#gancanagh

[ttrpg-smash-pass-vs]

The Gancanagh are celestials, souls reborn as aspects of pure goodness. These party lovers embody aspects of passion, consensual love, open relationships, gender/sexuality exploration, and sex positivity. Seriously, thier favorite thing is using thier shapeshifting to make people question thier sexuality. The honest "sorry, I really do just like ___" is perfectly valid, they just want you to actually consider the question. If your reaction is instead to is to accuse them of being a tempter or succubus, they will immediately call for a duel. Nearly the only thing that will pull them to violence actually. If they find people being persecuted over such things, they are tireless and eager supporters. Most identify as men with a loose relationship with gender.

...Oh, and if they kiss you they can make you SUPER great at everything for 10 minutes, then just get super exhausted unless you've got good fortitude to ignore the crash after the high. Which I find hilarious.

[rabbitholessk]

Oak as a gancanagh is an incredible detail on Holly's part. There is so much to unpack from that. His desire to love Wren, his desire to be liked/loved by others, his ability to take these self appointed missions to protect Jude and Cardan from conspiracies/coups.

One day I want to make a whole post with examples but....wow Holly popped off

[fairylandblog]

Gancanagh, Faerie Seducer

Irish tradition depicts the Gancanagh, a charming and mischievous masculine fairy. Gancanagh means love-talker or love-chatterer, describing him as a seductive and persuasive character who lures mortals into risky and often destructive romantic relationships. The Gancanagh is a unique and enigmatic figure in Irish folklore because he is a lover and desirer, unlike most other monsters. Gancanagh men are considered stunningly attractive and charming. It is said that he unexpectedly visits lonely women in the countryside. Despite his simple attire, he exudes charm. Most stories about the Gancanagh reference his clay pipe smoking. The pipe enhances his mystique, symbolizing his carefree, laid-back lifestyle, in contrast to the emotional agony he leaves behind.

The Gancanagh's specialty is seduction. He lures his victims into passionate love affairs that end in tragedy with his charm and eloquence. He captivates women, making them fascinated with him and unable to think. This infatuation ultimately destroys them, as Gancanagh, a fairy, is incapable of forming lasting human bonds. After seducing his victim, he disappears, leaving her devastated and depressed. Often, the unfulfilled love and passion for the Gancanagh drives the ladies mad or dead. Irish folklore uses the Gancanagh as a warning and emblem. He symbolizes the terrible power of obsession and unbridled desire. The Gancanagh warns against temptation and neglecting duty in a rural, agrarian country like Ireland that values traditional values and familial duties. His inclusion in folklore reveals a cultural concern about passion's effects and the heart's vulnerability to deception. We can also see Gancanagh as a critique of love and relationship conventions. His power to fascinate and destroy symbolizes a conflict between passionate love and life. Gancanagh victims are generally lonely, alienated, or unsatisfied with their lives. Thus, the Gancanagh symbolizes their unfulfilled dreams and craving for more than daily life. In other versions, the Gancanagh symbolizes the magical peril of fairy world contact. Irish tradition depicts fairies as beautiful and dangerous. The Gancanagh embodies this dichotomy, as his charm conceals his true nature as a villain. His fables remind us of the dangers of crossing human-fairy boundaries.

The Gancanagh is less well-known than the banshee or leprechaun, yet his stories have survived in Irish folklore. Modern folklore and fantasy show him as a darkly romantic or tragic figure. The Gancanagh's themes—love's intricacy, the unknown's appeal, and the delicate balance between desire and destruction—remain relevant today. The Gancanagh is a seducer who brings heartache, a fairy who seems almost human, and a symbol of longing and loss. His stories demonstrate the depth of Irish tradition, where even the most innocent or romantic individuals have tremendous meaning. The Gancanaghs' legacy reminds us of love's strength, obsession's dangers, and the heart's mystery.

[angelsandarsenic]

Learned about the Gancanagh today. I sure do hope my darling crush isn’t fae because their effects are way too similar

[fuckedupandsleepy]

Thank you for this

like every five to ten years I think about how 1990s dante basco (zuko’s voice actor) was basically la zuko

[not-poignant]

7, 23, 25 for fae tales ash pls :)

7. What's one way your OC has changed since you first came up with them?

In some ways, not much, and in other ways, so much. He's been on some real journeys, hasn't he? Ash has gone through it. When I came up with him, I needed a character who would humanise Augus, because he possesses a lot of two-dimensional villainous aspects, and because Unseelie were supposed to have high loyalty to family, I really loved this idea of a very kind of loving Augus deep down, towards very selective people.

