Monday, January 10, 2011

Monday Mythical Creatures

Harpy
(Greek Origins - harpūia)
 (Harpezein - "to snatch")


Facts
  • The harpies were sisters of Iris, daughters of Thaumaus and Electra
  • The American Harpy Eagle is named after these mythical creatures.
  • Mainly thought as Winged Death-Spirits
  •  In earlier versions of Greek myth, Harpies were described as beautiful, winged maidens. Later they became winged monsters with the face of an ugly old woman and equipped with crooked, sharp talons.
  • They would carry off victims to the underworld where they would torture them or inflict punishment.
  • They were probably the personifications of the stormwinds.

Harpies In Books
  • The Immortals Series by Tamora Pierce has harpies in it (they are antagonists for most of the series)
  • Harpy's Flight - The first book in a series called Windsingers. Harpies are the bad guys chasing the main female out of vengeance.
  • Keith Robinson - has three books where there are harpies both male and female in them.

2 Comments:

  1. Kristina Barnes♥ said...
    Yay, I missed Monday Mythical Creatures. :)

    So wow, lots of harpy hate in books. All of the novels you listed have harpies as the antagonists. Anyway, awesome post! I love that their name means "to snatch", and follows through with the fact that they carry off victims to the underworld. :)
    LunaMoth said...
    Yah, no love for harpies, they are always evil. However the ones in tamoras books are not bad at the end.

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