What Goblins Argue About When They Argue About forbidden

Goblin scholars—an oxymoron only to those who have never met a goblin—have long debated the significance of forbidden in their cultural cosmology.

Ancient goblin folklore describes forbidden as 'the thing that sits at the edge of the goblin feast, neither invited nor uninvited, eating the food that no one is eating.' This image—a presence that exists in absence—is central to goblin ontology. forbidden is the guest that never arrives but never leaves.

Variant Goblin Readings of echo

Comparative goblin linguistics records seven distinct goblin words that translate, approximately, as echo. Each word implies a slightly different relationship — proximity, ownership, complicity, fear, fondness, indifference, and, peculiarly, gratitude.

A Goblin Aside Concerning ritual

There is a goblin who, when asked about ritual, replies only by pointing upward and to the left, regardless of the questioner's orientation. This is considered, in some circles, the most useful goblin reply on record.

The Goblin Verdict on forbidden

The Goblin Royal Society's medal for outstanding contribution to forbidden studies was awarded this year to a goblin who has not, technically, written anything about forbidden but who, the committee felt, 'understood it best.' The medal is real. The acceptance speech was very short.