#the folkloristics of supernatural

[catsconflictscopicsandchamomile]

why November 5th, and destielblr as a whole, is the most folklorically fascinating thing I've ever seen

hoo boi. I have a VERY busy weekend ahead of me and a major presentation on wednesday so this will (probably for the best tbh) be pretty brief by my standards.

first off, once again, the lore-accurate Archangel Cassiel (yes, archangel) :

Saturn, Time, Solitude & Tears

oh yeah aND THE *DEATHS OF KINGS*

....I really don't know how yall managed to recreate an entire angel from basically nothing but ok

but NOVEMBER 5th

is a WHOLE DIFFERENT LEVEL

because THIS

is a HOLIDAY

on the BORDER OF FALL AND WINTER

about the ANGEL OF TIME being THROWN INTO TARTARUS (yes, The Empty is literally Tartarus, no I will not elaborate, its the same thing) for the crime of FALLING IN LOVE with a SEMI-IMMORTAL, VAGUELY-HUMAN HUNTER WHO IS DESCENDED FROM *CAIN*

and over the past three years

this has evolved into the following pieces of folklore:

-when it is NOT Nov 5th, Cassiel still does his usual, literal-millenia-old duty of announcing the deaths (or disgraces) of powerful people. Dean is there too, now.

-Cassiel can tell Dean he loves him all he wants, but through some curse attributed to a cruel God and/or metanarrative forces, Dean is forever unable to say it back- however, he is able (or possibly forced) to announce Weird News Crap in what is usually Cassiel's role. I've even seen some memes that have Dean remembering every world event the "Destiel Meme" is used for as a twisted replay of the confession scene, while Cas doesn't remember any of them.

-Nov 5th seems to be a day of renewal/restarting for the fandom/meta effort to get Cas & Dean back together, but that is manifesting more & more as Cas and/or Dean THEMSELVES restarting their efforts to find each other. It even goes as far as posts talking about eating certain foods, or even leaving food out, as something akin to souling/other folkloric forms of "food for the dead", as some symbolic aid/allegiance to these two wandering spirits...

of a fallen angel and some kind of Clearly-From-The-Wild-Hunt demihuman Cain Guy....

who desperately want to find each other...

so that the angel can be freed from Tartarus/the void...

and the hunter can leave the eternal chase across the heavens and live happily on earth

(also the Hunt Guy has a brother who is SEVEN FEET TALL and MAGIC and has FUTURE SIGHT and *MOOSE ANTLERS* and drinks BLOOD. what in the aggressively nordic fresh fuck)

so um.

yeah.

yall did FOLKLORE

PEOPLE OF TUMBLR, DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT YOU HAVE *DONE A FOLKLORE*

congratulations, the latest heartbreaking seasonal time deity/wild hunt/cain tradition/star-crossed immortal lovers/midwinter mythos came from TUMBLR OF ALL PLACES

...also I will be separately posting a "folklorically-consistent" list of things to leave out for Destiel tonight and/or tomorrow night, if that interests anyone

[margridarnauds]

I can neither confirm nor deny that a vital part of Raphael's appeal to me, as a grad student, is that he offers you food in his introductory meeting

[jamaisjoons]

happy hentaiween | m.

Fear is a powerful aphrodisiac, and October is the season of fear. The dark season. The season of desire.

In October, we toy with the semantics of the monster waiting under our bed to claim us. What does it want with us? Will it be delicious? Will we be delicious in the back of its mouth. In October, we consider the curiosity of the alien, and his probing, searching eyes. When he takes us, will will bind ourselves to him, giving life, and liver and womb without question or hesitation? In October, sympathy for the devil and his demons comes easily and as sweetly as a candy apple to the tongue. Does sin have any room to germinate where there is no light? October makes room for spellbinding, for magic, for complete surrender to the monster living deep within the forest. How easily we will spread ourselves, give over to the limits of our bodies just to ache and hunger with wildfire in our blood.

Welcome to A Hentai Halloween! A collaborative event between a set of truly wonderful authors in celebration of all weebs, monster fuckers, and tentacle lovers hosted by yours truly!

notice: all fics contain smut. minors dni.

⟶ AO3 Masterlist

⁂ binding vow

⤑ pairing: king of curses!namjoon x jujutsu sorcerer!reader ⤑ genre: smut ⤑ tropes: dark fantasy. reincarnation. jujutsu kaisen au.

❝ During the Heian Era, long before he was known as the King of Curses, you were Namjoon's lover, only to be parted by death at the hands of a Curse. Now, it's the modern era, and you, a Jujutsu Sorcerer, have been captured by Curses in an offering to the very King you had once loved. ❞

⏤ Category: Hentai ; As Animated by @jamaisjoons​

➵ Coming Soon

⁂ tormented

⤑ pairing: researcher!seokjin x monstress!reader ⤑ genre: smut ⤑ tropes: supernatural. native folklore. e2l.

❝ Seokjin has a terrifying memory from his younger days that has easily shaped him into the man he’s become, and fuelled his desire for all accomplishments thus far. Watching your mother be eaten alive by a monster tends to have a lasting, psychological effect like that. Now a full-time Folklorist, with a PhD in Mythology, Masters in Cultural Anthropology, and a time consuming side-hobby as a Supernatural Investigator, his research has led him into the wilderness surrounding the Black Water Lakes, where he’s determined this monster resides in its hidden habitat. Determined to reveal new discoveries to the world, to prove his insanity is anything but, Jin finds himself hot on the trail of something that haunts his inner child, and yet ignites an unusual fire deep inside him. ❞

⏤ Category: Monster Girls ; As Animated by @kookdiaries​

➵ Coming Soon

⁂ can’t deny your appetite

⤑ pairing: dream whisperer!yoongi x dream walker!reader ⤑ genre: smut ⤑ tropes: supernatural. e2l. sleep paralysis demon.

❝ In the entirety of your existence as a Dream Walker, traveling through people's dreams and feeding on their subconscious fears, you had only heard tales about the Dream Whisperer – a creature that granted humans erotic dreams, taking them away from the fear that you survived on – and had never actually encountered him. But tonight, when the said monster physically appears between you and your food, you might end up feeding on more than you were prepared for. ❞

⏤ Category: Demons ; As Animated by @jimilter​

➵ Coming Soon

⁂ brood mare

⤑ pairing: alien!hoseok x human!Reader ⤑ genre: smut ⤑ tropes: sci fi. alien abduction. alien experimentation.

❝ The ship arrived three days after your birthday, an eerie blot in the sky that grew larger and larger until it sought to outshine the sun. It is the lack of change beyond this that had you, and everyone else around the globe, unsettled but after months of its looming presence you are starting to feel curious about it. You are even comforted by it. Still, there is no change. Except, sometimes in the morning you feel as though you have lost something. And, sometimes in the evening, you feel as though you are waiting for something. And, most times, you are certain there is something standing in the shadows, watching and waiting and departing the moment you try to focus on it. Perhaps there is change: a change in you. A change in the way you want it. And a change in the way you want it to want you back. ❞

⏤ Category: Aliens ; As Animated by @yeoldontknow​

➵ Coming Soon

⁂ beware the jabbercock

⤑ pairing: jabberwocky shifter!jimin x ace of hearts!reader ⤑ genre: smut ⤑ tropes: shifters. royalty. alice in wonderland au.

❝ As the Ace of Hearts, you are next in line for the throne after your cousin the Queen of Hearts. Her consort Jack however wants you out of the picture and banishes you to the Wonderland wilderness where the terrifying Jabberwocky lives, a horrifying creature responsible for a slew of card deck townspeople deaths.

Within the mysterious depths of the Wonderland forest you find the Jabberwocky, and as you fall under his spell you realise how he was so easily able to capture and defeat so many of your people. ❞

⏤ Category: Hybrids/Shifters ; As Animated by @opaljm​

➵ Coming Soon

⁂ lurking in the dark

⤑ pairing: bogeyman!taehyung x curvy!reader ⤑ genre: smut ⤑ tropes: monsters. s2l. pwp.

❝ Don’t look! It’s best to stay tucked under your covers. Folktales warn against acknowledging him. It only strengthens his power. Yet, he is all you want to think about. ❞

⏤ Category: Monster ; As Animated by @inkedtae​

➵ Coming Soon

⁂ fresh out of hell

⤑ pairing: demon monster!jungkook x med student!reader ⤑ genre: angst ∴ smut ⤑ tropes: forbidden love. horror. death race au.

❝ Jungkook was sentenced to life for a crime he didn’t commit. When the opportunity to earn his freedom again presented itself, he went for it. However, just like the victory, his life was snatched by the vile humans that put him in that awful place to begin with.

