History Main / AllTrollsAreDifferent

* In ''DwarfFortress'' goblins sometimes use trolls as living battering rams who break fortress doors and cause havoc. Description text tells that trolls are "huge humanoid monsters with coarse fur, large tusks and horns."

** The beautiful troll females described in the story above (as well as in the Foglios' {{Xxxenophile}} story, see the comic books folder) are known as Huldra. To further complicate matters, Huldra are considered to be related to both trolls and FairFolk. They prefer human men, though.

* The Norwegian film TheTrollHunter shows a wide variety of troll species.

** Chinchilla

** It should be noted that trolls come in a few varieties, including Cave, and whatever Bert, Tom and Bill are. There are also the Olog-hai, stronger and smarter trolls created by Sauron, that don't turn to stone in the sun. There are also references to two-headed trolls, as well as 'troll-men' at the Battle of Pelennor Fields, though it may just be a metaphor for ugly guys.
* Trolls in TerryPratchett's ''{{Discworld}}'' are made of rock, with silicon brains and diamond teeth. This helps explain their natural rivalry with dwarves: if you're a race [[PlanetOfHats made up entirely of miners]], and you see a nice sleepy rock with diamonds in it, you're going to take a swing, right?
** TerryPratchett actually uses the silicon brains to explain the "stone in sunlight" element listed above: as the temperature rises, a troll's brain can't work so well, so they practically go comatose in daylight in some regions. The opposite is also true in that trolls get smarter in cold weather; this is taken to its natural conclusion when the troll Detritus nearly comes up with a Grand Unified Theory when stuck in a meat locker.
*** Not just any meat locker, but a meat locker that is supernaturally cold due to some trickery to do with time.
** Trolls also act as a version of computer-driven robots - they can only properly count in binary, have thought processes running on silicon brain-chips, and can overheat, causing them to shut down.
*** The book ''Thud'' introduced Mr. Shine. Other trolls say of him, "Mr Shine, him ''diamond''," which is true; Mr. Shine is a rare troll composed entirely of diamond. Since diamond trolls can regulate their body temperature by reflecting heat, Mr. Shine's brain works far better than regular trolls', even in high temperatures. As a diamond troll, Mr. Shine is the rightful king of the trolls, but isn't interested in ruling; rather he invests his energies into his efforts to bring about peace between trolls and dwarves.
*** And they're not even the only ones fitting the metaphor; the Golems fill that niche as well. And would you believe the Golems are ''completely different''.
*** And then there's also the Gargoyles, which seem to be some sort of city adapted troll... though to the best of my knowledge, there's not yet been any explanation as to how they work. especially as they seem to be made of stone, like the Trolls and Golems, but eat pigeons. Ah well, [[RuleOfCool Rule of Cool]]/[[RuleOfFunny Funny]] I suppose...
**** They obviously feed off the calcium in their bones. There's been a time or two when a nastier sort of troll has threatened to make soup from a human's bones.

* Trolls in Eoin Colfer's ''ArtemisFowl'' series are mindless subterranean predators with retractable talons, venomous tusks, dreadlocks, and horns.

** Tomte can also refer to elf- or gnome-like creatures, depending on the story (Santa's helpers, and even Santa Claus himself are called tomte in Swedish, since the Swedish word for Santa Claus is Jultomte (which approximately translate into Christmas troll).

Should they be [[DungeonsAndDragons giants with scaly green skin that rapidly heal from any injury except fire or acid]]? Or something that's literally made of rock and [[{{Discworld}} gets smarter when it's in the cold]]? [[{{ThreeBillyGoatsGruff}} Or perhaps something that guards bridges from errant goats?]] Or a kindly, furry creature who has an affinity for animals and helps around the farm? [[{{Warcraft}} Or something that's tall, slender, and blue, with long tusks and Caribbean accents?]] Or tiny humanoids that [[{{Trollkins}} drive around on tree roots]]? Or a hand-sized, friendly, but butt-ugly little bugger with big, crazy hair? Or smart creatures with [[FunctionalMagic magical powers]] who can [[VoluntaryShapeshifting change their shape]] and [[TricksterArchetype like to trick people]]? Or dumb brutes who just [[SmashMook hit things with clubs]] and talk like [[strike:British]] [[TheHobbit Polish football hooligans]]? Or maybe [[{{Troll2}} they're really goblins]]? Or perhaps [[{{Troll}} just people who spend their time yelling at people on the internet to mask their own insecurities.]]

