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.

Witches and Wizards

Of all magical creatures, wizards and witches are among the most popular.  In part this is do to the wish that people have to have magic I believe.  We want to believe in the paranormal, that there is something beyond our mundane existance that magic in fact exists.  So we create our counter parts, people that do not look diffrent from us but have extrodenary powers and abilites.  Wizards and witches haven't always been held in the same regard as now, superstion caused innocent people to be burned at the stake during the middle ages and up to the seventeen or eighteen hundreds.  Mostly these women were medicinal healers and did nothing more then use herbs and poltices to assist their neighbors.  A traditional way to insure that a woman was not a witch was to basically drown her, according to some theroys witches floated while normal people didn't.   The most famous wizards and witches come from a book series by J.R Rowling, millions of children have read Harry Potter in the years it has been out.  However there are other less well known stories about witches and wizards the series So You Want To Be A Wizard? By Dianne Duainne is one of my favorites.  I love wizards and witches and believe strongly in the possibilites of magic

Little People

The little people is the fey term in Ireland.  Although for the purposes of my blog I will be including dwarves, goblins and hobbits as well as Leprechans into this segment.   Little people as the Irish refer to them are often tricksters and love to pull pranks and steal small items from the household.  Little people can be blamed if you loose something and for some reason it ends up in some odd place or another.  Leprechans have vast amounts of gold and according to legend store them at the end of rainbows.  Although it is impossible to get to the end of the rainbow....Well that's science another thing entirely.   Leprechans are very jealous of their gold and will do anything to protect it.   Leprechans are part of the history of Ireland and its folk tales.   Dwarves are little men that love gold, in some stories they are fierce small warriors with beards, in one story I read they had glowing moss in their beards that had to be carefully tended.  Goblins are some of the most hated of the little people, as to some accounts they steal livestock and even people, they are an ugly race overall.  They do seem to be cleaver, for an uncleaver goblin is a dead goblin by their thinking.  I read quite an interesting book about goblins once where the main character was a goblin himself.   Finally we have hobbits, hobbits are peace loving three feet tall humanoid creatures, who like to smoke pipes and have a fondness for music, they are the creation of J. R Tolkin and no one since him has made a story in which the hobbits are the main characters.

Elementals come in two diffrent types, there are those that are thought of as spirits of the four elements and those that can control these elements at will.  The element masters of air would have the ability over air, they can control anything from a simple breeze to gale force winds,  using this power they can also fly upon the air currents going where they wish and benifiting from their abilities.  In most stories air folk are supercillious and flighty as their element.   Water elementals have control over water, they can control the waves and make waves in still water, in some books they can breath under water for indefinate periods of time.   Water elementals are thought of as being a calm and soothing force.   Earth elemtals can control soil rocks and in some cases animals and humans.  Earth elementals can also heal people as they have close connection to the body.  They are quite literally thought of as down to earth.  Fire elementals have ability with fire, this seems to be the most dangerous of elements for obvious reasons, people and fire do not mix well.  In some reports Fire elementals are resistant to the flames they control.  Fire elementals are often given to fury and are as volitile as their element.  The four elements sometimes have a fifth called spirit, which can replace Earth's ability to control people.  In some cases they can see into the minds of others if that an be believed.  All elementals seem to be quite cool to me, I wish I had control over one of these elements.

Wizards

Wizards aren't technically magical creatures, but they can do magic so I'm putting them in my blog.  Wizards are cool, I like them a lot and read a lot of books about them.  There are many different ways wizards use their power, the most common is through a wand or staff like Gandelf in the Hobbit.  In the Harry Potter books they use wands and the wand chooses the wizard not the other way around. I think that a wand choosing its host is a realistic way of getting a wand because if a wizard chooses the wand it seems to defeat the purpose and make it seem like just another tool.   A wand is vital to a wizard as they can't do magic without it.  Although fake wizards and witches were burnt at the stake, there is no proof that there actually are wizards in the world.  Many believe that magic is real however, I believe in the possibility of magic and wish that I was a witch but sadly I am not.   It would be really cool to be a witch or a wizard and be able to do stuff to objects and people around you.  I think that a pen that takes notes for you is awesome, it would be a lot easier then having to take notes yourself.  There are some other things in the books I read that I want myself, like pictures that move.  It would be awesome to have something to remember a certain event. Wizards are epic and cool.  I wish that I could see one.