After rising from the grave, Jungkook has one mission. Take what’s rightfully his along with what his worst enemy loves the most. Although, the latter might be easier to grab than the former.  ❞

⏤ Category: Demons ; As Animated by @sugakookitty​

➵ Coming Soon

The shadows grow long in October, a bottomless black that swallows everything it touches. Trepidation comes easily, lurks behind every corner, watching and waiting, a feeling you cannot shake. And lust has never been shaken from the binds of our bones, it lurks, it watches it waits. What was once a friendly, well-lit street becomes an endless expanse of bleak possibility. What was once a friendly fable becomes a warning, a promise, an ode to regret and an ode to an unexpected metamorphosis. Desire transmutes the street corner your old neighbour once occupied, full now with difference, with longing, with a yearning close to obsession the moment a charming, new face stands at its threshold. The air tastes different in October, ripe with unexplained cravings.

We were taught never to speak about the dark desires that remain unsatisfied when the sun is out. But in October, when the moon is high, and the darkness is alive, we've decided to tell you everything we've ever wanted.

And none of us will be the same when we are done.

[a-still-small-vox]

Free Steve x Bucky AU prompts!

First I'll list the brief concepts. If that's all you need, take it from there! Otherwise, I've included more thoughts and details on each below the cut. All these prompts are very flexible. You can take them how they are, or feel free to make any changes based on where your inspiration takes you. Your city now

(But if you do make something using one of these, please let me know! I wanna see~)

Steve AUs loosely related to canon

Steve's shield has a soul

The serum made Steve's skin become an unnatural colour (like Schmidt turned red)

Steve is an alien whose biology doesn't jive with Earth's environment and that's why he had so many health problems, but Erskine can help him

Steve becomes small!Steve or large!Steve based on his emotions and willpower

Steve has Grim-Reaper-like powers that come from his near death experiences

Steve's powers come from his art (and he uses them to help freed!Bucky heal)

Steve's powers come from his art (and the Winter Soldier has to rescue him from Hydra because of it)

Bucky AUs loosely related to canon

The Winter Soldier is a computer construct (like Zola) who has possessed Steve's phone

The Winter Soldier is a real ghost, with special supernatural abilities

The Winter Soldier has frost-themed powers

Bucky is a robot built by Howard Stark to be Steve's sidekick, who gains sentience and falls in love with Steve despite not being programmed to do either of those things

Bucky is a monster who was doing a great job of pretending to be human until Hydra got their hands on him

Bucky is an arctic god who watches over frozen Steve

Bucky is Steve's guardian angel but messes up and has to be rescued by the person he was supposed to be guarding

Wraith Warrior AU: the Tesseract grants Bucky magic blue glowy powers

Different setting Bucky AUs

Bucky is a folkloristic creature suffering in a circus sideshow; Steve comes to free him

Modern AU where Bucky suffers from feelings of doom that come from the lives he endured in other universes

Fix it AUs for Bucky's fate

(I.E. AUs that make Bucky being the Winter Soldier a little less terrible for him, or not happen at all)

Bucky uses a mind palace to escape losing himself to the Winter Soldier

Bucky stores his memories prior to being captured so the Winter Soldier can someday find them

Steve's force ghost protects Bucky in captivity

Between 1944 and 2012, Bucky & Steve share dreams

Hydra accidentally makes Bucky too powerful

Bucky has advance visions of his fate and is prepared to accept it, but Steve says "fuck that"

Bucky & Steve survive WWII and have to chose whether or not to go to the future, and once again Steve says "fuck that" to getting there by creating the Winter Soldier

Steve & Bucky 2010s reunion AUs

Steve & Bucky fall in love despite neither of them knowing Bucky is Bucky

The Winter Soldier anonymously messages Steve whenever he gets the chance

Steve finds Bucky's frozen body and has to defrost him (oooh, huddling for warmth, oooh)

Bucky decides to "surveil" Steve from afar, but leaves Bucky-themed post-its around his house

Steve is the only person who remembers Bucky existed; everyone else has mass amnesia about him for some reason

Other pair AUs

Bucky & Steve have a magic bond; if one is still alive, the other will be too

Bucky & Steve have a telepathic bond that reactivates when Steve comes out of the ice

Bucky & Steve are a pair of superheroes who can take each other's pain and heal each other's wounds

Roleswap: Steve is found by Hydra after the crash; Bucky falls into a glacier in the Alps and is frozen for 70 years

Steve is a god of death, Bucky is a god of sex (or they both are different kinds of demons), and they decide to participate in World War II together

Bucky & Steve were prisoners in neighbouring cells

Bucky & Steve are bound by the red string of fate, but mistake it for an omen of death

AUs based on other stories

Steve is King Arthur, Bucky is Merlin (although the other way around could work with small!Steve)

The Last Knight AU (Steve is Michael, Bucky is Fisk)

Howl's Moving Castle AU (small!Steve is Sophie, Bucky is Howl)

AUs including Peggy

Peggy is a superhero like the Black Widow

Peggy and Bucky rescue Steve from the arctic

According to 2010s!Shield, Peggy is a supervillain

Other AUs

The Howlies crash the Battle of New York

The Howlies are unmoored from time and become legends

Steve somehow ends up with a prosthetic that matches Bucky's

Details below:

STEVE'S SHIELD HAS A SOUL

The vibranium used to make Steve's shield remembers its past lives as other things. It was strong and secret in the depths of the earth. It perhaps was forged for a warrior in Wakanda. Or it was set aside and never made into anything, aching to be useful someday. Or maybe it simply gained its soul by being forged into a shield, and is eager to help Steve as much as it can.

This was sort of envisaged as an outsider POV story from the point of view of the shield, although that's not necessary if you don't like it. The abilities it could have range from subtle (always hitting the target, dealing extra damage, having perfect timing, etc.) to as bold as the shield being able to fly by itself, or even having a spiritual manifestation as a ghostly winged warrior. If you're a fan of fix-its, remember that the shield was part of the reason Bucky fell from the train. If it was sentient, it would certainly not allow that!

THE SERUM MADE STEVE'S SKIN TURN AN UNNATURAL COLOUR

This idea stems from the fact that Schmidt turned red, and Bruce, who had a modified version of Steve's serum, turned green. I'm envisioning blue for Steve, but any colour that isn't a normal human skin colour would work. What would it be like if Captain America didn't turn out looking like an ideal white man? Would they make him hide his face with a mask or makeup like Schmidt does, or forgo the USO tours entirely and send him right to Europe, hoping he'll get himself killed in action before anyone has to see him?

Bucky actually he doesn’t mind Steve looking strange and gives him sci-fi themed pet names. So despite Steve's fears, their relationship is fine. Steve is pretty sure no one will ever find him attractive, but it’s a small price to pay for the power to save lives and have Bucky's back.

As for Bucky himself, if he does get captured he also receives a modified version of the supersoldier serum. Maybe he would turn silver (like his metal arm). Maybe if Steve rescues him from Azzano, only patches of his skin have changed colour, and he anxiously tries to hide them.

STEVE IS AN ALIEN

Like Superman, Steve is actually an orphaned alien. However, unlike in Superman’s case, Earth is not so compatible with Steve’s biological existence. (Atmospheric composition wrong, high susceptibility to diseases his immune system isn't used to, missing dietary element which gives him pica, etc.) That or the technology or biological function which allows him to appear like a normal human is very taxing on his body, especially if his true form has more limbs than a human’s and has to be strongly repressed. (Extra arms, a tail, tentacles, or wings, for example.) Steve himself may not know what he really is, he may have guessed but is not certain, or he may know because his adoptive mother knows.

Erskine is a xenobiologist. He recognises Steve for what he is immediately and wants to help him regardless of whether or not Steve will fight in the name of human freedom in return. Perhaps Steve spends months in a healing pod until his body catches up with how it’s supposed to be, or perhaps Erskine hurries the transformation along like in canon. Either way, Steve ends up looking like an alien. Then maybe Erskine helps him disguise himself again, but with the warning that he can’t stay disguised at all times or it’ll fuck him up again, since he’s fresh out of the healing pod.

Steve goes off to the front, and during his Bucky rescue at Azzano he loses his disguise. However, Bucky recognises him anyway, maybe by his voice or the way his eyes look. Bucky places great trust in him, especially after retrospectively recognising some of Steve’s odd behaviours as alien characteristics. (Like, "Ohhhh, so when you used to make those weird noises in your throat it was because your real form can purr, ohhhh I understand everything now.") Despite Steve's fears that Bucky would never accept the real him, Bucky does, and loves him just as fiercely as he did before if not even more...

STEVE'S PHYSICAL SIZE CAN CHANGE

After the serum, Steve’s body grows and shrinks based on the strength of his resolve. If you see him large, his faith is unbreakable and he will NOT be stopped. If you see him small, something bad is going on in his head, and most people never ever see him that way.

Steve would be Paul Bunyan himself if it meant getting Bucky back. (I imagine there is a size he simply cannot grow past, but that's how he would feel.)

STEVE'S POWERS COME FROM HIS PROXIMITY TO DEATH

Steve has faced death so much due to illness that he’s half grim reaper. He doesn’t look like much, but his bones are rotten and held together by shadow.

