Share Your Favorite Mythological Creatures/Monsters

[Silver-Haired Maiden]

I've loved mythological monsters/creatures and the tales surrounding them for as long as I can remember, having always had my nose buried in various story books. It seems like I always eventually return to these stories and creatures, as things that make my imagination run wild. Some are scary, some are cool, some are ethereally beautiful. I wanted to share some of my personal favorites and ask about yours in turn! Perhaps learning about ones that you didn't know about can help stir some inspiration among the writers of the boards or just fascinate people who enjoy learning about them like I do. These will be presented in no particular order and I'll put most of the information in spoiler tags to keep this from getting insanely long.

Also, as a lot of these creatures are classically considered horror creatures, please proceed with caution if generic descriptions of these creatures might bother you.

Tlaltecuhtli (I'm so glad I don't have to pronounce that name because I am lost).

Spoiler

A Mesoamerican deity primarily worshipped by the Aztecs. Sometimes known as the "earth monster", she was a giant primordial, toad-like creature huge claws, a gaping mouth, and crocodile skin. She's typically drawn with a river of blood running from her mouth and sometimes even appears with multiple mouths full of sharp teeth all over her body. An embodiment of chaos, two of the other Aztec gods (Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca) had to destroy her in order to allow creation to take root on the world she'd eat everything they made. However even after they ripped her in half and used her body to form the sky and the earth, she remained alive and demanded sacrifices as payment. In other words, the Aztecs were metal as heck.

Baba Yaga 

Spoiler

Now Baba Yaga is one of the most enigmatic interpretations of the hag that there's ever been. I adore every fairy tale she's ever been part of, purely because of her. She can be a single entity or a trio of sisters - depending on the story - who flies on a mortar, wields a pestle, and lives in a house that stands on giant chicken legs. Typically described as a hideous old woman with a nose so long it touches the ceiling of her hut when she lays down in bed and is usually found stretched out over her stove reaching from one corner of the hut to the other, she already paints quite the striking picture. However a lot of my interest in her comes from how ambiguous she is. Depending on the myth she can be seen as a matronly figure, completely unconcerned, or a total villain (sometimes playing all three roles in the same story). She appears in a number of tales, including but not limited to: "The Magic Swan Geese" "Vasilisa the Fair" (one of my favorites and an interesting twist on a Cinderella story) and "Realms of Copper, Silver, and Gold".

Wendigo

Spoiler

I'm sure most people have at least heard of the Wendigo given it's recent popularity in media, but I've always held a fascination with it. Frankly I was elated when it started showing up more in other mediums besides just the few folk tales I'd read in the past. A man-eating creature or evil spirit from Native American folklore, it's influence evokes acts of murder, greed, and cannibalism. They're associated very closely with winter, famine, the cold, and starvation and classically served as a cautionary tale about taboos.Descriptions can vary somewhat of this creature, but suffice it to say that you'd never want to meet one. The most common descriptors of the wendigo include that it's emaciated with pale gray skin, lips tattered and bloody, and that reeked from the scent of decay and death. I don't want to get much more into detail, but these creatures are horrifying in some of the most fascinating ways to me.

Kitsune

Spoiler

I'm sure most everyone here has heard of kitsune so I won't go into too much detail about these. Shapeshifters, tricksters, some good and some evil, masters of illusion, servants of the kami Inari. The kitsune has seen several different iterations over the years (Naruto anyone?) but my favorites still have to be the classic versions of them from Shinto tales. The mystery they're presented with there is hard to beat.

Cait Sidhe

Spoiler

Ah, this is one that is not as well known. The Fairy Cat. A black cat the size of a dog with one white spot on it's chest, it has several small myths but perhaps the part of it's lore that most would find the most interesting is this: they're said to be able to shapeshift from witch to cat, however on their ninth time transforming into a cat they'll be unable to change shape again. This is the origin of the saying "cats have nine lives". Many of the myths surrounding these creatures are tied to funerals, where humans believed they would steal the souls of the dead so a watch was always held when someone died where games were played to distract the cats from being able to steal the loved one's soul. There's more to them of course but their myths tend to be smaller, but please do read about them if they've caught your interest!

