I used to think that the only “life-sized” troll in the world was the Fremont Troll here in Seattle. He has been sitting under the north end of the Aurora Bridge since 1990. It does make sense that the underside of a bridge is his home. I try to pay homage to him whenever I’m in the neighborhood, and whenever someone visits me from out of town, I insist on introducing them to said troll. He is so beloved by Seattleites that they even renamed the road that leads to his hiding place, “Troll Avenue.”
As trolls go, the Fremont Troll is somewhat the worse for wear. He is weathered and looks quite old and sluggish. I suspect he doesn’t get out much.
So imagine my glee when I discovered that there were 6 more trolls scattered throughout the Pacific Northwest, and all of them look like they are full of vim and vigor and ready to get up and take a stroll. These trolls were made by an artist named Thomas Dambo, who creates all his art from recycled materials, because he wants to tell the world that that we should reduce waste. In fact, we can create beautiful things from it.
Dambo is Danish, and being half Danish myself, I was happy to discover someone from the old country having such a positive impact on the world. He has created more than 120 of these trolls, and they have been spotted all over the place, from Australia to Korea to Chile to Germany. You can see pictures of all of them on Dambo’s website. It’s a veritable troll invasion. Not to worry, though. They seem really friendly, and I’m sure they don’t eat much.
The 6 Pacific Northwest trolls settled in in 2023, and I’ve been meaning to visit them ever since, but, you know, life. Anyway, Dear Husband and I decided that a recent sunny day would be the perfect time to introduce ourselves to three of them. (It would be impossible to visit all 6 in one day. They are too far flung for that. But we hope to see them all eventually.)
So, without further ado, let me introduce you to the three trolls that we met.
The first one was Frankie Feetsplinters. He hangs out by the front entrance of the Nordic Heritage Museum, which I’ve written about several times. It’s located in the Ballard neighborhood in Seattle, Washington. Frankie towers above us humans, but he is the youngest of all the area trolls, and the only one that is willing to hang out in an urban environment. He seems very outgoing and gregarious, although his creator says he is very irresponsible. Even so, his smile welcomes you to the museum, which, by the way, is well worth the visit, too.
Next, we went to West Seattle, where we got to take a walk in Lincoln Park, which is a delightful public tract on Puget Sound. There, we met Bruun Idun, who plays a flute that was crafted by someone in the local Muckleshoot Tribe. Bruun Idun uses this flute to communicate with the orcas in the sound. She wants to know why they seem to be disappearing from the area. Over time, people have left shells at Bruun Idun’s feet to thank her for being there.
The third one we met was my favorite so far. His name is Jakob Two Trees, and he is in the forest, on the Rainier Trail in Issaquah, Washington. He seems quite at home there, and is very stylish, with his necklace of bird houses along with a hair tie and bracelet that were made by the Snoqualmie Tribe. He’s about 13 feet tall, and yet children are drawn to him. He’s happy to share the forest with us, as long as we respect it.
We decided to take our leave of Jakob because he was getting ready to have a bath. We thought he deserved some privacy. But before we left, I had to test a theory that had been percolating in the back of my mind all day. I’d swear the eyes of both male trolls were following me. (Bruun Idun was too busy fluting to notice me.) It was like they were trying to stand absolutely still while humans were about, but they couldn’t resist looking. To prove I wasn’t crazy, I took this 13 second video, which I call Troll Eyes. If it doesn’t convince you that trolls live among us, nothing will.
Travel vicariously through this blog. And while you’re at it, check out my book! http://amzn.to/2mlPVh5
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