Where are the monsters?
October 15, 2007 6:55 AM Subscribe
I'm looking for female monsters. Mythological, literary, cultural, etc...
So far, I've got:
Medusa
Grendel's Mother
Witches
Babba Yagga (who is a witch, but a specifically named one)
posted by edgeways at 7:04 AM on October 15, 2007
posted by edgeways at 7:04 AM on October 15, 2007
Bride of Dracula/Frankenstein
Succubus
The 'bitch' alien at the end of Aliens
Zhora replicant from Bladerunner
Cathy Lee Gifford
posted by ReiToei at 7:04 AM on October 15, 2007
Succubus
The 'bitch' alien at the end of Aliens
Zhora replicant from Bladerunner
Cathy Lee Gifford
posted by ReiToei at 7:04 AM on October 15, 2007
Lady Bracknell, Importance of Being Earnest? "A monster without being a myth, which is rather unfair".
Could be worse, I nearly said Maggie Thatcher.
posted by howfar at 7:06 AM on October 15, 2007
Could be worse, I nearly said Maggie Thatcher.
posted by howfar at 7:06 AM on October 15, 2007
Charybdis, Chimera (are most often female), Scylla, mermaids
posted by edgeways at 7:09 AM on October 15, 2007
posted by edgeways at 7:09 AM on October 15, 2007
But thinking about it, Dr Who could be a rich source of female monsters. I remember the "Haemovores" from the Sylvester McCoy era were quite scary (I was 7 though, so who knows?). The new episodes have had a couple too. Cassandra (the talking piece of skin) and the lady-cat nurse/torturer things, maybe others. Might be a resource.
posted by howfar at 7:11 AM on October 15, 2007
posted by howfar at 7:11 AM on October 15, 2007
Dryads and nymphs
posted by thelongcon at 7:12 AM on October 15, 2007
posted by thelongcon at 7:12 AM on October 15, 2007
The mama beast in Alien, the one Sigourney Weaver has a catfight with.
posted by spitbull at 7:23 AM on October 15, 2007
posted by spitbull at 7:23 AM on October 15, 2007
Lol -- Cathy Lee Gifford & Amy Winehouse (I just came in here to say that).
May She not strike me down; but the Goddess Kali can seem a bit irritable and, well, monstrous at times. But only when She has a good reason of course. Bonus: She has a lot of arms and wears severed bodyparts & bones as fashion accessories.
posted by cuddles.mcsnuggy at 7:25 AM on October 15, 2007
May She not strike me down; but the Goddess Kali can seem a bit irritable and, well, monstrous at times. But only when She has a good reason of course. Bonus: She has a lot of arms and wears severed bodyparts & bones as fashion accessories.
posted by cuddles.mcsnuggy at 7:25 AM on October 15, 2007
Witches seems like a fairly generic term for 'evil' women. Could you not consider the witches from Macbeth distinct from the with in Hansel and Gretel? And the Queen from Snow White?
posted by doozer_ex_machina at 7:27 AM on October 15, 2007
posted by doozer_ex_machina at 7:27 AM on October 15, 2007
The Greek version of the sphinx was female (e.g. the sphinx whose riddle Oedipus solved).
posted by aught at 7:31 AM on October 15, 2007
posted by aught at 7:31 AM on October 15, 2007
IIRC, the sphinx that Oedipus encountered was female.
posted by willpie at 7:31 AM on October 15, 2007
posted by willpie at 7:31 AM on October 15, 2007
My favorite female monster I only came across once, in an old and battered book of fairy tales that I have since lost. I even asked English professors that specialized in folk lore about it and they had no idea what I was talking about.
The Woodwife is a creature that comforts woodsmen far from their homes and their wives. Late at night she will come to them, beautiful and quiet, and satisfy their earthly needs. The woodsman has to be careful not to look in her eyes, because through them he will see only the stars above. For the woodwife is but a shell, a half-husk pretending to be whole like bark stripped from the tree. A hollow front.
The story I read about the woodwife also warned about what creatures might be hiding behind the "skin", or wearing it, to take the man's seed. At the end of the tale I think the woodsman's wife followed him in the woods and saw the act. She went behind the woodwife to kill it, but she saw her husband's eyes filled with lust, and so she killed herself. The woodsman discovered her hanging from a tree back home and never went back into the woods. I think. It's been a long time since I read it.
posted by JeremiahBritt at 7:32 AM on October 15, 2007
The Woodwife is a creature that comforts woodsmen far from their homes and their wives. Late at night she will come to them, beautiful and quiet, and satisfy their earthly needs. The woodsman has to be careful not to look in her eyes, because through them he will see only the stars above. For the woodwife is but a shell, a half-husk pretending to be whole like bark stripped from the tree. A hollow front.