The Fair Folk

Spoiler

Ahhhh the fey. These are my absolute favorites. I have read so many stories about them, fantasy books involving them, and I just love them. The Fair Folk that I refer to are the more classic versions, the ones who were fickle and could help you but almost might curse you and all of your descendants depending on their mood and any perceived slight. It is these Fey that gave us the likes of creatures like Changelings. Puck, Titania, Mab, Oberon, and others from Shakespeare. The dancing, wild fey courts and legends of the land of Faerie. They're all slightly different from each other and their lore is so extensive and involves so many different figures that it's frankly impossible for me to break it all down in any reasonable amount of time or words. They're fantastical, whimsical, mysterious, and everything that makes my imagination run wild.

Yamata no Orochi

Spoiler

I'll be honest, my first exposure to this particular monster was in the video game Okami (which I highly recommend if you haven't played it). Since then I've really come to appreciate how terrifying and also funny the legend of Susanoo and Yamata no Orochi can be. Now one thing most people don't get is this monster's sheer size. A gargantuan serpent with 8 heads and 8 tails, it's body was long enough to cover 8 peaks and valleys (it likes the number 8). In other words, Orochi was massive and honestly that isn't even a good enough descriptor for how BIG he was. He was seven sacrifices into a total of eight but unfortunately for him, the family he was tormenting was visited by Susanoo who decided he was going to take the serpent down (and win the last daughter's hand in marriage as a result). Orochi was tricked into getting super drunk and passing out so that Susanoo could slay him, continuing the tradition of alcohol being a major downfall of every mythological being in their myths! xD

The Mórrígan

Spoiler

One of the most mysterious figures in Irish mythology, the name Morrigan means "phantom queen" or "great queen" and describes a goddess from old Ireland with several associations. A shape-changer who appeared commonly as a black crow, she was an ominous omen for any who saw her prior to battle. Typically she's described as a trio of sisters though the exact trio is a little vague (the most common are Badb, Macha, and Nemain; and Eiru, Banba, and Fodla). It is from one etymology of her name that Ireland was named so her figure in effect named the country! The most famous myth surrounding her actually involves her conflict with Cú Chulainn. She attempted to seduce him but he denied her, outraging her and leading to a series of frankly hilarious antics that he always managed to turn around on her. However she did eventually turn things around on him, her own figure being an omen of his death in battle and her crow landing on his shoulder when he finally died.

So yeah, please share your own favorites with me and any stories associated with them that you like! Also if you'd like for me to continue about my own favorites (perhaps some that aren't very well-known classically), please let me know!

[Cure Naga]

A little close to home but one of my favorite creatures that I have scene is definitely byleth.

Byleth is a demon general in christian mythology depending on the source he was used for helping Noah's son write a book of mathematics (weird thing for a demon to do in my opinion) especially since he is known for giving people all the men and or women they desire. In other account the demon byleth is actually a women and will instead help whomever summoned them into marriage that they want. Yeah so this demon seems to be all over the place in description and powers that have especially since looking up byleth again I see he might also be a demon of incest. 

[eclipse]

Wrong subforum, SMT belongs in General Gaming!  😛

Ahem. . .

I've found FE's Pegasus Knights to be a bit ironic, since The Pegasus was male, and ridden by a man.  But said Pegasus made his way to Mt. Olympus, which was cool, so I'll go with him.

[vanguard333]

I am very fascinated by Celtic Folklore, so most of my favourite mythological creatures are from Celtic Myth and Folklore:

 

First, one that you @Silver-Haired Maiden also listed.

Fairies/Faeries/The Fae: (Celtic Folklore in general)

No; not the tiny butterfly-winged kind. Those things were invented by the Victorian English who couldn't come up with an original name for them and just stole the name "fairy" from the creatures of Celtic Myth, who are far more fascinating (and scary). 

Spoiler

I'm deeply fascinated by these creatures. Human-level intelligence, deeply magical, very secretive, yet also open and honest at the same time; never telling an outright lie. They are creatures of Otherworld: a magical world both parallel and interconnected to our own, with that connection waxing and waning bi-annually; being at its strongest on Halloween. 

I find it interesting that they tend to need human warriors: that they are so dependent on magic that the concept of warriors is almost foreign to them. 

 

Gwragged Anwnn: (Welsh Folklore)

Spoiler

I'm kind-of cheating here as they are a type of fairy. Beautiful fairy women whose Otherworld homes are connected to lakes. These ladies were the inspiration for the Lady of the Lake in Arthurian Legend. 

