By Chelsea Hindle
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a writer in possession of a fantasy world must also be in want of some fantastic beasts to populate that world.
Unfortunately, however, this is an area that many fantasy writers stumble into the pitfall of cliches. Need some humanoid creatures, full of grace and goodness? Toss some elves into that forest and call it good. Need a large beast with human-level intelligence and a penchant for eating people? Dragons, done.
However, the mythology of the world is full-to-the-brim with fantastical creatures, spirits, and humanoids that are chronically overlooked in modern fantasy. In just ten minutes, you can discover six fantastic alternatives to cliché fantasy creatures and give your worldbuilding a unique twist that readers will remember for years to come.
While my family lives in Australia now, my grandparents immigrated here from the United Kingdom. Growing up listening to stories of old English and Scottish myths gave me a huge appreciation for the legends that have sprouted from the UK and Ireland and I’ve harbored a fascination with them ever since. So today we’ll be delving into the world of old British mythology, where we’ll be dredging up some creatures that deserve their chance in the limelight.
(Note: In this article, I am using “British Mythology” to loosely cover English, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish mythology, folklore, and legend. Where applicable, I will mention the specific area a creature or story comes from.)
1. Kelpie
Did you know that Australia’s unofficial national dog is called the kelpie? And did you know that the kelpie was named after an ancient water spirit from Scottish mythology?
How to Recognise The Kelpie
Whenever the kelpie reveals itself to humans, it takes the form of either a beautiful horse or a young man. However, particulars of its physical appearance vary between different mythological accounts. In its horse form, it is usually black in color, and its hooves face backward. Sometimes it also has a mane of snakes. Kelpies in human form are usually handsome young men, though they can also appear as hideous, hairy men, or beautiful young women. These stories are less circulated though.
How To Deal With The Kelpie
Kelpies are not easy to catch or kill, but there are a few methods used by legendary heroes and heroines. In many cases, the kelpie’s bridle is the key.
In some kelpie tales, the kelpie appears tacked up and ready to ride. In this case, the bridle must be removed, or else the rider will be drowned in the loch. If the bridle is removed, the kelpie would be under the control of the rider. The bridle is also endowed with magical properties that can aid the hero in their quest.
In other cases, a hero would have to catch the kelpie with a bridle stamped with a cross. This would make it as tame as an ordinary horse and apparently they made the best mounts.
And finally, kelpies can reportedly be killed with a silver bullet, just like werewolves.
Similar Creatures: Each Uisge, glashtyn/cabyll ushtey, water horse/Loch Ness Monster, nykk, hippocampus
For more about the Kelpie:
2. Banshee/Washerwoman
While “Screaming like a banshee” is a popular saying in Western Culture, the actual mythological spirit that inspired the saying is surprisingly little known.
The Banshee’s Backstory
The banshee (also known as a bean sidhe, or ban sith) is a female spirit, which warns of impending death. In Irish legend, popular belief held that specific families had their own banshee and that banshees fell into one of two camps.
How To Recognise the Banshee
Some banshees were old hags, who would scream around a house to gleefully announce a family member’s imminent death. Other banshees were beautiful young women who would weep for her family’s impending sorrow. Either way, her eyes are said to be red from wailing so much, and she either wears white or black. To see her is a mark of great misfortune.
Dealing with the Washerwoman
The Washerwoman (bean nighe) is another Scottish spirit closely related to the banshee. The bean nighe sits by quiet pools and streams and washes blood from the clothes of those who are about to die. She is usually elderly or ugly, but she can be caught, using a variety of methods that involve stealth and trickery. If you catch her, you can ask her who the clothes she is washing belong to, and then stop the death, or allow it to go ahead. She can also grant wishes and depart great knowledge.
Similar Creatures: La Llorona, The White Lady Ghost, Les Lavandieres, siren.
For More About the Banshee:
3. Black Shuck/Black Dog
While Black Shuck, aka the Black Dog, is criminally underrated as a ghost story, this creature has made a few appearances in recent fiction. Fans of both classic literature, such as The Hound of the Baskervilles, and modern fantasy, such as the Harry Potter series, will undoubtedly recognize this piece of chilling folklore.
How to Recognise the Black Dog
The Black Shuck is a giant, spectral dog, whose appearance is usually seen as an omen of death. Despite being an omen of death, occasionally Black Dogs will act as guardians for travelers walking alone at night—usually women.
