Episode 162: Dark Fae: Gorgon

The folklore of the gorgon in a nutshell, translated to Afrikaans, and how I reimagined it for my writing.

Written and narrated by Ronel Janse van Vuuren.

Copyright 2025 Ronel Janse van Vuuren — All rights reserved.

Learn more about the gorgon in folklore here.

Get the transcript here.

Learn more about the author and her writing here.

Music: Secrets by David Fesliyan (FesliyanStudios.com) and Dramatic Heartbeat by FesliyanStudios.com

Transcript

You’re listening to the Faeries and Folklore podcast by Ronel.

I’m dark fantasy author Ronel Janse van Vuuren. With over a decade of digging around in dusty folklore books, researching creatures of imagination that ignited my curiosity, I’m here to share the folklore in a nutshell and how I reimagined it for my writing in an origin of the fae.

This is the Faeries and Folklore podcast.

Hi, I’m your host Ronel Janse van Vuuren. You can just call me Ronel. In today’s episode, we’re continuing our exploration of the fae realm.

This episode is brought to you by my Dark Court Sisters book series. Available in ebook, paperback and audiobook. Three sisters. Three destinies. Three ways to destroy the world. Go to ronelthemythmaker.com/darkcourtsistersseries for more.

You can now support my time in producing the podcast (researching, writing and everything else involved) by buying me a coffee. This can be a once-off thing, or you can buy me coffee again in the future at your discretion. Go to buymeacoffee.com/ronel to support me.

We’re continuing our exploration of Dark Fae.

Today’s Faery: Gorgon

Folklore in a Nutshell by Ronel

The original gorgo was a creature created by Gaia to fight along the Gigantes against the Olympians, but was slain and buried beneath the agora in Athens by Athena. The head of this gorgo is on the aegis, Athena’s shield. The three gorgons are the daughters of Phorcys and Ceto. They were named Euryale, Stheno and Medusa. Only the first two were granted immortality as Medusa was slain by Perseus. They were at first beautiful young women, serving in the temple of Athena, until Poseidon set his sights on Medusa and had his way with her inside the temple. Athena, in a rage, turned all three sisters into gorgons with snake hair and hideous visages to boot so anyone who looked upon them were turned into stone. It isn’t clear whether they retained their human bodies or were changed to be part snake from the waist down, only “girded with serpents” along with their massive teeth and sharp claws.

And now for my interpretation of the fae in an Origin of the Fae: Gorgon

The gorgon is a beautiful creature with snakes for hair that will turn anyone who looks upon them to stone. If it is an accident on the part of the gorgon, they can reverse the spell. There are male and female gorgons. The only difference between humans and gorgons, on the surface, is the snakes for hair. Thanks to Euryale, Stheno and Medusa, they got a bad reputation for having gardens filled with stone statues. Gorgons prefer solitude and staying in the Dark Lands under the Dark King’s protection. Too many humans have the wrong idea about gorgons and like to trophy hunt their heads.

As a little bonus, let’s look at this faery translated to Afrikaans: Gorgo

I hope that you’ve enjoyed this episode of the faeries and folklore podcast and that you’ve learned something new about faeries.

Remember that you can get a transcript of this episode in the description. If you’re new to the podcast, why not go and grab your free copy of Unseen, the second book in the Faery Tales series, on my website ronelthemythmaker.com? Loads of folklore, magic and danger await! Take care!

Available at

Audible | Podbean | Amazon Music | Spotify | Youtube | iHeart Radio | Player FM | Listen Notes | Apple Podcasts | TuneIn

You can now support my time in producing the podcast (researching, writing and everything else involved) by buying me a coffee. This can be a once-off thing, or you can buy me coffee again in the future at your discretion.

You can now own the backlist seasons as audiobooks. All proceeds go to hosting the podcast. Exclusively available from Ronel’s store.