Topic: Ancient Myths and Stories ...

[GamesPoet]

Found  this to be interesting ... Bárðar Saga Snæfellsáss ... of a half giant/half troll who made his home in Iceland...

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rehdppk8d0

And the territory, rock formations, human made stone walls, these would be neat to see in real life.

[Rowsdower]

On the subject of myth monsters. I like to think the Mothman is either Arthur from The Tick or the Mighty Monarch from Venture brothers

[Feanor Fire Heart]

I told my 3yo daughter the story of Little Red Riding Hood the other day. I may have made the Big Bad Wolf a bit too scary sounding. It was also dark since it was bed time so that may have added to the scare factor. It made me look up how many stories have The Big Bad Wolf in it (the only other one that came to me in memory was 3 little pigs) and apparently he is also in The Boy Who Cried Wolf (I just thought it was a regular wolf), The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids (which I am unfamiliar with) and Peter and the Wolf (also thought it was just a wolf not necessarily The Big Bad Wolf). There is also the French children's song "Promenons-nous dans les bois" ("Let's Stroll in the Woods") about kids walking/playing in the woods and avoiding the wolf (whom is slowly getting ready for the day throughout the song and comes after the children by the end of it). Here's a video of it: https://youtu.be/e4fhqWofgDk and while trying to find the video I discovered the new Resident Evil game includes a scary sounding version of it too.

There is also the real story of the Beast of Gévaudan, about a string of wolf attacks in France shortly after the 7 years war by a very large wolf (some believe it may have been a hyena or wolf/dog hybrid). According to a 1987 study, between 1764 and 1767 this "Big Bad Wolf" attacked 610 times, resulting in 500 deaths and 49 injuries; 98 of the victims killed were partly eaten. Other sources claim the animal (or animals) killed between 60-100 adults and children and injured more than 30. The King of France himself got involved and deployed troops and hunters to track down and kill the beast. The beast was reported killed several times before the attacks finally stopped. Astonishing Legends does a really good job of going over this legend if you want an in depth analysis.

Aside from the Beast of Gévaudan, wolf attacks in Europe were a very real threat throughout history, which may be why there are so many folktale stories about them which coalesced into the villain "The Big Bad Wolf." Unfortunately I scared my 3yo with Little Red Riding Hood a few nights ago that she declined to listen to the Three Little Pigs last night.

Edit: Oh and how could I have forgotten the Norse "Big Bad Wolf" of Fenrir, Loki's son and a literal Big Bad Wolf that bit off Tyr's hand and would help bring around Ragnarok.

[Jmash]

Not mythical in any way but wasn't there a story a few years ago of a town in Russia(?) that was essentially held captive by a large pack of wolves? From what I remember reading it was a tiny place with only a handful of residents, the wolves were going hungry and basically rocked up in the middle of this place so nobody was safe to leave their homes for a few days...

I do sometimes find it a real shame that where I live (UK) we are lacking basically all the alpha predators that we used to have in previous times

Though having said that we do have Nessie and a number of 'The beasts of...' on various moors and things, Exmoor, Bodmin etc.

[Feanor Fire Heart]

I do sometimes find it a real shame that where I live (UK) we are lacking basically all the alpha predators that we used to have in previous times

Though having said that we do have Nessie and a number of 'The beasts of...' on various moors and things, Exmoor, Bodmin etc.

Don't forget about the ABCs (Alien Big Cats). There are quite a number of sightings of them in the UK. I wouldn't be surprised if they were part of a Zoo that went under and they just freed them.

[Jmash]

Don't forget about the ABCs (Alien Big Cats). There are quite a number of sightings of them in the UK. I wouldn't be surprised if they were part of a Zoo that went under and they just freed them.

That's what a lot of people reckon 'The beasts of...' are to be honest, big cats that have escaped or been freed into the wilds from zoos or people who had them as illegal pets. You tend to just get reports of sheep being torn to bits and get 'sightings' every now and again, some are pretty convincing I have to admit especially in more recent times because people have high quality cameras on their phones, no more grainy blurs in the distance!

[Rowsdower]

I remember seeing a documentary series on the origin of the famous monsters.
The werewolf [and quite possibly Big-bad wolf] myth originated from a German town in the middle ages. A psychotic woodsman attacked his own family one day

[Fidelis von Sigmaringen]

That cannot be right: werewolves were already known in Antiquity.

