Tav_Behemoth
First Post
Just came across a mention of the Yeth Hound in a 1896 short story, "Maker of Moons" by Robert W. Chambers (known nowadays mostly for The King in Yellow, which became part of the Cthulu Mythos):
"The Yeth-hounds are dogs without heads. They are the spirits of murdered children, which pass through the woods at night, making a wailing noise."
As it turns out, though, Chambers seems to have been making use of some prior mythology -- from the Encyclopedia of the Celts:
This isn't the first time I've assumed an obscure fictional reference was the source of a D&D creature, only to find that an older legend inspired both -- there are striges in Thomas Burnett Swann's 1966 Day of the Minotaur, which much resemble stirges except for being the size of large insects, but Col. Playdoh said he didn't know Swann's novel & was inspired by Roman mythology.
The classic list of literary origins of D&D is here. Not included are that the displacer beast is inspired by Couerl from A.E. Van Vogt's 1939 short story "Black Destroyer", which later became the first chapter of the novel Voyage of the Space Beagle.
Also, of course, the rust monster and bulette started life as plastic toys - Col. Playdoh confirmed that this was indeed the case, although he said they first appeared on the miniatures grid when someone else was DMing; will have to go back and recheck that thread to see who!
"The Yeth-hounds are dogs without heads. They are the spirits of murdered children, which pass through the woods at night, making a wailing noise."
As it turns out, though, Chambers seems to have been making use of some prior mythology -- from the Encyclopedia of the Celts:
This isn't the first time I've assumed an obscure fictional reference was the source of a D&D creature, only to find that an older legend inspired both -- there are striges in Thomas Burnett Swann's 1966 Day of the Minotaur, which much resemble stirges except for being the size of large insects, but Col. Playdoh said he didn't know Swann's novel & was inspired by Roman mythology.
The classic list of literary origins of D&D is here. Not included are that the displacer beast is inspired by Couerl from A.E. Van Vogt's 1939 short story "Black Destroyer", which later became the first chapter of the novel Voyage of the Space Beagle.
Also, of course, the rust monster and bulette started life as plastic toys - Col. Playdoh confirmed that this was indeed the case, although he said they first appeared on the miniatures grid when someone else was DMing; will have to go back and recheck that thread to see who!
