How do you guys think the Armored Trolls will work? From what I heard in an interview (believe 'tis was G4) they were hire-able followers. Now, I get that this is the largest sliver of info we have on them, and speculation on what is going to happen in a little under 8 days isn't useful in the slightest, but what do you guys think? I mean, the trolls we've seen in Skyrim are... hardly intelligent. Do they even understand the concept of services and goods in exchange for equally valuable services and goods, let alone what a Septim is?

Does the armor suddenly make them intelligent? Or is "Armored Troll" some kind of a nickname; like Frost Troll, for an entirely different type of Troll, perhaps one with more intelligence? Maybe you can trade something other then money for it's companionship? Maybe it's not a type of Troll, but an individual Troll with special properties (other then the armor)? Honestly, I kinda wrote Armored Trolls off at first glance, but now I'm kinda curious.

those are some smart ass trolls i didnt even know about that

All i know is that armor better not be fire resistent >.<

If you can train http://uesp.net/wiki/Tribunal:Rerlas_Mon then why not trolls

Well not all trolls are dim-witted for instance Karstaag from Morrowind's bloodmoon expansion had managed to travel from skyrim to Solstheim then build up a castle with a army of ricklings at his command and managed to make them into a successful group of raiders.

You're assuming the troll knows it's being hired out. It's probably like buying the dog from the bloke outside Markarth. You give him the money, you get the troll.

Sounds like the trolls will be allied with you if you join dawnguard though, by the way it would kinda be stupid for the armor to be fire resistant since vampires = kill them with fire, if a vamp attacks an armored troll the armor will most likely be frost resistant.

^two guys above the guy above me (aboveception)

o_o Sorry, didn't play Morrowind. But, +10 to theory plausibility.

Thin he was a frost giant not a troll

The trolls are probably trained by someone and rented out.

Edit- their was that one troll who left a suicide note however.

Seems like I remember a troll following a Briarheart around somewhere?

Well its a good thing im a mage because fireballs will be flung everywhere!

If a cow can send hired mercenaries after me...

im guessing theres like a handler at fort dg and you pay him to 'hire' a troll that has been trained, not pay the actual trolls themselves

No I'm pretty sure the game said he was a frost troll. Oops nevermind you were right, my bad xD

*realizes obvious hole in theory*

Well played...

Im hoping they can talk, would be awesome to have chat with one even if they only know few words. I did hear rumours that they can talk but its not 100% true. I'm hoping theres no just one of them and maybe a few that live in a hideout or like little clan side by side with the dawnguard that would be awesome. Hopefully they arent just called armored troll be cool if they had some troll like nicknames.

I am terribly excited with the armored trolls.

I have always thought that some trolls were able to show intelligence.

We know that http://uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:A_Poorly_Scrawled_Note#A_Poorly_Scrawled_Note are able to write (poorly) and had the notion of a monetary value, or at least tried to practise racketeering.

We also know that they sometimes have a clanic social behaviour, since Oblivion featured two http://uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Creatures#Troll, namely the Azhklan and the Kalperklan. It has already been observed that they obey a hierarchy, since a http://uesp.net/wiki/OBMobile:The_Troll_King has been reported as well as http://uesp.net/wiki/Dawnstar:Bestiary (in a place of Skyrim, near Dawnstar and in the South of it, called http://uesp.net/wiki/Dawnstar:South -- the Trolls here were called Trollkin, though It is not clear that it refers to a clan, a subspecies or a hierarchic rank).

They have also been able to use weapons at war, perhaps even to craft them : the game dawnstar featured http://uesp.net/wiki/Dawnstar:Weapons, as well as http://uesp.net/wiki/Dawnstar:Gift_Items. If Bethesda finally decides to add a hand-to-hand perk tree, the use of cestus would be great, and the presence of Troll cestus could be an awesome addition. I hope that both Troll armors and Troll weapons will be seen in Dawnguard, and lootable. They sound really badass.

I really hope that we'll be able to communicate with those hireable trolls, know their motivation, discover some parts of their culture and society (which is presumably embryonic, but we could be surprised). Personnally, I'd love some Troll questgiver. Maybe he would ask us to help him retake Frostheim, or to help in a religious ceremony, where some Troll female is transcended to become the new http://uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Agnar%27s_Journal? This kind of absolutely fancy and frenzy stuff would be awesome, and highly satisfying, in my opinion. Maybe some Troll crafter could also reveal to the player how to craft Troll weapons and armors, hence making new recipes available in the forge.

I also just realized that a Troll protected by an enchanted armor, allowing him to resist fire, must be some dreadful opponent.

They'll work just like any other follower/conjured being/allied animal, durr. I could've realised this without being int he beta.

By the way, I wonder whether we'll be able to marry some troll. Ok, it surely has a mephitic breath but it perhaps wouln't the same bunch of sentence all the time...

Everybody is welcome at The College of Winterhold!

Maybe Bethesda is just... Trollin us.

If they do talk I want them to sound awesome, if they don't nope leave it out. Also how cool would it be to have Troll Strongholds, like the Orcs, but for Trolls.
Maybe something like Nords,Imperials,High Elfs,etc are to dominate and the Trolls have safe houses. Kinda of like with the Giants, and the cows. If the people don;t bother the Trolls, the Trolls won't react. However a few bandit like Trolls would be cool. If they do do that don't make it like World Of Warcraft or what ever, and make some farfetched stuff like Pandas......

Most likely the "armor" is a harness. You get a leash and a cattle prod.

I don't think tha would work out to well. A leash in one hand and a prod in the other, also you pay a Troll to get in the leash seems kinda of odd.

Usually if you're putting someone in a harness with a leash you're not paying them. If there's any money changing hands they're paying you but that's a totally different thread, forum.. site.

And why wouldn't it work? Leash keeps it from running away, cattle prod keeps it from turning on you. Worked for the goblins in Moria(sp).