There are multiple stories about them, but almost all of them follow the same pattern: one of them comes to the surface to relax by the lakeside, and a young shepherd spots them and becomes smitten. He offers her part of his lunch everyday, and she leads him on; finding fault with the food he offers. Until, after some time, she returns his feelings and agrees to marry him. 

As is custom for them, the woman's father tests if the young man loves her with his heart or just his eyes by presenting him the woman and either a glamour copy of her or her twin sister, and telling him to identify which is which. The young man notices subtle differences and gets it correct. However, before they can get married, they present him a promise he must keep if he wants to marry her. If he breaks it, she will leave him. He agrees to it, and they get married. However, eventually, he usually breaks it and she leaves him, but not before she blesses their kids and teaches them all kinds of Fey knowledge. 

In addition to the standard fairy magic (glamour illusions and such), they are also skilled herbalists. One noted family of herbalists in a Welsh village claimed to be descended from a Gwragged Anwnn. 

Just, don't ask me to try to pronounce it. 

 

Dullahan: (Irish Mythology)

Spoiler

This is without a doubt one of the most terrifying folkloric creatures ever written. It is a Headless Horseman (possibly the original). It uses a human spine as a whip, and, once it chooses a target, it will relentlessly pursue them to kill them. Think you can get away by hiding in a house or fortress? All gates between it and its target open wide for it as if afraid to oppose it, and all drawbridges will lower for it. 

The Banshee is benign in a sense, as it just warns of coming death and gives people time to say their last goodbyes as a result. The Dullahan actively seeks to kill, and you can't keep it away. 

 

Each-Uisge: (Scottish Mythology)

Spoiler

I was wrong. As scary as the Dullahan is, this is worse. If you've heard of Kelpies, this may sound familiar: an amphibious man-eating horse creature that can look human and can be recognized as a monster by the seaweed stuck in their hair. It's the same with an Each-Uisge, but these things are far more vicious, and that's saying something. 

 

Nuckelavee: (Orkney Folklore; Orkney being the big island off of Scotland's northeast coast)

Spoiler

The other creatures I mentioned before were plenty scary, but this creature makes Lovcraftian Eldritch Abominations seem like cute little puppies. 

This thing was known as a bringer of plague and death. It vaguely resembles a centaur, but rather than the human part being where the horse head would be, the human part is where a rider would be. As a result, it has two heads: an overgrown humanoid head, and a near-lifeless horse head that can't stop spewing poison. It has see-through skin and yellow veins, and overly-long arms. It is also crazy powerful at plague magic, and there is only one thing that can stop it: its aversion to fresh water. Even then, it had to be imprisoned in an undersea part of Orkney where the waves hit the hardest. 

 

Ceasg: (Scottish Mythology)

Spoiler

To get away from scary monsters, let's get back to talking about beautiful women. These creatures are basically mermaids. They are beautiful redheads capable of living for over a thousand years, and they have great skill in luck-magic. If a sailor accidently catches one, she will offer them three wishes in exchange for her release.

Sometimes, they will fall in love with a human man and live with him on land, and the man quite noticeably has good fortune throughout his life thanks to her magic. When she inevitably outlives him, she returns to the sea, but watches over her descendants, who have a tendency to become sailors or at least live near the sea. Many notable Scottish sailors historically either claimed to be, or were speculated by others to be descended from a Ceasg. 

In addition to living a long time, they can also prevent being killed by storing their soul in an egg-like container. They will die if the container is destroyed, however, so they keep it's location secret. 

 

Finfolk: (Orkney Mythology)

Spoiler

These are also a kind of merfolk. It is believed that they're a result of the blend of Norse and Celtic culture in Orkney. 

They are mysterious amphibious shapeshifters with dangerous abilities. I know I (jokingly) said I would move away from talking about scary creatures and move on to talking about creatures that are beautiful women, but these creatures are kind-of both. They live on their own undersea land of Finfolkaheem in the winter, and the hidden islands of Hildaland in the summer. They regularly journey to Orkney for one thing: humans. More on that in a bit. 

The Finman are deeply creepy: they look tall and thin with a stern, gloomy face, and they are crafty, cruel, and deeply territorial. They will attack anyone who dares enter 'their' waters, and they have the means to do so: they can row from Orkney to Norway in just seven strokes, make their ship invisible, and summon a fleet of "phantom ships"; basically ghosts of sunken ships. There is one thig that might stave off their wrath: their love for silver. 

