| 
View
 

Magical Creatures from "Orlando Furioso"

Page history last edited by Jackie Krecker 16 years, 2 months ago

Hippogriff (2.48): The hippogriff is born after the breeding of a male gryphon and a female horse, as such it has the heads, wings, and front legs of a gryphon and the back and back legs of a horse. It can fly through the air extremely fast, as Ruggiero unfortunately found out first hand, and was traditionally seen as a mount for knights of Charlemagne. The hippogriff is a physical representation of an impossible anomaly as well as love, as horses and griffins are supposed to be enemies and certainly are not expected to breed with each other.

 

 

 

 

 Alcina's Frontier Guards (6.60): The strange miscellany of guards that makes up the security upon entering Alcina's city. Among the different guards that Ariosto describes are some with cat heads, ape heads, goat hooves, giant swollen stomachs, sinking lips, and one specific creature with a human bottom and feet but a dog neck, ears, and nose. The creatures are seen riding on centaurs, eagles, ostriches, turtles, and cranes.

 

Erifilla (6.78): A giant female monster with long fangs, venomous bite, and bear like claws. She mounts on a giant wolf where she guards the bridge leading to Alcina's palace. She is killed by Ruggiero.

 

Sea Orc (8.57): A giant sea monster sent by Proteus, the "old man of the sea", to ravage the island of Ebuda as punishment for having a princess killed who Proteus loved. The sea orc feeds on a naked woman who is sacrificed by the people of Ebuda everyday in exchange for their right to continue living. The orc is killed by Orlando after he rescues Olimpia from being eaten by it.

 

 

 

Caligorante (15.43): A giant who captures travelers that goes by in his secret net and then brutally kills them and eats them. Caligorante lives in a a rundown house decorated with the limbs and other body parts of his victims. The giant is captured by Astolfo in his own net and kept as a page for Astolfo wherever he goes as well as a prize and proof of Astolfo's glory, as depicted in the picture below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Orrillo (15.65): A enchanted robber who can never die as he has the power to heal himself by simply reattaching any part of his body which is severed in combat. He makes his home in a tower in Egypt, terrorizing all those who live anywhere near him. Orillo is killed by Astolfo after Astolfo cuts the magic hair off his head which allows him his power of regeneration.

 

Land Orc (17.29): A giant monster in both width and girth with no eyes but instead earth colored bone-like protrusions. The beast has a chest soaked with its own saliva, a long snout for a nose, and tusks for teeth. Because the monster has no eyes it uses its nose to direct its movements. The orc carries a sack on its side to hold its male human victims so it can carry it back to its home and eat them, the orc does not like to eat woman or other types of animals besides human men. Like the Cyclops from "The Odyssey" the land orc enjoys herding sheep and keeps them as company. 

 

Black bat-like bird (33.84): A monster with a three yard long beak, the head of a bat, black feathers, red eyes, and extremely large wing span. Ariosto, although not really sure, believes the monster was summoned by Malagigi to interrupt the combat between Gradasso and Rinaldo. After the monster fails in its attempt to catch Baiardo it flies away. 

 

 

Harpies (33.118): The harpies, seven in total, were sent by God to steal or contaminate the food of Pastor John everyday after he tried to conquer God's kingdom. They are described as having very skinny woman's faces, twisted claws, long snake tails, swollen stomachs, and very wide wings. Using his magic horn Astolfo drives the Harpies away to hell. The Harpies are also seen in Homer's "The Odyssey" and Virgil's "The Aneid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many-headed female (42.46): A giant female monster with a thousand eyes, a thousand ears, and snakes in the place of hair. The monster never sleeps and has a poisonous tale that it attacks with. Rinaldo encounters the beast in the forest of Ardennes and is nearly killed before he is saved by the knight Scorn, who perishes the monster to hell. 

 

 References

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Orlando_Furioso_34.jpg/250px-Orlando_Furioso_34.jpg

http://www.mythicalrealm.com/creatures/hippogriff.html                                                                                                   Return to homepage

http://thestral18.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/hippogriff_sideview.jpg                                                                                            OR

"Orlando Furioso"                                                                                                                                                          Next page of creatures                                                                  

 

Comments (0)

You don't have permission to comment on this page.