Abdiel
The solitary seraph who refuses the rebellion and returns through hostile scorn.
John Milton, Paradise LostLoading Lumitheca…
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SourceAengus Óg
The youthful god associated with the enchanted palace of the Boyne.
Celtic fairy traditions
Ama-terasu
The Sun Goddess whose presence illuminates the world in Davis's retelling of Japanese mythology.
Japanese mythology, Davis retelling
Antaeus, Bearer of the Travellers
The unfettered giant who lowers Dante and Virgil toward Cocytus.
Dante, Inferno
SourceAnubis
Guardian of the mummy and guide into the judgment hall.
Egyptian funerary religion
SourceArawn
The crowned king of Annwn whose white hounds meet Pwyll in the forest.
Welsh folklore, Wirt Sikes
SourceArawn
The king of Annwvyn who exchanges kingdoms and appearances with Pwyll.
The Mabinogion, Guest’s 1877 edition
SourceAshvins
The twin divine physicians whose gift of youth earns a place in the gods’ offerings.
Indian traditions, Nivedita and CoomaraswamySourceAtum
The self-emerging creator called Tum by Tirard, rising from primordial water in the Heliopolitan creation account.
Egyptian funerary religion
Baital
The corpse-animating, storytelling spirit who tests King Vikram in Burton's adaptation of the Baital tales.
Indian tale tradition, Burton adaptation
SourceBaku
The composite creature called upon to consume an evil dream.
Japanese legends, Davis retellingSourceBalarama
Krishna’s brother, associated in the collection with the serpent Shesha.
Indian traditions, Nivedita and CoomaraswamySourceBanshee
A warning woman associated with family, mourning, and the dead.
Celtic fairy traditions
Barbariccia Leads the Hooked Escort
The captain who restrains his own violent company long enough for questioning.
Dante, Inferno
SourceBeelzebub in Paradise Lost
The senior fallen counsellor who presents the scheme against the human world.
John Milton, Paradise LostSourceBelial in Paradise Lost
The persuasive speaker whose graceful counsel disguises indolence.
John Milton, Paradise LostSourceBendigeid Vran
The giant king who becomes a bridge for his army and leaves a protective head behind.
The Mabinogion, Guest’s 1877 editionSourceBennu
Solar heron whose identification with the Greek phoenix is questioned.
Egyptian funerary religionSourceBenten
A figure associated with love, beauty, eloquence and island shrines in Davis.
Japanese legends, Davis retelling
SourceBes
Egyptian protective figure associated with merriment, children, and renewed youth.
Historical talisman traditionsSourceBirds of Rhiannon
Three birds whose song holds the surviving companions of Branwen’s story in an enchanted interval.
Welsh folklore, Wirt SikesSourceBlodeuwedd
The woman made from flowers who becomes an owl after conspiring against Llew.
The Mabinogion, Guest’s 1877 edition
SourceBoston’s Angel in America
A guardian figure rejects obedience, tears away his robe and sceptre, and draws the other thirteen Angels into a collective refusal.
William Blake’s illuminated mythology in America: A ProphecySourceBrahma
The creative aspect of the divine, distinct in the collection from the absolute Brahman.
Indian traditions, Nivedita and CoomaraswamySourceBucca
A Cornish power that the survey distinguishes from ordinary fairies.
Celtic fairy traditionsSourceBwbach
A household goblin who helps with work but can torment an unwelcome guest.
Welsh folklore, Wirt SikesSourceCastell Coch’s Eagle Guardians
Two great eagles guarding an iron chest beneath the castle in a treasure legend.
Welsh folklore, Wirt Sikes
Cerberus in the Third Circle
The three-throated guardian among the gluttonous souls beneath ceaseless cold rain.
Dante, Inferno
Chaos in Paradise Lost
The ruler of the unformed abyss who welcomes ruin as a recovery of lost territory.
John Milton, Paradise Lost
Charon, Dante’s Ferryman
The fiery-eyed boatman who gathers the dead at Acheron and objects to Dante’s living presence.
