The Variety of Fantasy Beings

[metalikhan]

I thought there was a thread on this, but I can't find it. My apologies if I'm repeating something old.

But I was wondering what fantasy beings do you enjoy reading or writing about? (Including variations on the top-most popular ones, such as the infinite variety of good & bad, tall/noble & short/cute elves.)

What beings do you feel are ignored or under-represented in fiction?

[Bainespal]

I think one of the conventions of contemporary high fantasy, probably since the nineties, maybe starting roughly with Robert Jordan, is a diminishing of the importance of non-human races. I think the average secondary-world fantasy novel that you might find at a bookstore these days generally portrays a brutal human society where some people can wield magical forces to oppress others. I think this was originally a good break with the stereotype elf-dwarf-dragon setup, but by now, I think it's getting old and unimaginative. So, I think most of the fantasy beings are somewhat under-represented in modern fantasy.

[Ranger Varon]

I don't really enjoy reading or writing about any of them. It all depends on the take and what I can do with them. Other than that, they're all just means of exploring different aspects of humanity.

[metalikhan]

The only two authors I can think of who've consistently written stories including a wide variety of beings are Terry Pratchett and Jim Butcher. There must be others who do, but the majority of fantasy books I've read pretty much limited the beings to ghosts, elves, dwarves, dragons, vampires, and werewolves.

By contrast, I've seen a few mermaid stories, two with sphinx, only one minotaur, maybe half a dozen with gryphons, and a full dozen with unicorns or trolls. But when I consider all the other possibilities, I wonder why more beings aren't utilized in stories.

[This Baron of Mora]

People seem to forget about the origins of the 'originals' and default into thinking of dwarves, elves, dragons, trolls, etc. as being things made up by some author in a book. In truth they are of Norse invention (at least those are) being documented in the 'Eddas' but not in any original source. Having read some of the Poetic Edda (the library closed for the summer before I could finish) I would like to see more 'throwbacks' with authors using them in their original state which has become more and more distorted over time. In the 'Eddas' and to the people of the olden North these creatures were real (and most were evil) and were intrinsically woven into their conception of reality.

That being said, I would be just fine seeing good literature re-adapting from the originals (as in the Silmarrillion) as opposed to outright copying the ideas from the legends, but I am tired of the re-adoptions from re-adoptions etc.

[metalikhan]

Oooooo! I love The Elder Edda (aka The Poetic Edda), especially Lee Hollander's translation! The Younger Edda (aka The Prose Edda) has the more familiar version of the tales, but IMO it lacks the skaldic feel. My favorite is Völuspá (Prophesy of the Seeress) -- LOL at one time, I could recite all of it except for the Dvergatal (Catalogue of Dwarves).

You're right, though, about people forgetting the origins. They require a lot of digging into old mythologies and tales, which can be gosh-awful tedious to many modern authors. Soooo much easier to borrow, adopt & adapt from other authors than to excavate the sources. **snark**

BTW, I was really surprised when I found the www.sacred-texts.com/ site. Before the internet existed, I'd already read over 90% of the stuff there as well as a lot of old works they don't list. A lot of back-to-the-origins material there!

Not all those beings mentioned are strictly of Norse origin. Dragons show up in various lore-forms world-wide. Although the words are of Scandanavian & British origin, elves & faeries have variations, too, but often called by other names and possessing characteristics that align with whichever culture's tales they appear in. Offhand (and mind you, my brain hit the fatigue wall 20 minutes ago), the dwarves are the only ones I can think of who don't have exact or near counterparts in other cultures (aside from Germanic/Teutonic, which isn't too far removed from the Norse anyway).

But I definitely agree about the readoptions from readoptions! It's part of why I wondered about the variety and variations of fantasy beings. There are so many back there in myths and lore, it just strikes me odd that so few are represented in modern stories.

[Kessie]

I'd personally love to find more books with griffins in them, aside from Mercedes Lackey. I think that's why I went so bonkers for Song of the Summer King because it's GRIFFINS! That and the Dark Lord of Derkholm.

I do get annoyed when people have elves, dwarves and humans and try to disguise them by giving them a different name. They're not dwarves, they're GNOMES! That's one thing I loved about World of Warcraft, because among other thing, the Draenei are so cool. Kind of uber-fauns with blue skin and tentacle beards.

I have the same issue with people who have really boring monsters. Karen Hancock in particular nearly offended me with her lack of imaginative monsters. Not all monsters have to be demons! All a person has to do is look up prehistoric mammals and amphibians. There are some horrifying things out there that I'm glad they're dead. Or, I really hope they are.

[metalikhan]

;D Another gryphon fan here, Kessie! It was why I included one of 'em in Catalystica (as well as a unicorn, basilisk, dragon, and phoenix). There are oodles of other critters in the Lair of Beasts (although not all are familiar ones, such as the pearl arachnids and light seals) some of which will show up in other stories.

I can think of a couple of reasons some disguise the names, though.

One may be that using a known name implies the being/creature is exactly like the traditional version. If the being shares some qualities but not all, the new name distances the being from reader expectations. A writer has to consider carefully whether the difference is truly significant enough to invent a new name and whether s/he does/doesn't want to pull established connotations into the story.

The other reason may occur if the story isn't set on our world. In my cybernetic-elf cycle of stories, the humans call them elves and the beings themselves have adopted the name, but they call themselves the AiFanir.

Creating monsters, especially out of existing fantasy beings, is a challenge. In Under Every Moon, one of the poems titled "Wolfiranas" has such creatures:

"Three wolfiranas came from the caves
neither women nor wolves
nor the moon-chained folk both
blessed and cursed to live two lives.

Once a year, they came in the dark
the daughters of the shadow lord
with feral cunning and feminine wiles
with destruction in their hearts."

A distinction had to be made that they were something different from werewolves even though they shared some characteristics.
**snicker** The name -- I played with several options for a while but discarded all but one, mostly for poetic/syllabic reasons. Settled on the word that combined wolf and pirhana.

[Kessie]

Yeah, I have a story that's tinkering with elves called Nevelves, and there's an interdimensional blockade against their world to keep them away from Earth. I'm playing with the stereotype and having fun. Same with angeli (mortal angels who are basically bodyguards of certain important people--and what happens when someone kills the ward and the angeli becomes somewhat unhinged).

I also have a guy who is a werewolf, but he's actually been spatially spliced with a lycan-like beast (called a garwaf). Using his magic triggers the transformation, and his soul swaps back and forth between the two bodies. So it's not a proper werewolf, and the mechanics are a big different. But to me, the mechanics are always the most interesting about werewolves anyway.

I like your werewolves! They kind of sound like wolf-harpies. I think that makes a good creature--combining characteristics of commonly known ones.

Was your griffin a good guy, or just a monster? I'm always on the lookout for griffins who are characters and, you know, DO stuff.

[metalikhan]

The Catalystica gryphon is a good guy, Kessie. Not on-stage for much of the story but does play a critical role, a major turning point, for one of the characters.

Wolf-harpies -- I like that description! Very accurate!

Your garwaf/werewolf sounds intriguing. And yeah, I like exploring the mechanics of the monsters, too.