Faries

Fairies are different depending upon which book or person you ask.  Some picture fairies as tiny people with wings while others have them as big as people.   The fairy courts in Shakespeare are the most famous but many other people have written about fairies over the years.  I like the books by Eion Colfler as he has a unique point of view about Fairies.  I also like the fairy wars series it’s a darker take on fairies then is usually portrayed. Another famous fairy is Tinkerbelle from Peter Pan; she's a tiny fairy and gives off a gold dust that can make people fly.  Tinkerbelle’s companion is Peter Pan and they have adventures in Neverland.  I also like it when fairies are mischievous or down right nasty like Tinkerbelle was to Windy.   When I was a little girl I had an entire room devoted to fairies, it was pink with fairy wallpaper and decals.  I loved that room.  Fairies are also part of Irish culture and myths and I like stories about them.   I believe in the possibility of fairies as some say they die if you don’t and I think it would be terrible to inadvertently kill a fairy by not believing in them.  Fairies are beautiful little creatures; they are also a treasured part of myths and legends from around the world.  The most famous fairy is the tooth fairy that supposedly gives young children money in exchange for one of their baby teeth.  Kids grow up with the legend of the tooth fairy taught to them by their parents and they believe in it until after they reach a certain age.   Fairies are one of my favorite magical creatures.

Dragons!

I love dragons, they are so pretty. I like the ones in storybooks when there are different kinds of dragons.  I loved E.E Knight's books and the Harry Potter books take on dragons was cool to.  However my favorite kind of dragons are the elemental dragons, I wish there were more books out there about dragons that would be cool.  I think I like dragons because of their pretty wings and the ability to breath fire, which would be pretty awesome when you think about it.  I wish I could breath fire, how awesome would that be, if someone annoyed me I would just breath fire and then they would be all like whoosh their on fire.   I also like water dragons and they used to have them on maps, or sea serpents more of.   I'm not sure if all dragons breath fire or not but that would be cool.   Sometimes I wish I were a dragon that would be really neat too.   I'd love to fly.   If I were a dragon I would have some form of treasure as dragons tend to bury gold.  They get this gold from explorers and adventurers as they die in nasty ways such as being cooked inside their own armor.  Dragons take delight in this, as they like their knights nice and crispy.  I personally don't blame them a nice char broiled knight would be a tasty treat, as well as a princess for desert.  Mmm toasted princess is a dragon's favorite, however they have to wait to eat until after the foolish knight attempts to rescue them.

First Post

Hi my name is Kyla Hockman and I have a lifelong love of Si Fi and Fantasy.  So when my English Teacher decided that we should start doing our own blogs, it was my natural choice.   I think this blog will be about all sorts of wonderful magical creatures and beings, such as but not limited to, faeries, dragons, fey, wizards, witches, elves, dwarfs, goblins, ect.   Anyway about all things fantastic and fantasy.  Perhaps the best place to start is to talk about myself, the mythical creature that is me.  Well I'm 20, in my second year of college, I love to read and write, so maybe I'll be talking some about my favorite books as well as everything else.  I'm an only child as well, which meant that I had to live a lot in my own world growing up, imagining games and different worlds.  I was a very imaginative child, occasionally mischievous as well.   However my parents always guided me towards being a good member of society.  Growing up my favorite books were and still are by J.K Rowling and Dianna Whynne Jones, I love those authors and the worlds they weave with pen and ink.   I've always thought that being a writer is a most marvelous  career choice and I've thought of doing it as one of my options for my life.   Currently however my reading has taken a back burner to my college studies as I need to graduate in order to have a fulfilling life and as well as the fact that college is just plain fun and exciting.  I love learning new things and college is a wonderful place to learn them in.  I like my professors and feel as though this is a good experiance for me.   Anyway blog to you soon, Kyla Hockman.