Dante, Inferno
Chiron among the Armed Centaurs
The centaur who notices the physical evidence that Dante is alive.
Dante, InfernoSourceCoblynau
Mine fairies whose knocking is said to reveal rich veins of ore.
Welsh folklore, Wirt SikesSourceCornish Piskies
Fairy people whose presence is negotiated around Cornish homes and moors.
Celtic fairy traditionsSourceCŵn Annwn
Otherworld hounds whose cries can foretell a funeral route.
Welsh folklore, Wirt SikesSourceCyhyraeth
An unseen groaning spirit whose threefold cry is heard before death.
Welsh folklore, Wirt SikesSourceDagda
Divine king who assigns the Sidhe palaces and negotiates with conquerors.
Celtic fairy traditionsSourceDaikoku
The wealth-bringing figure with a mallet, rice bales and a precious bag.
Japanese legends, Davis retellingSourceDana
The goddess whose name defines the Tuatha Dé Danann in Evans-Wentz’s survey.
Celtic fairy traditions
Death in Paradise Lost
The crowned shadow guarding Hell, whose appetite turns towards the human world.
John Milton, Paradise Lost
SourceDevas in Theosophy
A higher evolutionary kingdom whose forms extend beyond the astral plane.
Theosophical astral cosmologySourceDipankara
The earlier Buddha who recognises Sumedha’s resolve and foretells his awakening.
Buddhist traditions, Nivedita and Coomaraswamy
Dragon King of Lake Biwa
The ruler beneath Lake Biwa who seeks Hidesato's protection against a centipede in Davis's tale.
Japanese heroic legend, Davis retelling
Dragon of the Golden Lotus
The formidable speaker who exchanges wisdom with the Buddha in Davis's Golden Lotus legend.
Buddhist legend, Davis retelling
Earth as Nurse in Atalanta Fugiens
The globe-bodied nursing figure in Maier’s second emblem personifies earth as a source of nourishment.
Michael Maier’s Atalanta Fugiens (1618)SourceEbisu
The fishing figure whom Davis places beside Daikoku among the Gods of Luck.
Japanese legends, Davis retellingSourceElfin Milk-White Cow
An otherworldly cow whose abundance ends when people try to kill her.
Welsh folklore, Wirt SikesSourceEllylldan
The luring elf-fire that draws a wanderer into marshy ground.
Welsh folklore, Wirt SikesSourceEllyllon
Small woodland elves associated with hollows, fairy food and flowers.
Welsh folklore, Wirt Sikes
Ephialtes in Chains
The rebellious giant whose immense strength is confined by a repeated chain.
Dante, InfernoSourceÉtaín
Sidhe woman reborn as a mortal princess without her former memories.
Celtic fairy traditionsSourceFad Felen
A golden-featured monster that Sikes reads as a legendary image of plague.
Welsh folklore, Wirt SikesSourceFenodyree
The Manx helper whose farm work ends when clothes are offered.
Celtic fairy traditions
SourceFortune, Minister of Worldly Change
Virgil’s account of the appointed power that distributes changing earthly advantages.
Dante, InfernoSourceFour Devarajas
Four elemental regents in Leadbeater’s system, associated with the cardinal directions and distinguished from rulers of the deva kingdom.
Theosophical astral cosmologySourceGabriel in Paradise Lost
The guardian who organises the night watch around Eden.
John Milton, Paradise LostSourceGanesha
The elephant-headed figure of success, wisdom and the removal of obstacles.
Indian traditions, Nivedita and Coomaraswamy
Ganga
The heavenly river whose descent joins ancestral restoration to Shiva’s restraint.
Indian traditions, Nivedita and Coomaraswamy
Garuda
Vishnu’s great bird mount and the feared opponent of serpents.
Indian traditions, Nivedita and CoomaraswamySourceGast Rhymhi
A princess living in wolf form with two cubs before her restoration in an Arthurian tale.
Welsh folklore, Wirt SikesSourceGautama Buddha
The awakened teacher whose search begins with the problem of suffering.
