Sapient Steed: Difference between revisions

* Dilvish's steed, a steel horse that's the embodiment of a demon, in [[Roger Zelazny]]'s ''Dilvish the Damned''.

* Eshinarvash and other Wise Horses from the ''[[Firekeeper]]'' series of books are sapient and intelligent, they only lack the ability to speak to humans other than Firekeeper (and, later, Derian). The people of Liglim can work around this somewhat, through use of rituals and divination they use to read omens of the future.

* In ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', the hound Huan allows Lúthien to ride him. Although his nature is never quite clear, he is very much in animal form, obviously sentient and even speaks three times.

* In ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'', some horses and most unicorns talk; this is most prominent in ''[[The Horse and His Boy]]''. The two main horses in that book have quite humorous personalities, especially with Bree trying to figure out what is acceptable for a talking horse, having grown up among dumb ones.

** Although it is slightly subverted when it's noted that in Narnia talking horses are only ridden in times of war and that suggesting they be ridden except in great emergencies is very rude.

* ''[[The Neverending Story (novel)|The Neverending Story]]'' has Falcor. Artax also talks in the book.

* ''A Spell for Chameleon'' and ''The Source of Magic'', the first two novels in [[Piers Anthony]]'s ''[[Xanth]]'' series. Bink rides Cherie Centaur, who is intelligent and can speak (like all centaurs).

* The Companions in [[Mercedes Lackey]]'s ''[[Heralds of Valdemar]]'' are Standard Issue. Those recruited late in life have occasionally expressed their annoyance, especially as said steeds are [[Bond Creatures|mentally bonded to their riders]].

** Companions aren't horses, and tend to get quite insulted when somebody refers to them as such. They're high-level Guardian Spirits who have taken on a four-legged form as a matter of convenience.

** Mercedes Lackey's urban fantasies feature Elven Steeds, who can also turn into cars. Or motorcycles, or whatever they feel like, really.. They don't talk but are quite intelligent nonetheless. There are a few occasions where it's hinted that they can communicate, mostly by flashing their headlights, but can't actually talk.

* In P.C. Hodgell's ''[[Chronicles of the Kencyrath]]'' series, the almost immortal Whinno-hir breed of horses understand speech and frequently establish mental links with chosen Kencyr people. They do not speak, but can make themselves understood; they appear to be near human in intelligence. They appear to be able to take human form for brief periods. The carnivorous, armored unicorn-like rathorns, meanwhile, appear to be as intelligent as dolphins or chimpanzees; while they do not have anything like speech, they can still convey fairly complicated concepts over a mental link or with e.g. body language.

* The smallest dragons in the ''[[Temeraire]]'' series play this straight, while most of the others (including the title character) straddle this trope and [[Living Ship]].