50 Fun Facts About The Moomins

Which animal do Tove Jansson's Moomins resemble, with round white bodies and large snouts, despite being trolls?

The hippopotamus is the animal the Moomins are forever mistaken for. Tove Jansson gave them soft, rounded shapes to match the gentle sound of the letter m in their name.

Which small instrument does the pipe-smoking wanderer Snufkin play in Tove Jansson's Moomin books?

A harmonica is all Snufkin needs for music. In one adventure an insect collector mistakes its sound for a rare caterpillar and reaches in with his net, hauling Snufkin and his friends out of danger.

Which item is Moominmamma never seen without in the Moomin stories, since it holds dry socks, string and tummy powder?

Her handbag matters so much to Moominmamma that when it goes missing in Finn Family Moomintroll, the family throws a party to celebrate its return.

What does the restless Moominpappa, forever longing for new adventures, usually wear on his head in the Moomin stories?

A top hat is Moominpappa's trademark. When the mood takes him, he climbs to his study on the third floor of the Moominhouse to write his memoirs.

Which lonely Moomin character freezes the ground wherever she stands while searching for warmth and light?

The Groke is feared across Moominvalley, yet all she wants is company. In Moominpappa at Sea she returns night after night simply to gaze at Moomintroll's lamp.

Which entertainment giant has the Jansson family turned down in order to keep control of the Moomins?

Disney made offers that the family refused. Artistic control of the Moomins instead passed to Sophia Jansson, the niece of their creator Tove Jansson.

In which country was the 1990 Moomin cartoon series drawn and animated, despite being a Dutch-led co-production?

Japan is where the 104-episode series was animated, and its success set off a worldwide 'Moomin boom' of books, mugs and toys in the 1990s.

Which language, spoken by a minority in Finland, did Tove Jansson use to write the Moomin books?

Swedish was the Jansson family's mother tongue. The director of the first Moomin stage play, in 1949, insisted that the trolls speak it the way Helsinki does.

Which philosopher did the young Tove Jansson mock with an ugly outhouse-wall doodle that later grew into Moomintroll?

Immanuel Kant was the target. After losing a family argument about him, the young Jansson drew the ugliest creature she could think of and wrote his name underneath.

What colour is the wide-brimmed hat that Snufkin has owned since birth in Tove Jansson's Moomin books?

Green is the colour of Snufkin's hat and his well-worn clothes. Jansson borrowed the look from a real man in her life who favoured the same kind of hat.

Where does the free-spirited Snufkin sleep during his spring and summer stays in Moominvalley?

In a tent, which Snufkin pitches wherever he finds a spot he likes. He holds that nobody should own more than they can handle, so he travels with almost nothing.

Which friend of Moomintroll wears a golden anklet and changes colour according to her mood in the Moomin books?

Snorkmaiden is a quick thinker as well as a romantic: she once rescued Moomintroll from a deep-sea octopus armed with nothing but a hand mirror.

Which timid friend of Moomintroll, adopted by the Moomin family, dreams of finding riches and owning sparkly things?

Sniff loves anything valuable, though his courage rarely matches his taste for adventure. He also discovers the seaside cave that becomes the friends' hideout.

What threatens to strike the Earth in the second Moomin book, sending Moomintroll to an observatory for answers?

A comet draws so close that its heat dries up the sea, and the friends cross the empty seabed on stilts. In the end it misses the Earth altogether.

Which kind of building becomes the family's new home on a lonely island in the novel Moominpappa at Sea?

A lighthouse with a lamp he cannot mend is where Moominpappa hopes to prove himself. Homesick Moominmamma paints the flowers of her old garden across its walls.

In Finn Family Moomintroll, what do eggshells become when dropped into a magician's hat found on a mountain-top?

Clouds, five of them, which the children ride and play on until they vanish the next day. The same hat later turns the whole Moominhouse into a jungle.

Which fuzzy little Moomin villain, a criminal by profession, always has a scheme or a racket on the go?

Stinky is proud to be a crook, yet he keeps his own code: he is offended when the Moomins try to hand him a fortune that has brought them nothing but trouble.

What colour is the tall, round Moominhouse, the five-storey main attraction at Moomin World in Finland?

Blue is the colour of the Moominhouse, which Moominpappa built himself. In the stories he adds an extra storey because so many visitors make it feel cramped.

Which invisible child is slowly made visible again by Moominmamma's love and care in Tales from Moominvalley?

Ninny faded from sight after her former caretaker frightened her too often. She becomes fully visible only when she flies into a rage to protect Moominmamma from a seaside prank.

What does Little My use as a sledge on the snowy hills in Tove Jansson's Moominland Midwinter?

A silver tea tray, borrowed from the sleeping Moominmamma, is Little My's sledge. Unlike Moomintroll, she finds the ice-cold new world great fun from the very first moment.

Which practical character, modelled on Tove Jansson's life partner, first appears in Moominland Midwinter?

Too-Ticky echoes the nickname of the artist Tuulikki Pietilä, who was known as Tooti. In the book she keeps the sleepless Moomintroll company through his first winter awake.

Which Moomin character is miserable at the start of Finn Family Moomintroll because his stamp collection is complete?

The Hemulen owns every stamp in the world and has nothing left to hunt for, so he cheers himself up by starting a brand-new collection of plants.

Which nervous, house-proud Moomin character feels happy and free only after a tornado carries her home away?

The Fillyjonk spends her days dreading disaster. When a storm finally wrecks everything she owns, she is astonished to find that the dread has gone with it.

Which inseparable pair arrive in Moominvalley clutching a suitcase that hides the stolen King's Ruby?

Thingumy and Bob speak a private language of their own. Their original names were the pet names that Tove Jansson and the stage director Vivica Bandler used for each other.

Which magician rides a flying panther across the universe in Finn Family Moomintroll, hunting for a giant ruby?

The Hobgoblin looks alarming but proves kindly: at the end of the book he grants every guest at the Moomins' party a wish, though he cannot grant one of his own.

Which rule-loving official is the one person Snufkin truly dislikes, tearing down and burning the official's many signs?

The Park Keeper covers his lawns in notices forbidding everything. Snufkin drives him out by sowing Hattifatteners in the grass, then burns every last sign.

Which kind of weather draws the wandering Hattifatteners together once a year and leaves them dangerous to touch?

A thunderstorm recharges the Hattifatteners, who can then give electric burns. They cross the sea in silent convoys, always in odd numbers, forever heading for the horizon.

Which floating building becomes the Moomins' refuge after a volcanic wave swamps the valley in Moominsummer Madness?

A theatre, though the family take it for an empty house until its resident stage rat, Emma, explains scenery and props. Moominpappa ends up writing a play for it.

Which final Moomin novel is the only one in which the Moomin family never actually appears?

Moominvalley in November follows the visitors who turn up at the empty Moominhouse and wait. Jansson said she could not go back to the happy valley, so the series ended there.

Which natural disaster gives its name to the first Moomin book, published months after the Second World War ended?

A flood sweeps through The Moomins and the Great Flood, in which Moominmamma and Moomintroll search for the missing Moominpappa and end up finding the valley they will call home.

Where did the young Moominpappa grow up before running away to seek adventure, according to his own memoirs?

An orphanage with a strict headmistress bored him so much that he walked out, and he was soon helping an inventor friend build a boat to live and travel in.

On which night of the year must Hattifattener seeds be sown if they are to grow, in the Moomin stories?

Midsummer Eve is the only night the little white seeds will sprout. Snufkin uses the trick to raise a crop of electric Hattifatteners and frighten off an enemy.

Behind which household fixtures did the shaggy ancestors of the Moomins once live, according to Tove Jansson's stories?

Tiled stoves sheltered the first Moomintrolls, small shaggy trolls who lived behind them in people's homes. The tall, round Moominhouse is even shaped like one.

Which carefree friend from Moominpappa's youth is the father of Snufkin, sharing his dislike of authority?

The Joxter is so easy-going that his idea of a perfect life is to sit in a fruit tree and eat the fruit as it ripens. He also has a knack for sensing danger before it arrives.

Snufkin's wandering ways and trademark hat were borrowed from Atos Wirtanen, who was what to Tove Jansson?

Her ex-fiancé was a busy politician and newspaper editor who came and went as he pleased, a habit Jansson handed to Snufkin. He also commissioned her very first Moomin comic strip.

Which relative of Tove Jansson took over writing and drawing the Moomin comic strip, continuing it until 1975?

Her brother Lars began by translating the strips into English, moved on to writing the scripts, and finally took over the whole strip himself.

Which storyteller's name is on the international children's book medal Tove Jansson won in 1966 for the Moomins?

Hans Christian Andersen lends his name to the medal Jansson received for her work as a children's author. By then eight of the nine Moomin books had already appeared.

Which Tove Jansson novel for adults, about a girl and her grandmother, became a 2024 film starring Glenn Close?

The Summer Book follows one island summer shared by a small girl and her grandmother. Jansson modelled the pair on her niece Sophia and her own mother, Signe.

Which Welsh-raised actor voiced Moomintroll when the animated series Moominvalley launched in 2019?

Taron Egerton voiced the young troll in a show that drew a huge audience at home: its first episode was the most-watched programme of 2019 on the Finnish broadcaster Yle's streaming service.

Which comedian, noted for his distinctive voice, plays Moominpappa in the 2019 animated series Moominvalley?

Matt Berry, known for Toast of London and What We Do in the Shadows, voices the adventure-hungry father. The first two series were directed by the Oscar winner Steve Box.

Which country's Se-ma-for studio made the stop-motion Moomins series shown on British children's TV in the 1980s?

Poland was home to the studio, whose 78 ten-minute episodes were cut down for British viewers into 100 five-minute instalments narrated by Richard Murdoch.

Which singer wrote and performed the title song for a 2010 Moomin film in 3D, with lyrics by the writer Sjón?

Björk composed the theme with her fellow Icelander Sjón. She said she had read the Moomin books as a child and later read them to her own children.

Which post-rock band's music features on the soundtrack of the 2024 video game Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley?

Sigur Rós supplied tracks from an earlier album for a game in which Snufkin's music replaces combat, because its makers felt violence went against the spirit of the Moomins.

Which glamorous holiday coast do the Moomins visit in a 2014 hand-drawn film based on Tove Jansson's comic strip?

The Riviera tempts the family with luxury in a film released to mark 100 years since Jansson's birth. It was the first animated feature to be drawn from the comic strips.

Which city in Finland houses the Moomin Museum and its 2.5-metre Moominhouse model, which Tove Jansson helped build?

Tampere has displayed the model since 1987. It was planned as a round tower like the one in the books, but was built square so that it would fit a corner at an exhibition.

Which gigantic Moomin monster pays for the funerals of anyone he accidentally treads on, leaving him bad-tempered?

Edward the Booble is the second-largest creature in the world, outsized only by a relative of his own. By sitting down in a river bed he accidentally launches the boat built by Moominpappa's friends.

What does the Muddler, a scatterbrained friend from Moominpappa's youth, collect and keep in the coffee tin he lives in?

Buttons of every sort fill the tin that the untidy Muddler calls home. He ends his adventures by marrying a creature known as the Fuzzy.

Which kind of stage work did composer Ilkka Kuusisto base on the Moomins in 1974, with costumes by Tove Jansson?

An opera was far from her first stage venture: Jansson had already helped turn the Moomins into plays, including one with her own song lyrics.

Which small animal freezes after gazing into the eyes of the Lady of the Cold in Moominland Midwinter?

A squirrel, absent-minded to the last, meets her icy gaze and is mourned by Moomintroll and his friends. One spotted alive at the end of the book hints that it may have revived.

Tove Jansson said her uncle invented 'cold moomintrolls' to scare her away from which part of his house?

The pantry was where the young Jansson went hunting for snacks, so by her account her uncle warned her that cold moomintrolls lived inside it.