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:
WISH HOUNDS. Sometimes called Yell Hounds or Yeth Hounds. The spectral, headless hounds of Dartmoor which sometimes meet also in the valley of Dewerstone. They also run into Cornwall, hunting the demon Tregeagle. Their huntsman is presumably the Devil, though the ghost of Sir Francis Drake was sometimes said to drive a hearse into Plymouth, followed by a pack of headless hounds. Hunt also suggests that Cheney's Hounds are Wish Hounds. Hunt, who gives a short account of the Wish Hounds in POPULAR ROMANCES OF THE WEST OF ENGLAND, suggests that they are the same as the Devil's Dandy Dogs, but the Dandy Dogs have horns and fiery saucer eyes, while the Wish Hounds are headless.
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!