While stories of terrifying dogs are common all over the world, especially in Europe, the true home of the Black Dog is in England, where, according to legend, it routinely terrorizes neighborhoods.
For example, around the area of Leeds, the Black Dog is known as Padfoot. It got its name from the common denominator in all the stories about it—people who sighted it always heard its padding paws, and sometimes the sound of dragging chains.
The Black Dog in Folklore and Modern Tales
Despite this, some Black Dogs are said to be silent. Or their only noise will be unearthly baying or howling. On Dartmoor, in south Devon, a pack of black hunting hounds are said to accompany their master, who sold his soul before his death. This legend allegedly inspired Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles—a Sherlock Holmes novel in which a demonic black hound has haunted the Baskerville family for centuries.
As mentioned earlier, the most popular modern depiction of the black dog is in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and its sequels. Harry’s godfather, Sirius Black, can transform into a gigantic black hound. In this guise, he is known as Padfoot, a nod to the Padfoot that is supposed to haunt Leeds.
Similar Creatures: The Church Grim, Cu Sith, Amarok, Cwn Annwn, Beast of Bodmin Moor, Cerberus, Cavall.
For More About the Black Shuck:
Devil Dogs: The Mysterious Black Dogs of England
4. Selkie
The selkies are the mysterious, sometimes tricky, seal folk who live in the waters surrounding Scotland. They are known for their beauty, grace, and ability to make almost any mortal fall in love with them.
How to Recognise the Selkie
In the water, selkies take the appearance of seals, usually the grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) however, once on land, they can shed their seal skins and take the appearance of men and women.
How To Deal With A Selkie
Almost all tales about selkies involve a human and a selkie falling in love, though whether that love is reciprocated or unrequited changes from tale to tale. Stories of men falling in love with selkie women usually involve moonlit meetings by the shore, where the man falls in love with the selkie maiden and attempts to force her to stay with him by stealing her seal skin and hiding it. However, the selkie maiden usually wins back her freedom when she finds her seal coat, abandoning her husband to return to her family beneath the waves.
Stories involving human women and selkie men, usually involve the selkie seeking out a woman whose husband is away (a fisherman or a sailor) and charming her. Or they involve a lonely woman in need of a lover, who goes to a beach and cries seven tears into the sea. Once she has done this, a selkie will come to comfort her.
The Personality of the Selkie
Selkies have diverse personalities which change from tale to tale, and each Scottish region has its own version of the myth. They range from shy and meek, to mischievous, to handsome and devilish. In Scotland, killing a seal was deemed bad luck, or a bad omen, due to the chance the seal might be one of the selkie folk.
It is also worth noting that in Scottish myth, selkies are often referred to as mermen or mermaids, and the terms can be used interchangeably, though they are arguably quite different creatures.
Similar Creatures: Ceasg, finfolk, merfolk, nix.
For More About Selkies:
5. Puca
Known by different names across the United Kingdom and Ireland, the puca is a mischievous shapeshifter. While a benevolent being, the puca does enjoy terrifying and confounding humans, merely for pleasure.
How to Recognise The Puca
It can change between both human and animal forms, though folklore suggests it prefers animal shapes. In human form, they can be identified by certain animal features—such as a tail or ears.
The puca is particularly fond of appearing to humans as a beautiful dark stallion, however, if a person tries to ride the puca stallion it will find itself being taken for a wild ride, though the puca causes no harm to its victim.
How to Deal With The Puca
Traditionally associated with autumn and the end of harvest, 1 November is the puca’s day, a day when farmers leave out shares of the harvest for the puca to consume. As with many other creatures on this list, the exact nature of the puca differs from region to region—in some areas it is merely a trickster, in other areas, it is more malevolent, and in others, it is a kind being who aids and protects humans in trouble.
The most famous depiction of the puca comes from Shakespeare’s A Midsomer Night’s Dream, where the trickster Puck causes most of the chaos in the story. Sadly though, while tricksters have lived on in popular culture, the puca has been neglected since Shakespeare’s day.
Similar Creatures: elf, fairy, goblin, boggart, brownie, pixie
For More About The Puca:
The Puca (Pooka) In Irish Folklore
6. Nuckelavee
The nuckelavee is a creature for the horror and dark fantasy writers among us. It is a sea monster, similar to a kelpie, though it dwells in saltwater rather than the freshwater of the lochs. In fact, freshwater is the only reliable method of getting the nuckelavee off your trail.