He rescues Bucky directly from Hydra, and the feel of the cold void of death is the most comforting feeling Bucky has ever known. This could go super dark, where either Steve is actually coming to take Bucky’s life so he doesn’t have to suffer anymore (and the lives of all those Hydra agents as well), or it’s not Steve, it’s just death. (And Bucky could become like Steve, or he could just die, but comforted.)

STEVE'S POWERS COME FROM HIS ART (and Bucky is already freed from Hydra)

Small!Steve is a superhero who uses his sketches to shape the world into the way he sees it. The rescued Winter Soldier shows up at Shield, meets Steve, and imprints on him like a duckling. Steve draws sketches that show Bucky as the person he wants to be. These sketches and Steve's subtle magic help Bucky heal. Bucky is amazed that anyone could actually see him as the redeemed person he wants to be.

Alternately: Later Steve reveals that he felt uncomfortable using his powers to change how Bucky is, even if it was in ways that Bucky wanted to change. These sketches have no magic in them beyond Steve’s own feelings and being able to see Bucky as the nuanced being he is. They worked on Bucky for the same reason that Dumbo's magic feather does. Being able to see himself through Steve's eyes was enough to change Bucky's mindset about himself to the point where he could start his own healing.

Alternately: Steve has no powers at all, only Bucky thinks he does. The Avengers keep him around because he's their friend and they like his art. His superhero costume is an inside joke between the Avengers, but also representative of the respect they have for his character and his mundane but hard won talent.

Alternately: Bucky meets Steve living as a civilian and realises he has powers through his art. He takes Steve to meet the Avengers, who think Bucky is imagining that Steve has powers, but he actually does have them — Bucky is just the only one attentive enough to notice.

STEVE'S POWERS COME FROM HIS ART (and Bucky is not freed from Hydra yet)

While the Winter Soldier is on a mission, small!Steve sees him and draws a portrait of him. One of Bucky's handlers notices and wants Bucky to kill Steve and destroy the drawing, OR Bucky notices and knows the little artist will soon be one of Hydra's targets if he isn't already. Either way, when Bucky sees the humanity in himself through Steve's drawing he becomes protective of him and doesn't want him to die. He essentially goes AWOL and kidnaps Steve to protect him from Hydra.

Unfortunately, Bucky does a bad job of explaining what’s going on and Steve tries to escape before running into a Hydra operative and having to be rescued by Bucky. Steve gives Bucky a nickname because they don't know his actual name. At one point they end up trapped in a situation they could escape if only Bucky could free his mind enough to unleash his full abilities on his handlers. He tells Steve to draw him as a free man. Steve says he’s too scared to be able to draw. Bucky thinks about what to do and gives Steve a hug, telling him to draw himself brave and Bucky free. This works. Possibly Steve correctly guesses Bucky's real name while doing this, or Bucky remembers it. The magic of the true name increases the power of the drawing tenfold. Steve becomes radiant with the power of possibility. Bucky kicks Hydra's asses and Steve helps. That portrait Steve drew saved Bucky.

THE WINTER SOLDIER IS A COMPUTER CONSTRUCT

So you know how Armin Zola ended up getting uploaded to a computer as a digital consciousness? What if Bucky was the guinea pig for this and exists in digital form now? No Winter Soldier, just a guy made of data desperately in love with the man (Steve) whose devices he’s snuck himself into. He takes advantage of the fact that Steve doesn't know how technology works yet to get away with doing things like controlling Steve's digital thermostats and other smart devices so he can take care of Steve as best he can in this form.

Jarvis may or may not be the first person to notice that Bucky is secretly living on Steve's phone. He might raise the alarm about Bucky, or he might help him. Or Steve will make an offhand comment about his phone's "amazing virtual assistant" that rings alarm bells for the other Avengers, until they figure out it's just Bucky.

Once they realise Bucky is there, he has to admit he's ashamed that he's not really a person anymore. Possibly Steve wants to get him a body so he can live again. Probably they could clone Bucky from DNA scraped from the inside of his stuff at the Smithsonian. Or he could have an android body made by Tony. Or Tony gives him a hologram body so he can manifest when he wants to, albeit not in tangible form.

THE WINTER SOLIDER IS A REAL GHOST

Bucky is a ghost, and he has corresponding superpowers. He is more powerful than other ghosts and most living people. Option one: he is confused about which army he served in World War II so he works for Hydra whenever they summon him with a séance. Option two: he doesn't work for Hydra (because how do you control a ghost if you can't psychologically manipulate them?) but works for himself or even Shield - whether they know he is there or not.

Additional options: this AU could be really touching with a Bucky and Steve who know each other, because maybe Bucky never moved on to the afterlife because he was so convinced he'd see Steve again. Maybe he's shy about revealing himself to Steve because he doesn't want Steve to be sad he's a ghost. But this AU could also work great if Bucky and Steve are strangers, but Bucky is shy because he doesn't want to admit he's fallen in love with a living man, and he thinks Steve will think it's weird that a ghost loves him. Steve DGAF and loves Bucky too.

THE WINTER SOLDIER HAS FROST-THEMED POWERS

Imagine if you knew the Winter Soldier was coming to kill you because the air got a little colder. Well, maybe the heating is on the fritz. But then you start to see your breath. Things are getting a little strange now, but This Is Fine, right? The Winter Soldier isn't real. He's just a ghost story. But then you look at the window and there's frost on the glass, and "oh fuck" is the last thought you'll ever have -

BUCKY IS A ROBOT

Bucky is a robot built by Howard Stark to be a sidekick for Captain America. He gradually gains sentience over time and begins to admire and love Steve, as well as developing a personality. Everyone is mystified by this because Stark actually didn't program Bucky to do anything other than fight well, be ethical, and be adaptable. It's a surprise to Stark just as much as anyone else that Bucky can think for himself, let alone feel.

I think it would be pretty funny if Hydra utterly fails to reprogram Bucky after he falls off the train. He just is like, 'I might not understand my own programming, but it's apparently smarter than Howard Stark, and you guys are morons compared to him, so you're definitely a moron compared to me.' Then fucks their shit up.

BUCKY IS A MONSTER WHO WANTS TO BE HUMAN

*I already wrote this one (cw for cannibalism, self-cannibalism, and psychological torture; the monster I picked is a ghoul), but I included this prompt here anyway because Two Cakes.

Bucky is a monster of some kind since the day Steve meets him. However, something about their meeting made Bucky want to be better than his nature for the first time in his life. He chooses to tame himself for Steve’s benefit and tries to blend in with humanity as best he can. But Hydra recognises Bucky for what he is and uses psychological manipulation/torture to convince him that a monster's place is on the side of evil. The Winter Soldier's legendary abilities become based on Bucky's actual innate powers and abilities.

But once Bucky meets Steve again in the 2010s, nothing he can do will convince Steve not to have faith in Bucky. Steve believes Bucky is a fundamentally good person despite the fact that he is a vampire, werewolf, fae, or whatever. And Steve is correct. Bucky's natural instincts as a creature may be dangerous to humans, but his natural instincts as a person are to live an honest life.

BUCKY IS AN ARCTIC GOD

When Steve crashes the plane in the arctic, he is found by a god of some aspect of winter (frost, wind, glaciers, etc.) who lives there. Bucky doesn’t care much about humans - rarely sees them, honestly - but is intrigued by Steve and takes care of him for decades. Steve sleeps through most if not all of this. Maybe Bucky appreciates Steve because he stopped environmental devastation (nuclear fallout) which would’ve impacted Bucky. Maybe he just feels possessive of this strange charge who dropped into his lap. He’s kinda mad when Shield rescues Steve. He’s like, that was MY human, he was so tired and he was sleeping peacefully, why’d you wake him up? You ingrates gave him to me, you can't just take him -

And then Steve wakes up with this weird feeling like he was just having a conversation with someone, but he doesn’t know who. And Bucky has to take on a human form (ugh, so melty. gross) and go to New York to get his human back.

BUCKY IS A GUARDIAN ANGEL BUT MESSES UP

Bucky is a supernatural being of some kind (guardian angel or even just a powerful nature spirit) who took a liking to Steve. He chose get close to Steve and become his friend instead of keeping a distance and working magic from afar. He went to war specifically to help protect Steve, as he feared what would happen to the world Steve lived in if the Nazis won. However, he made a huge, huge miscalculation which ultimately resulted in him becoming the Winter Soldier. Now Steve has to rescue his own guardian angel.

WRAITH WARRIOR AU

That magic blue stuff from the tesseract could be used for all kinds of AUs. Steve gets shot with one of the vaporising guns, doesn’t vaporise, comes back wrong. Bucky escapes captivity in Azzano long enough to steal some tesseract juice and becomes a wraith warrior. They put Bucky in one of those pods like they put Steve in, only they pump tesseract juice in instead of really bright light and accidentally make him too powerful. Etc.

It would be cool AF for Bucky’s replacement arm to be made of tesseract juice. Blue, glowing, both there and not there. Or for him to be able to do the Fenris thing and rip people’s hearts out with his bare hands.

Another option here is that the tesseract is sentient. Bucky can hear it in his head and is afraid of it at first. Once he gives in and accepts it in a last ditch effort to free himself, they work together. They make the weapons and devices Schmidt and Zola made to control it fall apart like soggy paper.

