| Kobold | |
|---|---|
 | |
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Other Names |
Kobold, Colbold |
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First Appearance |
Germanic Folklore |
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Created by |
Germanic Folklore |
Origin[]
A kobold is a mythical sprite. 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 human-like 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 materialize 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 spirits 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, Heinzelmann, and Hödekin. In some regions, kobolds are known by local names, such as the Galgenmännlein of southern Germany and the Heinzelmännchen of Cologne. Another type of kobold haunts underground places, such as mines. A third kind of kobold, the Klabautermann, lives aboard ships and helps sailors.
The name of the element cobalt comes from the creature's name, because medieval miners blamed the sprite for the poisonous and troublesome nature of the typical arsenical ores of this metal (cobaltite and smaltite) which polluted other mined elements.
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, Martin Luther translates the Hebrew Lilith in Isaiah 34:14 as kobold. In Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, the Kobold represents the Greek element of earth with Salamander representing fire, Nymph representing water, and Slyph representing air.
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
All published appearances for Kobolds from before Janurary 1, 1929 are public domain in the US.
Some notable appearances are listed below:
- Der Kobold
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust
- The Fairies and the Christmas Child
- La Mythologie du Rhin
- The Fairy Mythology, Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various Countries (1850)
Notes[]
- The anime franchise Record of Lodoss War depicts kobolds as dog-like based on earlier versions of Dungeons & Dragons, resulting in many Japanese media depictions doing the same.