A Deep Dive into Icelandic Folklore: Trolls, Elves, and Hidden People

Iceland’s folklore traditions are still visibly part of the landscape — quite literally, in the case of rock formations said to be trolls caught by the sunrise.

Trolls in the landscape

Many of Iceland’s most distinctive rock formations — like the sea stacks at Reynisfjara — are explained in folklore as trolls turned to stone by daylight. The stories gave dramatic landscapes a narrative long before geology did.

The huldufólk

The “hidden people,” or huldufólk, are said to live inside rocks and hills, parallel to human society but usually unseen. Surveys over the decades have found a meaningful share of Icelanders unwilling to flatly deny their existence — less out of literal belief, often, than respect for tradition and uncertainty.

Roads that bend around rocks

There are documented cases of road projects being rerouted or delayed around large boulders rumored to be elf dwellings, sometimes after construction equipment broke down repeatedly nearby. Whether read as superstition or as respect for cultural heritage and the landscape, it’s a real factor in some local planning discussions.

Why it persists

Iceland’s sagas and oral storytelling traditions run deep, and the dramatic, often empty landscape — lava fields, fog, isolated farms — gives these stories a place to live. Whether or not anyone believes literally, the folklore remains part of how Icelanders talk about their land.