BUCKY IS A MYTHICAL CREATURE TRAPPED IN A CIRCUS

Bucky is a rare creature from folklore, who meets Steve when they are kids. Steve's family has to move away from the rural area where he used to play with Bucky. As an adult, he finds Bucky held captive in a circus somewhere, either as part of a freakshow or even being treated like an animal because they don't know he is sentient, in just a miserable state. Steve takes prompt and direct action to set Bucky free.

In my mind this is set in Ireland, since it seems to be a popular headcanon that Steve is of Irish descent, and there are a lot of cool Irish folkloristic creatures. But it could just as easily be set anywhere else, including America.

Note: this AU was inspired by the vocaloid song CiRCuS MoNSTeR, specifically the French cover of it by Poucet.

MODERN AU BUCKY FEARS HIS OTHER LIVES

Modern AU. Bucky has always had a sense of doom hanging over his head regarding his future his whole life. He’s pretty sure his dreams are destined to turned to dust, and he’s never been able to explain why he feels that way. He'll certainly never be with Steve, his most dearly held dream. Eventually he finds out that in many other universes, horrible things happen to him. But in this universe, he’s okay. In this one, he needs to stop living in fear and grab on to good things with both hands.

BUCKY USES A MIND PALACE TO ESCAPE BEING THE WINTER SOLDIER

(*I already wrote this one, but I'm not super happy with how I implemented it, so please feel free to take this and do it better than me!)

AU where Bucky hypnotises himself and locks his mind in a self-created virtual space I'm calling a "mind palace". He wanders its empty halls, waiting for Steve to say the trigger that will let him out, which is the phrase "til the end of the line". As soon as he does, OG Bucky is back.

BUCKY STORES HIS MEMORIES PRIOR TO BEING CAPTURED

Bucky is given the opportunity to store his memories in a suitcase prior to his capture by Hydra, be they in a diary, a voice recording, or even a futuristic device that can read his thoughts or create a hologram of him. He plants clues that will let him find the memory suitcase in the future. When the Winter Soldier finds it, he will have to decide if he actually wants to open it or not. Why did Bucky leave these for him to find? What if they mean nothing to him?

STEVE'S FORCE GHOST PROTECTS BUCKY

While Bucky is in captivity after his fall from the train, he has visions of small!Steve in his cell with him, giving him advice and protecting his battered spirit and psyche even if he can't protect Bucky's body. Little does Bucky know, but these are not hallucinations. Steve's body may be asleep in the arctic but his spirit is at Bucky's side. Maybe as the years go by Steve's manifestation becomes strong enough for him to gain the power to set Bucky free - with Bucky's help, of course. After Bucky escapes, he spends a few years healing and re-integrating into society, and is at Steve's bedside when Steve defrosts. Only for Steve to already know what happened to Bucky, remember all the things they talked about, all the things that Bucky confessed, and for no explanations to be necessary between them.

STEVE AND BUCKY DREAM THROUGH 70 YEARS

While Steve and Bucky are both making their slow, frost-tinged way from 1944 to 2012, they are able to share dreams. These dreams are a refuge for them. Steve is always there when Bucky arrives, waiting to welcome him. The Winter Soldier knows he can't share the dreams with anyone when he's brought out of cryo, even if he can't remember why. Perhaps he doesn't even remember the dreams when he is the Winter Soldier. Perhaps dream!Bucky doesn't remember being the Winter Soldier, or maybe he does remember and Steve helps him process it safely in the dreams. It's in this way that they're able to make 70 years of memories together, memories that will still be there when they finally wake and meet again.

HYDRA ACCIDENTALLY MAKES BUCKY TOO POWERFUL

When trying to turn Bucky into a supersoldier, Hydra does something that accidentally makes him too powerful for them to control. Maybe they install a magic crystal where the star on his metal arm is, or the serum turns him into a mini Incredible Hulk, or they accidentally give him the power to teleport or control people's minds en masse like Professor X.

Maybe he was fully brainwashed, but a memory sparks his disobedience and they can't wipe him into forgetting it. Maybe they thought he was brainwashed, but he actually had a little bit of will left in him. Maybe they knew he wasn't brainwashed yet, but didn't think installing a crystal into his arm or whatever would have such drastic results.

Regardless, Bucky suddenly finds himself no longer an abused, traumatised prisoner with no recourse, but instead an abused prisoner who can kick the asses of everyone who ever fucked with him. Immediately, with extreme prejudice. Or he gains enough clarity to start plotting an escape which goes great for Bucky, as every surprising twist only turns out to be an opportunity for him to unleash his new abilities even further.

BUCKY HAS VISIONS OF HIS FUTURE FATE

In 1944 Bucky receives a premonition about how horrible his life will be in the future. He suffers and struggles thinking about it in the days leading up to the train. Steve is concerned by how fatalistic Bucky is being. Bucky, who has read too much sci fi, doesn’t want to fuck up the timeline by trying to change his fate. Eventually Steve gets the truth out of him somehow and is immediately like, ‘We are not fucking letting that happen, Bucky. Fuck that. We are doing something else. Anything is better than just letting you become the Winter Soldier.”

And despite Bucky’s fears that if he changes the course of his life the future will be fucked up… it actually turns out to be awesome.

BUCKY AND STEVE CHOOSE TO GO TO THE FUTURE

Steve and Bucky both survive the war and get to go home to New York. They start up their lives again and are happy together. However, they don’t know it but the future needs them. It needs Captain America in 2012 to fight the Chitauri. Somehow they find out, perhaps due to an artefact they recover from Hydra or a device Howard accidentally invents, maybe even a time travelling Avenger looking for the missing piece of the future.

Steve and Bucky are told that the only way to get to the future is to emulate the canon timeline - for Steve to be put into suspended animation and for Bucky to become the Winter Soldier. Bucky says he’ll do it, although he looks like he would rather die. Steve is like, FUCK NO. Bucky is surprised that Steve would put Bucky’s life/personhood over Doing The Right Thing. Steve’s like, “I don’t know what the right thing is, but letting the person I love be tortured ain’t it.” They decide to go to the future together, but find a better way that allows Bucky to go there as himself.

STEVE AND BUCKY FALL IN LOVE EVEN THOUGH BUCKY DOESN'T KNOW HE'S BUCKY

Hydra fucked up and mindwiped Bucky so hard they thought he was dead and threw him out. But he was alive and the supersoldier serum saved him long enough for him to be found and send to a hospital. However, it was unable to recover the memories from the damaged parts of his brain, leaving him with amnesia. Due to his unnaturally fast rate of healing his doctors referred him to Shield, who recruited him even though they didn't know where he came from. They realised that the amnesia made him a liability, because his enemies could recognise him but he couldn't recognise them. So, they gave him a disguise to wear at all times to even the playing field.

Enter Steve, five years after Bucky joins Shield. Bucky and Steve get to know each other and fall in love. But Bucky starts to have dreams of his past - just snapshots he can't really understand, like the feeling of falling, snow, a scent, a snatch of music, etc. He confides all this to Steve, but it takes a while for it to click. Steve starts to suspect this is Bucky, but can't bring himself to say it because it sounds crazy.

Eventually, Steve decides to ask Bucky if he ever looked different. This puts Bucky on guard. When Steve admits he thinks he knows who Bucky is, Bucky freaks out, thinking that Steve is one of those enemies who knows who he really is and has finally found him. (There's a happy ending, though!)

THE WINTER SOLDIER ANONYMOUSLY MESSAGES STEVE

A few months after Steve arrives in the future, he starts getting cryptic messages that can’t be traced. The Winter Soldier is communicating with him. Option one, it’s cryptic clues on how to find him. Option two, it’s messages of care and kindness because Bucky doesn’t have any hope of reunion, he just knows he cares about Steve.

STEVE HAS TO DEFROST BUCKY

After waking up in the 2010s, Steve asks if anyone ever looked for Bucky’s body. Upon finding out that it was never recovered, he twists the government or Tony’s arm into helping him mount an expedition to look. He is like, “What, Bucky’s body is less important than mine?”

There are various options for what he finds, including a Hydra base with clues as to what happened, or just straight up Bucky’s frozen body which starts defrosting as soon as Steve tries to move him, causing Bucky to start waking up. They have to cuddle for warmth, obviously. Bucky wakes up delirious and with a face full of Steve's pecs

BUCKY LEAVES STEVE BUCKY-THEMED POST-ITS

One of those AUs where Bucky is doing covert surveillance on Steve after the fall of Hydra. He finds Bucky Barnes themed merchandise online, including some Bucky Barnes post it notes, maybe from a queer Bucky x Steve zine, or queer superheroes zine. Whenever he wants Steve to know something he writes it one of the post its and leaves it for him to find. (This AU is best served comedic.)

