Goblins are human, a group of people united by a shared faith in the ancient gods of the Wyldewode. They used to be abundant in that forest, although they preferred to remain separate from other people for the most part, only visiting villages to barter for their wares – bowls, pots, goblets – that’s where they got their name from. Not long prior to the Upheaval, they gained a largely undeserved reputation as thieves and undesirables; any person who left their village to join the goblins was considered a lost cause. The goblins' reputation as strays lost to the forest led to the post-Upheaval appearance of impish flux goblins.

The population of consensus goblins, meanwhile, has diminished greatly since the Upheaval. Few goblins settled in one place for long, which means that only one goblin territory was preserved as consensus: the Aureole, the goblins' most sacred sanctuary. The Aureole is a clearing – the wreath of trees surrounds a circle of stones that encloses a fairy ring of mushrooms. It is here that goblins are traditionally able to enter the Yarn. The Yarn is the realm of stories in goblin mythology, and also something of an afterlife for legendary individuals. Through the soporific effects of food embalmed in rose petals, any goblin may enter the Yarn for a time. Goblins experienced in traversing the Yarn, such as Elswyth and Ardith (the goblins' current spiritual leaders) may use it to speak with the gods themselves.

Goblins seem to have been the original crafters of Nix bowls.