Troll - Norse Mythology

Norse Mythology

In Norse mythology, troll, like thurs, is a term applied to jötnar, and are mentioned throughout the Old Norse corpus. In Old Norse sources, trolls are said to dwell in isolated mountains, rocks, and caves, sometimes live together (usually as father-and-daughter or mother-and-son), and are rarely described as helpful or friendly. In the Prose Edda book Skáldskaparmál, a scenario describing an encounter between an unnamed troll woman and the 9th century skald Bragi Boddason is provided. According to the section, once, late in the evening, Bragi was driving through "a certain forest" when a troll woman aggressively asked him who he was, in the process describing herself:

Bragi responds in turn, describing himself and his abilities as a skillful skald, before the scenario ends.

There is much confusion and overlap in the use of Old Norse terms jötunn, troll, þurs and risi, which describe various beings. Lotte Motz theorized that these were originally four distinct classes of beings; lords of nature (jötunn), mythical magicians (troll), hostile monsters (þurs) and heroic and courtly beings (risi)—the last class being the youngest addition. Ármann Jakobsson calls this theory "unsupported by any convincing evidence". He has gone on to study the Old Norse examples of the term troll and has concluded that in the Middle Ages, the term is used to denote various beings such as a giant or mountain-dweller, a witch, an abnormally strong or large or ugly person, an evil spirit, a ghost, a blámaðr, a magical boar, a heathen demi-god, a demon, a brunnmigi or a berserk.