Peryton
The peryton is a fictional animal combining the physical features of a stag and a bird, presumably originating in Jorge Luis Borges' Book of Imaginary Beings, although he refers to a lost medieval manuscript as a source. Often depicted as a winged deer, the peryton is said to have the head, neck, forelegs and antlers of a stag, combined with the plumage, wings and hindquarters of a large bird, although some interpretations portray the peryton as a deer in all but coloration and bird's wings.
Borges wrote that the beast's shadow, instead of being that of a winged deer, appeared to be the shadow of a man, and that perytons were involved in the fall of the Roman Empire.
The peryton has appeared in contemporary fantasy fiction and video games, following its appearance in the first edition Monster Manual from the popular role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons.
In Borges' original Spanish edition, El Libro de los Seres Imaginarios, the word is given as peritio so the presumptive Latin original would be peritius, which happens to be the Latin name of the fourth month on the ancient Macedonian calendar,[1] (Peritios, moon of January). The connection of this, if any, to the peryton is unclear.
[edit] The Peryton in Popular Culture
- A peryton closely matching Borges's original description is a minor villain in The Cinnabar Box, a fantasy novel by Ilil Arbel. Uniquely, this incarnation of the monster can use and understand human speech.[2]
- The peryton, as stated before, is included among the bestiary of the game Dungeons and Dragons. Like the creature in Borges' book, it has the hindquarters of a large bird.
- It is often used as a type of enemy creature in games such as Star Ocean and the Shadowrun role-playing game.
- An obscure role-playing game is also called "Peryton" and has a design for the monster that is similar to the Dungeons and Dragons peryton, but with bat's wings.[3]
- A peryton is referred to in The Sword of the Lictor, a book in The Book of the New Sun series by Gene Wolfe. In the series, a constellation is also named after the beast.
- The creatures also appear in Darkwell, a book in the Moonshae Trilogy, where a flock of perytons are among an army of evil monsters summoned by the book's main antagonist.[4]
- In a Donald Duck comic, "Mythological Menagerie," Donald Duck uses cardboard wings to disguise a normal deer as a peryton to trick Huey, Dewey, and Louie.
- The peryton is included in the "Monsters of the Mind" subsection in the trading card game Weird and Wild Creatures.
- A herd of perytons with golden fur and antlers laced with poison attack the main characters in the book Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary while fleeing a dragon.
- A murderous peryton named Orfeo is a major villain in the fantasy novel Whiskey and Water by Elizabeth Bear.
- Swarms of cat-sized perytons are natural enemies of the unicorns in Peter S. Beagle's fantasy novel The Unicorn Sonata.
- In the defunct Robotech storyline The Sentinels, Peryton is the homeworld of a race of horned, mutant energy-wizards called Perytonians. The species is humanoid with cone-shaped heads, horns, and two thumbs on each hand.
- Radio pulses that appear to be coming from outside of our galaxy but which are actually local (Earth-based) interference of unknown origin, have been named perytons.[5]
- The Peryton features in John and Carole Barrowman's novel Hollow Earth.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ Περίτιος
- ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=JqPfwx8NVHEC&pg=PA106&dq=peryton+box#v=onepage&q=peryton%20box&f=false
- ^ http://www.perytonpublishing.com/perytonrpg.htm
- ^ http://www.amazon.com/dp/0786935669
- ^ http://arxiv.org/abs/1009.5392
- ^ Kelly, Charles (26 January 2011). "Hollow Earth - A Great Read and Brilliant Promotion for Cumbrae". S1millport.com. http://www.s1millport.com/news/hollow-earth---a-great-read-and-brilliant-promotion-for-cumbrae.html. Retrieved 27 January 2011.
[edit] See also
