Episode 122: Dark Fae: Wraiths

The folklore of wraiths 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 wraiths 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: Wraiths

Folklore in a Nutshell by Ronel

A very Scottish creature, the wraith is sometimes a person who’s about to die’s spitting image – though gliding along instead of walking – usually in a place this person won’t commonly frequent. At other times, wraiths are malicious spirits, longing for the life they’ve left behind and thus feeding on the emotions of the living to fuel their unnatural existence. Though wraiths are usually seen as a negative and destructive energy, they sometimes come to warn about impending death. Some believe that wraiths are magical creations and not spirits – or even both – and can be used to guard treasures and entrances to other realms.

Whatever they are, folklore suggests that encountering them leads to great tragedy.

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

There are two kinds of wraiths: the cloaked type made of roiling shadows that floats, feeding off human emotion, and the ones with seemingly moral bodies, resembling those about to die.

The first type never take physical form, preferring their shadowy existence. They are jealous of the living, longing for the lives they’d lost. They feed off the emotions and life-force of the living – especially humans. These wraiths are born from suffering and, at times, a death so sudden and violent that they are in need of revenge before moving on. Unfortunately, these spirits never find rest and are used by more powerful dark fae for their own purposes.

The second type keep a physical form even though they can take on the smoky shape of the first type of wraith, though their appearances are constantly shifting to that of the closest person about to die. They are formidable fighters, have glowing red eyes once their true nature is discovered, and are employed by the Dark Court as spies and assassins. Though they do sometimes warn of coming misfortune and death, their roles have been so twisted by others, that they don’t even know who they are anymore. Born from unnatural dalliances in the Dark Court, their allegiance is to the Dark King.

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

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!

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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.