The Heartless Troll

The Heartless Troll is a modern day fable loosely based on a classic Norwegian folktale. Using a graphic novel format, Eyvind Torseter, more accustomed to comic strips and few words, tells a grotesque story of a heartless troll who has turned Prince Fred’s brothers and their new wives into stone statues.

After much begging and pleading, Prince Fred convinces his father, the King, to let him go in search of the lost princes with the only horse left…an awful nag of a horse who provides some of the comic relief in the tale. Enroute, Prince Fred comes upon a saxophone floating down a stream, that later comes in handy. Then he comes upon an elephant who is stuck in a tree stump and rewards Prince Fred later in the story. After tricking a very hungry wolf, Prince Fred learns the location of the troll; where he finds his stone brothers, their stone wives, and also learns that the Troll holds a princess captive.

The protagonist is humanlike but not human. His brothers are some sort of horned bulls that stand on two human legs. These animal like princes marry rather unattractive human females. The troll is as grotesque as trolls can possibly be, right down to the detail of his fingernails and gnarled naked body. There is a plentiful array of details sketched throughout the book to provided additional visual experience. 

Although the illustrations and story line are comical and gross enough to entertain a wide age range and reading level, there are holes in the plot that may or may not have been intended. Who is the Troll’s captive princess? Where did she come from? How did she get there? What has the Troll done for the princess? What is the plant that grows from the Troll’s heart? What happened to the wolf after Prince Fred tricked him? There is very little dialogue, leaving the story telling up to the illustrations, which are quite rough and don’t answer all the questions, leaving the reader to fill in the holes with imagination.

If grotesque characters and an intriguing plot with minimal dialogue interests the right audience, then The Heartless Troll is a fable worthy of time and thoughtful consideration.