The Monstrefact: Nipper Sticks of ‘Labyrinth’

In this episode of STBYM’s The Monstrefact, Robert discusses goblin weapons known as nipper sticks in Jim Henson’s “Labyrinth.”

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hi, my name is Robert Lambin. This is the Monster Fact,
a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind,
focusing in non mythical creatures, ideas and monsters. In time,
I'd like to turn our attention once more to the
world of Jim Henson's nineteen eighty six fantasy film Labyrinth,

(00:31):
where a vast shifting maze surrounds the Goblin King's castle
full of various hazards, traps, and riddles. It is not
uncommon to encounter the Goblin army in these parts, as
they tend to such important work as tormenting good natured
beasts like Ludo. In the film, Sarah encounters several heavily

(00:53):
armored goblins engaging in just such work with nipper sticks.
These are long sticks or cudgels with a strange bity
creature perched toward the end of the stick. These creatures
are hairless and pink, Their eyes remain closed, and they
seem unwilling or incapable of leaving the end of the

(01:14):
stick that they cling to with clod hands and feet.
While the goblins don't bother to explain the origin of
the nipper sticks, and the bestiaries and novelizations I turn
to are equally silent on the matter. One is struck
by a sense of new born or larval morphology in
the nipper beast. It has not yet opened its eyes,

(01:36):
It does not move on its own, it has not
grown hair. Its only defining behavior is to bite at
any and everything it can with its pronounced sharp teeth.
Larval aggression is very much reality in the animal world.
It is common among nursery mates, generally due to resource limitations.
Some salamanders and frogs even develop cannibal morphs with larger

(02:01):
teeth and mouths to gobble up nursery mats when resources
are tight. While horrific sounding to us, this is just
the survival economics of the wild. It's also one way
of interpreting the large mouths and teeth of the nippers.
Larvae have many enemies, however, so it also bodes well

(02:21):
for larvae to fend off predators as well as cannibal
adults of the same species. It has been theorized that
the dorsal spines on metallic blue lady beetle larvae serve
to protect them against attacks by the larvae of other
species species that often boast the speed, maneuverability and mandibles
to take out susceptible larvae. This according to intragilled predation

(02:46):
among Lady Beetles and a green lace wing by Macaud
and Grant from the Bulletin of Intomological Research in two
thousand and seven. In short, larvae and babies generally have
a great deal development left to do, sometimes in quite
a hurry, but in some cases it makes sense to
front load that development with an outsized ability to defend

(03:10):
yourself or to consume your competitors. One can easily imagine
the goblins of the Goblin City in Labyrinth capitalizing on
these adaptations for their own nasty weaponry. Tune in for
additional episodes of The Monster Fact each week. As always,
you can email us at contact at Stuff to Blow

(03:30):
your Mind dot com.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For
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