As a regular reader of the fantasy genre, I have no shortage of magical creatures that I love. Therefore, I am super excited to get to discuss some of my favorites because the wonderful Bionic Book Worm picked this as her topic for Top Five Tuesday this week! Since I could easily do an entire series on my favorite fantasy beings from any individual series that I love (especially Harry Potter), I will be sticking to one pick per franchise, and I also want to make it clear that I count anything vaguely magical as a magical creature, even if they’re humanoid in nature. I love all of these creatures for different reasons, as some are adorable and others are powerful, but they’re all my favorites for some reason.
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Of course, it’s nearly impossible to pick any individual creature from Harry Potter because there are so many amazing ones to choose from. I could pick the majestic Hippogriffs or the screeching Mandrakes, but I have ultimately decided to go with the classic House Elves. These adorable little critters put up with so much from the wizarding world and their kind nature makes them vulnerable to being mistreated. Dobby, in particular, is one of my favorite characters in the series and shows all of the typical traits of the species perfectly. If I could have a spinoff where Hermione continues to work for House Elf liberation, I would pick it up on day one.
Laini Taylor does description better than just about anyone, and Daughter of Smoke & Bone perfectly represents her work. In particular, I have a love for the Chimaera, as their demonic features are fascinating to read about. Since the protagonist, Karou, is an artist, her descriptions of her Chimaera friends are always so vivid, leading me to wish they were all real in order to see what they would actually look like. If this book ever got an illustrated version, I would pay money for it.
I have been reading the Saga series for ages, but I can’t honestly recall if we have ever been given specific names for the people that have wings versus the ones who have horns. They come from different planets, and to my knowledge, that’s mostly how they are identified. In fact, come to think of it, are they different species from one another or are their dominant features just evolutionary quirks? I digress, as my main point is that I want the residents of Wreath, with their horns and awesome magic tricks, to be real because I think they’re cool. The residents of Landfall are awesome, too, but I have to choose one and the residents of Wreath have a lot of awesome magic, whereas Landfall dwellers are mostly known for being able to fly, which is far less awesome.
With some of these entries, I would love to meet the creatures I have mentioned in real life, but the same is not true of Grendel from Beowulf. The main reason that I put him on here is actually for his scholarly controversies. Over the years, many people have read this epic poem and no one can completely decide whether Grendel is actually meant to be a magical creature, and if he is, what he would look like. Is he a recreation of a classic mythological monster, or something totally different? Since there is so much difficulty discerning whether he is just a really big man or a terrifying demon, I would love to see some actual pictures of what the author intended.
For my final pick, I am going with Death from On a Pale Horse. Again, I don’t want to go anywhere near death, but I have an admiration for his ability to reap souls so efficiently. The system he uses of automating the soul-taking system so he can make house calls only to the most difficult of cases is fascinating to read about, even if it’s a tad bit on the morbid side. Honestly, I picked this book up as a test when I was first learning how to use my digital library, but I kind of fell in love with the concept of normal people learning how to do magical tasks, so I don’t regret it.
What are your favorite magical creatures? Let me know in the comments below!
The Hannie Corner 
I always greatly enjoyed the dragons from the Eragon series! The telepathic bond to their rider was such a cool trait, plus all their different colors!
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I never read Eragon as a child, but it’s one I would like to pick up as an adult because I’m always interested in reading popular children’s books.
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The final volume didn’t release until I was much older than when I started, making for a very long gap between entries. I’d like to re-read them also: for more complete comprehension and with the eyes of an adult 😛
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Have you read Grendel? The retelling of Beowulf from Grendel’s perspective. It’s very existential but I think it’s one of the reasons it blurs the line of what Grendel really is.
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That sounds interesting! I should give it a try eventually.
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Really happy to see Saga on here. It has some very cool fictional creatures, and humanoids, and other sentient beings, and everything really. Overall fantastic world building. Just an amazing series!
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Saga is amazing. I was almost ready to give up on the series and then the latest volume happened and I’m hooked all over again!
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If you like Saga you should check out Paper Girls. Same artist and equally good writing. It’s like Stranger Things sort of, but all girls, with lots of paradoxical time travel mysteries.
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