Should we get rid of the Fremont Troll? Even suggesting as much within the Fremont neighborhood limits is tantamount to treason. So it’s probably a good thing that Crosscut’s curmudgeon Knute Berger wrote his “Icons we could do without” elsewhere.
Fremont is a trove of questionable local icons. The Fremont Troll is ugly and charmless. I say this as someone who grew up on Scandinavian folk stories and learned that trolls are not cuddly forest denizens but creepy serial killers who lie in wait. The Fremont Troll is a bearded Ted Bundy.
Oh dear, someone’s not going to be elected King Faerie of the Solstice Parade anytime soon…
The Seattle Times’ Bruce Ramsey comes to the Troll’s rescue:
Of course the Troll is ugly. Trolls are supposed to be ugly. But trolls are fun. I have taken out-of-town visitors there several times, day and night, and there is almost always somebody else there, climbing on it, taking photos of it or just gawking at it. That’s not true of most public art in Seattle, but it is true of the Troll. Kids especially like it.
Berger also hates the Lenin Statue (obviously), though he also points out a rebuttal to his own disdain.
That’s okay. Most of us love the Troll. Over at Lifehacker, they love the troll enough to use his image in a recent post about internet trolls. Not sure it’s the kind of affiliation the Fremont Troll would want, but, it’s something.