Off-Topic Trolls - Warcraft vs. Fables + Myths

[Touchseed]

(As a foreword, I'm not comparing Warcraft Trolls to Fable's Trolls, but keep that thought in your mind..)

Trolls are a pretty interesting subject, I want to know if anybody else has noticed..
First off, try to forget about Trolls from Warcraft for a moment. All of the Voodoo magic, and the Horde and the tribes and all of that. Maybe when you were a young child you may remember being told what a Troll was. It would come in the form of probably a story. A Troll would always be the bad guy, but the real reason they were so frightening was because you never saw them. Am I right?

Trolls outside of Warcraft are truly frightening, possibly some of the most scary things around. Primarily because you don't understand a thing about them other than that they are bad. They *aren't* your friends, and to make things worse, if you were looking at one, you wouldn't even know. They hide under bridges, in caves, in knotholes, up on a hill, over a mountain, by a river. You assume they are ugly, because they hide. But how do you know? I've even read that Troll-women in some myths and stories are fairly attractive. There have been attempts to create what a Troll looks like, but that is only that individual artists rendition. If you don't believe me, then why are *two* Trolls so different? Take the Troll from Warcraft for example, and put it up against a Troll from Fable. A slender tusked creature with a penchant for dark magic and cannibalism, against a creature comprised entirely of rock, mud and trees with an I.Q. of 7. Want to go further? Let's put a Troll from Shadowrun to a Troll from Oblivion. A Humanoid, horned creature whose skin turns to stone the more they are hurt, versus a furry gorilla type monster who is hurt more by fire.

Now, there are several rules to a Troll, almost all follow. They usually are tough. Resistant, and resilient. This can come in the form of rocky skin, or regenerative properties. They are usually ugly (To us.) They look *almost* like us, just in a more twisted form. They are hurt by fire, in many cases as well. The universal rule is that they *all* are scary, to some extent.


I want to ask all of you, what do you think? Do you agree with me, if so in what ways? Do you disagree with me perhaps? Have you "Never thought of it that way before" even? Also, try to take a minute and to clear your head and *Create your own Troll*. If your not thinking too hard, it should come out different each time. My Trolls are furry and have teeth longer than your forearms and eyes and have stubby fingers and live under bridges!

[Thoradin]

Have you seen the trolls in Overlord? They are fat AS hell. They like wiggle when they turn to look at you it's funny, but not right.

[Killachipmunk]

Hmmm... My Trolls are a lot like the Fable/Warhammer ones, Big, Ugly, Paunchy, like to carry around a club all the time.

Orcs have much the same problem though, they're always Green, Evil, and numerous, but there are lots of renditions.

[Grakor456]

Hmmm... My Trolls are a lot like the Fable/Warhammer ones, Big, Ugly, Paunchy, like to carry around a club all the time.

Orcs have much the same problem though, they're always Green, Evil, and numerous, but there are lots of renditions.

Except not. Warcraft orcs aren't evil, and Tolkien orcs were never described as being green. The only really thing consistent about orcs is that they're inconsistent. That's probably because orcs themselves aren't part of any myths, they were made up and inspired by some...but they themselves are not part of any old mythology, so they end up being interpreted many different ways.

Trolls, meanwhile, actually exist in Norse mythology, and are sometimes linked to faerie tales/myths.

[TwilightDisciple]

I like Fred Perry's trolls. <3

[Walrus]

Touchseed!
I'm so happy with this question!
Your perception and inquisitiveness is something I wish I could see more of.

I agree, Trolls, like most monsters, are no doubt a symbol. I would compare them to the Boogie Man that hides underneath our children's beds. They are something alien to humans yet simultaneously, eerily similar to us. Perhaps a remnant of our ancestor's fear towards their primal Neanderthal cousins.

Trolls are always brutish and somewhat primitive, and because of this, might symbolize the noted difference that separates men from beasts. A creative way for the story-tellers of old to note the strange enigma that is the missing link.

Looking inward though, and more into the monster persona that trolls portray, the troll might symbolize the basic animal instinct that lives within humans. However I think this to be a small portion unlikely, as werewolves have covered that idea quiet nicely.

OR (I promise this to be my last comment on symbolism (In this post)) there could be no symbolism, but just a creature inspired by an ordinary gentlemen who became a hermit in the woods and as a result become somewhat bestial in behavior and muscular in build. Say your average bard walks along, sees this hermit, who yells and howls at his approach in order to scare the intruder off, and the bard takes it as some sort of monster.

As for -MY- trolls, they are huge beasts. Beneath their mat of wiry red hair lies thick slabs of un-godly amounts of muscle. Every inch of them, all the way to the top of their ten foot frame, is covered in a healthy layer of filth. From their maws spring a pair, or more, of yellow tusks, as well as varying numbers of wild razor sharp teeth. Most terrifying of all, set beneath a heavy brow, are a pair of burning red eyes, smoldering with nothing but instinct and primordial rage.

[Qaza]

My trolls closely resemble the landscape around them, and tend to have things like small trees growing on their backs. And lichen. They'd be kind of pudgy and good-natured looking, with shiny little black eyes and a bird perched on one ear.

...On that note, look up the artist Ursula Vernon. I like her.

[Delmure]

I like Fred Perry's trolls. <3

Ooohh, you. Yooouu.

I have nothing more to say.

[Hogral]

Trolls, meanwhile, actually exist in Norse mythology, and are sometimes linked to faerie tales/myths.

Being a Norse, I can confirm this. The Norse troll is usually a huge, lumbering gigant living out in the woods or mountains. Some trolls are downright cruel, while some just want the humans to stop chopping down their woods and leave them alone.

There's also trolls living under the earth, that's portrayed as far smaller, and far more devious. While the huge trolls at the surface are rather stupid, these ones delight in swapping human babies with their own twisted copies, or tricking humans into their underground lairs. One method would be these beautiful, human-sized, female trolls (that might not be trolls after all, but atleast it's somehow related to it all,) sitting in the deep forest, ready to seduce whatever males wander by, only to lead them into the caves the Trolls reside in. Perhaps that'd be what you've read about Touchseed?

My guess is that they all got thought up to explain the unexplainable, like old Joe disappearing in the woods without a trace, or that something's wrong with your baby. In fact, this was often used as an excuse when your kid grew up to be mentally disabled or similar in the past.