Referring to something belonging to a goblin: is it "its" thing or "his" thing? [closed]

I'm writing tutorial for fantasy game with said goblin acting as an example. Now, I need to relate to the thing belonging to that goblin, let's say it's an apple. Is it his apple or its apple? Shall I treat mythological creature as a human or as an animal?

Solution 1:

The choice depends on whether you are intending to treat the creature as a person, not a human or animal. For instance, Charlotte's Web anthropomorphises animals, using his or hers for ownership. On the other side of the coin, it was typical to refer to the belongings of slaves as its; even though they were human, they were not considered people.

Solution 2:

If you have a male goblin, then speak of his thing; if a female goblin, of her thing.

Animals still take his or her, not its, unless you simply do not know the creature’s gender.

An animal is an animate, and things with animas merit animate determiners and pronouns, not inanimate ones. A male animal is a him, a female animal is a her. Never call a mother an it! She will not be pleased.

An apple, however, is an it, because it is not animate. Neither is a rock. Feel free to refer to a rock as it; it won’t mind.

But a mother dog, bitch though she be, is a her just as much as a bull moose is a him.

Anyway, a goblin is not merely a creature, but a sentient. We only use it for things without animas, and the fact that the goblin not only gibbers and shrieks but actually speaks, makes the goblin a sentient being.

Imagine a goblin family with a mommy and a daddy: you can’t call either of them it. It just doesn’t make sense that they are both its. They’re him and her, obviously.

Only use it for inanimates.