Posts tagged mythical-creatures
In ancient Mesopotamian mythology, Humbaba was an evil giant slain by the hero Gilgamesh in the famous Epic of Gilgamesh. In the epic, there was only one Humbaba, but for the purposes of this quest...
As a series of anatomically correct myths, here we have the Nuckelavee. Is there a realistic way that Nuckelavee could evolve? Using Earth or near-Earth biology, how close could I get to the classi...
As a series of anatomically correct myths, here we have the griffin. Is there a realistic way that griffins could evolve? Using Earth or near-Earth biology, how close could I get to the classic gri...
My story has a race exactly like humans, except they grow to be on average 9 feet tall. One of characters belongs to this race, but she is considered a dwarf to her people. This causes her to live ...
The Nanaue (there is no wiki link) is a Hawaiian creature of myth. It is a shark with arms and legs. It can live in both the ocean and on the land. So how do I create the monstrosity that is, the l...
Note - I'm primarily interested in the beast from the original Dr Dolittle books by Hugh Lofting rather than the movie version. The Pushmi-pullyu The pushmi-pullyu (pronounced "push-me"”pull-y...
This may seem similar to this question but my goal is for one: The bird does not die and secondly to get more exact solutions. The ultimate goal would be to create a bird which can ignite itself...
Could werewolves exist in a realistic world? All that is required for an accepted answer is the ability to change shape over night. Bonus points will be awarded if you can explain a bite spreading...
The jackalope is a mythical animal of North American folklore described as a jackrabbit with an antelopes horns. It's a popular mythological creature in hill folk culture and it made me ask a quest...
In my epic fantasy I have four races of creatures which were all hunted down due to their valuable blood which grants the drinker magical abilities (premonitions). After time they all became extinc...
Instead of the whole egg laying parasitic vagina concept, which was the leading idea in the original question. Assuming the succubus is purely the whole woman like creature. Can she gain enough ...
The succubi are popularly represented as women with horns and bat-like wings. They feed on the vital energy in myths, but could a humanoid creature resembling a woman evolve and feed only on human ...
Looking to how I can make Nagas and Mermaids able to exist and evolve in my story, I came across this post which explains how Nagas could evolve from humans: Anatomically Correct Naga In the top a...
Triskeles are popular Celtic decorative motifs. Everyone from modern day retro-Pagans to jewelry makers to Celtic bands uses them for the cool factor. But there is a little known creature, possibl...
I have a story in a mediaeval setting with no magic. There are elves, but they are essentially just absurdly long-lived versions of humans with pointy ears and somewhat more acute senses. Unicorns...
This is a submission for the Anatomically Correct Series. Image credit: japhers.tumblr.com Originating from Japan, the majority of depictions of Oni (Kijo to refer female Oni/demons) are hideous...
If you notice the part two, yeah I had one before this. Please read it before reading this one: Metamorphosis Lycanthropy Edit: just figured out it was closed. Sigh . . . Edit 6 You have been rel...
I've asked a whole array of questions, so far, centered around an ongoing project of mine that features a world, in an alternate evolutionary timeline, where a variety of well-known mythological cr...
Alright, so take your basic (not DnD or any other universe specific) mimic: an unassuming treasure chest that turns out to secretly be a monster as soon as you open it. This particular creature is ...
Scansoriopterygidae was a family of theropod dinosaurs that lived during the Jurassic, the most well-known member of which was Yi Qi. They are thought to have been arboreal insectivores, and conver...
I am designing a monster that is as large as a continent. It flies across the planet very slowly and has basically a snake form. Life cannot exist on the planet's surface so the animals are drawn t...
The Hydra is a Greek mythological creature known for its many head that only increase in number as you fight it. Alcaeus was the one to solidly state the the creature started with 9 heads, a large ...
Medusa is a legendary myth about a woman with snakes for hair that turns anything she looks at into stone. How can I achieve both of those features in an animal realistically? And how would these f...
Dragons are often thought to have impenetrable scales. If dragons were to shed them it would obviously make them far more vulnerable for a period of time. This on the other hand would make them eas...
In "The Thousand and One Nights", the ghouls were vile tricksters and ravenous flesh eaters. They kidnapped victims and lured lustful men to their doom by taking the guise of beautiful women. Somet...
