Gender Female | Species mountain lore Nationality Finnish Fictional universe Moomins | |
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Similar Moomintroll, Snufkin, Moominpappa, Sniff, Hattifattener | ||
The groke compilation
The Groke (Swedish name Mårran, Finnish name Mörkö) is a fictional character in the Moomin stories created by Tove Jansson. She appears as a ghost-like, hill-shaped body with two cold staring eyes and a wide row of white shiny teeth. In the book Who Will Comfort Toffle?, it is mentioned that she has a tail, but it has never been seen. Wherever she stands, the ground below her freezes and plants and grass die. She leaves a trace of ice and snow when she walks the ground. Anything that she touches will freeze. On one occasion, she froze a campfire by sitting down on it. She seeks friendship and warmth, but she is declined by everyone and everything, living in her cold cavern on top of the Lonely Mountains.
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On one occasion in a comic, however, she was hailed as a heroine when she, in her constant search for warmth, extinguished a forest wildfire by sitting on it. In another comic, Snufkin has made a magical potion with seemingly random effects. In curiosity, he drips a few drops on an ant which then transforms into the Groke. It is never made clear if this is how the Groke came to be, or if the ant transformed to another creature of the same type. The ant was never seen again after this.
Books she appears in
Adaptations
There have been various adaptations of the Moomin books on television. The Groke appears differently in the 1969 anime version of the Moomins, where she is depicted as white and depressed. In the Polish Moomin TV series, she is more like the character in the novels, but darker and bestial.
The Japanese anime series Moomin includes her as a recurring character. She is distinctive from her first appearance in the series for her intimidating appearance and the loud growling sounds that she utters. Dubs in other languages use different growls, as well as different malevolent theme music, which begins to play every time she appears. The Groke's primary introductions were in episode 6, 7 and 22 of the series. It was not until episode 37 that she was presented more sympathetically.