‘The Troll of High Hrothgar: Ludic pacing and Norse medievalism in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’ Adam Bierstedt. @sagathain https://twitter.com/MidAgesModGames/status/1277926493755146240 1 #MAMG20 “The first time I rolled up at High Hrothgar all dewey eyed and ready for adventure and that troll punched me into next week. Literally punched me halfway across the map because I glitched out and flew 10 million miles into the sky.” ~@LynnSchnbeck. Let’s talk trolls: 2 #MAMG20 This particular Frost troll is well-known. It is a challenge along the 7000 Steps to High Hrothgar and its aggression and strength make it very dangerous. This paper will use visual and gameplay design and mapping spatial context to compare it to Old Norse trolls. 3 #MAMG20 Why Norse sagas and Skyrim? 1) Troll is borrowed from Norwegian! 2) Skyrim matches stereotypical Norse aesthetics. 3) Trolls in Skyrim may draw on Germanic myth – the Udefrykte has a Scandinavian-esque name, whose namesake in Morrowind mirrors Grendel and Heorot. 4 #MAMG20 In the Norse sagas, tröll appears as a catch-all pejorative for the paranormal. These can be sorcerers, giants, undead, or scary animals. They are both physically real and psychologically symbolic of fear. The word also overlaps semantically with jötunn and þurs. 5 #MAMG20 Troll-like beings are sometimes people, or act like people! In Gríms saga loðinkinna, a troll that is killed for nearly sinking Grímr’s ship turns out to be a child with a family. Trolls can be socialized, pushing the borders of human society and morality. 6 #MAMG20 From the 14th to the 19th century, “troll” narrowed in meaning to refer to more stupid humanoid mountain dwellers in Iceland and Norway, from which they came to English in 1859. They could still interact with society, like Grýla does, but are less ambiguous. 7 #MAMG20 In Skyrim, this troll is very real and non-human. It has long arms, tusks, and white fur with 3 eyes. It moves and acts much like an ape. Skyrim’s troll loses the ambiguous human-ness of medieval folklore and becomes more like a yeti with some extra fantasy flavor. 8 #MAMG20 This troll appears halfway up the 7000 Steps. It is the hardest and final enemy on the Steps, but it appears with no fanfare, and is not in an arena like a “boss fight.” Mechanically, it is an unexpected difficulty spike designed to overwhelm and scare a new player. 9 #MAMG20 It acts and is surrounded by animals. Like the Ice wolf, bears, or Frostbite Spider, this is something that is incapable of communication, and blindly attacks (unlike real wild animals). It is brutish and stupid, more so than any troll in the sagas. 10 #MAMG20 This troll is an intrusion – neither NPC on the Steps warns of a troll. It also has no lair, unlike the bears at the beginning. It is a recent arrival, who appears and forces players to navigate around it or flee. It disrupts the landscape without integration. 11 #MAMG20 There are wonderous monsters in Skyrim (giants and dragons) that can interact with the socialized world in variably nuanced ways, and liminal playable beings like Argonians/Khajiit that are often ostracized and fetishized by players and NPCs. Trolls are not that. 12 #MAMG20 While the design and habitat draw loosely on Germanic epic and 19th century tröll, trolls in Skyrim retain only the terror of their medieval source, sans permanent consequence or psychological reflection. It kills you, you load a save, you try again.
3
