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Shout Out / Goblin Slayer

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Given the amount of inspirations behind this series and its adaptations, all references to other works now have its own page.

Captain Ersatz and Expy

Fantasy Works

  • The series is essentially a love-letter to old-school Dungeons & Dragons:
    • When Priestess registers at the Adventurers Guild in the beginning of the story, the registration form in the Manga has the same layout as a character sheet.
    • Magic users are only able to cast a certain number of spells per day: for example, Priestess can use three 1st-level spells per day, just like a 1st level Cleric.
    • The regenerating, spell-casting ogre in Volume 1 of the Light Novel is literally an Ogre Mage.
    • Flaming oil, mostly frequented by Goblin Slayer, when used as a weapon, is a staple for experienced players with low-level parties; it even hits harder than Magic Missile!
    • Surprise is a more important factor in combat than party numbers, gear or Character Levels; the Greenhorn Team learned this the hard way.
    • In Volume 1, when Guild Girl briefly describes some monsters as "those with blasphemous names and many eyes", it's accompanied in the Manga by a silhouette of a beholder; the aforementioned Giant Eye is clearly the latter.
    • Goblin Slayer's handling of the notorious "orc baby problem" was first posed in the intro module for non-Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Keep on the Borderlands. The reference is used again during the first interlude chapter of Volume 12 of the Light Novel, where Scout Boy and Druid Girl bemoan how they're running errands, delivering a single scroll "to the fortress on the border".
    • Prior to the Water Town demon's transformation in Volume 2, this character cusses about Goblin Slayer killing his goblin minions and sealing away a gate mirror, peppering his dialogue with "fudge" and "fooey", while invoking the name of "Gygax" to send him to hell. Hilariously, by Volume 12, the word "gygax" can be used as a swear word when Rookie Party is confronted by a wyvern.
    • In Volume 7, when the party arrives in the elven village, Guild Girl notices a tapestry depicting a half-elf and party fighting for a Dragon Lance.
    • During Volume 8, when Goblin Slayer's party make their way into Capital City, the narrative states a poster is seen advertising a theatrical play called "Spelljammer", based on an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons campaign set in outer space.
    • In the old Manga version of Chapter 3 for Goblin Slayer Side Story II: Dai Katana - The Singing Death, one panel depicts a person with small horns on their head as one of the background characters, possibly hinting at the existence of tieflings in the setting.
    • The title of the Dungeon & Goblins Crossover campaign from DanMachi: Memoria Freese is an obvious reference to Dungeons & Dragons.
    • In Chapter 27 of the Year One Manga, two books Arc Mage references about research include the "Draconomicon" and "Demonomicon", two actual sourcebooks for the Tabletop Game.
    • In Year One Chapter 54 of the Manga, Capital Inspector shows that she can use a Touch of Death via a knuckle-strike against a goblin. The way her attack reverberates lethally in the creature until it explodes internally is similar to "Quivering Palm", a skill used by the Bare-Fisted Monk Character Class.
    • The peryton fought by Priestess, High Elf Archer, Witch and Female Knight in Volume 12 of the Light Novel screams "Arneson!" when it's caught off-guard by a riddle from Priestess. Dave Arneson is the co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons.
    • When Goblin Slayer, Heavy Warrior and Spearman fight a Giant Eye in Volume 12 of the Light Novel, they claim its threat scale is at a 13, "maybe 14 if we were right in its damn house". This is a reference to the "challenge rating" system introduced in the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons that estimates the threat level of enemies.
  • Word of God is a self-admitted fan of Gamebooks from Fighting Fantasy. In Year One, a porcelain-ranked Goblin Slayer takes a goblin quest while a nearby adventurer takes a quest to kill "an evil sorcerer on Firetop Mountain". Guild Girl warns the latter to be careful as the sorcerer lives in a labyrinth, a reference to the Elaborate Underground Base the titular warlock, Olodoran Zagor, calls home.
    • A particular favorite of Fighting Fantasy from Word of God is the Spin-Off Sorcery! series, as each of the first five volumes of the Light Novels (barring the fourth) borrows a major element/setting from the four titles: "The Shamutanti Hills" is Volume 1 (Goblin Slayer and the Guild confront a goblin army in an open field), "Kharé – Cityport of Traps" is Volume 2 (Goblin Slayer's party head beneath the populated Water Town), "The Seven Serpents" is Volume 3 (Dark Elf's ability to produce a total of seven arms is a parallel to the titular Seven Serpents) and "The Crown of Kings" is Volume 5 (Goblin Slayer's party infiltrate an ancient dwarven fortress).
