We love to hear from YOU, our fans and followers! So we ran another poll on Twitter this week. This time, we asked about mythic creatures, but specifically mythic humanoids.
Which ones are your favorites? Which one most captures your imagination or frequently pops into your stories?
A mythic humanoid is one that is part-human or one which resembles a human in some manner, such as physical attributes or character traits. There are many such humanoids to choose from, such as centaurs, the Minotaur, dryads and nymphs, elves and fairies, the sphinx, sirens, etc.
To help narrow down the list, we gave voters four options to choose from: mermaids, dryad/nymphs, werewolves, and elves.
Of our original options, here is where the results stand:
The elves swept the vote at an even 50% (33 votes). Clearly, we have a lot of Tolkien fans among our voters, although our intrepid editor-in-chief asked a very good question in the replies: whose elves are we talking about? Do we mean Tolkien’s version of the elf, the Santa variety of helper elf, or elves-as-fey from Faerie?
Following the clear winner, the werewolf and the dryad/nymph came in tied at 21.2% each (14 votes). Bringing up the rear in a surprise loss is the mermaid at only 7.6% (5 votes).
Some additional options from the comments included votes for the Minotaur, centaurs, and gargoyles.
Update Your TBR Lists
Below are some recommended books (and a stray tv series) featuring mythic humanoids. Enjoy!
Skin of the Sea (2021) by Natasha Bowen: mermaids
Cast in Chaos series by Michelle Sagara: includes humanoid characters similar in form to angels, cats, and shapeshifting dragons.
The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall (2020): mermaids
A Song Below Water: A Novel by Bethany C. Morrow (2020): sirens
To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo (2018): sirens
The Troy Game series by Sara Douglass: the Minotaur is a character
Gargoyles (TV series)
What would you add to this list? Do you know of any recent or upcoming books featuring mythic characters? Let us know!