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Germanic lore featured light and dark elves (Ljósálfar and Dökkálfar).This may be roughly equivalent to later concepts such as the Seelie and Unseelie. [2]In the mid-thirteenth century, Thomas of Cantimpré classified fairies into neptuni of water, incubi who wandered the earth, dusii under the earth, and spiritualia nequitie in celestibus, who inhabit the air.
Their name "chaneque" derives from the Nahuatl term ohuican chaneque, meaning "those who dwell in dangerous places", and they seem to have originally been guardian spirits of craggy mountains, woods, springs, caves, etc. Today, they are usually described as having the appearance of a toddler, with the wrinkled face of a very old person.
Latinate fae, from which fairy derives, is distinct from English fey (from Old English fǣġe), which means 'fated to die'. [2] However, this unrelated Germanic word fey may have been influenced by Old French fae (fay or fairy) as the meaning had shifted slightly to 'fated' from the earlier 'doomed' or 'accursed'. [3]
Älvalek (Elfplay or Dancing Fairies) (1866) by August Malmström. In Norse mythology, Dökkálfar ("Dark Elves") [a] and Ljósálfar ("Light Elves") [b] 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, and are "fairer than the sun to look at".
Maleficent is among the last creatures known as Dark Fae, powerful fairies forced into hiding and nearly driven extinct by human oppression. She is also the last descendant from the Phoenix, an ancient and powerful Dark Fae ancestor. Because Maleficent's magic is so powerful, Conall and Borra believe she is instrumental in ending the conflict ...
Changeling – Fae child left in place of a human child stolen by the fae. Clurichaun – Irish fairy resembling a leprechaun. Crone – Old woman who may be characterized as disagreeable, malicious, or sinister, often magical or supernatural, making her either helpful or not. Cyclops – Grotesque, one-eyed humanoids, sons of Uranus in Greek myth.
According to folklorist and scholar Katharine Briggs the Ghillie Dhu was a gentle and kind-hearted mountain spirit, [5] or a "rather unusual nature fairy." [6] The Ghillie Dhu was an individual male modern day fairy described by Osgood Mackenzie, a Scottish landowner and horticulturist, in his memoirs that were published in 1921.
Dullahan was later glossed as "dark, angry, sullen, fierce or malicious being", [a] [8] encompassing both etymologies, though Thomas Crofton Croker considered the alternative etymology more dubious than the dubh "black" ("dark") etymology. [b] The Dullahan is also called Colainn Gan Cheann, meaning "without a head" in Irish.