But I needed someone who could hold his own, in a way. Someone who was in some aspects the opposite of Augus. Extroverted where Augus is introverted. Wants to travel the world while Augus just wants to stay home. Wants to eat junk food and drink to his heart's content while Augus is vegan and prefers water or herbal teas. Wants to fuck around and make other people find out, and hates BDSM tools because it's too 'fussy' vs. Augus and domination.

And what Ash had in spades was this boundless, open love for humans, his brother, and well, just about everything. He was, for a long time, the true embodiment of radical acceptance.

But he met the Nightingale, and he met Gwyn specifically in relation to imprisoning Augus. He was cut off from the human realm and unable to eat, and he poisoned himself with self-hatred via rejecting his Glashtyn.

In a way, Ash grew nuanced within himself, and more capable of holding his dissonance. In that way, he changed a lot, but he'll still always be recognisable as Ash to me.

23. What emotion is the hardest for your OC to process? How about express?

Hm, I'm not sure what the emotion would be, but whatever is behind his bloodlust and drive to kill and enjoy torture and sadism. The emotions that the Glashtyn carries - a lifetime of feeling trapped while Ash travelled, a lifetime of being starved while Ash glutted himself.

I think Ash hates feeling helpless to his own needs, and he responded to that by deforming himself internally, to the point where the once-King of the Unseelie fae calls him out on it.

25. What is your favorite thing about your OC?

There's something about Ash that always feels soothing to me (when I'm not writing his perspective, and then it's the opposite and it feels chaotic and intense). But reading Ash and writing Ash from other people's perspectives, even when he's being the literal opposite of soothing, still makes me smile, and still makes me feel calm.

There's something about Ash which for a long time was like yeah, I can see why everyone looks forward to him visiting the party, and I can see why he was so necessary during The Ice Plague. While not a pacifist like Julvia, he was still more there in his capacity as support and soothing, than anything else.

Ash also gave me the key to unlocking a shred of sympathy towards Augus in many folks who didn't have any up until that point. And at the time, that felt incredible and was wonderful to kind of write out, from the Game Theory scenes of a tortured, bitter Ash, to Augus tendering care towards him in Into Shadows We Fall when he tells him to be careful, so that he won't slip. Ash just...offers something soft to the harshness of the fae realm, and especially to his brother, and I'm so glad he gets to exist.

~

From the Edgy OCs meme!

[haennsche]

the gancanagh

I wish i would draw him more often, so he'd look more like i imagined

Honestly i kind of miss reading the ice plague, like, getting to know these characters was so wonderful (and hurt so bad at the same time, but this story has my heart)

Wishing you the best <3

[flokidokie]

Guess who just ordered a printed copy of their own Thomas Barrow fanfic :D

Thomas Barrow | Downton Abbey 2x06

[lcfthaunted]

Hmmmmm, mazie accused of 'seducing away' some high ranking gentry's lover (she absolutely did not) and then killing them (that she did do) and being traded to a dark court as punishment 'if you like bloodshed so much'. Turns out she does, in fact, like being able to hurt without impunity those who have hurt her, and her new court encourages the worst in her. Finds friendship in a leanan on the outskirts of the court who shows her about the mortal world and teaches her how to have fun.

[praisethelorde]

Has anyone else noticed this about Locke?

In The Stolen Heir, it's revealed that Oak is a Love Talker aka Gancanagh (a faerie who is able to quicken desire in both faeries and mortals and also seduce them just by word of mouth) because his mother, Liriope, was also one. This means that--because Oak and Locke share the same mother--Locke was most definitely also a Love Talker. This could explain why Taryn so easily betrayed Jude, her own twin sister, for Locke. It could also be the reason Nicasia suddenly cheated on Cardan with him. It was so easy for Locke to manipulate and seduce almost everyone around him because of this power of his. It could also explain why Cardan remained friends with him even after what he did.

[justbelievinginmagic]

˗ˏˋariadne's threadˎˊ˗ series masterlist

pairing(s): hyunjin x fem!reader, hints of jisung x reader, hints of jisung x hyunjin if you read between the lines; all of the characters are intrigued by the reader tbh

series summary: The tale of the LABYRINTH was by far your favorite book to read - even now in adulthood. Wishing for the goblin king to steal you away was your favorite past-time growing up. Everything changes one stormy night when your wish to be stolen away by the Goblin King comes true and a honeyed blonde fae man appears in your bedroom to whisk you away to be his - body, mind, and soul. Do you take his fantasied offer or shall you fight through his Labyrinth in order to reclaim your humanity & free will?

OR - When tempted by an intoxicating offer by Hyunjin the Goblin King, you fight against him to find your own sense of self once more while in the Labyrinth.

warnings/tags: inspired by the 1986' movie Labyrinth, follows majority of the movie's plot points with divergence, 3rd person POV, use of Y/N, mature topics, strong language, faerie lore!!, all of skz show up, txt cameo that i love, tension, slow burn enemies to lovers, unequal power dynamics, manipulation, fear, faerie drugging, labyrinth runner!reader, goblin king!hyunjin, banished!jisung, hunter!chan, knight!changbin, junkland boss!jeongin, sluagh!minho, boggart!seungmin, gancanagh!felix, selkie!yeonjun, changeling!soobin, knight!hoseok, knight!seokjin, war generals!ateez, more tags to be added.

word count: 88k written; ongoing

part 1 - a deal, a deal, a deal!!! (posted 4/12/24) part 2 - never go that way. (posted 4/15/24) part 3 - onwards & downwards. (posted 4/28/24) part 4 - the oubliette. (posted 5/7/24) part 5 - forwards is backwards. (posted 5/12/24) part 6 - the hunter and the hunted. (posted 5/29/24) part 7 - the wild hunt. (posted 6/5/24) part 8 - a green-eyed monster. (posted 7/30/24) part 9 - the bog. (posted 11/19/24) part 10 - betrayal. (posted 11/22/24) part 11 - as the world falls down. (posted 11/24/24) part 12 - forgotten. (posted 1/2/2025) part 13 - tba!!

extra content for ariadne's thread: how i visualize skz in the world

[spikulec]

So, here's another concept for Gaol! Once a year, on warm summer nights, the Gancanagh gather at the great lakes of the Gaol to have a meeting, for a purpose known only to themselves. The crowds of people follow them carefully, watching from afar so as not to offend the Ylfe. When the dawn begins, all the Seelie return to their court one by one, leaving behind only the blooming water lilies. Gancanagh delight in carefree fun. Their passion is performance, music, costumes and lavish balls - they sometimes leave Feywild to seek entertainment among mortals. Gancanag's speech and movements are said to be hypnotizing and seductive. It is no wonder that many people from the forests of Gaol have disappeared trying to dance with faeries. Older women in the villages scare young girls that those who experience the charm of Gancanags shall never find happiness with a mortal, spending the rest of their lives in unsatisfied longing.

[earthlyruins]

ohh zs faerie au... changeling sanji who later discovers he's a gancanagh (a faerie commonly described as having a silver tongue and can charm flowers into blooming at night. a sweet-talker who can convince anyone of anything—even kill another for them, if so bid.) he hides this with foul language and exaggerated, embarrassing acts after an Incident at the baratie where he accidentally charmed a poor woman so greatly she froze to death in the cold waiting for him outside the restaurant doors in the dead of winter.

zeff still sees him as his son, and he'll be damned if anyone says otherwise. even when sanji hides in the shadows and within himself, zeff whacks him upside the head and reminds him that no matter what—this is his home. he is family. that'll never change. of course, this is said with a lot of grumbling and cursing and shoving, but the message gets through well enough.

income zoro — a phooka (a faerie known for both its trouble-making personality and the way it can change shape) long lost from his home in the woods nearby. he'd taken to the shadows more often than not: slinking by as a stray cat or scampering away as a fox. there'd been a pull even since the moon started filling to its peak with the steady thrum of an oncoming revel. it's strong. it's a challenge. and that has always been the one thing zoro can't back down from.

only for it to come in the form of a cook behind a restaurant, glamour running rampant over him like a false skin.

obviously they get on like wildfire. they fight. they ruin the place around them. where zoro lacks in speed, sanji has in numbers, and where sanji lacks in brute strength, zoro makes up for it easily. they're equally matched, and it's—fun. they're both grinning by the end of it, bloody and split-lipped, and it might be the moon and it might be the revel, but something clicks and zoro is suddenly, inexplicably, asking sanji to meet the head of his court—the one who'll be high king.

and sanji, for those same inexplicable reasons, says yes.

(little do either of them know sanji's one of a few heirs to a court himself, and of a court vying for the throne. that four-leafed clovers can peel away even the strongest of glamour if there's enough. that one night dancing underneath a hill of oak and yew until they are both cackling with glee and flush with food and wine will feel like a promise of eternity.)

