Why Goblins, by Arthur Daigle
So I finally got a book published and I choose goblins for most of the main characters. Not what you'd expect, I know. Fantasy novels typically deal with the adventures of knights, rangers, wizards, thieves and bards. These are the men who cut down hordes of enemies, save the kingdom and cart off obscene amounts of money that they never seem to pay taxes on. If there are any goblins involved they're sword fodder, a minor threat for the heroes to march over on their way to confronting the evil overlord responsible for everything wrong in the kingdom.
This works well for the heroes. Not so much for the goblins.
Face it, goblins have been pushovers in fantasy books and games for decades. The only way they pose any threat is if there are dozens or even hundreds of them, and even then they lose. Kind of like the Chicago Cubs that way, or France. It kind of makes you wonder why they charge headlong into those heavily armored knights and wizards throwing magic fire. As survival strategies go that ranks up there with lemmings jumping off cliffs.
So with a bit of thought and a lot of inspiration I wrote William Bradshaw, King of the Goblins. Yeah, Will is human, but I made sure that the goblins got their day too, and I think it's well deserved.
In my opinion the best stories are about the little guys. We're all kind of powerless against the big threats in life like wars, natural disasters and getting audited by the IRS. We can empathize with the little guy who's struggling just to keep his head above water. The best heroes take a beating, lose fights and run for their lives. We root for them because they face insurmountable odds and they keep going. There's little interest in a hero who is all powerful. After all, if you can't be beat then what's the point of fighting? We want to see the little guy win.
And you don't get much smaller than goblins.
Put yourself in their shoes for a minute. You're smaller and weaker than the humans, dwarves, and elves you're competing with. You live on low quality land without much in the way of natural resources, mainly because those knights and wizards kicked you off the good land years ago. You don't have the materials to build mighty magic weapons or impenetrable fortresses. Chances are you don't have any money either. There's not much point to having gold when there's no stores that will let you in the front door to spend it. And if you do have some cash it's a sure bet that someone's going to beat you up and take it, probably those knights. The same goes for having silks, jewelry, pantings, and other valuables. Chances are you can't make them yourself, and if you get acquire them then someone's going to take them from you at sword point.
Life for goblins is going to be a struggle, but it doesn't have to be a brutal one. I was inspired by other authors to give my goblins a sense of humor. Goblins are small, but like a lot of small guys they can get even by being clever and humiliating their enemies. They can set traps that throw cow manure at intruders. They can glue knights to their horses. They can paint the wizards blue while they sleep. They can win with style and humor, making their enemies look like dopes, and they can do it all while leaving the WW I style infantry charges off the agenda.
This works well for the heroes. Not so much for the goblins.
Face it, goblins have been pushovers in fantasy books and games for decades. The only way they pose any threat is if there are dozens or even hundreds of them, and even then they lose. Kind of like the Chicago Cubs that way, or France. It kind of makes you wonder why they charge headlong into those heavily armored knights and wizards throwing magic fire. As survival strategies go that ranks up there with lemmings jumping off cliffs.
So with a bit of thought and a lot of inspiration I wrote William Bradshaw, King of the Goblins. Yeah, Will is human, but I made sure that the goblins got their day too, and I think it's well deserved.
In my opinion the best stories are about the little guys. We're all kind of powerless against the big threats in life like wars, natural disasters and getting audited by the IRS. We can empathize with the little guy who's struggling just to keep his head above water. The best heroes take a beating, lose fights and run for their lives. We root for them because they face insurmountable odds and they keep going. There's little interest in a hero who is all powerful. After all, if you can't be beat then what's the point of fighting? We want to see the little guy win.
And you don't get much smaller than goblins.
Put yourself in their shoes for a minute. You're smaller and weaker than the humans, dwarves, and elves you're competing with. You live on low quality land without much in the way of natural resources, mainly because those knights and wizards kicked you off the good land years ago. You don't have the materials to build mighty magic weapons or impenetrable fortresses. Chances are you don't have any money either. There's not much point to having gold when there's no stores that will let you in the front door to spend it. And if you do have some cash it's a sure bet that someone's going to beat you up and take it, probably those knights. The same goes for having silks, jewelry, pantings, and other valuables. Chances are you can't make them yourself, and if you get acquire them then someone's going to take them from you at sword point.
Life for goblins is going to be a struggle, but it doesn't have to be a brutal one. I was inspired by other authors to give my goblins a sense of humor. Goblins are small, but like a lot of small guys they can get even by being clever and humiliating their enemies. They can set traps that throw cow manure at intruders. They can glue knights to their horses. They can paint the wizards blue while they sleep. They can win with style and humor, making their enemies look like dopes, and they can do it all while leaving the WW I style infantry charges off the agenda.
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