Subject: Re: The fair folk
Author:
Posted on: 2013-07-07 22:44:00 UTC
There needs to be a Fairy-type Pokémon like this. I don't even care which type of classic fae, just at least one of them. I remember at least one species that came out of hiding in winter to freeze people solid because it thought it was fun. That would make a good Pokémon. It would go well with the numerous Ghost-types and Psychic-types that steal or devour people's souls.
I have ironically noticed the large amount of distortions of the original fae myths. The average member of Homo sapiens belive that if fairies were real, they'de be like Tinkerbell, specificaly the recent CGI movies involving her. A lesser number recall that originaly, the fae were psychopaths, with no concept of empathy, and had to be appeased regularly to prevent them from wreaking havoc on your farm, and destroying your livelyhood for the fun of it. In many myths, if they weren't forcing you to dance until your legs were worn to stumps, or turning poor unfortunants to hedges, they would do whatever the heck they wanted to your barn animals. I find it refreshing when a canon depicts the Fae as they were originaly depicted. Utterly alien. Any feedback on this?
Holly Black usually portrays the fae as bloody and amoral. The Poison Eaters is an anthology with a good amount of pretty nightmarish faeries, as is her trilogy Tithe, Valiant and Ironside. The Tithe trilogy (especially Ironside) is interesting because it shows the differences between the Seelie and Unseelie Courts without 'humanizing' either side. Valiant can be read as a stand alone and has little to do with the plot of Tithe or Ironside, but Tithe should be read before Ironside.
One is Magic: the Gathering. If you look up the creature type faerie, you'll end up with lots of cards that disrupt the flow of the game. In-universe, faeries are largely known for being mischievous.
The second example that comes to mind is the fairies in The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages. They turn the local forest into a maze so they can play hide and seek with you. Multiple times.
Although Long Earth had "elves" in name only, they had the same mindset. Whenever Terry Pratchett is involved, fae act like fae.
Lords and Ladies from the Lancre Witches arc features fae as they were in the old myths, as does the first Tiffany Aching book, The Wee Free men - both of which I highly recommend.
...a new Discworld book has been announced, Raising Steam, set for October 24th 2013! It was announced on the official website on July 6th! Only a few details have been released, but we know it involves a train, and that Moist von Lipwig is apparently the main character!
I'm going to stop using exclamation points now, grow slightly more coherent, and state that this is some of the most exciting news I've gotten since... oh, the beginning of the year. (And now for more exclamation points: NEW DISCWORLD, YAY!)
I am very excited for it. And will have to drop large hints to my relatives.
That's awesome! I can't wait. Man, this fall's going to be great for new books for me. I'm already awaiting the second in the 'Finishing School' series by Gail Carriger, and now this? Even more literary shinyness.
There needs to be a Fairy-type Pokémon like this. I don't even care which type of classic fae, just at least one of them. I remember at least one species that came out of hiding in winter to freeze people solid because it thought it was fun. That would make a good Pokémon. It would go well with the numerous Ghost-types and Psychic-types that steal or devour people's souls.
That would be frostlass. It was based off of a Japanese ghost that would do just the same thing. They should make some legendaries based off the Seelie, and Unseelie court. Both fairy type, but one dark/fairy, the other pure fairy.
(hands over the mini-Rayquaza frostlass)
From the looks of it, Froslass's mythological inspiration is more like an ice-based will-o-the-wisp, drawing people off their paths and making them lost so that they die of hypothermia, and then dragging off their frozen corpses. Still creepy, but not the same thing. It might be close enough to prevent a Pokémon based on that particular fae, though, which makes me a bit disappointed.
What, one Pokémon based on an entire fae organization? How would they pick which member best represents the entire group? Still, though, Dark/Fairy would make an interesting type combination. We'll have to wait until the reveal of what Fairy-type's weaknesses and resistances to see if it's any good or not.
When I looked for another good example of a folklore fae, I found that a lot of them tended to be water-based or associated with water, like Ondine or the selkie. If the mythological inspiration follows, there are going to be a lot of Water/Fairy-types, which makes retconning Marill into that type combination even more confusing than it already was.
Oh, a good Fire/Fairy could be Nain Rouge, a gnome-like creature resembling a horned monkey that shoots fire out of its eyes and delights in arson and getting back at people. I can see a very effective move set from that concept. Plus, Pokémon's always needed a move that gives the user heat vision.
Wikipedia is a lot of fun, but now I've got three tabs open on Celtic mythology, one on the races of giants in Dungeons and Dragons, and another on the Elder Gods of the Cthulhu Mythos. Knowing me, one of them is eventually going to be about some obscure comic book character or an East European country with a name that's fun to say out loud. Well, back to my Wiki Walk.