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''Elves are terrific. They beget terror.
''The thing about words is that [[From a Certain Point of View|meanings can twist just like a snake]], and if you want to find snakes, look behind words that have changed their meaning.
''[[Light Is Not Good|No one ever said elves are '''nice''']].
''[[
|[[Terry Pratchett]]|''[[Lords and Ladies]]''}}
Modern society has lived with [[Disneyfication|the Disneyfied vision]] of Fairies for so long—the Fairy Godmothers of "[[Cinderella (novel)|Cinderella]]" and "[[Sleeping Beauty]]", Tinkerbell in ''[[Peter Pan (Disney film)|Peter Pan]]''<ref>Tink was actually quite capable of mischief in the original movie. And she tried to kill Wendy! But she has since been princess-ified.</ref>—that it seems hard to imagine that some would consider Fairies evil.
And yet, some of them were. The Fairies of old weren't [[Fairy Companion|cute little bewinged Pixies who fluttered happily around humans]]. Elves didn't [[Christmas Elves|make children toys]] or [[Hidden Elf Village|live deep in forests with no interaction with mortals]]. At best, they would interact with humans with either no thought to the consequences of their actions ([[Little People]] who put [[Rip Van Winkle]] to sleep) or delight in the mess they're making of mortal lives (Oberon, Puck, and the rest in ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]''). At worst, they're like [[The Joker]] with magic; otherworldly horrors who kidnap humans for torture and rape - or sometimes even ''worse'' things ("[[Tam Lin]]"). '''The Fair Folk''' almost always live in the [[land of
The original terms for these (at least, in [[Celtic Mythology|Scottish]] lore) were the Seelie (vaguely goodish) and the Unseelie ([[Exclusively Evil]]). In Ireland, they were called ''sidhe'' ("shee") and would sour milk, kill animals, and [[Changeling Tale|swap people for changelings]]. Boys were dressed in girls' clothes until the age of 5, because otherwise the sidhe would [[Invasion of the Baby Snatchers|steal them]] for their armies. Building anything near a fairy fort was very bad. Going alone into a marsh was an invitation to get entranced by [[Cold Flames]] into their halls. Even if you were allowed [[Year Inside, Hour Outside|to leave their kingdom]], you could find that [[Year Outside, Hour Inside|centuries have passed]], and [[No Immortal Inertia|crumble into dust]]. Their [[Dances and Balls|dances]] would catch any human passerby and make him dance to exhaustion at best.
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The return of this trope to popular awareness can be traced back to at least 1988, when ''[[The Sandman]]'', a [[Comic Book]] penned by [[Neil Gaiman]], featured a number of Fairy characters who were often either outright malicious or self-centered to the point of sociopathy. Gaiman also used traditional Fairies in his novels and short stories as well as other comic books, and directly inspired authors such as [[Terry Pratchett]] (a friend of Gaiman's in long standing) and Susanna Clarke, author of ''[[Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell]]''. Ten years earlier, the artist [[Brian Froud]] did a series of illustrated books cataloging the ''Shee'' or bad fairies, and their close cousins, the [[Our Goblins Are Wickeder|goblins]]. His work was also the inspiration for the 1982 film ''[[The Dark Crystal]]''.
These Fairies can sometimes share a world with [[The Lord of the Rings|Tolkienesque]] [[Our Elves Are Better|Elves]], who, depending on the setting, may not themselves officially be part of [[Faerie]]. The principal distinction between the two, if there is one, is that Elves are [[Proud Scholar Race|a mildly superhuman longlived race]] living in the mortal world (or a [[Hidden Elf Village|distant corner]] of it), whereas Fairies are much more intensely magical, and live in a [[Fairyland]] outside the mortal world.
Ever wonder why Fairies are called "the Fair Folk" or "the Good Folk"? It's because calling them an ''unkind'' name is a good way to bring down their wrath upon your head. Especially [[The Wild Hunt]]. In addition, simply using the word "fairy" is considered insulting. (It's not clear why. The popular theory is it's like calling a human an ape.) On the subject of names, there's a 90% chance that a named fairy leader will be called Oberon, Titania or Mab. Other fairies are just as likely to have names drawn from ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''.
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Luckily, much like [[Our Vampires Are Different|vampires]], fay traditionally have a few [[Achilles' Heel|weaknesses]] that can be exploited, including:
* [[Depleted Phlebotinum Shells|Iron]] - Sometimes it means striking them with iron weapons, or simply a frying pan or just exposure will do the job. In some settings where this would be too much of a [[Weaksauce Weakness]], it's specified as [[Cold Iron]]
** Sometimes steel is named instead of iron, which is, of course, the complete opposite of cold iron.
* [[Can Not Tell a Lie]] - Sometimes. Note that they ''will'' exploit and [[Ambiguous Syntax|twist]] this for all manner of deception, but a trickster hero can take advantage of this.
