Goblin is a 2021 middle-grade graphic novel adventure by Eric Grissom and Will Perkins.
The novel follows the adventure of Rikt, a young, headstrong goblin that has his life ruined when a tattooed human attacks his home, killing his parents. Consumed by rage, he sets off in a journey of revenge intent on gathering the necessary tools to avenge his parents.
Tropes
- Big Good: The Goddess is the guide that points Rikt towards the main direction of his quest to obtain a weapon strong enough to kill the tattooed man.
- Character Development: During his journey, Rikt changes a lot. He learns to be cunning and patient as his father tried to teach him, to learn to save others, especially Fish-Breath, to let go of his greed, to be thankful for the help of others and to help them in return.
- Foreshadowing: When Rikt enters the Black Castle, it is empty, and its guards are all skeletons, leading him to wonder whether anyone even visits that place. This is a hint that, unlike what the tattooed man swears, he will not be remembered, as there's nobody to remember him in his castle.
- Guile Hero: Being a goblin, Rikt is a physically frail being. He's not particularly strong and is better suited for long range combat with a bow, so he has to rely on his wits for solving the many obstacles in front of him, like tricking a minotaur into letting him go by pretending a rock is his heart, or talking his way into letting frog people release him from a death sentence by reasoning that his quest would either let him return with enough treasure to pay his dues or die (like he was sentenced to).
- Horse of a Different Color: After the Time Skip that happens when Rikt is in the temple of the first tree, Fish-Breath has grown into a huge wolf, and because Rikt is already small, he is able to ride her as a mount.
- Irony: In the final confrontation with the tattooed man, he swears Rikt off, saying that as a king, he will be remembered for ages to come while he would be forgotten as a mere goblin. The epilogue shows that while the castle became ruins and everyone forgot who he is, with his crown being broken by thieves who said it was junk, Rikt and Fish-Breath have become legends.
- Perspective Flip: The comic takes the perspective of a goblin, usually mindless beings in fantasy, who resents being treated as such and looked down by humans, who wants to hunt down a man for callously killing his family.
- Plant Person: The Goddess of the Forest is a humanoid being made entirely out of wood bark with green glowing innards.
- Year Inside, Hour Outside: Inverted, while Rikt was inside the Temple of the first tree, it seemed that only a few moments passed, but years have passed outside. The village nearby was destroyed, Fish-Breath grew into an adult wolf, and the tattooed man has become a king.