How to Recognise the Nuckelavee
While other creatures on this list, such as the kelpie and the selkie, are pleasant to look at, the nuckelavee is anything but. Centaur-like in its appearance, the nuckelavee’s defining attribute is that it has no skin, and possesses a single, glowing red eye.
The Curse of the Nuckelavee
Like many other mythical monsters, the nuckelavee’s curse was often given as the cause for many things we now know to be purely scientific. For example, the nuckelavee was said to be responsible for droughts and epidemics of sickness, and its breath was said to wilt crops and kill livestock.
The nuckelavee is a purely evil entity that, unlike kelpies and other water monsters, has no good points. It strikes fear into the hearts of whoever spots it and regularly wreaks havoc on villages that dare to defy or anger it.
As a side note, the nuckelavee was originally a singular creature, however, the scattered pieces of media that have made use of it in modern times, often rebrand the creature as a race or species, rather than a single spirit.
Similar Creatures: nøkk, kelpie, kraken, gorgon, leviathan, Nessie, Jörmungandr.
For More About The Nuckelavee:
The Terrifying Myth of Orkney’s Horse Demon, Nuckelavee
On that not-at-all-terrifying note, we’ve come to the end of our exploration through Britain’s fantastical creatures. We’ve found creatures that can fill all the usual roles in fantasy novels--the wise, beautiful ones, the horrible monsters, the light-fingered tricksters, and the terrifying ghosts.
So go forth, dear fantasy authors, and break the cliches! Create amazing, unique worlds that readers will remember for years.
And tell me, did you find any ideas for your next fantasy novel? What underutilized creatures would you like to see more of in fiction?
Chelsea Hindle
Chelsea Hindle is an almost-20-year-old writer who masquerades as a dog trainer by day and scribbles away in a notebook at night.
At the impressionable age of 15, she discovered Kingdom Pen, which changed her life in the best way possible and motivated her to pursue her dreams. Since then, she has written dozens of stories, made many mistakes, and enjoyed every second of the writing life.
When she isn’t writing fantastical tales, Chelsea can be found training her dogs to play the piano, cooking, knitting, and reading too many books.
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Ooh the Nuckelavee sounds cool!! These are free to use right lol, because this would fit really well with a land I’ve created.
Yes! They’re very old stories and are completely in the public domain 🙂
Awesome!! Thx!
Cool! i haven’t heard of half of those.
I’m glad I could enlighten you! They’re some fun creatures 😀
*aggressively takes notes* Wow, what an informative article, Chelsea! I particularly liked your explanation of the Puca–I wish I’d known about it when I was taking my Shakespeare class last semester. 😛
Thank you! The Puca is very cool and he definitely needs some more exposure! I’m so happy you enjoyed the article!
Whoa, I love all of these and haven’t heard of most of them before. *saves page*
I remember the Kelpie from the Keeper of the Lost Cities series. In the story, the elves (the main characters in KOTLC) are a little like the Lord of the Rings elves in that they are “immortal,” but everything about them is vastly different, as is with the dwarves, goblins, ogres, and gnomes–each has a similarity to the stories about them, but is also very unique. It’s the same with non-intelligent species; even extinct animals such as dinosaurs got a “makeover” in these books. They are a good place to look at if you want worldbuilding inspiration.
I was reading about the Puca on here and wondering why it sounded familiar. Then I looked at other names for it and ‘Pooka’ caught my eye! If you have ever heard of the play ‘Harvey’, there is a pooka in there. It is a very entertaining and funny play. Harvey the Pooka appears (to those who can see him) as a 6 ft tall white rabbit. Anyway, thanks for all the interesting creatures!
Very interesting.I was asked to write a poem on a course I was doing about myths and came up with this.It fits in with your explanation so well. I just had vague memories about a song I’d heard years ago.
Here it is:
He came to me at twilight
The orange of the
setting sun
Silhouetting his stout frame
When I saw him close
His eyes were luminescent green
Like the swirling sea close to shore
I never feared him
His hands were cool on me
His voice made tears
Pour from me
My throat moving up to my mouth
At the depth and roundness
Of his song
He touched my hair
And it ran in ringlets
I felt myself float
As in the calm pool
Of the close beach
His arms took me on a rhythmic dance
Softly flowing
From me to him
By morning he was gone
Dissolved into the thick mist of forgetfulness