#myths and monsters au

[habken]

my aus have aus, it's like a big tree and all the little branches are the slightly different situations I've put my favourite little guys in

[madcat-world]

Nuckelavee - Vulpes-Ibculta

[prismolovesfanfiction]

"wow they have the voice of an angel" my sailor in christ you are being ensnared by a siren

[paintedkinzy-88]

Donnie's habit of placing tracking devices on his family certinally helps him figure out something is off.

Hmmm wonder if Donnie would consider asking Loe to go for a late night swim at some point around the time Leo usually does his falling/fake flying stunts... it could be interesting.

Gotta love his questionably immoral overprotectiveness. It DOES have its benefits with their lifestyle!

And he absolutely will at some point. If not for Leo, then for himself. As nice as it is to see the city from above, the cold, windy air up there tends to dry up his scales. He needs a good swim one of these days that isn’t just in their pool.

And now Leo can take him to nicer waters too. Which he absolutely will. Look out for serpent sightings in the Bahamas—

[thecrowslullaby]

my mind wanted spider demon Virgil

i could not resist

[mrblank-0]

Myth!Verse Nightmare (Redesign)

Art made by @apaidh, inspired by Le design

Info of Myth!Verse Nightmare

In this verse, Nightmare doesn't have a soul, he is still made of negativity but is not an embodiment of negativity but likes to call himself that

This Nightmare feeds on the souls of humans, literally as after he has torture them enough, he will rip out their soul and consume it, the soul itself is not destroyed but is kept alive inside nightmare surrounded by negativity meaning its constantly in agony and suffereing

Nightmare prefers human souls as they taste better

Nightmare becomes more powerful as he consumes more souls

This Nightmare is still immune to magic and physical attacks, things like spears or arrows will simply melt in his body

Nightmare cannot "teleport" instead he travels through the shadows between worlds

[ananke-xiii]

I've written somewhere that Team Free Will is actually Team Dean's Will but it wasn't, like, a criticism or something like that, it was what I personally got once the show was over (and I still have very legit concerns about Dean's choice during the last episode).

I don't think Chuck won in the end because he, as a character, wouldn't have wanted for Dean to die. As far as polysemy goes, Chuck does represent many things but, to be really honest, I don't really think he represents John Winchester on a cosmic level. Like, yeah, OF COURSE, we can definitely put them together in the "Shitty Fathers" box but when Chuck tells Dean that he's not like his father I think he's not that wrong after all. Chuck is much worse and not because he's a John Winchester on a gigantic scale, it's not about quantity. He's worse because he just is.

Leaving aside the many problematic aspects of their relationship, Mary and John can be totally seen as Amara and Chuck (the show does go there and I think it's interesting for many reasons) but it's also true that the one who lied in the couple was Mary, not John. Even if we know why she had to lie and it can be understandable, it's also true that both Sam and Mary are willing to omit a Very Important Thing about themselves that, eventually, gets their partners killed. But, unlike Chuck who's to blame for his omissions, lies and manipulations, both Sam and Mary are two characters that, even more than Amara, are ALWAYS stripped of any choice. So it's almost like no matter what they do, they can only fight for their free will but never fully live it (SPN final thesis: you can never get what you want).

So yeah, if we consider John as a person and, more specifically, as a partner (therefore not in his paternal role), Chuck's not like him at all. Chuck's in control of his narrative, John couldn't even choose his own car at the dealership (btw, in my fantasy John has a love/hate relationship with the whole album "Boys for Pele" by Tori Amos that he keeps hidden like Bobby's passion for Tori Spelling). John is very much mainly narrated by other characters, in this respect he's just like Mary, to be honest. We don't 100% know who he is because he's a character described by absence. So much so that Sam and Dean didn't even know he had a fucking SECRET family!!!

Chuck is portrayed to be less enigmatic. We know he lies because we are shown that multiple times even before "Moriah". He's a character without much depth and that bothers him So. Much. He's a God who wants to be like Keith Richards. LOL!

However, even if Chuck, to me, objectively doesn't win (I also have my own "Billie won theory"), he neverthless does represent the Dictorial Power of Shitty Fathers that some might call The Patriarchy (not me. I would NEVER!). In this way, yes, he sort of wins because, as I've said, the natural order wins in the end and, in SPN, the natural order is Absent, Shitty Fathers. The sugarcoated version of the bygone days, the bittersweet nostalgia for a golden past that inevitably leads to death.

