Where the Wild Things Are was one of my favorite stories growing up. This week’s prompts highlight fictional, real, and mythical creatures, which is a welcome distraction from the dreary rain today. Links of note will be listed under Further Reading.
Cats and dogs frequently feature in fandoms, who are your favourites?
For Team Cat, I’m going with the unnamed cat in Coraline. He took no sass, and came in clutch at the buzzer for the protagonists.
Team Dog is a bit more difficult, since I’m more of a cat person. Seeing as I recently wrapped up Brand New Animal, I’ll go with Yuji Tachiki, a Great Dane detective. I sympathize with his steadfast belief in thorough deduction and hard work.
Who is your favourite wild animal/bird?
My favorite bird species is the birds-of-paradise. They come in a vibrant variety of colors. Some of them look so ridiculous it’s a wonder they can fly at all. Still others have bizzare mating rituals, most notably the Vogelkop superb bird of paradise.
Tell us about a fictional creature that fascinates you.
I started Naomi Novik’s A Deadly Education, and I’m intrigued by the creatures she’s called maleficaria. It seems to be a broad term for entire species of monsters that range in size and hunting tactics. They eat wizards and other maleficaria if wizards aren’t an option. An early description reads:
“Most types of maleficaria don’t even have names; there are so many varieties of them, and they come and go.”
One particularly nasty variety is called digesters. They lurk in heavily populated hallways and wait until you walk right into them unknowingly, as they’re translucent. Personally, it wouldn’t be my preferred way to go.
Which mythological creature interests you the most?
This describes more of a class of mythological creatures, but I’ve always been interested in hybrids. These are creatures composed of multiple real species. They can either be all animal species or human crossed with animal. The most famous I could list off are the Minotaur, chimera, and gorgons (predominantly Greek myths, how shocking).
If you could have an animal sidekick what would it be?
I like big cats, and of these my top pick would have to be a tiger. They are widely regarded to represent power and courage. Some cultures believe they represent the vice of anger. If I got into a pinch that required me to fight my way out, I’d prefer an angry sidekick anyway.
You’ve been given the magical ability to turn into any creature; what do you choose and why?
Even though Breath of the Wild still resides in the Backlog of Shame™, I’ll go with turning into a Lynel. I have no preference as to coloring. I’d be a chill Lynel though, I just want to work at a forge and take cat naps in the sun.
