The Troll is one of the most enduring creatures of Norse and Scandinavian folklore — a being of the wild mountains, forests and caves, often huge, ugly and dangerous, slow-witted yet immensely strong, and famously turned to stone by the light of the sun. From the saga-age to the modern day, trolls have haunted the lonely places of the north as the embodiment of the wild, hostile world beyond the safety of human settlement.
The Folk of the Wild
The Troll (Old Norse troll) is a creature of the uninhabited wilderness — the mountains, the deep forests, the caves and the rocky wastes of Scandinavia. In the older Norse sources the word could be used broadly for various malevolent or supernatural beings, overlapping with the giants (jötnar); in later folklore the troll became a more distinct figure. Trolls were generally imagined as large, ugly and brutish — often huge and grotesque, with great noses, shaggy hair and a fearsome aspect — though some traditions also told of smaller, more goblin-like trolls. They were strong beyond human measure but often slow-witted, dwelling apart from humankind in the wild places, hostile to the world of men.
The Enemies of Heroes
In the sagas, trolls were dangerous foes that heroes had to overcome — great troll-women and troll-men who dwelt in caves and behind waterfalls, who might carry off livestock or people, and who tested the strength and courage of any warrior who ventured into their domain. To wrestle and slay a troll was a mark of heroism. Trolls hoarded treasure, guarded lonely places, and embodied the brute hostility of the untamed land — the dangers that lurked beyond the farm and the hall, in the dark forests and the high fells where men did not belong.
Turned to Stone by the Sun
One of the most famous and enduring traits of the troll is its fatal vulnerability to sunlight: a troll caught above ground when the sun rises is turned instantly to stone. This belief, shared with the dwarves, gave rise to countless folk-tales explaining strange rock formations, standing stones and craggy peaks as trolls petrified by the dawn — the stony remains of monsters caught out by the rising sun. The image of the troll frozen forever into stone, a boulder or a crag that was once a living monster, is one of the most beloved in all Scandinavian folklore, written across the very landscape of the north.
The Spirit of the Wild North
The Troll endures as one of the most iconic creatures of Norse and Scandinavian tradition — the brutish, immensely strong dweller of the wild mountains and forests, the enemy of heroes, the hoarder of the lonely places, the monster turned to stone by the sun. From the sagas to modern fairy-tale, fantasy and folklore, trolls have remained a vivid presence, embodying the ancient northern sense of the wilderness as a place of danger and the supernatural — and the enduring idea that the wild crags and standing stones of the land are the petrified bones of monsters caught by the dawn.
Huge, ugly and immensely strong, the troll haunts the wild mountains and forests of the north — and many a strange crag is said to be a troll, caught above ground and turned to stone by the rising sun.