And who, the show tells us, represents all of the above? The absence of John Winchester via the presence of his journal. A man who's become so powerful he's been morphed into a myth. Maybe he is the real tulpa of this story, after all.

What does this have to do with Team Dean's Will? I find that saying that what Dean did in the end is a "choice" is very troublesome. To me personally. But the show does imply that, not strongly enough because it leaves some room for doubt but it ultimately does that. So okay, I'll bite and will consider it to be a Real Choice out of Dean's Free Will. Fine. What about Sam, though?

S15 starts with Sam and Rowena and ends with Sam and Dean. Rowena and Dean both commit suicide that's not 100% framed as suicide. Among other things, it is framed as a sacrifice. And Sam's there with them and he doesn't want that. He says so. He tells Rowena to "screw the books" and he tells Dean that he doesn't want what Dean is asking for.

Rowena's act is framed as being done out of her own agency because she believes in prophecy and magic. To which I say bullshit, not to Rowena but to the show because this is a cop-out. Since S13 Rowena couldn't do what she wanted to do because it wasn't possible. Fine. But how come that prophecy seems to be working only for her? How come the "rules are rules" mindset only applies to her? Why do other characters' books change and hers alone doesn't? How come her sacrifice is both destined and out of her own free will? It means that it can happen then! That destiny and free will can coincide! This change in thinking about the question is so packed with possibilities that they could've done another 15 seasons about it. Unfortunately, destiny and free will seem to meet in Definite Death which meh. Story over.

And Sam? He's still there. Participating and not participating. Against his will.

With Dean things are a bit different because we do know that Chuck is obsessed with him. Once Chuck is out of the picture, we could imply, Dean's finally "free" to choose what he wants. Which is such a naive thought because if it were only the absence and/or presence of things/persons to determine our lives we, perhaps, wouldn't need therapy.

But, as I've said, I'll be good and keep my promise: let's say Dean chooses out of his own free will. It should be cool for us, right? This is what Dean wants. The Big Big Bad is not dead but he's not the man behind the curtains anymore so hurrah! Free/Dean's Will wins. We should feel like we must respect that. And yet, it doesn't feel right.

And Sam? He's still there. Participating and not participating. Against his will.

It doesn't feel very "Free Willy" if the people just let the orca free. It's not very Free Will for Sam if the show tells us that it's Dean literally getting out of the picture that will "free" Sam. Brrrrrrr.

So what does this tell me? That the "destiny vs free will" discourse seems to be working only when there's a villain on the horizon, a commanding power that wants to tell you what to do, someone actually stronger than you whose actions can alter your life's story.

If you take that power out, what's left? Only people with their choices. And your absent, dead father's journal radiating The Real Power (the idea of power inside your mind that controls you). Is free will still in the room with us? Cause it starts to look like somebody's supposedly "free" will might be somebody's else constraint. As far as Sam is concerned, it seems to say: it doesn't matter whether there's a God, Death or that prophecy is real or not. What matters is that you can only stand there, participating and not participating. You don't want that? Too bad, 'cause that's what you got.

Maybe the finale really took the worst from my "Billie won theory" and the worst from the "Chuck won theory", i.e. an idea of natural order that upholds patriarchy. Or, since I can and will go there, that the natural order is the patriarchy.

So what about Free Will, is it an illusion? If it applies to only a few it certainly doesn't seem like something worth fighting for. And the natural order is indeed restored in the end. I don't think the show gives a real answer to that, by the end of S15 there are so many things that simultaneously mean 100 other things that everybody can take what they want from the show.

If you ask me, I think it was a moot question, to be honest. It made sense in S4-5 but once SPN goes full meta in S15 it becomes very superficial. Of course I know they're fictional characters and literally don't have free will, the premises were interesting because I wanted to see how these characters would react to stuff happening in the story. Once the story is revelead to be a bluff, though, what am I left with? Characters spiralling into crisis after crisis. This could be interesting in a novel but in a 15-seasons-long series you have to give me something ELSE as well, the "all die more or less happily" last-minute finale (knowing Heaven is a scam, by the way) is just... not having to deal with the consequences of the narrative choices that were made.