Buddhist traditions, Nivedita and CoomaraswamySourceGeb
Earth god named Keb in the scanned funerary account.
Egyptian funerary religion
Geryon, the Image of Fraud
A reassuring human face joined to a dangerous composite body at the descent into fraud.
Dante, Inferno
Ghosts of the Taira
The ghostly warriors who rise from the sea before Yoshitsune and Benkei in Davis's legend.
Japanese heroic legend, Davis retelling
Goblin of Oyeyama
The mountain goblin king defeated by Raiko and his companions in Davis's account.
Japanese heroic legend, Davis retellingSourceGoblin Spider
The disguised visitor whose webs and hidden influence afflict Raiko in one of Davis's spider legends.
Japanese heroic legend, Davis retellingSourceGuardian Angels
Protective presences in Leadbeater’s system, explained through loving thought, help from people, or occasional intervention by devas.
Theosophical astral cosmologySourceGwrach y Rhibyn
A winged apparition whose terrible call names the person expected to die.
Welsh folklore, Wirt Sikes
Gwragedd Annwn
Women of the lake realm, whose encounters with humans can cross the boundary of Annwn.
Welsh folklore, Wirt SikesSourceGwyllgi
The Dog of Darkness, a huge mastiff apparition with fiery red eyes.
Welsh folklore, Wirt SikesSourceGwyllion
Mountain fairies who mislead travellers on lonely roads.
Welsh folklore, Wirt SikesSourceGwyn ap Nudd
The fairy king who rules a splendid court and the shadow realm of Annwn.
Welsh folklore, Wirt Sikes
Hanuman
The wind-born monkey hero who crosses the sea as Rama’s envoy.
Indian traditions, Nivedita and CoomaraswamySourceHare in the Moon
The generous hare whose image Sakra places on the moon after testing his resolve.
Buddhist traditions, Nivedita and CoomaraswamySourceHathor
Goddess associated with sustenance and a varying divine company.
Egyptian funerary religionSourceHorus
Avenger of Osiris and restorer of the dead person’s powers.
Egyptian funerary religionSourceHotei
The laughing, contented figure whose bag also becomes a place for children.
Japanese legends, Davis retellingSourceInari in Davis's Fox Legends
The deity whom Davis connects with rice, fox traditions and ambiguous rewards in his fox-legends chapter.
Japanese fox legends, Davis accountSourceIsis
The protective mother and mourner who searches for Osiris’s scattered body and appeals for the healing of Horus.
Egyptian funerary religionSourceIthuriel
The searching angel whose spear reveals Satan’s true shape beside the sleeping Eve.
John Milton, Paradise Lost
Jatayu
The aged bird who defends Sita and dies after reporting her abduction.
Indian traditions, Nivedita and CoomaraswamySourceJewel Maiden
The learned courtly figure whose fox identity is revealed in Davis's Death-Stone story.
Japanese legends, Davis retelling
Jizo
A compassionate protector of children and the souls of the dead in the Japanese traditions described by F. Hadland Davis.
Japanese Buddhist tradition
Kali
A form of Devi within the collection’s account of the divine feminine power.
Indian traditions, Nivedita and CoomaraswamySourceKamadeva
The god of desire whose attempt to rouse Shiva ends in a bodiless existence.
Indian traditions, Nivedita and CoomaraswamySourceKantaka
The prince’s horse, whose silent departure carries the seeker out of the guarded city.
Buddhist traditions, Nivedita and CoomaraswamySourceKappa
The water creature whose power and promises are explored in Davis’s river tales.
Japanese legends, Davis retellingSourceKimi, the Kakemono Ghost
The woman who returns through her painted hanging scroll in Davis's account of a broken attachment.
Japanese legends, Davis retellingSourceKing of the Tengu
The mountain being who teaches Yoshitsune swordsmanship in Davis's heroic legend.
Japanese heroic legend, Davis retellingSourceKorrigans
Breton fairy beings associated with dances, fountains, and ancient stones.
Celtic fairy traditions
Krishna
The divine child of the cowherd world and the teacher who addresses Arjuna’s crisis.
