Animals in mythology/folk lore
 

I had a question that maybe some of you could help me out on.

Aside from the obvious Lion and Eagle, what animals are normally attributed noble traits in mythology and folk lore? What about evil traits?

I'm drawing a blank and having a hard time figuring out how best to look for this kind of info.

Wow, shit...I want to say the dog is attributed noble traits, but the rest is a blank too.

Ravens are attributed to Odin, aren't they? So in that sense they're quite good.

But they're also seen of as bad omens before battles.

Yeah, I think in most folklore Ravens are bad though. Long story short, is that I'm working on my semester project for modelling, which will be an armored character (likely to be Paladin or Antipaladin in nature) and I'm thinking on how I want to theme the armor.

Sly fox.

You could do owls, but they're more attributed to wisdom than anything else.

It depends what you want to go for, really. Heavy, light, ceremonial, plainly efficient, half and half.

You could go for the crustacean look. I hear that's in fashion these days.

Well, it can't really be plain as this is a character animation/3d modelling class, so it's gonna need to show off some modelling skill.

Kagom might have something with the Owls though, I don't think Owls have been overdone. ;)

If you go with owls then you can have the winged helmet and beaked nose piece, can't you? And maybe even a feather cloak, just to show off your texturing skills.

Which program are you going to be using?

I'm not a big fan of avians on helms, they tend to look dumb or way too gaudy in my eyes.

I'm using 3ds max, and it'll likely be a kind of hurried job as I've goofed off too long this semester. I might expand on it over the summer though.

Wolves have tons of mythology from northern europe. Seems as though all of Europe was insanely afraid of them. Plus they can be tied into the creation story of Rome, etc. =P

Yeah, I recall Wolves being viewed unfavorably in Europe while being venerated among American Indians.

Well cats have alot behind them. From Egyptian belief, they are the keepers of the underworld and from American folk lore, they are symbolic with witchcraft and negative conotations. I dont think that helps though.


Other animals you can look at that have meanings behind them (i dont know specifics) but the Ox, Deer, Buffalo and Tiger all have been used.

Nevermind, I think I just found exactly what I needed. For those curious:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...hology_by_type

Funny how I failed to find this days ago. ><

Edit: Well, not quite what I was looking for. Time to keep looking. =P

Edit2: This one isn't bad.
http://www.maljonicsdreams.com/Dream...of_Animals.htm

I would recommend Wolves, wolves rock! Think of the name Adolf, it's german - the combination of Adel and Ulf, which is Noble and Wolf. That's the way to go, and wolven paladins are probably not overdone. Although wolves+warriors is done all the time. Also, bears are cool. But more connected to strength and power.

Dude, you played Diablo II like a fuckin beast, how can you not think of stuff like this?

You need to steal some ideas from DII.

http://www.meta-religion.com/World_R...al_symbols.htm

Native American Mythology, but it's the most comprehensive one I could find.

How easy is 3DSMax to use? I'm pretty good at using Sketchup (which isn't too hard, to be honest :rolleyes: ), and I've got Maya somewhere, but I'm not too good at it.

I'm just wondering, really, because 3D modelling is something I'm thinking about going into when I'm older. Might as well get started now. :p

Oh, and don't forget to post your model once you've done it!

Should go with an eagle since that hasn't been too over done imo, or another bird.

I've always been rather fond of snakes. *shrug*