"Trolls" redirects here. For the 2016 animated film, seeTrolls (film).
Look at them, troll mother said. Look at my sons! You won't find more beautiful trolls on this side of the moon. (1915) byJohn Bauer
Atroll is a being inNordic folklore, includingNorse mythology. InOld Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human beings.
In laterScandinavian folklore, trolls became beings in their own right, where they live far from human habitation, are notChristianized, and are considered dangerous to human beings. Depending on the source, their appearance varies greatly; trolls may be ugly and slow-witted, or look and behave exactly like human beings, with no particularly grotesque characteristic about them.
In Scandinavian folklore, trolls are sometimes associated with particular landmarks (sometimes said to have been formed by a troll having been exposed to sunlight). Trolls are depicted in a variety of media in modern popular culture.
Etymology
The Old Norse nounstroll andtrǫll (variously meaning "fiend, demon,werewolf,jötunn") andMiddle High Germantroll, trolle "fiend" (according tophilologistVladimir Orel, the word is likely borrowed from Old Norse), possibly developed fromProto-Germanic neuter noun *trullan, meaning "to tread, step on". The origin of the Proto-Germanic word is unknown.[1] Additionally, the Old Norse verbtrylla 'to enchant, to turn into a troll' and theMiddle High German verbtrüllen "to flutter" both developed from the Proto-Germanic verb *trulljanan, a derivative of *trullan.[1]
Norse mythology
In Norse mythology,troll, likethurs, is a term applied tojötnar and is mentioned throughout the Old Norse corpus. In Old Norse sources, trolls are said to dwell in isolated mountains, rocks, and caves, sometimes live together (usually as father-and-daughter or mother-and-son), and are rarely described as helpful or friendly.[2] TheProse Edda bookSkáldskaparmál describes an encounter between an unnamed troll woman and the 9th-centuryskaldBragi Boddason. According to the section, Bragi was driving through "a certain forest" late one evening when a troll woman aggressively asked him who he was, in the process describing herself:
Bragi responds in turn, describing himself and his abilities as a skillfulskald, before the scenario ends.[4]
There is much confusion and overlap in the use of Old Norse termsjötunn,troll,þurs, andrisi, which describe various beings.Lotte Motz theorized that these were originally four distinct classes of beings: lords of nature (jötunn), mythical magicians (troll), hostile monsters (þurs), and heroic and courtly beings (risi), the last class being the youngest addition. On the other hand, Ármann Jakobson is critical of Motz's interpretation and calls this theory "unsupported by any convincing evidence".[5] Ármann highlights that the term is used to denote various beings, such as a jötunn or mountain-dweller, a witch, an abnormally strong or large or ugly person, an evil spirit, a ghost, ablámaðr, a magical boar, a heathen demi-god, a demon, abrunnmigi, or aberserker.[6][7]
Later in Scandinavian folklore, trolls become defined as a particular type of being.[8] Numerous tales are recorded about trolls in which they are frequently described as being extremely old, very strong, but slow and dim-witted, and are at times described as man-eaters and as turning to stone upon contact with sunlight.[9] However, trolls are also attested as looking much the same as human beings, without any particularly hideous appearance about them, but living far away from human habitation and generally having "some form of social organization"—unlike therå andnäck, who are attested as "solitary beings". According toJohn Lindow, what sets them apart is that they are not Christian, and those who encounter them do not know them. Therefore, trolls were in the end dangerous, regardless of how well they might get along with Christian society, and trolls display a habit ofbergtagning ('kidnapping'; literally "mountain-taking") and overrunning a farm or estate.[10]
Lindow states that the etymology of the word "troll" remains uncertain, though he defines trolls in later Swedish folklore as "nature beings" and as "all-purpose otherworldly being[s], equivalent, for example, tofairies inAnglo-Celtic traditions". They "therefore appear in various migratory legends where collective nature-beings are called for". Lindow notes that trolls are sometimes swapped out for cats and "little people" in the folklore record.[10]
