Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Why I like Fairies

Elves and Fairies, illustration for The Tempest - Edmund Dulac

So one slightly lesser known fact of me. I love fairies. Alright at first glance that seems like I might have to r-evaluate my manliness, but hear me out. Fairies are interesting. Now when most people think of 'fairies' they think of Pixie-like, Tinker Bell type faerie that tends to frequent little girls aisle of the toy store. Not exactly a masculine topic.

See, Fairies weren't always the cute winged things. That's a recent development. A sort of clash between Victorian romanticism and Walt Disney. But that's not what they were. Fairies were varied creatures in mythology, some were good and kind, others beautiful and terrible, still others were monstrous and crude, and others were animal-like and bestial. It can include the benign Pixie, but also included Ogres, Elves, Dwarves, Goblins and sometimes even beasts like Unicorns and Dragons. Fairie was a very wide and broad topic. This article is about appreciating them as a masterpiece of imagination.

Why are the Fae so diverse, varied and hard to categorize? Well I have a theory. I'm by no means an academic or an expert on Mythology, Theology, Anthropology and any of the other 'Ologies' that would give you a reason to listen to what I'm saying. But I have opinions by the truckload and I want to take them out somewhere! Trust me at your own risk.

See I believe in ancient times, man was surrounded by a vast world that was uncategorizable and alien. Not only was he surrounded by a mysterious physical world, but also a mysterious spiritual one. Man was surrounded by a lot of things, angels, demons, strange beasts and strange men. Somewhere in there all that got mixed into the concept of Fairie. The Fairie is a masterpiece of imagination that could only be created in the primordial world. It's part Angel, part Demon, part Human and part Animal. It's a hybrid created by ancient human experience. A whirlpool of different ideas.

And that folks is why I like Fairies!

1 comment:

  1. Another great post by you, Brendan! And the reason you like Fairies is the same reason I write books with them. :)

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