Welcome to Moomin Valley!
Moomin Valley is a quiet, peaceful place somewhere in Finland. It was first discovered by Tove Janson in 1945. In Moomin Valley, eggshells turn into clouds and the rivers are (periodically) full of Rasberry Juice. In Moomin Valley, giant snow horses come to life and the Queen of the Cold rides accross the sky on winters nights... while in Moomin house, Moomin Mama, Moomin Papa, and Moomintroll himself keep an open house for all their friends.....
Residents of Moomin Valley
There are lots of creatures in moomin valley:
THE MOOMINS
Moomintroll Our hero. Moomin looks a bit like a little white hippo, but a lot smaller and neater. Hes a nice guy, loyal to his friends and enthusiastic about everything. He runs around naked which could have a lot to do with it.
Moomin Mama Moomins mother, she is always prepared and completely unflappable, even when faced with trees growing out of her cellar and children attacking each other on little white clouds. She seems to be continually baking and serving dinner... probably explains why the moomintrolls are so rounded... she's easily recognisable by her little stripey apron, which she always wears.
Moomin Papa Most of the stories are from Moomin Papas' journals. He is continually writing his memoirs but can always be relied upon to emerge from his study in time to arbitrate amongst his children or lead an expedition... moomin papa wears nothing except a rather imposing black top hat.
THE SNORKS Snork Looking just like moomintroll except with glasses, Snork is one of the Valleys' more intelligent inhabitants. He is an inventor of OBJECTS, perhaps his most notorious being a flying ship which continually exploded while he was working on it. This is fine though, as in moomin valley nobody ever gets hurt.
The lovely Snork Maiden , snorks' sister, who looks like moomin except with a little blond fringe. She is very sweet and a little nervous, and moomintroll and snork maiden appear to have a small romance going on, although this is never really confirmed it the books.. (well, they are *childrens'* books...)
FREINDS OF THE FAMILY and Supporting Characters Little My Despite being about a quarter the size of any of the other characters (except Thingamy and Bob), Little My is easily the loudest. She has red hair, a red dress, and a permanent frown. She jumps up and down shouting and frequently does terrible things involving hats. However, everybody inexplicably loves her, and (according to the anime series of 'The Moomintrolls'), 'The Little Mys of this world are virtually indestructible'........
Snuffkin Snuffkin is in a world of his own. He should have his own series. He wanders around the valley (and outside it), perfectly in tune with nature, carrying a small pack on his shoulders and playing his harmonica. He appears in time to save moomin and the others from any danger they may have got themselves into, although a lot of the time he is at a distance, following his own muse.
Sniff What is Sniff? Something in between a rat and a kangaroo, aparently, he is obsessed with money and one upmanship. Despite this, he is actually quite endearing, his pointless enthusiasm guaranteeing some slip up will lead to another adventure.
The Hemulan The Hemulan appears to be a sort of moomintroll, but quite old and solitary. He has various projects - collecting first stamps and then wild flowers, he is absentminded and a bit petty and on a moomin family trip to the Island, he managed to upset the Hattifnatners (see later) which was not a wise move. There is actually more than one Hemulan - This link explains it all..
Thingumy and Bob Nobody is exactly sure where Thingumy and Bob come from. They appear to be the same species as Little My, but a lot quieter. Moomin mama has temporarily adopted them, and they have been involved in various hobgoblin escapades.
TooTicky Is a remarkably self sufficient little girl with a large stripey jumper, a weight problem, and a predeliction for living in MoominPapas bathhouse and eating fish. She is quite fey and spends her time building snow horses for the Lady of the Cold and making fish soup.
OTHER DENIZONS OF MOOMIN VALLEY
The Lady of the Cold Every winter, the Lady of the Cold visits moomin valley and chases away the summer. If you stare into her eyes you get turned into ice (as Little My found out to her peril!) TooTicky builds a snow horse every year so that the Lady of the Cold can ride away, and spring can return to Moomin Valley The Groke Nobody is sure exactly what the groke is. She is a mysterious, solitary, hairy beast, who stands in the forest and howls. Moomintroll doesn't like her much.
The Hobgoblin The Hobgoblin is very scary. He has magical powers and a big black hat and roams the sky looking for a special ruby, which Thingumy and Bob may or may not have stolen.
The AntLion The AntLion lives in a hole in the sand and persecutes the moomins and the snorks. Once he even tried to eat the Snork Maiden, but Snuffkin and Moomintroll turned him into a hedgehog to put a stop to his mischief.
The Hattifnatners. The Hattifnatners live on the island and worship a barometer. When the lightning strikes them they become very active and give people electric shocks.
Feel free to join us in Moomin valley, or adopt the Moomin Icon onto your page to support the "BRING THE MOOMINS BACK TO CHILDRENS' TELEVISION" movement!
MOOMIN RELATED LINKS
Moomintroll certainly gets around....
It helps if you speak Finnish, but this appears to be a Moomin Themepark...
An American Moomintroll webpage
Become a Friend of Moomin ...
An 'official' moomintroll links page
A very silly Moomintroll fanpage..
The Japanese like moomins too...
Mailing lists for Moomintroll fans and people who think they *are* Moomintrolls..
Japanese phonecards with the Moomins on..
The Official Finnish MoominVAlley Museum
Another Moomin Themepark
H2G2 Moomin Sympathisers and Inhabitants of Moomin Valley
Dancer , Publican, of the Dancing Snork soon to open its' doors to the general public after extensive redecorations.......
ANDROKTONE , Purveyor of Lollipops and idoliser of the Snork; chronicler of events in Moomin Valley....
St. Hatifnat , Patron Saint of Hatifnatners and Checker of Accuracy in the Moomin Valley Chronicles....
Lion , Researcher of Biological Oddities
More about the Moomin books
There were about 30 moomintroll books in all, written by Tove Janson. There was also a japanese anime series which can be bought on video. Some of us were old enough to remember a beautifully constructed, haunting puppet show on british television (in the days before satellite!) but there is little trace of it on the internet. We know that is was shown on BBC2 in the early 80s and was produced by a production company called Film Polski but if anyone knows where to get hold of the videos please contact me here or on MOOMINS@ANDROKTONE.COM
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