Finwomen, however, are much closer to typical merfolk: extremely beautiful with a human upper half and a fish lower-half, though the fish half is implied to be just magic, as it becomes a petticoat (skirt) on land. They have long flowing golden hair and snow-white skin, and some of them even have enchanting singing voices. 

I said I would get back to the whole "wanting humans" part, and now I am: they abduct humans to sever as spouses; the Finmen abduct human women, and the Finwomen abduct human men for husbands. There are good reasons why the Finwomen in particular prefer human men over their own: if a Finwoman marries a human, she retains her youth and beauty. Should she fail to acquire a human husband, she will be forced to marry a Finman. She will gradually lose her beauty until she becomes an old hag over a span of 21 years, and once she does, the Finman will banish her to Orkney to get silver for them. If they fail to get enough silver, the Finman will beat them. Obtaining a human is the only way for them to avoid being forced into a cruel marriage to a Finman. 

 

Now, this isn't all of them, but I may as well stop here. 

Edited December 9, 2019 by vanguard333

[SoulWeaver]

Personally, I find myself partial to Japanese mythological creatures, especially the Funayūrei(link is Wikipedia's article for them). I initially learned of them from an MMO I still play from time to time, and liked them enough that they're one of a few creatures I'm considering for a Halloween Town version of one of my personal characters.

[MyLuckyHaiku]

So for some background:

When I was a kid I was really into myths, urban legends, and cryptids. (Mostly cryptids) So at my local library I read every book on cryptids I could, and one book stood out (I don’t remember the name though) if I recall, there was the basic stuff like Bigfoot and Nessie, but there was one entry about Yuki Onna, something I’d never heard of at the time and it intrigued me. The version that was in the book was something like this:

Spoiler

Yuki Onna (The version I heard about long ago)

Yuki Onna was a kind of Japanese snow spirit that appeared on very snowy nights in the mountains, the thing that stood out to me most though was that she would wave around a wand and ask for water, if splashed with cold water, she would swell, if warm, she would vanish or melt.

She took the form of a very beautiful woman with long hair and either wore thin clothes or nothing at all, and her skin was light blue or white.

This is from memory so it may be slightly inaccurate, but I checked Wikipedia and it seems to match somewhat.

There are many variations of the myth, and I’m too lazy to list all of them, so I’d advise reading the Wikipedia article or something. Here.

 

Edited December 9, 2019 by MyLuckyHaiku

[Benice]

3 hours ago, Silver-Haired Maiden said:

Wendigo

I have a personal vendetta against the Wendigo. I have a wii game named Brave: A warrior's tale, where the Wendigo is the antagonist. I'd reccommend the game to anyone who enjoys:

• Choosing either a male or female character at the beginning of the game then playing 90% of the game in a flashback where you're male regardless. (And the male for both characters is identical.)
•  trying to jump across tiny moving platforms with your view stuck in a cliff, and dying and having to restart a five minute platforming puzzle from the beginning every single time you miss.
• randomly killing  beetles so you can read wall paintings even though you could have just USED A TORCH! (Torches are in this game too...)
• Saying "Ooonana, Shoonana, LIGHTNING STORM!"
• Have a gint upper body of a skeleton with a head that kind of looks like a bird skull, (which is the Wendigo)  turn a random character you don't care about into a mind-controlled zombie, then spend 20 minutes slapping skellies who can't hurt you as a bear, before the game finally thinks you're ready to progress.
• Likely spend a very long time trying to spear the correct fish with no depth perception. If you miss, the fish runs away and returns in a few minutes. After finally completing the challenge, you find an amulet, and some random gorl named Meadowflower tells you that you can dive underwater with it. EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT IT NEVER SERVES A PURPOSE! NEVER ONCE IN THIS WHOLE GAME DO YOU HAVE TO SWIM UNDER OBJECTS! NOR IS THERE ANY REASON TO DO SO AT ANY TIME! THANKS, MEADOWFLOWER! I REALLY ENJOYED WATCHING YOU TURN INTO A ZOMBIE! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHHAHAHA!!!!
• Having no way to figure out how to do certain things after the information is first given to you. I accidentally pressed the "Skip dialogue button" instead of the, "Go to next line of dialogue button" while some old Coot was trying to tell me how to yell at birds so I can kill them. After thirty minutes of pressing random buttons, I figured it out.
• Speaking with a giant bird who has a texan accent for some reason?
• going through weird portals that you have to platforming in while you float above some random ethereal location.
• Having the "Final" boss be really close to impossible to reach because of more stupid camera angles while you try to jump around on disappearing tiless.
• In the middle of the first enjoyable bossfight, which is the (pretend) final boss, when you get the boss to about 45% health, the game randomly cuts you out from the flashback and makes you find several hidden totems for no reason whatsoever. 
• Suffering through a poorly made game and getting right to the very end and then game breaks, preventing you from finish and/or deleting all game data and making you restart? I've played through the game THREE TIMES. Twice it broke during the intermission of the "Final" boss fight, deleting all game data, and the third time you have to do platforming to get a medallion that will defeat the Wendigo, but every time I got close to the medallion, the game glitches and sent me back to the beginning of the puzzle.

