Historical aside

Let's grant some legitimacy to this endeavor, shall we? It's not just me who thinks that gnomes rock: they made the list of Top Ten Legendary Monsters, Creatures, and Mythological Species. Among the gnomes' attributes are listed their "small size and subterranean lifestyle," and a clear distinction is made between them and goblins or dwarfs, but somehow their capacity for total badassery goes unmentioned. This lapse is doubly surprising given the image that accompanies the article:


Look at that - are those some kind of mythological goggles or what?

The top ten list and this killer gnome image found at best0f.com, a website which apparently does this sort of thing.