KOBOLD

KOBOLD

"The hide of kabolds runs from very dark rusty brawn to a rusty black. They have no hair. Their eyes are reddish and their small horns are tan to white. They favor red or orange garb. Kobolds live for up to 135 years."

Gary Gygax, Monster Manual

One of the oldest D&D monsters, Kobolds are often considered "canon fodder" for being being plentiful and weak. They first made their appearance in Gygax's Hobbit-inspired supplement Chainmail where they were simply described as being related to and similar to gobins. It's not until Monster Manual I that we get the depiction of them, by Dave Sutherland, with small horns and reptilian skin and a dog-like face.Sutherland gave them this canid face in response to Gygax describing gnolls as having hyena faces.  Interestingly the Monster Card set from 1982 has an illustration by Jim Roslof who made them more reptilian with orange skin. Later alterations have made them an entirely separate race from goblins and cousins of dragons. I chose to go somewhere in between. Reptilian for sure but with that goofy disposition from the first Monster Manual.

Monster Manual illustration by Dave Sutherland

The mythological origins of kobolds go deep. They have their roots in Germanic folklore where they appear as small people and can be helpful house spirits or mischievous if not properly respected. The domovoi in Slavic folklore and the Hob in Scottish serve similar functions.

A kobold illustration by Willy Pogány from The Fairies and The Christmas Child (1865)

Kobolds were sometimes associated with mines and stories of subterranean kobolds were common in Germany by the 16th century. Superstitious miners believed the creatures to be expert miners and metalworkers who could be heard constantly drilling, hammering, and shoveling. Some stories claim that the kobolds live in the rock, just as human beings live in the air. Legends often paint underground kobolds as evil creatures. In medieval mining , people prayed for protection from them. They were blamed for the accidents, cave-ins, and rock slides that plagued human miners.

Kobold mining while other devils assist witches in various ways. From Olaus Magnus' History of the Northern Peoples (1555).

The name kobold itself, spread throughout Europe slightly altered as goblin or hobgoblin. This etymological lineage along with the association with the underground are how we arrive at the D&D kobolds.