Kobold
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A kobold (occasionally cobold) is a
mythical Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrati ...
sprite. Having spread into Europe with various spellings including "
goblin A goblin is a small, grotesque, monstrous creature that appears in the folklore of multiple European cultures. First attested in stories from the Middle Ages, they are ascribed conflicting abilities, temperaments, and appearances depending on ...
" and "
hobgoblin A hobgoblin is a household spirit, typically appearing in folklore, once considered helpful, but which since the spread of Christianity has often been considered mischievous. Shakespeare identifies the character of Puck in his ''A Midsummer Nig ...
", and later taking root and stemming from
Germanic mythology Germanic mythology consists of the body of myths native to the Germanic peoples, including Norse mythology, Anglo-Saxon mythology, and Continental Germanic mythology. It was a key element of Germanic paganism. Origins As the Germanic langu ...
, the concept survived into modern times in
German folklore German folklore is the folk tradition which has developed in Germany over a number of centuries. Partially it can be also found in Austria. Characteristics It shares many characteristics with Nordic folklore and English folklore due to th ...
. Although usually invisible, a kobold can materialize in the form of a non-human animal, a fire, a human, and a candle. The most common depictions of kobolds show them as humanlike figures the size of small children. Kobolds who live in human homes wear the clothing of peasants; those who live in mines are hunched and ugly and some can materialise into a brick; kobolds who live on ships smoke pipes and wear sailor clothing. Legends tell of three major types of kobolds. Most commonly, the creatures are
household spirit A household deity is a deity or spirit that protects the home, looking after the entire household or certain key members. It has been a common belief in paganism as well as in folklore across many parts of the world. Household deities fit into ...
s of ambivalent nature; while they sometimes perform domestic chores, they play malicious tricks if insulted or neglected. Famous kobolds of this type include
King Goldemar King Goldemar (also spelled Goldmar, Vollmar, and Volmar) is a dwarf or kobold from Germanic mythology and folklore. By the Middle Ages, Goldemar had become the king of the dwarfs in German belief.Wägner and MacDowall 40. In the fairy tale "The ...
, Heinzelmann, and
Hödekin Hödekin (also spelled Hödeken, Hüdekin, and Hütchen) is a kobold ( house spirit) of German folklore. According to the legend recorded by folklorist Thomas Keightley in 1850, Hödekin always wore a felt hat down over his face; his name means ...
. In some regions, kobolds are known by local names, such as the ''Galgenmännlein'' of southern Germany and the ''
Heinzelmännchen The Heinzelmännchen () are a mythical race of creatures, appearing in a tale connected with the city of Cologne in Germany akin to gnomes, or elves. The little house gnomes are said to have done all the work of the citizens of Cologne during t ...
'' of
Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
. Another type of kobold haunts underground places, such as mines. A third kind of kobold, the ''
Klabautermann A Klabautermann is a water kobold that assists sailors and fishermen on the Baltic and North Sea in their duties. It is a merry and diligent creature, with an expert understanding of most watercraft, and an irrepressible musical talent. It is be ...
'', lives aboard ships and helps sailors. Kobold beliefs are evidence of the survival of pagan customs after the Roman Catholicization of Germany, or merely that the legends of them have lived on as stories. Belief in kobolds dates to at least the 13th century, when German peasants carved kobold effigies for their homes. Such pagan practices may have derived from beliefs in the mischievous ''
kobalos The ''kobalos'' (pl. ''kobaloi'') (Ancient Greek: Κόβαλος, plural: Κόβαλοι) was a sprite from Greek mythology, a mischievous creature fond of tricking and frightening mortals. The kobaloi were companions of Dionysus and could shapes ...
'' (pl. ''kobaloi'') (Ancient Greek: Κόβαλος, plural: Κόβαλοι) of ancient Greece which was a sprite, a mischievous creature fond of tricking and frightening mortals, even robbing
Heracles Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptiv ...
/
Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the ...
. Greek myths depict the ''kobaloi'' as impudent, thieving, droll, idle, mischievous, gnome-dwarfs, and as funny, little tricksy
elves An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes " ...
of a phallic nature. Depictions of ''kobaloi'' are common in ancient Greek art. Other similar sprites include the household ''
lares Lares ( , ; archaic , singular ''Lar'') were guardian deities in ancient Roman religion. Their origin is uncertain; they may have been hero-ancestors, guardians of the hearth, fields, boundaries, or fruitfulness, or an amalgam of these. Lare ...
'' and ''
penates In ancient Roman religion, the Di Penates () or Penates ( ) were among the ''dii familiares'', or household deities, invoked most often in domestic rituals. When the family had a meal, they threw a bit into the fire on the hearth for the Penates ...
'' of ancient Rome, or native German beliefs in a similar room spirit called ''kofewalt'' (whose name is a possible rootword of the modern ''kobold'' or a German dialectal variant). Kobold beliefs mirror legends of similar creatures in other regions of Europe, and scholars have argued that the names of creatures such as
goblin A goblin is a small, grotesque, monstrous creature that appears in the folklore of multiple European cultures. First attested in stories from the Middle Ages, they are ascribed conflicting abilities, temperaments, and appearances depending on ...
s and ''
kabouter Kabouter is the Dutch word for gnome or leprechaun. In folklore, the Dutch Kabouters are akin to the Irish Leprechaun, Scandinavian Tomte or Nisse, the English Hob, the Scottish Brownie and the German Klabauter or kobold. In the folklore of ...
s'' derive from the same roots as ''kobold''. This may indicate a common origin for these creatures, or it may represent cultural borrowings and influences of European peoples upon one another. Similarly, subterranean kobolds may share their origins with creatures such as gnomes and dwarves and the aquatic
Klabautermann A Klabautermann is a water kobold that assists sailors and fishermen on the Baltic and North Sea in their duties. It is a merry and diligent creature, with an expert understanding of most watercraft, and an irrepressible musical talent. It is be ...
with similar water spirits. The name of the element
cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element with the symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, p ...
comes from the creature's name, because medieval miners blamed the sprite for the poisonous and troublesome nature of the typical
arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, ...
al ores of this metal (
cobaltite Cobaltite is a sulfide mineral composed of cobalt, arsenic, and sulfur, Co As S. Its impurities may contain up to 10% iron and variable amounts of nickel.Klein, Cornelus and Cornrlius Hurlbut, 1996, ''Manual of Mineralogy'', 20th ed., Wiley, p. ...
and
smaltite Smaltite is a variety of the mineral skutterudite consisting of cobalt, iron, nickel, and arsenide. It has the chemical formula . Smaltite crystallizes in the cubic system with the same hemihedral symmetry as pyrite; crystals have usually the ...
) which polluted other mined elements.


