I don’t know about you, but I forget stuff all the time. No, I’m not getting senile. I’m always trying to do too many things at once.
So I live and die by post it notes. They’re my reminders to do pretty much everything.
I make a new list every day of things I need to knock off. Sometimes it’s a few things and sometimes it’s a lot. Depends on the day.
Anyways, this is my second time talking about writer’s block or creative’s block this month. Since I paint women, I’m making a character list for myself. You’re more than welcome to use this list too if you’re anything from an author to a painter to a dungeon master. This may just inspire you to add a creature or two to your upcoming novel, screenplay, or fantasy campaign.
Human like fantasy femme fatales
Right away, we have mermaids, fairies, witches, sirens, dryads, nymphs, and naiads.
Sirens
I assume you already know what mermaids, witches, nymphs, and fairies are. Just in case you don’t know the others, sirens are a mythological creature from Ancient Greece. They had such a beautiful song that sailors would be so captivated by it that they’d forget what they’re doing and crash into the rocks and die.
Some cultures had overlaps between sirens and mermaids. And some cultures even said they’re the same thing.
Dryads and Naiads
Dryads are forest spirits who literally live inside a tree. They’re rather lonely creatures and will lure a young handsome man into their tree to live with them forever.
Don’t you love that word forever? It’s used so often in fairy tales and live songs.
Naiads are beautiful water spirits. They live in freshwater only. Naiads are fascinating creatures in Greek mythology. Often jealous, they blinded one young man and fused with another.
Sometimes they’re worshipped. Other times, they’re scary stories. And other times, they’re lovers of Kings.
Semi-human fantasy femme fatales
The Sphinx
You’ve heard the story of the Sphinx. Since the Egyptian Sphinx is a male, I’ll talk about the Greek Sphinx instead.
She has the head of a beautiful woman, the body of a lion, the wings of an eagle, and the tail of a snake. She’s quite dangerous as she riddles you, and if you cannot answer the riddle, she’ll eat you.
Oedipus finally defeated the Sphinx by answering her riddle. Afterwards, she got so mad that he got it right that she killed herself.
The riddle? What has four legs in the morning, two legs in the day, and three legs at night. The answer? Man.
A baby crawls on all fours. Learns to walk on two legs. And needs a cane in his old age.
The harpy
Have you ever seen Fantasia? Walt obviously did his homework.
Romans saw them as hideous creatures but the early Greeks saw them as beautiful women with wings. In Fantasia, they were the Roman version – hideously scary and dangerous.
Succubi
A succubus is the female version of an incubus. Both slip into the dreams of their respective opposite sex and if they successfully seduce you in your dream, you die and they get your soul.
Lilith, Adam’s first wife before Eve, supposedly was a succubus.
At first inspection, they’re beautiful young women. But as you really look into them, you can start to see demonic deformities. Yet another reason not to close your eyes when making love, right?
Alright friends. I think that should be enough to get you started. One of these days, I’ll write a sequel to this article.
