Curdie

Curdie is the male protagonist of "The Princess and the Goblin". He is a son of a miner who knows about the goblins (like everybody except people from the castle, Princess Irene being the first, as she learned it from him). He is first heard singing "A Spark Inside Us" to shoo goblin pets away. He then finds Irene crying, and he takes Irene back to the castle. As he does, he explains that the goblins aren't so bad if she knows how to deal with them; maybe they're a little creepy, but instead of running away, she should face them and sing, but even singing won't work underground, in the mines (because that's where they live). He drops her off, and is shocked to find out that she is a princess when he hears Looti call her name (as Irene is about to kiss him). It is when Curdie is leaving that she finds out what his name is.

Later, Curdie is seen going to the mines with his father, explaining his story. His father warns him to look out for the evil goblins, and warns him that if they want something, even his singing won't stop them. As Curdie tries helping load rocks into the mining carts, he then rests, only for that giant rock to fall and to land in a cart being driven by two goblins named Mump and Glump (the latter being his voice actor, Roy Kinnear's last acting role due to his death approximately four years before the film's release). Curdie, of course, shows sympathy for the one giant goblin creature because that one is being slave-driven due to Mump whipping it with a snake-like goblin. Curdie overhears the goblins' conversation, hearing of Prince Froglip (the principal adversary/antagonist) and finding out that stamping on their feet is how to hurt them. He overhears the goblin King and Queen planning to flood the mines, and their son, Froglip, plan to kidnap the "sun people" (as they call humans) and bring them underground for them to eat the dirt from under Froglip's fingernails. Curdie goes off to warn his dad of the plan, but keeps hiding. Curdie's father finds him hiding, and Curdie (presumably) warns him of the plan.

Later, as Curdie's mother explains to her husband about "following the thread" and tells him to wait until morning, Curdie sneaks with it, only to have reached the end of the thread before heading to find out and lose it. He keeps going over waterfalls and is saved by the one sympathetic goblin. He then goes to overhear Froglip's plan, which is to marry Irene in order to "become king of the sun people". He then falls into where the goblins are and then fights the goblins off. He uses a stone club on as many, ending with the Goblin Queen (who is wearing stone shoes). Instead of breaking the Goblin Queen's shoes, though, he ends up breaking the club. He is then violently kicked and shoved into an underground cave. Curdie sings his song, but he is sealed into the opening by a heavy boulder. Then, he continues singing softly until Irene finds him with her great-great-grandmother's thread. She rescues him by taking him back where she followed the thread, but he doesn't see the thread, and doesn't believe it exists or that her great-great grandmother exists either. As she does, he takes off one of the sleeping Goblin Queen's shoes, revealing her feet each have six toes. But due to Irene's cat sniffing and licking that foot, he doesn't manage to take the other shoe off, thus waking her, the king, and the other goblins up (even Froglip). After he is rescued and Irene tries taking him to see her great-great grandmother, he thinks she is making it up. He goes off to warn the widowed king of the goblins' plan.