| Troll | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Naming | |||
| Others | Children of the Stone and Earth Troll Rock (while in daylight) | ||
| Binomen | N/A | ||
| Morphology | |||
| Body type | Humanoid | ||
| Average height | Various | ||
| Intelligence | |||
| Sentience | Sentient | ||
| Sapience | Sapient | ||
| Aggressivity | Medium (varies a lot across different individuals) | ||
| Ecology | |||
| Habitat | Mountains Caves | ||
| Diet | Omnivorous | ||
| Locomotion | Bipedal | ||
| Reproduction | Spontaneous generation | ||
| Related species | Nisse | ||
| Status | Least Concern | ||
| Behind the Scenes | |||
| Universe | Hilda | ||
| Created by | Luke Pearson | ||
| Designed by | Luke Pearson | ||
| Performed by | Various mixed sounds of animals including elephant, crocodile, horse, lion, walrus, bear, tiger, etc. | ||
Trolls are a sapient species of preternatural creatures that live in the mountains surrounding the human city of Trolberg, a location that has been home to them since long before the city itself was built.
Trolls spend the days inside caves and subterranean spaces in the mountain interiors, in order to avoid sunlight, which causes them to be turned into stone for the duration of the day, although they will return to life at night or if otherwise shaded from the sun. Legend tells that all Trolls were created by the primordial Troll mother Amma.
Biology[]
Trolls are land-based plantigrade bipeds with stout bodies and proportionally short limbs. Their faces consist of a pair of glowing eyes, an unusually elongated nose, and a large mouth full of teeth, although the mouth is usually only visible when it is opened. Skin color varies significantly from one individual to the next, encompassing different shades of brown and grey. Their diet is omnivorous, although they generally favor meat. They're substantially stronger than humans; able to lift and throw around large boulders as if they were nothing.
Whenever exposed to daylight, Trolls are immobilized and quickly petrified, remaining in that state until nightfall, unless placed in a dark location or otherwise shaded, in which case they will instantly revert back to normal.
Although Trolls exhibit parental care and can be fiercely protective of their young; it has been implied that they don't reproduce themselves in the traditional sense, but are spontaneously created from ordinary rocks, given life by the Troll mother Amma; and the newborn seek adult Trolls to take care of them by becoming parents. Like the rocks that generate them, they can be found in multiple sizes and shapes; including variations such as hairy moss-covered and even two-headed individuals. They react with great fear in the presence of rock-eating slugs; suggesting that they might be preyed by them.
When sufficiently close to their creator, Amma, Trolls have demonstrated the ability to periodically bloom, which causes them to sprout vegetation all over their bodies.
Culture and society[]
Trolls are sapient creatures, although their language isn't comprehensible to humans, who perceive it as a series of animalistic roars. Their society is loosely organized at best, and they tend to live in anarchy, although there have been historical individuals who attempted to unite their race under a single leadership, such as the dreaded Mountain King.
Most people in Trolberg regard Trolls with fear, and consider them a threat and bother to humanity; which resulted in the construction of a wall encircling the city, to prevent Trolls from venturing into it at night. These fears are not without justification, as many Trolls can be brutish and hostile towards even their own race; although some have also exhibited kindness, and even protectiveness towards others; as exemplified with the Troll that showed gratitude to Hilda by giving back her sketchbook after she helped him; and the one that gave food and shelter to Hilda, Johanna and Twig as they were lost in the mountain interior, and helped protect them against a particularly dangerous Troll who was pursuing them.
Hilda, turned into a Troll.
At least some Trolls have been observed to perform magic rituals, which may include the rare creation of changelings: human children who are "swapped" with Troll children, resulting in that the Troll child turns human, and the human child becomes a Troll. This spell can only be broken if both children are to be reunited with their original mothers. Most Trolls also compulsively hoard items, the nature of which varies according to the individual, ranging from precious metals to domestic utensils or bones.
The Trolberg Safety Patrol often deals with Trolls by "belling": a method which consists of locating Trolls that have been turned into stone by daylight and placing a small bell on their nose, the sound of which will alert nearby people of the Troll's presence when it becomes active again. Since most Trolls have short limbs and long noses, they're generally unable to remove the bell on their own, and will require assistance. Additionally, it appears that the sound of bells displeases them and makes them agitated. Curiously, the Trolls themselves seem to employ a similar method to deal with their prisoners, by placing them in a cell with multiple bells hanging on the entrance, which prevents them from escaping without drawing attention.
History[]
Trolls have been living in the mountains surrounding the human city of Trolberg for several centuries, since long before the first settlement was built by humans. Millennia ago, a primordial being known as Amma gave life to all Trolls, and created the mountains for her children to reside. At some point in time, Amma fell into a deep sleep and ended up being buried underground by the passage of ages, but the Trolls remained close to her and continued to inhabit the ground in which she lied dreaming. However, the situation changed when the first humans arrived and started to colonize the area. Trolls were then exiled from their land by the Trolberg Safety Patrol, and the inhabitants of Trolberg put up a wall to keep the undesired beings away, unaware that the Trolls' persistent wandering inside the city was merely due to the influence of Amma. At one point, Trundle, the infamous Mountain King successively united the Trolls and vowed to wake up Amma, which in turn would destroy Trolberg, but other Trolls, led by Trundle's brother opposed the plan and defeated him in battle, so Trundle had his eye removed and was imprisoned inside a cave, with bells on the entrance to prevent his escape.
For the next centuries, Trolls would often camp together in small groups around bonfires. As they became increasingly agitated and increased their nocturnal activities, many humans came to believe that the Trolls wanted to lead an attack on Trolberg, and that those fires served as a warning to humans. In reality, the Trolls merely felt the presence of the slumbering Amma calling to them, and wanted to be near her. Eventually, Trundle tricked Hilda into helping him to escape, and gathered an army of Trolls to attack Trolberg, knowing that the humans would retaliate and that Amma would be forced to rise to defend her children. Fortunately, Hilda realized the plan and convinced the Safety Patrol to allow the Trolls entrance to the city, much to the horror of some of the inhabitants. Rather than attack humans, the Trolls wandered harmlessly, and the proximity to Amma caused them to bloom: a metamorphosis that caught many by surprise. From this point onward, a compromised was made, in which once a year, the Trolls would be allowed to march into Trolberg and commune with their matriarch. This annual event has somewhat softened (although not completely erased) the feeling of mutual distrust between Trolls and humans.
Appearances[]
- Hildafolk (2010)
- Hilda and the Bird Parade (2012)
- Hilda and the Stone Forest (2016)
- Hilda (2018-2023)
- Hilda and the Mountain King (2019)
Notes[]
- Besides being the children of Amma, it has also been stated that all Trolls and Nisse are descended from one of the ancient Giants named Björg. This might indicate Amma could be Björg's daughter.
- This would also strongly mean Trolls and the Nisse are in fact a related species with one another.
- Some of the Troll sounds came from Zilla from Godzilla (1998).