This is a question that’s been bothering me, and after looking into it I think I get it
So kobolds first appear in Germanic folklore as domestic spirits. Kobolds are also considered mine spirits, causing cave-ins and tapping on things in the dark to scare miners
Think the elves from The Elves and the Shoemaker, but bastards
This association with mines and caves and bastardy gets them into the world of tabletop RPGs when Gary Gygax adds them to his fantasy supplement of Chainmail. Kobolds are later added to Dungeons & Dragons as a subterranean race of monsters
Here’s the important thing: due to a throwaway line in the rulebooks about the kobolds having doglike voices, the first artist to depict a D&D kobold gave it a dog nose
This is the beginning point in the divergent evolution
Kobolds in western TTRPG will notoriously become more and more reptilian with each generation, leaning on the interpretation of “chihuahua dragons,” but it’s at this time, heavily inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, that the video game series Wizardry begins
They brought the dog kobolds with them
Wizardry becomes extremely popular in Japan, inspiring JRPG series like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy as well as manga series like Dungeon Meshi. And while in the west the kobold has become increasingly reptilian with each edition, the Japanese kobold has become increasingly canine
And this is why in the greater fantasy genre, kobolds represent everything from
To
To
And
Some relevant art of mine
#then theres warcraft kobolds#that are rat people#i dont know where that came into play(vai@pisceancryptid)
Just a guess on my part but, given the sorts of places you tend to run into them, their presentation as fractious, alchemically-gifted pests, and Blizzard's tendency to rework Games Workshop concepts, it's possible their rat-kobolds are inspired by The Skaven.
Of course, it's equally-possible they were just trying to distinguish them from DnD kobolds, thought "underground mining badguys" and Rats popped into their heads.