->'''Thor:''' I think trolls should be hardworking blacksmiths, toiling away underground, forging magical weapons.\\
'''Hades:''' No! Trolls should be vile monsters, living under bridges and harassing goats!\\
'''Pig:''' You're both wrong! Trolls should be tiny wrinkled men with big poofy hair that are collected by old women!\\

* Trolls in ''TheHobbit'' and ''TheLordOfTheRings'' are pretty much the same in appearance, except they turn to stone when they're caught in sunlight. Once again, the first trolls we meet are just big bullies who threaten to eat our heroes, but later on they are full-fledged fearsome monsters.

Hell, even the Scandinavians, from whose languages the word "troll" was borrowed into English, would sometimes use that same term for everything from big ugly monsters who would eat children to [[CuteMonsterGirl beautiful forest spirit women]] who happened to have a few [[PettingZooPeople unusual features]], such as tails. And even '''then'''? (Oh, just see [[AllTrollsAreDifferent/Discussion the Discussion page]])

Hell, even the Scandinavians, from whose languages the word "troll" was borrowed into English, would sometimes use that same term for everything from big ugly monsters who would eat children to [[CuteMonsterGirl beautiful forest spirit women]] who happened to have a few [[PettingZooPeople unusual features]], such as tails. And even '''then'''? (Oh, just see [[AllTrollsAreDifferentDiscussion the Discussion page]])

* Trolls in ''{{Slayers}}'' (likely based on the ones in ''DungeonsAndDragons'') are rather primal creatures, around twice the height of the average human and come in a large array of colors. They posses an incredible HealingFactor that allows them to recover lost limbs in a matter of seconds. Some people are capable of making deals with them, but most avoid them; a rather good idea, seeing as they go in a ravenous frenzy of pillaging and destruction the second Shabranigdu is unleashed into the world, which happens quite often, it would seem.

* In DwarfFortress goblins sometimes use trolls as living battering rams who break fortress doors and cause havoc. Description text tells that trolls are "huge humanoid monsters with coarse fur, large tusks and horns."

* Trolls in ''RuneQuest'' are a bit bigger than humans, but about as smart. They're [[ExtremeOmnivore Extreme Omnivores]], occasionally cannibals, and a dying race due to an ancient curse.

** Tomte can also refer to elf- or gnome-like creatures, depending on the story (Santa's helpers, and sometimes Santa Claus himself are called tomte in Swedish).

* In GoldenAge [[{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel Jr.]] comics, trolls were a race of cute, tiny magical people. The guys were just funny-looking, but the girl, Ny-O, was very pretty, albeit having a head the size of a bobble-head doll relative to her body.

* Trolls in TadWilliams' ''MemorySorrowAndThorn'' trilogy are creatures that vaguely resemble dwarves in other fantasy worlds, and have a language and culture similar to Inuit. From the perspective of the immortal Sithi they are almost the same as humans.

* In Johanna Sinisalo's ''Not Before Sundown'' trolls are a scientifically acknowledged class of primate of their own that live in the northern forests and tundras. They're so reclusive that they were thought to be legend until somebody found a real corpse. They're about human sized, bipedal, and have sleek, black fur and whip-like tail. As it turns out during the story, their pheromones are strong enough to cause obsessive love, or even sexual attraction in humans in some circumstances. [[spoiler:They're also sentient, and have just recently learned to use human firearms, and have started poaching for hunters.]]

* {{Homestuck}} plays with the dual meaning by having internet trolls turn out to be actual grey-skinned creatures with horns. It's still kind of uncertain whether they're good guys or bad guys.

* The trolls of ''[[TheWorldOfDarkness Changeling: the Dreaming]]'' are big and strong and have horns? and that's mostly where the similarity to an "average' troll ends. They're not necessarily dumb or ugly, and they're some of the best warriors of Changeling society. Their major weakness is that they're bound by honor; if they break an oath, [[KryptoniteFactor they lose their strength]], and if someone else breaks an oath they made with a troll, well? [[UnstoppableRage they'd better get out of the way]].

* Trolls in ''Grimm'' can look like anything so long as it's vaguely person-shaped, but they have a few things in common: They're all man-eaters who live under bridges, maintaining them and collecting tolls from those who pass over them. They have master knowledge of the structure and maintenance of bridges, but are weakened greatly if they stray too far from their bridge. They can also hum a wondrous soothing subsonic tune that helps persuade otherwise reluctant people to cross their bridges -- cats can actually hear it, and intensely dislike it.

* The trolls from the ''{{Berserk}}'' manga series, on the other hand, are nasty, nasty predatory monsters straight out of the Qliphoth, a nightmare realm connected to the astral world, that have taken to [[MarsNeedsWomen carrying women off]] from villages for [[FaceFullOfAlienWingWong breeding purposes]]. Like many of Kentaro Miura's monsters, ''Berserk'''s trolls are MixAndMatchCritters, and in their case look like a hairy cross between a rat, a monkey and a pig.