From the movie Tremors, behold the graboid: These are vicious, SUV to bus sized sandworms that have acquired a taste for human flesh. They are known to "swim" through the earth really fast too. ...
The 'Before' Picture Imagine if African Wild Dogs developed the ability to float. There is no scientific explanation to how they can float; it's just happened and we do not need to know why. The d...
I am interested in creating a reality based version of a creature from Greek mythology called a Siren. Sirens were believed to combine women and birds in various ways. In early Greek art, Sire...
Cerberus was a three headed dog, commonly depicted with a collar and tail of snakes. Such an organism is quite difficult to justify, but how can such a creature appear that way? Is there a realist...
A submission for the Anatomically Correct Series. The VodnÃk (or Vodyanoy) are very interesting water spirits from Slavic mythology.They're described to have long green hair, and a face like a ...
I'm pretty much looking for an easy (or not) formula for calculating the mass and/or weight of fantasy creatures on an Earth-like planet with similar gravity. My world's dragons sometimes reach ove...
So I've created a Cerberus creature that is a group of three hyena-like dogs instead of one organism. The three individuals are linked together, much like an ant colony or bee hive. They would be l...
How would a four-legged bird's flight differ from a regular two-legged one? Would it be slower in flight but have more power taking off? The bird in question is modeled on a bird of prey. (four leg...
We all know what the minotaur is and what it looks like, a buff man with the head and tail of a bull. But could this creature evolve? Could it even exist? If a Minotaur could exist, what environmen...
This is part of the Anatomically Correct Series. I've been wondering how an anatomically correct pegasus could evolve. Pegasus characteristics They are pretty obvious, but just in case: Horse ...
Piggybacking on this question: Can you simply scale up animals? how CAN we scale up living creatures to be giant sized? What would need to done to make truly giant animals (Dragons, Kong, Godzilla,...
I am thinking about the miniature kind of fae, like Tinker Bell. I think that class of faery would be the most likely to be able to fly realistically, due to the wingspan/body weight ratio. But wo...
Those statues will be pretty darn heavy... but what about a flesh-and-blood naga? The torso of a human connected to a snake's body? I've seen some pretty extreme estimates on their weight... DnD ...
Heads up"”this is a pretty gross question. The dragons in this world are not reptilian, but rather resemble huge borzois. I've not sure how large I want them to be yet, but they are capable of min...
Santa's reindeer are pretty awesome. They can stand on arbitrary planes (giving the illusion of flight, the reindeer are actually running on n-dimensional hills) and can dilate time in a bubble aro...
The Ahuizotl is a creature from Aztec mythology. It is aquatic, and appears similar to a small dog with grasping forepaws like a raccoon or monkey's, and a very long tail ending with an extra hand...
The Phoenix appears in Greek mythology and are most commonly seen as beautiful golden birds that burst into flame and are reborn from the ashes. Is there a realistic way that they could evolve? Usi...
The Anatomically Correct Series can be found here. The Chimera is another freaky specimen from Greek mythology. It is described as having the body and head of a lion, the head of a goat sprouti...
Recently, a question was posted about how a creature like the mythical Charybdis could evolve. Today I want to talk about Charybdis' mythical counterpart: Scylla. Most depictions of Scylla look so...
One of the inspirations for this was Tactics Ogre: Knight of Lodis, where I liked their depiction of slithering, combat-worthy mermaids. I've been trying to develop mermaids who make pilgrimages t...
How is Charybdis from The Odyssey powered? As odd as it seems, I'm looking for a science-based answer. She needs energy. To suck down warships, she is at least 75 ft in diameter and must suck the...
I'm working out the back story of a flying castle run by a king who has a squadron of 200 air cavalry. All the knights ride hippogriffs: head and wings of large eagles, bodies of horses. Horses ea...
The Angelic Host is going to war. It's a long journey, requiring flight over the highest mountain ranges and long trudges through the fiercest blizzards. As with all large scale military marches t...
Although (as far as I've seen, I haven't done in-depth research) the original/older version(s) of the succubus legend just have them as demons who seduce you, more modern interpretations seem to ma...
I want to kill a huge Dragon. How to do this? The only description currently available of this Dragon is very short: "It looks like a lizard with two wings of bats and he swallowed our ship witho...
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