Monsters of Classic Mythology, Your Ideal Look For One

[cojo965]

This thread is pretty straight forward, take a monster from classic mythology and describe how you would like to see it look. If you could find a picture that matches your vision more power to you. I will start us off with the big one: dragons.


Now a game was recently released that strongly represented a good number of mythical monsters: Dragons Dogma. The hydras actually looked like multiheaded snakes to the point you could believe they could exist. The chimeras from the myth of Bellerophon are extremely accurate from their description in the myth. But the dragons in the game have four legs. If anyone has a mind to say the wing-walking dragons in Skyrim are on four legs remember they are doing just that, walking on their wings. I won't deny they are neat to look at in Skyrim something has just occurred to me, for a creature that spends most of its time in the sky, wouldn't it put the wings in a rather poor position within reach of swords that could tear the membrane of the wing, crippling the animal? The dragon's posture in Dragon's Dogma don't have that anatomical problem because they are carried on four actual legs, the front pair housing clawed, grasping hands. A few varieties are able to cast the same spells that sorcerers in the game can, adding to the description of them being magical creatures. They also have a different elemental breath depending on the species. If all that is too much and too obscure for the reader look at Dragon Heart. The four legged body plan allowed for Draco to have a greater range of body language further cementing him as a great character. The voice of Sean Connery didn't hurt either. Well that is the big one for me what is yours?

capcha: mad science

Geeze it has my idea of a chimera on the mind.

 

[Orange12345]

Alright I choose the Kraken.

the original image of the kraken is that of a giant octopus/squid that can rip entire ships to the bottom of the ocean

It has the head of an octopus but eight(that we can see) limbs like a squid

this is the style that I prefer as opposed to the more recent "clash of the titans" style with a kraken that has a head and body (arms sometimes) some what similar to that of a human.

god of war had a similar kraken

I prefer the first simply because it is scarier. The classical version is much more subtle, it would be too late by the time you ever realized it was there. It's that unknown factor, the thought that it could be right below you and you would never know, that I think makes the classical version better.

While the newer would probably never be identified as a kraken if it was not refered to as one. It is just so much less interesting, it has generic monster written all over it and is interchangable with a hundred other monsters.

EDIT: trying to fix the second picture

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Hah, you kinda read my mind there TC as far as dragons go.


I do also like the classical Chinese dragon too (think Shenron from dragonball), super long snakeish body with arms and legs near the tips of the body, crocodile-ish jaws, deer horns, beard.



The dragons in skyrim were more wyvern-like, they need 4 legs and wings on top IMO.

 

[cojo965]

Hah, you kinda read my mind there TC as far as dragons go.


I do also like the classical Chinese dragon too (think Shenron from dragonball), super long snakeish body with arms and legs near the tips of the body, crocodile-ish jaws, deer horns, beard.



The dragons in skyrim were more wyvern-like, they need 4 legs and wings on top IMO.

Indeed, I find it odd that Bethesda didn't think that the observant would notice that the anatomy they went with for their dragons actually made them less intimidating rather than more. Picture it: how unintimidating is this- "Oh no! World Eater Alduin has crippled himself by accidentally shredding his wings on a tree, how scewed are we?!" The important thing to remember is bats get away with a build like theirs because they are small enough to not be noticed most of the time. A dragon is going to stick out, and given that most of the time you find them fighting city guards all it takes is a single sword swing to the wing and it's main way of getting around is ruined so even if it wins it's going to starve anyway. If Bethesda was dead set on making their dragons like what you see in game make them walk like say a T-rex at least then not only would their wings be out of harms way but they could also stamp on the player. Yes I am referencing Monster Hunter.

 

[DJ_DEnM]

Cthulhu, if it counts.

Hollywood could make an amazing movie based on Call of Cthulhu.

 

[Rickolas Walrus]

Griffins. I notice that a lot of the time if there are multiple shown, they're all pretty much identical. I'd like griffins to be a little more varied: Different bird wings/head/talons and different big cat bodies/tails. Hell maybe don't even limit it to big cats and just make it any type of "aggressive" beast i.e. bears, canines, maybe big lizards, etc

 

[WanderingFool]

Hah, you kinda read my mind there TC as far as dragons go.