STEVE IS THE ONLY PERSON WHO REMEMBERS BUCKY EXISTED

When Steve gets to the future, Bucky’s picture isn’t in the Smithsonian. Peggy doesn’t remember him; Howard never mentioned him to Tony. It’s like when he fell off the train he fell out of existence. It's to the point where people are thinking Steve made Bucky up. But he didn't make him up. Bucky was real. And clearly, something worse than falling off a train happened to him, and Steve won't rest until he gets to the bottom of it and proves to the world that Bucky was real and he mattered. And maybe even brings him home.

BUCKY AND STEVE HAVE A MAGIC BOND

Vague idea where Steve and Bucky have some kind of life bond where if one dies the other does. The flip side of this is that as Steve stayed alive in the ice for all those years, Bucky wouldn’t have died or aged, just the same as Steve. Could’ve escaped capture due to some of the other properties of this bond and been the one at Steve’s bedside when he woke up.

BUCKY AND STEVE ARE TELEPATHIC

When Steve goes into the ice, Bucky can't hear him in his mind anymore and falls into emptiness. The Winter Soldier is characterised by this emptiness... until Steve defrosts and the bond reactivates. When Bucky is taken out of cryo for a mission, he is unceremoniously booted out of this mental solitude and has to fake being the Winter Soldier while trying to figure out what happened, re-establishing his link with Steve, and getting back to him. Steve can hear Bucky's voice in his mind and they’re desperately trying to figure things out together. Steve goes to Fury and begs for help. Fury may or may not help, but some of the Avengers definitely will - especially Natasha, Clint, and/or Sam.

BUCKY AND STEVE ARE A PAIR OF SUPERHEROES

Erskine doesn't just see Steve at the Stark Expo, he sees Steve AND Bucky - perfect for his plan to create a pair of super soldiers. He wants to make sure that unlike with Schmidt, love is a necessary part of his super soldier creation process. (Bonus points for an Erskine who is familiar with the work of Magnus Hirschfeld and REALLY recognises Steve and Bucky for what they are...) As a result, Steve and Bucky end up sharing their health and their power between them. If one gets hurt, the other takes part of their pain and they can heal each other when they work together.

When Steve wakes up in 2012 he really struggles. He constantly has a low to mid level headache which spikes sharply at times to the point of giving him seizures, and his left arm and shoulder always hurt. It's theorised that it's permanent damage from the plane crash that he can no longer repair because Bucky is dead and they can't heal each other anymore. Then, after the battle against the Chitauri he has even more permanent injuries, such as limited mobility, so many that he has to retire from active fieldwork.

But in fact, Bucky is alive, and the headaches and arm pains are Bucky's injuries. When Steve and Bucky reunite, Steve convinces Bucky to listen for long enough for teach him how their powers work. They start to heal each other, Bucky restoring Steve's physical strength and power and Steve healing the wounds to Bucky's brain, restoring his memories. Natasha and Sam are amazed to see Steve suddenly standing to his full height without a trace of chronic pain or difficulty moving.

In the fun, smutty version of this AU, when one of them gets turned on they can share the feeling between them.

ROLESWAP AU

Steve is found by Hydra in the Arctic; Bucky fell into a glacier in the Alps and is defrosted by global warming or found by hikers like Otzi the Iceman. Only you can imagine the fucked up anti-hero Steve would be turned into by Hydra, while Bucky has to take on a superhero persona in his absence, with an arm made of Starktech. Or maybe Steve just straight up goes feral rather than being of actual use to Hydra, but they keep him in cryo anyway because technology is always advancing and they might be able to use his biological material to create a clone with a blank mind one day. Basically, Bucky gets to be a superhero, and Steve has to be rescued and recover like the Winter Soldier before he can be himself again.

STEVE IS A GOD OF DEATH & BUCKY IS A GOD OF SEX

Steve is happy to swing his scythe down on the Nazis, and Bucky is eagerly waiting the forthcoming baby boom. It's kinda a problem that Schmidt has the Tesseract, though. Someone needs to do something about that. It's real cute that Schmidt thinks he can stop them from getting it back. He has no idea who he's dealing with.

Alternately, Steve is a demon of pestilence and Bucky is a concubus (incubus or succubus but without the gender roles, you pick what suits your headcanon). And they are getting real fuckin tired of all these damn Nazis coming through the gates of hell, and decided to go have fun on Earth instead of stamping Nazi afterlife residence visas.

BUCKY & STEVE WERE PRISONERS TOGETHER

Bucky and Steve were strangers captured from different locations and brought together at a Hydra base. They were in neighbouring cells and found creative ways to communicate, perhaps making up a code composed of tapping sounds. They knew that the day would come where their minds broke, but they held out longer together than they would have without each other. Steve remembers the day Bucky came back and wasn’t Bucky anymore, and soon after that Steve wasn’t Steve anymore either.

Eventually, the brainwashed Steve and Bucky are separated; Bucky is sent to Russia to go do the Red Room thing while Steve remains in America. Steve escapes Hydra and slowly remembers who he is. One day he meets Bucky, who is still brainwashed. Either Steve doesn’t recognise Bucky because he never saw his face, or he thinks he recognises Bucky but the part of Bucky that knew him is truly lost. Eventually something sparks a use of their old code and they realise it’s each other and they’re alive and they both made it.

BUCKY & STEVE ARE BOUND BY THE RED STRING OF FATE

Steve and Bucky don’t meet in their childhood. However, they are bound by the red string of fate. The closer they get to each other, the easier it is for them to see the string. Coincidentally, the times they get closer together are also the times when both of them are in mortal peril. For example, Azzano — Bucky is close to death and Steve is going into an active war zone for the first time. But also during childhood, maybe Steve is sick all the time and sees the string a lot, whereas Bucky is a carefree child not paying attention and just doesn't notice it even though Steve is nearby.

The first time they really meet is on the bridge in DC in the future. It’s then that they notice their red string of fate is connected to each other. Each concludes that they are destined to die by the other’s hand. At the end of the fight, one of them says something about how they can see the string. When they realise they can both see it, it instantly changes their perspective on what it means.

By actively choosing to follow the string, they can save each other. Bucky diving into the Potomac after Steve is the first time either of them ever actively chose to follow the string instead of running away from it.

BBC MERLIN AU

This one is pretty self explanatory. Steve would be a great king, and Bucky would be good at getting everyone to love him and secretly supporting Steve with magic. Although you could definitely also do this the other way around with small!Steve as Merlin and Bucky as the charismatic king.

LAST KNIGHT AU

This is an obscure AU based on the book series The Last Knight by Hilari Bell. Steve is a knight who goes around helping people and doing the right thing, no matter that nobody understands him and why he's doing it. Bucky is a cynical ex-thief, ex-conman who acts as Steve's "squire" as they travel together through a pseudo mediaeval setting.

HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE AU

I just think small!Steve would be a hilarious Sophie. And Bucky could be like movie Howl. Charming, a cool bird man… and they have the “look for me in the future!” moment. The premise of Bucky being cursed and waiting for Steve to un-curse him is good.

PEGGY IS THE BLACK WIDOW

What if Peggy was the one at Steve's bedside when he woke up in the future? What if she was there because she was the Black Widow, or a superhero with similar powers?

…Maybe she gets shots made out of the vials of Steve's blood that were collected, but her version of the serum wears off if not reapplied. She has to get them monthly, and it’s always painful. But she does it anyway because she thinks the world still needs her.

And of course, Peggy and Natasha get along like a house on fire. Finally Natasha has another female superhero in her sausage fest of a team.

BUCKY & PEGGY RESCUE STEVE

After Steve's plane goes down, Peggy rescues Bucky and the two of them look for Steve in the arctic together. I just thought it'd be neat to have Peggy and Bucky working together to save Steve, instead of Steve saving them.

PEGGY IS A "VILLAIN" EXCEPT SHE'S NOT

After Steve arrives in the future, he encounters a female supervillain supposedly working against the US government. She seems to have a particular fascination for him and keeps trying to kill him… or that's how those around him interpret her behaviour, anyway. Steve gets the feeling she actually just wants to talk to him. Eventually he is shocked to discover that the supervillain is Peggy.

It turns out Peggy is working against the government and Shield because she was the first person to find out it was infiltrated by Hydra. After Steve joins her, she reveals her greatest secret — that the Winter Soldier is real and alive and working with her. In fact, it was the strange resistance of those around her to looking for Bucky’s body that first caused her to start digging deeper into Shield’s personnel.

Note: This was inspired by the character Peggy’s actress (Hayley Atwell) plays in Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning. The movie is dreadful, but Hayley Atwell is wonderful.

THE HOWLIES CRASH THE BATTLE OF NEW YORK

AU where the Howlies seek out Bucky after he falls of the train and manage to actually find him. They rescue him and steal some of Zola’s tesseract experiments at the same time. They use these experiments to open a portal to the place where they're "most needed". It take them to the future just in time for the Battle of New York, where they appear as glowing blue ghosts with a bit of extra magic to compensate for their older technology. Steve has to deal with the emotions of seeing his old friends, so strong and so alive, while simultaneously fighting the Chitauri. Of course the Howlies get along great with the rest of the Avengers. Steve probably lies to them and says he's fine being alone in the future, but they see right through him and must each decide whether they want to make their time travel permanent. Of course Bucky will stay with Steve. The rest could go either way depending on your vision.

