Truggle

Truggle

First appearance: Happy, chapter 26
Last appearance: Happy, chapter 46
Appears in: Happy

Latest status

Ally — nominal, heavily intoxicated leader of the goblin defenders during the siege against The Jackals

Truggle is a hulking hobgoblin who leads a goblin village defending its fort in the jungle outside Aislen. Introduced as an enemy commander, he is defeated in single combat and comes to respect his conqueror as a worthy ally rather than a foe, guiding his people into a new alliance and acting as their voice and translator. He goes on to hold operational leadership over the goblin fighters through subsequent conflicts, valued as much for his brute strength and loyalty as for his boisterous, larger-than-life presence.

Abilities

• Evolved from goblin to hobgoblin through mining labor — Book 5.5

Book 5.5: Happy

Truggle leads his goblin village’s defense of their fort, commanding through demonstrated strength and wielding a massive great axe. Dom fights his way into the fort after repeatedly dying to goblin gunfire to build up resistance, and eventually defeats Truggle in single combat by sacrificing his own arm to land a decisive blow; by goblin custom this proves Dom’s strength, and Truggle accepts the loss with dignity, telling his people Dom is “more goblin than human anyway.” When Dom later confronts the Gambler over the goblins’ century of abandonment, Truggle acts as his people’s representative in the collective bargaining, barely containing his rage as he describes how the goblins were forced to bind themselves to dungeons for respawns and are now hunted by human travelers on top of it. His anger is directed at the Gambler rather than at Dom, whom he comes to see as an advocate; the talks end with the goblins binding themselves to Dom’s casino for protection and labor instead.

Once the deal is struck, Truggle’s role shifts to reconciling his people to the new alliance. Still missing some teeth after Adrian punched him, he vouches for Dom and Adrian before the other goblins, declaring them “stronk like greenskinz” and acting as translator between goblin custom and the newcomers, while working to preserve his village’s independence within the arrangement. As the goblins mobilize against Sean’s coming attacks, Truggle cedes strategic command to Dom but keeps operational control over the goblin fighters, training basic goblins and recruiting hobgoblins for battle; by this point he has himself evolved from goblin into hobgoblin through mining work. Later, in Boomtown, he takes charge of demolishing the old settlement’s buildings, roaring “Boomtown!” as he clears ground for its expansion and claiming the explosives work as his own domain. By the siege against The Jackals, he holds the nominal leadership of the goblin defenders but has increasingly given himself over to drinking, fighting with beer mugs strapped to his hands and eager for the gates to open, providing comic relief while contributing little tactical value beyond his enthusiasm.

Status: Enemy — hostile goblin village leader defending his fort against Dom’s assault → Ally — nominal, heavily intoxicated leader of the goblin defenders during the siege against The Jackals

Dom: goes from the enemy village leader Dom fights and defeats in single combat to a grudging, then loyal ally who cedes strategic command to him.

Gambler: becomes the goblins’ angry representative during collective bargaining, voicing a century of resentment over the Gambler’s abandonment of his people.

Adrian: moves from a tolerated outsider who knocked out some of his teeth to an ally he publicly calls “stronk like greenskinz.”

Key quote: “Jungle iz death. We forzed to bind to dungeon for respawnz. We diez again and again. Now hunted by hooman travelerz.”

Appears in

• Happy — 7 chapters