Origins and etymology

The kobold's origins are obscure. Sources equate the domestic kobold with creatures such as the English
boggart A boggart is a creature in English folklore, either a household spirit or a malevolent '' genius loci'' (that is, a geographically-defined spirit) inhabiting fields, marshes, or other topographical features. Other names of this group include ''bu ...
,
hobgoblin A hobgoblin is a household spirit, typically appearing in folklore, once considered helpful, but which since the spread of Christianity has often been considered mischievous. Shakespeare identifies the character of Puck in his ''A Midsummer Nig ...
and
pixy A pixie (also pisky, pixy, pixi, pizkie, and piskie in Cornwall and Devon, and pigsie or puggsy in the New Forest) is a mythical creature of British folklore. Pixies are considered to be particularly concentrated in the high moorland areas aro ...
, the Scottish brownie, and the Scandinavian nisse or tomte;Bunce 58.Keightley 239.Maclaren 223. while they align the subterranean variety with the Norse
dwarf Dwarf or dwarves may refer to: Common uses *Dwarf (folklore), a being from Germanic mythology and folklore * Dwarf, a person or animal with dwarfism Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Dwarf (''Dungeons & Dragons''), a humanoid ...
and the Cornish knocker.Grimm 501. Irish historian
Thomas Keightley Thomas Keightley (17 October 1789 – 4 November 1872) was an Irish writer known for his works on mythology and folklore, particularly ''Fairy Mythology'' (1828), later reprinted as ''The World Guide to Gnomes, Fairies, Elves, and Other Little ...
argued that the German kobold and the Scandinavian
nis Nis, Niš, NiS or NIS may refer to: Places * Niš, a city in Serbia * Nis, Iran, a village * Ness, Lewis ( gd, Nis, links=no), a village in the Outer Hebrides islands Businesses and organizations * Naftna Industrija Srbije, Petroleum Industry o ...
predate the Irish fairy and the Scottish brownie and influenced the beliefs in those entities, but American folklorist Richard Mercer Dorson discounted this argument as reflecting Keightley's bias toward Gotho-Germanic ideas over Celtic ones. Kobold beliefs represent the survival of pagan customs into the Roman Catholic and modern eras and offer hints of how pagan Europeans worshipped in the privacy of their homes. Religion historian Otto Schrader has suggested that kobold beliefs derive from the pagan tradition of worshipping household deities thought to reside in the hearth fire.Schrader 24. Alternatively, Nancy Arrowsmith and George Moorse have said that the earliest kobolds were thought to be tree spirits.Arrowsmith and Moorse 135. According to 13th-century German poet Conrad of Würzburg, medieval Germans carved kobolds from
boxwood ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South ...
and wax and put them "up in the room for fun".Grimm 502.
Mandrake A mandrake is the root of a plant, historically derived either from plants of the genus '' Mandragora'' found in the Mediterranean region, or from other species, such as ''Bryonia alba'', the English mandrake, which have similar properties. The ...
root was another material used.Arrowsmith and Moorse 136. People believed that the wild kobold remained in the material used to carve the figure. These kobold effigies were high and had colourful clothing and large mouths. One example, known as the ''monoloke'', was made from white wax and wore a blue shirt and black velvet vest. The 17th century expression ''to laugh like a kobold'' may refer to these dolls with their mouths wide open, and it may mean "to laugh loud and heartily". These kobold effigies were stored in glass and wooden containers. German mythologist Jacob Grimm has traced the custom to Roman times and has argued that religious authorities tolerated it even after the Germans had been Christianised. Several competing etymologies for ''kobold'' have been suggested. In 1908, Otto Schrader traced the word to ''kuba-walda'', meaning "the one who rules the house". According to this theory, the root of the word is ''chubisi'', the
Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...
word for house, building, or hut, and the word akin to the root of the English 'cove'. The suffix ''-old'' means "to rule".Lurker 103. Classicist Ken Dowden has identified the ''
kofewalt A kobold (occasionally cobold) is a mythical sprite. Having spread into Europe with various spellings including "goblin" and " hobgoblin", and later taking root and stemming from Germanic mythology, the concept survived into modern times in Ge ...
'', a spirit with powers over a single room, as the antecedent to the term ''kobold'' and to the creature itself. He has drawn parallels between the kobold and the Roman ''lares'' and ''penates'' and the Anglo-Saxon '' cofgodas'', "room-gods".Dowden 229. Linguist Paul Wexler has proposed yet another etymology, tracing ''kobold'' to the roots ''koben'' ("pigsty") and ''hold'' ("stall spirit"). Grimm has provided one of the earlier and more commonly accepted etymologies for ''kobold'', tracing the word's origin through the Latin ''cobalus'' to the Greek ''koba'los'', meaning " rogue". The change to the word-final ''-olt'' is a feature of the
German language German ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and Official language, official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Ita ...
used for monsters and supernatural beings. Variants of ''kobold'' appear as early as the 13th century. The words ''goblin'' and ''gobelin'', rendered in Medieval Latin as ''gobelinus'', may in fact derive from the word ''kobold'' or from ''kofewalt''. Related terms occur in
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
, such as ''kabout'', ''kabot'', and ''kaboutermanneken''. Citing this evidence, British antiquarian Charles Hardwick has argued that the house kobold and similar creatures, such as the Scottish bogie, French
goblin A goblin is a small, grotesque, monstrous creature that appears in the folklore of multiple European cultures. First attested in stories from the Middle Ages, they are ascribed conflicting abilities, temperaments, and appearances depending on ...
, and English Puck, all descend from the Greek ''
kobaloi The ''kobalos'' (pl. ''kobaloi'') (Ancient Greek: Κόβαλος, plural: Κόβαλοι) was a sprite from Greek mythology, a mischievous creature fond of tricking and frightening mortals. The kobaloi were companions of Dionysus and could shapes ...
'', creatures "whose sole delite consists in perplexing the human race, and evoking those harmless terrors that constantly hover round the minds of the timid." In keeping with Grimm's definition, the ''kobaloi'' were spirits invoked by rogues. Similarly, British writer Archibald Maclaren has suggested that kobold beliefs descend from the ancient Roman custom of worshipping ''
lares Lares ( , ; archaic , singular ''Lar'') were guardian deities in ancient Roman religion. Their origin is uncertain; they may have been hero-ancestors, guardians of the hearth, fields, boundaries, or fruitfulness, or an amalgam of these. Lare ...
'', household gods, and ''
penates In ancient Roman religion, the Di Penates () or Penates ( ) were among the ''dii familiares'', or household deities, invoked most often in domestic rituals. When the family had a meal, they threw a bit into the fire on the hearth for the Penates ...
'', gods of the house and its supplies. Another class of kobold lives in underground places. Folklorists have proposed that the mine kobold derives from the beliefs of the ancient Germanic people. Scottish historical novelist
Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...
has suggested that the
Proto-Norse Proto-Norse (also called Ancient Nordic, Ancient Scandinavian, Ancient Norse, Primitive Norse, Proto-Nordic, Proto-Scandinavian and Proto-North Germanic) was an Indo-European language spoken in Scandinavia that is thought to have evolved as a ...
based the kobolds on the short-statured Finns, Lapps, and Latvians who fled their invasions and sought shelter in northern European caves and mountains. There they put their skills at smithing to work and, in the beliefs of the proto-Norse, came to be seen as supernatural beings. These beliefs spread, becoming the kobold, the Germanic gnome, the French goblin and the Scottish
bogle A bogle, boggle, or bogill is a Northumbrian''Rambles in Northumberland, and on the Scottish border ...'' by William Andrew Chatto, Chapman and Hall, 1835 and Scots term for a ghost or folkloric being,''The local historian's table book, of r ...
. In contrast, Humorists William Edmonstoune Aytoun and
Theodore Martin Sir Theodore Martin (16 September 1816 – 18 August 1909) was a Scottish poet, biographer, and translator. Biography Martin was the son of James Martin, a solicitor in Edinburgh, where Theodore was born and educated at the Royal High Scho ...
(writing as "
Bon Gaultier Bon Gaultier was a pen name assumed by the writers William Edmondstoune Aytoun William Edmondstoune Aytoun FRSE (21 June 18134 August 1865) was a Scottish poet, lawyer by training, and professor of rhetoric and belles lettres at the University ...
") have proposed that the Norse themselves were the models for the mine kobold and similar creatures, such as dwarfs, goblins, and
troll A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human be ...
s; Norse miners and smiths "were small in their physical proportions, and usually had their stithies near the mouths of the mines among the hills." This gave rise to myths about small, subterranean creatures, and the stories spread across Europe "as extensively as the military migrations from the same places did". German writer
Heinrich Smidt Heinrich Smidt (1798–1867) was a German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Ge ...
believed that the sea kobolds, or ''Klabautermann'', entered German folklore via German sailors who had learned about them in England. However, historians David Kirby and Merja-Liisa Hinkkanen dispute this, claiming no evidence of such a belief in Britain. An alternate view connects the Klabautermann myths with the story of
Saint Phocas Saint Phocas, sometimes called Phocas the Gardener (Greek:Φωκᾶς), is venerated as a martyr by the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. His life and legend may have been a fusion of three men with the same name: a Phocas of Antioch, a Pho ...
of Sinope. As that story spread from the
Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
to the
Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
. Scholar Reinhard Buss instead sees the Klabautermann as an amalgamation of early and pre-Christian beliefs mixed with new creatures.