Indian traditions, Nivedita and CoomaraswamySourceKumara
The young war god born to bring the gods victory over Taraka.
Indian traditions, Nivedita and CoomaraswamySourceKwannon
The goddess of mercy and her many forms in Davis’s account.
Japanese legends, Davis retelling
Lady Kaguya
The child found in bamboo who reveals her lunar origin and departs for Moonland in Davis's tale.
Japanese tale, Davis retellingSourceLakshmana
Rama’s devoted brother, whose loyalty can take a fiercer form than Rama’s restraint.
Indian traditions, Nivedita and CoomaraswamySourceLeprechaun
The small fairy craftsman of collected Irish testimony, described near springs making shoes, with roles that vary between accounts.
Celtic fairy traditions
SourceLilith in Faust
The figure Mephistopheles identifies by her dangerous hair at Walpurgis Night.
Goethe’s Faust, Part OneSourceLledrith
A silent apparition of a living person, seen before their death in the collected tales.
Welsh folklore, Wirt Sikes
Los and the Spectre in Blake's Jerusalem
A furnace worker who confronts his divided Spectre and compels it to join the labour of creation.
William Blake, Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion; retained monochrome facsimile
Lucifer and the Freezing Wings
The immense figure whose wings keep the central lake frozen.
Dante, InfernoSourceLucky Tree-God
A tree deity who offers to suffer in pieces so that nearby trees will survive.
Buddhist traditions, Nivedita and CoomaraswamySourceLugh
Long-handed divine figure linked with Cuchulainn’s birth.
Celtic fairy traditions
Malacoda and the False Route
The negotiating demon whose assurance about a crossing proves unreliable.
Dante, InfernoSourceMammon in Paradise Lost
The fallen spirit who values heavenly gold and proposes building an empire below.
John Milton, Paradise Lost
Mana-Yood-Sushai
The sleeping maker of the gods in Lord Dunsany’s mythology of Pegāna.
Lord Dunsany, The Gods of Pegāna (1911 illustrated edition)SourceManannán mac Lir
Sea-associated ruler and guide to the Land of Promise.
Celtic fairy traditionsSourceManasa Devi
The serpent goddess whose struggle for recognition centres on a resistant merchant.
Indian traditions, Nivedita and CoomaraswamySourceMara
The opponent whose temptation and assault fail before the Bodhisattva’s awakening.
Buddhist traditions, Nivedita and Coomaraswamy
Mephistopheles in Faust
The denying spirit who becomes the scholar’s companion and adversary.
Goethe’s Faust, Part One
Mephistopheles’ poodle
The animal guest in Faust whose expanding form gives way to Mephistopheles disguised as a travelling scholar.
Goethe’s Faust, Part OneSourceMichael in Paradise Lost
The prince of the celestial armies whose sword first wounds Satan.
John Milton, Paradise LostSourceMidir
Otherworld king whose reunion with Étaín crosses mortal memory.
Celtic fairy traditions
Minos, Judge of the Circles
The infernal judge whose coiling tail signals the depth assigned to each confessing soul.
Dante, InfernoSourceMoloch in Paradise Lost
The fierce counsellor who argues for immediate open war.
John Milton, Paradise LostSourceMorrígan
A war goddess in the survey’s account of the Badb.
Celtic fairy traditionsSourceMulciber in Paradise Lost
The skilled builder whose art cannot prevent his fall but constructs the infernal capital.
John Milton, Paradise LostSourceNature Spirits
A nonhuman evolutionary kingdom in Leadbeater’s classification of fairies.
Theosophical astral cosmologySourceNephthys
Sisterly mourner and guardian of Osiris’s restored body.
Egyptian funerary religion
Nessus as Guide across the Blood
The centaur assigned to escort the travellers through the first round of the seventh circle.
Dante, InfernoSourceNight in Paradise Lost
The ancient consort of Chaos, seated in the court of the unformed deep.
John Milton, Paradise Lost
Nimrod and Unintelligible Speech
A giant whose incomprehensible cry is answered by Virgil’s direction to use his horn.
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