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Posted by: Pyxis Aug 31 2008, 10:11 PM

Here is a partial list of the magical creatures referred to in the series. It would be fascinating to find out how many of these creatures are a part of our mythological history. Use this thread to share any images you find, and any tidbits of information that you find interesting.

Dwarf
Satyr
Unicorn
Dryad
Naiad
Centaur
Bull with head of man

Ghoul
Boggle
Ogre
Minotaur
Cruel
Hag
Specters
Man with head of bull
Incubus
Wraith
Horror
Efreet
Sprite
Orkney
Woos
Ettin

Please limit image size to 300 by 300 pixels, or leave a link to an image, please credit your source.

Posted by: ravenclawgirl34 Sep 6 2008, 09:53 PM

http://dumbbum.net/mino/photo/minotaur3.gif

The Minotaur was a creature in Greek mythology. The story was that King Minos of Crete was given victory over his brothers by Posidon, and was supposed to thank the god by sacrificing a beautiful white bull to him. However, Minos was so taken by the beauty of the bull, that he didn't sacrifice it. As punishment, Posidon made Minos's wife fall in love with the bull, and concieve a child by it. The child had the head of a bull and the body of a man, and was only appeased by the regular sacrifice of virgins. It was housed in the Labyrinth, which Icaras and Dadelus built. The virgins it required were taken from the conquered Athens. The third round of sacrifices from Athens contained Theseus, Prince of Athens, who had sworn to slay the Minotaur. When he arrived at Crete, he fell in love with the Princess Ariedne, who helped him by smuggling him a ball of thread to mark his way through the Labyrinth. He slayed the Minotaur, and went on to provide more Greek tragedy. But that's another story.

My sources were partly my Arts and Humanities class that I'm taking, and partly Wikipedia.

Posted by: lollifant Sep 7 2008, 02:18 PM

I couldn't find the Fauns in the list I so loved reading about Mr. Tumnus! A few years ago I went to visit Pompeii and one the houses is called 'House of the Faun' because it has this little bronze statue of a faun.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:HouseOfTheFaunOverview.jpg

Fauns are from the roman mythology, unfortunately they connected their fauns with satyrs from the greek mythology, who are the wild and drunken followers of Bacchus (god of the wine). Both looked like goats, but Satyrs had human feet and Fauns obviously not. The fauns from Narnia are not at all like satyrs, they're friendly are good companions, at least that's what I thought as I read about them.

Posted by: Pyxis Sep 9 2008, 10:44 PM

That image of the minotaur was downright evil, ravenclawgirl, gave me the shivers. It adds a whole new dimension to the book to be able to put pictures in my head.

I'm glad you included some information on fauns, lollifant, I can't believe I left them off the list! I thought the part about them being followers of Bacchus was very interesting, because it fits with Mr. Tumnus' personality.

I was googling some of the other creatures on the list, and C.S. Lewis didn't hold back when he was choosing his evil creatures. Some of them seem to be his own invention, but I did find some interesting information on wraiths.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wraith

The wraith is a being of power, controlled by a greater spirit to do the creatures will. These creatures are shadows, floating amongst our realm with no purpose but that of their masters. They feed on humans, their emotions and their own strength, without these they would cease to exist. Information considering their lesser-known qualities is difficult to obtain.


Some other examples cited of wraiths in literature are J.R.R. Tolkein's ringwraiths, and our own J.K. Rowling's Dementors.

Posted by: Bombadillo Sep 10 2008, 03:23 PM

I found the usage of so many mythical and pagan creatures in an overt christian allegory to be very interesting. I have often wondered why C. S. Lewis choose to use them in his stories, especially in Prince Caspian when Baccus and all of the driads and fauns go convorting down the river. Any thoughts?

Posted by: magical__me Sep 10 2008, 04:42 PM

In Greek mythology, the centaurs are a race of creatures composed of part human and part horse. This half-human and half-animal composition has led many writers to treat them as liminal beings, caught between the two natures, embodied in contrasted myths, and as the embodiment of untamed nature, as in their battle with the Lapiths, or conversely as teachers, like Chiron.

Posted by: firekeeper Sep 10 2008, 05:11 PM

Dryads are tree nymphs in Greek mythology. In Greek drys signifies 'oak,' from an Indo-European root *derew(o)- 'tree' or 'wood'. Thus dryads are specifically the nymphs of oak trees, though the term has come to be used for all tree nymphs in general. "Such deities are very much overshadowed by the divine figures defined through poetry and cult," Walter Burkert remarked of Greek nature deities (Burkert 1986, p174). Normally considered to be very shy creatures, except around the goddess Artemis who was known to be a friend to most nymphs

My source is from Wikipedia, and here is a link to a picture http://img133.imageshack.us/my.php?image=47311534ua2.png

Posted by: momwitch Sep 11 2008, 07:01 AM

I'm thinking that if the stories are truly autobiographical to an extent, that the mythological characters document the time when Lewis immersed himself in the varied lores of many different cultures and civilizations, including the Scandinavian Sagas.

From the Sagas, I'm getting the feeling that Jadis was at least somewhat loosely based upon the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanir, or as a Brunhilde-type http://www.khandro.net/dakini_north.htm. Perhaps she is also a corrupted version of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freyja, who in the stories gave of herself to four dwarves for Brisingamen, a finely crafted necklace which she desired.

After witnessing so much death and destruction, as Lewis did in both World Wars, one could reasonably see where the promise and rewards of Valhalla through the Battle Maidens brought upon him a personal crisis, for all sides in war have their courageous and valorous. It seems to me that as a result, he eventually saw the umbrella of Christianity as embracing all myth and meaning, under which every different belief could find repose and peaceable co-existence.

Posted by: Perenelle Sep 24 2008, 02:09 PM

Some of these creatures have such wonderful names and really give an impression of evil, even without any more information. My favourite are Cruel and Horror - we know perfectly well that the words mean, but what sort of creature would be given that name?

One thing I can't fathom is an Orkney - the Orkney Islands are remote but not scary, as far as I know. Anyone know what this could be?

Posted by: Dreamteam Sep 24 2008, 05:41 PM

The theory put forward on http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0OON/is_3-4_26/ai_n25404738/pg_1 site is that "Orknies" is the plural of Orc, or at least refers to Orcs, as an acknowledgement of Tolkien's influence. I haven't found Cruels and Horrors yet but its getting late lol, will try again tomorrow.