Sorry about the rant. ANyways, I like the roman god of cupboards, Penates, the god of mildew, Robigus, and the goddess of hinges, Cordea.

[Yexin]

gonna play safe and say Hydra

i just love its concept, also i like greek mythology A LOT

[Etrurian emperor]

I always had a soft spot for Cerberus especially in media where Cerby-kins is depicted as an adorably happy dog. 

[Jotari]

Loving the appreciation of Celtic Mythology here folks. Keep it up. Here's another one for you to stick your teeth into.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Púca

It's like a horse/goat demon monster with a tonne of different interpretations. My favorite being the version that likes to take drunkards and wild and terrifying joyrides around the country.

7 hours ago, Benice said:

Choosing either a male or female character at the beginning of the game then playing 90% of the game in a flashback where you're male regardless. (And the male for both characters is identical.)

Haha XD That's just so ridiculously pointless.

 

 

Edited December 9, 2019 by Jotari

[vanguard333]

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

Loving the appreciation of Celtic Mythology here folks. Keep it up. Here's another one for you to stick your teeth into.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Púca

It's like a horse/goat monster with a tonne of different interpretations. My favorite being the version that likes to take drunkards and wild and terrifying joyrides around the country.

Oh yeah; I was going to list a Puca, but I decided that the list was long enough. 

Yeah, I agree; I too prefer when they're just harmless pranksters. It's the same as Will-o-the-Wisps in that regard: I prefer when they're just harmless pranksters who'll eventually lead the person back to the path. 

 

Another that I like from Welsh Folklore is the Afanc: 

Basically, this creature is what would happen if an Ancient Egyptian described an alligator to a Roman, and the Roman passed on that description to a Welsh person. They are lake monsters that are highly territorial; they'll attack anyone who steps near the lake. Much like an alligator, they wait and lunge, rather than exert themselves in a lengthy chase.

In one story, a maiden of the village figured out a way to calmly lure it out of the lake and get it to rest peacefully on her lap (make no mistake though; it was still a vicious monster). The rest of the village then took it, chained it up, and killed it; saving the village. 

[Silver-Haired Maiden]

11 hours ago, Cure Naga said:

A little close to home but one of my favorite creatures that I have scene is definitely byleth.

Byleth is a demon general in christian mythology depending on the source he was used for helping Noah's son write a book of mathematics (weird thing for a demon to do in my opinion) especially since he is known for giving people all the men and or women they desire. In other account the demon byleth is actually a women and will instead help whomever summoned them into marriage that they want. Yeah so this demon seems to be all over the place in description and powers that have especially since looking up byleth again I see he might also be a demon of incest. 

Oh that's interesting! I'll be honest, demonology is one of the few things I tend to avoid in general but that's interesting. I suppose it also makes sense then why one of Byleth's monikers in game is "The Ashen Demon". Neat.

11 hours ago, eclipse said:

Wrong subforum, SMT belongs in General Gaming!  😛

Ahem. . .

I've found FE's Pegasus Knights to be a bit ironic, since The Pegasus was male, and ridden by a man.  But said Pegasus made his way to Mt. Olympus, which was cool, so I'll go with him.

