Troll geography

📌62°29'08.9"N 7°43'04.1"E ➝a part of the mountain range Troll Peaks in Rauma municipality (Møre and Romsdal county)

The trolls of Romsdalen once gathered from far and wide to celebrate a wedding. They first went to the troll church where the ceremony took place. The festivities were held right after. But already on the way there, the guests started celebrating. They got so drunk on mead that they completely forgot the time. Dawn was breaking and they didn’t even notice. As soon as the first rays of sun hit them, the entire procession turned to stone. There they stand to this day, their petrified form known as the Troll Wall in Romsdalen.

📌61°04'14.6"N 7°39'41.0"E ➝rock formation in Lærdal municipality (Vestland county)

The first Christian king of Norway, Saint Olav, was on his way to Christianize the people of Valdres in 1023. As he was riding through Lærdal, his horse lost a shoe and he had to dismount. Suddenly, a jotun and a gyger appeared upon a hill and started laughing at him. King Olav became angry and hit a rock with his hammer, shouting: “Turn now to stone and do not harm people any more!” And thus both the jotun and the gyger turned to stone. The gyger fell around the year 1800, but Jutlamannen stands to this day.

📌62°06'00.0"N 9°25'00.0"E ➝mountain range in Central Norway

The Norwegian king Harald Fairhair, who united Norway into one kingdom in the 9th century, lived as a young man with a jotun at Dovre for five years. He had heard the rumors that real trolls only live at Dovrefjell and wanted to learn from them. The wise jotun helped him to become the king of the entire country. In the end, the Sámi were the only ones left. One Christmas Eve, Harald met the Sámi woman Snøfrid at the foot of Dovrefjell. They fell in love, got married, and had four sons together. In this way, Harald got the Sámi to peacefully join an alliance with his new kingdom.

📌65°02'59.0"N 11°34'06.9"E ➝mountain in Leka municipality (Trøndelag county)

Lekamøya was taking care of the seven daughters of the troll Suliskongen when she was one night tempted by the warm weather and decided to go for a swim in the sea. The troll Hestmannen spotted her bathing naked and immediately decided that he had to have her, for she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. As he gave chase, Lekamøya grabbed her clothes, took her charges, and started running from him. The seven sisters could not keep up with her for long, but she was at least able to hold Hestmannen at a distance. Unfortunately, she did not count on the sun, which came out and turned them all to stone.

📌60°07'59.6"N 6°45'16.6"E ➝rock formation on the Hardanger Plateau in Ullensvang municipality (Vestland county)

Back in the day, there lived a troll on the Hardanger Plateau. Ever since he was just a little troll, he had been hearing scary stories about the sun that shines on trolls and turns them to stone. But he was now grown, big and strong; he believed nothing could hurt him. So he came out on the plateau to mock the sun. As soon as he stuck his tongue out to the sky, the sun came out from behind a cloud and turned him to stone. His tongue still bears witness of his folly.

📌62°27'36.4"N 7°40'13.5"E ➝road in Rauma municipality (Møre and Romsdal county)

Today, county road 63 connects Valldal in Sunnmøre to Åndalsnes and Romsdalen. But back in the day, only a narrow dirt trail went over Stigfjellet. On neither side of the mountain could anyone tell who had made the path. Besides, it was so steep and difficult to walk that one could barely get ahead. Eventually, people began to suspect that trolls lived in the mountain and that the trail was theirs. That is why they began to call this road The Troll Path.

📌63°43'41.1"N 8°49'59.1"E ➝legendary figure in local folklore in the Fosen region (Trøndelag county)

The troll Suliskongen may have actually had eight daughters. Seven of them and Lekamøya, who watched over them all, turned to stone while being chased by Hestmannen, but the eighth daughter managed to get away and hide on one of the islands in Fosen. She was the only one who survived the night and has since then had free rein over Fosen, where she has stolen food from the locals, sunk ships that came to trade, and even rearranged landscape.

📌58°28'10.1"N 6°04'49.2"E ➝phallic rock formation in Eigersund municipality (Rogaland county)

In June of 2017, a penis-shaped landmark received worldwide attention when it was vandalized one night. Perpetrators drilled holes in the rock and used power tools to bring it down before escaping the scene. Within two weeks, locals collected over 200.000 NOK to have it raised again. It was successfully reattached on July 7th.

