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This book examines the history of goblins from the Middle Ages to the present. It shows that goblins—whether interpreted as creatures, objects, ideas, or people—were historically contingent and grounded in an often-hazy interplay between folkloric and folkloresque traditions. As such, goblins cannot be reduced to a singular appearance or set of characteristics. They are products of their historical environments, which has allowed people throughout history to portray them without contradiction in varied fashions: demons working on behalf of Satan, residents of Fairyland that occasionally enter our world to perform mischievous tricks, and cave-dwelling villains united under a goblin king in the fantasy universes of Tolkien or Dungeons & Dragons (among countless others).
These manifold interpretations of the goblin do not mean that the word was so multifaceted as to have no widespread, underlying connotations. Goblins have tended to serve as crude, destructive mimicries of something deemed abnormal by a given author. Humans labeled as goblins were often those that fell outside of normative ideas about proper appearances and behaviors, especially according to Anglophone elites. This pejorative categorization was sometimes applied to those with dark skin (including the “pygmies” of Central Africa as described by British colonial administrators of the nineteenth century) and those with observable disabilities. In the twenty-first century, however, goblins have seen a sympathetic reappraisal that inverts these longstanding stereotypes as assets in an age of unreasonable societal expectations. The framing of goblins as sympathetic protagonists in fantasy novels, oppressed victims of human aggression in RPGs, and avatars for underappreciated natural beauty on Goblincore forums has inverted the negative tropes that so frequently defined them in decades prior.
Endorsement:
“In this masterful survey, Matt King guides the reader through the millennium-long history of goblins, from their origins in medieval Christian demonology to their ubiquity in modern fantasy literature and role-playing games. Drawing from a deep well of historical beliefs, folkloric traditions, and literary representations, he shows how nineteenth- and twentieth-century depictions of goblins as malevolent spirits and villainous agents rife with racial overtones have receded in the wake of more sympathetic interpretations of these preternatural creatures as we embrace and celebrate our ‘goblin mode.’"
— Scott G. Bruce, Professor of History, Fordham University, USA; editor of The Penguin Book of Demons
List of contents
Chapter 1: Introduction to A History of Goblins.- Chapter 2: Medieval Origins.- Chapter 3: Early Modern Variations.- Chapter 4: Goblins of Nations and Empires.- Chapter 5: Goblins in Literature and Theater of the 19th Century.- Chapter 6: Of Orcs and Goblins.- Chapter 7: Tabletop Goblins.- Chapter 8: Goblin Modes.- Chapter 9: A Goblin Conclusion.
About the author
Matt King is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Southern Florida, USA. He received his PhD from the University of Minnesota in 2018, specializing in medieval history. His first book was Dynasties Intertwined: The Zirids of Ifriqiya and the Normans of Sicily (Cornell University Press, 2022). His recent work has pivoted to the world of folklore and its folkloresque derivations. He published a 2024 article in the journal Folklore, “Taxonomizing Goblins from Folklore to Fiction,” and was part of a team that created a role-playing-game system (derived from more complex rulesets like Dungeons & Dragons)for use in group therapy settings.
Summary
This book examines the history of goblins from the Middle Ages to the present. It shows that goblins—whether interpreted as creatures, objects, ideas, or people—were historically contingent and grounded in an often-hazy interplay between folkloric and folkloresque traditions. As such, goblins cannot be reduced to a singular appearance or set of characteristics. They are products of their historical environments, which has allowed people throughout history to portray them without contradiction in varied fashions: demons working on behalf of Satan, residents of Fairyland that occasionally enter our world to perform mischievous tricks, and cave-dwelling villains united under a goblin king in the fantasy universes of Tolkien or Dungeons & Dragons (among countless others).
These manifold interpretations of the goblin do not mean that the word was so multifaceted as to have no widespread, underlying connotations. Goblins have tended to serve as crude, destructive mimicries of something deemed abnormal by a given author. Humans labeled as goblins were often those that fell outside of normative ideas about proper appearances and behaviors, especially according to Anglophone elites. This pejorative categorization was sometimes applied to those with dark skin (including the “pygmies” of Central Africa as described by British colonial administrators of the nineteenth century) and those with observable disabilities. In the twenty-first century, however, goblins have seen a sympathetic reappraisal that inverts these longstanding stereotypes as assets in an age of unreasonable societal expectations. The framing of goblins as sympathetic protagonists in fantasy novels, oppressed victims of human aggression in RPGs, and avatars for underappreciated natural beauty on Goblincore forums has inverted the negative tropes that so frequently defined them in decades prior.
