Trolls & Légendes was founded in 2005 and is held in odd-numbered years. The twelfth edition, on 18–20 April 2025, marked its twentieth anniversary and brought fantasy authors Joe Abercrombie, Guy Gavriel Kay and Tasha Suri, the concept artist Aleksi Briclot and screen actors including Graham McTavish and Peter Mensah to Mons alongside the French-language stars of Kaamelott; the previous edition had counted 22,352 visitors, and the organisers speak of nearly 25,000 per edition. The festival’s own statement of purpose is ‘all things fantasy’: literature, comics, music, games, crafts, animations and meetings.
The halls hold a large book and comics fair with signing sessions, a market of fantasy craftspeople and creators, a games zone with role-playing, board and card games and a digital CyberZone, exhibitions, short films and conferences, magicians and storytellers for children, and a main stage whose folk and fantasy-metal concerts are the evening draw, starting on the Friday around 18:00. Doors are open from about 10:00 to 19:00. Children under 12 enter free, and the organisers describe the festival as a place for families first.
This is the most convention-like entry in this guide, and it is listed with that caveat: there is no encampment, tournament or open-air market, and the medieval element is carried by the craft market, the folk bands and the costumes that most visitors wear. What makes it belong is the town. Mons has staged the Lumeçon, the fight between Saint George and a dragon, on Trinity Sunday since the Middle Ages, and its Doudou is on UNESCO’s intangible heritage list; the collegiate church of Sainte-Waudru and the belfry are a short walk from the station.
The next edition is expected on the Easter weekend of 2027, 26–28 March, as listed by event agendas; the organisers’ rule is the Easter weekend, but the dates and prices had not been published on the official site when checked. Between editions the same volunteers run the Estivales de Trolls & Légendes, a free one-day summer event at the former abattoirs in Mons (the sixth was on 1 August 2025, and a summer 2026 edition was announced). Lotto Mons Expo is by the ring road on the edge of town; Mons is about 50 minutes by train from Brussels.
