Snake People: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
A Snake Person, Naga, or Lamia is a liminal being usually depicted with a human head, arms and torso with the added twist of a snake's tail similar in many respects to a [[Our Mermaids Are Different|mermaid]], [[Our Centaurs Are Different|centaur]], and [[Fog Feet|some]] [[Our Genies Are Different|genies]]. Beings like this can also involve more exotic bodily configurations such as [[Winged Tropes|wings]] or changing the ratio of snake to human. Also, for some reason,<ref>the reason is breasts</ref>
Most of the time such '''Snake People''' are depicted as slithering upright like a cobra (as in, a cobra who's about to strike) instead of slithering face-down with their whole body.
Medusa is [[Ray Harryhausen|occasionally]] depicted this way.
Snake People may have some aquatic ability as well, either being superior swimmers or actually able to breathe underwater, in which case they would be a subtrope of [[Unscaled Merfolk]], with the best of both worlds. They may or may not talk in [[Sssssnaketalk]]. Similarly, They are often evil because [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent]], but like many other [[Cute Monster Girl
Traditionally, Lamia was a Lybian queen who ate children, but [[John Keats]] might have turned her into a snake woman even though she wasn't [[Sadly Mythtaken|originally]], possibly combining her with Lilith, who was associated with the serpent in the Garden of Eden.
In Hinduism and [[Hindu Mythology]], Nagas (more properly nagin or nagini if a female) are a very diverse group of snake-related entities, ranging from nature spirits to gods. Perhaps influencing the number of Snake People who are [[Multi-Armed and Dangerous]].
Compare with [[Lizard Folk]], [[The Reptilians]], and [[Gorgeous Gorgon]] when the Snake Person is hot. Because [[Snakes Are Sexy]], this happens quite often.
{{examples}}
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* ''[[Inuyasha]]'' has the twins Kinka and Ginka, who have human-looking torsos and very long snake tails which end up [[Conjoined Twins|encircling each other's]]. They are from a species of [[Youkai]] always hatching with two heads, but usually with the stronger one devouring the other head early on.
** The early villainess Mistress Centipede was a [[Creepy Centipedes|centipede]] variation
* In ''[[Pet Shop of Horrors]],'' one of the very first "pets" was a basilisk that looked like a beautiful snake woman. This particular variety was
* In ''[[Claymore]]'', Ophelia's Awakened form looks like one of these, only she has what are like gigantic blades coming out of her human-looking back.
* In ''[[Naruto]]'', Orochimaru, {{spoiler|and later Kabuto as well.}}
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== Comic Books ==
* Minor ''[[Spider-Man]]'' villain Yith - truth be told, [[Hitman With a Heart| she's not as bad as most of his foes]].
* ''Hellboy'''s Hecate turns into one.
* There is an obscure [[Marvel Comics]] villain called Slither who is, as you might guess, a snake-man.
* The [[Big Bad]] of the ''[[Atlantis Attacks]]'' [[Marvel Comics]] crossover in 1989 was Set (yes, [[Conan| that Set]]) a giant, six-headed snake god, and many mooks the heroes had to fight were [[Snake People]].
== Films -- Animation ==
* ''[[G.I. Joe:
* ''[[Wonder Woman (
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* Medusa in ''[[Clash of the Titans]]'' (1981 and 2010).
* In ''[[The 7th Voyage of Sinbad]]'', an evil magician temporarily combines a woman and a snake to create a four-armed woman with a snake's tail.
* ''[[
* ''[[The Golden Child]]''. The woman who gives information from behind a screen turns out to have a lower body consisting of several long tails. You see, one of her ancestors was raped by a dragon....
* The vampires from ''[[Lair of the White Worm]]'' hover between this and [[Lizard Folk]].
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== Literature ==
* A naga-like one of these (called "Man-Serpents", having human heads with snakes for hair on purely serpent bodies, to differentiate themselves from "Serpent-Men", who have scaly human bodies with the heads of snakes) appears in the ''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'' story "[[The God in
* There are no nagas in ''[[Harry Potter (
* ''[[
* In the ''[[Star Trek Novel Verse]]'', there's a race known as Resaurians, who are essentially snakes with upper grasping limbs. They're usually quite friendly.
== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]]''
** Episode "[
** Echidna, the Mother of All Monsters (and specifically of the She-Demon) also appears half woman/half snake. Sort of, but it's a bit of a stretch. She had serpent tails/tentacles for her arms and legs, but she did have '''two''' of them coming out of her hips.
* One of these appeared briefly in ''[[Sanctuary]]'', a cunning predator that had been accidentally released in the Sanctuary.
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** The Buddhist tradition, on the other hand, tends to associate the naga with whatever dragon-like deity exists in the local culture, such as the Chinese long or Tibetan klu. The Buddhist naga is usually depicted as a cobra, sometimes with several heads, or as a human with a snake behind its head, indicating that it shapeshifted into a human form. The most famous naga in Buddhism is Mucalinda, the naga that protected the Buddha. When you see the Buddha meditating under the hood of a coiled cobra, that is Mucalinda.
* Echinda, the mother of all monsters from [[Greek Mythology]], is something of this. She's depicted as having anywhere from one to two snake tails. She is technically called a dragon-lady or drakaina, but she comes close to being this.
** The story of Lamia, Queen of Libya, a woman driven to eat her children, sometimes depicts the titular character as half snake.
** Also Kekrops, an early king of Athens who was depicted as being [[Closer to Earth]] by having the lower body of a snake.
* In Thailand, the Naga is a Pluto-analogue, an underworld deity associated with wealth. Another related being is a dragon that lives in the Mekong River, where the Naga Fireball phenomenon occurs.
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* Laosians view the naga as sea serpents with beaks.
* Cambodians believe they are descended from the daughter of the King of the Nagas, a race of snake creatures with a vast empire under the Pacific Ocean. Seven-headed Nagas decorate Angkor Wat, hinting at this union.
* In [[Chinese Mythology]] the primordial goddess Nuwa, who created humans, is often depicted with the body of a serpent and the head of a woman.
* Speaking of the Chinese, there's always [
* [
* The snake-headed Roman deity Glycon, worshipped by [[Alan Moore]], is closer to the trope, as are certain depictions of the serpent in the garden of Eden, sometimes shown with a woman's head.
* Nure-onna are [[Youkai]] in Japanese folklore that have a woman's face and a serpent's body.
== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Dungeons
** Nagas (snake with a human head) and Marilith demons ([[Always Female]], human head and torso, snake tail, and six arms; pictured above).
** The yuan-ti mix human and snake features to a varying extent, ranging from almost entirely human with a few snakelike parts to being entirely snakelike.
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** And the Lillend, a rare explicitly good-aligned example, who has wings along with the female human torso & arms.
** Then there are the Salamanders, who are a [[Wreathed in Flames|fire-version]] of this (they have arms, reptillian heads however).
** The Jarkung in [[Dragon (
** [[Medusa
* The Followers of Set in ''[[
* ''[[Earthdawn]]''
** The Horror named Ysrthgrathe in the supplement ''Scourge Unending''.
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* ''The Lexicon (Atlas of the Lost World of Atlantis)''. The tropical jungle of Yallock had the Nagaraja, who were half human, half serpent.
* One of the races (and a former playable faction) in ''[[Legend of the Five Rings]]'',the Naga are an ancient race of snake-folk. Despite their alien nature (and the assumption of many characters early on that they were demons) the Naga were dedicated to the destruction of The Foul (their race's term for creatures of the Shadowlands and Lying Darkness).
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Changeling: The Dreaming]]'', merfolk from House Melsinee have the lower halves of airbreathing sea creatures, which can include snakes.
* ''[[
* The Lemurians in the Freedom City setting for ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]''. Evil snake-men who worship an [[Eldritch Abomination]].
* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20131202230235/http://galileogames.com/bulldogs-fate/ Bulldogs!]'' features the naga-like Saldrallans, who are not only one of the core player races, but make up one of the setting's two rival empires.
* A number of Reptile monsters from [[Yu-Gi-Oh! (Tabletop Game)|Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Game]] are this. Examples include [
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* Lamia, the first boss in ''[[The Battle of Olympus]]''.
* Deis/Bleu from the ''[[Breath of Fire]]'' series.
* ''[[
* ''[[
** They show up again in most beachside zones of ''[[World of Warcraft]]''
** There are also venomlords, trolls who have overdosed on the mojo of their native snake Loa (animal spirit) and turn into a more realistic looking snake naga than the actual nagas (who look more dragon-like than snake-like).
