My grandfather olaf would tell me stories about trolls and balder tyr and Thor. His favorite stories would be to tell me about niflheim Ginnungagap muspelheim and the aesir. Goblins live under my bed. Pretty sure.
Can you please make a video on Gnomes. More specifically the book “gnomes” by will Huygen. It was my favorite book as a kid. It talks about gnomes but is written like visual encyclopedia. It goes into detail about anatomy, reproductive cycle, life span, culture, subspecies and more! It really makes you feel like they’re real. Here are some gnome “facts” -Gnome hats are color coded according to gender. And are bright colors so Predators don’t mistake them for prey -Gnomes remain fertile for several hundred years and almost always birth twins -The worst type of gnome is the Icelandic gnome, while not out right malicious they are prone to violent mood swings and very vindictive behavior. They are typically slightly taller than other gnomes and have beady eyes. -Gnomes don’t put locks on their doors, so for bathrooms they have a music box that plays a special song so others know it’s occupied. (And the song has lyrics and sheet music detailed in the book I’m not making this up. You need this book in your life.)
Obvs y'all never had to B-s**t a trio of river trolls to keep your hairy lil homies from getting muched on, give me an internet troll anyday they not all bad.
As a Norwegian, you definitely got some things right, but the definition of Troll is pretty different varying on where the folklore is from. In the eastern parts of the country, they are often depicted as you said here. But, further north and further west, there are different variations. One of my favourites is "The Priest" or Presten in Norwegian. It is a mountain just on the other side of the fjord next to my cabin (Which is a very Norwegian sentence) and it is pretty much a troll that converted to christianity, and therefore, it just laid down one day, and started to pray. It prayed for so long that the sun arose, and it turned to stone. So that is what the mountain is. And it does actually sorta look like a man with his hands on his chest, like he's praying.
Yeah there's a video here on RU-vid of a woman looking for Trolls in Norway and the locals take her to a rock. And told her said rock was a troll. It might even be the same rock that you mentioned here. In South America there is a place filled with huge rocks that look like giant faces or animals.
"It is a mountain just on the other side of the fjord next to my cabin (Which is a very Norwegian sentence)" Love that part. I also live in the mountains and fjords, but sadly not in a cabin. (Still fewer neighbors here than in the actual cabin villages. 😆)
I live in Norway and theres a story similar to the ones you told in this video about trolls chucking rocks at churches in my area. It's said that long ago when the church in my area was being first built there lived an ancient troll hag in a nearby mountain. And when she found out about the churchs construction she got so enraged that she startet throwing large rocks at it, but missing every shot. In the end its said that she got so furious that she tore her own leg off and flung it at the church. It barely missed it and the remains of the leg went on to become a little pond thats located just a few hundred meters from the church and that pond never freezes over in the winter.
Imagine it was just some rolling boulders or if the "Troll" was actually Pagans were trying to stop the church from being built by catapulting rocks at it.
As a norwegian, this was certainly a treat. Trolls are such a big part of our culture, appearing in so many of our fairy tales, and small troll figures are a common decoration in many houses (at least they used to). When I was young, I was also told that jotunns are "basically trolls" or "a type of troll", even though that is not quite true, though close enough for most people I suppose. Another thing, the word "ogre" is translated as "troll" in norwegian, so for much of my life I tought ogres and trolls were the same creatures, which lead to a bit of confusion at times. And btw, trolls in at least video games, often have strong regenerative abilities, healing from wounds very quickly. I have however, never actually heard about something like that in our fairy tales.
"Bytting", or Changeling in English, are not trolls. They are of the Vette (dark-elves) and/or the Undergrounders, the other mythological race of Scandinavian. Scandinavia trolls may vary in size, are always dimwitted and they often depicted to have more then one head. And they are always described as grotesque, contrary to the Undergrounders, who can can change their forms to be quite beautiful to humans . All trolls die and turn into stone when they are caught outside in sunlight. Some are small enough to walked inside a house and others are the size of mountains. The random boulders you find in Norway aren't necessarily because trolls where throwing it at churches, but also because they where having a battle among themselves. They can also smell and locate the blood of Christians, though no-one knows if they can do that with the blood of any other religion or atheist.
one problem with this is in the story of "gutten som kappåt med trollet" where espen askeladen is sent into the forrest to chop trees, here it sounds like it is daytime but might be owercast or maybe some trolls can withstand some sunlight, because nothing indicates that its dark at the time.
