10 BEST Fantasy Creatures and Monsters in Books and Fiction

#Fantasy #Creatures #Monsters #Books #Fiction

Hellooo, everybody! Today I’m talking  about fantasy creatures. In particular,   the fantasy creatures that I have been obsessed  with since childhood. In other words, I’m exposing   exactly why I had no friends in junior high.  If I sound hella nasal, it’s because I have a  

Sinus infection. Lucky me. So I’m probably  gonna sound crazy for the next few videos,   deal with it. I love fantasy creatures. I have  been in love with them ever since I was a kid,   and that love has never died. Fantasy creatures  are here to stay. If you don’t like it,  

There’s the door. There’s the door bitch! And  since I’m in the mood to geek out, I’m going   to list my ten favorite fantasy creatures. The  best of the best. Spoiler alert, you’re gonna see   a lot of Greek mythology on this list. I’m not  sorry about it. My question for you is, are any  

Of your favorites on this list? We can be geeks  together, Comment your favorite fantasy creature below. Maybe we could be cyborg twinsies. Let’s  dive in. Before we get started, a huge thank you to  ProWritingAid for sponsoring today’s video.   ProWritingAid is an amazing platform that helps  writers edit their work and understand those edits   so they can grow and improve in their craft. It’s  not just a grammar and spell checker, it’s also a  

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I will be speaking at the annual Fantasy Writers  Week as well! I am hosting a webinar all about how   to write romance and fantasy. So if that’s your  jam, and I know it is, I can see it in your eyes.  

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Below. And join the fantasy writers week. It is  a free event, it’s gonna be awesome. I’m gonna   be there, some huge fantasy writers are gonna to  be there, get on it! Don’t forget to subscribe to  

My channel. I post new videos on Wednesdays, and  if you wanna be alerted as SOON as I upload, ring   that bell. The first two books in my bestselling  dark fantasy romance series, The Savior’s Champion   and The Savior’s Sister are available at all major  retailers. You can get them in ebook, paperback,  

Hardback and audiobook. It means the world to me.  I love and adore my readers. So please, please,   please pick up some copies for yourself. Pick  up some copies for your friends and family. I’ll   love you for it, I’ll love you forever. They’re  linked below. But now let’s talk about fantastical  

Creatures and why we love ‘em. Number One (1):  Chimeras. If you’ve been following me since   the beginning, this should come as no surprise.  Chimera is a scientific term for an organism that   contains a mixture of genetic tissue. But it is  also a fire breathing monster from Greek mythology  

With the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and  the snake tail. I first learned about chimeras   when I was about eight years old. I was super into  drawing, and super into Greek mythology. So my  

Mom bought me a book that taught you how to draw  mythological creatures. Thanks, Mom! The chimera   was my favorite. So much so that I kept drawing it  over and over again for over a decade. I love the   absolute hodgepodge nature of the chimera. It’s  just three random animals stuffed into one body.  

It makes no fucking sense, and I’m here for it.  Obviously I’ve paid homage to chimeras in my   own writing, but I would love to see more actual  chimeras in fiction. I rarely see them outside of   mythology, and when I do see them they’re usually  depicted inaccurately. It sucks, stop it. Number  

Two (2): The Incubus. Sex demons for the win. I am  very much into death, and demons, and the idea of   hell. Because I’m clearly a very healthy and well  adjusted person. But my current favorite demon is  

The Incubus, which is a male demon that lays with  a sleeping woman. Sometimes he does this over and   over again, sucking the life out of her, until  he eventually fucks her to death. I’m normal,   I promise. Incubi are fun because there are  so many different interpretations of them,  

Or places that you could go with this creature.  Incubi have been used to explain away wet dreams,   they have been used as an excuse for premarital  pregnancies, the tales are loose and varied which   allows room for a ton of invention and creativity  in your own writing. Besides everyone loves a  

Succubus, you see ‘em in movies, TV, books  and video games—they’ve been done to death,   pun intended. Everyone wants to write about a  sexed up lady demon. And by everyone I mean cis   het men. You guys are so predictable. The last  time I’ve personally seen an Incubus in any form  

Of media, was the band. I saw them live, you know?  That’s how old I am. So will I one day write about   an Incubus? Probably, because male sex demons need  love too dammit. A wild fantasy creature appears!   Say hello Butters! (BUTTERS) “Hello everyone!”  Do you like fantasy creatures? I’ll take that  

