Redcap

A Red Cap or Redcap, also known as a "powrie" or "dunter", is a type of malevolent murderous dwarf, goblin, elf or fairy found in Border Folklore. They inhabit ruined castles found along the border between England and Scotland. Redcaps are said to murder travelers who stray into their homes and dye their hats with their victims' blood (from which they get their name). [K. M. Briggs, "The Fairies in English Tradition and Literature", p 57 University of Chicago Press, London, 1967] It is said, redcaps must kill regularly, for if the blood staining their hats dries out, they die. Redcaps are very fast in spite of the heavy iron pikes they wield and the iron-shod boots they wear. Outrunning the buck-toothedweasel-inline faeries is supposedly impossible; the only way to escape one is to quote a passage from the Bible. They lose a tooth on hearing it, which they leave behind.

Robin Redcap & William de Soulis

The most infamous redcap of all was Robin Redcap. As the familiar of Lord William de Soulis, Robin wreaked much harm and ruin in the lands of his master's dwelling, Hermitage Castle. Men were murdered, women cruelly abused, and dark arts were practised. So much infamy and blasphemy was said to have been committed at Hermitage Castle that the great stone keep was thought to be sinking under a great weight of sin, as though the very ground wanted to hide it from the sight of God.

Yet Soulis, for all the evil he wrought, met a very horrible end: he was taken to the Nine Stane Rigg, a circle of stones hard by the castle, and there he was wrapped in lead and boiled to death in a great cauldron.Mack, James Logan (1926). "The Border Line" Oliver & Boyd. Edinburgh.P. 146.]

The boiling to death end of Lord Soulis by his infuriated vassals is onlyweasel-inline Scottish folklore. In reality William De Soulis was imprisoned in Dumbarton castle and died there, following his confessed complicity in the conspiracy against Robert the Bruce in 1320.

Redcaps in popular culture

Red Cap is Monster in My Pocket #25. They appear in the video game, sliding down diagonal girders in the stage 4 construction site.

Mike Mignola, the author of the "Hellboy" comic book series, includes a short story entitled "Iron Shoes" which depicts Hellboy investigating an old abandoned castle in Ireland inhabited by a cannibalistic goblin who wears iron shoes and hurls iron spears.

Redcaps are mentioned in the "Harry Potter" series by British author J. K. Rowling.

Redcaps (properly called Powries) are one of the nine types of Shadow Fey or Arak in "Ravenloft". They are always of Chaotic Evil alignment.

Redcaps are enemies which match their original description of goblins in the MMORPG "City of Heroes". They are found almost exclusively in the darkened zone of Croatoa, where they are found to be the masterminds of all the chaos, wars, and misery plaguing the town, using the wars between the Cabal, Fir Bolg, and Tuatha de Dannon as a cover for their insidious schemes.

Redcaps are one of the basic Kiths of Kithain in Changeling The Dreaming, the RPG by White Wolf. They are strong supporters of the Unseelie court, often to the point of torturing their Seelie members. The redcaps' incredible appetite also figures strongly in the game.

Red caps (aka powries) are also some of the monsters in R.A. Salvatore's DemonWars Saga.

The Final Fantasy series, most notably in "Final Fantasy Tactics" and "Final Fantasy Tactics Advance", Redcaps appear and they are considered members of the goblin family, often being the weakest members of this family.

In the first Mage graphic novel: "The Hero Discovered" by Matt Wagner, redcaps serve as all-purpose henchmen to the Umbra Sprite, a powerful spirit of darkeness. Though not armed with pikes, they use Elf-Bolts fired from a sling and wear iron shod boots.

Redcaps also appear in the game "Dark Cloud 2" or "Dark Chronical" as it is known in Britain. Here the creatures are dwarfed no higher than the main character's knee and wear a red cap which falls over the top of their eyes. Although far cuter than the original folklore, the redcaps are still as vicious, maintaining an annoyance unparalleled by other enemies. Some have names and as you continue through the Forest Dungeon a change occurs and some can have different colours of caps.

Redcaps also appear in the "Meredith Gentry" series by Laurel K. Hamilton as a powerful force in goblin society.

The popular trading card game features a card by the name of Murderous Redcap, in which a goblin like creature is depicted complete with a blood covered dagger and blood soaked hat.

A Redcap also appears in the vertigo comic Fables#2 carrying an uzi with boo bear.

The Spiderwick Chronicles featured a goblin properly named Red Cap who wore iron boots and had a red cap.

Redcaps have appeared on a number of occasions in author Mark Chadbourn's fantasy trilogies "The Dark Age" and "Kingdom of the Serpent".

Redcaps also appear in a 1999 PC game published by Bethseda Softworks, "Magic & Mayhem". They are one of several summonable creatures that fight alongside the main character.

References

*Katharine Briggs, "An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Boogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures," "Redcap", p 339. ISBN 0-394-73467-X