.... this might be embarrassing to admit, but I don't know what you're referring to with SMT xD
As for The Pegasus, I always found it's origin to be strange. It was fathered by Poseidon and came into being by Medusa's death which is.... sometimes I worry about the ancient Greeks, lol. But yeah, I do like the pegasus. Personally I've always preferred it to unicorns.

10 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

I am very fascinated by Celtic Folklore, so most of my favourite mythological creatures are from Celtic Myth and Folklore:

First, one that you @Silver-Haired Maiden also listed.

Fairies/Faeries/The Fae: (Celtic Folklore in general)

No; not the tiny butterfly-winged kind. Those things were invented by the Victorian English who couldn't come up with an original name for them and just stole the name "fairy" from the creatures of Celtic Myth, who are far more fascinating (and scary). 

Snipping some of this to keep it from getting too long, sorry.

I adore the Fair Folk mythos. Most of my favorite stories deals with them and the land of Faerie. I don't know what types of books you like reading but if you don't mind YA, I highly recommend The Iron Fey series (just the first three). They were Julie Kagawa's first ever novels (to my knowledge) and while they do lean heavily on YA tropes the lore and exploration of the Fair Folk is fascinating in them.

Now I love the Nuckelavee and considered putting it in my original list but I decided I'd probably made it long enough, lol.

9 hours ago, SoulWeaver said:

Personally, I find myself partial to Japanese mythological creatures, especially the Funayūrei(link is Wikipedia's article for them). I initially learned of them from an MMO I still play from time to time, and liked them enough that they're one of a few creatures I'm considering for a Halloween Town version of one of my personal characters.

Oh that's neat! I love ghost-type creatures, especially ones relating to the sea and ocean. Unfortunately they tend to really creep most of my friends out, but I adore those myths.

9 hours ago, MyLuckyHaiku said:

So for some background:

When I was a kid I was really into myths, urban legends, and cryptids. (Mostly cryptids) So at my local library I read every book on cryptids I could, and one book stood out (I don’t remember the name though) if I recall, there was the basic stuff like Bigfoot and Nessie, but there was one entry about Yuki Onna, something I’d never heard of at the time and it intrigued me. The version that was in the book was something like this:

  Reveal hidden contents

Yuki Onna (The version I heard about long ago)

Yuki Onna was a kind of Japanese snow spirit that appeared on very snowy nights in the mountains, the thing that stood out to me most though was that she would wave around a wand and ask for water, if splashed with cold water, she would swell, if warm, she would vanish or melt.

She took the form of a very beautiful woman with long hair and either wore thin clothes or nothing at all, and her skin was light blue or white.

This is from memory so it may be slightly inaccurate, but I checked Wikipedia and it seems to match somewhat.

There are many variations of the myth, and I’m too lazy to list all of them, so I’d advise reading the Wikipedia article or something. Here.

 

My first exposure to the Yuki Onna was actually through a video game and let me tell you... it may have been an RPG Maker game but it did a good job making her out to be creepy as all get-out. It was called Kirisame ga furu mori (Forest of Drizzling Rain) and it was super good. I doubt you can actually play it now but there should be let's plays of it on YouTube if it interests you in checking it out!

8 hours ago, Benice said:

I have a personal vendetta against the Wendigo. I have a wii game named Brave: A warrior's tale, where the Wendigo is the antagonist. I'd reccommend the game to anyone who enjoys:

Sorry about the rant. ANyways, I like the roman god of cupboards, Penates, the god of mildew, Robigus, and the goddess of hinges, Cordea.

Snipping, but that's the funniest thing I have read in a long while! xD I've never heard of that game but just your experience with it makes me wish you'd recorded your reactions.

Now your favorite roman god list is quite intriguing.... and makes me wonder why on earth they had coverage of cupboards and hinges.

5 hours ago, Yexin said:

gonna play safe and say Hydra

i just love its concept, also i like greek mythology A LOT

There's a reason Greek mythology is so classic and it's because it's full of awesome creatures like the Hydra. It's awesome. Although I do find it funny that it's specifically classed as the Lernaean Hydra, meaning that there might be other types of hydras in other areas. Wouldn't that be fun?

1 hour ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I always had a soft spot for Cerberus especially in media where Cerby-kins is depicted as an adorably happy dog. 

Hey, it means a lot when Hades named his dog the equivalent of Spot. Kinda takes some of the terror out of Cerberus if you ask me xD (not that that's a bad thing). 