    • In a Flashback before heading to the fortress with High Elf Archer, Female Knight and Witch in Chapter 2 of Volume 12, Priestess reflects on stories of adventurers "who encountered mantis men". In "Kharé – Cityport of Traps", players can come across a "Mantis Man", a humanoid with mantis-styled arms.
  • Combined with a Take That!, Goblin Slayer also references Dragon Quest: not only are Goblin Slayer and Priestess an Expy to pre-existing Dragon Quest entities, the Greenhorn Team at the start of the story (Warrior, Fighter, Priestess and Wizard) is an archetypal setup in many Role Playing Games. Some of the characters have appearances that wouldn't be out of place in the first three installments, with the girls wearing what would be a standard Gendered Outfit for their respective Character Class. Even the title of Goblin Slayer can be seen as an inverted Shout-Out - whereas Dragon Quest implies a low-level character working their way up the ranks in an adventure to fight high-level beasts like a titular dragon, Goblin Slayer implies no adventure at all, but a (presumably) high-level adventurer fighting low-level monsters.
    • In Chapter 87 of the Year One Manga, when Goblin Slayer muses on the appeal of magic weapons, he thinks of the "The Sword of Kings" as one that has been told to children from heroic tales. Coupled with its illustration, this is the same-named weapon used by the respective protagonists from Dragon Quest III and Dragon Quest XI.
  • Dark Souls is loosely referenced, considering that magic in Goblin Slayer runs on similar Vancian Magic mechanics of the first two games, especially when some spells require catalysts and most defense- and healing-related spells are classified under "Miracles". Furthermore, that Sword Saint, upon meeting Goblin Slayer for the first time, assumed the fully armored character was some kind of undead, is a nod to The Chosen Undead, a protagonist in the Dark Souls franchise.
    • When the Rookie Duo asks Guild Girl in the Brand New Day for some adventuring pointers, she says defense is key. In the Manga, an illustration of an armored soldier Dual Wielding two shields evokes the "Giant Door Shield" from the Dark Souls 3 Downloadable Content The Ringed City.
  • Speaking of Vancian Magic, the way non-Miracle spells are treated in Goblin Slayer follows the rules of Dying Earth more closely than Dungeons & Dragons and most of its pastiches have, down to there being a written Language of Magic the spellcaster must memorize an incantation in to prepare a spell, with the backlash of actually casting it wiping the memory of the incantation from the user's mind, which requires the user to memorize it all over again, a detail and explanation for its limitations that are often left out of other modern fantasy works that copy the Vancian system.
  • The series is filled with J. R. R. Tolkien references, specifically The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit:
    • Goblin Slayer's In-Series Nickname, given by High Elf Archer, is "Orcbolg", a parallel to legendary swords such as "Orcrist".
    • Building on the above, the simple fact that there are no orcs as a distinct race in this world, the word is merely the elvish translation of 'goblin', is just returning full-circle to the original Tolkienian taxonomy.
    • Due to the presence of the demon lord seeking to exterminate them, the chieftains of the lizardmen, kings of men and leaders of the elves and dwarfs convened for a meeting, with High Elf Archer, Dwarf Shaman and Lizard Priest as their representatives. This is none other than a reference to the "Council of Eldrond", where the protagonists of The Lord of the Rings discuss on what should be done about the Dark Lord Sauron and the One Ring.
    • When High Elf Archer shares an elf traveling ration with the party in the Manga, it resembles Lembas, the elven travel-food.
    • A subtle reference to the films comes before the end of Volume 1: when Female Knight is aghast that despite slaying a goblin champion, it's still only worth one gold coin, Guild Girl's response is identical in spirit to Gimli's retort of Legolas defeating an Olyphant, "That still only counts as one!"
      • Similarly, in Chapter 30 of the Year One Manga, when Dwarf Scout is poisoned and needs Elf Acolyte to heal her, their exchange hearkens to Gimli and Legolas' dialogue just before the Battle of the Black Gate:
        Dwarf Scout: "Damn...never thought...I would owe...an elf...my life..."
        Elf Acolyte: "Hmm. I sympathize. But...say rather than an elf...it's simply the help of a friend."
    • In Chapter 20 of the Manga, High Elf Archer cheekily says that she has heard that dwarves sometimes dig too deep and unleash a demon, which Dwarf Shaman sheepishly admits does happen on occasion, a reference to the Balrog that awoke in Moria when dwarves mined too deep for mithril.
    • In Volume 2 of the Light Novel, the party's fight against the Water Town goblins while trapped in an inescapable room is reminiscent of the Fellowship of the Ring's stand against Moria orcs, with the appearance of a goblin champion being a parallel to the cave troll in the movie.
    • During Goblin Slayer's Flashback to the days when he was given Training from Hell by Burglar, one of the riddles the latter posed was "What have I got in my pocket?", an exact word-for-word question Bilbo Baggins uses against Gollum in the fifth chapter of The Hobbit, "Riddles in the Dark".
    • The title of the last chapter in Volume 2 of the Light Novel is called "There and Back Again", the exact words of the subtitle to The Hobbit. The same words are re-used as part of the last chapter in Volume 4 called "Of Going There and Back Again", an interlude chapter in Volume 6, "Of the Hero Who Went There and Back Again", and as Burglar's epitaph, "He who went There and Back Again", as announced by Wizard Boy in the jousting tournament during Chapter 2 of Volume 15.
    • In Chapter 30 of the Manga, as Lizard Priest is eating roasted meatloaf with melted cheese topping, he says "If all had such fine food and a bed to sleep in, there would be no more wars", he's paraphrasing one of Thorin Oakenshield's last lines of dialogue from The Hobbit.
    • In Volume 7 of the Light Novel, High Elf Archer's cousin is named Shining Helm, which comes from a poem called "The Fall of Gil-galad" that was sung by Samwise Gamgee before he and his hobbit companions reached Weathertop:
      His sword was long, his lance was keen.
      His shining helm afar was seen;
      the countless stars of heaven's field
      were mirrored in his silver shield.
    • When Goblin Slayer visits the Shadowrunners in Volume 10 of the Light Novel, it's revealed Burglar is a Living Legend in this organization, who goes by epitaphs like "Shinobi" and "The One That Rode The Barrel". The latter is another reference to Bilbo in The Hobbit, where he calls himself "Barrel-rider" upon meeting the dragon Smaug. In the next volume, Barrel-Rider is explicitly used to describe Burglar.
    • In Chapter 50 of the Year One Manga, when Capital Inspector states there are other adventurers who are given epitaphs by their peers, one such individual is called "Strider", part of Aragorn's I Have Many Names. His silhouette even looks similar to the one portrayed by Viggo Mortensen in the film trilogy.
    • After the Misfit Party plunges deeper into the mines in Chapter 59 of the Year One Manga, Elf Acolyte complains about how they could have died, while Dwarf Scout exclaims she "didn't think elves could die" and believes they "just sail into the West". This refers to "Valinor", the "Undying Lands", where only immortals in Tolkein lore are permitted to go; after the end of the Third Age of Middle-Earth, the elves leave on ships sailing across the ocean to Valinor that lies in the West.
    • When her bow proves ineffective against fighting a red dragon in Chapter 6 of Volume 11 for the Light Novel, High Elf Archer wishes she had "a dwarf-forged wind lance and some black arrows" to take it out with, the same weapon used by Bard to kill the dragon Smaug with in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.
    • In Volume 12 of the Light Novel, Priestess recalls there are stories of "a rhea's adventures" as to why riddles are such Serious Business; in the same volume, Druid Girl reflects on how only a handful of rheas care to become adventurers. Among them, one old gentlemen left his home suddenly and came back with a massive pile of treasure, but refused to elaborate on it. Naturally, all these are references to Bilbo and forms the crux of the story to The Hobbit.
    • When Black Hat Wizard takes a battle stance against the Golden Party in Dai Katana - The Singing Death Light Novel, Samurai Captain remarks on how he looks exactly like a "Nazgul of legend", the name for the "Ringwraiths" of Sauron in Black Speech.
    • During Chapter 2 of the thirteenth volume, High Elf Archer explicitly sings the first half of the first verse from Bilbo's poem, "The Road Goes Ever On", in the last chapter of The Hobbit when he returns to The Shire:
      Roads go ever on and on, over rock and under tree, by caves where never sun has shone, by streams that never find the sea...
    • When Dwarf Shaman tells High Elf Archer in Chapter 3 of Volume 13 to behave as visitors from the capital are coming to inspect their work for the dungeon exploration contest set up by the Adventurer's Guild, she brushes it off, but he reminds her that "elves were the ones who threw our royal family in prison". In The Hobbit, Thorin Oakenshield, the incumbent king of the royal House of Durin, and his company of dwarves are imprisoned in the Elvenking Thranduil's dungeons in Mirkwood until Bilbo freed them.
    • By Chapter 5 of Volume 13, the "fire goblin" dies attempting to reach for its stolen staff. The narration notes that it "sought desperately for his precious", resembling "that of the rhea who was destroyed along with his precious possession". Near the climax of The Return of the King, the creature Gollum, formerly the hobbit "Sméagol", who called the One Ring his "Precious", dies falling into the volcanic Mount Doom upon retrieving the ring.
    • Chapter 2 of Volume 14 is called "Over the Misty Mountains", based on a poem in the first chapter of The Hobbit, "Far Over the Misty Mountains Cold". In the same volume, Dwarf Shaman proclaims that he is "a servant of the Secret Fire", something that Gandalf says word-for-word when he confronts the Balrog in Moria during The Fellowship of the Ring.
    • As Burglar is a Bilbo Expy, the latter's elvish short sword "Sting" is referenced in Chapter 91 of the Year One Manga by Goblin Slayer when Guild Girl recommends he get new equipment, to which the Slayer recalls how his master's weapon had a pale glow; in all Tolkien appearances, whenever goblins are in its vicinity, Sting will emit a blue hue around its blade.
    • In the prologue chapter of Volume 15, Wizard Boy travels to the Rhea Figher's hometown with Rhea children hoping that the former can show them "fireworks", a reference to Gandalf's fireworks that were sold or given away in The Shire during his multiple visits there, particularly Bilbo's farewell party in The Fellowship of the Ring. Speaking of The Shire, the location is explicitly name-dropped in Chapter 2 when Wizard Boy announces Rhea Fighter in the jousting tournament as the "Finest Fighter of the Shire of Rhea".
  • Aside from Heavy Warrior being a nod to Guts, another Berserk reference is loosely used via an illustration in the Manga during Goblin Slayer's He Who Fights Monsters monologue to Guild Girl: the titular character's monstrous visage over a pile of goblin corpses renders him like Guts in the Berserker's Armor when his Superpowered Evil Side takes control.
    • In Chapter 49 of the Manga, Noble Fencer's brand on the back of her neck starts bleeding profusely when the Goblin Paladin appears, just like the Brand of Sacrifice on Guts' neck whenever an Apostle is around his vicinity.
    • In Chapter 58 of the Year One Manga, Heavy Warrior's best friend-now-village chief states he was forced to retire after receiving a Career-Ending Injury, with him and his wife expecting a child on the way. Given that the chief and his wife are the Captain Ersatz of Griffith and Casca, this is a reference to Griffith's brief vision of living a peaceful, civilian life with Casca in Chapter 72 of Berserk.
  • Additional Conan the Barbarian references can be found in the Light Novels and Manga:
    • In the eighth volume, one of the spirits Dwarf Shaman commands is an ice spirit named "Atali", based on the same-named character from the Conan short-story The Frost-Giant's Daughter. In Volume 14, the story is referenced again when Goblin Slayer and his party journey to the far north where a nation's lore tells of a powerful man who "sought to steal the robe of the Ice God's daughter". At the end of the short-story, Conan believes his adventure was All Just a Dream, yet he holds in his hand a garment that belonged to Atali.
    • During Volume 11, when Goblin Slayer's female dwarf contact from the Rogues Guild in the Desert Kingdom capital shares an anecdote about "...a thief who couldn't tackle a tower" and "just needed to find some spine and climb up the outside", stating how they were a "real scary barbarian", she is essentially describing the plot of another Conan story called The Tower of the Elephant.
    • While encouraging Goblin Slayer's goals as an adventurer in Year One, a legend discussed by Arc Mage is about a mercenary barbarian who usurped a kingdom and became a just ruler in his middle-years. This is the start to The Phoenix on the Sword, where Conan seizes the crown to the Kingdom of Aquilonia from the tyrannical King Numedides.
    • In Chapter 91 of the Year One Manga, when Guild Girl suggests Goblin Slayer get new equipment, he muses on how he prefers ordinary weapons to enchanted ones, such as Burglar's Sting-inspired short sword or "a blade of the barbarian hero who appeared from the far north", the latter being a reference to Conan's "Atlantean Sword".
  • By the end of the Volume 8, Lizard Priest quotes a parable from Tunnels & Trolls, while the party prepares to face off against a goblin horde.
  • Dragon's Crown references is already present via Witch's and Amazon's character design, but Chapter 6 in Volume 5 of the Light Novel is called "Goblin's Crown", which is also the title of the Original Video Animation adapting the volume.
  • A couple of Warhammer nods can be found throughout Goblin Slayer:
    • When goblins unveil an armored chariot-tank as their trump card during the siege of the Wine Merchant's mansion in Volume 10, Lizard Priest and Goblin Slayer debate for a minute what exactly it is, before deciding to call it a "goblin battle wagon", with the narrator's description of its construction resembling a "snotling push cart".
    • During a discussion about the practicalities of research into creatures such as dragons and demons in Year One, Arc Mage deliberately names the Skaven, the same-named Rat Men from the tabletop game.
    • In Chapter 3 of Volume 13, the narration mentions how the setting of Goblin Slayer features "elves who flagellated their own backs morning and evening in the name of prayer to a god of pain". In Warhammer, the followers to Chaos Gods like Slaanesh ritualistically torture each other.
  • On his final quest with Arc Mage in Year One, she and Goblin Slayer stumble across a tall, ominous structure that appears out of nowhere, with flowerbeds of roses surrounding it, all references to The Dark Tower.
  • After freaking out during the final battle of Volume 10, Half-Elf Wizard stops to try to remember the teachings of the Wizard "Greyhawk"
  • Two other characters in Chapter 50 of the Year One Manga, who Capital Inspector says has In Series Nicknames, are called "The Red" and "The Free Knight", the same epitaphs gone by Adol Christin and Parn, the respective protagonists of Ys and Record of Lodoss War. In fact, Adol's silhouette is reminiscent of his classic "silver armor◊" outfit from the earliest Ys games.
  • At the start of the eleventh volume, Changeling swears on the name of "Garfield's Power Nine", a reference to Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield. The "Power Nine" is a Fan Nickname of the nine most powerful cards ever printed in the game's history.
    • Chapter 3 of Volume 13 of the Light Novel makes mention of an "Age of Magic", an era before the days of adventurers where great wizards dueled each other with spells, such that the gods "couldn't stop their games of cards". The Age of Magic finally ended when these wizards left and became "planewalkers", the term for most powerful entities in The Multiverse of Magic: The Gathering, but also the ubiquitous name for the thematic identities of Magic players.
    • In year one chapter 25 the Arc Mages' cards look suspiciously similar to Magic The Gathering cards, complete with brown boarders, a picture on the top half, some text below, and slight different text where the cards quote/artist signature is usually located.
  • During a Furo Scene in Chapter 4 of Volume 11 with Priestess and Female Merchant (formerly Noble Fencer), High Elf Archer admonishes Goblin Slayer for not taking a companion with him when doing errands in the Desert Kingdom's capital, exclaiming, "It's dangerous to go alone!", a word-for-word quote to the famous line spoken by the old man when acquiring the first sword in The Legend of Zelda.
  • Near the end of Chapter 5 of Volume 11, the narration describes Priestess and Female Merchant walking and jumping with Drawf Shaman's "Falling Control" spell active "as if clicking together the heels of a pair of silver slippers - or perhaps ruby". This is a reference to the famous pair of shoes from the Land of Oz series, specifically The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (silver) and The Wizard of Oz (ruby).
  • By the end of Chapter 6 of Volume 11, Goblin Slayer elects not to take any loot from the red dragon when he remembers an ancient legend about "vassals of a certain councillor [who] had stolen a cup and been burned up by a dragon, which the aged king had then destroyed all by himself", which is the premise of Beowulf.
  • While speculating with Guild Girl about how Goblin Slayer's quest is going at the start Volume 11's Chapter 7, Cow Girl internally marvels at the exotic dangers and magic of the Desert Kingdom, claiming "a thousand and one nights wouldn't have been time enough to tell them all".
  • In Chapter 58 of the Year One Manga, the village chief that Goblin Slayer and Capital Inspector visit claimed he "took an arrow to the knee" that ended his mercenary career, the same Memetic Catchphrase uttered by city guards frequently in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
  • In Dai Katana - The Singing Death, Myrmidon Monk is a huge fan of a game called "Wizball", which, according to the narration, is played exactly like Blood Bowl.
  • While Samurai Captain and Female Bishop are shopping for new gear in Dai Katana, they check out a number of alleged magic swords such as a "Mage Masher" and a "Dragon Slayer", which puts Samurai Captain to mind of legends about a "Dragon Buster" and a "Dragon Valor".
  • In Chapter 1 of Volume 12 of the Light Novel, while Rookie Party is fighting goblins, Harefolk Hunter cries out "The fangs of the vorpal bunny take your life!" as she fires a shot from her crossbow. The "Vorpal Bunny" is the name of a monster originally from Wizardry.
  • Early into Volume 13 of the Light Novel, Dwarf Shaman muses during a goblin quest that Goblin Slayer's party should proceed with caution into what seems to be an unstable tunnel, ruminating how it would be better if the great, ancient Hylar dwarves are here with them.
  • During the third chapter of Volume 13, while waiting for their food and drink orders at the Dear Friend's Ax tavern, Heavy Warrior scoffs at some of the bards' songs that says Goblin Slayer owns a sword made out of "truesilver".
  • In the same chapter, as Heavy Warrior is thinking of creating a character for Goblin Slayer's impromptu tabletop game with regards to the dungeon exploration contest, he surmises about making a "rogue who could use magic, like the famous Gray Mouser". This reference continues in Chapter 4 when Goblin Slayer dissects a goblin with "a dagger that looks like a cat's claw". In the short-stories, The Mouser calls his dirk "Cat's Claw".
  • The fourth chapter of Volume 14 of the Light Novel is called "Game of Thrones". In the same volume, when Goblin Slayer and his party are heading to the far north by boat, the narrative states "...here on the northern sea, with a song of ice and fire rumbling across the waves".
  • Volume 14's final chapter is called "A Slice of Bread, a Knife, and a Lamp", which are the lyrics to "Carrying You", the ending theme song for the Studio Ghibli film, Castle in the Sky:
    Let's set out, pack a bag with a piece of bread, a knife, a lamp...
  • In a subtle nod to DanMachi, Goblin Slayer states in Volume 14 that "...it might be a different matter if one was to launch Fire Bolt seventy times", a reference to its protagonist Bell Cranel and his frequent use of the magic spell. Simultaneously, it's implied that the events from the Memoria Freese Crossover are canon to Goblin Slayer as Bell had told the titular character about his extended use of Fire Bolt.
  • During the fourth chapter of Volume 16, Goblin Slayer reminiscences on Burglar's recurring lesson of "Do - or don't! There's no try!", with an added anecdote of how it's impossible to "try" killing a goblin or slaying a dragon, for "as that faraway paladin had proved, it was the choice to do that enabled one to overcome a dragon".
  • When Goblin Slayer admires Spearman's new magic weapon in Chapter 87 of the Year One manga, he recalls other such weapons told from tales to children, including a "black sword borne reluctantly by a certain eternal champion". In the speculative novels written by Michael Moorcock, The Eternal Champion is a recurring character who is always carrying a sentient chaos-aligned weapon called the "Black Sword".
    • In the same chapter, Spearman states his next adventure is by request from a "bigshot" in the capital to search for the "golden fleece". This is essentially the plot to Jason and the Argonauts, where King Pelias tells the titular character to go to the ends of the world to find and bring back to him the Golden Fleece.

Other Works

  • Keen-eyed fans have drawn comparisons between Goblin Slayer and Doom:
    • The titular character is likened to the Doom Marine/Doom Slayer as both are Combat Pragmatists with an obscenely genocidal tendency for the species of their ire (goblins and demons, respectively), right down to being ready to tear their foes apart with their bare hands when enraged.
    • The Doom allusions continue with an illustration from Volume 7 of the Light Novel, where Chosen Heroine and her party are fighting a horde of demons, with the former mimicking the Doom Marine's pose from the original game's cover art; simultaneously, a mountain-sized behemoth of a demon akin to the Titan in a lore entry of Doom (2016) is vaguely visible in the background.
    • By the end of the seventh volume, Chosen Heroine and her party has been holding back the Legions of Hell from pouring out of an ancient, unstable gateway, complete with her fighting off one of the demonic leaders, which is described as a "Giant Spider with mechanical legs", referencing the Spider Mastermind Final Boss from Doom Episode 3 "Inferno" and 2016.
    • In Chapter 5 of Volume 13, Goblin Slayer kills a goblin by slamming its face into a rock hard enough to embed its jaw, "tongue and all, into his brain". The narration outright calls it "a glory kill, Goblin Slayer-style", based on the same-named Finishing Move mechanic in 2016 and Doom Eternal.
  • In the Manga, when High Elf Archer demonstrates curving an arrow shot that kills two goblin sentries in the fortress leading to the ogre, she quotes Clarke's Third Law almost verbatim, but replaces the word "technology" with "skill". Furthermore, the degree of the "arrow curve" is likened to Wesley Gibson's ability to curve a bullet.
  • When Goblin Slayer asks for the Guild's help in the Animated Adaptation, Newbie Swordman stated that he became an adventurer on the same day as him, a Call-Back to the former's introduction in Year One.
  • The "spear wall" used by the adventurers in Volume 1 to counter a pack of goblin riders is identical to the same tactic William Wallace used to decimate the English Heavy Cavalry at the Battle of Stirling in Braveheart.
  • In Volume 2 of the Light Novel, while poking around the Water Town bazaar, High Elf Archer finds a miniature of what is very clearly described as an Ultramarine Chapter Master. In fact, by Volume 12, Goblin Slayer, Spearman and Heavy Warrior are fighting a humanoid creature that the narration literally calls a "Chaos Marine".
  • In the Manga, when the Water Town demon transforms to fight Chosen Heroine, it takes on an elongated appearance with a gaping maw similar to the Violator.
  • The first chapter of Volume 3 of the Light Novel is called "Harvest Moon".
  • When Goblin Slayer informs Arc Mage in Year One that he has seen goblins dig through walls to ambush him, she quotes "the sound of frying bacon", a word-for-word line from Starship Troopers about how Bugs digging under the Mobile Infantry's ground-penetrating sonar is described as, while dismissing it as an inside joke when Goblin Slayer is confused by the reference.
  • In Brand New Day, the two demons that ambush High Elf Archer, Dwarf Shaman and Lizard Priest look like Red Arremers; the creatures even use that name in Pokémon Speak to make it clear it's intentional.
  • When Rookie Warrior retrieves his sword back in Brand New Day, he decides to call it "Chest Burster".
  • During Chapter 53 of the Manga, while Goblin Slayer is busy fighting the Goblin Paladin, the latter's troops fire an arrow that Goblin Slayer's helmet deflects. High Elf Archer pelts the shooters with a slingshot exclaiming "You damn, dirty goblins!"
  • The chapter titles in Volume 7 of the Light Novel include "Jungle Cruise", "Heart of Darkness" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream".
  • In the Flashback prologue of Volume 8, while her party is fighting a greater demon, the young Sword Maiden comments "If it bleeds, we can kill it." The same words are uttered by Female Knight in Volume 12 with regards to the peryton.
  • In the second chapter of Volume 8, the "sea goblins" the party encounters are, to Goblin Slayer's chagrin, gillmen; another moniker they also go by In-Universe is "innsmouth".
  • When Goblin Slayer's party arrives at Capital City in Volume 8, they see a large number of people playing various board games on the streets, most notably one group simulating the Black Death spreading across the entire world.
  • For no real reason, Lizard Priest introduces Priestess as "Noman" to the Sasquatches in Volume 9's Harefolk Village, seemingly just so the survivor of their fight makes a fool of itself to its fellows by loudly complaining that "No man killed my brothers."
  • Near the end of Volume 9, an on-the-ropes Goblin Slayer gives himself a pep talk that contains the line "There is do or do not do. There is no try." The same line is repeated in Chapter 40 of the Year One Manga when Arc Mage discusses Goblin Slayer's mentor Burglar.
  • The chapter titles in Volume 10 of the Light Novel include "Storm Front", "Ghouls and Ghosts", "Roguelike" and "Tower Defense".
  • In Volume 10, Goblin Slayer introduces an underground network of outlawed or unregistered adventurers who do the government's dirty work, known as "Shadowrunners". To hammer the point home with this reference, Shadowrunners use jargon such as "Mr. Johnson"note  and "Fixer"note  within the correct context.
    • Upon recalling the posthumous Greenhorn Team, Priestess' last line of dialogue in Chapter 6 of Volume 11 is the warning of "Never make a deal with a dragon", part of the Tagline for Shadowrun.
      "Watch your back, shoot straight, conserve ammo, and never, ever, cut a deal with a dragon."
  • In Chapter 39 of the Year One Manga, Goblin Slayer wonders if a group of pursuing goblins can break through a shade. Arc Mage reasons it's not impossible, citing how "a monkey scrawling random letters on a page might produce a great piece of literature through sheer chance".
  • Goblin Slayer makes a quip during Chapter 44 of the Year One Manga on an old saying about "staring into the abyss" - the illustration panel features a person staring into the darkness, with a pair of eyes looking back, a reference to Friedrich Nietzsche and a quote from his book "Beyond Good and Evil"note .
  • The chapter titles in Volume 11 of the Light Novel include "Choose Your Own Adventure", "Princess of Persia" and "A New Hope".
  • The Star Wars references continue in the last chapter of Volume 11, where an elven girl who served as a lady-in-waiting to Desert Princess asks a young man for help at rescuing her. He responds that "he was a knight, like his father before him", while armed with a sword that "glowed bluish-white and emitted a low thrum".
  • In Chapter 3 of Volume 11, as Goblin Slayer and his party are crossing the desert, a school of sand mantas burst out from the dunes and fly to the sky, not unlike the same scene◊ from Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust.
  • The wyvern that accosts the Rookie Party at the start of the twelfth volume's Chapter 1 cries out with the sound of "GYAAAAAAAAAAOSSSSSSS!!!".
  • The forces of Chaos that attacks the fortress in Chapter 2 of Volume 12 are labelled by the narrative as the "Army of Darkness": incidentally, most of the enemies are composed of skeleton soldiers, just like the movie.
  • In the same paragraph of Chapter 3 in Volume 12, where Spy confirms his Magic Eye lets him "see sound", he comments that he shouldn't let that advantage lull him into acting like a "daredevil".
  • When Warlock creates a bunch of golems resembling goblins in Chapter 4 of Volume 13, she recalls a speech by the great sage, "I've seen things you humans wouldn't believe". By replacing the word "humans" with "people", this is a word-for-word quote from the starting last words of the main antagonist of Blade Runner.
  • The first fight the Golden Party has in the third floor of the Dungeon of the Dead in Dai Katana - The Singing Death is against a small white rabbit with giant fangs. To make certain no one can miss the reference, Myrmidon Monk launches into a folktale about a traveling king and his knight that had to use a holy artifact to survive an encounter with one such creature once upon a time.
  • Also in Dai Katana, Samurai Captain admires Half-Elf Scout's lock-picking sets and wonder about why such kits are called the "seven tools". This is a reference to the Yu-Gi-Oh! trap card, "Seven Tools of the Bandit".
  • The sixth chapter title in Volume 14 of the Light Novel is called "Deep Rising".
  • The character profile illustration for The King in Volume 15 of the Light Novel also has the Silver-Haired Attendant at his side, whose naming caption simply reads "On Her Majesty's Secret Service".
  • In Chapter 69 of the Manga, a worker at the still-being-constructed training camp passes by two female adventurers, who look like dead ringers of Shiranui Flare and Shirogane Noel from hololive. Incidentally, illustrator Kosuke Kurose is also involved with the hololive Alternative Twitter Manga called Holoearth Chronicles Side:E ~Yamato Phantasia~ as its artist.
  • Goblin Slayer and his party are tasked with finding and rescuing a centaur princess in the light novel's fifteenth volume, whose In-Series Nickname is "Silver Blaze". The Adventure of Silver Blaze is one of 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle about the disappearance of the eponymous race horse.
  • During the party's search for Silver Blaze in Volume 15, Lizard Priest recalls a story about a man who rode on a chariot in the coliseum to fight his arch-nemesis, while escaping false charges laid against him for assassination. This plot summary is effectively lifted from Ben-Hur.
  • The chapter titles in Volume 16 of the Light Novel include allusions to popular Western works with such titles as "A Knight's Tale," "Coming to Adventure," "Cool Running," "Rock You!," "Your Eyes Only," and "It's a Wonderful Life."
  • During Chapter 102 of the Year One Manga, Swordstress Elf asks if Goblin Slayer would be interested in journeying to the West, citing how the Four-Cornered World is a big place and that "Known Space is only a fraction of it", a reference to the titular setting from the Larry Niven novels.

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