In Greek mythology, Lycaon, a king of Arcadia was turned into a wolf, as punishment by Jove... euh Zeus, for serving him the roasted flesh of Lycaon's own son Nyctimus.

In history, Herodotus writes (Histories Book IV 105):
The Neuri follow Scythian customs; but one generation before the advent of Darius’ army, they happened to be driven from their country by snakes; for their land produced great numbers of these, and still more came down on them out of the desolation on the north, until at last the Neuri were so afflicted that they left their own country… It may be that these people are wizards; for the Scythians, and the Greeks settled in Scythia, say that once a year every one of the Neuri becomes a wolf for a few days and changes back again to his former shape. Those who tell this tale do not convince me; but they tell it nonetheless, and swear to its truth.

[GamesPoet]

Perhaps turning into a wolf was wearing a costume of a wolf head and fur.

[Feanor Fire Heart]

I know we get the term "lunatic" from the latin word for moon "luna," because it was believed that on a full moon some people would go crazy. I remember this in Latin class back in high school, and I think one of the characters in the text book witnesses a werewolf (lupinotuum) transformation.

[Rowsdower]

Oh well. I guess not everything on TV is true

[Feanor Fire Heart]

I used to read this short lived web comic called "Stick Gods" which was about stick figure versions of Ancient Egyptian gods. I posted this gif of them dancing peanuts style on another forum and it just occurred to me that of the 11 gods present in the gif, 9 of them are showing up in some capacity in the novel I am writing.

https://inonibird.tumblr.com/stick-gods



For the uninitiated:

Ra (Sun god) is on the cello
Thoth (God of wisdom and writing) is on the piano
Set (God of the desert, foreigners, and chaos) is on the guitar.

The dancing ones are Hathor (fertility goddess with a cows head), Wepwawet (finder of ways, a Jackal), Mafdet (cat goddess of justice), Osiris (zombie god of the dead), Horus (falcon headed sky god and patron god of Pharaohs), Bastet (cat goddess of protection, usually home protection), Anubis (jackal god of the dead and embalming), and Sekhmet (lioness goddess of war and slaughter and sometimes the dual aspect of either Hathor or Bastet).

[GamesPoet]

Looks like quite the halloween crew there.

[Rowsdower]

On the subject of ancient Egypt. I've nearly finished a Thousand sons rhino.
I stuck some Tomb kings bits on it and am sticking some AOS ghosts on the inside

[Feanor Fire Heart]

On the subject of ancient Egypt. I've nearly finished a Thousand sons rhino.
I stuck some Tomb kings bits on it and am sticking some AOS ghosts on the inside

I'd love to see it! Sounds awesome!

[Gankom]

Thoth was always a favorite. Thats a nice little gif!

[Feanor Fire Heart]

Thoth was always a favorite. Thats a nice little gif!

[Rowsdower]

On the subject of ancient Egypt. I've nearly finished a Thousand sons rhino.
I stuck some Tomb kings bits on it and am sticking some AOS ghosts on the inside

I'd love to see it! Sounds awesome!

I always work the theme into my 40k rhinos
The Khorne rhino is caked in blood, the nurgle rhino is full of slime, Thousands sons has ghosts in it....aaaand the Slaanesh rhino......a pair of demontettes who are really enjoying each others company

[Feanor Fire Heart]

Overly Sarcastic Productions does wondersul myth legend and folktale videos.  One that really caught my eye was about the Wild Hunt. My wife and I loved it so much that when the winds get loud and bad around here in Massachusetts we often refer to it as the Wild Hunt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZIl8RZvv6I

Whats interesting is her Macedonian roots have a similar such phenomenon they call Promia which is a malevolent spirit that attacks people who do not cover their backs when they are sleeping and/or leave their windows open on cold/windy nights. Anywho, this is a fun and interesting watch. They just released a video on werewolves but I haven't gotten around to watching it yet.

[Rowsdower]

Several years ago, I had an overly academic friend. He and I once had a joke about Anubis living in a kennel which was opulent and overly decorated

[Feanor Fire Heart]

Anubis wouldn't be in the kennel though, his pet Ammut on the other hand... (inset "a mutt" joke here)

[Fidelis von Sigmaringen]

Forgive them, they are newbies in such matters...

[Feanor Fire Heart]

Forgive them, they are newbies in such matters...

[Rowsdower]

On the subject. My cats knocked over my Tomb kings today. No major damage except to the Ushabti. The not-Anubis guy needs repairs

[commandant]

Well cats are honoured by the gods