Characteristics

Kobolds are spirits and, as such, part of a spiritual realm. However, as with other European spirits, they often dwell among the living.Lüthi 4. Although ''kobold'' is the general term, tales often give names to individuals and classes of kobolds. The name Chim is particularly common, and other names found in stories include Chimmeken, King Goldemar, Heinzchen, Heinze, Himschen, Heinzelmann,
Hödekin Hödekin (also spelled Hödeken, Hüdekin, and Hütchen) is a kobold ( house spirit) of German folklore. According to the legend recorded by folklorist Thomas Keightley in 1850, Hödekin always wore a felt hat down over his face; his name means ...
, Kurd Chimgen, Walther, and Wolterken.Rose 183. Local names for kobolds include Allerünken, Alraune, Galgenmännlein (in southern Germany), Glucksmännchen,
Heinzelmännchen The Heinzelmännchen () are a mythical race of creatures, appearing in a tale connected with the city of Cologne in Germany akin to gnomes, or elves. The little house gnomes are said to have done all the work of the citizens of Cologne during t ...
(in Cologne), Hütchen, and Oaraunle.Arrowsmith and Moorse 248. The
Heinzelmännchen The Heinzelmännchen () are a mythical race of creatures, appearing in a tale connected with the city of Cologne in Germany akin to gnomes, or elves. The little house gnomes are said to have done all the work of the citizens of Cologne during t ...
are a class of kobolds from Cologne,Keightley 257. and the
Klabautermann A Klabautermann is a water kobold that assists sailors and fishermen on the Baltic and North Sea in their duties. It is a merry and diligent creature, with an expert understanding of most watercraft, and an irrepressible musical talent. It is be ...
is a kobold from the beliefs of fishermen and sailors of the
Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
. Many of these names are modifications of common German given names, such as Heinrich (abbreviated to Heinze), Joachim, and Walther.Keightley 240. Kobolds may manifest as non-human animals, fire, humans, and objects. Fiery kobolds are also called ''drakes'', ''draches'', or ''puks''. A tale from the
Altmark :''See German tanker Altmark for the ship named after Altmark and Stary Targ for the Polish village named Altmark in German.'' The (English: Old MarchHansard, ''The Parliamentary Debates from the Year 1803 to the Present Time ...'', Volume 32. ...
, recorded by Anglo-Saxon scholar
Benjamin Thorpe Benjamin Thorpe (1782 – 19 July 1870) was an English scholar of Anglo-Saxon literature. Biography In the early 1820s he worked as a banker in the House of Rothschild, in Paris. There he met Thomas Hodgkin, who treated him for tuberculosis. A ...
in 1852, describes the kobold as "a fiery stripe with a broad head, which he usually shakes from one side to the other..."Thorpe 155–6. A legend from the same period taken from Pechüle, near Luckenwald, says that the kobold flies through the air as a blue stripe and carries grain. "If a knife or a fire-steel be cast at him, he will burst, and must let fall what which he is carrying."Thorpe 156. Some legends say the fiery kobold enters and exits a house through the chimney.Ashliman 53. Legends dating to 1852 from western
Uckermark The Uckermark () is a historical region in northeastern Germany, straddles the Uckermark District of Brandenburg and the Vorpommern-Greifswald District of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Its traditional capital is Prenzlau. Geography The region is nam ...
ascribe both human and fiery features to the kobold; he wears a red jacket and cap and moves about the air as a fiery stripe. Such fire associations, along with the name ''drake'', may point to a connection between kobold and dragon myths. Kobolds who live in human homes are generally depicted as humanlike, dressed as peasants, and standing about as tall as a four-year-old child.Keightley 253. A legend recorded by folklorist Joseph Snowe from a place called Alte Burg in 1839 tells of a creature "in the shape of a short, thick-set being, neither boy nor man, but akin to the condition of both, garbed in a party-coloured loose surcoat, and wearing a high-crowned hat with a broad brim on his diminutive head." The kobold
Hödekin Hödekin (also spelled Hödeken, Hüdekin, and Hütchen) is a kobold ( house spirit) of German folklore. According to the legend recorded by folklorist Thomas Keightley in 1850, Hödekin always wore a felt hat down over his face; his name means ...
(also known as Hüdekin and Hütchen) of
Hildesheim Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the L ...
wore a little hat down over his face (''Hödekin'' means "little hat"). Another type of kobold known as the Hütchen is said to be tall, with red hair and beard, and clad in red or green clothing and a red hat and may even be blind.Arrowsmith and Moorse 250. Yet other tales describe kobolds appearing as herdsmen looking for workAshliman 46. and little, wrinkled old men in pointed hoods. Some kobolds resemble small children. According to dramatist and novelist
X. B. Saintine Xavier Boniface Saintine (10 July 1798 – 21 January 1865) was a French dramatist and novelist. Biography He was born Joseph Xavier Boniface in Paris in 1798. In 1823, he produced a volume of poetry in the manner of the Romanticists, entitl ...
, kobolds are the spirits of dead children and often appear with a knife that represents the means by which they were put to death. Heinzelmann, a kobold from the folklore of Hudermühlen Castle in the region of
Lüneburg Lüneburg (officially the ''Hanseatic City of Lüneburg'', German: ''Hansestadt Lüneburg'', , Low German ''Lümborg'', Latin ''Luneburgum'' or ''Lunaburgum'', Old High German ''Luneburc'', Old Saxon ''Hliuni'', Polabian ''Glain''), also calle ...
, appeared as a beautiful boy with blond, curly hair to his shoulders and dressed in a red silk coat. His voice was "soft and tender like that of a boy or maiden." Legends variously describe mine kobolds as 0.6 metre-tall (2-ft) old men dressed like miners to short, bent creatures with "ugly" features,"Fairy of the Mine"Angus and Griffin 11. including, in some tales, black skin.Britten 32. In 1820, Spiritualist