THE HOWLIES ARE UNMOORED IN TIME

Similar premise to previous, only this time the Howlies don't go straight to 2012. Instead, they start working their way forward in time by appearing during any war or armed conflict where they can help. They ALWAYS show up on the side of the good guys, whether the good guys are American or not. Often they're not there to engage in direct combat, but to rescue hostages and POWs, protect civilians, stop superweapons from being used, etc. They become a legend, as everyone knows a guy who knows a guy who caught a glimpse of the Howlies doing something heroic, but most people don't believe those stories are real. When Steve is defrosted, he thinks it's a nice legend, especially since Bucky is included in it... until the day they finally arrive to help with a conflict that Steve is involved in.

STEVE HAS A PROSTHETIC THAT MATCHES BUCKY'S

No details to this one, I just thought it'd be neat. An outward sign of Steve's usually invisible trauma, and a sign of the ties to each other that fate seems to have placed on them both.

*

That's it! Hope you all like the ideas. May they give you many enjoyable daydreams. Feel free to send me an ask or DM me on my main (voxiferous) if you want to talk about any of these ideas!

[anarchotolkienist]

thank you for writing that! it was much appreciated and very informative. I wonder how you feel in regards to revivalist movements if there are any that are authentic in your perspective. are there any? While i wonder, i suppose it may end up being not for me to know. But i wonder all the same. Thank you again for posting your answer!!!

This is quite difficult to answer because there are many ways to interpret the question. Theologically, I of course do not view any form of revivalist polytheism as legitimate (I, like most Gaelic-speakers, am a devout Christian), but I assume you didn't ask me in that capacity.

Speaking as a Celticist and Gaelic folklorist, I do not think that any form of a 'Celtic' spirituality - and this includes notions of Celtic Christianity in the modern day, not just paganisms - are free from the issues I described there, and also I think that they run into the basic issue that we simply know extremely little about the pre-Christian religions of the Gaels and the Britons, to not even mention mainland European Celtic speakers. The only way to get to something like it is to both assume that Christian manuscript culture in Irish describes an accurate version of Gaelic pagan belief to the little extent that this is described, several hundred years after the last pagans converted, which even so gives us very little to work with to create something even vaguely similar.

Additionally, people that do this (sinnsearachd people, Gaelic reconstructionists, etc - I see you in my notes) that Gaelic Catholic practices and beliefs of the 19th century - almost 1500 years after conversion! - in Ireland and the Highlands are actually pagan, which again is deeply questionable and reflects Protestant assumptions about Catholicism in Britain and Ireland- which I hope I don't need to explain is rather horrid both historically and presently - as well as Anglo-colonial notions of the savage Gael as I described in the previous post. The idea that folklore gives you paganism is deeply questionable - there are some aspects of it that do have pre-Christian linkages, but this doesn't give you a complete religion, only a series of supernatural beliefs that have existed in harmony with Christianity for centuries.

Additionally, I think that the fact that so many people who are not Gaels by any defition, and who have no relationship with Gaelic culture or language, decide that they need to revive Gaelic polytheism specifically, rather than (say) North Germanic beliefs, that we actually know enough about that it can at least plausably be revived to some extent (although I don't know why you'd want to) reflects these fetishistic ideas about Celtic noble-savage-ism, not any authentic connection to the living and struggling culture of an actually existing people and is universally harmful to that people in the now.

I have serious political issues with Germanic revivals, which usually comes out of romantic ultranationalist rejections of Christianity as foreign to the body politic of Scandinavia or Germany, of Nietzschean rejections of Christianity as too Jewish and anti-Aryan (this I think has been absolutely fundamental to all forms of European neopaganism). I have similar political issues with Slavic revivals which are largely based on fabrications (most prominently the Book of Veles) by Nazi collaborationist Russian Whites.

If I were asked to say which ones are legitimate in the sense of representing continuity with pre-Christian beliefs, I'd say Sámi shamanism (although most Sámi are Christians, either Russian Orthodox or Lutherans, the nójadi survived into the 20th century and contemporary practitioners have direct links to them). I don't think any others have that.

I want to be very clear that this response is limited to the European neopagan revival movements that see the only ones I know anything about.

[h3lfaerie]

Im curious if FMC is a fae. Would she have wings like other fae depictions ???

Traditionally, faeries are depicted with a variety of features.

And accounts of their appearance greatly vary depending on the region the beliefs have come from.

Keep in mind Irish, Scandinavian, Nordic and Celtic folklore may have common roots but they are all vastly different.

And in some instances the word 'Fae' can be used interchangeably with the word 'Elf' and/or as an umbrella term used to refer to a group of species belonging to the same family (the same way tigers, lions, and house cats are all objectively different but are also all felines).

-> For example, you have The Huldufólk or The Hidden People who are a race of elves that originate from Icelandic/Faroese Folklore. They behave much like humans and bear a strong resemblance to us, but they are also noteworthy for their natural ability to make themselves invisible at will.

(Engraving of a man jumping after a female elf into a precipice.)

-> In traditional Norse Mythology, you have the Álfar. The Ljósálfar ("Light Elves") and the Dökkálfar ("Dark Elves") who are two contrasting types of elves; the dark elves dwell within the earth and have a dark complexion, while the light elves live in Álfheimr (Alfheim), and are "fairer than the sun to look at". They are both attested in the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, and in the late Old Norse poem Hrafnagaldr Óðins.

(“Oberon, Titania and Puck with Fairies Dancing” illustration by William Blake, c. 1786)

(“Älvalek” or “Elf Play” although the museum lists it as “Dancing Fairies” - oil painting by August Malmström 1866)

-> In Irish folklore, The Tuatha Dé Danann (meaning "the folk of the goddess Danu") are also known by the earlier name Tuath Dé ("tribe of the gods"), because in some beliefs the Fae are literally Demoted Pagan Deities. They are described as a supernatural race, much like idealized humans, who are immune from ageing and sickness, and bear the ability to wield magic. The powers most often attributed to the Tuath Dé are control over the weather and the elements, and the ability to shapeshift themselves and others.

(The Tuatha Dé Danann as depicted in John Duncan's Riders of the Sidhe - 1911)

So all in all, in folklore, faeries actually rarely have wings, but they are often depicted with them in Victorian and later artworks.

(A portrait of a fairy, by Sophie Gengembre Anderson - 1869. The title of the painting is Take the Fair Face of Woman, and Gently Suspending, With Butterflies, Flowers, and Jewels Attending, Thus Your Fairy is Made of Most Beautiful Things – from a verse by Charles Ede.)

What I've noticed is that, in the traditional sense, fairies often fly using magic, or by perching on the backs of birds, ragwort stems, or other mythological creatures like dragons or gryphons.

And some depictions are vague enough to attest a certain attribute (like wings) as a creative liberty to a faerie that, say 'lives in the sky'.

But does that mean the Fae in early folklore do not have wings at all?

Absolutely not.

You see, thus far, I've only listed depictions of the Fae that are most reminiscent of the traditional Elf. But have you ever heard of Leprechauns... Banshees... Changelings...Pixies... Mermaids...

Sprites, Goblins, Gnomes?

The freaking Headless Horseman?

Because they're all also faeries.

There are also faerie animals. Kelpies, anyone?

And quite frankly, it is not possible for me to summarize the scope, the depth and the richness of the cultures depicting these creatures with all of their variants. There are Eastern cultures, Western cultures, Indigenous cultures; I'm Bulgarian and my own culture has beliefs about faeries and Fae-like beings (the Slavs are a whole different ball game for that).

People dedicate their entire lives to become Folklorists and will still barely scratch the surface of this world-wide concept. All in all, there's just not one set of rules for the Fae, we can't amalgamize them into one thing, that's just not how it rolls.

So what can I say about my depiction of the Fae in Path of Alfheim?

Well...

I have a ton of variety to play around with. 😁

My understanding is that the Fae all vary from each other depending on their lineage, their upbringing, their alignment, the territories and/or 'realms' that they inhabit. There are so many species out there that every shape and form you can possibly think of likely exists.

And besides the faeries that live on land, there are also lake folk, sea folk, mountain folk, valley folk, air folk, a specific corner of the room at night folk.

They can be spirits, ghosts, animals, monsters, elementals, demons, demoted angels, deities, human... It goes on.

Something that hugely inspired me, and what I think is a beautiful depiction of the Fae, happens to be the Disney Maleficent duology with Angelina Jolie as the main female lead. The staple here is that they had Holly Black, a New York Times best-selling author of over thirty fantasy novels (The Cruel Prince being one of them) and a Faerie Folklorist, on set.

And, oh, would you look at that?

Maleficent has wings. 😉

So whether the FMC does as well is up to the interpretation.... for now.

Thank you for the Ask, Anon! ❤️

[themisselizabethjones]

Were you once a moody teenage girl with stepmother issues? At 15, did you do something incredibly bad that drew the attention of a supernatural being? Has said supernatural being continued to harass you ever since?