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

Loving the appreciation of Celtic Mythology here folks. Keep it up. Here's another one for you to stick your teeth into.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Púca

It's like a horse/goat demon monster with a tonne of different interpretations. My favorite being the version that likes to take drunkards and wild and terrifying joyrides around the country.

Hey, that's my kind of horse/goat/demon monster. I too would like to take drunkards on wild and terrifying joyrides through the countryside. Maybe it would scare them out of being drunkards xD

[Heir of Dragons and Beasts]

Tanooki: I love how mischievous they are.

Ljósálfar: I love Light Elves and how they were even more beautiful than the sun.

All Mythological Creatures

[Ottservia]

1 hour ago, PeonyofLeosa Dreamworld said:

Tanooki: I love how mischievous they are.

Same. They’re rivalry with the kitsune is also interesting to me. 
 

Personally I’m very partial to norse, shinto, buhddist, and some christian and hebrew mythologies(witches as wells the laveathen to be more specific). But one creature that transcends across all myths and cultures us the dragon. Seriously no matter what kind of dragon, the kind and sagely ones of the east or the monolithic tyrannical princess nappers of the west, Dragons will always be cool

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Silver-Haired Maiden said:

.... this might be embarrassing to admit, but I don't know what you're referring to with SMT xD

Shin Megami Tensei.

[Dragoncat]

1 hour ago, Ottservia said:

But one creature that transcends across all myths and cultures us the dragon. Seriously no matter what kind of dragon, the kind and sagely ones of the east or the monolithic tyrannical princess nappers of the west, Dragons will always be cool

Basically this. I was about to come in here and say "dragon" myself but that's boring so I'm gonna add jackalope. A rabbit with antlers, and it's local (Wyoming) folklore.

[Hanes]

3 hours ago, Silver-Haired Maiden said:

I don't know what you're referring to with SMT xD

She's talking about Shin Megami Tensei, a videogame series with many mythological creatures in it.

 

15 hours ago, Silver-Haired Maiden said:

Tlaltecuhtli (I'm so glad I don't have to pronounce that name because I am lost).

It's fairly simple if you think as a latino 😛 . The "h" is silent so that leaves us with Tlaltecutli. Breaking up into syllables is always easier and in this case it's Tlal-te-cuht-li, then we use the literal sounds of the vowels ("A, E, I, O, U" not "ey, ee, ay, owe, you"). By then the only hard sound is "tl"at the start, practice saying "T" and "L" in rapid sucession (not their names, just their sounds) and you should get it. And you're done, you can spell it like [Tlal-teh-coot-lee]



I once had to do an assignment on mythological creatures and it's one of my most embarrassing homeworks ever. But anyway one of the monsters I found while investigating was the Gashadokuro. The Gashadokuro is a giant skeleteon yokai of japanese folklore that is 15 times larger than the average human person. It was the amassed bones of the people who died of starvation or in battle without being buried, then they would rip off your head and get all the blood inside. The only ways to ward them off was by hiding but since they were invisible you had to hear a ringing and be alerted of it.

[Druplesnubb]

The Church Grim is a being from English and Scanidnavian folklore that was created by burying an animal, like a goat or a dog, under the foundation of the new church you're building. it was believed that whoever was the first to be buried in a church would have to guard it, so in order to not force that duty on a human you would sacrifice an animal and bury it first. The Church Grim would then protect he church at night from various human and demonic intruders, and there's also stories of it chasing the spirits of wicked people out of their graves, forcing them to fly around in the air as ravens until morning when the Grim goes to rest. What I've found so fascinating about The Church Grim is that despite being a terrifying pitch-black revenant of a sacrificed animal that will likely kill you without mercy if you trespass on its territory it's technically a holy guardian that protects the local church from evil.

[vanguard333]

17 hours ago, MyLuckyHaiku said:

So for some background:

When I was a kid I was really into myths, urban legends, and cryptids. (Mostly cryptids) So at my local library I read every book on cryptids I could, and one book stood out (I don’t remember the name though) if I recall, there was the basic stuff like Bigfoot and Nessie, but there was one entry about Yuki Onna, something I’d never heard of at the time and it intrigued me. The version that was in the book was something like this:

  Reveal hidden contents

Yuki Onna (The version I heard about long ago)

Yuki Onna was a kind of Japanese snow spirit that appeared on very snowy nights in the mountains, the thing that stood out to me most though was that she would wave around a wand and ask for water, if splashed with cold water, she would swell, if warm, she would vanish or melt.