I do also like the classical Chinese dragon too (think Shenron from dragonball), super long snakeish body with arms and legs near the tips of the body, crocodile-ish jaws, deer horns, beard.



The dragons in skyrim were more wyvern-like, they need 4 legs and wings on top IMO.

Indeed, I find it odd that Bethesda didn't think that the observant would notice that the anatomy they went with for their dragons actually made them less intimidating rather than more. Picture it: how unintimidating is this- "Oh no! World Eater Alduin has crippled himself by accidentally shredding his wings on a tree, how scewed are we?!" The important thing to remember is bats get away with a build like theirs because they are small enough to not be noticed most of the time. A dragon is going to stick out, and given that most of the time you find them fighting city guards all it takes is a single sword swing to the wing and it's main way of getting around is ruined so even if it wins it's going to starve anyway. If Bethesda was dead set on making their dragons like what you see in game make them walk like say a T-rex at least then not only would their wings be out of harms way but they could also stamp on the player. Yes I am referencing Monster Hunter.

Well, if we consider things realistically for a bit, a dragon is a huge flying lizard that breathes fire. I dont think the wings matter too much if everything is already on fire.

Just my thought...

Though I do still agree with the way the dragons look in Skyrim. I think they look cool still, but I feel they are more a wyvern than a dragon.

 

[Vorpal Chill]

This more of a personal rant but I hate how wraiths look in most modern sci-fi or horror stuff. They have faces and no cowls. I always see them as unspeakable, faceless, floating horrors. No weapons. They just move about in abstract ways and hunt at night so you can't see them. They always seem more terrifying in my head.

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

Fenrir would be cool to be, seeing as when the wolf is full size and he fully opens his mouth his nose hits the top of the Exosphere and his chin hits the ground.

Here is a short video about the animal...

 

[Saltarius]

The Leviathan is depicted in the Bible as a giant sea serpent that can breathe fire. While I'm iffy on the fire, I'm a sucker for sea serpents, even though they scare the crap out of me. Think of the giant sea monster from Okami.

 

[cojo965]

Hah, you kinda read my mind there TC as far as dragons go.


I do also like the classical Chinese dragon too (think Shenron from dragonball), super long snakeish body with arms and legs near the tips of the body, crocodile-ish jaws, deer horns, beard.



The dragons in skyrim were more wyvern-like, they need 4 legs and wings on top IMO.

Indeed, I find it odd that Bethesda didn't think that the observant would notice that the anatomy they went with for their dragons actually made them less intimidating rather than more. Picture it: how unintimidating is this- "Oh no! World Eater Alduin has crippled himself by accidentally shredding his wings on a tree, how scewed are we?!" The important thing to remember is bats get away with a build like theirs because they are small enough to not be noticed most of the time. A dragon is going to stick out, and given that most of the time you find them fighting city guards all it takes is a single sword swing to the wing and it's main way of getting around is ruined so even if it wins it's going to starve anyway. If Bethesda was dead set on making their dragons like what you see in game make them walk like say a T-rex at least then not only would their wings be out of harms way but they could also stamp on the player. Yes I am referencing Monster Hunter.

Well, if we consider things realistically for a bit, a dragon is a huge flying lizard that breathes fire. I dont think the wings matter too much if everything is already on fire.

Just my thought...

Though I do still agree with the way the dragons look in Skyrim. I think they look cool still, but I feel they are more a wyvern than a dragon.

Lol true though in the context of Skyrim that image does raise the question of why would one even bother to land to fight the player character. However I had a recent theory that if dragons had once existed then they didn't actually breath fire but rather sprayed a chemical, like the bombadier beetle, that burned like it. That would actually be a dragon I would be curious to see on screen.

 

[RatRace123]

I thought God of War did a pretty good job of portraying various mythological beasts.

I particularly like the designs of the cyclops, the hydra and the harpies.

 

[BlazeRaider]

...every monster in mythology converted to it's Kenkou Cross Monster Girl Encyclopedia counterpart.

DON'T JUDGE ME!

