ITT: We talk where fantasy myths such as orks, vampires and pretty much anything else used in today's fantasy imaginary and 900's fantasy literature come from (basically what real situation implyed people to believe in such myths from, example, physical and mental illness cases)
>>375931
Well I know the medical condition where vampirism most likely came from is porphyria.
There was an excellent talk at the Royal Armouries about how to kill a vampire (to tie in with their purchase of a "vampire hunters kit").
I'll type up what I can remember when I get home.
Basically though, a good chunk of what we think about vampires stems from modern movies a books, with no basis in actual folklore.
>>375986
Also there are a few accounts from medieval England about people rising from the grave and attacking people in a zombie like fashion. They were called revenants. The Abbot of Burton wrote about them a few times in one of his works.
OP here
I personally have informations about the "voodo" side about zombies (which I personally think it's the most "realistic" among all other kinds)
A thing I am struggling to find are corpous informations about orcs or ogres in ancient times, as I can only find informations about tolkien's orcs exc.
Orcs and elves were probably just some remaining stories about isolated, nomadic hunter gatherer tribes that got fantastic aspects added to them to seem cooler.
>>376063
Wasn't elves based on the finnish or something?
>>376063
Tolkien invented orcs, they weren't from folklore. Orc means ghost in Babylonian or some shit.
>>376066
The norsemen thought that the elves lived to the north of them in lappland. But they were just Saami tribes.
Werewolves: fear of actual wolves, paranoia, that syndrome were babies are born with lots of hair and maybe psychopaths killing people and trying to make it look like a wolf attack.
Witches: stories about surviving pagans hiding in the depths of the forest combined with boogieman stories to keep children from wandering off into the forest where they could be taken by outlaws, get lost or get killed by local fauna.
Fairies, gnomes and other trickster smallfolk: bad memory, maybe Alzheimer, other mind tricks like Deja Vú, combined with rats, mice and other animals actually going in and out of the house freely.
>>376015
Orcs were something Tolkien came up with from scratch, basically goblins but more powerful. Alternatively, dark elves.
>>376150
many of the small folk stem from local equivalents of Rome's household protecting spirits, like the Kobolds for example.
You gotta remember that what was venerated under paganism became vilified under christfaggotry
Behemoth = Hippo
Unicorn = Rhino
Centaur = early greeks being scared shitless by raiders on horses when they were first encountered
These are pretty much confirmed from what ive read over the years
also, its always been my pet theory that Elves, Dwarves, Sasquatches, etc are distant memories of the other species of humans mutated over time by oral storytelling
>>376015
Ogres specifically I don't know but they're probably just some variation on giants.
Orcs come from an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning a ghost or goblin. It came originally from the Latin Orcus, who was a deity associated with death. In other places "Orcus" is translated as "Hel-Deofol" (Hell-devil)
Terms coming from "Orcus" were common and include Spanish Guerco and Italian Orco.
I'm not an expert on Germanic mythology but as far as I know, elves were the germanic equivalent of nature spirits like greek nymphs or the Aos Sí from Irish mythology.
>>376192
what do you intend as behemot
Tolkien, mainly.
>>376179
Most tales I've heard about smallfolk were actually positive with them though. It's the big guys that get the villain role on tales, and not always.
>>376869
The biblical one that was probably shared by the neighbours of the jews.
>>376075
>Tolkien invented orcs
No he borrowed them from an earlier author...forgot the dude's name. But tolkien made them into what we think of them today. the earlier author's orcs, albeit evil had 2 major weaknesses... tender feet and constipation
>>376962
wiki'd that shit, tolkien borrowed Orcs not onlyfrom Nord myths but also from a certain George MacDonald
>>376075
Orc is old English for foreigner and demon
Werewolves are probably Slavic in origin but the first example I know of is in Ovid's metamorphoses, I think.
It ties into the flood myth and the creation of man (again).
Since it's Ovid it's not original most likely but I don't know the source for his version.
>>377023
Just demon
Welsh means foreigner
>>377026
Slavic werewolves were more like evil sorcerers than cursed victims of the bite.
There's another slavic tradition that werewolves are vampires who were improperly slain.
Some ancient Greek writer noted that the possible ancestors of the slavs in Ukraine considered themselves children of wolves and could allegedly shapeshift at will.
>>376150
Witch histeria only really becomes a thing towards the end of the 16th century and into the 17th. Pendle, Matthew Hopkins, Salem and most of the big witch hunts happened during this time. It's likely, if not named for political/economic reasons, that most 'witches' were just secret catholics.
In the middle ages magic/witchcraft was an intrinsic part of life, with a very large role to play in medical treatment and even in the church.
>>377046
Pausanius said similar about a village in Arcadia.
Also becoming a wolf was the result of a curse of punishment in the Ovid story and prior versions apparently.
Either way, it seems werewolves are a PIE hold over
>>376954
They could fuck with crops. They were often said to live in rock fields. You weren't supposed to go there. You left them tribute so they wouldn't fuck with your crops and they might actually help them grow in some cases.
This is spanning across cultures. There are many cultures that include small folk. Google the podcast "Lore". They have a fantastic episode on small folk.
>>377023
Did you learn that from that 1066 battle for middle earth miniseries?
Because i did...
>>377123
>>375931
if you want to go REALLY, REALLY deep take a look at Hartmann Schedel's Weltchronik and what he "encountered".
it is absolutely fascinating and gave birth to/ classified an insane amount of myths about "otherly" species that were all human-like
>>375960
Congenital porphyria (photophobia, excessive hair growth, reddening of the teeth) is actually more akin to werewolf myths than vampires.
>>378920
posting more
imagine getting a footjob from that hottie
>>378942
last 1
>>376192
>centaurs
I thought that was a poetic imagination of barbarians as half-beast half-men monstrosities, as in they were so uncivilized they were part animal.
>>378945
cryptozoology is just my thing, man.
>>378955
>>378945
Those two look perfectly normal
>>379020
they fked up in da head family
>>379056
I would also defend myself if some fucking swans or whatever are those shits attacked me
>>379071
swans are a great band man give em a try
really aggresive tho
Scandinavians used to think giant trolls would throw boulders around in open fields. They also thought trolls turned to stone when exposed to daylight because of Pareidolia.
There was a metabolic defect that caused people to crave blood to make up for their iron deficiency. Some other features were receding gums and light sensitivity. This outbreak happened in the Transylvania region.
