Trolls are trolls

[Varasneba]

In thinking about race/region creation, I am reminded of how many stories are told where a fictional race is likened to an existing people. I am not trying to make a social commentary, nor do I want my characters to be deemed as racial stereotypes. What are some ways you have found to avoid making direct links from your races & those that exist? For example, how do you make trolls trolls - not Jamaicans in troll suits.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Ah.... someone plays World of Warcraft I see. I would start with looking into the history of the troll itself - the troll under the bridge, the mining trolls, etc. How closely do you want to stick with folklore, versus how far do you wish to deviate from it? Blizzard deviated it from it to quite an extent. You may with to, yourself. The world of fantasy is your sandbox, limited by you imagination and certain boundaries purely spun of reason. Have at it!

 

[C Hollis]

I believe many of the stereotypes have been derived from modern interpretations of our fantasy creatures, and not so much based upon the original myths.

Trolls is a great example. Dig around in the Norwegian tales and I doubt very seriously you will find Jamaican trolls, okay, I'll just say it: You won't find Jamaican trolls in the Norwegian myths of old.

When I consider utilizing a creature in my stories, I fall back on the original writings (or what our best guess of original is), and avoid modern interpretations. Probably to my detriment, I don't care how other writer's handled certain creatures. I learn the basics and give them a little bit o' me.

And often, I like to turn the classics on their heads. I have a short story about an orc who can speak two languages, and is quite the strategist on the battle field. He even rears his ugly black head in my books.

I took the classic "bridge" troll threw him into a whimsical tale with one of my favorite characters from my books. The poor dude spoke the human language, because his "mum" taught him, but he couldn't eat meat; it gave him a headache.

 

[Motley]

I play WoW too.

I always pictured trolls as more like earth goblin types before WoW: dark and gnarled creatures that skulk about under bridges and such.

Any relatively intelligent races/species in your fiction should have some sort of culture. Make one up that makes sens with the ecosystem they come from instead of borrowing one from our world.

 

[Mindfire]

What's this Jamaican troll malarkey?

 

[Jabrosky]

What's this Jamaican troll malarkey?

The jungle trolls in the Warcraft universe tend to speak with Jamaican accents (it's even joked about in the Warcraft III expansion if you click enough times on one of the troll characters). The rest of their culture isn't based specifically on Jamaicans though, but seems to be an amalgamation of various tribal/jungle stereotypes taken from cultures all over the tropical world.

 

[Mindfire]

That is not at all what comes to mind when I think of trolls. I think more of the ones from LOTR or Skyrim.

 

[Graylorne]

Weren't the WoW trolls related to the elves? I seem to remember something like that. I generally steer away from WoW lore, that's one world I don't want to be influenced by. Trolls under bridges... Is that why there's a troll under a bridge in Guild Wars 2? Never made the connection.

But back to trolls. LOTRO trolls would do for me, yes. Big, slow, stupid, and turn to stone in daylight. The Skyrim ones are a joke.

 

[Mindfire]

The Skyrim ones are a joke.

Speak for yourself, buddy. Those things are terrifying at low levels. Especially the frost variety.

...Of course once I got into the mid level destruction & conjuration spells they started to become mere annoyances, but before that I avoided them like crazy.

 

[Graylorne]

Speak for yourself, buddy. Those things are terrifying at low levels. Especially the frost variety.

...Of course once I got into the mid level destruction & conjuration spells they started to become mere annoyances, but before that I avoided them like crazy.

Alright, they're nasty. But they're not trolls. More like overgrown apes.
Then I rather have the old D&D trolls. They looked the part and their regeneration made them unbeatable, if you hadn't any acid or fire.

 

[Alexandra]

... how do you make trolls trolls - not Jamaicans in troll suits.

Don't turn to video games for inspiration. :wink:

In the lands of The Songs... there are trolls in the Western Isles and in the Land of Light but they're essentially solitary creatures living alone or in small family groups, although at one time it is believed they lived in small extended family communities. During the last Goblin War trolls fought against Men, who they believed had inflicted numerous atrocities upon them prior to the formal outbreak of war, but they didn't fare well. Due to their size, strength, and courage trolls were often employed as shock troops but they aren't fast. Enemy longbowmen referred to trolls as "archery butts" and hundreds were slaughtered before getting close enough to their enemies to strike blows. In close however trolls are ferocious and skilled fighters and easily worth at least ten men in combat.

