Princess Ivy

ok, best example of a lot of classic mythological creatues being used in modern fiction is obviously harry potter. we have werewolves, vampires, hypogriffs and other creatures comming out of the woodwork. but how many of them are classical figures, and how many are simply creations of rowling? and what of using classical mythological monsters (such as the three headed dog) and subverting them to childrens fiction, and to fairly mundane everday sightings. Is it right to do so, or would it be better to keep dragons as creatures of ancient myth, rather than being used as part of an obstacle course?
personally i'm much in favour of bringing these fantastic creatures out of the old stories and introducing them to new readers.

Winters_Sorrow

It's always good to dust off these old chestnuts every so often.
Personally, I find using existing mythological creatures a bit lazy for authors. It solves having to explain what a creature is as everyone knows what a werewolf is. I liked JK using the condition as a tragedy for Lupin and exploring the alientation he must have felt (I found it similar to what an HIV sufferer must have to go through in today's society) as a result.
If authors do use these creatures I like them to play with them a little however and twist the origins a little if they can.
I remember a story which cast dyrads as evil killers rather than lovely forest maidens which was good because it forced you to look again at what they were - intelligent or merely feral?

I find that I enjoy these creatures when they're given room to 'live' and not just be another monster for the hero to kill. The Dragonriders of Pern for instance

Princess Ivy

ah, now to hit my stride, i really like the way the dragons were a product of bio=engineering, rather than just fabulous mythical beasts. this gave them a sort of immediacy which other dragon stories have lacked. that the dragons have their own conciunces and thoughts and feelings and are INDIVIDUALS is something which is being copied horribly now cougheragoncough. i love the dragon riders of pern, although the continutiy can be a little sketchy, and a few of the books just wrong.

Winters_Sorrow

haven't read Eregon, but I agree that once you make these fantastic creatures characters rather than generic antagonists in novels, you can explore the 'reality' of being a Dragon in a Man's world :biggrin:

Princess Ivy

or a man in a dragon's. one of the reasons i loved earthsea trillogy so much, the dragons were the ones with the power in the main, man was the interloper. oh the men had their land etc... but very much at the dragon's approval. the iron dragon is still one of my favorite characters in lit.
i read eragon as well. pitty it wasn't left for a time and big chunks re-written, it could have been so good.

Alexa

I'm kinda tired of vampires' stories. Dracula is all right as a classical. The other can go to the garbage.

I think all the stories with dragons are cool. They have that magical power on me. Remember the dragons from Hobb's trilogies ? You are right, Princess. The dragons have the power and men have to obey.

What about the other mythological creatures like mermaids ? I would like to read new stories with them. I'm a bit confused. Are genies considered as mythological creatures ?

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Princess Ivy

i love jan siegels use of mermaids in her prospero's children trillogy.

Stalker

That's why I love the movie Dragonheart so much... :biggrin:

Princess Ivy

of course, along the lines of pulling ancient myths into the modern day, robert holdstock's mythago wood and merlin codex are fantastic.