Jacob Grimm (in Deutsche Mythologie) associated this character with the pre-Christian house spirit (kobold, elf) which could be either benevolent or malicious, but whose mischievous side was emphasized after Christianization.

[2]: 155  Samuel Taylor Coleridge encountered a Knecht Ruprecht character in a 1798 visit to Ratzeburg, a town in northern Germany, which he described as "outfitted in 'high buskins, a white robe, a mask, and an enormous flax wig'".

[citation needed] He is also reported to give naughty children a switch (stick) in their shoes for their parents to hit them with, instead of sweets, fruit and nuts, in the German tradition.

[citation needed] In related folk traditions more closely associated with certain regions in the High Alps, particularly the snowy villages south and west of Salzburg in Austria, the Knecht Ruprecht character functions as Saint Nicholas' assistant, rather than as the primary actor in the early December rituals; keeping a watchful eye on the benevolent saint during his journey.

Both are, in turn, accompanied in these regions by an assortment of terrifying horned, goat-like creatures known as the Krampus, who seek out and terrorize misbehaving children identified by Saint Nicholas for punishment.

[9] German composer Robert Schumann features Knecht Ruprecht as the titular subject of one of the miniature piano pieces in his collection for children, Album for the Young, Op 68 (1848).