My trolls are deathly afraid of dragons, proving they are not stupid.

 

[skip.knox]

I have to ask: why do you want trolls?

I think once you answer that question, then you'll be on track for what sort of creatures they are.

Are they sentient? Do they form a society, or are they solitary or, at most, familial? That is, are they more like animals or more intelligent (i.e., social)? If the latter, then you need to think about social organization, economics, politics, culture. It doesn't take too much tweaking to make them different.

As for appearance, I'll take a pass on that one.

 

[Ireth]

I like what Terry Pratchett does with his trolls. They're literally made of stone, with diamonds for teeth and brains made of silica. The latter has the interesting consequence of making them incredibly smart, but only at extremely cold temperatures. As their brains heat up, they lose more and more ability to function.

 

[WooHooMan]

So, is the idea to create a troll that feels like a troll rather than a new creature that's called a troll? If so, I guess the best thing to do would be to go back to basics. Like how trolls were portrayed in Norse mythology.

 

[Guru Coyote]

I have to ask: why do you want trolls?

I think once you answer that question, then you'll be on track for what sort of creatures they are.

In the case of many video games, the answer seems to be: because we need something nasty to put *here*

And because we don't trust our customers to be imaginative enough to learn a new nomenclature - and we might not be creative enough to make one up - we call 'em ... trolls, why not? Oh, and let's make them cool when they do speak.

To me it was sometimes a real blessing that I did not 'get' the reference to an existing social/racial group... I don't think I would have recognized the accent as 'Jamican' in the first place, to me it might just have been a 'funny accent.' That makes enjoying the product so much more guilt-free

 

[Jabrosky]

I don't mind so much that the Warcraft trolls have Jamaican accents. However, I must admit that I've always felt a certain uneasiness about the whole "ooga booga jungle cannibal" archetype they represent. I am not sure if it counts as racist towards any real human group if this archetype is used on an obviously non-human race though.

Also, does the Warcraft universe have any humans of color?

 

[Motley]

Yes. Humans come in all colors over there.

I think if you're going for an already existing creature in your stories, you either have to go back to the source folklore or use hints of the most popular description of them. Call a thing what it is. The personal changes come from the society and events you put them through in your story.

 

[Guru Coyote]

Call a thing what it is. The personal changes come from the society and events you put them through in your story.

Yup. Which is why, in my WiP, I decided to call the riding animal simply 'horse,' because that's what it is for intents and purposes. The fact that in my world, horses have stripes is just a cute fact that changes nothing about 'what they are' - horses. That they are actually domesticated zebras is another topic altogether.

 

[Saigonnus]

Yup. Which is why, in my WiP, I decided to call the riding animal simply 'horse,' because that's what it is for intents and purposes. The fact that in my world, horses have stripes is just a cute fact that changes nothing about 'what they are' - horses. That they are actually domesticated zebras is another topic altogether.

If they are a zebra why not call them that instead of horse? Maybe come up with a reason why it's called that.

 

[Guru Coyote]

If they are a zebra why not call them that instead of horse? Maybe come up with a reason why it's called that.

Horse and Zebra, to me, imply certain traits and characteristics. Horse especially implies a riding animal, which a Zebra is so very NOT.
The zebra/horse of my world is a horse in all practical matters, it serves the *function* of a horse in our world. It only has stripes like a zebra, but it behaves like a horse. Thus, I decided to call it a horse.
My thinking here is also that the language these people speak is not English, and thus they use very different words. What I write as their speech and narrative is a 'translation' if you will, so I need to translate it according to the concepts used. The actual word used might very well be one derived from Zebra, but the meaning of it is: A large, domesticated animal with hooves that is used for riding and other transportation tasks. Which to me, is a horse
(Oh, and there is a reason why they are descendants of what we know as Zebra, but those reasons are buried in the ancient history of these people.)