I always like the analogy of man’s relationship with an ant is how it would be with a fae or elder species and man.
Like if an ant managed to attract the attention of a human and requested it kill a specific ant, the human would respond by simply killing the entire colony as they can’t distinguish one individual ant from another.
That’s what the fae do.
I don’t know what it is about a certain kind of nerd and everything “fae” recently, but I feel like too many things are being associated with faeries, and put under an umbrella term named after them.
And their power level is rocketing up to Galactus levels.
It’s like the words magic, myth, fantastical and supernatural have been replaced by fae to make it all fairy-esque with pretty and/or grotesque twigpeople as mascots. Sometimes it seems Godzilla is a fae, Thor is a fae, Bigfoot is a fae, Kraken is a fae, C’thulu is a fae, Jehovah is a fae, Dragons are fae.
At the same time, old folk tales portray these creatures as wild and powerful. Generally not malevolent (certainly not godly), but not something you should mess with.
But I agree it’s the new spooky supernatural go-to. Goblincore is the new zeitgeist and I’m here for it!
Goblins ain’t got shit on Nuckelavee. Or redcap for that matter. Little bastards murder lone travelers and dye their eponymous hats in the blood of their victims.
Sure, but for every story about a selkie that wants to drag you underwater and drown you, there are several more about gnomes that want to hide your shoes or fairy people that would trap you in a 100-year party.
“Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.
Elves are marvellous. They cause marvels.
Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies.
Elves are glamorous. They project glamour.
Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment.
Elves are terrific. They beget terror.
The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind words that have changed their meaning.
No one ever said elves are nice.
Elves are bad.”
I wouldn’t call Sir Terry Pratchett all that new, and his interpretation of elves and the fay in general comes from myths and legends that predate Tolkien as well as Tolkien himself.
Pratchett isn’t new, but the popularity of that quote is.
The new wave of fae is very much disconnected from old myths.
Ummm… We traded that quote on the internet back when I was in highschool. For reference that was 1993-1996. I finished the required credits in 3 years. I’m pretty sure that the fact that a few hundred of us pulled that off in Indiana caused the state to revamp their required courses after we all graduated a year early.
I’m pretty certain this is just a result of you personally not having run into it until recently. There’s nothing new about elven superiority. Hell, WH40K made the Space Elves so damn horny and technologically and psychically advanced that they literally broke the universe, and that shit is also from the 1970s.
There’s a recent increase I’m pretty sure would be quite substantial if you could get the data. Anecdotally, I’ve seen it several times in recent months.
*Godzilla stomps through downtown Tokyo causing wanton destruction*
“Pfft, typical fairy.”Hasn’t been anything “recent” for me. Check out the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. My favorite depiction of “fae” in a modern setting. Yeah, you still have dew drop fairies and gnomes and shit but you also have giant fuckass murder ogres and insane kelpies and war unicorns.
The second Hellboy movie also did a great job bringing that sort of grimdark feel to the fae lore imo.
Dresden Files? More like Dresden Fucks, amirite hehehe
Bro the last 2 “books” are so unbearably horny I barely finished them. I couldn’t finish the newest Cinder Spires book he put out for exactly the same reason. Jim was on such a good run doing awesome shit between Changes and Skin Game, but I guess losing his dog and then his marriage really pushed him into a return to horny.
Yeah I stopped reading it when it became more smut than story, too
Basic alt girls with floral/bird tattoos who think making soup was alien enough to be considered magicks love BG3 and DnD. Now their orbiting nerds have accepted their new definition to not be cast out.
It’s another personality substitute after the tattoos, hair dye, and Lovecraft obsessions stopped feeling edgy.
this is why cats are untrustworthy.
why do you approach me? i have nothing to offer you. oh, friendly are you—purring amd rubbing against me? what tricks do you play?
you’ll not fool me, feline. 🧐Worf, from the Deep Space Nine episode Homefront:
“Our gods are dead. Ancient Klingon warriors slew them a millennia ago. They were more trouble than they were worth.”
That’s the best way to describe what a Klingon is; Zero fucks, 100% of the time.
How is this a science meme?
Oh that was me in reverse. Waking up to a pack of coyotes wondering if I was the tame human. Alas I sat up too quickly, scared them off, and now I’ll never get adopted by a pack of coyotes.
dude i think they were trying to see if you were dead so they could get an easy meal
Yeah I know that. But if not friend, why friend shape?
We recently discovered that Hyenas were one of our primary predators well before we figured out tools and fire. There are archaeological sites that have thousands of human skeletons that were clearly eaten by hyenas. Mostly children, IIRC.
I would surmise that some of us have completely overwritten our basic instincts. Hyenas would also be friend shaped, but somehow I’m reasonably certain that your and my ancestors would disagree.
I dunno. I’ve seen hyenas in the zoo and I did not get the same feeling towards them. Lions are also rather intimidating once it’s just a bit of wire and a slightly too far jump between you. Wolves and coyotes though, they make me want to do the whole domestication thing all over again.
Also foxes, don’t forget about foxes. Very friend shaped.
So that’s what’s the matter with me
This is effectively how “On a Pale Horse” by Piers Anthony starts.
Not to be confused with “Behold a Pale Horse” by William Cooper. Vastly different subject material.
I’ve thought about things like this. What if humans could be kept by aliens as pets? What would that be like? Can any extremely bored writer reading this come up with something?
Funny, I actually have a running story in my head like this. People kept in little cages like hamsters, aliens choosing breeding pairs, or training them to fight each other. Some aliens would be debating the ethics of it all while others go, “Humans are much stupider than we are, so it’s okay to treat them like this.”
There was an episode of The Orville that was kinda like this.
Whoaa that’s pretty brutal 😭 creative though lol
Or they’ve never met a human. It’s a learned fear.
Not really. Not-fear is learned, running away is instinctive.
