[karenlyn]

There are so many mythological and legendary creatures in literature. What is your favorite fantasy animal/creature?

I like the Griffin because they're powerful and proud and beautiful. I'd also love to see a unicorn!

[Starlily]

The phoenix, for it's beauty, immortality, and gentleness...

[glimmeringStar]

karenlyn said:

There are so many mythological and legendary creatures in literature. What is your favorite fantasy animal/creature?

I like the Griffin because they're powerful and proud and beautiful. I'd also love to see a unicorn!

I love the unicorn, too. I've learned that in days of old, it was the symbol of many christian churches and that it stood for the christ-child. Of course, they gave the unicorn back to us. Wonder why? hehe' http://www.mythforum...es/rolleyes.gif

[Pamil Visions]

The phoenix now and forever. But, Starlily the pheonix is not immortal.
It dies to reborn, yes... but it does know death. And what a cruel and painful death that is... burning up alive... hmmm...

[LyricB]

Mine has to be a unicorn too, only because as a 12 year old my room was all about unicorns. I think that's pretty normal for pre-teen girls, at least it was when I was growing up.

[htmlmaster]

Either a phoenix, simply because it's immortal, or a dragon because it's simply awesome.

[Veles]

My favourite mythological creature is the Samovila. It's a gorgeous woman (it can also fly) and in most cases fiercely independent to the point it becomes evil to whoever stands in her way.

[vicki2]

I've always been intrigued by satyrs ...they're not only combinations of men and goats, but are full of all sorts of paradoxes. Impish yet mean, etc. Of course, there's anatomical attraction for a female too LOL.

[palefrost]

I really love the Mermaid legends. I love the classic story "the little mermaid" how she loved humans and wanted to be one. In the orginal story she witness her love marrying a real woman and dies at the end if i remember the story right. Disney had a better spin on it but i thought it was still a story full of yearning and lost love.

Who doesnt love that?

[Melos]

I'm completely partial to dragons, but do enjoy a good centaur as well.
I was never too fond of unicorns, and I thought - probably because of the Little Mermaid story - that mermaid were rather a bad thing to be.

[Slashmire]

Well now that the Phoenix is used I would have to pick...either the Behemoth, Leviathan or...even the Orochi

[TinyStar]

The unicorn definetly. I have such a fascinationg with them and dragons

[Odin]

Dragon for me.

[danrak]

Wow, kind of a tough question for me. While I do love dragons, there are some other creatures I wouldn't mind seeing. Believe it or not one is Cwn Annwn. They were the ghostly hounds of Annwn. They were all white with red ears and said to hunt on certain nights.

[Laurel Tavington]

frang said:

the Dobhar-Chú, a legendary creature of Ireland. The name translates as "water-dog," but by all reports it is a giant otter, perhaps King of all the otters.:

I guess this is one of the types of selkies... the Irish are great for inventing mythical beasts. But they also use more common animals too; the raven is my favorite amongst these animals. It is a herald of death on the battlefield. I also like the changelings that are said to be the offspring of the Fairies, and are often switched with human children. But I think that the Victorians may have twisted the changelings to be more "evil" than they once were.

[AcadianSidhe]

I'm a big fan of nature spirits- nymphs. I love Dryads and Naiads, and all the other types (Oreads, Nereids, etc.)

[ThoughtOnFire]

It's a hard question to answer, they are all so cool. I guess I can answer by asking myself which creature I would most like to be? DRAGON!!!

[Rascaduanok]

I’ve have to go with the Sandwraith .

NO, but seriously, ever since I sneakily watched An American Werewolf In London as a young kid when my parents had gone out I’ve had a fear of/fascination with lycanthropes and general werewolf mythology.

[greekgeek]

Dobhar-Chú -- fascinating. I wonder if that's what Susan Cooper was thinking of with those black -- were they minks? I forget -- in The Grey King, one of The Dark Is Rising series. (Anyone who likes Arthurian/Celtic mythos should read those; they're books for young adults but work for all ages.)

danrak -- I have an interesting anecdote. Two of my friends were driving a winding country road in northern Delaware one night, out in a forested area. A white dog ran across the road right in front of their car. Its eye glowed green, and the passenger remarked on how odd it was that it was reflecting towards the car at that angle -- normally, dog eyes reflect when they are facing a light source. Then the driver said she thought it had weird markings, because it was all white, except that it had reddish-brown ears.

At which point my friend who was the passenger told her to be very, very careful the rest of the way home!


I'm afraid my favorite animal has been a unicorn since I was very small, but it was always a black unicorn with bat wings and an obsidian horn like a scimitar.

No, I'm not Goth. There was just a unicorn like that in a beautiful illustrated book called In Pursuit of the Unicorn, and I though that looked much more interesting than the shining and pure and pretty ones.



As for other mythical beasties, I think I'd have to go with the Giant Carnivorous Furry Ants mentioned by Herodotus.

(He actually got half the story right, but it had obviously been embroidered by the time it reached his ears -- according to his version, the giant gold-digging furry ants were very fierce and would eat a full-grown camel. )

[WolfEye]

"cerberus" for me ... the hound of hades greek god of the underworld, and i love the "phoenix" because its linked to me horoscope "scorpio"