 

[King of Asgaard]

If anyone has a mind to say the wing-walking dragons in Skyrim are on four legs remember they are doing just that, walking on their wings.

The 'dragons' of Skyrim are technically wyverns, but Bethesda doesn't know the difference, otherwise you'd be the Wyvernborn.
OT: I'd like to see a frost giant from Norse mythology. The ones in Thor were alright, but not very big. Something called a giant should be huge, not seven to eight feet tall.
More like this:

Less like this:

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I do also like the classical Chinese dragon too (think Shenron from dragonball), super long snakeish body with arms and legs near the tips of the body, crocodile-ish jaws, deer horns, beard.

Spoiler: Shenron

Yeah, I love the classical Chinese Dragons too.

 

[chadachada123]

Manticore.

Spoiler

Fuck yeah.

I'd also love a darker, stealthier look for modern mythical beasts. I want something that I can fear.

 

[keybird]

ERMAH GERD I LUV AL1 TEH UNICORNZ WIT TTEH HORN$ AND SHTUFF DDDDDDD

Nah.

Nessy, *****. That's right. Although, come on, let's face it....

We all know the Loch Ness monster really exists...

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

This thread is pretty straight forward, take a monster from classic mythology and describe how you would like to see it look. If you could find a picture that matches your vision more power to you. I will start us off with the big one: dragons.


Now a game was recently released that strongly represented a good number of mythical monsters: Dragons Dogma. The hydras actually looked like multiheaded snakes to the point you could believe they could exist. The chimeras from the myth of Bellerophon are extremely accurate from their description in the myth. But the dragons in the game have four legs. If anyone has a mind to say the wing-walking dragons in Skyrim are on four legs remember they are doing just that, walking on their wings. I won't deny they are neat to look at in Skyrim something has just occurred to me, for a creature that spends most of its time in the sky, wouldn't it put the wings in a rather poor position within reach of swords that could tear the membrane of the wing, crippling the animal? The dragon's posture in Dragon's Dogma don't have that anatomical problem because they are carried on four actual legs, the front pair housing clawed, grasping hands. A few varieties are able to cast the same spells that sorcerers in the game can, adding to the description of them being magical creatures. They also have a different elemental breath depending on the species. If all that is too much and too obscure for the reader look at Dragon Heart. The four legged body plan allowed for Draco to have a greater range of body language further cementing him as a great character. The voice of Sean Connery didn't hurt either. Well that is the big one for me what is yours?

capcha: mad science

Geeze it has my idea of a chimera on the mind.

There are several different types of dragons, the dragons of Skyrim are called "Wyverns".

Spoiler: these things

from an artist perspective, wing walking dragons are modeled after birds and bats, if you look at a bat, they ALSO walk on wings.

Spoiler: bat

The four legged dragons are called "Western" dragons, and they are actually modeled more on the body type of big cats rather than giant lizards.

Spoiler: western dragon

Spoiler: tiger

When you think about it, the wing walking dragons are actually more probable. A wyvern has 4 limbs (two hind legs, and a set of wings), while a western has six limbs (two hind legs, two forelegs and a set of wings) Six limbs are unheard of in both mammals and reptiles. Only insects have that many legs.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

If anyone has a mind to say the wing-walking dragons in Skyrim are on four legs remember they are doing just that, walking on their wings.

The 'dragons' of Skyrim are technically wyverns, but Bethesda doesn't know the difference, otherwise you'd be the Wyvernborn.

Regardless of my feelings for or against Bethesda, it would be nigh on impossible to know anything about dragons and not know the difference between a wyvern and a classical European dragon. I'm sure they do know the difference, but 'Dragonborn' sounds better than 'Wyvernborn.'

Mythical creatures I want to see represented...

Golem are interesting to me. Creatures made out of clay or mud with a control symbol in their neck. Can't be killed unless that symbol is destroyed. Strong, fast, invulnerable and near impossible to kill because the thing that keeps them alive is so small. There's a tough enemy.

I did like the depiction of sirens in the Percy Jackson books. I'd like to see more like that.

And one enemy I would love to see depicted properly in cinema would be Scylla and Charybdis. The very first rock and a hard place.