Goblins

Goblins are regarded as a fowl race by many adventurers.  In fact there are very few stories in which goblins are regarded favoritively. One of these being Goblin Hero and this story is from the goblin's point of veiw.  Goblins like to stop adventures or hamper them in some way. In some cases they will go as far to eat the adventurers or their ponies.  In the Hobbit the adventures are waylaid by goblins and ultimately almost get eaten by them, only being saved by the wizard Gandelf in the last moment.  Goblins are considered to be ugly and about four to five feet tall with hunched backs.  They have their own culture and to a goblin their might is their most important aspect.   If a golbin cannon't defend himself from others often times other golbins will resort to culling their own kind.  In some cases goblins are thought to kill their own species and eat them.   In many books goblins have a sense of comrodrady but in just as many cases they are by nature solitary as to save themselves from being attacked by others of their race.  Gobins are careful and its well known that you can't trust a goblin in many books and stories.  In the same books goblins are often considered malicious or maline and in some cases are considered to be the villans.

Fey

The fey, fair folk, or faries are a race of people that include many diffrent types of humanoid people.   These include, Dwarves, Faries, Elves and Brownies to name a few.  Dwarves have the most deminutive stature and stand three to four feet tall according to diffrent books.  Dwarves are proven to be reclusive beings and fond of working in mines and searching for treasure.  Dwarven made tools are famous in many books of being of the best quality.  Faries however are deminutive, only a few inches tall in some talkes and as tall as humans in others.  In some cases they are thought to be wise, in others mischivious and sometimes are considered rather brainless.  As a little girl I loved faries as many little girls do and was facenated by them.  Elves are the tallest of the races, taller then humans, they are thought to be fond of drink and making merry.   Elves are on the whole an interesting race and although there are few books about them they continue to captivate others.   Brownies take care of the home and are about the size of dwarves.  Brownies sometimes play tricks on others but for the most part will help in return for some milk.  In J.K Rowling's Harry Potter series the role of brownies are replaced with House elves.  The fey will continue to captivate the minds of others for many years to come.

Vampires

Vampires have reacently recived a makeover thanks to the Twlight series by Stephanie Mayer.  Her vampires don't go out in sun due to their sparkily skin, which is a departure from the more traditonal vampire.  The first famous book about vampires is Dracula by Bram Stroker.  There were many more to fallow, Anne Rice was the first to give vampires a sense of humanity in her books.  Traditonal vampires sleep during the day and come out during the night due to the harmful effect the sun has upon their skin.   Vampires seem to have a culture as mixed as our own and there are many books about them.  Most notably are teen books about vampires and half a dozen writers at least seek to please teen audiances with vampire love stories.  Vampires however are dangerous according to legends and not to be taken lightly.  According to these same legends they are not easy to kill and the most surefire way to kill a vampire is to stab them through the heart with a stake.  Vampires live indefinately off of the blood of their victums, as the price of their eternal life they either have to turn or kill their victums.  Vampires often wind up draining their victums dry.  There are several ways of turning a human one of them being the sharing of blood with the vampire.   Vampires pose a threat to society in most novels and as such are often protrayed as outcasts from it

Leprechans

Leprechans are little people who are by and large a part of Irish heritage and myth.  They are facnating and mischievious creatures.  They leave pots of gold at the ends of rainbows and have to be captured in order to give their gold to their kidnappers.  Leprechans can do tricks to those that capture them, often times would be kidnappers wind up being tricked in turn.   Artemis Fowl by Eion Colfler is one book where a boy kidnaps a fairy and it focuses on how the fairy people attempt to get their operative back.   This sereis spans at least five volumes although the fairy is released in the first one where Artemis ultimately winds up working with the faires instead of against them.  These books are entertaining and add their own take to the fairy lore surrounding leprechans.   Leprechans can be regarded as fey in some cases or in others are considered their own specification however by and large Leprechans are refered to as the wee folk, which essentually means that they are much like dwarves and hobbits.   Leprechans resemble humans in looks although not in stature.  They are considered to be about three feet tall and this can help them to hide from their human counterparts more easily then someone the size of a human would manage.

Shapeshifters

These are some of my favorite mythical creatures.  They are humans in their main form and there are other forms they take as well.   Shapeshifters can usually shift into any form although usuallly there is only one that they take.  Shapeshifters are most commonly protrade as wolves, as there are centuries of legends of werewolves.  Unlike werewolves that can only shift at the full moon, shapeshifters can shift whenver they wish.  The native american skin walkers are the forerunners to the many books that are out now.  My favorite book about shapeshifters is by Jennifer Roberson and details the history of a ruling class.  This class can shift into forms, taking on the shape of their animal compainon.  They can only take on the form of these creatures because the animal lends them their form.  They can talk to the animals through a telepathic link although they cannot talk to other people's lir.   There are also mythical shapeshifters such as the dragon shapeshifters.   Dragon shapeshifters are often protrayed in romance novels as being domineering people and very protective of their mates.  There seems to be a common sense of all shapeshifters in that many seem thick headed and given to bouts of temper if they do not get their way.  Any gentleness they may have is hidden and only through dillagence can the female lead find it.  Shapeshifters are wonderful people and facenating, I enjoyed them as much as any other book I have read.

LIveships

Liveships aren't strictly magical creatures, but rather the creation of Robin Hobb.  She has a series of books about Liveships and their captains.  The story fallows two liveships, one named Paragon and Vivacia and a family that owns the Vivacia.  Later we find out that the liveships are in fact murdered cocooned baby dragons.  The dragons still have their memories from within the ship, but they are dormient.  It takes three lifetimes to make a ship.  Three deaths to make the ship turn into a liveship from an ordinary ship.  The liveships can talk through their figureheads and are considered members of their family.  Even Paragon that goes insane and drowns his family unitientionally.  He then gets the memories of a twelve year old boy and becomes half a child and half a man.  His family believes him to be strange, an odd person at first then the first man from his family sails him.  He ultimately meets with disastor.   The second man to sail him finds the pirate Isles and has a son before he ultimately gets captured by a pirate before dying.  Paragon winds up drowning the pirate crew and sailing back to Bingtown harbor.   He's tied up for thirty years, beached onshore before he goes on an adventure to rescue Vivacia who has been captured by pirates.

Harry Potter

Yes, I know that this is very sterotypical, writing about Harry Potter on my magical creatures blog but I have nothing better to write about and so Harry Potter it is.  If you have been in a hole in the ground with a lot of dirt over you or awaiting the next appocolipse in a bunker then you haven't heard of Harry Potter.  However millions if not billions of people have and there is a solid fan base for the young wizard.  I myself am admittedly a die hard fan of the books and own several books to that effect.  Harry Potter was a huge part of my childhood and fond memories of the books will last a lifetime.  When I have my own children I will read them the story as my father read it to me when they reach eight years of age or older as the complex consepts of the book wouldn't be understood until then.  I love the books and movies which are about a young wizard navigating his way through school while at the same time having to fight with an evil wizard named Lord Voldemort.  It takes seven books for him to challenge and ultimately defeat the dark lord and it is worth the wait as all the books have complex plot lines as well as intersting by stories. Sometimes I also write fanfiction for this series and I'm quite fond of reading stories by other young authors pertaining to Harry Potter.