We understand. Call us at 1-555-FUBR. Our qualified staff of lawyers, exorcists, witches, psychics, and folklorists are here to help you 24 hours a day, seven days a week. (Halloween excepted)

Contact the Law Offices of Deetz and Williams today.

[laurasimonsdaughter]

MagiSoWo,

I’m in love with a vampire. They tell me the sweetest things… and before them I was not happy with my life. Should I just… give myself to them?

Thank you for your help,

BewitchedWitch

Dear BewitchedWitch,

You are the only one that can decide what will make you happy in a relationship. But since you come to us for advice, if you are thinking about being turned, we really recommend talking to someone at Fanged, Fledged and Future-proof first. F3 has a lot of information on their website too, if contacting them feels a step too far. But they have great community counselors and excellent peer-support groups for newly fledged vampires.

In general we do think it's very unwise to consent to become a vampire if the only vampire you know is the person turning you. Especially if you are in a relationship with them. We don't need to tell you this is a serious decision and while it can definitely be part of a conversation on the future of your relationship, it is absolutely not the only thing worth discussing.

For an expert’s insight on healthy relationships and (occult) intimacy, we’d like to refer you to our Australian colleague Dr. Olivia Seabrooke, sexologist and folklorist, who hosts the advice programme Supernatural Sexuality.

If you ever feel like chatting, about anything at all, you are always welcome at our community centre.

~ the MagiSoWo Team

[tybaltsjuliet]

could you elaborate on long lankin? as a folklorist, i love the ballad very much, but have never reacted to it so and your post delights me! human continuity.

hey, sure!

the ballad really does just activate the Primal Fear part of my brain, and i think that's probably down to the first version i heard being steeleye span's, which, 01. melodically veers pretty suddenly from eerie and haunting to frantic and violent, and back again; and 02. does away with the context some other versions have, i.e. lankin's revenge motive (being a mason who wasn't paid by the lord) and/or lankin having leprosy, hence the collection of the blood in the basin. not that those things make the song any *less* unsettling, but, like, it does leave us with at best lankin being, basically, a medieval slasher, if not something outright supernatural. and "be sure the doors are bolted well, lest lankin should creep in..." AUGH. CHILLS. HORRIBLE.

i can just imagine how easily the ballad could be adapted into an r/nosleep: "my mother and baby brother were murdered by my dad's old business partner, and, yeah, the guy got the death sentence, but lately i feel like i've been seeing him in the shadows..."

[jasminewalkerauthor]

Deep dives into folklore: Werewolves

Werewolves, often depicted as humans with the ability to transform into wolves or wolf-like creatures during the full moon, have been a recurring theme in literature and mythology for centuries. The concept of the werewolf has evolved significantly over time, reflecting the changing beliefs, fears, and societal norms of different cultures. Today we are exploring the fascinating journey of the werewolf from its ancient origins to its modern-day interpretations in literature and popular culture.

The origins of the werewolf myth can be traced back to the ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome. In Greek mythology, the legend of Lycaon tells the story of a king who was transformed into a wolf as punishment for serving human flesh to the gods. This early representation of lycanthropy, the ability to shape-shift into a wolf, laid the groundwork for future werewolf tales. In Roman literature, the story of Ovid's "Metamorphoses" also features a man named Arcas transformed into a bear by the god Jupiter, an early example of shape-shifting.

During the Middle Ages, the werewolf myth gained prominence in European folklore. In a time when superstitions and fear of the unknown were rampant, the idea of humans transforming into vicious beasts under the influence of the moon became deeply ingrained in the collective psyche. The term "werewolf" itself is of Old English origin, derived from "wer" meaning man and "wulf" meaning wolf. This era saw the emergence of numerous werewolf legends and stories, often used to explain mysterious disappearances or brutal killings. One of the most famous cases was that of Peter Stumpp, a 16th-century German farmer who claimed to have made a pact with the devil and confessed to committing gruesome murders while in wolf form. Such tales served to stoke the fear of the supernatural and the unknown.

As Europe transitioned from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance and Enlightenment periods, the werewolf myth underwent a transformation of its own. The Age of Reason prompted a shift towards skepticism and rationality, and werewolf stories became less prominent. However, they did not disappear entirely. Some writers and scholars explored the psychological aspects of lycanthropy, viewing it as a metaphor for the duality of human nature. This concept laid the groundwork for the exploration of the werewolf's inner struggle in later literature.

The 19th century saw a revival of interest in the supernatural, and werewolves made a comeback in literature. Folklorists and writers like The Brothers Grimm and E.T.A. Hoffmann delved into the darker aspects of folklore, resurrecting old werewolf legends and incorporating them into their stories. One of the most famous literary works featuring a werewolf is "The Wolfman" by Marie de Villeneuve, which introduced elements of tragic transformation and a curse, themes that would continue to be explored in later literature.

In the 20th century, the werewolf evolved into a complex and multifaceted character. With the advent of cinema and the horror genre, werewolves became popular subjects for films like "The Wolf Man" (1941) and "An American Werewolf in London" (1981). These films portrayed the werewolf as a tortured and sympathetic figure, struggling with their monstrous nature.

In contemporary literature and popular culture, the werewolf has continued to evolve. Authors like Anne Rice and Patricia Briggs have explored the psychological and emotional aspects of lycanthropy in their novels, portraying werewolves as individuals with unique abilities and challenges. The popular "Twilight" series by Stephenie Meyer introduced a new generation to the idea of werewolves as members of a close-knit pack, bound by loyalty and a shared destiny.

The werewolf, a creature born of ancient mythology, has undergone a remarkable evolution in literature and popular culture. From its origins in Greek and Roman mythology to its prominent place in medieval European folklore, and its subsequent reimagining in the modern era, the werewolf has adapted to reflect the changing fears, beliefs, and values of society. Today, the werewolf remains a symbol of the eternal struggle between the human and the beast within, a reflection of our ongoing fascination with the supernatural and the mysteries of the human psyche. Its enduring presence in literature and mythology ensures that the legend of the werewolf will continue to evolve and captivate audiences for generations to come.

[liminal-storage]

—𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒔 Name: Kuni Muinvel Nicknames: Wildcat, Bosslady, Shadowborn Age: 33 Nameday: 19th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon Race: Keeper of the Moon Miqo'te Gender: Cis female Orientation: Pansexual Profession: Investigator, Folklorist, serves as a frontliner, stick-it-with-the-pointy-end type for Priarch Enterprises. —𝒑𝒉𝒚𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒔 Hair: Variable, usually white. Eyes: Variable, either blue or red (utilizes glamouring magics depending on her whim) Skin: Pale. Pinkish undertones, overall warm complexion. Tattoos/scars: Clan marks on her cheeks, forehead, arms, legs, and hips, along with asymmetrical blue-ink tattoos on her right arm and left leg. Small scars on her fingers, and a larger scar on her left palm. —𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 Parents: Tolidir and Edelia Siblings: Lyrin'a Muinvel (brother), Shayl (brother) Grandparents: Unknown In-laws and Other: N/A Pets: Mochi, a white cat with a sooty tail tip. —𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒔 Abilities: A dirty fighter when it comes to melee; uses her environment and weapons to her advantage and doesn't play fair. Utilizes blood-based magic to conjure various plants such as vines, thorns, and mossy creatures. This magic has given life and sentience to a number of small creatures that take the form of mossballs. Her magic is ever changing as she discovers more about it and herself, and how it works. She's also very observant and sharp-eyed, able to pick out and piece together important details related to her work. Kuni has quite a creative mind as well, her ability to spin tales feeding into her lifelong love of the study of folklore, as well as serving her well when it comes to writing up articles for her kitschy supernatural tabloid. —𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒔 Most Positive Trait: Adaptable, self-reliant. Most Negative Trait: Lacks confidence. Underestimates own worth. —𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆𝒔 Colors: Black, green, purple, most jewel-toned colors, silver Smells: Petrichor, coffee, resinous incense, the ocean, ink on paper Textures: Leather, lace, clean cotton Drinks: Coffee, umeshu, fun mixed drinks —𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒔 Smokes: Rarely Drinks: Occasionally, rarely to excess anymore. Drugs: Sometimes, uncommonly. Mount Issuance: Wallflower, a former racing chocobo. Been Arrested: They'd have to catch her first.

Tagged by: @houserosaire Tagging: I think the usual suspects have already been tagged. This has been sitting in my drafts for ages and I'm so sorry it took me forever to get to it.

[catsconflictscopicsandchamomile]

sometimes the SPN HC Lore that my Research(tm) digs up is fascinating and canon-altering. Sometimes its fluffy and sweet (Cas loves crocodiles. I'm never going to be able to un-know that). Other times.... its just kind of random

Sam & Dean are related to/share an ancestor with This Campbell, Specifically

the reason that this matters at ALL is due to the truly unhinged amount of Campbells that specifically went into folklore/myth studies irl. For that reason, I get the feeling that MOST Campbells in the spn universe are in some way connected to this, butttt J.G. here is the closest match to a direct relative imho, for a couple reasons.

