Friday, August 10, 2012

Spotlight on Mythological Creatures (Post 2 of 5)


Changelings:


The official definition:
change·ling:  A child believed to have been secretly substituted by fairies for the parents' real child in infancy.

What it means in the Chronicles of JJ:
Changelings:  known as weres, changelings, shifters, etc. This race of beings share their lives with another soul, usually animal, but there are also tree and other plant changelings that are often mistakenly considered fairies/dryads or elves. Their behavior patterns depend immensely upon their second nature.  For example, cat changelings are cat like and wolf changelings are wolf like.  This race no matter what second nature they possess is destined to mate with one or more persons for life.

Historically speaking....
·       Many references of shapeshifting can be found in Greek and Roman literature including: Ovid and Bibliotheca
·       Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Greek and Rome were often associated with animals.
·       Native Americans in particular passed down stories of shape-shifters
·       The werewolf has become a bit of a mainstay in modern fiction

Attributes of a Changeling (Generally speaking)
·       Usually can shape shift into an animal form or an anthropomorphic creature
·       Most have abilities that supersede that of human and their animal form
·       Most seem to have a tie to the moon
·       In Europe it was generally accepted that a werewolf in human for had the following attributes:
o   Meeting of both eyebrows at the bridge of the nose
o   Curved fingernails
o   Low-set ears and a swinging stride.
o   One method of identifying a werewolf in its human form was to cut the flesh of the accused, under the pretense that fur would be seen within the wound

Becoming a Changeling:
Just like with the vampire the ways to become a changeling are pretty diverse:
·       Bitten: Either it can only be caused by a bite by a fully changed changeling or just any old bite at any old time will do
·       Cursed: Someone was cursed
·       Virus or Parasite: One of the most interesting versions of a changeling has to be when a parasite changed the person into a changeling: Madeline Montague’s Wolf (Of Unknown Origins)
·       Born a changeling: A unique and non-contagious by bite species or they can transform someone into a made version of a changeling.

Weaknesses (Not weak in your knees from sexy changelings :)!)
·       Silver
·       Wolf’s Bane
·       Some tales state that the person becomes a raging beast on the full moon, other stories claim that the individual remains self-aware while in animal form.

For more on Werewolves...Click Here!

Can’t wait for some juicy Changelings?  Here are some links (Yes, again!) for some authors that I like to read.


Happy reading!!!! Up next is . . . . Witchlings!

Still no official release date for the Chronicles of JJ: State of Unrest (Hopefully Soon!)

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