List of mythical creatures

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of mythical creatures . In general, one can differentiate between human, animal and human-animal hybrid beings . Each being is only listed once.

Mythical creatures by locality

General and international

The following list includes mythical creatures and genus of mythical creatures that are known across cultures and continents.

Human form

  • Bigfoot - furry large creature that lives in the mountain forest
  • Elves - also alb, elves or alves; heterogeneous group of nature spirits
  • Fairy - mythical creatures with supernatural powers, female or male
  • Bottle spirit - caught in a vessel, fulfills the liberator's wishes
  • Ghost - spirit being endowed with supernatural abilities
  • Ghoul - man- and corpse-eating demon, female called Ghula
  • Gnome - short stature, living under the surface of the earth
  • Goblin - malicious nuisance or grotesquely ugly ghost
  • Witch and sorcerer - people endowed with magical powers
  • Homunculus - artificially created human being, demonic helper
  • Incubus - nocturnal demon, causes nightmares
  • Leprechaun - house ghost who likes to tease its residents without harm
  • Headless rider - undead rider with a severed head
  • Klabautermann - ship's spirit, warns the captain of dangers
  • Air spirit - natural spirit of the air, next to fire and water spirits
  • Noon demon - spirit being appearing at noon
  • Mummy - undead, mummified person
  • Ogre - human-like fiend with enormous strength
  • Ork - unlike monster of the underworld of stately size
  • Poltergeist - noticeable by making noises or moving objects
  • Giant - human-like, especially large being
  • Sandman - mythical creature with strong sleeping sand
  • Sylph - nature spirits assigned to the element air
  • Tricksters - characters who use tricks to mess things up
  • Troll - clumsy, scary supernatural creature
  • Angel of Death - angel, brings death, accompanies the deceased into the afterlife
  • Vampire - blood-sucking night figure, revived corpse
  • Santa Claus - symbolic figure of Christmas gifts
  • Revenant - deceased, as a physical appearance in the living
  • Yeti - Tibetan snowman, two-legged and hairy
  • Wizard - human form with magical abilities
  • Tooth fairy - leaves children gold coins for teeth that have fallen out
  • Zombie - risen from the dead and brought to life
  • Dwarf - human-shaped, short mythical creatures
Centaur, 1160/1170

Human or animal form

  • Berggeist - generic term for mythical creatures in mines or in the mountains
  • Demon - spirit that frightens, threatens or harms people
  • Spirit beings - immaterial with superhuman, limited capabilities
  • House spirit - spirit that lives in a house or property
  • Will-o'-the-wisp - leads people astray in the moor with lights
  • Centaur - creatures made of a human torso and horse trunk
  • Kinderschreckfigur - fictional character that scared children
  • Grain Demon - supernatural beings in the cornfield or plantings
  • Mermaid - a hybrid of woman and fish
  • Minotaur - hybrid creature with a human body and a bull's head
  • Nature spirit - "subtle" being, connected with the place of nature
  • Vine woman - figure emerging from a calyx
  • Sphinx - hybrid creature of lion and human head
  • Monster - Emphasizing creatures, size, strength, or ugliness
  • Undead - dead beings, returning to the living as revenants
  • Forest spirit - nature spirit that is at home in the forest
  • Water spirit - can be found in or near bodies of water
  • Werewolf - a person who turns into a wolf on a full moon

Animal shape

  • Dragon - snake-like hybrid creature
  • Unicorn - horse or goat shape with a straight horn on the middle of the forehead
  • Griffin - lion-like, bird of prey head, beak, pointed ears, wings
  • Hippogryph - head, wings and forelegs of an eagle, abdomen of a horse
  • Manticore - hybrid of lion and dragon / scorpion
  • Easter bunny - bunny who paints and hides Easter eggs

German-speaking area

Mythical beast , dragon , stained glass ; Austria 15th century

Human form

Querx

Human or animal form

Animal shape

Wolpertinger, 1752

Mediterranean and Orient

Human form

  • Acephale - headless, mythical people in the Middle Ages
  • Anguane - female demon from Romance mythology
  • Befana - witch of Italian folk beliefs who brings gifts
  • Faunus - god of nature and the forest, protects farmers and shepherds
  • Gorgons - three winged frightful figures with snake hair
  • Kynokephale - dog-headed beings, a monstrous fabulous people
  • Lamias - demonic, vampire-like beasts, eager for blood
  • Medusa - Gorgon with a mortal nature, beheaded by Perseus
  • Naiad - nymphs who watch over springs, streams, rivers and lakes
  • Nereid - 50 daughters of Nereus and Doris
  • Nymph - female nature spirit, benevolent deity of lower rank
  • Panoti - fabulous people of ear people in travelogues
  • Satyr - demon and hybrid creature in the wake of Dionysus
  • Skiapods - single-legged animals with only one leg
  • Siren - female, also bearded mythical creature
  • Titan - giant in human form
  • Kyklop - with a single eye on his forehead, mythical builder

Animal shape

Basilisk, 1548/1558
  • Basilisk - King of the Serpents
  • Behemoth - monsters from the Tanakh
  • Chimera - hybrid creature, actually "goat"
  • Dhampir - child of a vampire father and a human mother
  • Harpy - hybrid creature as a winged woman
  • Hydra - many-headed snake-like monster
  • Hekatoncheiren - huge son of Uranus, 50 heads and 100 hands
  • Hippocampus - a horse in front, a fish in the back
  • Ichthyokentaurs - Centaur- Tritons
  • Illuyanka - serpent demon of Hittite mythology
  • Kerberos - multi-headed dog, guards the entrance to the underworld
  • Lamassu - protective demon with a bull's body, wings and human head
  • Leviathan - sea monster of Judeo-Christian mythology
  • Mermecolion - Asiatic mythical creature, lion head and ant body
  • Pegasus - winged horse
  • Phoenix - mythical bird, burns at the end of its life
  • Rakshasa - demons of Indian mythology
  • Roch or rock - mythical creatures from Arabic stories
  • Sphinx - daughter of the monsters Typhon and Echidna
  • Thoeris - protective goddess of pregnant women, Egyptian mythology
  • Vishap - evil spirit of Armenian mythology
  • Ziz - giant primeval bird of Jewish mythology

Europe

  • Addanc - sea monster from Welsh mythology
  • Alpine mother - Alpine spirit that haunts the huts and farms
  • Mandrake - poisonous medicinal and ritual plant
  • Askeladden - fictional character in Norwegian sagas, little man
  • Augurey -
  • Banshee - Banshee, female spirit from the otherworld
  • Baobhan-Sith - seductive vampire who kills pretty young men
  • Caladrius - white bird of mythology and superstition
  • Dahu, Däjü - mythical creatures, equivalent to Wolpertinger
  • Fenix ​​men - Silesian, dwarfish demon
  • Formori - fabulous people of malformed and violent beings
  • Gargoyle - also Gargyl, mostly fantastic animal forms
  • Glatisant - bizarre creature from the world of King Arthur
  • Grendel - monstrous figure of the early Anglo-Saxon heroic epic
  • Haggis - have shorter legs on the left than on the right
  • Hanghuhn - fantasy creatures with legs of different lengths
  • Kelpie (water spirit) - large horse, sometimes with a fish tail
  • Korrigan - fairy or dwarfish ghost figure of the Celts
  • Lutin (mythology) - mythical creature like a house ghost, wears red hat
  • Mermaid - water spirit of the northern European folk tradition
  • Norns - fate-determining female beings
  • Redcap - malicious, bloodthirsty goblin, elf or fairy
  • Schabbock - legendary figure of southern western Styria
  • Selkies - seals coming ashore from Scottish mythology
  • Skvader - fantasy animal similar to Wolpertinger in Sweden
  • Spriggan - evil thieves, robbers, burglars and villains
  • Stalo - Sami mythical creature
  • Turul - bird and mythical creature, similar to eagle and falcon
  • Water woman - figure with a positive attitude towards people
  • Aquarius (mythology) - generic term for male water spirits
  • Changeling - infant pushed under by a demonic being
  • Wild Hunt - supernatural hunters who hunt across the sky

Eastern Europe

  • Alkonost - birds with the face of a beautiful woman
  • Aitvaras - flies, mostly fiery, brings grain and wealth
  • Baba Jaga - old woman or grandmother, popular fairy tale character
  • Barstukken - Prussian dwarf men, like German pixies
  • Bjes -
  • Bogatyr - warriors from medieval Russian sagas
  • Domowoj -
  • Drekavac - from the soul of a child who died before baptism
  • Eglė - Lithuanian folk tale
  • Firebird - magically glowing bird, brings blessing and disaster
  • Hejkal -
  • Chicken god - stone with a naturally formed hole
  • Caucasus - lower mythical creature in the Baltic language area
  • Kikimora - pagan deity rededicated to poltergeist
  • Koshchei - ugly old man who threatens young women
  • Laima - personification of fate, luck and misfortune
  • Lauma - fairy creatures from Baltic mythology
  • Mātes - maternal forces of nature in Latvian mythology
  • Midday woman - female natural spirit of the Slavic world of legends
  • Morena - brings spring and fertility, also winter, night, death
  • Perchta - legendary figure of continental Germanic mythology
  • Permoniki -
  • Ragana - witch, similar to Lauma, has cannibalistic traits
  • Rusálka - female water spirit of low rank
  • Sirin - birds that resemble owls, with the face of a beautiful woman
  • Smei -
  • Snegurochka - Snow Maiden, Russian fairy tale character
  • Svyatogor - warrior with supernatural powers
  • Tscharana - bird of enormous size, mythology Eastern European Roma
  • Father Frost - personification of winter, presents the children
  • Víla - group being, predominantly associated with the water element
  • Vjed -
  • Vodyanoi - Aquarius

America

Africa

Asia

  • Aswang - corpse-eating creature in Filipino mythology
  • Auraka - Polynesian god of death
  • Bajang - Malaysian demon in stillborn children
  • Baku - charitable chimera of the yōkai
  • Bixi - turtle with the head of a dragon
  • Bixie - lion-like creatures with wings, drives away evil spirits
  • Diwata - comparable to fairy or nymph, mostly female
  • Fenghuang - mythological bird, symbol of good luck in Chinese culture
  • Garuda - snake-killing, human and eagle-shaped mount
  • Hitodama - ghost, fictional being of Japanese mythology
  • Kappa - Japanese river goblin, demon
  • Kitsune - red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and ice fox
  • Long - Chinese dragon, like a deity
  • Makara - mount of the Hindu river gods
  • Merlion - mythical creature with a lion head, strength and fearlessness
  • Naga - serpent creature of Indian mythology
  • Oni - from the spirit of the deceased to stupid, ogre-like fiends
  • Orochi - eight-headed dragon from Koshi from Shinto mythology
  • Pangu - the first living thing on earth in Chinese mythology
  • Peng - giant Chinese bird Roch
  • Qilin - Chinese unicorn, also known as a magical creature
  • Tanuki - raccoon dog
  • Tengu - Japanese mythical creatures in the monster category
  • Yuki Onna - Japanese snow woman, a fictional being

Australia

  • Bunyip - legendary animal, according to Aborigines in rivers, water holes
  • Drop Bear - fictional Australian marsupial, unusually large

Other

Illustration for the book Zur See , from 1885
  • Dryad - tree spirit, nymph of the oak trees
  • Fenoderee - leprechaun in Isle of Man folklore, house spirit
  • Idise - female mythical creatures of Norse mythology
  • Leprechaun - leprechaun, nature spirit of Irish mythology
  • Nis Puk - takes care of the house, yard and animals, lives in the attic
  • Pixie - leprechaun, has wings, pointy ears and green clothes
  • Puk - dwarf figure in folk tales
  • Shellycoat - Scottish water spirit with a shell dress
  • Tylwyth Teg - ethereal, beautiful and blond-haired beings
  • Urisk - lives in springs and ponds of the Scottish Highlands
  • White woman , Hulda , Perchta - ghost in castles
  • Imp - fantasy creature, does good in Nordic legends
  • Wilder Mann - lonely, strong prehistoric man
  • Zashiki-warashi - protect the houses, welcome guests

Demons, undead

  • Abaddon - angel of the abyss, mythological figure of the Bible
  • Ahasver - man of unknown origin, the Eternal Jew
  • Asmodeus - demon of Jewish mythology
  • Belial - demonic figure of the Bible
  • Divs - repulsive, predatory demon of Persian mythology
  • Draugr - dead person who lives on in his burial mound
  • Golem - mute, human-like, with enormous size and power
  • Imp - mythical creatures
  • Jiang Shi - describes an undead in Chinese mythology
  • Kaubuk - evil or submissive spirit, also Alf, Drak, Lataniec
  • Larvae - spirits of the deceased of the Roman religion
  • Lilith - female demon in the world tree, winged hybrid creature
  • Nosferatu - vampire in Romania, undead
  • Sōjōbō - mythical king of the Tengu, in forests and mountains of Japan
  • Strigoi - variation of the Upir vampire character of Romanian folklore
  • Tokoloshe - dwarfish, evil mythical creature of the mythology of the Zulu

Other

  • Baldanders - changeable fabulous figure, chameleon and proteus
  • Djinn - a supernatural being, made of smokeless fire
  • Ifrit - spirit beings of Islamic mythology, created from fire
  • Marid - ruler of the jinn in Arabic mythology
  • Nephilim - gigantic, of divine beings and human women
  • Valkyrie - female spirit being in the wake of Odin, the father of the gods

Individual mythical creatures

Local mythical creatures

Mythical literary creatures

Scientific mythical creatures

See also

literature

  • Jorge Louis Borges , M. Guerrero: Unicorn, Sphinx and Salamander. The book of imaginary beings. (Original title "El libro de los seres imaginarios" [First edition 1957]). Fischer, Frankfurt 1993, most recently 2004, ISBN 3-596-10584-6 .
  • Peter Kremer: Where horror lurks. Bloodsuckers and headless horsemen, werewolves and revenants on Inde, Erft and Rur. Düren 2003, ISBN 3-929928-01-9 .
  • Montague Summers: The Vampire. His Kith and Kin . London 1928.
    • Montague Summers: The Vampire in Europe. London 1929. (Several reprints).
    • Montague Summers: The Werewolf . London 1933. (Several reprints).
  • Nicolaus Equiamicus (ed.) The world of spirits. Diedorf 2008, ISBN 978-3-86608-086-7 .

Web links

Commons : Mythical Creatures  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Darmstädter Echo, Tuesday, August 19, 2014, p. 15.