# Kobold - Creature: Humanoid - Date: 1200 - Canonical: https://www.lanternhall.org/bestiary/kobold/ > A German house spirit that swapped silver for worthless ore gave its name to cobalt, then became D&D's weakest foe — until trap-laying tribes and a dragon-worshipping makeover turned the kobold into a cult favorite. **Why it matters:** The kobold traces a whole arc of fantasy adaptation: folklore spirit to wargame troop to first-level cannon fodder to beloved underdog, reinvented by later D&D editions as the small cousins of dragons. ## Quick answers **Where does the Kobold come from?** German household and mine spirits (Middle High German kobolt, 13th century) **When did the Kobold first appear?** c. 1200, in Middle High German glossaries (13th c.). **How did the Kobold get into games?** Key appearances: Chainmail Fantasy Supplement (1971), Original D&D boxed set (1974), D&D 3rd Edition (2000) and Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide (2003). **Why is the Kobold significant?** The kobold traces a whole arc of fantasy adaptation: folklore spirit to wargame troop to first-level cannon fodder to beloved underdog, reinvented by later D&D editions as the small cousins of dragons. ## Origins In German folklore the kobold was a household spirit before it was anything else. The word first appears in 13th-century Middle High German, where *kobolt* jokingly named little figures of wood or wax representing a mischievous house sprite; linguists now derive it from *kob*, "house, chamber", and *walt*, "ruler". A kobold might do chores, bring luck, play pranks or burn the house down if slighted. The Brothers Grimm collected stories of such spirits, including the shape-shifting Hinzelmann; Cologne told of its own helpful house sprites, the *Heinzelmännchen*, who secretly finished the craftsmen's work by night. A second kobold lived underground. Saxon silver miners of the 16th century blamed mine spirits — often conflated with kobolds — for ores that looked rich but yielded no silver and gave off poisonous fumes when smelted. They called it *Kobold* ore. When the Swedish chemist Georg Brandt isolated a new metal from it in 1735, the goblin's name stuck: cobalt. Paracelsus had equated such mine spirits with the earth elemental he called the gnome, and the boundary between kobolds, gnomes and [goblins](https://www.lanternhall.org/bestiary/goblin/) has been blurry ever since. ## Into the dungeon Kobolds entered gaming before roleplaying existed. [Gary Gygax](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/gary-gygax/)'s Fantasy Supplement to [Chainmail](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/chainmail/) (1971) listed them as troops alongside goblins, [orcs](https://www.lanternhall.org/bestiary/orc/) and [trolls](https://www.lanternhall.org/bestiary/troll/), and [Dungeons & Dragons](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/original-dungeons-and-dragons/) (1974) kept them as the weakest of the dungeon's humanoid tribes. Gygax even used them in his first playtests. The first-edition *Monster Manual* (1977) of [Advanced Dungeons & Dragons](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/advanced-dungeons-and-dragons/) gave them a look — hairless humanoids with small horns, living in tribes in dark forests and underground warrens — and SSI's [Pool of Radiance](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/pool-of-radiance/) (1988) put that look onto computer screens. Generations of players remember kobolds as their first fight, a few hit points apiece. Then kobolds got clever. In 1987 [Dragon](https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/dragon-magazine/) editor Roger E. Moore described a Dungeon Master named Tucker whose kobolds, fighting on their own ground with traps, murder holes, fire and retreat, terrified a party of high-level adventurers. "Tucker's Kobolds" became a byword for smart monster tactics. [Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/dnd-3rd-edition/) (2000) then gave kobolds a new identity: small, reptilian and proudly descended from [dragons](https://www.lanternhall.org/bestiary/dragon/), whom they worship and serve. The edition's first published adventure, *The Sunless Citadel*, introduced Meepo, a hapless kobold keeper of a stolen white dragon wyrmling, and players adopted him en masse. [BioWare](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/bioware/)'s *Shadows of Undrentide* (2003), an expansion to [Neverwinter Nights](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/neverwinter-nights/), added Deekin Scalesinger, a kobold bard who wants to write the hero's story. [Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/dnd-5th-edition/) kept the draconic kobold and has since offered it as a playable race. ## Variations Folklore's kobold is a **house spirit**, a **mine spirit**, or both. D&D's kobold passed through a vaguely doglike, horned **goblinoid** phase in older editions' art before its **draconic** reinvention, and fans still argue about which is the "real" game kobold. Other games have taken the name their own way: in *World of Warcraft* kobolds are candle-headed miners muttering "You no take candle!", a joke that quietly restores their folkloric link to mines. Across all versions the kobold's charm is the same: it is small, underestimated and, given time to prepare, much more dangerous than it looks. ## Migration - 1200: Middle High German glossaries (13th c.) — The earliest 'kobolt' is a jokey word for little wooden or wax figures of a mischievous house spirit. - 1735: Sweden — Georg Brandt isolates a new metal from the 'kobold ore' that Saxon silver miners blamed on goblins; it is named cobalt. - 1971: Chainmail Fantasy Supplement — Kobolds join goblins, orcs and trolls as troop types in Gygax and Perren's wargame. - 1974: Original D&D boxed set — Kobolds become the weakest of the dungeon's humanoid tribes. - 1987: Dragon magazine, "Tucker's Kobolds" — Roger E. Moore's editorial shows how well-prepared kobolds can terrify high-level heroes. - 2000: D&D 3rd Edition — Kobolds are recast as small reptilian humanoids who claim kinship with dragons; the adventure The Sunless Citadel introduces Meepo. - 2003: Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide — BioWare's kobold bard Deekin Scalesinger becomes a fan-favorite companion. ## Facts - The chemical element cobalt is named for the kobold: German miners blamed goblins for ore that looked valuable but yielded no silver. - Grimm's German Legends records Hinzelmann, a multi-formed household kobold said to have haunted a castle in Lower Saxony. - Kobolds fought alongside goblins, orcs and trolls in Chainmail's 1971 fantasy supplement, before D&D existed. - The 1977 Monster Manual described kobolds as hairless humanoids with small horns; 3rd edition (2000) made them draconic. - Roger E. Moore's 1987 Dragon editorial "Tucker's Kobolds" made kobold ambush tactics a byword among Dungeon Masters. - Meepo, the kobold keeper of a lost dragon in The Sunless Citadel (2000), was many players' first friendly monster in 3rd edition. ## Sources and further reading - [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobold) - [Wikipedia: Kobold (Dungeons & Dragons)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobold_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)) --- From The Lantern Hall (https://www.lanternhall.org/), a museum of fantasy literature and roleplaying games.