Everything YOU Need to Know About Trows (And Why I Am Not a Fan)

By Fire Pud the Dragon (Mythical Creatures Expert)

Hello, I am Fire Pud. I am a dragon, which makes me excellent at roasting marshmallows and having a great deal of knowledge about mythical creatures. For example, I once helped rescue a princess from a Trow, which is what this blog is about. Although, Charlotte did most of the rescuing. I provided the mop, which was absolutely pivotal in the rescue. You will understand why when you read Book II in The Good Knight series!

Right. Trows. Here we go.

What is a Trow?

Trows are creatures from the folklore of Orkney and Shetland, the islands at the very top of Scotland, so far north they are closer to Norway than to London. The word Trow is connected to the Scandinavian heritage of the Northern Isles. It comes through Norn, the old Scandinavian language once spoken in Orkney and Shetland, and is closely related to the word troll.

The Norse people settled in Orkney and Shetland from around the ninth century, bringing their beliefs and folklore with them, and the Trow is essentially what the Nordic troll became after several centuries of living on a Scottish island and developing its own personality.

As with most things related to trolls, that personality was not particularly pleasant. And worse still, there isn't really one type of Trow. Depending on where you are and which story you are listening to, a Trow can be small, ugly and grey, or human-sized, or considerably larger. Some are mischievous. Some are dangerous. Some are thieves. Some love music. Some live underground. Some live in the sea. Some live with their families capturing princesses!

They are not pleasant.

Where do Trows live?

Underground. Specifically, beneath hills and mounds known in Shetland as trowie knowes. These were not thought of as ordinary hills. A perfectly innocent-looking mound might be the entrance to a Trow dwelling. People were wary of certain places after dark for exactly this reason. There are numerous stories of people hearing music coming from inside hills, encountering strange creatures near mounds, or stumbling into Trow gatherings they had very much not been invited to.

If you ever hear fiddle music coming from inside a hill at night, I have some advice.

Do not investigate. Walk (or run) away. I am a dragon and even I think that sounds like a terrible idea.

Trows loved music

This is the best thing about Trow folklore and also the most alarming. Trows were famously associated with music, particularly fiddle music. There are stories of musicians hearing extraordinary tunes drifting out of hillsides and learning them. There are also stories of human fiddlers being taken underground to play at Trow celebrations, which sounds exciting until you get to the next part.

A person might spend what seemed like one night among the Trows, enjoy the party, play a few songs, and eventually find their way home. Only to discover that years had passed in the human world. In one Shetland tradition, a fiddler returns after what felt like a brief stay to find that a century has gone by without him.

Imagine being invited to a party, playing one song, and coming home to find that everyone you know has aged fifty years. Imagine having to listen to someone playing a fiddle for that long too. Trows have an awful lot to answer for.

Trows could make you ill

Trows were not just frightening because of the music situation. They were also blamed for things going wrong in everyday life. One particularly interesting belief involved trow-shot, an invisible arrow fired by a Trow. If a person or animal suddenly became ill for no obvious reason, people sometimes believed they had been struck by one of these invisible arrows.

Historical accounts from Shetland record beliefs that sick or dying livestock had been afflicted this way. Folklore provided explanations for things people couldn't always explain. A mystery illness. A dead cow. It was the Trow. The explanation is strange but the need for an explanation is completely human, and considerably more comforting than simply not knowing. Humans are not the brightest.

Trows could steal babies

Trows appear in changeling folklore, a healthy human baby taken and replaced with a sickly Trow child. Stories of this kind existed across Europe, but in Orkney and Shetland the Trows were sometimes specifically identified as responsible. There were also stories of Trows needing human assistance with their own children, women being taken underground to act as nurses or midwives.

Behind these stories was something much sadder. Infant illness and death were poorly understood and deeply frightening. The changeling story provided an explanation for something that had none. The folklore is fascinating. The reality it grew from was undoubtedly heartbreaking.

Trows and sunrise

This is the part Charlotte remembered in Book Two. Trows were creatures of darkness. If one was caught outside when the sun rose, according to Shetland folklore, it could be turned to stone. There are actual landscape features that folklore has connected with petrified Trows. The most famous is probably Hjaltadans on Fetlar, a prehistoric stone circle that local legend explains as Trows who were dancing to fiddle music, enjoyed themselves so much they failed to notice dawn approaching, and were caught when the sun came up.

I like this story enormously.

It has music. Dancing. A supernatural party. And an extremely strict closing time. It is also the reason we escaped in Book Two. Charlotte remembered the sunrise detail at exactly the right moment. I had also remembered it. She mentioned it first. I bought the mop.

Trows and Christmas

Trow folklore was woven into seasonal traditions too. In Shetland, Trows were particularly associated with Yule and the winter months. People used various customs to protect their homes and animals, making a cross from two pieces of straw and placing it at the entrance, or carrying a burning peat through the house and outbuildings.

Trows were also thought to be particularly active around Halloween. People might leave offerings outside to avoid offending them. Charlotte says leaving food for a Trow is an act of respectful appeasement rooted in folk tradition. Personally, this seems more like a protection racket.

But, Trows weren't always evil

This is the detail that most people miss. Modern retellings tend to turn Trows into straightforward monsters. The folklore is a little more complicated than that. Yes, Trows could certainly be malicious, mischievous and dangerous. But some traditions describe them as creatures who could be helpful if treated with appropriate respect. They had their own world, their own rules and their own interests, which caused humans a lot of trouble to understand.

Are Trows still around?

Trows belong to the living folklore of Orkney and Shetland. Stories about them continued to be collected well into the twentieth century and they remain an important part of the islands' cultural identity and storytelling tradition today. Whether they are actually living inside the hills is a different question.

I asked Charlotte. She said there is no evidence. I asked Jack. He said probably not. I even asked Sir Percy and he told me to, well I can't exactly say what he told me to do, this is a blog linked to a child's picture book series after all!

Fire Pud is a dragon, a mop delivery specialist, and a regular contributor to the Shield Wall blog whenever Jack lets him near a pen without supervision. He has not set anything on fire since last Tuesday. He would also like marshmallows. The Trow appears in The Good Knight Book Two: How to Rescue a Princess.

Join the Shield Wall at thegoodknightbook.com/shield-wall for medieval history, mythical creatures, dad reading tips and the occasional creature living underneath a perfectly innocent-looking hill.