** [[I Gave My Word]]: A related note, often the Fair Folk ''must'' keep their word once they give it. Again they might exploit a loophole. For example, a favorite trick is for them to lead a mortal to a tree with the insinuation that there's a buried treasure under it; said mortal realizes he needs to go get a shovel, but also realizes he'd neve find the tree again if he leaves. So he decides to mark the tree with a ribbon tied to a branch and then get them to promise not to remove it. But when he comes back, he finds ''every'' tree in the forest to has a similar ribbon on it. They never said they wouldn't do ''that''.
* [[Magically-Binding Contract]] - Related to the above. Any deal with the Fair Folk ''will'' be upheld from their end, though they tend to respect only the [[Exact Words|letter]] of any deal they make. God help you if you fail your end of a deal. (God help you even if you don't!)
* [[Pride]] - That bit up there about how they demand to be called the "fair" folk? They're ''all'' like that. To a one, they are proud creatures, concerned primarily with their own grand schemes.
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'''The Fair Folk''' are often depicted as an [[Inhumanly Beautiful Race]]. Compare and contrast [[Fairy Companion]], [[Our Elves Are Better]], [[Our Fairies Are Different]], [[Witch Species]], [[Our Goblins Are Wickeder]], [[All Trolls Are Different]], [[Our Mermaids Are Different]], and [[Our Dwarves Are All the Same]]. See also [[Youkai]] for a rough Japanese equivalent. [[The Greys]] is more modern trope with [[Sci Fi Counterpart|many similarities]]. An extreme example may be an [[Eldritch Abomination]] or [[Humanoid Abomination]]. When humanity appears this way is [[Humans Are Cthulhu]].
{{noreallife|at least, not until we have evidence that the Fair Folk exist}}
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* [[Durarara!!]]'' subverts this trope with Celty Sturluson, an [[Celtic Mythology|Irish]] [[The Grim Reaper|Dulla]][[Headless Horseman|han]]
* The Diclonii from ''[[Elfen Lied]]'' are heavily influenced by the Fair Folk and are in fact the "elves" from the title. They reproduce by secretly altering humans so that [[Changeling Tale|any children they have will be born as diclonii]] and they are all very beautiful or handsome. In feudal Japan they used to live like nobles ruling over normal humans until they were hunted almost to extinction. They are not particularly evil, but when they grow older they develop telekinetic abilities with which they almost always accidentally kill their human families and only survive by becomming deadly killers. Except the only remaining queen Lucy, who can give birth to pureblood diclonii and has the unstopable instinct to [[Kill All Humans]].
* [[Kaori Yuki]]'s ''[[Fairy Cube]]'' is probably best example of this trope being used properly in manga. From the protagonist's [[Fairy Companion]] debating whether or not to eat him in the beginning, to a Tuatha Dunann being weak to a pair of scissors (and being unable to cross fresh water), to the presence of ''changelings'' replacing children, a lot of classic fairy-lore is involved. Granted, some of it is modernized (said fairy companion is played as more of a non-romantic [[Tsundere]], for example), but the effort is easily appreciable.
* [[Berserk]] plays this trope dead straight with Rosine, a fairy-like Apostle who likes to carry kids off in order to turn them into her creepy little pseudo-elves in a rather twisted version of the [[Changeling Fantasy]]. The real Elves of the series, such as Puck, are more the benevolent version.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
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* In the backstory of ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'', it's revealed that not only did the Fair Folk exist in Britain with their own realm, but said realm was even united with England under [[The Faerie Queene]] for a time. Later on however, the Puritans under Cromwell led a great purge, wiping out most of the Fair Folk and driving those who survived away from the human world forever.
