#trolderi

Short answer: a troll

Long answer: Alright bukle up, a native scandinavian is here to tell you a bit about trolls

There are MANY types of trolls in the scandinavian folklore but basically there are the huge scary angry trolls and the the smaller woodland creature trolls.

Now, moomin valley has both types: the Groke and Edward the Booble belong in the first category while moomin and the other main characters belong in the second.

People often describe moomin’s shape as a that of a hippo but guess what? hippos do not live in the finnish mountains and do not fit what so ever in scandinavian folklore.

And I see a lot of tumblr art depicting moomin as a sort of rodent but I would disagree since that is what Sniff is very clearly supposed to be.

I personally growning up have always seen moomin as more of a cow-sheep/goat-kind-of-troll. Trolls are very frequently depicted with goat-like features and moomins tail and muzzle resemple that of a cow’s. (I dont know if I make my vision clearer or fucking it up for you by comparing moomins shape to that of Cows from Cow and Chicken (idk???))

But no, moomin is still a troll and not any other sort of creature!

Let me illustrate with this picture from the danish cartoon Trolderi I watched as a kid:

It is the perfect example of what a generic small woodland troll would look like. Notice the big snout and the tail!

Bonus: the small troll under the hat is called Little Shit and is one of those tiny mischievous trolls which is a subcategory that Little My belongs in and if you have seen Ronia the Robber’s Daughter it is like the annoying tiny trolls that keep asking: why? why? why is that? why?