Frankie Feetsplinter
Freddy Feetsplinter is the most urban, and urbane, of the wooden trolls. It resides in downtown Ballard.
Ballard started out as a very Norwegian enclave of Seattle, with many residents not speaking English. It has since been gentrified so it’s a regular neighborhood with pockets of its Norwegian past. Freddy resides at one of the pockets, standing alongside the National Nordic Museum in Ballard.
One of my favorite excursions for friends coming in from out of town is to eat at a Mexican restaurant in Ballard, La Carta de Oaxaca, and then go listen to some Americana music at the next door Tractor Tavern.
Pia the Peacekeeper
Pia resides on Bainbridge Island.
This is one of my favorite day trips from Seattle, and one I highly recommend for tourists. Take the ferry from downtown Seattle to Bainbridge. It runs every hour and takes about 35 minutes, a nice Zen experience of a ferry moving slowly across the Puget Sound. Then it’s a short walk to downtown Bainbridge with its shops and restaurants.
The troll is a slightly longer, although easy, walk. It’s about a mile and a half, gently uphill one the way and gently downhill on the way back.
My favorite part about Pia the Peacekeeper? It resembles (particularly in that small picture) Bob Dylan!
Bruun Idun
Bruun Idun has the most scenic view of all the trolls. It is in Lincoln Park in West Seattle (yes, you might bump into Eddie Vedder) overlooking the Puget Sound. It is a stones’ throw away from the Colman Pool. The walk to Bruun Idun is almost entirely along the Puget Sound.
It was created in 2023 by Thomas Dambo. The flute was designed by John Halliday from the Muckleshoot Tribe. Bruun Idun is playing the flute to ask the Orcas why they have left the Puget Sound.
Jakob Two Trees
Jakob Two Trees resides in Issaquah, Washington. Issaquah is on what Seattleites call “the East Side,” (being east of Lake Washington while Seattle is west).
When I worked on the East Side I used to run at Cougar Mountain State Park in Issaquah. It had dozens of trails and was spectacularly well marked. Someone put a lot of effort in naming the trails (take “Lost Beagle trail” to “Shy Bear trail”).
Jakob Two Trees is on the other side of town. That part of Issaquah was probably once a rustic hamlet but now is a bustling suburb, with the traffic to match. The troll was created in 2023 by Thomas Dambo. It is just a hundred yards or so down the path from the Issaquah Community Center.
This was the first troll I went out to see and I was suitably impressed but just how big these trolls are. Jakob stands around 14-ft. tall, looking down at passersby who walk near him on the trail. And, although you can’t tell in this photograph, he has a ponytail!
The One, The Only, The Original
The original Seattle troll is located in the Fremont neighborhood, self classified as “the center of the universe.”
The Troll was sculpted in 1990 by four artists: Steve Badanes, Will Martin, Donna Walter, and Ross Whitehead. It is under the north end of the Aurora Bridge.
The idea of a troll living under a bridge is derived from Scandinavian folklore. That’s a Volkswagon Beetle in its left hand!