Category talk:Legendary creatures

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Maybe this category should be merged with Category:Legendary species? --Conti 16:00, 21 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Done. --Conti 11:50, 22 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Speaking of merging, why the distinction between Fictional species and Legendary creatures? How do you decide which category a creature belongs to? ··gracefool |☺ 21:33, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I think a fictional creature is any creature that doesn't actually exist. Anything that exists (only) in fiction is fictional. However to be Legendary a creature must be part of a Legend - a story of particular power or significance. Thus the creatures of Greek myth are both legendary and fictional. Alien creatures from a TV show are just fictional. DJ Clayworth 13:29, 25 Aug 2004 (UTC)

When does a fictional creature become a legendary creature? For instance, I changed the categories of Goblin and Goblinoid because they had little info in the way of myths or legends. What exactly is a legend? Any story more than 50 years old? 100? ··gracefool |☺ 02:40, 26 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I don't think we are going to be able to pin this down exactly. Certainly it's necessary for a story to be fairly old before it is a legend. Something also needs to be 'well know' as a story, and preferably without a known author. I might make some exceptions there for tales that are old enough to be retold again and again, even if the author is known (possibly Cyclops is allowed as legendary here). My view is:

Anything with a known author is not legendary unless very old indeed. So no Orcs, no Puppeteers, no Gorns, no monsters from Doom. Cyclops, Pegasus, Centaur is OK; same with similar creatures from other mythologies.

I think that's a pretty good first rule. If you can name the person or group who invented the creature, it's not legendary. DJ Clayworth 16:04, 26 Aug 2004 (UTC)

yeah, but it cant hurt to have a differant page for: Trolls(jrr tolkien's world) and trolls(european legends). Because tolkien trolls are similar to the other trolls, and were definatly inspired by them. but some details for both dont belong on either page. you know what im saying?

[edit] Cleaning up

I'm currently trying to move all the single-creature articles currently sitting in the general "legendary creatures" category into appropriate subcategories. If I put something in a subcategory that isn't appropriate, please put it where it belongs instead of just moving it back to the broader category. Thanks. Kotengu 小天狗 22:27, 6 April 2007 (UTC)