Emma Hardinge Britten Emma Hardinge Britten (2 May 1823 – 2 October 1899) was an English advocate for the early Modern Spiritualist Movement. Much of her life and work was recorded and published in her speeches and writing and an incomplete autobiography edite ...
recorded a description of mine kobolds from a Madame Kalodzy, who stayed with peasants named Dorothea and Michael Engelbrecht:
We were about to sit down to tea when Mdlle. Gronin called our attention to the steady light, round, and about the size of a cheese plate, which appeared suddenly on the wall of the little garden directly opposite the door of the hut in which we sat.

Before any of us could rise to examine it, four more lights appeared almost simultaneously, about the same shape, and varying only in size. Surrounding each one was the dim outline of a small human figure, black and grotesque, more like a little image carved out of black shining wood, than anything else I can liken them to. Dorothea kissed her hands to these dreadful little shapes, and Michael bowed with great reverence. As for me and my companions, we were so awe-struck yet amused at these comical shapes, that we could not move or speak until they themselves seemed to flit about in a sort of wavering dance, and then vanish, one by one.Quoted in Britten 32.
The same informant claimed to later have seen the kobolds first-hand. She described them as "diminutive black dwarfs about two or three feet in height, and at that part which in the human being is occupied by the heart, they carry the round luminous circle first described, an appearance which is much more frequently seen than the little black men themselves." The
Heinzelmännchen The Heinzelmännchen () are a mythical race of creatures, appearing in a tale connected with the city of Cologne in Germany akin to gnomes, or elves. The little house gnomes are said to have done all the work of the citizens of Cologne during t ...
of Cologne resemble short, naked men, and the
Klabautermann A Klabautermann is a water kobold that assists sailors and fishermen on the Baltic and North Sea in their duties. It is a merry and diligent creature, with an expert understanding of most watercraft, and an irrepressible musical talent. It is be ...
, a kobold from the beliefs of fishermen and sailors of the
Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
, typically appears as a small, pipe-smoking humanlike figure wearing a yellow nightcap-style sailor's hat and a red or grey jacket.Rose 181. Other kobolds appear as non-human animals. Folklorist
D. L. Ashliman Dee L. Ashliman (born January 1, 1938), who writes professionally as D. L. Ashliman, is an American folklorist and writer. He is Professor Emeritus of German at the University of Pittsburgh and is considered to be a leading expert on folklore an ...
has reported kobolds appearing as wet cats and hens, and Arrowsmith and Moorse mention kobolds in the shape of bats, cats, roosters, snakes, and worms. Thorpe has recorded that the people of Altmark believed that kobolds appeared as black cats while walking the earth. The kobold Heinzelmann could appear as a black marten and a large snake. Most often, kobolds remain completely invisible. Although
King Goldemar King Goldemar (also spelled Goldmar, Vollmar, and Volmar) is a dwarf or kobold from Germanic mythology and folklore. By the Middle Ages, Goldemar had become the king of the dwarfs in German belief.Wägner and MacDowall 40. In the fairy tale "The ...
(or Goldmar), a famous kobold from
Castle Hardenstein Hardenstein Castle (german: Burg Hardenstein) is a ruined castle in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The remains lie east of Herbede on the Ruhr River, surrounded by mountains, and are not easily accessible. Nearby ruins show that the castle was ...
, had hands "thin like those of a frog, cold and soft to the feel", he never showed himself.Keightley 256. The master of Hundermühlen Castle, where Heinzelmann lived, convinced the kobold to let him touch him one night. The kobold's fingers were childlike, and his face was like a skull, without body heat. One legend tells of a female servant taking a fancy to her house's kobold and asking to see him. The kobold refuses, claiming that to look upon him would be terrifying. Undeterred, the maid insists, and the kobold tells her to meet him later—and to bring along a pail of cold water. The kobold waits for the maid, nude and with a butcher knife in his back. The maid faints at the sight, and the kobold wakes her with the cold water. In one variant, the maid sees a dead baby floating in a cask full of blood; years before, the woman had born a bastard child, killed it, and hidden it in such a cask. Legends tell of those who try to trick a kobold into showing itself being punished for the misdeed. For example, Heinzelmann tricked a nobleman into thinking that the kobold was hiding in a jug. When the nobleman covered the jug's mouth to trap the creature, the kobold chided him:
If I had not heard long ago from other people that you were a fool, I might now have known it of myself, since you thought I was sitting in an empty jug, and went to cover it up with your hand, as if you had me caught. I don't think you worth the trouble, or I would have given you, long since, such a lesson, that you should remember me long enough. But before long you will get a slight ducking.Keightley 245.
When a man threw ashes and tares about to try to see King Goldemar's footprints, the kobold cut him to pieces, put him on a spit, roasted him, boiled his legs and head, and ate him. The Heinzelmänchen of Cologne marched from the city and sailed away when a tailor's wife strewed peas on the stairs to trip them so she could see them. In 1850, Keightley noted that the Heinzelmänchen " adtotally disappeared, as has been everywhere the case, owing to the curiosity of people, which has at all times been the destruction of so much of what was beautiful in the world."