A Scandinavian folk belief thatlightning frightens away trolls and jötnar appears in numerous Scandinavian folktales, and may be a late reflection of the godThor's role in fighting such beings. In connection, the lack of trolls and jötnar in modern Scandinavia is sometimes explained as a result of the "accuracy and efficiency of the lightning strokes".[11] Additionally, the absence of trolls in regions of Scandinavia is described in folklore as being a "consequence of the constant din of the church-bells". This ringing caused the trolls to leave for other lands, although not without some resistance; numerous traditions relate how trolls destroyed a church under construction or hurled boulders and stones at completed churches. Large local stones are sometimes described as the product of a troll's toss.[12] Additionally, into the 20th century, the origins of particular Scandinavian landmarks, such as particular stones, are ascribed to trolls who may, for example, have turned to stone upon exposure to sunlight.[9]
Lindow compares the trolls of the Swedish folk tradition toGrendel, the supernaturalmead hall invader in theOld English poemBeowulf, and notes that "just as the poemBeowulf emphasizes not the harrying of Grendel but the cleansing of the hall of Beowulf, so the modern tales stress the moment when the trolls are driven off."[10]
Smaller trolls are attested as living in burial mounds and in mountains in Scandinavian folk tradition.[13] In Denmark, these creatures are recorded astroldfolk ("troll-folk"),bjergtrolde ("mountain-trolls"), orbjergfolk ("mountain-folk") and in Norway also astrollfolk[14] ("troll-folk") andtusser.[13] Trolls may be described as small, human-like beings or as tall as men depending on the region of origin of the story.[15]
In Norwegian tradition, similar tales may be told about the larger trolls and theHuldrefolk ("hidden-folk"), yet a distinction is made between the two. The use of the wordtrow in Orkney and Shetland, to mean beings which are very like the Huldrefolk in Norway, may suggest a common origin for the terms. The wordtroll may have been used by pagan Norse settlers in Orkney and Shetland as a collective term for supernatural beings who should be respected and avoided rather than worshipped.Troll could later have become specialized as a description of the larger, more menacing Jötunn-kind whereasHuldrefolk may have developed as the term for smaller trolls.[16]
John Arnott MacCulloch posited a connection between the Old Norsevættir and trolls, suggesting that both concepts may derive from spirits of the dead.[17]
Troll, a Norwegian research station inAntarctica, is so named because of the rugged mountains which stand around that place like trolls. It includes aground station which trackssatellites inpolar orbit.
Troll[21] is the name, and main antagonist, of a 2022 Norwegian movie released byNetflix on December 1, 2022.
Rolf Lidberg was a Swedish artist well known for his troll illustrations.
The Danish artistThomas Dambo has created from recycled wood a series of monumental troll sculptures that can be seen in several botanic gardens and similar installations.
^See Lindow (1978:89), but noted as early as Thorpe (1851:154) who states "The dread entertained by Trolls for thunder dates from the time of paganism, Thor ... being the deadly foe of their race".
^Blix Hagen, Rune; Alm, Ellen (8 March 2023)."trolldomsprosessene i Norge".Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian).var henholdsvis trollkvinne og trollmann – i flertall omtalt som trollfolk.
^"Gone but Not Forgotten. Extinct animals immortalized through folklore".Lapham's Quarterly.13 (1): 93. Winter 2020.
References
Ármann Jakobsson (2006). "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly:Bárðar saga and Its Giants" inThe Fantastic in Old Norse/Icelandic Literature, pp. 54–62. Available online atdur.ac.uk (archived version from March 4, 2007)
Ármann Jakobsson (2008). "The Trollish Acts of Þorgrímr the Witch: The Meanings of Troll and Ergi in Medieval Iceland" inSaga-Book 32 (2008), 39–68.
Lindow, John (2007). "Narrative Worlds, Human Environments, and Poets: The Case of Bragi" as published in Andrén, Anders. Jennbert, Kristina. Raudvere, Catharina.Old Norse Religion in Long-Term Perspectives. Nordic Academic Press.ISBN978-91-89116-81-8 (google book)
MacCulloch, John Arnott (1930).Eddic Mythology,The Mythology of All Races In Thirteen volumes, Vol. II. Cooper Square Publishers.
Narváez, Peter (1997).The Good People: New Fairylore Essays (The pages referenced are from a paper by Alan Bruford entitled "Trolls, Hillfolk, Finns, and Picts: The Identity of the Good Neighbors in Orkney and Shetland").University Press of Kentucky.ISBN978-0-8131-0939-8
Thorpe, Benjamin (1851).Northern Mythology, Compromising the Principal Traditions and Superstitions of Scandinavia, North Germany, and the Netherlands: Compiled from Original and Other Sources. In three Volumes. Scandinavian Popular Traditions and Superstitions, Volume 2. Lumley.
