Mira is not like most trolls. She’s only half-troll, after all, but she’s also different compared to most contemporary depictions. Her clan doesn’t necessarily shun the sunlight or live under bridges, but there are some who fit the brutish stereotype we’ve come to accept today.

Working on this book, obviously, I knew that trolls were going to be an integral group to sort out: from their laws to their biology. From Lord of the Rings to Dungeons and Dragons, trolls have made their way comfortably into modern media. They’re often seen as dim, ugly brutes with only an interest in destruction. I wanted slightly different trolls and did a lot of exploration. They are most popular in Scandinavian folklore, mixed in with Giants and Fiends (often used interchangeably). There are no set rules: there are some stories where they aren’t even villains as we’ve come to expect.

Here’s a few of my favorite stories that I stumbled across in my research.

The Troll’s Daughter:
Believe it or not, this one I found after I had started writing the story. The story goes that a young man is traveling, looking to make his new life. He’s offered a job by a stranger on the road, offering increasing amounts of money once a year for three years. The stranger turns out to be a troll and king of the woods. The troll has the young man work by feeding the animals in his menagerie, allowing him spend his free time in the form of various animals including a hare and a raven. While swimming as a fish, the young man meets a beautiful woman. She tells him she is the troll’s daughter and helps him trick the troll into letting them marry. With the Troll King defeated, all the animals are released and the new young couple have a vibrant forest kingdom to rule over.

Heddal Stave Church Troll:
According to local legend, Heddal Stave Church was built by a troll. Five farmers wanted to build the church and a stranger approached saying he would build the church. His conditions demanded that the farmers do one of three things before the church was finished: the farmers had to guess the stranger’s name before he was finished or he would kill them. They agreed, but the stranger worked quickly and was prepared to finish by the third day. While trying to think of the stranger’s name, one of the farmers– Raud–heard a mountain troll woman singing a song to her baby about her husband. She revealed the troll’s name in her song and Raud addressed the troll by name the day of the deadline. Some stories say that the troll family ran away (despising the sound of church bells) and others say that Finn is still there, turned to stone and holding up one of the pillars.

The Hall of the Mountain King:
The powerhouse musical number actually comes from Peer Gynt (Henrick Ibsen’s opera) is the theme for a great troll king who haunts Peer’s nightmares. Peer, intent on become the heir to the troll kingdom, comes demanding the hand of the king’s daughter in marriage. The Mountain King agrees as long as Peer agrees to live as a troll. When things get too real (including the removal of Peer’s eyes), Peer learns that he actually can’t back out anymore. The sequence ends when Peer is set upon by the Mountain Kings subjects and he wakes up.

Three Billy Goats Gruff:
This is probably where your mind goes to when you think of prominent troll stories. It’s a pretty basic story: there’s a troll that lives under a bridge and threatens to eat anyone who goes across his bridge. The first goat asks him to wait for the next, saying that his brother is close behind and will be a more filling meal. The second goat says the same, offering an even more filling meal with his brother coming behind him. Turns out, the third billy goat gruff was a bit more than this troll can chew. The biggest goat isn’t afraid of the troll and challenges him, ultimately killing the troll so no one is eaten by him again.

These are just a few of the fun stories I’ve found in my research. By diving into the folklore and mythology, you can see the influences that these classic stories in our contemporary depictions of trolls. Find out more about the trolls in the Blanc LaBelle universe on May 12th, 2026 when I release Blanc LaBelle and the Troll’s Daughter.

I am a huge fan of hidden world books. Living in Seattle for a while, there were so many places I would visit that felt like they were hiding more than I could see. The 24-Hour Diner had it’s secrets to be certain, labyrinthine bookstores at Pike’s Place contained hidden entrances to somewhere, and local landmarks held hidden stories that only those who knew would tell. The thought of magic, monsters, and more just beneath the surface of our world intrigued me enough that I eventually started creating my own, the Under and the Fold, hidden in plain sight.

There is no shortage of hidden world books, so here is a brief (very brief) collection of some of my favorites that stuck with me.

• Nightwatch – Sergei Lukyanenko: This is probably one of the closest one-to-one hidden worlds I’ve been able to track down. Sorcerers, vampires, and curses are all in plain sight in contemporary Moscow. Cellphones and computers are used alongside magic and shapeshifting all headed by a secret organization that fights to keep the balance between the magical and the mundane. It’s a bit more grim-dark than the Hedgefield, but it’s probably one of my favorite hidden world stories.
• Ninth House – Leigh Bardugo: Set in New Haven Connecticut, this is another story where the few know about the fantastical. There are fewer monsters, but plenty of magic to make up for it. The city as a backdrop to the spectacular feels very clear here. Again, we have secret organizations maintaining the balance between those who use spells and rituals and those who do not. Lethe House works very similarly to Blanc LaBelle and his allies: just trying to keep peace with mixed results.
• The City We Became – N.K. Jemisin: This is probably the most literal ‘Hidden City’ on this list. The city itself becomes a character (multiple characters, actually, but you’ll have to read it). The city is a part of the magic and each district offers a different kind of power to it’s user. LaBelle is a foundation figure in Hedgefield, but he knows the city better for it. The places, while not hidden, have a much deeper influence in the magical sense.
• Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel – Susanna Clarke: This one is more fitting for a historical fantasy, set in the 1800s rather than a modern setting. Magic is real, but only a very select few (our titular friends) have access to it at the time of the setting. There are spirits, mischievous and monstrous, that coexist with the magicians and slink in the shadows of mortals. The intersection between men and magic is another major theme that I cover in the Blanc LaBelle series (for better and for worse).

What are some of your favorite hidden world stories? Do you love a magical school hidden from human eyes or do you prefer the magic to be right under your nose?

Your next Hidden World love could well be in the universe of Blanc LaBelle and the Troll’s Daughter, available May 12, 2026!