==
* "[[Rumpelstiltskin]]".▼
* [[Joseph Jacobs]]'s "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/twelvedancing/stories/katiecrackernuts.html Katie Crackernuts]", the prince is forced to leave his bed every night to dance at the fairy hall, and is deathly ill because of it.▼
** The same thing, albeit [[Gender Flip|gender-flipped]], happens in ''[[Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell]]''.▼
* Two Medieval accounts mention a pair of green children who showed up in the English town of Woolpit in the 12th century. They claimed to be from "Saint Martin's Land", an underground world.▼
* A lot of classic Scottish fairy tales have these, but just as easily have helpful fairies. They're probably most frequently seen in stories involving Changelings, but are seen as being somewhat interchangeable with trolls.▼
* The classic ''[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/shoemaker/index.html The Elves and The Shoemaker]'' features a couple of the Fair Folk being helpful, until the shoemaker and his wife leave them new clothes in gratitude. In a benevolent response, all the elves do is go away forever; it could have been much worse for the shoemaker if they'd decided to take offense. The behavior of the little men is more in keeping with the German house-elf than with any other type of the Fair Folk, and considering that the story was first collected by Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, that's the most likely reason for their kindness.▼
* ''[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/sleepingbeauty/index.html Sleeping Beauty]'' is gifted by six fairy godmothers with beauty, grace, wit, and great skill in music, singing and dancing, then cursed for spite to prick her hand on a spindle on her sixteenth year and die by a seventh fairy. The curse is softened, but cannot be completely removed, by the final fairy.▼
* In an [[Older Than Print]] example from ancient [[Celtic Mythology]] you have the Aes Sidhe and their subculture the Tuatha De Danaan. The original Fair Folk, these guys were brutal and unrelenting. You did ''not'' want to piss these guys off under any circumstance.▼
* The Curupira from Brazilian folklore looks like an amalgam between indigenous [[Nature Spirit|nature deities]] and European faeries. Regardless of his origins and his role as a fierce nature guardian, he is generally perceived as a wicked, demonic and sometimes downright sociopathic entity with [[Evil Redhead|beautiful red hair]] who can (and will) do anything to protect the animals and forests of his domains. He is particularly infamous for [[Shapeshifting Seducer|shape-shifting into attractive forms]] to lure abusive hunters and woodcutters deep into the forest. The footprints of his backward feet will ensure anyone who follows him will never find the way out from the woods and there he promptly starts a [[Wild Hunt]], hunting the men down with a giant wild boar and ultimately destroying them.▼
* Púca/ Pooka of Irish mythology. In the original mythology Púca were sociopathic shape-sifters, whose favoured form was a [[Hellish Horse|huge, black demonic horse]] with [[Eyes of Gold|glowing yellow eyes]] and whose other forms always had dark colourations/clothing and were [[Uncanny Valley|suitably wrong]], who only behaved themselves one night of the year (the first of November, when they are tired after running riot at Samhain/Halloween), and couldn’t enter any dwelling uninvited or stand the touch of iron, but could stand outside your home and destroy your crops if you angered them and refused to come out and face them. When not riding along the hills and woodlands terrifying honest travelers, they blighted any crops left un-harvested after a certain amount to time. Or they demanded a share of all crops, newly made beer, or newly gathered milk. Or they’d trample fields, sour beer, render cattle barren (or [[Shapeshifting Squick|used their shape-shifting ability to impregnate them with mutated offspring]]). In their horse form, they lured young men who were [[Scare'Em Straight|drunk on pilgrimage or profaning the Sabbath]] into trying to [[Too Dumb to Live|ride them out of machismo]] at which point the Púca horse vanishes and the young man is either never seen again or changed forever, and tried to lure solitary milkmaids or other naive, lonely maids to an [[I Have You Now, My Pretty|undisclosed fate in fairyland]].▼
* The Tylwyth Teg of Welsh-Celtic folklore spent most of their time cheerfully kidnapping human children, presumably by way of recreational activity. According to ancient folk wisdom, the best way of killing a changeling child was to pop it in the oven. Fun, huh?▼
* The Nuckelavee of the Orkney Islands was an [[Eldritch Abomination]] of the purest sort. This sea-fairy resembled either a centaur or a horse and rider fused together, looked as if it had been flayed alive, was enraged by the scent of drying kelp (among other things), and brought plagues. Its one consistent weakness was an aversion to fresh water.▼
** If we're talking about Scotland, what about the Redcap? A [[Ax Crazy|maliciously murderous]] fae who lived along the old Scots-English Border, he amused himself by randomly murdering people, sometimes [[I'm a Humanitarian|devouring]] them, and all just so he could dip his hat in their blood. [[Sarcasm Mode|Fun guy, really]].▼
*** If he stops doing these he will die! this may justify him▼
* Stories of the "Little People" pervade the legends of many North American tribes. The Cherokee in particular have many legends surrounding them, and group these fairy-like beings into three clans; the Rock People, the Laurel People, and the Dogwood People. The Laurel people were considered to be friendly and playful, and often played games with children. The Dogwood People were stern, serious, and preferred to be left at peace. The Rock People, who dwelled in caves far away from human settlements, were feared, as it was believed that disturbing them would provoke their wrath, and whomever did so would have some horrible calamity befall them. Cherokee in more isolated regions to this day still believe in the legends, and it is said that if a child has an [[Imaginary Friend]], this is actually the Little People playing with them.▼
** The Seminole have stories of little people who live in hollow logs out in the woods. When lightning strikes a tree, it is thought to be the gods trying to fry the mischievous little things. They are best known for leading people astray in the woods, and you are never supposed to call to a companion who is out of sight. It is likely to be the little people responding to you in their voice to lead you astray.▼
* [[Baba Yaga]] displays many qualities of Fair Folk in Russian storytelling, though is often referred to as the ''Witch of the Iron Forest''.▼
* Korean folklore has a class of supernatural beings called ''dok'aebi''s, who have unusually many similarities with the Fair Folk as shown in European folklore. They are ruled by [[Blue and Orange Morality|an incomprehensible sense of ethics]] and [[It Amused Me|a desire for general fun]], as frustrating as that might be for poor human victims. Many surviving folk legends depict them as benevolent tricksters, but historical accounts still suggests that they were also seen as monstrous forces as heartless as natural disasters. The translation convention for dok'aebis used to be "ogres" due to their aesthetic association with Japanese oni, but because of their characteristic, terms such as "goblins" or "fae" have been taking over recently.▼
== [[Film--Animation]] ==▼
* Even though she's usually called a witch these days, Maleficent, of [[Disney Animated Canon|Disney's]] ''[[Sleeping Beauty (Disney film)|Sleeping Beauty]]'', is actually a "wicked fairy".