She took the form of a very beautiful woman with long hair and either wore thin clothes or nothing at all, and her skin was light blue or white.

This is from memory so it may be slightly inaccurate, but I checked Wikipedia and it seems to match somewhat.

There are many variations of the myth, and I’m too lazy to list all of them, so I’d advise reading the Wikipedia article or something. Here.

 

One version of the Yuki Onna that I once read was that a young boy was travelling through a cold mountain path and a Yuki Onna spotted him. The Yuki Onna was going to harm him (as they are malevolent in most stories), but she sees that he's just a boy and spares him, on the condition that the boy promises never to tell anyone else what happened. The boy, terrified, agrees. 

The boy grows up, and he eventually marries and has several kids. But, one day, he decides that he has to tell his wife what happened on the mountain path when he was a boy. To his surprise, his wife reveals herself to be the Yuki Onna, and she is furious with him. However, she stays with him; both for the kids and because, technically, he didn't break his promise as the person he told was the Yuki Onna (even though the spirit of the promise was definitely broken), but she warned him that, if he ever harmed his kids, she would not show him anymore mercy. 

[EricaofRenais]

Kelpie is my favorite mythical being.  They are water spirits that can be a horse or take human form (mostly male).

[Benice]

11 hours ago, Silver-Haired Maiden said:

Snipping, but that's the funniest thing I have read in a long while! xD I've never heard of that game but just your experience with it makes me wish you'd recorded your reactions.

Now your favorite roman god list is quite intriguing.... and makes me wonder why on earth they had coverage of cupboards and hinges.

If I recorded my experiences, your ears would be bleeding from the expletives in my head. At one point I was blasting The Entertainer really loud to make my pain tolerable.

 

For the roman gods, they also had a goddess named Furrina. The problem was that by roughly 280 BCE nobody remembered what she was the goddess of, but they decided to celebrate her festival anyways. The romans had deities for basically anhthing imaginable. I think they had a god protecting cows from viruses and bugs, as well as another for Brooms. Yes,  brooms.

[eclipse]

15 hours ago, Silver-Haired Maiden said:

.... this might be embarrassing to admit, but I don't know what you're referring to with SMT xD

SMT = Shin Megami Tensei = Pokemon for adults.  But instead of Pokemon, it's a bunch of mythological beings, including a bunch that were mentioned in this topic.  If you don't mind some, uh, disturbing themes, I think you'd love the game!

[Hecatia]

Fairies, no matter what type or in what form, but I love fairies.

[Silver-Haired Maiden]

Sorry that it took me a bit to get back to everyone! Thanks for the explanation of SMT to those that answered me, I'll have to look into it. Is it a fun game to play? I know I mentioned Okami in my initial post, but for anyone interested in Japanese mythology and legends who hasn't played it, it's super good (and you get to play as a wolf, that's always a plus).

One creature that hasn't been mentioned that I've always loved is the Phoenix. Just like dragons are awesome, so is a giant fire bird and I wish they were used more.

On 12/9/2019 at 8:56 PM, Benice said:

If I recorded my experiences, your ears would be bleeding from the expletives in my head. At one point I was blasting The Entertainer really loud to make my pain tolerable.

 

For the roman gods, they also had a goddess named Furrina. The problem was that by roughly 280 BCE nobody remembered what she was the goddess of, but they decided to celebrate her festival anyways. The romans had deities for basically anhthing imaginable. I think they had a god protecting cows from viruses and bugs, as well as another for Brooms. Yes,  brooms.

Hey, I'd be okay with that! xD The Romans are wild though. I find myself concerned about the ancient Greeks but the ancient Romans are just as bad. Why brooms of all things? ... then again there are several ancient cultures that have things that like that are funny to read about.

[XRay]

Elves, kitsune, cat girls, succubi, etc.: I like waifus.

Nekomata and bakeneko: Cause cats are cute.

Griffins: I am a Leo, and I like bald eagles because America. You mash them together and you get a griffin.

Golems, automatons, etc.: It is nice to have completely loyal followers. If Fire Emblem taught me anything, it is to build an army and trust nobody.