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It’s like the words magic, myth, fantastical and supernatural have been replaced by fae to make it all fairy-esque with pretty and/or grotesque twigpeople as mascots.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.
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.
“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.
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. 🧐
If the cat thought you had nothing to offer, they wouldn’t be coming to you. I’m pretty sure most house cats have been trained to think humans are magic food dispensers.
It’s actually really fascinating - cats seem to rapidly learn culture while they’re weaning
Cats in Japan are very friendly and trusting of humans, cats in America are more cautious and wary
Japan has folklore about multiple variations of cat yokai that range from fickle trickers to malevolent supernatural ones. Cats are considered good luck, killing them invites bad luck. They have euphemisms like being in no position to refuse even a cats help, and their presence being a good omen
America has folklore about cats being bad luck, and tied to witchery. We still use euphemisms about skinning cats, letting them out of bags, swinging them, etc. Killing cats wasn’t abnormal behavior even a century ago
And apparently, if you bring a female Japanese cat to America, it’ll take several generations for the descendents to localize to the culture. They even meow differently
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.
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
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.
How is this a science meme?
