Rjurik Monsters...

[Olesens]

During my visit to Scandanavia and at other Scandanavian stores in the US I've
seen wood-carved statues of trolls. Now these trolls aren't much like your
typical 9' tall AD&D troll. Has anyone ever though of introducing a Pygmy
Troll or something like that that lives in the forests of Rjurik and eats
children (or whatever those scadanavian trolls do)? I'm not expert on
Scadanavian mythology so I though I'd just bring up the idea and let someone
else form it up.

[Pieter Sleijpen]

Olesens wrote:
>
> During my visit to Scandanavia and at other Scandanavian stores in the US I've
> seen wood-carved statues of trolls. Now these trolls aren't much like your
> typical 9' tall AD&D troll. Has anyone ever though of introducing a Pygmy
> Troll or something like that that lives in the forests of Rjurik and eats
> children (or whatever those scadanavian trolls do)? I'm not expert on
> Scadanavian mythology so I though I'd just bring up the idea and let someone
> else form it up.
>

The trolls from Scandenavian mythology are hardly small, that is just
the cute impression for tourists. They are very similar to the trolls of
Tolkien, large hulking brutes with most of the time little brains who
love to eat human flesh or rob them. In other stories, they could be
seen as hill giants, ogres or even ugly mean humans. For short, it is a
rather general term for all scary ugly evil humanoids of man size or
larger. It certainly is never the TSR troll, which I have never read
about outside AD&D. Those of smaller size are kobolds (if I remember
correctly) and roughly equal human size would be goblin.

Pieter Sleijpen

[Trizt]

Pieter Sleijpen wrote:

> The trolls from Scandenavian mythology are hardly small, that is just
> the cute impression for tourists. They are very similar to the trolls of
> Tolkien, large hulking brutes with most of the time little brains who
> love to eat human flesh or rob them. In other stories, they could be
> seen as hill giants, ogres or even ugly mean humans. For short, it is a
> rather general term for all scary ugly evil humanoids of man size or
> larger. It certainly is never the TSR troll, which I have never read
> about outside AD&D. Those of smaller size are kobolds (if I remember
> correctly) and roughly equal human size would be goblin.

The "scandinavian" trolls aren't stupid, some less wise other alot smarter than
humans. They are in general larger than humans, alot more hair and a tail. they
may capture a human chid and raise him/her, this human will become a sort of spy
for the trolls, but they will have extra powers and generally larger than normal
humans. Trolls has the bad habbit to become to stone if beeing in sunlight.
Giants are something else than trolls, but yes, sometimes a story could be told
as if the giant had the afflection to become stone in sunlight, but then in
another area the same story may have trolls instead of the giants.
Those smalle thing you are thinking of aren't trolls, but "vättar" (swe) and
"tomtar" (swe) and they have all other funktions.
But don't forget that here in scandinavia we have beside the as-myths the
kalevala-myths, but it seems like you anglos don't see any difference between
them.

//Trizt

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