Episode 126: Dark Fae: Manticore

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

Written and narrated by Ronel Janse van Vuuren.

Copyright 2024 Ronel Janse van Vuuren — All rights reserved.

Learn more about manticores 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: Manticore

Folklore in a Nutshell by Ronel

The word Manticore comes from the Persian word meaning “man-eater” or, according to some, “man-tiger”. This fearsome creature has a scorpion tail which can shoot poisonous darts, the head of a man and the body of either a lion or a tiger. Found in several medieval bestiaries, this creature can be traced back to Persia and India before making its way through Europe. It is most famously mentioned by Pliny the Elder.

According to Pliny, the Manticore has three rows of teeth, the face and ears of a human, and blue eyes. It has red fur, the body of a lion and a tail with the stinger of a scorpion. It is also a creature of great speed which avidly goes after human flesh.

As these monsters were near-indestructible as adults, they were hunted as cubs and killed before they could hunt humans and their livestock. Because of this, manticores lived deep within the ground to hide from their prey.

Not everyone agreed with Pliny the Elder, though. Pausanias argued that the people from India and Persia were so afraid of the ordinary tiger that could so easily kill humans, that it became exaggerated in tales about it. Even Aristotle said a hybrid creature such as this is impossible. Yet the manticore became a favourite in art and literature despite the naysayers.

Whether real or imagined, no trace of the manticores victims are ever found.

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

A predator. Fierce. Unforgiving. The manticore has the head of a human, the body of a lion, tiger or other large cat, the tail of a scorpion, and on occasion has horns. It can change its colour to bright scarlet to intimidate an enemy. It has beautiful blue eyes that can mesmerise its prey. The poison from its stinger has no cure. Once it starts hunting someone specific, it never stops. Just as folklore says, it can devour any beast, yet it has a preference for human flesh. It also somehow has the ability to shoot poisonous stingers from its tail at its prey. There is no way to evade a manticore. They are the ultimate hunters, even smelling alluring to their prey.

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

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 | Google Podcasts | 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.