D&D 5E Fey Hobgoblins, where did they come from? What are they for?

[darjr]

Well? I think figuring out that would go a long way to getting an idea of what they could possibly be in.

 

[Blue]

In D&D 5e land, they are from the same UA that tested the owlfolk, fairy, and haregon races.

From mythology that's much closer to classic definitions then the military hobgoblins that D&D has characterized them. Basically, if you were a scholar of myth, they would feel a lot more "derived from the source material" then the D&D race/monster called hobgoblins.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Well? I think figuring out that would go a long way to getting an idea of what they could possibly be in.

I’ll watch the recent interview again tomorrow, but unless I’m mistaken, Jeremy Crawford referred to them as being slated for an unannounced product.

Not “where they fit hasn’t been announced” but a product that hasn’t been announced.

So, either a classic setting, a new setting, an adventure, or a product that won’t be a product type they’ve done before or whatever. Or, hell, something they’re in early stages on.

 

[cbwjm]

Have WotC said they will be coming in as Fey Hobgoblins? Just wondering if they are going to be repurposed to something else or if the race/abilities have been more or less set.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Have WotC said they will be coming in as Fey Hobgoblins? Just wondering if they are going to be repurposed to something else or if the race/abilities have been more or less set.

They may very will have a different origin altogether. The Owlin aren’t in a Fey related book, after all.

 

[BookTenTiger]

In the real world, the term "hobgoblin" referred to a helpful or mischievous spirit found in dwellings. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare calls Puck a Hobgoblin. And Puck is a vassal of the Fairy King Oberon. So the idea of Hobgoblins being fey is actually a pretty old one!

 

[darjr]

OK, but what classic setting do they come from?

Or what classic setting features Hobgoblins?

I can’t thing if anything really prominent.

Or maybe there’s a classic adventure?

Or a splatbook?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Well? I think figuring out that would go a long way to getting an idea of what they could possibly be in.

Cotton-Eye Joe?

Goblin Market? Christena Rossetti was a great DM in the Pre-Raphaelite Role livestream.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

OK, but what classic setting do they come from?

Or what classic setting features Hobgoblins?

I can’t thing if anything really prominent.

Or maybe there’s a classic adventure?

Or a splatbook?

Only the oldest here will remember, but way back in the mists of time when D&D was first invented (the 1970s) anything to do with fairies was not only considered seriously uncool, but vomit-inducingly twee. Not just in D&D, but in art and literature generally.

Then, in 1986, the movie Labyrinth happened, and suddenly fairy goblins where sexy again.

This rehabilitation of the fae didn't start to have much impact on D&D until around 3.5, but the upshot is, you won't find your fairy hobgoblins in something old, but in something new (to D&D at least).

 

[Lyxen]

In the real world, the term "hobgoblin" referred to a helpful or mischievous spirit found in dwellings. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare calls Puck a Hobgoblin. And Puck is a vassal of the Fairy King Oberon. So the idea of Hobgoblins being fey is actually a pretty old one!

One could even say that the D&D Hobgoblin (martial-type) is the weird one in the mythocosmology, hobgoblins would be ancestrally fey. Actually, it can make for a good story as to how a family of hobgoblins fled from fairy and became the lawful evil brutes we all love...