Or, perhaps, Supernatural is a show where one of its themes is "destiny vs free will" that ultimately tells you that there's no destiny but there's also no free will, there's only John's journal aka the Power of the Dominant Narrative. Which is the power of the people who write that narrative for us to believe in it. Perhaps, not even the people making the show were free to do what they would've liked to do. They were also there, like Sam, participating and not participating. Finding ways to cope.

[sleepingboar]

" ... There, in the white sand with the imprint of wild currents, the remains of a defeated sea monster were black. His long body was huge! The bones were hard as stone, and there were scars from merciless shark teeth. At some point, the darkness that enveloped the abandoned old rival was driven away by a flickering light. A school of bioluminescent squid migrated over the broken ridge. Countless deep-sea life played mesmerizingly with waves of blue fire and this spectacle did not stop for a very long time … "

Only Gods can visit such places

[legendaryblueoranges]

Chasing Myths

Ranboo, Sneegsnag, Charlie, and Crumb are myth/cryptid hunters and go around the world searching for and trying to get evidence of these creatures' existences.

Each photo they take comes with a story behind it… after all… they aren’t the only ones hunting. This is the third and final poster for the vote, the poll will be posted next week--- but what series is chosen will be based on both notes and votes- so if you don't vote in the poll, then note your favorite series poster/concept art! Unfortunately Chasing Myths is in 3rd place (It may be continued at a later point in time) but as of now.. The "Hermit Games" is the winner!

[hideyseek]

i think weilan xfiles au is going to turn into a story about the immigrant experience. why do i think this? I DON'T FUCKING KNOW. but i feel like i keep being led around to it with the premise's emphasis of shen wei's alien-ness, the way case one is already set in stone as being about a creature from dixing that fled to haixing and -- lives the rest of its life / meets its end there. there's something too about this being an au of a show set in the united states with the backdrop of the view of government that the united states has, that makes me go: hmmmm i think i need to read up on the chinese immigrant experience in the united states in like, the 1880s. i dont know why i feel this urge! i can't quite connect these dots! but every time i think about the final case in this fic i kind of go: i think it has to do with the place that dixingren land when they come to haixing in this version of the world and im pretty sure i want to listen to that instinct

[comfymoth]

Silly question!! But like, judging off of your werewolf characters you base them off of wolves native to the place they are from(Roier being Mexican wolf, for example. But I could be wrong about this, my memory is shit) what would happen if someone was turned into a werewolf in a place where there aren't any native wolves? (Like, south Africa for example. Would they then be an African wild dog or???))

that’s a really good question!! for the most part, i try to go off what the most prominent werewolf-equivalent myth is in a given area— like how brazil has their lobisomem! but, if an area has neither wolves nor a popular folklore equivalent— like south africa seems to— yeah, i’d probably steer towards a wild dog inspired design! (side note: i just love the werehyenas from north africa, would love to design one one day)

it’s kind of interesting, though, because some places don’t have native wolves but do still have popular werewolf stories. like argentina! that was my excuse for making spreen look more like a wolf than a maned wolf, although if i could go back and re-design him i might make his legs longer as a little nod to that, haha. but au spreen is also kind of weird because he’s biologically related to misa, so? make of their ethnicities what you will. that’s the other reason he’s more classically wolfy.

but all this does raise another interesting question…. if roier bit cellbit, would cellbit turn into a wolf like him? or a lobisomem? maybe a mix of both? questions, questions….

[dutybcrne]

Me making a HSR verse for my oc: Hmmm so the plan on this one could maybe be a bad end for her tendency to fuck around and find out—

My brain: So anyways, make her whole deal a fucken horror story-

[rabbithub]

Its the small differences between species that can be bewildering... in this case, harpies having prominant chests...

Have this cute sketch before I finish getting ready for work, with a pinch of DiaDop.

[skelekins]

Many surface monsters are regarded as faeries after the monsters below ground were forgotten and their connections lost. However they still dust on death, and their blood will dry to those same granules.

While some humans have found ways to prevent parts from dusting, the most common faerie-related commodity in the black markets is 'faerie dust'. Surface monsters tend to bleed in different colors, with their dust carrying traces of magic even in death.

[eldritch-edward]

Does anyone else think about the fact that 03 homunculi are the undead?

And that philosopher's stones are human lives?

I ask 'cause I think about it a lot.

[haunted-art-gallery]

what kind of monster would I be?

Full sketch under cut: