Contest Entry- The Trolls Turned to Stone

This is my entry for the Three Worlds Fairy Tale Contest: fav.me/d70sqer

(Warning... looong description XD )

The object was to take one or more original characters from the three deviants hosting the contest and place the characters in an established fairy/folk tale. As some of y'all know, my husband is a Dutchman, born and raised in the Netherlands. I wanted to do something a little different from the fairy tales I'm familiar with, so I asked him about some folk/fairy tales from his homeland. After talking to him and doing some research, I decided on the folk tale of The Trolls That Were Turned into Stone.  : www.historyofholland.com/the-g… To put it shortly, it is the story of mischief-causing goblins who were nothing but trouble and woe to the people of Holland, and how a young woman was clever enough to put a stop to their wickedness. It involved stealing their magical red caps (which had the power to make them invisible) and keeping them above ground until sunrise, at which time they'd be turned to stone. The goblins in the original story were servants of the goblin king, who was also lord of the underworld.

In my version of the story the goblin king is just that, but he doesn't rule over only goblins. At his command is a host of dark fae creatures who live in the shadows of the underworld and come to the lands above to cause havoc.

In the role of Alida, the young village maid, is 's character Sara Wolff. In my version of the fairy tale, Sara (instead of tending to her grandmother) tends to orphans in her home village. I thought Sara would be perfect for this character because while she isn't loud or forceful, she is strong, will stand up for those who need her and do what she must to help.

In the role of the goblin king is Vondel, 's character. Being so suave, so beautiful, and yet so evil, dangerous and powerful, he seemed to fit the bill splendidly. Vondel is the Goblin King, or Lord of the Dark Fae in my twist on the folk tale. He sends his minions to take nightmares to mortals, and to each of the creatures he's given a red stone (in the place of the red cap in the original tale). These red stones have the power to make the creatures invisible if they wish, and their power comes from stealing the souls of mortals. The favorite victims of the dark fae are children, whose young and vibrant souls offer the most magical potency.

In the role of the leader of the village militia (which is basically just farmers and fishermen with hunting knives and pitchforks) is 's character Ravenswood. His strength and personality made me want to use him. This wasn't a main character in the original tale, but I needed a focal character for the right-most panel in the picture and I preferred to use one of the OCs offered instead of some random guy

About the drawing

I tried to use some traditional Dutch themes for this, since the story is Dutch. I went for an Art Nouveau or Jugendstil style, though I'm not sure I really succeeded in that. All of the blue patterning in the frame and background frame is styled after the Delfware pottery style, which is Dutch. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delftwar… All of that frame work was hand drawn and colored *faints* Though I did use a fill pattern for the faded bits in the background. I'll link to that below

On the left is a goblin stealing the soul of an ill orphan child, in a moonless night.

 In the middle frame is Vondel the goblin king looming behind our hero Sara, who is wearing traditional Dutch clothing. Vondel is wearing something I hope is his style, along with a crown made of the fangs of hell-hounds. His brooch is supposed to be his summoning stone.

In the right frame is Ravenswood leading the fight against the goblins, before a sunrise.

I tried to do a different style of shading than my normal. I have to say it was rather difficult, but I'm pretty happy with it... especially the middle frame! I was trying to depict a sort of from-dark-to-light theme also, but again I'm not sure that came through

This took  me several nights to finish... in fact I haven't worked on anything for this long in a loooong time. Doing a little at the time enabled me to do it despite my poor eyesight.

More on the story

In my version of The Stone Goblins, Vondel desires Sara and would make her his bride, but despite all his power he can't bring a living mortal to his realm unless they come willingly. He would visit her in her dreams/nightmares, so she was well aware of him and his evil. The fact that she had no intention of giving herself to him made him angry and so his attacks on her village became relentless. He would send his goblins to her orphanage often, and when several of her wards' souls were taken by the creatures she finally knew something had to be done.

One night she waited, and when a goblin crept into the bedroom of a sick boy, Sara was ready. She threw her clogs and hit the goblin, making him drop the stone. She stole the gem, and the goblin ran away. With the stone she contacted Vondel, and made a deal with him. If he would bring his host to the meadow beyond her village on the night of the next full moon and have them all release the souls they had stolen, she would willingly become his bride for the sake of her village. Vondel agreed to this.

He had no intention of keeping his promise, of course. As soon as the souls were released they could be stolen again, but it would be too late. Once Sara had become his bride she would be his forever.

Sara was smart, and she knew Vondel was a liar. The true heart of her plan was revealed when she spoke to the leader of the village men, Ravenswood, and told him to have all the men and strong lads waiting, hidden in the meadow. When the Dark Fae host arrived and she gave the signal, they would attack. She knew they could never destroy all the nightmare creatures, but if they could only keep them above ground until sunrise they would all be turned to stone.

And so, on the next night of the full moon Sara went to the meadow with the red stone. As promised Vondel came. He was beautiful to look at, but there was a cold evil in his eyes that made Sara shudder. She commanded him to do as he had agreed. As soon as the souls had been released, flying from the stones like wisps of cloud, she looked up at the moon and cried, "Now!"

Ravenswood lead the attack, taking the dark fae by surprise. The battle that followed was to be remembered for countless years... but despite losses on both sides, the plan was a success. The fighting continued, and the run rose... and almost all of the host of the dark fae were turned to stone in a flash of light. They remain in the countryside of the Netherlands to this day, bits of stone here and there in cow pastures.

Vondel the Lord of the Dark Fae, however, escaped... but not without swearing to Sara that he would continue to haunt her dreams in revenge for what she had done. Whether he did or didn't, her cleverness saved the souls of countless people, and halted the attacks from the goblins from that day forward.

Credits

  fav.me/d6hktln Reference for Sara by
fav.me/d70awpa Reference for Vondel by
 fav.me/d1zk4kk Reference for Ravenswood from
fav.me/d1f6e9f pattern in the background by

I used a pattern for the curtains but I'll find the credits for that and add it asap!

And a big thanks to my beloved husband for all his help I love my Dutchman!

Aaaaand I'm going to get back on commissions now I was just so inspired for this, and I couldn't let the inspiration go to waste...