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* The ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' series occasionally includes Lamia as an enemy type.
** The [[Underground Monkey|upgraded]] version are often called Liliths.
** The very first game has the Fiend of Fire, Kary/Marilith as a powerful, multi-limbed snake person. It's the game's second [["Wake
* A great deal of these exist in ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'' - naga (usually portrayed as male), lamia, gorgons... ''[[Shin Megami Tensei II]]'' even had [[Beetlejuice
* The aptly named Snakemen from ''X-COM: Enemy Unknown''. They are infamous among X-Com veterens, mostly in part of their race's terror unit, the Chryssalid.
* The Sanctuary faction introduced in ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]] VI''. Also Nagas and Medusas from earlier games.
* The RPG ''[[Arx Fatalis]]'' featured a friendly race of snake-women who served as librarians and advisors to the king. They were not all good though: {{spoiler|the human princess was demanded to join them without giving her (or her father, the king) much say in the matter.}}
* ''[[
* Casey Lynch in her Warrior Form in ''[[Guitar Hero]]: Warriors of Rock''.
* Lamias are a race of monsters in ''[[Monster Girl Quest]]''. They're vulnerable to cold, being ectotherms. The main heroine Alice appears to be one of these, though she's actually all monster races at once.
* Every game in the ''[[Violated Hero]]'' series has at least one lamia.
== Web Comics ==
* Several ''[[Dungeons
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20140201003007/http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?id=767 Kwaii] from ''[[
** Kia's sister Guinness in the original ''[[Krakow]]'' (she's based on the ''D&D'' marilith).
** In ''[[Goblins]]'', Kin the yuan-ti is a [[Cute Monster Girl]] and a rare case of snake person as a main character.
** A red-headed yuan-ti with a Texan accent appears in ''[[Rusty and Co
* In ''[[The Wotch]]'', both the [
* Nagas (both armed and armless) are just one of the local species of [[Petting Zoo People]] in ''[[Crossworlds]]''. Apparently both male and females have [[Non-Mammal Mammaries]]. [[All There in the Manual]], or at least in the background information on the site: the naga have a caste system, and a naga's status is based on the number of arms, with the eight-armed being the leaders down to the two-armed being the peasants, and armless being an "untouchable" caste. Armless Naga gain telekinesis to allow them to manipulate objects and are commonly gifted with sorcery.
* Brooke from ''[[Eerie Cuties]]'', of the shapeshifting kind. She's a Melusine.
* In ''[[Meat Shield (
{{quote|
== Web Original ==
* Erotic TF artist Darin Brown uses the pseudonym Naga, and has drawn several "self-portraits" of his female Naga persona. [http://www.nagasden.com/ NSFW link].
* Nagas appear in ''[[Felarya]]'', often [[Incredibly Lame Pun|scaled up]] to [[Attack of the
* Snakes in the ''[[
* Diamondback, one of the mutant students (and secondary viewpoint characters) at [[Whateley Universe|Whateley Academy]].
* The ''[[Monster Girl Encyclopedia]]'' has several types of lamias. In addition to the standard lamias, there's the Japanese-themed Shirohebi (the name literally means "white snake", and their entire bodies are white), the Medusas (lamias with the traits of gorgons), the Echidnas (able to give birth to every race of monster, similar to their mythological inspiration), the Egyptian-themed Apophis (who use their corrupting venom to take over kingdoms) and the Basilisks (who have a paralyzing gaze).
* "[[Our Vampires Are Different|Vampies]]" in ''[[Roswell Conspiracies: Aliens, Myths and Legend]]''.▼
▲== Western Animation ==
▲* "[[Our Vampires Are Different|Vampies]]" in ''[[Roswell Conspiracies]]''.
* Nagas appear in ''[[The Secret Saturdays]]''.
* ''[[Conan the Adventurer (
* There was a episode of ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'' where Jasmine began turning into a venomous naga, and Aladdin had to go on a quest to find the cure.
* ''[[
* There was an episode of ''[[
* Cedric, [[The Dragon]] from the first season of ''[[WITCH (
* In an early episode of ''[[
* Recently the skeleton mooks from ''[[Ninjago]]'' have been phased out in favor of Serpentine, [[Captain Obvious|which the name tells you everything you need to know.]]
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[[Category:Reptile and Amphibian Tropes]]
[[Category:Index of Fictional Creatures]]
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