Finnish mythology in Among the Trolls
The game draws on the Kalevala: Ilmatar and the eggs that became the world, Väinämöinen and Sampsa Pellervoinen sowing the first harvests, Mielikki of the woods, and Hiisi's corruption.
Among the Trolls borrows its gods, its cosmology and its creatures from the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic that Elias Lönnrot assembled in the middle of the 19th century from traditional songs and folk poetry. The developers studied it closely, then added their own artistic interpretation where the original descriptions leave room for imagination.
Two lore notes the developers published in full
The game's own devlog released two of the in-game notes verbatim, which makes them the best-documented mythology in the project.
Ilmatar. The air had a daughter named Ilmatar. Weary of her days and lonesome in the wide halls of the gods, she dove down into the gleaming world below, and when she descended from the heavens into the sea the waves embraced her. In that union she became the Water-Mother, heavy with a child not yet born. For nine ages she drifted. She lifted her knee above the waters, a goldeneye laid its eggs upon her, the heat of the nesting grew fierce, she shifted her knee, and the eggs tumbled into the waves — where they shattered not into ruin but into becoming. From their shards came the world.
The birth of Väinämöinen. From the darkness of Ilmatar's womb the unborn Väinämöinen wept and spoke to the gods, and they would not open the path, so he opened it himself. He floated nine years, old though newborn, until he touched land: a sage from his first breath, with a beard white as river-fog and eyes that had seen the shape of stars from inside the womb. He wandered the newborn land alone until he met Sampsa Pellervoinen, the Son of the Field, and together they carved space for the seeds of life — cutting trees, sowing grain, calling forth the first harvests of the human age.
The figures that matter in play
| Figure | Who they are | Where they show up |
|---|---|---|
| Ilmatar | The air's daughter, the Water-Mother | Lore notes, the world's origin |
| Väinämöinen | The sage born old, maker and memory of the world | Lore notes, mythic framing |
| Sampsa Pellervoinen | The Son of the Field, sower of first harvests | Lore notes |
| Mielikki | Goddess of the woods and animals | Hunting, the respect rule |
| Hiisi (Hisii) | The corruption | The world's decline, creature behaviour |
| Aallottaret | Water nymphs, drowned women | The sea and its dangers |
| The tietäjät | Shamanic keepers of the islands | The portals at the kynnykset |
How the myths become mechanics
The game is not a lecture on the Kalevala; it turns the poems into systems.
- Ilmatar's broken eggs justify a world made of shards and fragments — a setting where the two realities are cracking.
- Mielikki's grace becomes Lykky, the balance that punishes disrespect.
- Hiisi's corruption becomes the reason the forest goes quiet and the creatures get worse.
- The tietäjät explain the stone arches you find: the Threshold, and the Portal Pages that open it.
- Aallottaret explain the water: the reason the Deep Sea is not simply deep.
Sources
- Devlog #6 "The Myths" (the two published lore notes and the Kalevala as a source): Steam news archive
- Devlog #8 (Mielikki and the hunt) and Devlog #13 (Hiisi's corruption in the soundscape): Steam news archive
- Official site: amongthetrolls.com
Game imagery on this page is official promotional material, used for reference.
