The Princess and the Goblin
 "The goblins fell back a little when he began, and made horrible grimaces all through the rhyme". Illustration by Jessie Willcox Smith, 1920 | |
| Written by: | George MacDonald |
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| Central Theme: | Courage and honor, above all else |
| Synopsis: | |
| Genre(s): | Fantasy |
| First published: | 1872 |
| More Information | |
| Source: | Read The Princess and the Goblin here |
The Princess and the Goblin is a children's fantasy novel written by George MacDonald in 1872. It was made into a full-length animated film in 1992 by József Gémes, and was jointly animated in Hungary and Wales.
When a peaceful kingdom is menaced by an army of monstrous goblins, a brave and beautiful princess joins forces with a resourceful peasant boy to rescue the noble king and all his people. The lucky pair must battle the evil power of the wicked goblin prince armed only with the gift of song, the miracle of love, and a magical shimmering thread.
As the novel is in the public domain it can be read for free here, on this very wiki. A sequel, The Princess and Curdie, was written in 1883, and can be read here.
Tropes used in The Princess and the Goblin include:
- Aesop Amnesia: At the beginning The Princess and Curdie, Curdie has forgotten that he did believe in Irene's grandmother, and has convinced himself it was all a dream.
- Agony of the Feet: The feet are the most sensitive part of a goblin's body, and the heroes use this to their advantage.
- Almost Kiss
- Aristocrats Are Evil: Prince Harelip (Froglip in the movie) and his parents. Subverted with the King and Princess Irene, of course.
- Brown Note: To goblins, any singing or music counts, the merrier the worse.
- Cool Old Lady: Irene's great-great grandmother.
- Dude in Distress: Curdie.
- Everything's Better with Princesses
- Fairy Tale Motifs: In spades, played with George MacDonald's usual finesse.
- I Gave My Word: Irene explains to her father about her promise and finally fulfills it.
- Missing Mom: Irene's dead mother.
- One Steve Limit: Averted; the princess and her great-great grandmother are both named Irene. (Justified because the princess was named after her.)
- Our Goblins Are Wickeder: The goblins have incredibly tough skin, to the point that boulders falling on their head don't bother them and swords bend when they strike. They're incapacitated by even light blows to their feet though, and cheerful singing repels them.
- Song of Courage: Curdie's rhymes are used to both repel goblins and embolden the heroes. "A Spark Inside Us" in the film.
- The Promise: Irene's promise to kiss Curdie.
- Weaksauce Weakness: The goblins, as stated before, hate cheerful singing and being hit on the feet.
- Weirdness Censor: Curdie doesn't believe in Irene's grandmother, so he sees her attic room as bare. It's mentioned that he would have seen her if she'd been in her workroom, but Lootie (who has much less imagination) "would rub her eyes, forget the half she saw, and call the other half nonsense".
The movie also has examples of
- Achilles' Heel: In addition to singing, a goblin's foot is extremely sensitive and is the only body part that can actually be hurt. Irene stamps on Froglip's foot which gives Curdie the opening to kill him.
- Adults Are Useless: The amount of creatures the guards manage to prevent getting into the castle can be counted on one hand, including Curdie. Not to mention Lootie constantly loses Irene, and nobody believes her about her great-grandmother or the goblins. It becomes subverted when the advice Curdie gives allows the guards to push back the goblins. Also subverted with the miners. After being warned of the water, they make a dam of their own to protect the mines. While it sends the water to the castle, the miners had no way of knowing the goblins made a tunnel there. It does however create a waterfall that kills most of the goblins including the royal family.
- And Now You Must Marry Me: Prince Froglip's goal is to marry Irene so humans would be enslaved to the goblins. As goblins find humans unattractive, Froglip himself admits he is not looking forward to having her as his bride, but it would be for the good of all goblins.
- Battle Couple: It took both Irene and Curdie to kill Froglip.
- Non Sequitur Scene: A minor example, but after Irene and Curdie have escaped the goblin caves, the first thing Irene says is, "Look, Curdie! The moon!" and both of them burst out laughing. It's as hilarious as it is random.
- Captain Obvious
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Curdie: It's like a village... a goblin village. Whoa... this must be where the goblins live! |
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- Cats Are Mean: Completely subverted by Irene's cat, Turnip, who is one of her most loyal companions, but played straight by one of the goblin's pets, a fork-tailed demonic cat creature.