House spirits

Domestic kobolds are linked to a specific household.Heine 140. Some legends claim that every house has a resident kobold, regardless of its owners' desires or needs. The means by which a kobold enters a new home vary from tale to tale. One tradition claims that the kobold enters the household by announcing itself at night by strewing wood chips about the house and putting dirt or cow manure in the milk cans. If the master of the house leaves the wood chips and drinks the soiled milk, the kobold takes up residence. The kobold Heinzelmann of Hundermühlen Castle arrived in 1584 and announced himself by knocking and making other sounds. Should someone take pity on a kobold in the form of a cold, wet creature and take it inside to warm it, the spirit takes up residence there. A tradition from
Perleberg Perleberg (; North Margravian: ''Perlberg'') is the capital of the district of Prignitz, located in the northwest of the German state of Brandenburg. The town received city rights in 1239 and today has about 12,000 inhabitants. Located in a mostly ...
in northern Germany says that a homeowner must follow specific instructions to lure a kobold to their house. They must go on St John's Day between noon and one o'clock, into the forest. When they find an anthill with a bird on it, they must say a certain phrase, which causes the bird to transform into a small human. The figure then leaps into a bag carried by the homeowner, and they can then transfer the kobold to their home. Even if servants come and go, the kobold stays. House kobolds usually live in the hearth area of a house, although some tales place them in less frequented parts of the home, in the woodhouse, in barns and stables, or in the beer cellar of an inn. At night, such kobolds do chores that the human occupants neglected to finish before bedtime:Rose 40, 183. They chase away pests, clean the stables, feed and groom the cattle and horses, scrub the dishes and pots, and sweep the kitchen.Praetorius, quoted in Heine 140. Other kobolds help tradespeople and shopkeepers. A Cologne legend recorded by Keightley claims that bakers in the city in the early 19th century never needed hired help because, each night, the kobolds known as Heinzelmänchen made as much bread as a baker could need. Similarly, biersal, kobolds who live in breweries and the beer cellars of inns or pubs, bring beer into the house, clean the tables, and wash the bottles, glasses and casks. One such legend, first appearing late in the 19th century, concerns a house spirit named Hödfellow that resided at the
Fremlin's Brewery Fremlin's was a brewery in Maidstone, Kent, England. It was established by Ralph Fremlin in 1861, who eschewed the pub trade and focused on bottled beer, on religious grounds. The beer was known for the distinctive elephant logo on the bottles. Th ...
in
Maidstone Maidstone is the largest town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, linking it wi ...
,
Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, England who was wont to either assist the company's workers or hinder their efforts depending on whether he was being paid his share of the beer. This association between kobolds and work gave rise to a saying current in 19th-century Germany that a woman who worked quickly "had the kobold". A kobold can bring wealth to his household in the form of grain and gold. A legend from
Saterland Saterland (; Saterland Frisian: , ) is a municipality in the district of Cloppenburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated between the cities of Leer, Cloppenburg, and Oldenburg. It is home to Saterland Frisians, who speak Frisian in addit ...
and
East Friesland East Frisia or East Friesland (german: Ostfriesland; ; stq, Aastfräislound) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia ...
, recorded by Thorpe in 1852, tells of a kobold called the Alrûn. Despite standing only about a foot tall, the creature could carry a load of rye in his mouth for the people with whom he lived and did so daily as long as he received a meal of biscuits and milk. The saying ''to have an Alrûn in one's pocket'' means "to have luck at play". However, kobold gifts may be stolen from the neighbours; accordingly, some legends say that gifts from a kobold are demonic or evil. Nevertheless, peasants often welcome this trickery and feed their kobold in the hopes that it continue bringing its gifts. A family coming into unexplained wealth was often attributed to a new kobold moving into the house. Kobolds bring good luck and help their hosts as long as the hosts take care of them. The kobold Heinzelmann found things that had been lost. He had a rhyme he liked to sing: "If thou here wilt let me stay, / Good luck shalt thou have alway; / But if hence thou wilt me chase, / Luck will ne'er come near the place." Three famous kobolds, King Goldemar, Heinzelmann, and Hödekin, all gave warnings about danger to the owners of the home in which they lived.Heine 141–2. Heinzelmann once warned a colonel to be careful on his daily hunt. The man ignored the advice, only to have his gun backfire and shoot off his thumb. Heinzelman appeared to him and said, "See, now, you have got what I warned you of! If you had refrained from shooting this time, this mischance would not have befallen you." The kobold Hödekin, who lived with the bishop of Hildesheim in the 12th century, once warned the bishop of a murder. When the bishop acted on the information, he was able to take over the murderer's lands and add them to his bishopric. In return, the family must leave a portion of their supper (or beer, for the ''biersal'' - see Hödfellow) to the spirit and must treat the