📌65°56'39.5"N 12°34'31.35"E ➝mountain range in Alstahaug municipality (Nordland county)

Two rival troll kings, Suliskongen and Vågakallen, both faced challenges raising their respective children. Suliskongen’s seven daughters were wild and unruly, so he sent them to a wise and well-raised girl called Lekamøya to learn some manners. While there, they caught the attention of Vågakallen’s equally wild son Hestmannen who, wanting to capture Lekamøya, started chasing the girls. Once the seven sisters realized they were not the target, they sat down on the beach while Lekamøya continued running southward, trying to evade Hestmannen all until the sun came up and turned them all to stone.

📌65°23'48.0"N 12°05'21.1"E ➝granite dome with a natural tunnel through the center in Brønnøysun municipality (Nordland county)

The troll prince Hestmannen chased the beautiful Lekamøya, but she was managing to keep him at a distance. When he realized he wouldn’t be able to capture her, he became enraged and shot an arrow to kill her. The troll king of Sømna, who was wearing a massive hat, saw the chase and decided to help the beautiful girl. He threw his hat in the way of the arrow to save her. The arrow passed through the hat, and both fell into the sea. When the sun came up, it turned the hat into a stone dome with a hole in the middle.

📌70°18'25.28"N 25°10'47.0"E ➝natural rock formations in Porsanger municipality (Finnmark county)

Once upon a time, a group of trolls was traveling north from Lakselv over the Finnmark plateau. They were carrying a chest filled with gold and silver they had stolen. When they reached the beach, they had to find a way to cross the fjord, but all their searching turned up nothing. They didn’t have much time, for it was already dawning. As daylight began to break in the east, they were forced to start looking for hiding places instead. Sadly, their luck ran out; they found nowhere to hide and turned to stone when the sun came up. Their treasure chest has never been found, but it can’t be too far away.

📌69°41'05.3"N 18°34'42.4"E ➝rock formation on the mountain Hatten on Kvaløya in Tromsø municipality (Troms county)

In the old days, there lived a troll under the mountain range Storsteinnestindan at Kattfjordeidet. He came out at night to steal all kinds of riches, hiding his face under a large hat. He’d once heard a rumor of a golden treasure in the sky, so he went out looking for it one cloudy summer night. After many hours wasted, he sat down on the side of the mountain to rest. A sudden gust of wind took his hat and made the clouds part. The midnight sun shone over the sky, and the poor troll got a brief look at it before he turned to stone. To this day, he sits on the mountain Hatten, looking south toward the greatest golden treasure of all.

📌68°22'35.1"N 17°33'24.0"E ➝rock formation deep in Beisfjord in Narvik municipality (Nordland county)

The troll Beisfjordgubben fell in love with a beautiful troll woman. Unfortunately for him, his rival Katteratgubben had his eye on the same woman. The two trolls started fighting fiercely over her. Each in his own fjord, they stood and threw heavy rocks at one another all through the night. In the heat of battle, they forgot about the time, and both turned to stone when the sun suddenly rose. Beisfjordgubben stands watch over Beisfjord while Katteratgubben sits sulking on Katteratfjellet over Rombaksfjord. There they stay to this very day.

📌69°24'11.0"N 19°19'22.9"E ➝mountain on the border between Tromsø and Balsfjord municipalities (Troms county)

Once upon a time, there was a troll who wanted to empty Ullsfjord over into Balsfjord. To do that, he carried a huge bucket of water from one fjord to the other. But this was hard work, even for a troll, and he simply had to take a break in the end. He lay down, intending only to close his eyes for a bit before he continued. But tired as he was, he quickly fell deep asleep and slept through the moment when the sun rose and turned him to stone. He can be seen sleeping to this day, known as the mountain Blåtinden.

During World War II, many thought the mountain looked like a soldier in a helmet lying on his back, and Blåtinden became known also as The Sleeping Soldier.

📌68°44'39.1"N 14°59'56.8"E ➝mountain on Langøya in Sortland municipality (Nordland county)

In Kvalsauken in Hognfjord, there lived once a hefty troll, and in the neighboring Eidsfjord, there lived another troll who was just as big. Every single fall, Eidsfjord would fill with herring, and the troll there could eat his fill. The Kvalsauken troll decided then that he would carve a path between his fjord and Eidsfjord to steal the herring from his neighbor. He got to work with his shovel, known as reka in the local dialect. Where he dug, the fjords Straumfjord, Valfjord, and Olderfjord came to be. But time was short for the troll of Kvalsauken as night gave way to day. In his haste, he broke the handle on his shovel. He realized then that he would not finish his work, threw the ruined shovel, and headed home. The shovel is there to this day, known as the mountain Reka.