** To quote ''[[Discworld|Nanny Ogg's Cookbook]]'': "How hard is it to invite her along, give her plenty of drink and a plate of ham rolls all to herself, and keep her out of the way of your posh auntie? Play your cards right and you could be ahead by an extra good wish."
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* ''[[Spirited Away]]'' is a Japanese [[Youkai]] [[Fairy Tale]] that portrays them as acting very similar to The Fair Folk.
* Aisling from ''[[The Secret of Kells]]''. Though she turns out to be much nicer than how the Fair Folk are usually portrayed, she still doesn't take kindly to those who intrude in her forest and initially even threatens to set her wolves on Brendan if he doesn't leave.
* ''[[Labyrinth]]'', the David Bowie movie, not to be confused with the recent ''[[Pan's Labyrinth]]''—see below. When Sarah reaches the outer wall of the Labyrinth, she finds a gardener killing Fairies with a bug sprayer. She calls him a brute, and picks up one of the not-quite-dead Fairies, who rewards her actions by attempting to bite off her finger. When she expresses her amazement and that she thought Fairies did "nice things, like granting wishes", the gardener simply scoffs and says "[[Genre Blind|Shows what you know]]."
** Not to mention [[Magnificent Bastard|Jareth himself]] and his Goblins; the film is essentially a changeling tale.
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* ''[[Were the World Mine]]'', a musical adaptation of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', about an outcast gay kid cast as Puck in the school play who ends up {{spoiler|making a magic flower and causing people to fall in love with people of their own gender, essentially becoming Puck}}, often in musical sequences that are vague about whether it's a fantasy or not. The English/drama teacher, as well, is {{spoiler|implied to be a fairy, complete with magic that makes the townspeople bend to her will. Granted, this is to give Puck/Timothy a chance to fix everything, but it's still not quite right from a human perspective}}. Overall, the fairies depicted are very sympathetic, but there is definite selfishness and laughing at the trouble being caused to mundane people going on.
* Del Toro does it again with [[Don't Be Afraid of the Dark]]. No wings or sparkles here, the creatures [[All There in the Manual|(officially known as Homonculi)]] look more like [[Our Monsters Are Weird|evil hunchbacked lemurs.]]
* King Brian and the other leprechauns in ''[[Darby O'Gill and the
* The creature in [[Absentia]] is actually a {{spoiler|troll}}. Many of the characteristics of the fae are present in the movie, such as the strict adherence to trading, [[Jackass Genie|the rules of which you'll have to figure out on your own]], living in another dimension, torturing people seemingly for shits and giggles, [[Nothing Is Scarier]], and abducting people. The movie is actually a good example of how to make the faeries terrifying to a modern audience.
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* Certainly, [[Brian Froud]] belongs at the top here. Modern audiences must have had a shock when his collaboration with Alan Lee, ''[[Faeries]],'' hit the shelves. It was one of the first books to include as many scary Fairy stories as nice stories. Froud has vocally emphasized that, while there are indeed evil Fairies and good Fairies in mythology, the vast majority of them are neutral. He actually apologizes, in the introduction, for the self-contradictory title of his follow-up book, ''Bad Faeries/Good Faeries''.
* In [[Aaron Allston]]'s ''[[Doc Sidhe]]'' the Fair Folk are just as morally varied as humans are. Furthermore, the Fairy World has advanced at the nearly same rate as the human world, so fairies in the 1990s have 1930s level technology, mixed with magic (which is no longer called magic because it can be studied scientifically). And they've interbred with humans so many times as a result of changelings and other visitations that most are nearly human height. And one of the fairies is a [[Captain Ersatz]] of [[Doc Savage]]. It's a lot [[Better Than It Sounds]].
* The Moorfolk in ''[[The Moorchild]]'' fit the description to a T. They've an aversion to holy water, Rowan wood, St. John's Wort and other yellow flowers, iron (in the setting,
* [[Poul Anderson]]'s ''The Queen of Air and Darkness'' riffs on this trope by having telepathic aliens on a frontier world use the legends of Faerie against the human settlers, right down to kidnapping children to use as changeling warriors.
** ''[[The Broken Sword]]'' is a fantasy novel about Dark Age Europe coexisting (unknowingly) with amoral elves, trolls, etc. Poul includes a [[squick]]y passage wherein an elf lord creates a changeling using an enslaved she-troll. The changeling gets even, kind of. Several of Poul Anderson's other novels and at least one short story also deal with the Fair Folk.
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** ''Here Abide Monsters''. A [[Speculative Fiction]] novel including flying saucers. Nevertheless, the people of Avalon - the [[Alternate Universe]] into which the protagonists stumble via a [[Cool Gate]] - are The Fair Folk.
