History Main / OurGnollsAreDifferent

* Literature/TheSaintOfSteel : in the World of the White Rat, gnoles are a recent arrival, with a complicated [[FantasticCasteSystem caste system]] that determines everything from job to pronoun usage, a notably different way of [[StrangeSyntaxSpeaker communicating]] while speaking human languages, and a occasional annoyance with how [HumansAreMorons humans can't smell]].

These original gnoles however have little resemblance to later Gnolls apart from the name. They were aggressive creatures living in desolate forests. They had a fondness for collecting gems, especially emeralds. Once settled, they made the area dangerous for humans, using trees as lookout posts. They were known for capturing and torturing anyone unlucky enough to cross their path. Margaret St. Clair's 1951 story, "The Man Who Sold Ropes To Gnoles" described them as Jerusalem artichoke.

Gnolls were first introduced in original Dungeons & Dragons all the way back in 1973, inspired by Dunsany's Gnoles. However here they are described as a cross between a gnome and a troll (thus the name Gnoll) making the early Gnoll both OurGnomesAreWeirder and AllTrollsAreDifferent. What a half-Gnome half-Troll creature would look like isn't described, and this early version of the Gnoll seems to have been something of a joke character. It wasn't until advanced Dungeons & Dragons in 1977 that they were reimagined into their better-known hyena-man form. In Dungeons & Dragons, Gnolls are described as tribal scavengers who wield looted and setup in abandoned locations. They're sadistic slavers and man-eaters who eat other sapient races including other Gnolls, and have a tribal-inspired religion worshiping their creator, the demon Yeenoghu. As new editions of Dungeons & Dragons came, the Gnolls became more evil, now being more an extension of Yeenoghu's evil than a fully sentient race.

[[caption-width-right:1000:Clockwise: ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'', ''Literature/TheManWhoSoldRopesToGnoles'', ''VideoGame/EverQuestII'']]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' gnolls diverged significantly from the D&D source material, the writers of ''The Mwangi Expanse'' sourcebook introducing them as a playable ancestry with four heritages influenced by African folklore and the different hyena species. Also changing the name to "Kholo" after the OGL debacle.

Gnolls were first introduced in original Dungeons & Dragons all the way back in 1973, inspired by Dunsany's Gnoles. However here they are described as a cross between a gnome and a troll (thus the name Gnoll) making the early Gnoll both OurGnomesAreWeirder and AllTrollsAreDifferent. What a half-Gnome half-Troll creature would look like isn't described, and this early version of the Gnoll seems to have been something of a joke character. It wasn't until advanced Dungeons & Dragons in 1977 that they were reimagined into their better-known hyena-man form. In Dungeons & Dragons, Gnolls are described as tribal scavengers who wield looted and setup in abandoned locations. They're sadistic slavers and man eaters who eat other sapient races including other Gnolls, and have a tribal inspired religion worshiping their creator, the demon Yeenoghu. As new editions of Dungeons & Dragons came, the Gnolls became more evil, now being more an extension of Yeenoghu's evil than a fully sentient race.

Other media, taking inspiration from earlier editions of Dungeons & Dragons, take a more nuanced approach. In ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'', Gnolls (renamed to Kholo after the OGL debacle) are still religious, warlike raiders who live short and violent lives, but they put a lot of importance on pack life, never fighting amongst each other. They take slaves mainly because they're lazy. In ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'', Gnolls live in a strength based society that could be a big player in the world of Azeroth if only they'd stop warring with each other.

A common theme is cannibalism, with Gnolls eating their dead, whether that be because meat is meat or because its a cultural tradition. Sometimes, they're not hyena people and instead dog people in general (even though hyena's aren't canines).

** This was expanding on the original concept of Gnolls in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''. These early Gnolls in a form of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, were used as an analogue for Orcs, a ChaoticEvil race living in the mountains with a homicidal hatred for humanity and a yen for inventive torture. Scroll forward by maybe forty Discworld novels to the time of ''Literature/GoingPostal'', and coachmen who usually have to go heavily armed and escorted through those mountains are professing bafflement as to where all the Gnolls have vanished to. Possibly as a tongue in cheek reference to the early Gnolls being retooled. [[note]]"The funny thing is, Mr Lipwig, we don't know what caused it."[[/note]] At the same time, it is noted that the Gnolls have moved in to Ankh-Morpork, where a beaten and bedraggled remnant are taking up the very lowest position on the food chain, scavenging for what they can get, and doing the jobs thought to be so dirty and disgusting that nobody else wants them.

* ''TabletopGame/BasicDungeonsAndDragons'': From Original D&D, this changed to a creature appearing as a human/hyena hybrid, but still mentions a rumour of them being a combination of a gnome and troll. In ''The Orcs of Thar'', they are subdivided into three subgroups each starting with the latin name "canis erectus", and given their own personal province.

* ''VideoGame/EverQuestII'': Gnolls are a common enemy found throughout Norrath. The Sabertooth clan of Blackburrow in Antonica have many smaller packs such as the Dankfur, Cavemaw, Timberclaws, and Darkpaws. The Underpaw Clan have taken over the Splitpaw Clan within their own lair in Thundering Steppes. The Anaz Mal and Blackfang are tribes that live in the Sinking Sands. The Icepaw gnolls live not far from the Tower of Frozen Shadow in the Great Divide. The Quaketail gnolls joined together with other underground races created by Brell Serilis to sack the Dwarven city of Kaladim, and have lived there ever since.

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', the gnolls of Lakeland were once elves unsatisfied with merely ruling over Lakeland when they once had all of Norvandt as their domain. They willingly allowed the Shadowkeeper to transform them into feral, werewolf-like creatures in service to her to take back what they thought was rightfully theirs. The gnolls continue to prowl Lakeland even a century after the Shadowkeeper's defeat, attacking any passerby who stumble across their territory.

!!Examples

"Gnolls are a monstrous, tribal fantasy race. Traditionally depicted as a HeinousHyena BeastMan, though sometimes as canine." Unlike ogres, dragons, or mermaids, Gnolls are a fairly modern creation (just like gremlins or hobbits), first mentioned as a monster in a 1912 fantasy book by Creator/LordDunsany as "gnole" in ''Literature/BookOfWonder'', but became popular only thanks to TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons.