I like picturing gnomes as the protectors and curators of the world's little things, things that bigger races overlook or dismiss. A gnome artificer produces intricate gadgets that fit into your palm rather than full-size clockwork robots or steam machines that fill rooms like a dwarf would, and a gnome druid protects woodland critters from poachers rather than the entire forest like an elf would. Gnomes aren't for everyone but to me they're all about sticking up for the little guy, and reconceptualizing them in this frame of small steps heroics gives them their own strong identity, I think.
As an old time gamer, D&D Gnomes where thought of as Lawn Gnomes/David the Gnome types until the DragonLance series introduced the "Tinker Gnome" & suddenly all gnomes tended to be mad scientists ever since then. For what it is worth, in old Norse, calling something Light or Dark was usually refering to hair color. Various Northern Europeans tended to do this, for example the Viking Era Irish called Norwegians & Swedes "Light Foreigners" (blondes & red hair) & Danes "Dark Foreigners" (they tended to have Brown hair.). Dark Dwarves/Dokalfar/Swartalfar in some sources were described as having maggot white skin & black hair. I have tannish white skin & dark brown hair, but an old Norseman would describe me a a black man with dark skin. (Hair very dark brown almost black & with a dark shade to my skin. My Irish/Scottish/North German friends look like Casper the friendly Ghost next to me.)
Well this just randomly popped up in my recommended feed so hopefully you blow up soon! I’m new to the channel but you’ve more than earned a sub! Also “Do it for the whimsy!” is now a permanent part of my lexicon.
As a Scandinavian I think of gnomes as spirits/creatures that guard something, either a forest, animals or a farm house. In Swedish they are called "tomte", while in Norway and Denmark they are called "nisse". Back in the day people would leave a bowl of porridge for the house gnome so that it would be kind and maybe do house chores in stead of doing mischief. And we have the same word for "Santa" as we do for gnomes, so in a way our Santa is synonymous with a gnome. And we still offer Santa porridge, since he is in fact a gnome!
Remembering now that the Night Before Christmas poem specifically calls Santa an elf. I like the sense that he's not exactly human. That's not a big part of modern lore which is a bummer
Subscribed! I am a big fan of gnomes. As a DM I have dotted the landscape of my setting with underground ruins made by a long lost gnomish civilization. The complexes hall have a similar layout. They tend to be under hills, have a central domed structure and side passages that lead to chambers which facilitated the gnomish lifestyle. Living quarters, workshops, mines, kitchens and eating areas, and an administrative/government section where the leaders lived. These places are often inhabited by fell creatures that have moved in to the now vacant gnome-halls. But sometimes great treasure and strange devices, both useful, and mysterious can be found there.
D&D's gnomes have always bothered me, but the Pathfinder lore for them is just wonderful and even makes them visually distinct from Halflings. From what I can recall: In pathfinder, as beings originating in The First World - aka The Fey - they live for as long as they embrace and find joy and fascination in the world. If they have no means by which to be fascinated and intrigued, no object of curiosity or anything of the sort, they begin undergoing a process called "Bleaching" in which their spirit wilts and with it their vibrant, semi-oddly colored skin and hair lose their luster. If their curiosity and joy cannot be rekindled they continue growing ever more faded, washed out, and desaturated until eventually their entire being fades out.
This randomly popped up in my feed, and rhe only reason I can think of (aside from all the D&D videos I already watch) is that my friend was showing me his "death Gnome" build on Elden Ring last night. Either way, good job on your research! When you mentioned "Whimsy," I totally heard that in the voice of Tentamon from Digimon Abridged! "Whimsy! Whimsy!" I've never caught a youtuber this early in their career, before! I'll come along on the adventure and see where it leads! Keep up the good work!
Great video! One thing you should check out is pathfinders take on gnomes, which leans more heavily on their fey ancestry and connections to magic. In absence of the magic that was drained from the world, they must become dreamers, explorers and take in new experiences, otherwise the color is physically drained out of them, as they succumb to “The Bleaching”. It’s another interesting way to distinguish them from halflings as well!
Always thought Santa's elves were gnomes. I've also never found them that hard to describe, or make distinct. Though their connection to Priapis was news to me, and that is hilarious. Will be incorporating that.
as they exist in D&D it strikes me that a gnome is to elves as dwarves are to humans. shorter, stockier, industrious. Halflings are the odd one out for me. The concept of hobbits likely originate with the the term Hob which is a word used for elf, as a modified robin (rob) goodfellow, also sometimes referred to as hob-goblins, where goblin was a type of elf.
Okay I loved this video. It's made me think more about what defines a gnome. I need to give them more respect, so thank you for this video. For the plot! The joy! The whimsy!
I love gnomes! They are my favourite race in D&D While I've always had an affinity for Dwarves thanks to reading The Hobbit when I was young, gnomes are truly exceptional.
I'd like to quote the old Warhammer Tabletop Game when it comes to, hm, basically anybody who is not a knightly noble: "[xyz, in this case gnomes] are uncivilized barbarians who deserve to be cut down mercilessly". Gnomes are cool, if you want to play in a faerie setting. I don't like them around when I play a less light-hearted setting.
All -worthwhile- history hitherto is a history of gnomes... Funnily I always epitomized gnomes as the dwarfs from the elder scrolls, with their cool Babylonian aesthetic and machine gods.
I think that D&D kinda struggled to give gnomes their own identity. Originally they were described as a subrace of dwarf and I don't think they even had specific rules. Elves in D&D were inspired by the faeries from Three Hearts and Three Lions instead of the elves from Tolkien and therefore had a strong connection to the fey, which is something that made them thematically clash with gnomes. Eventually Dragonlance came up with Tinker Gnomes which gave rise to their association with tinkering and their obsession with specific crafts or things, almost like they have hyperfocuses. Personally I really like what Pathfinder did with elves and gnomes. Elves are not associated with the fey and are literally from another planet while gnomes left the First World (Their version of the Feywild) to the material world for an unknown reason. Gnomes are technically immortal but they were not made for the material world but to the idealized and always wonderful First World which results in a condition called the Bleaching in which gnomes that don't constant experience new things literally bleach, losing their color and eventually dying. Gnomes end up filling the fey niche in Pathfinder while elves fill an entirely different niche, making both races (or Ancestries, like they call them) more unique.
I like the idea of them being actually the size of the garden gnomes.
I like picturing gnomes as the protectors and curators of the world's little things, things that bigger races overlook or dismiss. A gnome artificer produces intricate gadgets that fit into your palm rather than full-size clockwork robots or steam machines that fill rooms like a dwarf would, and a gnome druid protects woodland critters from poachers rather than the entire forest like an elf would. Gnomes aren't for everyone but to me they're all about sticking up for the little guy, and reconceptualizing them in this frame of small steps heroics gives them their own strong identity, I think.
As an old time gamer, D&D Gnomes where thought of as Lawn Gnomes/David the Gnome types until the DragonLance series introduced the "Tinker Gnome" & suddenly all gnomes tended to be mad scientists ever since then.
For what it is worth, in old Norse, calling something Light or Dark was usually refering to hair color. Various Northern Europeans tended to do this, for example the Viking Era Irish called Norwegians & Swedes "Light Foreigners" (blondes & red hair) & Danes "Dark Foreigners" (they tended to have Brown hair.). Dark Dwarves/Dokalfar/Swartalfar in some sources were described as having maggot white skin & black hair.
I have tannish white skin & dark brown hair, but an old Norseman would describe me a a black man with dark skin. (Hair very dark brown almost black & with a dark shade to my skin. My Irish/Scottish/North German friends look like Casper the friendly Ghost next to me.)
Well this just randomly popped up in my recommended feed so hopefully you blow up soon! I’m new to the channel but you’ve more than earned a sub! Also “Do it for the whimsy!” is now a permanent part of my lexicon.
I'd like to second this sentiment
Thank you so much!!!! I really appreciate you being here!!!
As a Scandinavian I think of gnomes as spirits/creatures that guard something, either a forest, animals or a farm house. In Swedish they are called "tomte", while in Norway and Denmark they are called "nisse". Back in the day people would leave a bowl of porridge for the house gnome so that it would be kind and maybe do house chores in stead of doing mischief. And we have the same word for "Santa" as we do for gnomes, so in a way our Santa is synonymous with a gnome. And we still offer Santa porridge, since he is in fact a gnome!
Remembering now that the Night Before Christmas poem specifically calls Santa an elf. I like the sense that he's not exactly human. That's not a big part of modern lore which is a bummer
Subscribed!
I am a big fan of gnomes. As a DM I have dotted the landscape of my setting with underground ruins made by a long lost gnomish civilization. The complexes hall have a similar layout. They tend to be under hills, have a central domed structure and side passages that lead to chambers which facilitated the gnomish lifestyle. Living quarters, workshops, mines, kitchens and eating areas, and an administrative/government section where the leaders lived.
These places are often inhabited by fell creatures that have moved in to the now vacant gnome-halls. But sometimes great treasure and strange devices, both useful, and mysterious can be found there.