** In the short story "The Long Night of Waiting", Lizzie's description of the people in the [[Alternate Universe]] in which she and her brother were trapped clearly indicates The Fair Folk, although they seem well-intentioned. Note that "Lizzie" is also the name of one of the girls in Christina Rossetti's ''[[Goblin Market]]''.
* The Elves of [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'' series, as seen in ''[[
** However, while they are powerful and cruel, they tend to be thick and unable to learn, and aside from the Queen and select Lords (and even they tend to be highly unimaginative), seem to be almost incapable of forming much original thought.
{{quote|'''Granny Weatherwax''': You call yourself some kind of goddess and you know nothing, madam, nothing. What don't die can't live. What don't live can't change. What don't change can't learn. The smallest creature that dies in the grass knows more than you. You're right. I'm older. You've lived longer than me but I'm older than you. And better'n you. And, madam, that ain't hard.}}
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* Dennis L. McKiernan likes to demonstrate his [[Shown Their Work|knowledge]] of fairy lore in his Mithgar series as well as his Faery series.
* The Fairies from the ''[[Torchwood]]'' episode "Small Worlds," who would think nothing of drowning the world beneath a flood to get their hands on ''one'' little girl.
* The Sidhe in ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'' transformed two of their own into mortals as a punishment. They require the death of a mortal prince before they'll change ''one'' of them back.
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* The Black Lodge people from ''[[Twin Peaks]]''.
* The Fairies in their true form on ''[[True Blood]]''.
== Music ==
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And the cholic for jest }}
== [[Oral Tradition]], [[Folklore]], Myths and Legends ==
▲* "[[Rumpelstiltskin]]".
▲* [[Joseph Jacobs]]'s "[https://web.archive.org/web/20131017031044/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/twelvedancing/stories/katiecrackernuts.html Katie Crackernuts]", the prince is forced to leave his bed every night to dance at the fairy hall, and is deathly ill because of it.
▲** The same thing, albeit [[Gender Flip|gender-flipped]], happens in ''[[Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell]]''.
▲* Two Medieval accounts mention a pair of green children who showed up in the English town of Woolpit in the 12th century. They claimed to be from "Saint Martin's Land", an underground world.
▲* A lot of classic Scottish fairy tales have these, but just as easily have helpful fairies. They're probably most frequently seen in stories involving Changelings, but are seen as being somewhat interchangeable with trolls.
▲* The classic ''[
▲* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20100213094730/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/sleepingbeauty/index.html Sleeping Beauty]'' is gifted by six fairy godmothers with beauty, grace, wit, and great skill in music, singing and dancing, then cursed for spite to prick her hand on a spindle on her sixteenth year and die by a seventh fairy. The curse is softened, but cannot be completely removed, by the final fairy.
▲* In an [[Older Than Print]] example from ancient [[Celtic Mythology]] you have the Aes Sidhe and their subculture the Tuatha De Danaan. The original Fair Folk, these guys were brutal and unrelenting. You did ''not'' want to piss these guys off under any circumstance.
▲* The Curupira from Brazilian folklore looks like an amalgam between indigenous [[Nature Spirit|nature deities]] and European faeries. Regardless of his origins and his role as a fierce nature guardian, he is generally perceived as a wicked, demonic and sometimes downright sociopathic entity with [[Evil Redhead|beautiful red hair]] who can (and will) do anything to protect the animals and forests of his domains. He is particularly infamous for [[Shapeshifting Seducer|shape-shifting into attractive forms]] to lure abusive hunters and woodcutters deep into the forest. The footprints of his backward feet will ensure anyone who follows him will never find the way out from the woods and there he promptly starts a [[Wild Hunt]], hunting the men down with a giant wild boar and ultimately destroying them.
▲* Púca/ Pooka of Irish mythology. In the original mythology Púca were sociopathic shape-sifters, whose favoured form was a [[Hellish Horse|huge, black demonic horse]] with [[Eyes of Gold|glowing yellow eyes]] and whose other forms always had dark colourations/clothing and were [[Uncanny Valley|suitably wrong]], who only behaved themselves one night of the year (the first of November, when they are tired after running riot at Samhain/Halloween), and couldn’t enter any dwelling uninvited or stand the touch of iron, but could stand outside your home and destroy your crops if you angered them and refused to come out and face them. When not riding along the hills and woodlands terrifying honest travelers, they blighted any crops left un-harvested after a certain amount to time. Or they demanded a share of all crops, newly made beer, or newly gathered milk. Or they’d trample fields, sour beer, render cattle barren (or [[Shapeshifting Squick|used their shape-shifting ability to impregnate them with mutated offspring]]). In their horse form, they lured young men who were [[Scare'Em Straight|drunk on pilgrimage or profaning the Sabbath]] into trying to [[Too Dumb to Live|ride them out of machismo]] at which point the Púca horse vanishes and the young man is either never seen again or changed forever, and tried to lure solitary milkmaids or other naive, lonely maids to an [[I Have You Now, My Pretty|undisclosed fate in fairyland]].