[hapalopus]

Boy I hope this translation makes sense, this author uses a lot of convoluted sentences:

The Elven King is a side of nature that is always present [in the human umwelt], but which has been dismissed during subjectivity's battle with objectivity. When our sources state that the Elven King is the winter storm, and when this is explained by folklorists as people of the past imagining that the winter storm was the Elven King riding by, everything is backwards. The Elven King comes from the 'other side,' from a more basal part of our world, where all natural phenomena were animated [as in 'animism'], and therefore supernatural. That world came first, which means that it is the Elven King riding by in winter, but that we, with our increasing objectivity, have changed our own perception, so it is now just the cold winter storm.

From "Elverkongen Freyr" by Mikkel Starup (2019)

I really enjoy this approach to folklore. It's something I struggled to explain to my friends earlier this year: When I examine folklore, I'm neither interested in determining that mermaids objectively exist, nor am I interested in determining that sailors mistook manatees for mermaids. I don't really care about the objective reality of the subject of the folklore, be it mermaids or ghosts or witchcraft or the Elven King. I only care about understanding the world these people perceive(d) themselves to live in.

[thecreaturecodex]

Menehune

Image by Hugo Solis, © Frog God Games. Accessed at the artist's deviantArt page here

[This is art from an actual Pathfinder product! These menehune appeared in Razor Coast, a long delayed (and sadly, not very good) 3pp Pathfinder module. The mechanics that game used for menehune was as a variant of gnomes, which makes a certain amount of sense, with fire themed powers, which doesn't. That kind of sums up all of Razor Coast: it was more interested in stereotypes about Pacific Islanders and riffing on vaguely Hawaiian themes (like Pele and volcanoes) than it was about actual Pacific Island cultures.

Interestingly, there's a fair amount of debate about the age and origins of menehune legends. Some folklorists believe that they're syncretic, a combination of Native Hawaiian stories with European fairy lore. Others say that, because "manahune" is Tahitian for "commoner", that the original menehunes were an ethnic minority that was disenfranchised and displaced following Tahitian immigration to Hawaii. I was unable to find a scholarly or semi-scholarly reference to the idea that menehune use arrows, Cupid style, to make people fall in love, but it's commonly reported on Hawaiian tourism websites. Plus, it gives them a unique ability.]

Menehune CR 4 CN Fey This little humanoid is stout and heavily muscled, with red hair and a mischievous twinkle in their eyes.

Menehune are especially human-like fey who live on tropical islands. They are expert craftsmen and builders, and their monuments and achievements crop up overnight. Literally—menehune are strangely perfectionist, and if a construction job takes them more than a single night, they will abandon it. Fortunately, they work with supernatural speed, and a team of menehune can create roads, aquifers or ramparts in a matter of hours. Menehune dislike being interrupted or observed in this work. Menehune sleep during the day and work at night, typically in hollow trees, caves or other places that are comfortably dark. They are omnivorous, and feed on a diet of fruit, tubers and fish. Bananas are a particular favorite. Menehune are afraid of owls.

Few menehune relish a fight, but their incredible strength makes them relatively skilled combatants.  If interlopers attempt to spy on their work, the menehune will usually flee, although they may fire magical charming arrows as they go. These arrows do not charm the struck creature to the menehune, but instead cause brief, rapturous love towards the first compatible person the victim sees. If the menehune are pursued, or if their constructions are damaged, they may well respond with lethal force.

A menehune stands between two and three feet tall. Most have brown skin and red hair. They may be mistaken for especially burly halflings, especially at a distance.

Menehune         CR 4 XP 1,200 CN Small fey Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft.,low-light vision, Perception +7 Defense AC 15, touch 14, flat-footed 12 (+1 size, +2 Dex, +1 dodge, +1 natural) hp 45 (7d6+21) Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +5 DR 5/cold iron; SR 15 Weakness light blindness Offense Speed 20 ft. Melee heavy mace +8 (1d6+6) Ranged masterwork composite shortbow +8 (1d4+4/x3) Special Attacks arrow of love Spell-like Abilities—CL 4th, concentration +6 Constant—ant haul, pass without trace At will—invisibility 3/day—charm animal (DC 13), charm person (DC 13) Statistics Str 18, Dex 15, Con 16, Int 11, Wis 10, Cha 15 Base Atk +3; CMB +6; CMD 19 Feats Dodge, Endurance, Point-Blank Shot, Power Attack Skills Acrobatics +9 (+3 when jumping), Bluff +9,Climb +10,Craft (stonemasonry) +11, Diplomacy +9, Knowledge (engineering) +4, Knowledge (nature) +7, Perception +7, Stealth +13, Survival +7, Swim +10; Racial Modifiers +4 Craft (all) Languages Common, Sylvan SQ expert labor Ecology Environment warm forests and mountains Organization solitary, pair, gang (3-8) or crew (9-24) Treasure standard (Small heavy mace, Small masterwork composite shortbow (+4 pull), 20 arrows, other treasure) Special Abilities Arrow of Love (Su) Three times per day, a menehune can infuse an arrow with charming magic as a swift action. A creature struck by this arrow takes no damage and must succeed on a DC 20 Perception check to realize they’ve been shot at all. A creature struck by this arrow must succeed a DC 15 Will save or fall in love with the first acceptable creature it sees (of a species and gender to which it would ordinarily be attracted to). This functions as an elixir of love, except that it can affect humanoids, fey, native outsiders and animals. This is a charm effect, and the save DC is Charisma based. Expert Labor (Su) A menehune can do as much work in a half hour as a human laborer can accomplish in a day.

[theartofmetal]

62. Blood Fire Death - Bathory (Black/Viking Metal, 1988)

Art by Peter Nicolai Arbo: "Åsgårdsreien (The Wild Hunt Of Odin)", 1872

"The Wild Hunt of Odin is based on the Wild Hunt motif from folklore. In the Scandinavian tradition, the Wild Hunt is often associated with the god Odin. It consists of a terrifying procession that hurl across the sky during midwinter and abduct unfortunate people who have failed to find a hiding place. In the Norwegian material, figures other than Odin who have been named as leaders of the hunt include Lussi, sometimes identified as Adam's first wife, and Guro Rysserova, a supernatural female being with a mysterious male companion. The folklorist Christine N. F. Eike has argued that the motif might have its origin in European traditions where young, unmarried men wear masks and move in processions during Christmastide."

RIP Thomas Börje Forsberg, the mastermind behind Bathory

[mythickind]

First Call For Folklore

I make this sound so official, but really it's just me deciding I've spent enough time Not Finishing the Page™️ and I probably ought to actually ask folks for stories so maybe I'll get off my rump and finish the damn page. So! If YOU have any sort of folkloric stories about your kintype/theriotype/kithtype/linktype/whatever, please feel free to come share them!

What do I mean by folkloric stories? That's a term that tends to puzzle folks. Mainly that's because folks tend to equate words like "folklore" and "myth" with things that are made up or false. That isn't quite accurate. Folklore consists of many sorts of knowledge, but the ones we'll likely focus most on here are myths, legends, folktales, urban legends, folk music, and possibly art. In the academic field of folklore, a myth is defined as a sacred story. We're talking otherkin and therians primarily here, so that could be the story of how Raven stole the light and in doing so created the sun and the moon and the stars or it could be the story of Noah and the dove at the end of the Great Flood. These are both sacred stories that are considered true by those who follow their respective religions. That's what we mean when we say myth. A legend is a story that isn't considered sacred and that has elements of it that may seem larger than life. They're often supernatural or extraordinary in nature. A couple of examples would be Babe the big blue ox here in the US or the black dogs of the British Isles. As to folktales, fairytales, fables, these often involve magic, talking animals, and perhaps some sort of message. For exmaple, there is the frog prince, a fairytale in which a prince is cursed to become a frog, or the three blind mice. The three blind mice also feature in a folksong. These are songs that are just sort of part of a culture with no clear composer and sometimes no clear origin. One of my favorites is the Twa Corbies, a ballad about a conversation overheard between two crows, who were discussing eating the body of a freshly dead knight. It dates back to at least the 1700s.

Folkart is a bit less clear. This is really any type of traditional art - anything from basket weaving to bingata dyework - that is passed down within a culture. This, I don't expect will come up as much. It's a little less clearly defined for our purposes. Beyond that, there's also things like folkdance and traditional foodways and all manner of things. And if you know of anything that fits that bill, please absolutely feel free to share! With any of this, it doesn't necessarily have to be something that originates in a culture you're part of. However, I do ask that you approach all of this - especially mythology - with the same sort of respect and consideration you would give the lore you yourself grew up with and hold dear. All of this means something to the folks from whom it comes. So respect is paramount in folkloristics.

But now that I've nattered on about academia and things most folks probably don't even realize are things, I'm going to make sure that the asks and submissions are turned on. Feel free to leave these anonymously as well. But it would be awesome to hear from you all!