TSR Q&A with Gary Gygax

This is the multi-year Q&A sessions held by D&D co-creator Gary Gygax here at EN World, beginning in 2002 and running up until his sad pasing in 2008. Gary's username in the thread below is Col_Pladoh, and his first post in this long thread is Post #39.

 

[med stud]

*chuckles* yes. Tall, brutish, powefully built scandinavian giant kin...the mythological descriptors I go by.

Sides the Erdian "Troll Lord" is rather a different sort of critter.

Time for an extreme tangent: Our (Scandinavian) trolls, in myth at least, looked like humans except for the tail. They were also able to shift shape into different creatures and they were also invisible for everyone except those born at ~12 pm (the "ghost hour"). They were skilled magicians and very rich ("rich as a troll" is still a Swedish expression for "filthy rich"). They liked to switch their children for human children (essentially changelings). They also captured people from time to time; to escape it was easiest to sing a psalm or say a prayer, then they threw you out. They couldn't approach the sign of the cross or steel so there were ways to protect yourself against them. They also burst in sun light, they didn't turn to stone.

A sign of their knowledge of magic is that wizard in Swedish is "Trollkarl" (="Troll man" literally) and to do magic is known as "trolla" ("to troll" (not to be confused with internet behavious )).

As trolls don't exist IRL your defenition is as good as any and I think there is a lot of cross referencing going on between trolls and giants in Scandinavian folklore but giants are closer to what you describe if you want to stay close to Scandinavian myth.

 

[gideon_thorne]

Thank you kindly for the information. Ill make a note of it for our next C&C monster book.

Time for an extreme tangent: Our (Scandinavian) trolls, in myth at least, looked like humans except for the tail. They were also able to shift shape into different creatures and they were also invisible for everyone except those born at ~12 pm (the "ghost hour"). They were skilled magicians and very rich ("rich as a troll" is still a Swedish expression for "filthy rich"). They liked to switch their children for human children (essentially changelings). They also captured people from time to time; to escape it was easiest to sing a psalm or say a prayer, then they threw you out. They couldn't approach the sign of the cross or steel so there were ways to protect yourself against them. They also burst in sun light, they didn't turn to stone.

A sign of their knowledge of magic is that wizard in Swedish is "Trollkarl" (="Troll man" literally) and to do magic is known as "trolla" ("to troll" (not to be confused with internet behavious )).

As trolls don't exist IRL your defenition is as good as any and I think there is a lot of cross referencing going on between trolls and giants in Scandinavian folklore but giants are closer to what you describe if you want to stay close to Scandinavian myth.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Time for an extreme tangent: Our (Scandinavian) trolls, in myth at least, ...

As is said here in Wisconsin, Uff da!

Cheers,
Gary

 

[med stud]

Well, you're welcome! This is basically stuff my grandmother told me when I was a kid so it was no biggie for me

 

[gideon_thorne]

*chuckles* I get my inspiration for the look of a 'monster' from a similar source. Folk tales from my yorkshire dad and londoner mom.

Well, you're welcome! This is basically stuff my grandmother told me when I was a kid so it was no biggie for me

 

[francisca]

Well, you're welcome! This is basically stuff my grandmother told me when I was a kid so it was no biggie for me

And that is the best kind of knowledge, IMHO.

 

[Geoffrey]

Time for an extreme tangent: Our (Scandinavian) trolls, in myth at least, looked like humans except for the tail. They were also able to shift shape into different creatures and they were also invisible for everyone except those born at ~12 pm (the "ghost hour"). They were skilled magicians and very rich ("rich as a troll" is still a Swedish expression for "filthy rich"). They liked to switch their children for human children (essentially changelings). They also captured people from time to time; to escape it was easiest to sing a psalm or say a prayer, then they threw you out. They couldn't approach the sign of the cross or steel so there were ways to protect yourself against them. They also burst in sun light, they didn't turn to stone.

A sign of their knowledge of magic is that wizard in Swedish is "Trollkarl" (="Troll man" literally) and to do magic is known as "trolla" ("to troll" (not to be confused with internet behavious )).

As trolls don't exist IRL your defenition is as good as any and I think there is a lot of cross referencing going on between trolls and giants in Scandinavian folklore but giants are closer to what you describe if you want to stay close to Scandinavian myth.

That is very interesting stuff! I am especially intrigued by the words "trollkar" and "trolla".

 

[med stud]

That is very interesting stuff! I am especially intrigued by the words "trollkar" and "trolla".

Thanks! Up until about 150 years ago people still believed in this more or less. Authorities found shrines dedicated to Freja in the 19th century (when heathen religions were outlawed) so it is still alive in the language. In the same fashion my grandmother's uncle worked as a town guard (there were no police in Gothenburg by then, they had town guards) armed with a halberd. The old times lived for a long time in this country, it's pretty fascinating really.

 

[haakon1]

Old family stories about trolls

Whose mythology has trolls living under bridges? My mom used to talk about that.

I always assumed it was either Norwegian (I'm mostly Irish-American, but part Norwegian and my parents lived there for a year) or "generic", presumably English.

In Seattle, there's a famous statue of the troll under a bridge, but it's in the "funky" Fremont neighborhood, not Norwegian Ballard.

 

[Steverooo]

Whose mythology has trolls living under bridges?

"Three Billygoats, Gruff".