The True Lives of Trolls

Theore Leohad of the Synod. Published Rain's Hand, 4E 204.

 

Of all the beasts of Tamriel, none conjure more trepidation than trolls. Huge, brutish, three-eyed monsters that stalk the wilds preying on unwary travellers and will break into homes to steal children in the night; or so most people believe.

During my time in the Synod, I've spent many days pouring through the archives and yet found next to nothing on trolls. In fact, the only tome I found was Troll Slaying, which is outdated, wildly speculative, and an excellent guide on how to lose one's life. And so for the past three years I have been on an expedition to study trolls and shed some light on how they live.

There are three different kinds of troll; Cyrodiil's green trolls, the brown or cave trolls, and the larger frost trolls. I have studied the brown trolls of the Rift in Skyrim.

The brown troll is between six and seven feet tall and have a vaguely human-like appearance. In fact there are those, mostly from Summerset, who would claim derogatorily that man's closest relative is the troll. Others have likened them to the great apes of Valenwood.

However I have determined, through careful observation and dissection, that the trolls are actually more closely related to horses. Now this is not just some mere flight of fantasy; there are marked similarities between them. It's all in the digits. Unlike man, mer, or great ape, which all have five nailed digits on each hand and foot, trolls have but three. The toes are hoofed, like those of a horse, and the claws are somewhat hoof-like as well. A few years ago a stable boy came to the Synod with a young foal that possessed three toes on each foot. The two side toes were non-functional of course, and did not reach the ground, but it was clear that this foal was displaying some ancestral trait now lost in its kin. Other hoofed beasts (like deer, swine, and cattle) have two or four toes, only the horses and trolls have an odd number, so perhaps in the Dawn Era the two beasts were one and the same.

My main focus of study was to determine what trolls eat, how they interact with others, and how they reproduce. So on a clear First Seed day in 4E 201 I set up camp in the foothills of the Jeralls and found a high vantage point. There I began my observations of a large male troll.

In the first few days I noted that this troll was a solitary creature. It lived in a rocky crevice by a small stream, surrounded by the bones of numerous other animals, mostly deer and goats, which were gnawed upon frequently. There were no other trolls in the nearby vicinity, suggesting that they are fiercely territorial.

I soon found out however that trolls are actually mostly herbivorous. They use their long claws to dig for roots and grip branches to get at the soft leaves. This troll was also fond of mushrooms and berries, particularly the fly amanita and snowberries. Grasses were also a big part of its diet and I watched this creature sit for hours on end grazing in a meadow.

My other discovery about the troll's diet is that it is not a predator. It is too slow to chase down prey and so it waits until a kill is made by a pack of wolves or a sabre cat. The troll then drives the killers from the carcass and claims it for itself. I hypothesised that the troll has a remarkable sense of smell. Its large nose and huge nostrils seem to support this. As a little test, I placed a large hunk of fresh elk meat about three miles from the troll's lair. Within an hour, the troll had found it.

Despite being notoriously aggressive, robust, and extremely difficult to kill, if a troll enters the territory of another the resulting confrontation does not on most occasions result in a fight. The two animals instead size each other up, beating their chests and pounding the ground in a display of strength. The weaker troll would then back down and leave the area. If not, then the claws come into play and a winner is determined in short order.

The trolls' mating season takes place for a few weeks in the summertime. Males spray their territories and themselves with urine, advertising their health and vigour. Clashes between bulls are much more frequent during this time. Females are nomadic, wandering through several territories throughout the season. From then on I followed a newly mature female that had successfully mated with the bull. The female went on to mate with several others all over the Rift.

The females I found were more social, often living in pairs or small groups. They are also smaller than the males, averaging around five feet in height. I theorise they stay together in order to acquire meat, for a single female troll is no threat to a healthy pack of wolves or a sabre cat. This sort of herding behaviour is well known in obligate herbivores, especially horses.

Trolls do not hibernate and so I had my work cut out for me. Nevertheless I continued to observe the pregnant female during the bitterly cold winter months.

In the following springtime, she joined up with eleven others and together they headed for a suitable clearing by a stream. There they had their young. Each troll gave birth to a single calf, save for one which had twins. The calves would then stay in the area under the watchful eyes of the adults. Though each mother would only feed her own offspring, the others looked after them when she moves off to forage. In this way, the survival of most of the young is ensured.

Over the course of that second year I followed the group. The young were weaned at five months, though they stayed with their mothers until they were a year old. For the final year I studied the twins. Both were male and so, while the others all went their separate ways, they remained together and settled in a cave on the bank of the White River, about ten miles from Whiterun. Though they were young, I found that they were able to hold a territory by working together to fend off rival bulls.

Cave use is common amongst the brown troll, and a single troll may inhabit a cave for its entire adult life. Calving groups may also use caves, and this is the only time multiple unrelated trolls would be found in one.

The biggest mystery of trolls is of course the third eye in the centre of the forehead. Most, if not all beasts have just two. The welwa however have four and durzogs have six, though symmetry is still evident. I looked into this further by examining the skulls of many animals, including that of a man, and dissecting eyes. The third eye of a troll (hence known as the pseudoeye) shows none of the features of the other two, nor does it have any similarity with those of other animals. It is in essence a simple lump of glossy flesh.

To confirm this I travelled to Fort Dawnguard, where a vampire hunter by the name of Gunmar keeps a pair of trolls for use in battle. As an experiment we covered the pseudoeye and the trolls showed no difference in their ability to see, though they showed remarkable curiosity about the blindfolds, hinting that they are relatively intelligent when compared to other animals. When we covered the actual eyes, neither troll was able to see as one would expect. Gunmar theorises that the trolls use the pseudoeye to help identify each other, particularly related individuals which I have observed are more friendly towards each other. This is just speculation at this point; I shall continue my research with green trolls closer to home.

Of course, my research has not shown that trolls are not dangerous. While they do not, and cannot, actively prey upon travellers, they see humanoid beings as a threat and will attack. Though their fabled regenerative abilities are exaggerated, a troll can outlast even the strongest warrior. If you encounter a troll, run fast and run far. They do not give chase for long.