I don't wish to annoy you, but I really hope you are making a Dante's Inferno Part Two. Your part one is definitely the best on youtube, completely unmatched.
I have a troll named Gehrr which my mother brought from Norway when she was young. Since I was a child I have always talked to him like he was an old friend, like my mother before me. I swear his back has become more bent over the years, but he still has a mischievous twinkle in his eye that makes me smile. To my family he is much respected and cherished lol.
Could you explain the mythology of gnomes and perhaps other “garden spirits”? Your videos are endlessly inspiring and entertaining to me and thank you for your hard work!
I was with you ever since you had 25k subscribers, to see you at 1m now brings me pride and joy. Keep the work, tbh im responsible for quite a bit of your views. From 2018-19, i would put your playlist on my Ps4 youtube as i slept to rack up your views lol
My favorite depiction of trolls probably comes from Pratchett´s novels. In those they are made of different kinds of rock and their brains consist of a silicone based computer of some sort. The colder it is the smarter the troll but the temperature at which they work at peak efficiency is also really close to the one where they freeze to death.
That's "Men at Arms", but the "the temperature at which they work at peak efficiency is also really close to the one where they freeze to death" part only applies to Detritus - while a troll"s brain need more cold to work efficiently, they rarely need THAT much cold.
Hadn't heard "Three Billy Goats Gruff" in decades. Thanks! Congratulations on attracting over a million subcribers! I forgot where you stood about two years ago when you were on the verge of publishing your first book I believe. Sorry I lost touch with you for awhile: been following mafia stories. I applaud you for finding your niche and I thank you for the content you provide.
Ironically we also encountered trolls in the game known as the Witcher and lemme just say this video sums up trolls. So great job Mythology and Fiction explained this is why I am subbed to your channel!
Im from Sweden. I was taught stories that large boulders in random forests were from trolls who put them there as well as trolls throwing stones at churches. A lot of Swedish churches have the bell tower seperated from the building and it’s a folklore thing that the reason is cause of the trolls throwing the stones and the bell tower so to protect the church the bell is kept away from the church.
Funny, I was recently thinking about the trolls in my own setting, which were just going to be mangled humanoids made of fungus with some bug parts attached.
STYX! One of my favorite goblin/orc depictions comes from “of orcs and men” and Styx’s subsequent sequel games. Fun to see him in the vid, and can’t recommend those games enough for fantasy fans!
There's also Trantor from Ernest Scared Stupid which was primarily comical but was absolutely terrifying at times. Especially when he showed up in Elizabeth's bed and when he mimicked her voice to lure Kenny into his trap
I've read some of the lore on trolls and most trolls treat someone the way they're treated and the only one that only one that I know of that eats human flesh is the bridge troll, it actually sounds like ogres are the ones being described
I am swedish, and from what i heard as a child and read in books, not all trolls are dimwitted. They are often dumb, but not always, sometimes they can be good, but many people when talking about trolls don't talk about the good things, but instead focuses on talking of the negative depiction of trolls. Don't take this in a bad way, it's just critique and if you ever decide to mention trolls again you could bring up the less known things about them, like how they would take care of cattle for humans sometimes. (Btw love the video and your channel!)
I love the idea that many trolls are jut smaller or somewhat larger creatures with heads of moss who blend in with their environment. Like imagine coming across a troll and then it’s eyes open and you’re scared for a second but then realize it’s small stature and not necessarily violent but more curious nature no just give it some bread and be like eat well bud, and the trolls is just in his mind like “What?”
Ahh yes, I had all forgotten the tale about the three goats and the troll under the bridge! Also, want to watch a movie about trolls Scandinavian trolls, I can recommend the Norwegian movie "Troll hunter"
This reminds me of a Swedish term I heard a while ago, I forget the word or term in its native Swedish, but roughly translated to English it means "Trollbood" and what I find fascinating about this expression is that it is actually a term for someone born with powerful magical, mystical, or supernatural abilities. Trolls, having a number of different variations in Scandinavian lore and mythology, have a special place for Swedish peoples as creatures with powerful magical abilities, and some are said to have the ability to hide amongst humans and occasional sire children that are part human and part troll, then the powerful mystical effects of the troll are passed on to the children and their descendants. And I don't think this had been covered on the channel yet, I certainly didn't find it in the backlog, but it would be interesting to see a few videos dedicated to half-human hybrids, or maybe just mixed races and mixed-race figures, in Mythology, Lore, Legend, Fiction, and so on. A lot of time people talk about supernatural beings in terms of those that are purely of that creature, but I have yet to see anyone talk about mixed-bloods or mutts or mules as some like to call them, so a few videos dedicated to the mixes could be a nice change of pace, maybe you'll even find some bits and pieces in stories that you weren't anticipating.
