The enigmatic trolls, the hidden people

Trolls are familiar, but totally inconsistent creatures. While other creatures have recognizable elements, how do we know, without being told first, that a troll from Lord of the Rings, Warcraft, David the gnome or the eponymous dolls themselves are trolls? Many are large humanoids, but so are ogres and they are apparently unrelated. In this entry we will go back a few centuries to find out where they started from.

First contact

The first person known to have had contact with a troll is Bragi Boddason, the oldest known non-anonymous scald. In many sources, Bragi appears in Valhalla, the hall of heroes, where the authors would forget his human condition and would consider him the god of poetry. The contact occurs in the Skáldskaparmál, where Bragi crosses a forest by sledge or chariot at night and a troll challenges him in a poetic duel. Among the enigmatic kennings (a kind of periphrasis or circumlocution) with which he defines being a troll are "devourer of the celestial wheel", where "celestial wheel" can refer to both the Moon and the Sun, predicting its future; "sucker of wealth", as a threat against prosperity; "friendly companion of the seer" and "fjord-corpse" (graveyard), as a connection to a chthonic nature.

In literature, the encounters would happen from then on in threatening places far from civilization. They would continue to be associated with death, darkness, chaos, change and risk to prosperity. It is important to note that in Norse mythology, darkness and upheaval are often associated with the feminine, and it is notable that this first troll was so. Nevertheless, the Völuspá again mentions trolls, although translations often use the word "monstrous," as masculine:

In the east sat an old woman in Iron-wood
and nurtured there offspring of Fenrir
a certain one of them in monstrous form
will be the snatcher of the moon.

Fenrir's children, Sköll and Hati, will take the form of trolls and will take the Sun and/or the Moon. Meanwhile, Fenrir will open his jaws that will reach heaven and earth. Again we see how trolls are related to the wild and dangerous, but now also their shapeshifting nature.

On the other hand, the use of the term troll in adjectives and expressions related them to magic, violent death and the jötnar. Like the jötnar, trolls were considered to be large, but, like the jötnar, not all were necessarily giants, although the term was used with this meaning.

And the troll showed itself

In the early Old Norse Eddas and sagas, trolls were not described. They used to appear as distant and imposing figures. However, with Christianity the first details appear. Some accounts are more modern versions of ancient stories, where the giant is replaced by a troll. Thus they have enormous sizes, but are not necessarily dangerous.

In Illuga saga Gríðarfóstra the troll Gríðr (same name as a jötnar from the Eddas) is described with storm-blowing nostrils, snot hanging over her mouth, bald, bearded, eagle-like talons, green eyes, broad forehead and ears, and a loose shirt that covered her back from behind and her toes from the front. It is visible how the description mixes male and female, human and animal, impudent and chaste features. It turns out that Gríðr was transformed into a troll by her stepmother (back to magic and shapeshifters) and was to kill anyone who could not sleep fearlessly with her beautiful daughter. However, in order for Gríðr to offer his daughter, the petitioner had to tell three truths. If all these conditions were fulfilled, the curse that afflicted them would be broken. Then Gríðr would once again become Signý, the daughter of the king of Álfheimar ("land of the elves").

Trolls were not necessarily a separate species. A uncivilized large person could be called a troll, such as the leader of the Vikings of Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar who drank blood and ate raw food. Basically, it would refer to who today we would call an ogre. The trolls' features, such as their ugliness, size or amount of black hair, were also unlimited and could be exaggerated as much as necessary. They usually used caves as their home.

Petrification

One of the characteristics that usually differentiates many trolls today from other beings is their transformation into stone when they are hit by the sun's rays. This characteristic was already shown by the dwarf Alvíss in the Alvíssmál. In Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar, a monster is turned to stone when the men he threatened prolong their dialogue until the coming of dawn. Since then it has become a trope. In Guðmundr's saga, a man is harassed by a troll, who was also called a witch (flagðð). One Saturday she forces him to go to the mountains and he invokes Guðmundr, bishop of Hólar in the early 13th century, by emitting a beam of light that petrifies her. In the Middle Ages, petrification was a common fate for such monsters. Later, petrification was reserved for giants, while light burst trolls.

Because of this belief, many rocks in Scandinavian countries are named after trolls or giants.

Demonization

Crypt of Lund Cathedral, where the great Finn (troll) is seen holding the column.

