Trolla

The name Trolla might send a little shiver down your spine. In a land where mountains can resemble sleeping giants, and mist looks like the beard of a hulder – a forest spirit from folklore – it’s easy to let your imagination run wild. We’re now passing the village of Trolla, surrounded by steep cliffs and dense forest. Today, it’s best known as a residential and industrial area, but you can see why its name brings trolls to mind. Perhaps there was once an old tale that’s now lost to time, or maybe it was simply the dark silhouette of the mountains at sunset that inspired the name. In Norwegian folklore, trolls were said to live in these very hills. They were large, shaggy, and not particularly clever. In the recent Norwegian blockbuster Troll, a giant creature is awakened in the Dovre mountains. The film blends thrilling action and spectacular effects with age-old folklore to create a fun monster story for the whole family. Long before film and video, stories like these lived through vivid storytelling. Children and adults alike were swept away by them—and across Norway, you can still see traces of that imagination in place names. Just like here, in Trolla.