The story I read about the woodwife also warned about what creatures might be hiding behind the "skin", or wearing it, to take the man's seed. At the end of the tale I think the woodsman's wife followed him in the woods and saw the act. She went behind the woodwife to kill it, but she saw her husband's eyes filled with lust, and so she killed herself. The woodsman discovered her hanging from a tree back home and never went back into the woods. I think. It's been a long time since I read it.
posted by JeremiahBritt at 7:32 AM on October 15, 2007
Baba Yaga. She's a kind of witch-like (flying) creature that "dwells in a "cabin on chicken legs with no windows and no doors".
posted by Nightwind at 7:43 AM on October 15, 2007
posted by Nightwind at 7:43 AM on October 15, 2007
In similar vein to the Woodwife - La Belle Dame Sans Merci.
posted by howfar at 7:44 AM on October 15, 2007
posted by howfar at 7:44 AM on October 15, 2007
Also, Valkyrie
The Valkyrie weren't really monsters, were they?
The Graea might count. They were sisters to the Gorgons (one of whom, Medusa, you include in your list).
The Monstropedia may be useful in your quest.
posted by solotoro at 7:48 AM on October 15, 2007
The Valkyrie weren't really monsters, were they?
The Graea might count. They were sisters to the Gorgons (one of whom, Medusa, you include in your list).
The Monstropedia may be useful in your quest.
posted by solotoro at 7:48 AM on October 15, 2007
Cruella de Vil.
The step-mother in Snow White.
In Hervé Bazin's Viper in the Fist (1948), the main protagonist is a monstruous mother nicknamed Folcoche by her kids. Folcoche = folle (crazy) + cochonne (sow). There was a movie in 2004.
The Ogre Queen in Sleeping Beauty (see "Part two").
Marie-Anne Houde, another step-mother in Aurore, L'Enfant Martyre.
posted by bru at 7:50 AM on October 15, 2007
The step-mother in Snow White.
In Hervé Bazin's Viper in the Fist (1948), the main protagonist is a monstruous mother nicknamed Folcoche by her kids. Folcoche = folle (crazy) + cochonne (sow). There was a movie in 2004.
The Ogre Queen in Sleeping Beauty (see "Part two").
Marie-Anne Houde, another step-mother in Aurore, L'Enfant Martyre.
posted by bru at 7:50 AM on October 15, 2007
Lilith.
Lorelei (probably comes under the heading of Sirens).
Shub-Niggurath has "a thousand young", and is considered female by some.
posted by tomsk at 7:51 AM on October 15, 2007
Lorelei (probably comes under the heading of Sirens).
Shub-Niggurath has "a thousand young", and is considered female by some.
posted by tomsk at 7:51 AM on October 15, 2007
Shelob and her presumable ancestress Ungoliant.
Also the Moroccan water demon Aisha Qandisha is worth looking up, but I can't find a good reference at the moment.
posted by zadcat at 7:58 AM on October 15, 2007
Also the Moroccan water demon Aisha Qandisha is worth looking up, but I can't find a good reference at the moment.
posted by zadcat at 7:58 AM on October 15, 2007
The Sirens, who lured sailors to their deaths with their heavenly singing.
I don't know if these qualify as monsters or mere villainesses (sp?), but from Disney/Brothers Grimm, etc.: Cruella de Ville, Ursula from the Little Mermaid, Cinderella's evil stepmother, Snow White's evil stepmother, Sleeping Beauty's evil stepmother, who turns into a dragon (stepmothers get a bad rap), the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland, the witch in Hansel and Gretel.
Wizard of Oz - the Wicked Witch of the West (was that the evil one? or was that the East?). The witches in Macbeth. I think this is very fertile ground.
posted by walla at 7:59 AM on October 15, 2007
I don't know if these qualify as monsters or mere villainesses (sp?), but from Disney/Brothers Grimm, etc.: Cruella de Ville, Ursula from the Little Mermaid, Cinderella's evil stepmother, Snow White's evil stepmother, Sleeping Beauty's evil stepmother, who turns into a dragon (stepmothers get a bad rap), the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland, the witch in Hansel and Gretel.
Wizard of Oz - the Wicked Witch of the West (was that the evil one? or was that the East?). The witches in Macbeth. I think this is very fertile ground.
posted by walla at 7:59 AM on October 15, 2007
JeremiahBritt - that is an amazing story. Now I want to track it down.
posted by walla at 8:04 AM on October 15, 2007
posted by walla at 8:04 AM on October 15, 2007
Ted Hughes' Iron Woman perhaps?