As happened with the goblins and Satan himself, there were common medieval stories where the tricks of the trolls were defeated by someone wits and was punished in hell. The trolls are simplified as pagan monsters, demons allied with Satan who threaten orderly life and are expelled by the saints. Like the devil, who according to legend built the Segovia aqueduct in one night, or the craftsman jötnar and his horse Svaðilfari, who agreed to finish the wall of Asgard in three months, trolls were also fast workers.

It is told that a troll offered St. Lawrence to quickly build Lund Cathedral if a certain condition was met: that he would call him by his name, which the saint did not know. If the troll did not fulfill the work, they were to give him the Sun and the Moon. If St. Lawrence failed to fulfill the deal, he would take his eyes. The troll was building at a good pace, so St. Lawrence wandered restlessly and fell asleep exhausted on a mound outside Lund. Inside the mound he heard a troll tell her children to be still, that their father Finn would bring him to play the Sun and Moon or St. Lawrence's eyes. When he met the troll again, St. Lawrence addressed him by name and told him he would not pay him until he finished the cathedral. Enraged, he grabbed a pillar to tear down the temple, but St. Lawrence prevented him with the power of God. Since then, the troll and his family remain clinging to the pillars in the crypt of Lund Cathedral.

On the left, a gnome in a mine. Above, a witch riding a dragon upside down. On the right, a troll. Olaus Magnus -  Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus (1555)

However, the cathedral is older than this story and the figures on the columns could represent other characters, such as Samson.

Hidden

One constant is that trolls are often hidden, being called the hidden people (Norwegian: huldrefolk; Icelandic: huldufólk). According to a Swedish legend, Eve had so many children that, ashamed before God, she hid them. When God went to see them, he told her that if she wanted them to remain hidden, no one could see them, making them invisible.

Some details often change, such as the reason for hiding them, which may be not to have washed them. Instead of Eve, it may be Lilith or Lucia, his "first wife", or a group of women. Other legends consider them to be fallen angels.

Troll toll

Trol bajo el puente de Las tres cabras macho Gruff

The troll who lives under the bridge and asks for a coin to allow crossing is a relatively recent invention. It appeared in Norske Folkeeventyr ("Norwegian Legends", 1841) by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Engebretsen Moe. When translated, the tale of The Three Male Gruff Goats popularized the troll with eyes like saucers and a nose as long as a poker who lives under a bridge. In the tale, three goats of different sizes individually cross the bridge to reach better pastures, but the troll threatens them. The little one and the middle one allude that they will be an insufficient morsel, that he should eat their big brother, but when the big brother arrives, she pushes him and throws him off the bridge.

Hodgepodge

The term troll became a catch-all to describe anything magical or enchanted. It did not have to be grotesque or uncivilized. A human, a ghost or an evil wizard could be a troll, although its size remained its defining feature. The Swedish folklorist Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius observed in Wärend och wirdarne that in southern Sweden, unusually, trolls were small beings isolated from society who did not belong to the Christian community. The use of the word was so broad that the only clear difference was that they lived outside the human community.

In the tales of the 19th and 20th centuries, although trolls still do jotunn tasks, such as moving mountains, and are still threatened by Thor trollebane ("troll killer"), they no longer necessarily pose a threat. They can even, by reversing their traits, be good neighbors. In the story, the punished one is the human who, when a troll asks her for flour, beer and milk, she lies to him and tells him she has none. When the troll leaves, the lie becomes real, as her pantry is empty. Other trolls keep the rules, scaring those who do not abide by them, such as those who work or force to work at night or those who miss mass. Trolls were also said to get food when someone cursed, failed to say grace, or cooked without washing their hands.

But not all trolls turned out to be good. There were those who kidnapped, especially women in childbirth. It was advised to ring the bells near their abode to drive them away. However, some abductees reported to their family that after the abduction they lived better.

Internationalization

From the 19th century onwards, trolls became internationalized. Not only with Norske Folkeeventyr, but also with Dødningen (1830) or Hans Christian Andersen's Elverhøj (1845), although without the influence of the former because the translations did not use the term troll. The same happened with the pre-Latin translations of Old Norse texts, where the word troll was translated as giant. Although in Scandinavian countries there were multiple interpretations of trolls, the dominant one in the world was the Norwegian one.

Sources

• Lindow, J. (2014). Trolls: An unnatural history. Reaktion Books.
• James R. M. (2014). Trolls: From Scandinavia to Dam Dolls, Tolkien, and Harry Potter. James and James.