kobold with respect, never mocking or laughing at the creature. A kobold expects to be fed in the same place at the same time each day, or in the case of the Hütchen, once a week and on holidays. One tradition says that their favourite food is grits or water-gruel. Tales tell of kobolds with their own rooms; the kobold Heinzelmann had his own chamber at the castle, complete with furnishings.Rose 151–2. and King Goldemar was said to sleep in the same bed with Neveling von Hardenberg. He demanded a place at the table and a stall for his horses. Keightley relates that maids who leave the employ of a certain household must warn their successor to treat the house kobold well. Legends tell of slighted kobolds becoming quite malevolent and vengeful, afflicting errant hosts with supernatural diseases, disfigurements, and injuries.Lüthi 5. Their pranks range from beating the servants to murdering those who insult them. One holyman visited the home of Heinzelmann and refused to accept the kobold's protests that he was a Christian. Heinzelmann threatened him, and the nobleman fled. Another nobleman refused to drink to the kobold's honour, which prompted Heinzelmann to drag the man to the ground and choke him near to death. When a kitchen servant got dirt on the kobold Hödekin and sprayed him with water each time he appeared, Hödekin asked that the boy be punished, but the steward dismissed the behaviour as a childish prank. Hodeken waited for the servant to go to sleep and then strangled him, tore him limb from limb, and threw him in a pot over the fire. The head cook rebuked the kobold for the murder, so Hodeken squeezed toad blood onto the meat being prepared for the bishop. The cook chastised the spirit for this behaviour, so Hodeken threw him over the drawbridge into the moat. According to Lüthi, these abilities reflect the fear of the people who believe in them. Thomas Keightley has attributed the feats of kobolds to "ventriloquism and the contrivances of servants and others." Archibald Maclaren has attributed kobold behaviour to the virtue of the homeowners; a virtuous house has a productive and helpful kobold; a vice-filled one has a malicious and mischievous pest. If the hosts give up those things to which the kobold objects, the spirit ceases its annoying behaviour. Heinzelmann punished vices; for example, when the secretary of Hudenmühlen was sleeping with the chamber maid, the kobold interrupted a sexual encounter and hit the secretary with a broom handle. King Goldemar revealed the secret transgressions of clergymen, much to their chagrin. Joseph Snowe has related the tale of a kobold at Alte Burg: When two students slept in the mill in which the creature lived, one of them ate the offering of food the miller had left the kobold. The student who had left the meal alone felt the kobold's touch as "gentle and soothing", but the one who had eaten its food felt that "the fingers of the hand were pointed with poisoned arrowheads, or fanged with fire." Even friendly kobolds are rarely completely good, and house kobolds may do mischief for no particular reason. They hide things, push people over when they bend to pick something up, and make noise at night to keep people awake.The Writers of Chantilly 98. The kobold Hödekin of Hildesheim roamed the walls of the castle at night, forcing the watch to be constantly vigilant. A kobold in a fishermen's house in Köpenick on the Wendish Spree reportedly moved sleeping fishermen so that their heads and toes lined up. King Goldemar enjoyed strumming the harp and playing dice. One of Heinzelmann's pranks was to pinch drunken men to make them start fights with their companions. Heinzelmann liked his lord's two daughters and scared away their suitors so that the women never married. Folktales tell of people trying to rid themselves of mischievous kobolds. In one tale, a man with a kobold-haunted barn puts all the straw onto a cart, burns the barn down, and sets off to start anew. As he rides away, he looks back and sees the kobold sitting behind him. "It was high time that we got out!" it says. A similar tale from Köpenick tells of a man trying to move out of a kobold-infested house. He sees the kobold preparing to move too and realises that he cannot rid himself of the creature. The lord of the Hundermühlen Castle disliked Heinzelmann and tried to escape him by taking up residence with his family and retinue elsewhere. Nevertheless, the invisible kobold travelled along with them as a white feather, which they discovered when they stayed at an inn.
Why do you retire from me? I can easily follow you anywhere, and be where you are. It is much better for you to return to your own estate, and not be quitting it on my account. You see well that if I wished it I could take away all you have, but I am not inclined to do so.
Exorcism Exorcism () is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other malevolent spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be ...
by a Christian priest works in some tales; the bishop of Hildesheim managed to exorcise Hödekin from the castle. Even this method is not fool-proof, however; when an exorcist tried to drive away Heinzelmann, the kobold tore up the priest's holy book, strewed it about the room, attacked the exorcist, and chased ''him'' away. Insulting a kobold may drive it away, but not without a curse; when someone tried to see his true form, Goldemar left the home and vowed that the house would now be as unlucky as it had been fortunate under his care. Actions a Hütchen considers insulting include giving him clothing, rushing him in his work, burning the house down, and leaving a wagon wheel in front of it.