As a yes. Number Three (3): Medusa. Medusa seems  to be getting a revival in pop culture, and we   love to see it. What I love about Medusa and  really most Greek mythological creatures, is that   there are so many different interpretations and  origin stories. We’ve all heard the most popular  

Story about Medusa. She was raped by Poseidon  in Athena’s temple, so Athena punished her   by giving her a head full of snake hair, and by  making it so that anyone she looks at would turn   to stone. But in some versions, she’s the daughter  of sea deities. In other versions, she’s beautiful  

Despite her snake hair. And in other sources,  she’s always been a creepy monster. As a writer,   I like having variations to choose from. If I  were to ever write my own Medusa inspired story,   I have so many different options and avenues  that I could go with. Give me my freedom,  

Dammit. I also think that snake hair is pretty  cool. And maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing.   If I could just look at a douchebag and turn him  to stone. If you asked me Medusa was doing the  

World a service. I salute you lady. Number Four  (4): Giants. At first glance, giants are not the   most interesting fantasy creature. They’re tall  people, whoop-de-doo. What I love about giants is   the history surrounding them, and the intricacies  of their descriptions. Yeah, giants are tall and  

Scary, but they also supposedly had six fingers  on each hand, and six toes on each foot. They are   often described as having red hair and a second  row of teeth. And on top of that, every culture   has some kind of lore about giants. In fact,  there’s a widespread belief that it’s not lore  

At all. There’s shockingly realistic video footage  and photographs of giants. There are preserved   footprints and skeletal structures of humanoid  creatures that are enormous. Which sounds a   whole lot like giants. I think all the information  surrounding them is fascinating, and I especially  

Love it when it becomes increasingly difficult to  separate fact from fiction. They totally existed,   I’m calling it. Number Five (5): Sirens. Sirens  have been a favorite of mine since I was a kid,   which is why I feel qualified to say this.  They’re bird women, not fish, women, bird  

Women. Siren’s originated in Greek mythology and  were typically depicted as having the head of a   woman and the body of a bird, or their body was  just covered in feathers, or they just had bird   legs and feet. But the common denominator here  is bird. It wasn’t until the Middle Ages that  

People started describing sirens as mermaids.  Which is fucking stupid because the mermaid   lore already exists. Let sirens be birds! I will  die on this hill. These super saucy birds would   hang out along rocky coasts, and lure sailors  with their music, ultimately ship wrecking them.  

We love murderous women in this house.  Originally the mythology depicted both male   and female sirens, however, eventually the male  sirens disappeared and the women reigned supreme.   They probably murdered all the guy sirens, that’s  my theory. I may or may not have a story idea that  

I’d like to write in the future that includes a  siren. And maybe I’ll get to write it one day,   if my schedule stops being pure chaos. And you can  bet your ass my siren will be of the bird variety.  

The way God intended. Which brings us to Number  Six (6): Mermaids. Contrary to what you might   be thinking, I actually do love mermaids, when  they’re called mermaids. You guys probably know   all about mermaids. The fish ladies, sometimes  they’re fish men. I like them because they’re yet  

Another mythical creature that spans the globe.  You see him in stories from Asia to Africa.   I also like that they’ve got sort of a sad  vibe, typically when you hear a mermaid story,   it’s kind of depressing. I think one of the  earliest mermaid stories is about a goddess  

Who accidentally kills her lover, and then  turns herself into a mermaid as punishment.   Because that makes sense. But my main love of  mermaids stems from my fear and terror over the   deep sea. The craziest shit lives in the ocean,  so the thought of mermaids is both mysterious  

And intriguing. If see-through light bulb monsters  can live underwater, why not fish people? I’m just   saying. Number Seven (7): Harpies. Speaking of  mutant animal ladies, let’s talk about harpies.   Harpies, like sirens, are bird ladies. The  way that they differ from sirens, is that  

They’re fucking ugly. Their hands are talons,  they’re haggard, and disgusting, and grotesque.   They’re supposed to be the physical manifestation  of stormwinds, so basically, their job is to   snatch shit up and carry it away. Usually the shit  they snatch up is food, which begs the question,  

Maybe they’re just hangry. What I enjoy about  harpies is somewhere down the line, they became   synonymous with terrorizing men. I love that for  them. I’m realizing that punishing men has become   a theme on this list. I think that’s fantastic. My  favorite depiction of harpies is in the 1963 movie  

