Dokkaebi

For this week's episode, we're heading over to South Korea for a mischievous little goblin, the Dokkaebi! How many variants of this monster are there? How did it get so famous alongside K-POP? Find out this week!

Transcript

INTRO:
Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world. 

These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.

I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.

Oooh, it’s nearly spooky time and I’m really not ready. Although I do have spooky decorations and bedsheets on, it doesn’t feel like it’s time already! This year is flying by, and I’m very excited to be going to Comic Con in London for the first time this week, so if you do see a ginger with a myth monster's hoodie on - come say hi! 

We have an amazing special announcement at the end of this episode too for Halloween next week - so I hope you’re excited for our annual celebration of all things scary and spooky.

DESCRIPTION:

We are heading over to Asia this week with an interesting monster from South Korean mythology - yes, we are looking at the Dokkaebi in this episode!

So what is this monster? If you’re into Korean anime or manga, you may already know but the Dokkaebi are basically a goblin but sometimes are known as nature spirits or deities.

The Dokkaebi are generally described as goblins, but there’s more to them than that. There are a couple of different variants of this monster, all of which have their own look, so I’ll go through them with their Korean names. The Gaksi and Chonggak Dokkaebi are known to be human looking, with either a yellow or green pallor to their skin and are roughly the same size as people - generally considered to be very attractive to us too. The Oenun Dokkaebi are known to have one eye and are more traditional goblin looking, whilst the Oedari Dokkaebi are again goblin looking, but only have one leg and are extremely fond of wrestling. 

All of these monsters are particularly hairy, red faced with pointed ears, fangs, horns and large, wide eyes. They also all wear the traditional Korean dress called the hanbok - which is a super colourful dress with a high waistline and simple embellishments such as lines of stitching decorating it. They are known to be fearsome and terrifying, as well as awe-inspiring - no matter what the type may be, presenting as bright blue flames as they appear whilst wielding a club.

These monsters are usually spirits in a tangible form and they are not formed in death like usual spirits, but by the spiritual possession of an object like a broom, hoe or any other inanimate thing that has had human blood spilled upon it.

However, their demeanour is definitely an interesting thing about them too as they come in different variants for this. They are usually known as harmless creatures with no alignment if we are talking D&D terms - however, there are some of them that will actively try and put you out. The two types that you are most likely to run into are the Cham Dokkaebi which are mischievous goblins who play tricks on humans, and the Gae Dokkaebi who are evil goblins who actively feed off of human misery. There are a few other types I haven’t mentioned such as the Go Dokkaebi who are exceptional at weapon fighting, the Kim Seobang Dokkaebi, who are dumb farmers specifically and the Nat Dokkaebi, who only appear during the daytime. The attractive Gaksi and Chonggak Dokkaebi also have powers of seduction which is pretty interesting. 

In terms of powers to do either of those things, this is why they are considered nature spirits. It’s believed that they have supernatural powers that they can use based on their alignment such as bringing good harvests, big catches or great fortunes to humans - as well as defending them from evil spirits or evil Dokkaebi themselves. On the contrary, the evil side could bring death and disease and it was believed that they carried smallpox around Korea, as well as fire and destruction. They could also haunt a person to give them certain mental illnesses and a shaman would be brought in to drive the Dokkaebi away. They would also reward humans for good deeds and punish them for bad ones, of course reinforcing the folklore rule of morality.

They are mostly nocturnal creatures, and would only really bother you in the night, so it was a good way to keep out of their path. If you did bump into a slightly friendly Dokkaebi in the wilds though, you would most likely be challenged to a wrestling match or in Korean ssireum for the right to pass them. They are incredibly good at wrestling and so it was unlikely that you would win unless you took advantage of the weakness of the type you ran into. Of course with the missing leg or eye Dokkaebi, you could take advantage of their proneness to fall over or miss something on their right side for example. 

If you won, you would be given a magical item such as a gamtu or hat which gave you powers of invisibility, a magic club or bangmangi that was like a magic summoning wand, and of course, you were allowed to pass. The only catch with this wand was that you could only summon something that was physically there, and you couldn’t pull something from the ether, but summon it from the world. You could also appease them with their favourite foods such as buckwheat jelly, red bean rice cakes and sorghum, which is a type of cereal plant.

ORIGIN:

For etymology, Dokkaebi is its own word within the Korean language and literally means goblin from what I can tell at least with my research. All of the different variants have their own translations so I’ll go through them; Cham meaning really, Gae meaning wild, Kim Seobang meaning Mr Kim, Nat meaning day, Go meaning high, Gaksi meaning maiden, Chonggak meaning bachelor, Oenun meaning one-eyed and Oedari meaning one-legged. So there are quite a few translations, but most of them are literal as per their tendencies. 

The word Goblin comes from the Latin word gobelinus, which means devil or daemon, but was translated into Anglo-Norman in England in the 14th century into what we know it as today. 

In terms of history, the first documentation of Dokkaebis were in the Silla era within Korean history from a book called Samguk Yusa or Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms, which was written all the way back by a monk in 1281 - however, what we do know is that this is most likely a folktale that started way before this. They were mentioned many times during the Joseon period too, which was from 1392 all the way til 1897, which in historical terms is very very recent. 

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find most of the stories mentioned, or at least I couldn’t find copies of them - so I have a single story for you that I found in my research of them. 

One day an old man lived alone on a mountain and a Dokkaebi visited his house. The kind old man was surprised, but welcomed him in with a boozy drink where they became fast friends. The Dokkaebi would visit his friend in the mountain often and they would chat - but one day the old man took a walk to the local woods and river and saw that he was slowly becoming a Dokkaebi. 

