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Sell me on fey!
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<blockquote data-quote="Schmoe" data-source="post: 3508033" data-attributes="member: 913"><p>This has been an excellent thread! I've always had a strong reaction to fey, especially as portrayed in traditional stories and fairy tales. There are a couple of things that make them compelling to me, first of which is their power and ability. The powers of fey are subversive, elusive, and dangerous. They are outside the scope of what is "common" and difficult to predict. One might kill you with its beauty, while another might lull you into a century-long sleep without your knowledge, and yet another might bestow on you a kiss that allows you to travel in dreams. You really don't know what's going to happen, but you're pretty sure it's not a risk you want to take.</p><p></p><p>The second is their motivation. Fey are intelligent, but their motivations are inscrutable. They don't have emotions like we commonly understand emotions. The nixies from a previous poster may circle a boat, enticing the people with whispers of "I love you, don't you love me?" but they don't really feel love. Neither do they do it from a desire to lure people to their doom. It is simply what they do. It is an expression of a primal force. It is this alien emotionless quality that sets people on edge, and I think it is the most powerful source of inspiration for stories involving fey. </p><p></p><p>This really helped me to understand what I like about the fey.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The pixies steal because they are an expression of the passing of all material things. They don't do it to cause harm, or mischief, or for altruism, or any other motivation that we might understand. They do it simply because it is what they are. And because of this, pixies become mysterious, possibly something to be feared and avoided, and certainly something to wonder at. They live by natural laws which are non-negotiable, and have no morals or compassion to appeal to.</p><p></p><p>The cobbler's elves from <a href="http://www.authorama.com/grimms-fairy-tales-39.html" target="_blank">The Elves and the Shoemaker</a> are an interesting example. The elves help the cobbler by making shoes for him at night, but why? What on earth could possibly compel them to make the shoes? They don't seem to do it for altruism, as they never display any sort of compassion toward the cobbler or his wife, and in fact don't seem to give it a second thought as they caper out the door and leave forever. They seem to do it simply because that is what they do, no more an expression of hard work and commitment to one's craft. So that when they do leave, the cobbler and his wife are left wondering, "What just happened, and why?" </p><p></p><p>In fact, it's a sign of just how mysterious and poorly understood the fey are, that we would be no less surprised if the elves flew into a fit of rage upon finding the clothes the wife had sewn for them, and burned the house to the ground. And yet, if they had done so, we have the feeling that the rage would simply be an indication that some law of the elves' existence had been violated by the offering of clothing.</p><p></p><p>Anyway, I'm sure that doesn't jive with everyone here, but it's definitely what I like about the fey.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Schmoe, post: 3508033, member: 913"] This has been an excellent thread! I've always had a strong reaction to fey, especially as portrayed in traditional stories and fairy tales. There are a couple of things that make them compelling to me, first of which is their power and ability. The powers of fey are subversive, elusive, and dangerous. They are outside the scope of what is "common" and difficult to predict. One might kill you with its beauty, while another might lull you into a century-long sleep without your knowledge, and yet another might bestow on you a kiss that allows you to travel in dreams. You really don't know what's going to happen, but you're pretty sure it's not a risk you want to take. The second is their motivation. Fey are intelligent, but their motivations are inscrutable. They don't have emotions like we commonly understand emotions. The nixies from a previous poster may circle a boat, enticing the people with whispers of "I love you, don't you love me?" but they don't really feel love. Neither do they do it from a desire to lure people to their doom. It is simply what they do. It is an expression of a primal force. It is this alien emotionless quality that sets people on edge, and I think it is the most powerful source of inspiration for stories involving fey. This really helped me to understand what I like about the fey. The pixies steal because they are an expression of the passing of all material things. They don't do it to cause harm, or mischief, or for altruism, or any other motivation that we might understand. They do it simply because it is what they are. And because of this, pixies become mysterious, possibly something to be feared and avoided, and certainly something to wonder at. They live by natural laws which are non-negotiable, and have no morals or compassion to appeal to. The cobbler's elves from [url=http://www.authorama.com/grimms-fairy-tales-39.html]The Elves and the Shoemaker[/url] are an interesting example. The elves help the cobbler by making shoes for him at night, but why? What on earth could possibly compel them to make the shoes? They don't seem to do it for altruism, as they never display any sort of compassion toward the cobbler or his wife, and in fact don't seem to give it a second thought as they caper out the door and leave forever. They seem to do it simply because that is what they do, no more an expression of hard work and commitment to one's craft. So that when they do leave, the cobbler and his wife are left wondering, "What just happened, and why?" In fact, it's a sign of just how mysterious and poorly understood the fey are, that we would be no less surprised if the elves flew into a fit of rage upon finding the clothes the wife had sewn for them, and burned the house to the ground. And yet, if they had done so, we have the feeling that the rage would simply be an indication that some law of the elves' existence had been violated by the offering of clothing. Anyway, I'm sure that doesn't jive with everyone here, but it's definitely what I like about the fey. [/QUOTE]
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