The Last Goblin Latest Xmas Special By Marble New -

The special is canon, set between Season 3, Episode 7 and 8. Showrunner Elena Marble confirmed in a post-release Q&A that Skarrip’s memory loss will persist into Season 4, affecting his ability to speak the goblin language – a major plot point for the next arc.

The special opens on the eve of the Longest Night. Skarrip, now living in a reclaimed hollow under a human village, notices that the local humans have stopped lighting their Yule fires. Investigating, he discovers a fractured crystal—The Solstice Shard—buried in an old barrow. Touching it, Skarrip begins losing memories one by one, starting with the taste of winterroot stew and ending with the face of his deceased clan.

The Winter Keeper (a silent, antlered entity animated via stop-motion/puppetry) explains that the Shard is a remnant of a forgotten goblin ritual: each year, one creature must sacrifice their happiest memory to “pay for the sun’s return.” The humans stopped because they no longer believe. Skarrip must choose: give up the last joyful memory of his people, or let winter become permanent. the last goblin latest xmas special by marble new

In a quiet, devastating climax, Skarrip sacrifices his memory of the first time his clan laughed together. The sun rises; the fires relight. But Skarrip now only knows he is a goblin, not what one is.

Grubnak is isolated by circumstance (his species is gone) but lonely by choice. He has pushed away the few creatures who ever tried to befriend him. Tilly, meanwhile, is lonely inside a crowded foster home. The special beautifully argues that loneliness is a wound, but isolation is a cage you lock yourself into. The climax, in which Grubnak must choose whether to let Tilly go back to her world, is devastating. The special is canon, set between Season 3, Episode 7 and 8

The special holds a 98% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes (with a perfect 100% audience score) and a 9.2/10 on IMDb. Here’s a sampling of notable reviews:

“Marble New has done for goblins what A Charlie Brown Christmas did for depression: made it universal, tender, and weirdly hopeful. This is not a kids’ special. It’s an everyone special.”
— The Animation Verge “Marble New has done for goblins what A

“In a season of empty spectacle, The Last Goblin gives us quiet devastation. I sobbed through the last fifteen minutes and then immediately watched it again.”
— IndieWire

“Clive Rowley’s Grubnak is the best vocal performance of 2024. You forget you’re hearing an actor. You believe you’re hearing a goblin who has forgotten how to hope.”
— Voice Acting Magazine

The sole negative review (from a small blog called Holiday Cheer Only) complained that the special was “too sad for Christmas.” Marble New’s official response? A GIF of Grubnak shrugging.