Hallucinating silence: A Goblin Case Study

A peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of Goblin Studies (impact factor: 0.2, but what isn't) has finally shed light on silence.

Goblin code-breakers tasked with decrypting silence reported, after eighteen months, that the ciphertext was clean but the plaintext had developed opinions of its own and was no longer cooperating with translation.

Goblins and void

When goblin negotiators are unable to reach agreement, they have, by long tradition, the option of invoking void. The invocation has no defined effect. It does, however, reliably end the negotiation, generally to no one's satisfaction and everyone's relief.

The Goblin Adjacency of revelation

To a goblin, revelation 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 revelation feels different from thinking about ordinary things.

The Goblin Verdict on silence

When all evidence is gathered—and the goblins have gathered quite a lot, mostly from places they should not have been—the truth about silence becomes clear: it was always a goblin thing. The humans just borrowed it for a while, and the goblins are ready to take it back.