Classifications of fairies
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In mythology and folklore, fairies are classified in a variety of ways.
Two of the most prominent categories, derived from Scottish folklore, are the division into the Seelie Court and the Unseelie Court. William Butler Yeats, in Irish Fairy and Folk Tales, further divided them into the Trooping Fairies and the Solitary Fairies.
These categories are generally applied to any fairy-type creature, from elves, pixies and brownies to ogres and giants.
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[edit] Seelie and Unseelie courts
The Seelie (Blessed or Holy) Court was seen as more beneficent toward humans. They were known to seek help from humans, to warn those who had accidentally offended them, and to return human kindness with favors of their own. Still, a fairy belonging to this court would avenge insults and could be prone to mischief.[1] The most common time of day to see them was twilight.[2]
The Unseelie (Unholy) Court consisted of the malicious and evilly-inclined fairies. Unlike the Seelie Court, no offense is necessary to bring down their assaults.[3] As a group (or "host"), they would appear at night and assault travelers, often carrying them through the air, beating them, and forcing them to commit such acts as shooting elfshot at cattle.[4] .[5]
In the French fairy tales of précieuses, fairies were likewise divided into good and evil, but the effect is clearly literary.[6] Many of these literary fairies seem preoccupied with the character of the humans they encounter.[7]
[edit] Trooping and Solitary Fairies
Yeats divided fairies into the solitary and trooping fairies, as did James Macdougall in Folk Tales and Fairy Lore. Katharine Mary Briggs noted that a third distinction might be needed for "domesticated fairies" who live in human household, but such fairies might join with other fairies for merry-making and fairs.[8]
The trooping fairies contained the aristocracy of the fairy world, including the Irish Daoine Sídhe.[4] They were known as trooping faeries because they traveled in long processions, such as the one from which Tam Lin was rescued.[9] But the trooping fairies also included other fairies of lesser importance; a trooping fairy could be large or small, friendly or sinister.[10]
The Welsh fairies, Tylwyth Teg, and the Irish Sídhe were usually not classified as wholly good or wholly evil.[11]
Unlike the trooping fairies, solitary fairies live alone and are inclined to be wicked and malicious creatures, except for the brownie who is said to help with household chores.[12]
[edit] Seelie and Unseelie fairies in contemporary fiction
In Laurell K. Hamilton's Merry Gentry series, the protagonist is of both courts, but becomes the heir to the Unseelie court. In Bloody Bones, Magnus Bouvier was accused of being the member of the Unseelie Court by Anita Blake.
Mercedes Lackey has authored or co-authored numerous works that incorporate modern Fae, such as the Bedlam's Bard and SERRAted Edge series. In addition, her historical fantasy books dealing with Queen Elizabeth I of England--co-authored with Roberta Gellis--have important characters from both the Seelie and Unseelie courts.
Raymond E. Feist has authored Faerie Tale, a novel where the world of the Fae intrudes upon the normal world in the state of New York, almost leading to a war between men and Fairies in the modern era.
Emma Bull's War for the Oaks centers around a human protagonist who is recruited by the Seelie Court to help fight a war against their Unseelie foes.
In Jim Butcher's series The Dresden Files, particularly Summer Knight, the fae are usually called Summer and Winter 'sidhe' but also referred to as seelie and unseelie, respectively.
Holly Black's novels "Tithe", "Valiant", and "Ironside" all deal with the Seelie and Unseelie Court.
Cecilia Dart-Thornton's Bitterbynde trilogy consists of a young woman's experiences with Seelie and Unseelie faerie in an alternate world.
Final Fantasy VI features Unseelies as a bizarre class of enemy.
City of Heroes and City of Villains, two companion MMORPGs, feature Unseelies as an enemy during Halloween events, accompanying the foes Jack-In-Irons and Eochai. They appear as small ghost-like creatures. The games also feature Red Caps, a subclass of the Unseelie Court, as an enemy group.
In the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics, the realm of Faerie was a minor locale in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman and The Books of Magic. It subsequently became the major locale of Gaiman's novel Stardust, and a major locale of the subsequent ongoing series of The Books of Magic and its three The Books of Faerie spin-off miniseries. The Seelie Court, reigned over by Titania and Auberon, is the usual setting, but ongoing conflict with the Unseelie Court is a recurring background plotline, occasionally becoming a central one.
Grant Morrison has said that the Sheeda race are based on the Unseelie Court.
Karen Marie Moning also features both Seelie and Unseelie fairies in her novels.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Briggs, Katharine Mary(1976) 'An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Boogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures. New York, Pantheon Books. "Seelie Court", p.353. ISBN 0-394-73467-X
- ^ Froud, Brian and Alan Lee (1978) Faeries. New York, Peacock Press/Bantam. ISBN 0-553-01159-6
- ^ Briggs (1976) p.419
- ^ a b Froud and Lee (1978)
- ^ Silver, Carole B. (1999) Strange and Secret Peoples: Fairies and Victorian Consciousness. Oxford University Press. p.174 ISBN 0-19-512199-6
- ^ Briggs, K.M. (1967) The Fairies in English Tradition and Literature. Chicago, University of Chicago Press. p.108
- ^ Briggs (1967) p.177
- ^ Briggs (1967) p.412
- ^ Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads
- ^ Briggs (1976) p.412
- ^ Evans-Wentz, W. Y. (1966, 1990) The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries. New York, Citadel p.167 ISBN 0-8065-1160-5
- ^ Briggs (1976) "Solitary Fairies" p.412
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The "Strange and Secret Peoples" is written by Carole G. Silver, not Carole B
