This page groups mythical creatures by the role they play in their own story. Wikipedia notes that "these monsters thus have the basic function of emphasizing the greatness of the heroes involved." Browsing by domain function lets a visitor compare the narrative job one creature does against another.
Facts
Overview
What Defines This GroupingBeings that change shape at will, or between human and animal form. Transformation is one of the largest motif classes in comparative folklore and cuts across every other group here rather than naming a kind of creature. 2 Learn More
The shapeshifters
This small group gathers a shapeshifter, a being able to change its form at will, whether between human and animal or among many shapes, a widespread type in world folklore that blurs the boundary between kinds.
The browser will find the figure the atlas classes here. The entry describes its nature and mythological role.
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Sources
1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Tree
2. Motif-Index of Folk-Literature: A Classification of Narrative Elements in Folktales, Ballads, Myths, Fables, Mediaeval Romances, Exempla, Fabliaux, Jest-Books and Local Legends
Stith Thompson, Indiana University Press, 1958D0-D699, Transformation
Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions
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