Mine spirits

Medieval European miners believed in underground spirits. The kobold filled this role in German folklore and is similar to other creatures of the type, such as the English
bluecap A bluecap is a mythical fairy or ghost in English folklore that inhabits mines and appears as a small blue flame. If miners treat them with respect, the bluecaps lead them to rich deposits of minerals. Like knockers or kobolds, bluecaps can a ...
, Cornish knocker and the Welsh
coblynau Coblynau are mythical gnome-like creatures that are said to haunt the mines and quarries of Wales and areas of Welsh settlement in America. Like the Knockers of Cornish folklore they often help miners to the richest veins of ore or other treasur ...
. Stories of subterranean kobolds were common in Germany by the 16th century. Superstitious miners believed the creatures to be expert miners and metalworkers who could be heard constantly drilling, hammering, and shoveling. Some stories claim that the kobolds live ''in'' the rock, just as human beings live in the air. Legends often paint underground kobolds as evil creatures. In medieval mining towns, people prayed for protection from them. They were blamed for the accidents, cave-ins, and rock slides that plagued human miners. One favoured kobold prank was to fool miners into taking worthless ore. For example, 16th-century miners sometimes encountered what looked to be rich veins of copper or silver, but which, when smelted, proved to be little more than a pollutant and could even be poisonous.Commodity Research Bureau 36. These ores caused a burning sensation to those who handled them. Miners tried to appease the kobolds with offerings of gold and silver and by insisting that fellow miners treat them respectfully.Rose 70.Scott 110. Nevertheless, some stories claim that kobolds only returned such kindness with more poisonous ores. Miners called these ores ''cobalt'' after the creatures from whom they were thought to come. In 1735, Swedish chemist
Georg Brandt Georg Brandt (26 June 1694 – 29 April 1768) was a Swedish chemist and mineralogist who discovered cobalt (c. 1735). He was the first person to discover a metal unknown in ancient times. He is also known for exposing fraudulent alchemists operatin ...
isolated a substance from such ores and named it ''cobalt rex''. In 1780, scientists showed that this was in fact a new element, which they named ''
cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element with the symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, p ...
''. Tales from other parts of Germany make mine kobolds beneficial creatures, at least if they are treated respectfully. Nineteenth-century miners in Bohemia and Hungary reported hearing knocking in the mines. They interpreted such noises as warnings from the kobolds to not go in that direction. Other miners claimed that the knocks indicated where veins of metal could be found: the more knocks, the richer the vein. In 1884, spiritualist Emma Hardinge Britten reported a story from a Madame Kalodzy, who claimed to have heard mine kobolds while visiting a peasant named Michael Engelbrecht: "On the three first days after our arrival, we only heard a few dull knocks, sounding in and about the mouth of the mine, as if produced by some vibrations or very distant blows..." Kobolds are sometimes portrayed as being indifferent to human miners, so long as they are left alone. In these depictions, they are content to simply mine ore themselves, collect it, and haul it away by
windlass The windlass is an apparatus for moving heavy weights. Typically, a windlass consists of a horizontal cylinder (barrel), which is rotated by the turn of a crank or belt. A winch is affixed to one or both ends, and a cable or rope is wound arou ...
.


Water spirits

The ''
Klabautermann A Klabautermann is a water kobold that assists sailors and fishermen on the Baltic and North Sea in their duties. It is a merry and diligent creature, with an expert understanding of most watercraft, and an irrepressible musical talent. It is be ...
'' (also spelt ''Klaboterman'' and ''Klabotermann'') is a creature from the beliefs of fishermen and sailors of Germany's north coast, the Netherlands, and the
Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
, and may represent a third type of koboldEllett 107. or possibly a different spirit that has merged with kobold traditions. Belief in the Klabautermann dates to at least the 1770s.Kirby & Hinkannen 48. According to these traditions, Klabautermanns live on ships and are generally beneficial to the crew. For example, a Klabautermann will pump water from the hold, arrange cargo, and hammer at holes until they can be repaired.Ellett 108. The creatures are thought to be especially useful in times of danger, preventing the ship from sinking. The Klabautermann is associated with the wood of the ship on which it lives. It enters the ship via the wood used to build it, and it may appear as a ship's carpenter. The Klabautermann's benevolent behaviour lasts as long as the crew and captain treat the creature respectfully. A Klabautermann will not leave its ship until it is on the verge of sinking. To this end, superstitious sailors in the 19th century demanded that others pay the Klabautermann respect. Ellett has recorded one rumour that a crew even threw its captain overboard for denying the existence of the ship's Klabautermann. Heinrich Heine has reported that one captain created a place for his ship's Klabautermann in his cabin and that the captain offered the spirit the best food and drink he had to offer. Klabautermanns are easily angered. Their ire manifests in pranks such as tangling ropes and laughing at sailors who shirk their chores. The sight of a Klabautermann is an ill omen, and in the 19th century, it was the most feared sight among sailors. According to one tradition, they only appear to those about to die. Another story recorded by Ellett claims that the Klabautermann only shows itself if the ship is doomed to sink.


In media

German writers have long borrowed from German folklore and fairy lore for both poetry and prose. Narrative versions of folktales and fairy tales are common, and kobolds are the subject of several such tales. Kobolds appear in a number of other works. For example, in his
Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
,
Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutherani ...
translates the Hebrew ''
lilith Lilith ( ; he, לִילִית, Līlīṯ) is a female figure in Mesopotamian and Judaic mythology, alternatively the first wife of Adam and supposedly the primordial she-demon. Lilith is cited as having been "banished" from the Garden of Ed ...
'' in
Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...
34:14 as ''kobold''.Jeffrey 452. In
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as trea ...
's ''
Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroa ...
'', the kobold represents the
Greek element Classical elements typically refer to earth, water, air, fire, and (later) aether which were proposed to explain the nature and complexity of all matter in terms of simpler substances. Ancient cultures in Greece, Tibet, and India had simil ...
of earth: Similarly, a kobold is musically depicted in
Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the foremost Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of ...
's lyric piece, opus 71, number 3. Likewise, kobold characters such as
Pittiplatsch Pittiplatsch, also known as Pitti for short, is a German fictional kobold character who was very famous in East Germany (German Democratic Republic), especially as a puppet character on children's television. He first appeared in 1962 in the televi ...
and
Pumuckl ''Meister Eder und sein Pumuckl'' (English: ''Master Eder and his Pumuckl)'' is a German children's series created by Ellis Kaut. Originally a radio play series of the Bavarian Radio in 1961, the stories were later adapted into books, a successf ...
appear in German popular culture. ''Der Kobold'', Op. 3, is also Opera in Three Acts with text and music by
Siegfried Wagner Siegfried Helferich Richard Wagner (6 June 18694 August 1930) was a German composer and conductor, the son of Richard Wagner. He was an opera composer and the artistic director of the Bayreuth Festival from 1908 to 1930. Life Siegfried Wagner ...
; his third opera and it was completed in 1903. Kobolds also appear in many modern fantasy-themed games like ''
Clash of Clans ''Clash of Clans'' is a 2012 free-to-play mobile strategy video game developed and published by Finnish game developer Supercell. The game was released for iOS platforms on August 2, 2012, and on Google Play for Android on October 7, 2013. ...
'', usually as a low-power or low-level enemy. They exist as a playable race in the ''
Dark Age of Camelot ''Dark Age of Camelot'' is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game released in October 2001 in North America, and in January 2002 in Europe. The game combines Arthurian lore, Norse mythology, and Celtic mythology, Irish Celtic legends wi ...
'' video game. They also exist as a non-playable race in the ''
World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the ''Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of Warcraft'' takes place within the world of Azeroth ...
'' video game series, and also feature in tabletop games such as ''
Magic: The Gathering ''Magic: The Gathering'' (colloquially known as ''Magic'' or ''MTG'') is a Tabletop game, tabletop and Digital collectible card game, digital Collectible card game, collectable card game created by Richard Garfield. Released in 1993 by Wizards ...
''. In ''
Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TS ...
'', the
kobold A kobold (occasionally cobold) is a mythical sprite. Having spread into Europe with various spellings including "goblin" and "hobgoblin", and later taking root and stemming from Germanic mythology, the concept survived into modern times in Ge ...
appears as an occasionally playable race of lizard-like beings. In ''
Might and Magic ''Might and Magic'' is a series of role-playing video games from New World Computing, which in 1996 became a subsidiary of The 3DO Company. The original ''Might and Magic'' series ended with the closure of the 3DO Company. The rights to the ''M ...
'' games (notably '' Heroes VII''), they are depicted as being mouse-dwarf hybrids. The anime franchise ''
Record of Lodoss War is a franchise of fantasy novels by Ryo Mizuno based on the work he originally created for a world called '' Forcelia'' as a rules-free setting for role-playing games (RPGs).Yasuda, Hitoshi. Afterword. . By Ryo Mizuno. Kadoka ...
'' depicts kobolds as dog-like based on earlier versions of ''Dungeons & Dragons'', resulting in many Japanese media depictions doing the same. Also in the book "" merican Gods", by Neil Gaiman, one of the secondary character depicted, Heinzelmann, is portrayed as an ancient kobold who helps the city of Lakeside by killing one teenager once a year.