📌68°39'51.0"N 14°32'37.8"E ➝rock formations on Veafjellet and in the Pollås valley in Bø municipality in Vesterålen (Nordland county)

A long, long time ago, there lived a troll family in the mountain Veafjellet by the Pollås valley. The family consisted of the dad Jurmannen, the mom Jurkjerringa, and their three troll children. One day, Jurkjerringa decided that the children were old enough to come with her to pick berries. But the children were quite unruly and ate more than they picked. Jurkjerringa had her hands full with them and didn’t notice that the night was coming to an end. Jurmannen was starting to worry about them as dawn was fast approaching. He decided to go looking for them. Right as he stuck his head up from Veafjellet, the sun rose and turned him, Jurkjerringa, and all their three children to stone.

📌68°21'46.5"N 14°56'24.2"E ➝fjord in Hadsel municipality (Nordland county)

Many thousands of years ago, Trollfjord was actually a lake. One summer when there were many herring in the region, the troll Vågakallen came to fish here. He left his cows unattended to graze wherever they wanted, and it just so happened that they ended up at the pastures around the Troll Lake. But this land belonged to the one-eyed troll and Vågakallen’s worst enemy: Hinnøyrisen. When Hinnøyrisen learned of the unfamiliar cows, he became so enraged that he immediately grabbed his axe and headed for Troll Lake. As he approached Raftsundet strait, he tripped over a ridge and fell flat on his face. During the fall, he struck his axe into the mountain between Raftsundet and Troll Lake with such force that the blade went deep under the water. When he rose to his feet again, he pulled the axe out and saw that it had cut a path through the mountain and turned Troll Lake into a fjord. This is how Trollfjord was created.

📌66°38'00.0"N 14°00'00.0"E ➝second largest glacier in Norway (Nordland county)

A powerful noaidi in Misvær heard that Saint Olav was on his way north to christianize the people of Hålogaland and decided to stop him by creating a huge wall of ice over the sea, all the way from the mainland down to Bodø. He filled a large sack with gand-flies, an insect imbued with malevolent sorcery, and got a Sámi man to take it up the mountain Rippevagga; there, he was to unleash the curse. When the Sámi had done so, a heavy snowstorm broke out. The snow sank to the ground and turned into a hard-packed wall of ice. When Saint Olav saw the powerful snowstorm, he knew immediately that sorcery must be involved. He drew the sign of the cross with his sword; the swarm of flies immediately fell into the sea, and the storm stopped before it could reach all the way over the sea. The ice wall that was created is now known as the glacier Svartisen.

📌70°07'27.0"N 29°10'11.1"E ➝rock formation in a cliff near Mortensnes in Nesseby municipality (Finnmark county)

On the northern side of Varangerfjord lies a large, straight rocky cliff; all the way at the top is a door into the mountain. The door is known as a troll door, as it leads into the troll world. Once upon a time, there was a young woman who tried to climb up the cliff and get to the troll door. She wanted to free her lover, who had been captured by trolls and taken into the mountain. When the trolls saw her coming, they cast spells on her until she lost her grip and tumbled down the mountainside to the sea, where she turned to stone. She still lies on the shore below, longing for her beloved to this day.

📌69°41'13.51"N 30°06'25.59"E ➝mountain cave by Elvenes in Sør-Varanger municipality (Finnmark county)

The Russian church builder, monk, and saint, Saint Trifon, felt early in his life a call to travel to the coast in the north and Christianize the Skolt Sámi. During his journey through Finnmark, he was once on his way to Holmegråneset to drive out the troll that lived there. But the road was long, so he stopped in a cave along the way to rest. Later, he cleansed the entire Varangerfjord of trolls and sea serpents that caused problems for the fishermen and traders in the area. Trifon’s Cave is to this day a central shrine for the Russian Orthodox Skolts in East-Finnmark.

📌69°32'36.8"N 18°46'11.5"E ➝rock formation on Kvaløya right outside Tromsø (Troms)

It was trolls who, in the old days, shaped the landscape around Tromsø. They moved the islands into place, carved the mountains, and filled the fjords. One cloudy summer day, a troll was putting the finishing touches on the island of Kvaløya. The work was exhausting, more so in warm weather. He decided to take a break and lay down in the shallows to cool off. Tired, he dozed off and missed the moment when the sun broke through the clouds, shining on him and turning him into a part of the landscape.