Not an 'evil' monster, but certainly monstrous in some respects, and very female.
posted by Ted Maul at 8:16 AM on October 15, 2007
Not an 'evil' monster, but certainly monstrous in some respects, and very female.
posted by Ted Maul at 8:16 AM on October 15, 2007
Echidna
Lamia
Maleficent
The Erinyes
Hecate (a dark goddess, not so much a monster)
Empusa
posted by sephira at 8:17 AM on October 15, 2007
Lamia
Maleficent
The Erinyes
Hecate (a dark goddess, not so much a monster)
Empusa
posted by sephira at 8:17 AM on October 15, 2007
Bradshaw? Cause I'd consider her a literary monster.
posted by sephira at 8:25 AM on October 15, 2007
posted by sephira at 8:25 AM on October 15, 2007
Also, more in the real world, Angel of Death serial "mercy" killer nurses, who "take the pain away" from patients. Similarly, any woman in a position as a caretaker who suffers from Münchhausen by Proxy.
posted by JeremiahBritt at 8:33 AM on October 15, 2007
posted by JeremiahBritt at 8:33 AM on October 15, 2007
Interesting - everybody remembers the Sirens, but where's the love for Circe, who was a fairly threatening sorceress? She ends up being helpful to Odysseus, but was a scary monster nonetheless (she turned his crew into pigs until she fell in love with O.)
Searching on "female monsters" produces some interesting women's studies essays on what makes female characters monstrous.
posted by Miko at 8:37 AM on October 15, 2007
Searching on "female monsters" produces some interesting women's studies essays on what makes female characters monstrous.
posted by Miko at 8:37 AM on October 15, 2007
Along with dryads, there's naiads.
posted by boo_radley at 8:44 AM on October 15, 2007
posted by boo_radley at 8:44 AM on October 15, 2007
Veela turn hideous when pissed off...as did the snake/witch in C S Lewis' The Silver Chair.
posted by brujita at 8:51 AM on October 15, 2007
posted by brujita at 8:51 AM on October 15, 2007
Also, the White Witch from the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
posted by otolith at 8:55 AM on October 15, 2007
posted by otolith at 8:55 AM on October 15, 2007
Onyxia from World of Warcraft is a female dragon.
Duessa from the Faerie Queene is a witch/sorceress.
posted by dagnyscott at 9:05 AM on October 15, 2007
Duessa from the Faerie Queene is a witch/sorceress.
posted by dagnyscott at 9:05 AM on October 15, 2007
A lot have already been mentioned, but Greek mythology is a rich vein to mine here.
Also the Morrigan?
posted by corvine at 9:09 AM on October 15, 2007
Also the Morrigan?
posted by corvine at 9:09 AM on October 15, 2007
Ann Coulter.
posted by vilcxjo_BLANKA at 9:19 AM on October 15, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by vilcxjo_BLANKA at 9:19 AM on October 15, 2007 [1 favorite]
The Snow Queen from Hans Christian Andersen -- quite similar to the White Witch from the first of the Narnia books.
posted by Asparagirl at 9:30 AM on October 15, 2007
posted by Asparagirl at 9:30 AM on October 15, 2007
Nemesis
Diana as huntress; the Maenads
Xanthippe (Socrates' wife)
Sin (Satan's daughter in Paradise Lost)
Pandora
Eve
Lucretia Borgia (Pope Alexander VI's Daughter-- you have to wonder if papist-hater Milton was having his fun)
Lauri Dann
Lizzie Borden
Ishtar
posted by jamjam at 9:35 AM on October 15, 2007
Diana as huntress; the Maenads
Xanthippe (Socrates' wife)
Sin (Satan's daughter in Paradise Lost)
Pandora
Eve
Lucretia Borgia (Pope Alexander VI's Daughter-- you have to wonder if papist-hater Milton was having his fun)
Lauri Dann
Lizzie Borden
Ishtar
posted by jamjam at 9:35 AM on October 15, 2007
The Lair of the White Worm
The vampires of southeast Asia tend to be female, and are occasionally featured in low-budget horror movies. Not to be missed is the Malay Penanggalan, who detaches her head and guts from her vinegar-soaked body and flies around looking for the blood of pregnant women to lap up with her long invisible tongue.
posted by hydrophonic at 10:02 AM on October 15, 2007
The vampires of southeast Asia tend to be female, and are occasionally featured in low-budget horror movies. Not to be missed is the Malay Penanggalan, who detaches her head and guts from her vinegar-soaked body and flies around looking for the blood of pregnant women to lap up with her long invisible tongue.
posted by hydrophonic at 10:02 AM on October 15, 2007
The Obakemono Project has a number of mythical Japanese monsters, including females, like Kerakeraonna.
posted by SansPoint at 10:30 AM on October 15, 2007
posted by SansPoint at 10:30 AM on October 15, 2007
The Norns from Norse mythology. And the Graeae (gray sisters), similar to the Norns in Greek mythology, who had one tooth and one eye that they had to share between them.
posted by adamrice at 11:08 AM on October 15, 2007
posted by adamrice at 11:08 AM on October 15, 2007
Harpies, succubi, Kali, The Ban Sidhe. Amaterasu Omikami, Lizzie Borden?
posted by Fferret at 11:41 AM on October 16, 2007
posted by Fferret at 11:41 AM on October 16, 2007
This thread is closed to new comments.
Banshees.
Scylla & Charybdis, I think.
Sirens.
posted by Tomorrowful at 6:57 AM on October 15, 2007