SOURCE: The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien (1937)

DESCRIPTION:"...Three very large persons sitting round a very large fire of beech-logs. They wre toasting mutton on long spits of wood, and licking the gravy off their fingers. ...Obviously trolls. Even Bilbo, in spite of his sheltered life, could see that; from the great heavy faces of them, and their size, and the shape of their legs, not to mention their language, which was not drawing-room fashion at all, at all." (The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien)

NOTES: Trolls are of course creatures from folklore and not an original creation of Tolkiens. Tolkien's description of his trolls makes them quite human in appearance except for size. The reference to their legs may have to do with some traditional Icelandic tales say that trolls have the feet of animals, which they try to hide. Gandalf kills the trolls by tricking them into the rising sunshine, turning them to stone.

HISTORY: Differernt artists have made the trolls more less human in looks. The Rankin/Bass cartoon gave them tusks and bulbous noses. Tolkien doesn't describe them all that much but uses their conversation o really get them across, desfribing horrible ways to kill and eat the dwarves. The Cave Trolls of The Lord of the Rings seem a much less human monster.

John Bauer Troll

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