Trolls: From Scandinavia to Dam Dolls, Tolkien, and Harry Potter

Trolls always get a bad rap. One lurks under a bridge, another harasses a gnome, and suddenly people label the entire species as trouble. Of course, that is because they are, indeed, trouble. The folklore about these Scandinavian supernatural beings is rich and varied, and there is plenty of opportunities to purse Celtic parallels. Comprehensively examined in a 1936 German-language dissertation, this book adapts the earlier work, taking popular belief further to the English-speaking world and the literature of Tolkien and Harry Potter.