▲* The Tylwyth Teg of Welsh-Celtic folklore spent most of their time cheerfully kidnapping human children, presumably by way of recreational activity. According to ancient folk wisdom, the best way of killing a changeling child was to pop it in the oven. Fun, huh?
▲* The Nuckelavee of the Orkney Islands was an [[Eldritch Abomination]] of the purest sort. This sea-fairy resembled either a centaur or a horse and rider fused together, looked as if it had been flayed alive, was enraged by the scent of drying kelp (among other things), and brought plagues. Its one consistent weakness was an aversion to fresh water.
▲** If we're talking about Scotland, what about the Redcap? A [[Ax Crazy|maliciously murderous]] fae who lived along the old Scots-English Border, he amused himself by randomly murdering people, sometimes [[I'm a Humanitarian|devouring]] them, and all just so he could dip his hat in their blood. [[Sarcasm Mode|Fun guy, really]].
▲*** If he stops doing these he will die! this may justify him
▲* Stories of the "Little People" pervade the legends of many North American tribes. The Cherokee in particular have many legends surrounding them, and group these fairy-like beings into three clans; the Rock People, the Laurel People, and the Dogwood People. The Laurel people were considered to be friendly and playful, and often played games with children. The Dogwood People were stern, serious, and preferred to be left at peace. The Rock People, who dwelled in caves far away from human settlements, were feared, as it was believed that disturbing them would provoke their wrath, and whomever did so would have some horrible calamity befall them. Cherokee in more isolated regions to this day still believe in the legends, and it is said that if a child has an [[Imaginary Friend]], this is actually the Little People playing with them.
▲** The Seminole have stories of little people who live in hollow logs out in the woods. When lightning strikes a tree, it is thought to be the gods trying to fry the mischievous little things. They are best known for leading people astray in the woods, and you are never supposed to call to a companion who is out of sight. It is likely to be the little people responding to you in their voice to lead you astray.
▲* [[Baba Yaga]] displays many qualities of Fair Folk in Russian storytelling, though is often referred to as the ''Witch of the Iron Forest''.
▲* Korean folklore has a class of supernatural beings called ''dok'aebi''s, who have unusually many similarities with the Fair Folk as shown in European folklore. They are ruled by [[Blue and Orange Morality|an incomprehensible sense of ethics]] and [[It Amused Me|a desire for general fun]], as frustrating as that might be for poor human victims. Many surviving folk legends depict them as benevolent tricksters, but historical accounts still suggests that they were also seen as monstrous forces as heartless as natural disasters. The translation convention for dok'aebis used to be "ogres" due to their aesthetic association with Japanese oni, but because of their characteristic, terms such as "goblins" or "fae" have been taking over recently.
=== Poems/Ballads ===
* ''The Stolen Child'', by [[William Butler Yeats]], is about a child lead away by the fairies. While they might be doing him a favor, as it's implied that he's unhappy (although he might just be overwhelmed by the misery around him), they show no sign of telling his parents or family that he's alright.
* [[Goethe]]'s ''[[The Erl King|Erlkönig]]'', along a very similar theme to the above. In this poem the "Erl-King" is a Faerie creature who wants a boy he finds pretty to come with him, but when the boy refuses, he seizes the boy's soul by force, killing him (though an alternative interpretation [[Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane|holds that the ill boy was feverishly hallucinating]]). The name ''Erlkönig'' is often anglicized as Erl-King or Alder-King, but it is ultimately a corruption of the Danish ''ellerkonge'', which in fact means Elf-King.
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** Flavor text for the original Alpha Llanowar Elves: "One bone broken for every twig snapped under foot." Pretty brutal for 1/1 druids that give you green mana.
** There are also Faeries in the Lorwyn setting; they're mostly mischievous and disrupting, if not outright evil. Though they went from being simply mischievous in Lorwyn/Morningtide to being outright evil in Shadowmoor/Eventide. The [[Big Bad]] for that block was {{spoiler|Oona, Queen of the Fae}}. And [[Game Breaker|exceptionally overpowered]].
** This isn't altogether limited to Lorwyn, although the 'fairytale' nature of the setting certainly emphasized the various creatures' relevant traits. It's pretty much canon that the elves of Llanowar on the 'default' plane of Dominaria consider the life of a tree more important than that of a human, and while Magic's faeries may be the small winged pixie type in general, well, see the flavor text on [
** In most Magic sets, Elf creatures are very Tolkien-sian. A bit more xenophobic, but Tolkien's elves could be pretty xenophobic to anyone who wasn't the [[Chosen One]] too. They're still basically creatures of order and "live and let live", as shown by the fact that (until the Lorwyn block) the color of mana they are most likely to use, after green, is white. Lorwyn, though, is consciously based on faerie tales, so the predatory, capricious and aristocratic aspects of The Fair Folk got emphasized, and for the duration of the block elves were black secondarily to green instead of white. A tribe switching colors is rare, and switching to a rival color like that is almost unheard of.
