Troll History

It seems like trolls find their origin in Scandinavian, and Norse mythology in particular, and have been associated with envious, proud, greedy, naive, ignorant, stupid, giant and strong creatures with a very ugly (hairy) appearance, who were considered to be dangerous to humans.

Tales about those creatures were told long before recorded history and their origin is said to stem from either faint memories of our Cro-Magnon ancestors with Neanderthals, or a pagan cult which was common in Scandinavia before Christianity was introduced in the 10th and 11th century.

Trolls represent the element Earth and were said to turn into stone when exposed to sunlight. They are therefore often associated with various, particular landmarks. They are supposed to live underground in hills, caves, or mounds. Some say one could compare a troll to an ogre.

During the Middle Ages, trolls were portrayed as giant, bad creatures, but that decreased over time and their image took on a more friendly character during the late 19th and early 20th century, which was emphasized even more during the hype of the sixties.

Nowadays, trolls play an eminent role in all kinds of online fantasy and video games and troll dolls and figurines can be found in all kinds of shapes, sizes and forms. If you have another opinion on what a troll should look like then simply create your own!