- Cute Kitten
- Disney Villain Death: Froglip, and a good number of other goblins including the king and queen via the Inevitable Waterfall.
- Evil Prince: Prince Froglip. His death puts an end to the goblin royal family, crippling goblin society.
- Gainaxing: The Goblin Queen.
- Getting Crap Past the Radar: When the goblins invade, many of the servants (including Lootie) are obviously drunk. Also, one of the goblins licks Lootie when they capture the servants.
- Also, when Curdie tells Irene to stay in her room while he deals with the goblins, she locks herself in, only to realize Froglip managed to sneak in. He jumps at her, she screams and the camera fades to black. When Curdie returns to Irene's room, the place is utterly trashed and there's no trace of her.
- Froglip pleading with his mother to let him deal with Curdie when the goblins capture him involve him saying, "I could do such nasty things to him!"
- Good Parents: Curdie's father. Though he employs his son at the mines, he doesn't overwork him and makes sure his son only does work he's capable of. When Curdie gets lost in the mines, Curdie's father searches everywhere for him.
- Irene's father is quick to believe Irene about the goblins and doubles all the guards. He's also heavily implied to approve of Irene and Curdie being a couple.
- The goblin queen to Froglip.
- Grandma, What Massive Hotness You Have!: Irene's great-great grandmother. Help the fact she's voiced by Claire Bloom.
- Incessant Chorus: "A Spark Inside Us" in the movie, various playful poems in the book. It's a song about singing, but it helps that singing is a highly effective weapon.
- Inevitable Waterfall: One is formed after the castle is flooded. It's how the goblin royal family and a lot of goblin warriors meet their end, crippling the goblin society.
- Kid Hero: Curdie and Irene. Curdie has the experience with the goblins and leads the guards to push back the goblin warriors and even defeats Froglip at the end. Irene rescues Curdie when the goblins imprisoned him. She also gives Curdie the opening to send Froglip falling to his death by stamping the goblin prince's foot.
- Large Ham: Prince Froglip. Being voiced by Rik Mayall, this was bound to happen.
- Made of Iron: Curdie can survive falling down a cave without a scratch, but when he falls down the stairs he's unconscious.
- Momma's Boy: The Goblin Prince is constantly doted and praised by his goulish mother.
- Old Man Marrying a Child: See And Now You Must Marry Me and know that Irene is about twelve years old. Thankfully, Froglip's plan is foiled when he is killed by Curdie.
- Overprotective Dad: Averted with Irene's father. After all, the miner boy did save his daughter and the kingdom. Lootie, however is heavily implied to be disapproving at the end despite only being Irene's nanny.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Curdie. Working at the mines really paid off. He even kills Froglip at the end, though Irene stamps Froglip's foot to give him the opening attack.
- Princesses Prefer Pink: Irene.
- Puppy Love: Irene and Curdie.
- Reality Ensues: While the thread Irene was given by her great great grandmother was made of magic, the thread Curdie took from his mother was finite and mines and caves can go on for miles. Inevitably the thread reached the end in a matter of minutes.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: The King instantly believes Irene about the goblins.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: See Kid Hero for Irene.
- Speech Impediment: The Goblin prince has a wet lisp who sprays saliva over everyone.
- Staircase Tumble: How Curdie hurts his leg. (In the book he's hit by a crossbow.)
- The Guards Must Be Crazy: The few guards that defend the castle are so grossly incompetent that it makes one wonder how the kingdom has managed to last so long under their protection. Subverted when Curdie instructs them how to defeat the goblins, then they are able to drive them off.
- Too Dumb to Live: Despite the fact that their feet are their weak spot, only one goblin (The queen) in the entire film ever thinks to wear shoes. The reason for that however is because unlike other goblins that have only a single toe, the queen has six toes so she may have been hiding it. While a sixth toe may be an oddity to humans, her human looking foot may be considered repulsive to the goblins.
- Took a Level in Badass: Curdie grabbing a sword and joining the guards to fight the goblins, and Irene going to the caves to rescue Curdie by herself.
- Weaksauce Weakness: The Goblins hate and are utterly repelled by singing (even their pets), and this allows the humans to drive back their forces. However it's stated that if the goblins are determined in a goal, singing can be ineffective.
- You Didn't Ask: After narrowly escaping the tunnels full of evil goblins, Irene wants to kiss Curdie to thank him for saving her life, but they are interrupted by Lootie.
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Lootie: (hollering insistently from the castle grounds) Princess Irene!!! |
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