* In ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' cosmology, the Seelie Court, ruled by Queen Titania, are arrogant elitists who refuse to consider non-Fey people. The Unseelie Court, ruled by the Queen of Air And Darkness, are simply [[Exclusively Evil|monstrous]]. Of course, since the Dungeon Master has final say what goes on in his/her world, fey in individual campaigns can vary from one end of the spectrum to the other.
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*** Even the conventional "sylvan fey" of the Land of Mists can be nastier than elsewhere, due to the ambient influence of the Dark Powers throughout the setting.
** ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' used to have few true fairies, but in ''[[Counselors and Kings]]'' Unseelie are presented as one of the very few things that can truly scare Drow, as opposed to irritate them or cause to back off for now.
*** Some fairies get along with others well, but still are fairly weird. The trio of Glouras (cute singing Underdark sprites with mothlike wings) runs a festhall in Sshamath, de-facto dancing club and concert hall known even to many human bards on the surface. In [[Side-Story Bonus Art|spin-a-yarn]], the Bloody Fist tavern (Waterdeep) has as barmaids and [[Fairy Sexy|sort of]] [[Fan Service]] "the Laughing Sisters", named so because they always giggle, who like to bite people's ears just for the sweet taste of blood. [
** In ''[[Pathfinder]]'', a game based on a modified version of D&D 3.5, elves are aliens.
*** Though it is is the ''gnomes'' who are the Fey-connected people with a more alien perspective on things. The elves may have their quirks, but in comparison their mentality tends to be a tad bit closer to humans (as befits a race native to a Pulp Venus analogue).
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* [[The Laundry Series|The Laundry RPG]] brings faeries into the universe of cthulhoid "information entities." Like the series' demons, they're made up of information strung together through an electromagnetic field, explaining why iron messes them up so badly; similarly, it's said they appear rarely in modern Britain, given how the nation is wired to the gills. They do take children, however, and changelings are explained away as a class four [[Glamour]] placed over a poppet made of twigs and string to make it look like it's a real child. And the kids? They're [[Body Horror|turned into biological computation matrices]] in order to sustain a field that will keep the faerie in our world.
==
* The fae of ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'' are actually an early aversion, much as one might expect from [[Shakespeare]]. They are portrayed as close to human and Oberon's interference with the lovers is actually benevolent although, of course, [[Hilarity Ensues|things go awry]].
** One interpretation of Puck's speech at the end of the play is that Shakespeare is actually telling people not to fear the faeries. This ties in to his portrayal of the faeries as mostly benevolent and this was relevant to the Elizabethans because they really did fear The Fair Folk.
* Another aversion by Shakespeare is Mercutio's speech in [[Romeo and Juliet]]. In it he talks about how Queen Mab flies around at night giving people happy dreams, but also sometimes causes mischief and nightmares but these are no worse than minor tricks.
== [[Video Games]] ==
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* The pixies in ''[[Fable]]'' are malicious childlike buggers with raspy voices and a penchant for human sacrifice.
* The Elves of ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'' have a bit of this trope, seeing how they [[I'm a Humanitarian|eat people]] and don't consider this to be in any way reprehensible, while considering lying as bad as murder. It doesn't help that they will [[Disproportionate Retribution|besiege you if you cut down too many trees and then proceed to devour your flesh]]. Since the game perspective in Fortress Mode is [[Elves Versus Dwarves|from the dwarves]], though, they tend to be seen more as annoying than terrifying.
** A more fitting example are the Night Creatures, who resemble the more ogrish and monstrous kinds of Unseelie fairies. Occasional marauders who live in caves, they kidnap mortal spouses and corrupt them into similar beings, when they aren't simply eating their flesh. Their grotesque features are even procedurally generated, so that no two Night Creatures are alike.▼
▲A more fitting example are the Night Creatures, who resemble the more ogrish and monstrous kinds of Unseelie fairies. Occasional marauders who live in caves, they kidnap mortal spouses and corrupt them into similar beings, when they aren't simply eating their flesh. Their grotesque features are even procedurally generated, so that no two Night Creatures are alike.
* The fair folk from ''[[A Tale of Two Kingdoms]]'' are not downright malicious, but tend towards nasty pranks against humans (particularly but not limited to the player character). The powerful and beautiful fairy queen turns out to be {{spoiler|not so benevolent as she tries to permanently entrap you in the fairy world}}.
* The Folks in ''[[Folklore]]'' pretty much want you dead with a few small exceptions. The "Faeries" are simply the denizens of a realm of the Netherworld created when people dreamed of an afterlife of paradise...but that still doesn't stop the "paradise" from being filled with dozens and dozens of deceased souls that turned into angry Folks that want to kill you.
