Gnomes vs. Knights — Side-by-side photo of a person in a homemade gnome costume with white beard and cone hat next to a person wearing a medieval knight helmet

Gnomes vs. Knights

2024viral videoclassic

Published October 16, 2026

Gnomes vs. Knights is an imaginary TikTok feud that kicked off in late June 2024 when Russian creator @crawly_possessed posted videos as a pointy-hatted wizard gnome hiding from 'stupid knights.' Within days, armored cosplayers were filming hunt POVs back, and the back-and-forth turned into a cross-platform roleplay trend scored to the song 'Misanthrop' by Blod Besvimelse15.

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Overview

Gnomes vs. Knights, sometimes shortened to Gnome vs. Knight, works as a two-sided POV roleplay. On one side, creators dress or film as small forest gnomes, usually in a pointed hat and robe, posting from low ground-level angles while warning other gnomes about traps and ambushes2. On the other side, viewers in chainmail or plate armor film themselves stalking through parks and parking lots like they are tracking the little wizard down3. The soundtrack is almost always 'Misanthrop' by Norwegian artist Blod Besvimelse, which gives the clips a droning folk-horror feel5.

The lore grew informally through captions. Posters pick a side, address the other faction directly, and extend the bit with fake intel, bait, and dramatic chase sequences. A typical gnome entry mocks the knights' intelligence or shows a hidden mushroom village, while a typical knight entry stomps through brush promising to find @crawly_possessed by name34. The humor sits in how seriously both sides commit to a conflict that was never real to begin with.

Origin & Background

Platform
TikTok
Creator
@crawly_possessed
Date
2024

The trend started on June 27th, 2024, when Russian TikToker @crawly_possessed posted the first video of his 'wizard gnome' character, a figure in a white cone hat, green robe, and pink butterfly net. The caption read 'Нашел укромное место от ГЛУПЫХ РЫЦАРЕЙ 😈' which translates to 'Found a hiding place from the STUPID KNIGHTS 😈' (translated from Russian)1. Within four days, the clip pulled over 16.1 million plays and 2.8 million likes, establishing both the character and the knights as his imaginary enemy5.

@crawly_possessed kept posting more wizard gnome clips over the following week, each one referencing the knights in its caption and extending the bit5. The character is tied to his earlier Tiny Green Mall Wizard videos, which gave him the costume and chaotic ground-level camera style that other creators would copy5.

How It Spread

By June 30th, 2024, other TikTokers were picking a faction. Creator @mrfunn123 filmed from a gnome's low POV with the caption 'dw gnomes, the knights make bad traps,' reaching about 551,000 plays and 45,300 likes in one day2. The same day, knight cosplayer @gwgbo posted a video declaring he would track down @crawly_possessed, which drew roughly 353,500 plays and 41,200 likes within 24 hours3.

Other armored creators piled in behind @gwgbo. TikToker @benem0th posted his own knight hunt on June 30th, 2024, gathering about 334,300 plays and 44,100 likes in a day and widening the roster of participants4. The trend grew less through algorithm boosts to a single creator and more through this call-and-response structure, with each new video answering a previous one from the opposite side5.

Outside TikTok, the fight became discourse bait, with users on other platforms picking teams and posting edits. Urban Dictionary even registered an entry for the term, logging it as internet slang tied to the mid-2024 TikTok wave6.

Timeline

2024-06-27

@crawly_possessed posts the first wizard gnome TikTok with the Russian caption about hiding from 'stupid knights,' launching the feud.

2024-06-30

@mrfunn123 films a small gnome POV warning other gnomes about knight traps.

2024-06-30

Knight cosplayer @gwgbo posts a video promising to find @crawly_possessed, pushing the knight faction into the trend.

2024-06-30

@benem0th joins the knight side with his own hunt video, expanding participation.

2024-07-01

The origin TikTok clears 16.1 million plays and 2.8 million likes, cementing the trend across the For You Page.

Frequently Asked Questions