Myths of the Monster Manual: Kobolds

From Invisible House Spirits to Dragon Minions

D&D: Basic

Of all the monsters in D&D, is there any that is more adaptable than the simple kobold? How many new players fought against these dog-like/draconic (depending on what edition) creatures in their first time playing D&D? Well for one, Gary Gygax’s children fought kobolds in the first playtest ever run for what would eventually become OD&D (Scribner 65); if that doesn’t cement kobolds as one of the most important monsters in D&D then I don’t know what does. They aren’t just popular in the fantasy RPG world, of course—but all over the fantasy world and literature and folklore dating back to ancient times.

Like many classic D&D monsters such as goblins or dragons, Kobolds come from Germanic folklore. They are similar to goblins in that they are a generic type of house spirit. The etymology seems to come from the Middle Germanic words for shed (kobe) and goblin (*holt). Like most house spirits, Kobolds inhabited the home whether the human occupants liked it or not and they would punish people for treating the home poorly such as by neglecting chores or failing to give them offerings. These creatures were not always tricksters, however, as they could also give good luck or even help out with house chores if they—and the house itself—were respected.

Another form of Kobolds are the Drak or Fire Kobolds. These house spirits are similar to dragons but smaller and more domestic. Like dragons, they could fly, had power over fire, and possessed large quantities of gold. Unlike dragons, they did not hoard their gold and raze villages but they would carry treasures to deserving people’s homes and enter through their chimneys.

Kobolds were not just house spirits. They were also common in medieval mines. In fact, the word “cobalt” comes from Kobold as the they were said to be responsible for making miner’s sick through the toxic metal. But like their household counterparts, they were not exclusively malevolent for they would help protect miners who gave them offerings. Sometimes, miners would hear tapping sounds coming from a certain passage—which they took as the Kobolds warning them of danger.

Lastly, Kobolds were also common in the fishing villages of northern Germanic towns where they lived on ships. If the ship was not cleaned or not well maintained, the Kobolds would tangle ropes or trip people; but if respected, they would help by patching holes or pumping water. It is said that kobolds would only show their physical form to sailors if the ship was doomed to sink.

Kobolds and humans lived side by side for centuries in ancient Germanic homes. When Christianity began to spread and people began to convert from their pagan beliefs, Kobolds remained but were considered demons—and became better know for their trickery and bad luck than their good aspects. People would even have priests perform exorcisms to get them out of their homes. While Kobolds could still help people, such as by delivering gold in the form of a Drak, the help was reserved for the people who had made deals with the Devil. Anyone who had suddenly come into possession of a lot of wealth or was having unusually good luck was suspect.

AD&D

Let us now skip forward a couple thousand years to the modern fantasy RPG scene. As I mentioned before—Kobolds were featured in Gygax’s earliest playtests making them a prominent part of D&D. Their special role in the game was further established in 1987 thanks to an article in Dragon Magazine which described a game in which Kobolds used guerilla warfare tactics against a party and posing a significant threat despite their weak stats. This article created a spike in popularity for the monsters.

Furthermore, Kobolds are some of the more diverse monsters between different games and editions—partially because they are some of the few monsters not directly borrowed from Tolkien like Goblins and Orcs and thus don’t have a standard to live up to. They also aren’t often described with a physical appearance in folklore as they are usually unseen—giving game designers plenty of creative liberty. In older editions of D&D such as Basic, they are described as “small, evil dog-like men” living underground who have “scaly rust-brown skin and no hair.” This sounds quite similar to the folklore creatures encountered by medieval miners. From 3rd edition D&D and onward, they lost their dog-like appearance in favor of being more dragon-like; and Instead of caves and dungeons they started inhabiting dragon lairs. This clearly calls back to the Drak or Fire-Kobolds.

This leads me to ponder more uses for these adaptable critters. If you’re a GM reading this, I hope you are also wondering how you can implement seafaring Kobolds into your game. Kobold pirates anyone? Another glaring discrepancy between folklore and D&D is that Kobolds are almost always leaning towards the chaotic evil alignment when they were originally clearly chaotic neutral: they didn’t play tricks on people just for the fun of it, but because they were disrespecting their shared space. Moreover, they did not help people purely out of good will, but because they were respected and given offerings. Now, obviously, it is a bit easier to have evil creatures when it comes to populating dungeons as we don’t have the energy for a moral quandary every time we enter combat. But I think there is room in D&D for some neutrality. Perhaps, Kobolds are willing help the party traverse the dungeon in exchange for something—or if the party displeases them, Kobolds could invisibly annoy the players by extinguishing their torches or hiding a needed item (creating a puzzle) instead of just waiting in a room to fight in turn-based combat.

If you want to learn more about house spirits like Kobolds in folklore, I recommend reading The Tradition of Household Spirits by Claude Lecouteux. If you are also interested in Fantasy RPGs and their folkloric roots, check out my other posts and subscribe—for there is more to come. Do you have a favorite way of running Kobolds? Are there any other monsters you would like to read about? Let me know in the comments!