So the man came up with a plan and invited the monster back, asking him ‘what are you most afraid of?’ The Dokkaebi answered blood, and asked him back - where the old man said ‘money, which is why I live alone in the mountains’. The next day, the man slaughtered a cow and poured its blood over the house, and when the Dokkaebi came back, it was terrified and said ‘I’ll be back with your greatest fear’. The next day, the Dokkaebi brought bags of money and threw it at the old man. The Dokkaebi never came back, stopping the transformation, and the old man was the richest person in town.

In terms of comparisons here to real life subjects, it’s a bit tricky. However, we do know where the inspiration for Goblins in the UK came from, and this was actually from the exploitation of children and disabled people - as they would often be sent out to do the nitty-gritty and dirty work in caves, woods and forests in the dead of night so that no one would see them - so it became a rarity to spot a working child for example, and seeing one would be a bad omen, or they would be misidentified as fairies or fae, which Goblins are considered a part of in English folklore, like Brownies, Hobgoblins, Dwarves and Gnomes.

That does bring me round to mythical comparisons too, because as well as these creatures - all of which will have their own episodes if they do not already, especially Goblins themselves - but the Leprechaun is one that is often brought in as a comparison to the Dokkaebi as they practise morality based magic on the person who finds them. They are also similar to the Spanish and Iberian Duende, which also went across to Latin America as Tata Duende and the Philippines and Mariana Islands as the Dwende which is spelt with a w instead of a u. These monsters were again, neutral and small in size, but would often reflect the intentions of their human counterpart with the gift they would bestow upon them. I covered the Leprechaun not too long ago in another episode, and the Duende from all these places will be covered in one later down the line.

I do have to say that culturally within South Korea though, these monsters are still really believed in and they have made their way into popular culture by their biggest and best export - KPOP. The Dokkaebi are the topic for at least 4 massive songs from KPOP artists, including CLC, Stray Kids, ACE and Xikers.

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CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: 

Now onto modern media, I’m going to cover Goblins and the like for this one - as Dokkaebi itself are a little elusive, but they are covered in a few things which I’ll mention.

For art, I would really recommend independent art this week - I found some really cool stuff whilst researching these monsters so I highly recommend you do the same. Otherwise there are some statues that you can look at from around Korea but they don’t have names!

In movies, we have; Lord of the Rings, Hobgoblins, The Field Guide to Evil, The Hobbit, The Black Cauldron, The Princess and the Goblin, Sleeping Beauty, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Strange Magic, Gremlins, Labyrinth, Troll 2 & Legend.

For TV, we have; specifically for Dokkaebi - Guardian: The Lonely and Great God, but for others - Overlord, Goblin is Very Strong, Goblin Slayer, The Legend of Snow White, Re:Monster, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash, So I’m a Spider, So What?, Mickey Mouse Funhouse, Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time, Digimon Frontier, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Merlin, Star Trek, Power Rangers Mystic Force, Adventure Time, Gravity Falls, My Little Pony, LEGO Elves: The Secret of Elvendale, The Real Ghostbusters, Spiderman, American Dragon: Jake Long, Franklin, Star vs the Forces of Evil, Legend of the Three Caballeros, Fangbone!, Trollhunters & Little Bear.

In video games, we have ones such as; Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege and DokeV for Dokkaebi specifically, but for others there is Warcraft, World of Warcraft, Runescape, Baldur’s Gate, Valheim, Mass Effect, Lord of the Rings Online, Okami, The Legend of Zelda, Neverwinter Nights 2, Fable, Guild Wars, Enclave, Gigantic, Diablo, Elder Scrolls, Dragon Fable, Loop Hero, Of Orcs and Men, Paladins, Overlord, Terraria, Rogue, Wildstar, Pokemon, Miitopia, Gobliiins, Griswold the Goblin, Final Fantasy 11, 13 & 14, Dwarf Fortress, Dragon’s Dogma, Age of Wonders, Battle for Wesnoth & Corruption of Champions.

My book recommendation this week is Korean Children's Favorite Stories: Fables, Myths and Fairy Tales by Kim So-Un and Jeong Kyoung-Sim for younger listeners and their parents, but I’d also recommend Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts, Fairies by Elena N Grand for the older readers who want to know more about monsters.

DO I THINK THEY EXISTED?

Now it’s time for, do I think they existed? 

Hmm, I’m not too sure about this one honestly. It seems to me that it would be extremely rare to bump into one and considering the amount of information I could find - I’m not sure they’re too common. But with the KPOP stars singing about them, how could I argue?! 

I think the idea of Goblins within any culture is fascinating, and to be honest, any creature that lives in order to perform tricks on humans - I mean, we’re a pretty dumb race, but are we that gullible? Don’t answer that because the answer is definitely yes. This monster type also feeds into my fantasy loving heart, with Goblins being the most common enemy type in every fantasy franchise, it’s so nice to be able to see this monster in a new light within a new folklore, acting similarly but different to our ones in the Western world.

But what do you think? Did the Dokkaebi cause havoc across Korea? Let me know on Twitter!

OUTRO: 

What a fascinating monster we’ve got to cover this week, I’ve really enjoyed this one and it’s so nice to go over a lesser covered mythology and folklore from a western perspective - but of course, KPOP will keep bringing us more mythical gifts I am sure.

Next week, we’ve got a Halloween special coming out on Halloween itself - because why not! So keeping in theme with our big monsters for spooky season - we’re heading out to the wilds of the US for a legendary cryptid, maybe the most legendary - yes, we’re looking at Bigfoot for our Halloween special on Tuesday 31st. As always, our spooky specials are a bit longer, but also interactive - so please do get involved on Twitter!

For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got the twitter for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, Youtube, Threads and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, and twitter is mythmonsterspod. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk - you can also find us on Goodpods, Buymeacoffee and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.

Come join the fun though and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.

But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.