# Most creative take on a cliched creature?



## Timebender (Nov 29, 2020)

What's the most creative twist on a very common fantasy creature (troll, dwarf, giant, goblin, fairy, mermaid, etc.) that you've ever seen?

I would say that the Artemis Fowl series and the Spiderwick Chronicles both have the most original takes on the fair folk that I've ever seen. The Spiderwick chronicles made all the fairies and goblins seem like real, physical animals, mostly due to Tony Diterlizzi's illustration's. I thought the Artemis Fowl books had very ingenious takes on how the creatures worked, especially dwarves.


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## Dave (Nov 29, 2020)

The TV sitcom Zapped has a fantasy universe, where magic is a real force, but one closely controlled by a police state. In the town of Munty, the police enforcers of the state are "fairies", who are the opposite of the traditional image of the fairy - they are big, burly, thuggish men.


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## Guttersnipe (Dec 6, 2020)

In the Swedish film Border (Gräns--2018), trolls can pass as ugly, burly humans and can literally smell guilt.


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## Guttersnipe (Dec 9, 2020)

The elves in the second Hellboy film turn to stone when they die.


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## Pyan (Dec 9, 2020)

Sir Terry Pratchett's Elves, especially in *Lords and Ladies.*

_“… people didn't seem to be able to remember what it was like with the elves around. Life was certainly more interesting then, but usually because it was shorter. And it was more colourful, if you liked the colour of blood.” _


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## Foxbat (Dec 9, 2020)

Guillermo del Toro’s movie Cronos is probably the most creative take I’ve seen regarding a vampire.


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## alexvss (Dec 9, 2020)

The comic Wolf Moon, by Cullen Bunn and Jeremy Haun, published by Vertigo, has the best modern take on werewolves. The curse goes randomly from person to person; the cursed just live as a werewolf for one full moon. The story is about a hunter who's after the curse, so he pretty much just travels through America, visiting towns where brutal murders recently took place.

Regargind vampires, the manga/anime Hellsing has the best take: nazi vampires remained hidden for fiftty years after WW2, protestant and catholic orders hunts them. The manga Happiness has a cult of people that want to be vampires. @Foxbat you might want to check them out.

Another Vertigo comic book, Fables, is all about classic fairy tale characters who diguise themselves in our world.

There's a book by dutch author Thomas Olde Heuvelt, called HEX, that has a very interesting take on witches. A town has a witch who just never dies, so they've sewn her eyes and mouth, and follow her steps with an app (Hex).

These are the ones that I remember right now, but I think that manga and underground comic writers are the most creative writers out there.


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## alexvss (Dec 9, 2020)

Guttersnipe said:


> In the Swedish film Border (Gräns--2018), trolls can pass as ugly, burly humans and can literally smell guilt.


@Guttersnipe, this movie is outrageous   

But an interesting new take indeed.


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## paranoid marvin (Dec 9, 2020)

Teen Wolf; now it was cool to be a werewolf.


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## Guttersnipe (Dec 10, 2020)

In Splash, mermaids have legs when not in water and speak a dolphin-like language. In the Hulu series Siren, they're actually quite dangerous.

In the game Skyrim, dwarves are a lost race who were human-sized, and were named as such only because giants "dwarf" them.


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## BAYLOR (Dec 11, 2020)

Deans Koontz's 5 book Frankenstein series .  In this series the Monster named  Ducaleon  is a immortal hero who has being  doing battle with his Creator  Dr Victor Frankenstein( also an Immortal )  who plots to take don mankind and replace with beings of his creation.


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## Timebender (Dec 16, 2020)

BAYLOR said:


> Deans Koontz's 5 book Frankenstein series .  In this series the Monster named  Ducaleon  is a immortal hero who has being  doing battle with his Creator  Dr Victor Frankenstein( also an Immortal )  who plots to take don mankind and replace with beings of his creation.



Cool! I always like seeing Dr. Frankenstein as a villain, because he was so awful in the original novel, lol.


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## Ghuarran (Jan 12, 2021)

BAYLOR said:


> Deans Koontz's 5 book Frankenstein series .  In this series the Monster named  Ducaleon  is a immortal hero who has being  doing battle with his Creator  Dr Victor Frankenstein( also an Immortal )  who plots to take don mankind and replace with beings of his creation.



I really enjoyed the first book of that series- Deucalion was an interesting character. I enjoyed his otherness- that he was physically similar in some ways to humans, but was very far removed in many others. I felt he was an interesting take on the aloof-eternal-being-concept. I also am a sucker for powerful, morose characters with dark pasts, so that helped!


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## Ghuarran (Jan 13, 2021)

I enjoyed George R. R. Martin's use of dragons- the idea that the mighty behemoths of old were inbred and hunted into irrelevance was interesting. It wasn't so much a retelling or a new take, but it set the stage well for Daenerys ascension.

I also enjoyed the take on angels in 'Scar Night', by Alan Campbell. The book as a whole is marvelous, and I very much enjoyed it.


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## BAYLOR (Jan 13, 2021)

Ghuarran said:


> I really enjoyed the first book of that series- Deucalion was an interesting character. I enjoyed his otherness- that he was physically similar in some ways to humans, but was very far removed in many others. I felt he was an interesting take on the aloof-eternal-being-concept. I also am a sucker for powerful, morose characters with dark pasts, so that helped!



Its a terrific series .   Deucalion is really cool and Victor Frankenstein  is a very scary man .


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## Stenevor (Jan 13, 2021)

I found the Vampire element in Peter Watts Blindsight interesting and really well done.


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## Guttersnipe (Jan 13, 2021)

Vampires and Lycans (lycanthropes) in the Underworld film series. The reactions of vampires to light and werewolves to silver are treated somewhat scientific. Vampires can be defeated by ultraviolet explosives rather than direct sunlight, and werewolves are "allergic" to silver.


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## .matthew. (Jan 13, 2021)

I'm fond of the dragons in the Temeraire series, equal parts adorably sweet and battle happy


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## Guttersnipe (Jan 24, 2021)

I'm surprised I haven't thought of How to Train Your Dragon. There are many subspecies and are just wild rather than evil.


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## Timebender (Jan 24, 2021)

Guttersnipe said:


> I'm surprised I haven't thought of How to Train Your Dragon. There are many subspecies and are just wild rather than evil.



Good point! I just love Toothless's design, so sleek and shiny.


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## Guttersnipe (Jan 24, 2021)

Timebender said:


> Good point! I just love Toothless's design, so sleek and shiny.


He reminds me of a black cat. Very cute.


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## CTRandall (Jan 24, 2021)

Stanislaw Lem's take on dragons:

There are_ "_three distinct kinds of dragon: the mythical, the chimerical, and the purely hypothetical. They were all, one might say, nonexistent, but each nonexisted in an entirely different way"

It turns out, however, that dragons aren't really nonexistent, they're just incredibly improbable. So the constructor Trurl builds a probability amplifier that causes dragons to spontaneously burst into existence all over the galaxy. (And this was prior to Douglas Adams.)


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## The Big Peat (Jan 24, 2021)

I don't think I've seen a version of dragons like Pratchett's swamp dragons.


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## Don Coyote (Jan 25, 2021)

Some of Larry Correia's monsters in his _Monster Hunter International_ series have original twists-
-Trolls are annoying creatures with phenomenal computer skills
-Elves are stereotypical trailer trash
-Gnomes are urban gangtas
-There was a dragon named "Management" who owned a casino in Las Vegas and lived in its basement with his collection of cars, art and other objects. Management was deep behind the scenes mysterious mover and shaker gleaning info from the internet


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