See also

*
Gremlin A gremlin is a mischievous folkloric creature invented at the beginning of the 20th century to originally explain malfunctions in aircraft and later in other machinery and processes and their operators. Depictions of these creatures vary widel ...
*
Kobold (Dungeons & Dragons) Kobolds are a fictional race of humanoid creatures, featured in the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' roleplaying game and other fantasy media. They are generally depicted as small reptilian humanoids with long tails, distantly related to dragons. In ...
* Niß Puk, the kobold of Northern Germany *


Notes


References

* Angus, Charlie, and Brit Griffin (1996). ''We Lived a Life and Then Some: The Life, Death, and Life of a Mining Town''. Between the Lines. . * Arrowsmith, Nancy, and George Moorse (1977). ''A Field Guide to the Little People''. London: Pan Macmillan. . * Ashliman, D. L. (2006). ''Fairy Lore: A Handbook''. Greenwood Press. . * Baring-Gould, S. (2004 913. ''A Book of Folklore''.
Kessinger Publishing Kessinger Publishing LLC is an American print-on-demand publishing company located in Whitefish, Montana, that specializes in rare, out-of-print books. According to Kelly Gallagher, vice president of publishing services at a bibliographic inform ...
. . * Britten, Emma Hardinge (2003 884. ''Nineteenth Century Miracles and Their Work in Every Country of the Earth''. Kessinger Publishing. . * Bunce, John Thackray (2004
878 __NOTOC__ Year 878 ( DCCCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Britain * January 6 – King Alfred the Great is surprised by a Viking attack ...
. ''Fairy Tales: Their Origin and Meaning''. Kessinger Publishing. . * Commodity Research Bureau (2005). "Cobalt", ''The CRB Commodity Yearbook 2004''. John Wiley and Sons. . *
Cove
. ''Merriam-Webster OnLine''. Retrieved 10 January 2008. * Daintith, John (1994). "BRANDT, Georg", ''Biographical Dictionary of Scientists'', 2nd ed. Vol. 1. New York: Taylor & Francis Group, L.L.C. . * Dorson, Richard Mercer (1999). ''History of British Folklore, Volume I: The British Folklorists: A History''. Taylor & Francis. . * Dowden, Ken (2000).
European Paganism: The Realities of Cult from Antiquity to the Middle Ages
'. London: Routledge. . * Eagleson, Mary (1994). "Cobalt", ''Concise Encyclopedia: Chemistry''. Walther de Gruyter. . * Ellett, Mrs. (January 1846). "Traditions and Superstitions", ''The American Whig Review: A Whig Journal'', Vol. III. New York: George H. Colton. *"Fairy of the Mine", '' The London Encyclopædia, or Universal Dictionary of Science, Art, Literature, and Practical Mechanics, Comprising a Popular View of the Present State of Knowledge'', Vol IX. 1829. London:
Thomas Tegg Thomas Tegg (1776–1845) was a British bookseller and publisher. Early life Tegg was the son of a grocer, born at Wimbledon, Surrey, on 4 March 1776, and was left an orphan at the age of five. He was sent to a boarding school at Galashiels in ...
. * Gaultier, Bon (1852).
Influence of Place on Race
, ''Graham's Magazine'', Vol 41. G. R. Graham. pp. 360–369. * Gostwick, Joseph (1849). "Redmantle", ''German Literature''. Edinburgh: William and Robert Chambers. * Grimm, Jacob (2003
883 __NOTOC__ Year 883 ( DCCCLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – Viking raiders ravage Flanders, and sack the abbey at Saint- ...
. ''Teutonic Mythology, Part 2''. Kessinger Publishing. . * Hardwick, Charles (1980
872 Year 872 ( DCCCLXXII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Sancho III Mitarra (or ''Menditarra'') becomes the founder and first 'king' of the indepe ...
. ''Traditions, Superstitions, and Folk-lore''. Lancanshire: Ayer Publishing. . * Heine, Heinrich, Helen Mustard, trans. (1985
835 __NOTOC__ Year 835 ( DCCCXXXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian Calendar. Events By place Europe * Ragnar Lodbrok, a Norse Viking ruler, rises to power. He becomes the scourge of ...
. "Concerning the History of Religion and Philosophy in Germany", ''The Romantic School and Other Essays''. New York: Continuum. . *
Isaiah 34:14: Parallel Translations
, ''Biblos.com''. Retrieved 8 November 2007. * Jameson, Robert (1820). ''System of Mineralogy: In Which Minerals Are Arranged According to the Natural History Method''. A. Constable. * Jeffrey, David Lyle, ed. (1992). ''A Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature''. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. . * Keightley, Thomas (1850).
The Fairy Mythology, Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various Countries
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Online version
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