show the way to rich veins of ore or even warn of
impending disasters. But far more often, especially in some
traditions if they weren't placated with food offers, they would
throw rocks, undo work done by miners or steal tools, mislead miners
to get them lost, cut ropes or cause cave-ins. Often they are the
thieves and villeins of the faery world, tempting and mocking,
stealing horses, knotting hair, leading travelers astray.
Have you or anyone you know used stories of the bogie man or similar creatures to scare children into behaving?
If you have an affinity toward goblins, what is about them that you find appealing?
There are stories where goblins,
similar to trolls would turn to stone if they were struck by
daylight. In fact there are many similarities between goblins and the
Scandinavian trolls or trows. But I'll go over the differences
between them next post.
There are also some similarities
between goblins and brownies. Other names for goblin/brownies include
hobgoblins, hobs, Puck and Robin Goodfellow (Scottish and English),
Bwca (Welsh), Pixies (West Country), house elves (J.K. Rowling),
hobbits (Tolkien's Treebeard), bodach
(Highlands), Fenoderee (Isle of Man).
There is also the question of
hairiness. Brownies (and goblins) are usually bestial in nature,
often hairy. Phillpotts describes them with matted brown hair, hence
the name and sometimes lacking toes and fingers, but making these up
with long curves claws. While Froud and Lee describe brownies as
small, shaggy men, “wrinkled and brown in appearance, standing some
some 25 in. [approximately 2 ft. or 70 cm] in height and either naked
or dressed in tattered brown clothes. Whilst Highland Brownies have
no fingers or toes, Lowland Brownies have no nose.” And the
killmoulis, a miller's brownie, has a huge nose and no mouth.
Often brownies are connected with the
hearth and home. In this aspect there seems to be a relationship to
lares (Roman). They will adopt a house, where they are sometimes
destructive, but are usually considered helpful if placated [just
like goblins in mines] perhaps with fresh milk or cream or little
cakes spread with honey [sounds like the pasties goblins in mines
prefer.] They use magic to do impressive amounts of work for those
who have pleased them: mind animals, reap, thresh, run errands, churn
butter, sweep, mow, even amorous favors.
Some
goblin/brownies were even reported to shapeshift and prophesy. Froud
and Lee say an offended brownie can easily become a boggart, as
happened in the Spiderwick Chronicles.
But generally
brownies, like goblins, are fickle and become destructive if crossed
or criticized. Often they will plague idle servants, bang things,
throw things or people, pinch sleepers, destroy clothes or property,
howl, make dogs howl, tell secrets out loud, beat tormentors or
worse. Froud and Lee recommend protecting yourself with iron, holy
water or a cross made of Mountain Ash if you have upset a brownie.
How closely related do you consider goblins and brownies to be?
Goblins were often
equated to devils and imps. The medieval Church considered all
Faeries, even helpful brownies, to be evil and admitting to
consorting with any of them to be confession of witchcraft. [FYI,
there are also stories of elves and faeries becoming Christians and
celebrating mass in Faeryland, so views change.]
Temptations
by goblins and their feasts is treated in a beautiful poem by Christina Rossetti, called
Gobin Market
Picture of the Week - Dark Forest
I thought this picture I drew in Pastel Studio class in college had a good mood for this week.
Writing tip of the Week - Write what you know. Even if your plot has nothing to do with what you know to start with, research what you don't know and find a what to incorporate things you do know into the story, like your main characters' hobbies, jobs, relationships, etc. That way you can add believable details and insights into your descriptions to make your characters and story come alive.
Summary of Questions
1 . Have you or anyone you know used stories of the bogie man or similar creatures to scare children into behaving?
2. If you have an affinity toward goblins, what is about them that you find appealing?
3. How closely related do you consider goblins and brownies to be?
Picture of the Week - Dark Forest
I thought this picture I drew in Pastel Studio class in college had a good mood for this week.
Writing tip of the Week - Write what you know. Even if your plot has nothing to do with what you know to start with, research what you don't know and find a what to incorporate things you do know into the story, like your main characters' hobbies, jobs, relationships, etc. That way you can add believable details and insights into your descriptions to make your characters and story come alive.
Summary of Questions
1 . Have you or anyone you know used stories of the bogie man or similar creatures to scare children into behaving?
2. If you have an affinity toward goblins, what is about them that you find appealing?
3. How closely related do you consider goblins and brownies to be?
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