A Gnome? Really?

 For those who know me, you know that my characterization of gnomes is, how should I put this delicately…. Not the most positive. I like wondering around in my head trying to figure out why and what of a tenet, belief, or a characterization I might hold. I don’t hold many. More than one or two would be bothersome and unproductive. It is sorta like wandering down an empty highway in there, at night, with clouds, and no flashlight. Now gnomes don’t get ‘under my skin’ or anything, nor do I really care but for some reason whenever anyone wants to play a gnome, bells start going off in my head. 

When I think of playing a character, I try to imagine it as a hero in a heroic pose or doing something heroic. This imagining becomes the driver for that character, it would be the manner in which the character envisions himself being or becoming. It helps me define the character. Whenever I try to imagine a gnome doing something heroic, I always end with some comically ridiculous outtake. I know that this unfair. I know people have different perceptions of gnomes than do I. Please do not take this as a personal attack or dismissive. Its just crap inside my head.

When I envision a gnome, I literally see a twelve-inch tall, round-bellied, smiling dude with red cap. Literally, that’s what I see. I can stretch that height to three feet maybe…. Maybe up belly button but even that is difficult to picture. Even so, the gnome would still be quite round with bulbous nose, broad smile, and wearing a red cap with little mushrooms growing from it. Maybe that’s hero material? A carrot patch hero maybe?

I would imagine that my image of gnomes is derived from somewhere in my youth. As I wander down memory lane, I am going to try to pinpoint the moment in time when the gnome first appeared in my head. Actually, that’s easy. It was in the Dungeons and Dragons Players Handbook. Back in the day no one ever played a gnome, not that I recall anyway. I don’t think anyone played anything other than humans, dwarves, elves, and an occasional ‘halfling.’ They should have called the halfling the Hobbling. At that time, I was in Germany. This may have something to do with my image of gnomes.

Enter the Smurf. For whatever reason, I really liked the smurfs. There was a TV show with smurfs, a comic book I believe, and smurf toys. I collected smurfs and still have a few lying around somewhere. It was an odd fascination and I am not sure why I was fixated on them at the time. Those little blue men were probably one of the major influences I had when creating visions in my head. Perhaps that‘s why, whenever I think of gnomes, I think of them as only a few inches tall. On the bright side, I don’t think of gnomes as blue.

Additionally, I was an avid fan of Asterix and Obelisk. Even saying the name out loud to myself gives me the giggles. I had a whole lot of Asterix and Obelisk comics and toys. They fought the smurfs occasionally and always won. An amalgam of the two is a more or less image of I have of gnomes – except tiny. That would be the entirely comic part.

I like Obelix and Asterix. I think smurfs are cool. I just do not see them as the heroic characters I would play. Now, I would imagine for a whole host of people, there is a different image of the gnome. Those who were first introduced to the concept of gnomes in the 2^nd edition era were likely not conflating smurf memories with their imagined characters, rather something like the tinker gnome. Later World of Warcraft introduced a very cool gnome idea. Over time there is little left of the gnome other than those memories and thusly, new mythologies are formed.

Now go read some Asterix and Obelix -they are hilarious.