D&D's gnomes have always bothered me, but the Pathfinder lore for them is just wonderful and even makes them visually distinct from Halflings. From what I can recall: In pathfinder, as beings originating in The First World - aka The Fey - they live for as long as they embrace and find joy and fascination in the world. If they have no means by which to be fascinated and intrigued, no object of curiosity or anything of the sort, they begin undergoing a process called "Bleaching" in which their spirit wilts and with it their vibrant, semi-oddly colored skin and hair lose their luster. If their curiosity and joy cannot be rekindled they continue growing ever more faded, washed out, and desaturated until eventually their entire being fades out.
good gods what id give to be a gnome
gnome master race
This randomly popped up in my feed, and rhe only reason I can think of (aside from all the D&D videos I already watch) is that my friend was showing me his "death Gnome" build on Elden Ring last night. Either way, good job on your research! When you mentioned "Whimsy," I totally heard that in the voice of Tentamon from Digimon Abridged! "Whimsy! Whimsy!"
I've never caught a youtuber this early in their career, before! I'll come along on the adventure and see where it leads! Keep up the good work!
Great video! One thing you should check out is pathfinders take on gnomes, which leans more heavily on their fey ancestry and connections to magic. In absence of the magic that was drained from the world, they must become dreamers, explorers and take in new experiences, otherwise the color is physically drained out of them, as they succumb to “The Bleaching”. It’s another interesting way to distinguish them from halflings as well!
Always thought Santa's elves were gnomes. I've also never found them that hard to describe, or make distinct. Though their connection to Priapis was news to me, and that is hilarious. Will be incorporating that.
Gnomes have been super done dirty by DnD's tendency to just take different names for the same creature and make them into distinct stat blocks.
as they exist in D&D it strikes me that a gnome is to elves as dwarves are to humans. shorter, stockier, industrious. Halflings are the odd one out for me. The concept of hobbits likely originate with the the term Hob which is a word used for elf, as a modified robin (rob) goodfellow, also sometimes referred to as hob-goblins, where goblin was a type of elf.
Okay I loved this video. It's made me think more about what defines a gnome. I need to give them more respect, so thank you for this video.
For the plot! The joy! The whimsy!
Love the gnome passion! I’m there with you!
I love gnomes! They are my favourite race in D&D
While I've always had an affinity for Dwarves thanks to reading The Hobbit when I was young, gnomes are truly exceptional.
I'll be sharing this with the gnomies for our weekly discussions
I'd like to quote the old Warhammer Tabletop Game when it comes to, hm, basically anybody who is not a knightly noble: "[xyz, in this case gnomes] are uncivilized barbarians who deserve to be cut down mercilessly". Gnomes are cool, if you want to play in a faerie setting. I don't like them around when I play a less light-hearted setting.
I am excited to learn more.
In German they are called Erdgeist, or Earth Spirits.
i love that!!!
All -worthwhile- history hitherto is a history of gnomes... Funnily I always epitomized gnomes as the dwarfs from the elder scrolls, with their cool Babylonian aesthetic and machine gods.
This is excellent! Thanks RUclips algorithm!
Release your inner Gnome
How to pronounce deep gnome name: Snerf-nibblin
you’re a life saver
but it’s funnier if you call them sveerfneebleens
Dude was one of the first geeks😍
Autognomes are sad watching this. Also, Kolbold said gnomes are evil......
I think that D&D kinda struggled to give gnomes their own identity. Originally they were described as a subrace of dwarf and I don't think they even had specific rules. Elves in D&D were inspired by the faeries from Three Hearts and Three Lions instead of the elves from Tolkien and therefore had a strong connection to the fey, which is something that made them thematically clash with gnomes. Eventually Dragonlance came up with Tinker Gnomes which gave rise to their association with tinkering and their obsession with specific crafts or things, almost like they have hyperfocuses.
Personally I really like what Pathfinder did with elves and gnomes. Elves are not associated with the fey and are literally from another planet while gnomes left the First World (Their version of the Feywild) to the material world for an unknown reason. Gnomes are technically immortal but they were not made for the material world but to the idealized and always wonderful First World which results in a condition called the Bleaching in which gnomes that don't constant experience new things literally bleach, losing their color and eventually dying. Gnomes end up filling the fey niche in Pathfinder while elves fill an entirely different niche, making both races (or Ancestries, like they call them) more unique.
This is very good content.
thank you
Gnomes are just more civilised goblins, the elves of goblins if you will.
I wonder if the salamander represents fire or water.
fire!
@@mialikesmovies That also comes up in dnd. So that’s kinda cool.
Like, omG, like, little hairy old men are are like totally gnar-gnar! I think of their hairy little ears and I just want to like gag, like y'know?
Me and my gnomies hopping on Hyperborea 🏂🏂🏂