What exactly is a troll (fantasy, not the annoying type)?
So what exactly is a troll according to actual traditional folklore? I grew up with the three billy goats gruff, so I always thought trolls were hairy, ugly creatures that lived under bridges (I always imagined they looked like those Trolls from ‘Ernest Scared Stupid’). Peter Jackson and the Harry Potter movies introduced another type, one of a giant, ugly, vaguely human-like creature (the Potter Troll being more human-like). Then there’s those troll dolls, which were more cute than scary. Then there’s that Troll movie (1986), in which trolls are depicted as leprechaun-like. ‘A Troll in Central Park’ has the creature depicted as cute. Trolls from WoW appear more like goblins, albeit with tusks. So what exactly are trolls? What separates them from Goblins, orcs, ogres, imps and elves? They all seem synonymous to me.
Gaming Trolls are three times as tall as a goblin, and heal from wounds annoyingly quickly.
Years ago in AD&D (ancestor to DnD 3rd Ed, or 3.5, or 4.0 I guess), we would attack a tribe of Trolls, knock them unconscious, and do things like cut off their hands, press their wrists together while they heal together, stick a Troll-head onto one of the hands while they heal together, etc.
