Winged unicorn
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A winged unicorn is a fictional horse with wings like Pegasus and the horn of a unicorn. This creature has no specific name, but in some literature and media, it has been referred to as an alicorn, which is a historical, Latin word for the horn of a unicorn, especially in alchemical texts.[1] They have also been referred to as pegacorns, unisus, unipegs, hornisus, and as hornipegs[citation needed].
Description
Winged unicorns have been depicted in art. Ancient Achaemenid Assyrian seals bear depictions of winged unicorns and winged bulls as representations of evil. But sometimes, winged unicorns were representation of light element or sides with the light.[2][3]
Irish poet W. B. Yeats wrote of imagining a winged beast that he associated with laughing, ecstatic destruction. The beast took the form of a winged unicorn in his 1907 play The Unicorn from the Stars and later that of the rough beast slouching towards Bethlehem in his poem "The Second Coming."[4]
Popular culture
In the continuity of Hasbro's My Little Pony and its related media after 2010 (including its My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic television series), winged unicorns,[note 1] which are rare and powerful, play a role as ponies of royal status.
Members of the "Falcon Knight" class in the Fire Emblem series ride winged unicorns.
Gallery
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A winged unicorn on the Manège d'Andréa
Notes
- ^ In the earlier seasons of the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic television series, the species is not specifically named; for example, the sisters Celestia and Luna were referred as unicorns in first season's première episode "Friendship Is Magic - part 1" despite having wings.[5] However, an amulet with a pair of wings and a horned head of a horse is referred as the "Alicorn Amulet" in the third season's fifth episode "Magic Duel" (written by M. A. Larson),[6] and the species is explicitly named "alicorn" in its season finale "Magical Mystery Cure" (also written by Larson).[7]
References
- ^ Shepard, Odell (1930). The Lore of the Unicorn. London: Unwin and Allen. ISBN 9781437508536.
- ^ Brown, Robert (2004). The Unicorn: A Mythological Investigation. Kessinger Publishing. p. 18. ISBN 9780766185302.
- ^ Von Der Osten, Hans Henning (June 1931). "The Ancient Seals from the Near East in the Metropolitan Museum: Old and Middle Persian Seals". The Art Bulletin. 13 (2): 221–41. JSTOR 3050798.
- ^ Ward, David (Spring 1982). "Yeats's Conflicts With His Audience, 1897-1917". ELH. 49 (1): 155–6. JSTOR 2872885.
- ^ Faust, Lauren. "Friendship Is Magic - part 1". My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Season 1. Hasbro Studios.
{{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter|serieslink=ignored (|series-link=suggested) (help) - ^ Larson, M. A. "Magic Duel". My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Season 3. Hasbro Studios.
{{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter|serieslink=ignored (|series-link=suggested) (help) - ^ Larson, M. A. "Magical Mystery Cure". My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Season 3. Hasbro Studios.
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