Heroic Journey: Troll Bridge

I thoroughly enjoyed Terry Pratchett's Troll. Bridge As soon as I began the story and was introduced to the main character, "Cohen The Barbarian," and his horse, I thought of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza; as it turned out, I wasn't too far off. Pratchett's numerous plays on the idea of "slaying the savage beast," and "hero's of old" reminded me a lot of Cervantes' famous novel. What really sold me to Troll Bridge, however was the way the characters developed through their dialogue. By the end of the story, I had a very specific sense of who the characters were: a old-time hero longing wistfully, though not naively for the good old days, and a old-fashioned troll wondering what happened to tradition. This idea of the two seasoned old men wallowing in their own nostalgia is incredibly funny by itself, but when it’s spliced with Trolls and Barbarians it jumps to a whole new level of hilarity.
Troll Bridge makes you think, but then takes the edge off by making you laugh. As the reader, we are invited to root for Cohen to “defeat a troll” and feel that he proved himself to his father. Our desire to see him win is heightened even more by the fact that he is near the end of his life. Then, when we finally meet a troll, the author points to us and says, “just kidding!” We find out the troll is actually just another person with normal thoughts and feelings, worries, joys, and even a wife and children. It’s at this point we realize the troll probably isn’t going to be “defeated” and we’re simply along for the ride while the author plays out his even more. The troll not only isn’t a vicious bloodthirsty monster, but is actually flattered to even be in the presence of Cohen. Rather than wanting to fight, he is eager to be defeated in hopes that it will bring fame to his bridge. We even find out the Troll and his wife have a dynamic set up that is similar to Cohen and his horse: the Troll is stuck in his old ways while his wife is eager to leave them behind and embrace a more practical life. These kinds of character setups nearly always make for very funny stores and Terry Pratchett’s Troll Bridge is no exception.