Rare Monsters

   The Ziz is a giant bird from Jewish mythology. It also appeared in earlier versions of the bible, but has since been edited out. The Ziz was one of the archetypal animals, like the Leviathan and Behemoth. As Leviathan was the king of the sea creatures and Behemoth the king of the beasts, Ziz was king of the birds. The Ziz was said to look like a gryphon. Its exact appearance beyond that is left vague, other than its great size, which is discussed in two stories. One story said there were some sailors who saw a giant bird standing in the water when they were out at sea. The water was only ankle deep on the bird, and it was so massive its head towered into the heavens. The sailors assumed the water must be shallow there where the bird stood, so they planned on bringing their ship ashore and swim in the water. God called out to the sailors and told them, “Do not stop there. That bird is the mighty Ziz, who towers above all beings. The water there is so deep once a carp...

  The keythong is a gryphon like beast, which is supposed to have come from heraldry, but it’s history is more complicated than that. It looks like a gryphon, but without wings. It has spikes on various parts of its body, often on its legs, back, and a fan of spikes on its shoulders where the wings should be. It also have a pair of swept back horns on its head. I say its history is complicated, because while both the name and appearance of the keythong appeared historically used in heraldry, they didn’t come together to mean the same creature until modern times when the internet took interest in the creature. The name keythong appears to have been created as late as the 19 th century. It comes from J R Planche’s Pursuivant Of Arms, he describes the coat of arms for the Earl of Ormonde as having rampant keythong on the right. However, what is actually shown on the arms is a wingless gryphon with flames, no horns or spikes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_of_Ormond_%...

   The gudiao is a monster from China, featured in The Classic Of Mountains And Seas . It resembles a giant eagle or maybe a more gryphon like beast, as it’s sometimes described as having panther qualities too. One thing that is consistent is that the gudiao always has a single horn on its head. Often, its depicted with a bright green head as well. The gudiao was said to live on Mount Luwu, where there is very little plant life, but bountiful amounts of mineral resources, like gold and precious stones. The gudiao would prowl this mountain looking for prey. It would eat almost any animal, but it especially favoured human flesh. It’s call sounds like a baby crying, which it would use to lure people within range. Sources https://cryptidz.fandom.com/wiki/Gudiao https://chinese-mythology.com/en/wiki/gu-diao/ https://mythus.fandom.com/wiki/User_blog:RUBENHC/Creatures_and_Beings_of_China_Folklore_and_Lower_Mythology#List_of_creatures

  Valravn, meaning raven of the slain, is a sort of boogieman from Denmark. Valravns were created when a raven ate the flesh of the fallen in battle who had not been given a proper burial. The valravn was a thoroughly evil creature that sought to bring harm to the surrounding communities. After being transformed the valravn gained human intelligence and various magical abilities that allowed it to spread pestilence and misfortune. It also gained the ability to shape shift into wolves or a half wolf – half raven form. Even with these abilities valravns still sought out more power. The one thing they desired the most was the ability to take on the form of a black knight, which they could only gain by devouring the heart of a child. How they accomplished this was usually left to the imagination. However in one traditional Danish song a valravn offered to protect a maiden on her way to her marriage in return for her first born child, echoing similar trickster deals made with fairies an...