Jason and the Argonauts, even though it’s not  super accurate, they look more like bats than   birds. I still love them, I actually think it’s  super creative and honestly makes them scarier.   This is where my love of harpies originated. I  saw this movie as a kid, and I just thought those  

Demon bitches were my kind of people. Further  proving that it was probably nature, not nurture,   that may be this way. Number Eight (8):  Anubis. Anubis is the Egyptian God of the dead,   the afterlife, and mummification. He’s not exactly  a creature because he’s a god. But he’s depicted  

As having the head of a jackal, so I’m saying it  counts. It’s my list, dammit. I do what I want. I   wish I could say my love for Anubis came from in  depth and analysis but the truth is, I love dogs  

And I like mythology surrounding death. That’s it.  Are you Anubis? You could totally be a jackal with   those big ears. Plus the Egyptian depiction of  jackals is stunning. That is another thing I found  

Myself drawing all the time when I was a kid.  So not only is he a dog-man God, but he’s also   gorgeous? I see no downside. Egyptian mythology is  one of my favorites, I find it fascinating. But my  

Love for Anubis is shallow, and I won’t apologize  for it. Number Nine (9): Centaurs. There are a   lot of animal human hybrids on this list. I blame  ancient civilizations’ obsession with beastiality,   I’m just saying. But centaurs are another creature  that I have loved since I was a kid. They are half  

Human, half horse, and according to Disney,  they are adorable colorful delights. Centaurs   are cool because they’re wild and free. Plus,  they’re another mythical creature that persisted   throughout different eras of folklore. They seem  to have gotten their start in Greek mythology, but  

They show up again in Roman mythology, and they  even show up in medieval folklore. And once again,   they’re so beautiful. I mean, you’re combining the  most beautiful part of the human body, with one of   the most stunning animals on the planet. It’s just  a majestic creature, and personally, I’d like to  

See more of ‘em in fiction. Before we announce the  final creature, let’s take a moment to honor the   creatures that barely missed making the list. The  sphinx. Cerberus. Cherubim and Seraphim angels,   and their many eyeballs. Penistrice, I  mean cockatrice. The devil. The roc. And  

El chupacabra. Thank you for your service. And now  for our final winning creature. Number Ten (10):   Pegasus. If you didn’t see this coming, you must  be new here or stupid. Pegasus is my all time   favorite fantasy creature. It really brings out  the neuro divergence in me. The need to correct  

People when they say it’s a breed of flying  horses, and I have to be like, ‘No, no child.   It’s only one horse. Just a single Pegasus. That’s  his name.’ This excludes different variations   and retellings, obviously, I’m talking about the  original source. Let me be pedantic for a second,  

Okay. There are a million different stories  about how Pegasus was born, but I tend to lean   more so toward the one where the Medusa’s blood  mixes with seafoam, and out pops a flying horse.   Because that’s the stupidest version. Most  mythological origins stories are insane,  

And I like to keep tabs on the ones that really  swung for the fences. But Pegasus and I go way   back. He’s been my favorite since I was a kid. I  talk about him all the time on my channel, but for  

Some reason the message has gotten misconstrued.  I receive a lot of fan mail mentioning my love for   unicorns. And don’t get me wrong, unicorns  are nice. But love? A deep emotional bond   for unicorns? I think not! Horses with wings  motherfuckers. So that’s all I got for you today.  

A huge thank you to ProWritingAid for sponsoring  today’s video. If you want to improve your   writing, you should definitely check them out.  You can try them for free. Or if you want access   to their premium platform, you can get 20% off by  clicking the link below. And be sure to check out  

Their annual Fantasy Writers Week! They’ve got  some amazing guest speakers like V.E Schwab,   and of course, yours truly! I will be speaking  at this event all about how to write romance and   fantasy. It’s awesome. It’s gonna be so much  fun, please join me. It’s a free event. What  

Have you got to lose? Nothing. Nothing to lose  and everything to gain. I got it linked below,   check it out. Don’t forget to subscribe to  my channel. I post new videos on Wednesdays,   and if you wanna be alerted as SOON as I upload,  ring that bell. The Savior’s Champion and The  

Savior’s Sister are available in ebook, paperback,  hardback and audiobook. They’re available all over   the place. So please, please, please pick up a  copy today. Pick one up for yourself. Pick up   some copies for friends and family. You will love  it. And be sure to follow me on social media. I’m  

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