So, we’ll be starting our first monthly recurring themed posts! Every month, usually the first Friday, I’ll be posting what I’m going to call the Lore Corner.
My currently ongoing trilogy (The Rook, The Ram, and hopefully The Owl later this year) is definitely a dark fantasy, but I created much of the mythos myself, since it is largely just one fantasy species. But my latest project, an urban fantasy series (Your Local Guides To The Supernatural, or YLG as a short name for the series), has been a lot more research-based, and pulls from all over the world to build up its supernatural community.
So I’ll be sharing the fruits of my researchy labor here! We’ll go over a new mythological being (or several, if closely related), with my base research, as well as the spin I’ll be giving it in my series.
To start with, I’ll be going over something that most people will already know: the unicorn.
There are “unicorns” in many cultures across the world, throughout history, but the most-known and most-recognized is that of the European one. (Even that has changed significantly into what we recognize in pop culture today.) There are depictions of unicorns in ancient Indus Valley seals, write-ups of them in Greek natural history accounts, comparisons to them in the Bible, and, of course, all kinds of products you could buy from any number of appropriately exotic lands. (Narwhal teeth—yes, their horn is actually a long tooth—were obviously toted as unicorn horns for a long time.)
In medieval Europe, unicorns were heraldic beasts, and were usually depicted a lot more goat-like (or even lion-like!) than what we see today. They were seen as symbols of purity, rarity, and higher lineage. Parts of the animal could heal any ailment. Only the finest, purest virgins could entrap them, which I’m sure lead to some very creative hunting parties back in the day.
The qilin is sometimes called the “Chinese unicorn”, though it is largely because they were quadrupedal mythological creatures with a long horn on their forehead. (We’ll talk about them in a later Lore Corner post.) But qilin do possess many of the same symbolic meanings: purity, the ruling class, and prosperity.
There are any number of creatures that could have inspired any number of unicorn myths back in the day. Giraffes, okapi, rhinos, narwhals, mutant bulls—you can see pieces of existing creatures in varying accounts of unicorns, depending where and when in the world you are.
But in my series, unicorns (like most mythological creatures you could think of) are very real.
They tend to be far more equine, at least the ones we meet in-person; they even masquerade as horses at a distance. No beards, lion tales, or goat shapes here. (In book 1, we do mention Scottish unicorns as a different breed, which I like to imagine are far more like those old depictions. Bearded unicorns must be represented!)
They are, however, attracted to virgins—those of virgin blood, rather. Since magic is real in my world, that’s simply defined as someone who has never used their own blood in any kind of magic, so nothing to do with sex or lack thereof. And even the blood part isn’t as spooky as it sounds; any basic body purification spell could do the job. Those can be used to clean up hangovers and as minor detox, so I bet you’re wishing that really existed now, huh?
Like in many fantasy series, unicorn body parts and blood are very powerful magical ingredients. This features briefly in book 1, and later on, since a character is given a unicorn foal as a graduation present. It’s hardly the weirdest thing given as a gift in the series.
Unicorns are widely known and are common, low-hanging fruit in fantasy. That is not necessarily a bad thing, since worldwide, common things are ripest for new interpretations. (Regardless of your personal feelings, you cannot argue that Twilight didn’t have its own interpretation of vampires.)
Many cultures have unique creatures and myths, but not all of them are for outside use, and many should not be subject to new “interpretations” by others. Keep that in mind when doing your own research for any fantasy (or other genres). I’ve done my research, and while I can never guarantee I’ll be perfect, I’m excited to share what I’ve found in future posts!