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* ''[[King Arthur the Role Playing Wargame]]'' features both Sidhe courts (Seelie/summer court and Unseelie/winter court) as prominent factions you can ally yourself with if you follow the Old Faith. The Seelie mainly operate on [[Blue and Orange Morality]] and are described as honourable and honest 'in their own way' (being Old Faith and Righteous), while the Unseelie are fairy, err, ''fairly'' malicious (Old Faith/Tyrant) and [[Deal with the Devil|and bargains with them usually involve giving them your subjects' children]]. Allying with either court allows you to hire [[Changeling Tale|children the sidhe have "whisked away"]] as soldiers for your army.
* The Fae in ''[[Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning]]''. They are also divided into Summer and Winter; Summer representing growth and Winter representing decay, though neither is inherently good or evil. They have mixed feelings about mortals. Some of them dismiss them as short-lived "Dustlings", and others are fascinated by them because of their unique perspective on life and death. The Fae are so powerfully linked to Fate that they do not truly die—they merely repeat their lives in an endless Great Cycle. Fae also occasionally forget that when mortals die, it's for keeps. Fateweaver Argath claims that the Fae are actually ''easier'' to understand than mortals because they usually don't change with time. The Tuatha Deohn are a horrific exception to this rule. They are a cult of Winter Fae that have changed thanks to the power of Tirnoch. As a result, they are now brutal warmongers who wish to purge the world of all mortal life.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
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** ''"(Seriously, we could have died. We probably still will. Faeries are tricky.)"''
* In the [[Whateley Universe]], the Faerie are an ancient race who think of humans as pets raised (originally) in a garden world. They apparently feel the same way about werewolves. Fey, one of the protagonists, was changed into her current appearance by an ancient Faerie spirit who now resides in Fey's head. While Fey is inhumanly beautiful, in "Ill Winds" her true form is a luminescent energy form that isn't remotely human.
* Possibly [https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Faeries_(SCP_Foundation)#:~:text=The%20Faeries%2C%20or%20the%20Fae,failure%20at%20destroying%20the%20Foundation. The Faeries] in ''[[SCP Foundation]]'' lore. These beings were first presented as enemies of the Foundation in the lore of [https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-001-o5 SCP-001 (Dr. Bright’s proposal, “the Factory”)] named such because the name of the race is unknown and they share the Fair Folk’s vulnerability to iron. No physical description of them is given in this proposal, though animated adaptations do tend to make them look like [[Dark Action Girl]] versions of Tinkerbell. They were fleshed out more in later SCPs, making them fit the Trope far more, such as [https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/taboo SCP-4000] (their home, which resembles a [[Land of Faerie]] setting and establishes how they can steal names because they lost theirs - the reason nobody knows the actual name of the race), [https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-2932 SCP-2932] and [https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-6666 SCP-6666], both [[Eldritch Location]]s containing information on their history and relations to other SCPs. Curiously, these “updates” seem to imply that the original conflict at the Factory occurred [[Good All Along|because they tried to warn the soldiers]] (stated to be forerunners of the Foundation) of the incredible evil the Factory (which the Foundation was trying to use for their own benefit), and [[Cassandra Truth|the Foundation refused to listen.]]
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* The "Third Race" from ''[[Gargoyles]]''. Especially the episode when Oberon and Titania were out to capture Xanatos's son Alexander for the Gathering. Goliath thought it was so vile that he actually ''sides'' with Xanatos to prevent Alexander's capture.
** Oberon is consistently depicted in the series as capricious, vain and arrogant, [[Screw the Rules, I Make Them|making and breaking edicts on a whim]]. Sure, he'll say his magic will never harm you and yours, and it won't... until he wants it to.
** Aside from their [[Jerkass]] leaders, the other "Children of Oberon" in the series vary greatly in personality, disposition, and form. Though they all tend to be pretty mischievous, even the ones that like humans and Gargoyles. This group also includes [[Macbeth|the Weird Sisters.]]
*** Interestingly, [[Word of God]] has said they used to be a whole lot worse. After being banished from Avalon most changed considerably; besides Oberon who, at the time, was mature and compassionate in comparison. And don't even get started on his [[God Save Us From the Queen|mother]].
*** Titania, his wife, seems to be of the other type thankfully, and is more than capable of controlling her husband. {{spoiler|Unfortunately, she's the instigator for the incident with Alexander. And then also the instigator for the interference of the Gargoyles}}.
*** On the other hand, Puck {{spoiler|is Owen}}.
* ''[[The Fairly
** Also, the April Fool in "Fools Day Out" called causing the Earth to go into an Ice Age by hitting several planets and stuff is a "prank" or "joke".
** One episode also has "Scary Fairies". A state brought on by a fairy being stuck in pitch black for too long, who compulsively desire to eat their Godkid. {{spoiler|Fortunately it's all just a practical joke on Timmy.}}
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* Brian Froud's ''Fairies'' was adapted as a half hour animated special in the 1980's.
* A lot of the spirits from ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''. Most notably Koh, a giant centipede spirit who delights in [[Face Stealer|stealing people's faces....]]
* The changelings in ''[[My Little Pony:
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