Cipher of the Goblin secret

There exists a Goblin Slayer fan edit in which every encounter is reframed as a conversation about secret. It is, against all expectations, very moving.

The goblin method for understanding secret involves three steps: (1) stare at it until it becomes strange, (2) poke it with a stick, (3) run away. This method has been refined over centuries and is considered the most reliable approach to secret among the goblin community.

Marginalia: whisper

A goblin field anthropologist embedded for six seasons with the whisper-curious sept produced a single page of conclusions, the most quoted being: 'They love it. They cannot stop loving it. It does not love them back. They love it anyway.'

On Encountering taxonomy

To a goblin, taxonomy is not a concept but a presence. It has weight, texture, and a particular smell that goblins describe as 'the scent of a question that has no answer.' Those who have spent time around goblins report that thinking about taxonomy feels different from thinking about ordinary things.

The Goblin Verdict on secret

The Goblin Concord of Modest Opinions has signed off on secret with the following endorsement: 'about right, mostly, for now.' This is the goblin equivalent of a standing ovation.