[mariyap]

People are hating Taryn for the wrong reasons

I’m lowkey a Taryn defender but only to a certain level: She shouldn’t be hated on for agreeing in a promise that entails marrying Locke when she knew he was pursuing Jude at the same time. Its hinted that she did that to be included into the court but on top of that Locke literally has enchantments/magic that make people love him; which was hinted at when Jude was still in relationship of some kind with Locke and Dain shows up & mentions to have a little gem in the middle of her forehead to make ppl love her. At first, i didn’t know why they brought it up twice when she didn’t even end up choosing that path, obviously, but then i noticed Holly Black chose to not bring it up again after Locke left her life for Taryns and. But then in The Stolen Heir it said that Locke’s mother was a Gancanagh, a Love-Talker, which makes Locke also one. For gancanaghs, its said that some Mortals die from such admiration which Taryn could withhold and, once again, Taryn mostly married him to secure a place in court (and then killed him bc he wouldn’t shut up so it prob didnt work that well).

Anyway, I think we should hate Taryn because she NEVER apologized. Even over simple things! Which is shown when Taryn and Jude go to the mall (In The Cruel Prince, Book 1) and they both think they’re in the wrong and Jude says “Im sorry” and Taryn says “I know your probably mad…” which suggests that Taryn was never going to say sorry and divert the assumed resentment away from her. When she was in the wrong, CLEARLY, she only went up to Jude to rekindle because she wanted something from Jude. And I hate when ppl go like ‘oh Jude is so stupid for forgiving Taryn’s manipulative ass’ when Jude knew!! Taryn was taking advantage of Jude’s positions & Jude in general and couldnt even manage to say im sorry. Instead, she used manipulation and tried to make it seem like she’s the victim to get Jude good with her when all Jude wanted was a sorry and an ‘I won’t do it again’.

Btw, you can tell that she mostly, or even only, went to Jude to get something because it’d be monthssss since a betrayal (each time) then she comes back a few months later, or more, when she had the freedom to go anytime. Then after manipulating Jude in believing she was sorry, or smt, she would ask for something or hint at something she wants like a second after!! (Jude forgave her anyway too) If you dont remember: the first time was to ask or hint at wanting Jude to revokes Locke’s title of Master Of Revels. With the second time was even worse. Second time she only came back bc it was LIFE OR DEATH and came to Jude as a LAST MINUTE, a day or so before her trial so you couldnt even say that she used it as a excuse. And something that lowkey breaks my heart is Jude assumes Taryn just killed him and came to Jude immediately to hide the body n stuff but Taryn tried to hide the body and everythinggg before coming to Jude… then on top of that she put Jude’s life in danger.

The first thing the trial asks is who she is: the real answer was obviously Jude but she lied and said Taryn. But I get it, Jude cant be glamoured so its fine!! But the thing is that TARYNNNN DIDNTTT KNOWWWW!!?? She deadass went to Jude, asking her to fill in for her, when Jude was in exile so if her exile was fr and she could be glamoured normally then Jude wouldve been dead😭.

(Props to Vivi for not letting Jude go until Jude admitted she couldnt she glamoured but Taryn was TOOOO ready to let Jude die in her place)

Anyway, we should all collectively hate Taryn for that; not hating her for trying to live in elfhame differently from Jude.

[manicpixiedreamfae]

So I was wondering

If Oak is a gancanagh, Nicasia is a mermaid, Kaye is a pixie, Madoc is a redcap, Ravus (from Valiant) is a troll, etc etc

What type of Fae exactly is Cardan? And Roiben, for that matter 🤔

They're probably just considered as.... Elves/high elves, I guess?

[not-poignant]

the gancanagh 2, 7, 19 (I’m super curious about this one bc he seems to be very soft spoken in the story so I wonder what his anger would look like) and 25. I’m sorry if that’s a lot you dont have to answer them all if you dont want to

2. What's something about your OC that people wouldn't expect just from looking at them?

That he's a horrible sadistic killer who gets his rocks off watching young men and women feeling excruciating heartbreak, and making it worse for them so they eventually die from it.

He's really far, far too nice to be someone who enjoys the long, drawn-out, agonised suffering of people starving to death, dying of thirst, and ultimately dying of heartbreak because like, he could make that shorter if he wanted to, but he doesn't.

7. What's one way your OC has changed since you first came up with them?

He gained a wee Bimble :D

19. How does your OC behave when enraged?

I don't think he really gets enraged, honestly.

Like, the closest, possibly, is when Oengus died, and the way he died. But even that was a more non-specific outrage at life, and not directed at anyone in particular.

The Gancanagh is extremely self-possessed and is not given to strong outbursts of things like anger, to the point where I'm literally struggling to imagine anything causing him genuine rage. His being laconic and laidback is a fundamental part of his character.

25. What is your favorite thing about your OC?

His wee Bimble, lol. The way he speaks. That despite the fact that he's really quite a horrifying sadistic murderer who thinks nothing of raping fairly innocent people (like Mosk) he's still extremely likeable.

~

From the Edge OCs meme!