Episode 104: Dark Fae: Goblins

The folklore of the goblin in a nutshell, how I reimagined it for my writing, and this fae translated to Afrikaans.

Written and narrated by Ronel Janse van Vuuren.

Copyright 2024 Ronel Janse van Vuuren — All rights reserved.

Learn more about the goblin in folklore here.

Get the transcript here.

Music: Secrets by David Fesliyan (FesliyanStudios.com) and Dramatic Heartbeat by FesliyanStudios.com

Transcript

You’re listening to the Faeries and Folklore podcast by Ronel.

I’m dark fantasy author Ronel Janse van Vuuren. With over a decade of digging around in dusty folklore books, researching creatures of imagination that ignited my curiosity, I’m here to share the folklore in a nutshell and how I reimagined it for my writing in an origin of the fae.

This is the Faeries and Folklore podcast.

Hi, I’m your host Ronel Janse van Vuuren. You can just call me Ronel. In today’s episode, we’re continuing our exploration of the fae realm.

This episode is brought to you by my Dark Court Sisters book series. Available in ebook, paperback and audiobook. Three sisters. Three destinies. Three ways to destroy the world. Go to ronelthemythmaker.com/darkcourtsistersseries for more.

You can now support my time in producing the podcast (researching, writing and everything else involved) by buying me a coffee. This can be a once-off thing, or you can buy me coffee again in the future at your discretion. Go to buymeacoffee.com/ronel to support me.

We’re continuing our exploration of Dark Fae.

Today’s Faery: Goblins

Folklore in a Nutshell by Ronel

There are different types of goblins in folklore and then there’s the way they’ve been twisted to suit the needs of authors until the first thing you think of when you hear “goblin” is what Tolkien created. They’ve been around for a very long time and have made their presence known.

Benign goblins exist: they are known as hobgoblins. Closely related to brownies, these goblins help out around the house and rarely pull pranks.

Another set of nearly-benign goblins are Knockers. They live in mines and will on occasion knock on walls to warn of cave-ins. But if the miners have disrespected them, they will knock hard on the walls to cause cave-ins.

The Hogboon of Orkney can bring luck to the farm closest to the mound it lives in, as long as the farmers share the bounty of the land, or it can bring ill luck – including making the farm barren – if the humans are disrespectful.

Trows, also from Orkney, are the closest to what we think of when we hear the term “goblin”: they are old, deformed, short with a stunted look, and overall ugly in appearance. They only leave their gold-covered mounds at night to play tricks on humans.

The Kobolds from Germanic mythology can live on ships, in mines and even human homes. They change their appearance to suit their environment. When living in homes and on ships, they help with chores and play mischievous tricks in equal measure. In mines, though, they are blamed for the troublesome and poisonous nature of the ore the metal cobalt resides in.

The Irish Pouka is considered a type of goblin for its mischievous nature. Phoukas like to take careless travellers on wild rides through the countryside ending in being thrown into mud pools and ditches.

Whether you believe them to be helpful and mischievous, or malicious and greedy, the magical goblin can come in any form from any place in the world.

And now for my interpretation of the fae in an Origin of the Fae: Goblins

Shorter than Dwarfs but taller than Galno, Goblins resemble deformed humans with animal feet (some have the feet of goats, ducks, lizards, et cetera). They are different hues of brown and wear the clothes of their fallen enemies or prey.

they carry iron weapons (mace, axe, et cetera) and lock-picks (they like to steal).

They are said to have no homes, being wanderers, dwelling temporarily in mossy cracks in rocks and tree roots. Usually in the human realm, goblins can be found in sewers or abandoned houses and forts.

They have chaotic behaviour and will only behave orderly if ordered so by a more powerful creature. usually a witch, for they adore the company of the human magic-users who want to rule the world.

As a little bonus, let’s look at this faery translated to Afrikaans: Kaboutermannetjies.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed this episode of the faeries and folklore podcast and that you’ve learned something new about faeries.

Remember that you can get a transcript of this episode in the description. If you’re new to the podcast, why not go and grab your free copy of Unseen, the second book in the Faery Tales series, on my website ronelthemythmaker.com? Loads of folklore, magic and danger await! Take care!

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You can now support my time in producing the podcast (researching, writing and everything else involved) by buying me a coffee. This can be a once-off thing, or you can buy me coffee again in the future at your discretion.

You can now own the backlist seasons as audiobooks. All proceeds go to hosting the podcast. Exclusively available from Ronel’s store.