I don't know if anyone has mentioned the Norwegian Troll Hunter movie that came out in 2011. It's actually pretty go for an independent semi-low-budget movie. You should check it out if you haven't seen it.
Being from Norway, i remember some fairtales about trolls. They sometimes smelled Chritian blood. If there was humans around. Maybe that relate to the stories about the churches. in some way.
Judging from contemporary artwork I think the norwegian trolls were considered the biggest, while swedish ones were more often man-sized. I can't think of a single swedish troll story where the trolls are gigantic, not that I know them all. But as norwegian trolls are heavily influenced by the Mountain King and Kittelsen's artwork they seem the biggest. They even have some crazy versions like the ones with many heads, it shows a clear connection to the Jotuns of old as Tyr's mother, a jotun woman, was said to have 900 heads. It's probably exaggerrated but thats a crazy visual. Thats why I believe "trollfolk" is a seperate category of trolls in Norway, the small ones are specifically trollfolk while the regular trolls are very big. It also reminds me of the fact that Norway is where you'll find all the big troll sculptures like Dovregubben.
Now I wonder where their regeneration comes from. My biggest exposure to Trolls has been D&D. Monsters with such powerful regeneration that they can reform from any injury unless done by fire or acid. Then said injury takes longer to heal.
I'm from the US,so not a ton of local lore on the troll,but when my son and his friends were young,I told them of the troll that lived through the forest at the bridge(really just an overpass,howev looked like a bridge to a kid)😉 Now,I explained that it was very important to never go in the forest at dark(just to keep em away from the woods at night really,as to not get lost)for 1 very dire reason! Troll's favorite yummiest thing to eat..CHILDREN 😈(bhahaha) anyway,we had lots of fun,while spending time in those woods..finding and tracking different animal prints,looking for trees that fairies might live in,pointing out poison ivy,a bit of hide and seek,so it was necessary to explain that trolls can't come out in the daytime. We were perfectly safe then,for in the daylight that troll would turn to stone,straight away! I told the kids of the troll's greatest fear,incase they ever needed to defend themselves against the wretched monstrosity..fire,of coarse. Though they weren't completely convinced this would work. So I asked then,"why do you think everytime anyone goes camping,they have a big campfire"??? It is,in fact,to keep these ugly creatures at bay. 😏
In my region there is a story that the town Trollhättan got its name from a rock in the waterfalls that was supposed to have been the hat/bonnet (hätta) of a troll. Either the troll dropped their bonnet into the water, or they themselves fell into the water. Either way I think the idea was that sunlight turned the bonnet (and maybe the troll) into stone. Besides being used for changeling stories, there are also stories about trolls trying to marry (Christian) humans. They will offer all kinds of fancy gifts for betrothal, with varying amounts of sincerity. (In Sweden we still say "rich as a troll" to mean very wealthy.) But you still shouldn't accept their marriage proposal because they generally just want to marry you to get a soul of their own (otherwise being soulless creatures) and as soon as they have it, you become a loose end to get rid off. (Just to be extra clear, they don't steal your soul, but get one of their own.) There is a medieval ballad of a mountain troll proposing marriage to a fair young man called Herr Mannerlig. Each verse she offers a fantastical gift, and asks him to only answer yes or no, if he wants to marry her or not. But when he finally replies he lets her know that he'd happily accept the gifts, if she were a christian woman. "But you are the worst of mountain trolls, of kin with the devil and näcken!" So the finally verse is her wailing her pain. Garmarna has recorded this song so you can find it on youtube. Just search "Herr Mannerlig".
Cool. Very interesting. So trolls were many things in the beginning. Witch, ghost, monster , whatever . Good to know. Other decent films with trolls in it are troll hunter. hansel and gretel, Witch hunters . Troll , beowulf. and the spider chronicles. Be safe all and try and have a good Xmas. 😊
I had a book of stories called Spooky Stories as a kid and one story in it was about a troll that ate anybody that tried to cross the moat of a castle. The king of the castle and his courtiers were trapped in there and they couldn't get out because they were scared of being eaten so he offered a reward for anyone who got rid of the troll but no one claimed it because the troll ate them all. Eventually a bigger troll turned up and after a fight drove the original one away. Luckily for the people of the castle the 2nd troll was a vegetarian and so was allowed to live under the moat.
