16. Trolls Stole People’s Souls
JRR Tolkien drew heavily upon Norse mythology when writing his Lord of the Rings series, and this is particularly evident in his depiction of trolls. In the Old Norse tradition, trolls were believed to be soulless creatures that were not Christianized, lived outside of human society, and, in some versions, turned to stone when exposed to daylight. The trolls that turned to stone became the stony crags that cover Scandinavia.
In one Norse myth, a man named Esbern fell in love with a young woman. However, her father would not let him marry her unless he built a church. A troll agreed to help him make a church, but only on the condition that if Esbern did not discover his name before the church was completed, the troll would lay claim to his eyes and his soul. Try as he might, Esbern could not learn the troll’s name, until his bride-to-be spied on the troll’s wife, who was singing a song to her baby. Her husband’s name was in the song, and his beloved relayed the title back to him. Though Esbern was able to keep his eyes and soul, in other myths, people who encountered trolls were not quite as fortunate.
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