Back To Monster Dictionary Page
to M-N
to R-Se

O

      Ogre: Grouping: nonmagic(or magic) humanoid. av.height 8'-12'. Ogres are large, ugly, filthy, fat, and stupid as well as being very strong. They are well-known for their love of human meat. In many fairy stories, they live in groups in an ogre-sized hall or house ruled over by an ogre-king. They often claim a certain forest or hill as their own territory and eat any humans that tresspass. In some stories they are bound to this territory and have to somehow lure their victims in before they can capture them. Genre-ugmruten. Source: fairy tales and common idea of ogres.

      Olog-hai: Grouping: nonmagic humanoid. Olog-hai are trolls more powerful, intelligent and evil than other trolls. They were bred by Sauron. Unlike other trolls of middle earth, they could endure sunlight when controlled by Sauron. They spoke only the language of Mordor. Source: Tolkien. They are not mentioned in the LoTR movies, but the trolls at the black gate and in the battle of Gondor were Olog-hai. "Olog-hai" means "troll-man" in the black speech of Mordor. Genre-ugmruten. Source: Tolkien with help from "A Guide to Middle Earth by Robert Foster." (see also Troll [1])

      Opal Myre: Grouping: fairy. av.height 2'-3'. Written about as "The creature of the swamp," because they inhabit the swamps and jungle of Rixsah. They are urdings who have been corrupted and made poisonous by an evil magic-user. Their appearance is like a discolored urding except a little shorter. Their spit is shot at high speed and can hit hard enough to knock down a man or dwarf, and the poison of its spit can be deadly and as it slowly kills it will affect the victim's mental abilities. Also some of the urding's fairy magic remains in its gaze. Genre-xafeni/corrupted fairy. Source: mine, appears in my first novel. (see also Urding)

      Orc [1]: Grouping: nonmagic humanoid. av.height 4'6-5'4". An evil race bred by Morgoth in mockery of elves. Like elves, they are fierce warriors and do not die except by being killed. Also like elves, they have high stamina and can walk for several days without a rest. Otherwise, they are nothing like elves; they are ugly, usually bow-legged, with long arms and fangs. They preferred the dark, and were skilled in tunneling and making weapons. Describing Quote: "They hated all things of beauty and loved to kill and destroy. ..Orcs like blood and raw flesh and ate, among other things, Men, ponies, and their own kind." (from "A Guide To Middle Earth" by Robert Foster). Genre-ugmruten. Source: Tolkien, with help from that "Guide to Middle Earth." (see also Elf[1] and Uruk-Hai)

      Orc [2]: Most orcs in other stories or games are probably at least loosely based on Tolkien's orcs, including in my books. On Garefen, the orcs are like Tolkien's except dumber and they can die of old age. (The elves of Garefen can also die of old age.) In old english the word "orc" means "demon." Source: my slant and common idea, the meaning of the word "orc" is mentioned in "A Guide to Middle Earth."

      Oread (see Nymph)

      Orpiphus: An orpiphus is a sea animal with a body similar to a dolphin's. It's head is an ugly cross between a seal, a pig, and a human with whiskers like a wulrus. It's tail is similar to a dragon's except shorter, at the end of its tail is a stinger which has strange effects on its victims. It likes to swim up next to a boat and jump out of the water and sting whoever is standing closest to the edge of the boat. It's often a sea fishing boat or a pirate's boat, but occationally it has been known to do this with a passenger boat or cruise ship. The usual effect of it's sting on a person is firstly a pain like a wasp's sting and the victim is forced to close his eyes for a minute. When he opens his eyes he has partailly or sometimes fully has changed shape. Some examples include arms turning into tentacles or the person's head turning into an animal's head. The amount of change varies, occasionally the person completely changes shape into an animal or half the body changes shape. In one case, the person's body changed into that of a large dog and only kept the head and hands of a human. In a few very rare cases, the person doesn't survive the change and dies, but in all other cases the person keeps his human mind with maybe a couple animal instincts added and the effect wears off within a week usually after a couple days. The orpiphus is assumed to be at least as smart as a dolphin but there is very little acual evidence of this. Source: mine, from a dream I had.

      Owlbear: Grouping: nonmagic beast. Describing quote: "Owlbears are probably a cross-breed creation of a demented wizard; given the lethal nature of this creation, it is quite likely the wizard who created them is no longer alive. As the name might suggest, owlbears are a cross between a giant owl and a bear. They are covered with fur and feathers." (Nethack's description) Genre-misc hybrid. Source: mainly nethack and other dnd type computer games. I would've have described it almost just like nethack did, so I thought I might as well quote it.

P

      Pegasus: Grouping: magical beast. A winged horse which was born from medusa's neck after Perseus had killed the gorgon. It later became the steed of Bellerophon, and after that became the carrier of Zues' lightning bolts. Genre-famous myth. Source: Greek mythology. myth note: Bellerophon asked the pegasus to carry him to the top of Mt.Olympus, but Pegasus threw him from his back from high in the air. I thought it interesting that I found one source that said Bellerophon died from the fall, and another that said he survived.

      Phissel: Grouping: fairy. A unique fairy shaped like a snake, except it has eyelids and no scales. They come in a veriety of colors including purple, orange, and odd shades of blue, but never black or grey. It is very intelligent and has a face that shows a lot of expression, but it can't talk. They try to help people, but the people are sometimes inclined not to trust them. It has fairy magic affecting thoughts and perception, but it uses it for good. Genre-xafeni fairy. Source: mine, appears in my second novel.

      Phoenix: Grouping: magical beast. A magical bird similar to an eagle, but colored with <find out>. "It does not live on fruit or flowers, but on frankincense and odoriferous gums." (from the quote from Ovid) After living a set about of time (usually 500 years), the phoenix makes a nest and dies in it. In the most popular idea, it dies in fire and the new pheonix rises from the ashes. One source which quotes Ovid says it gathers spices in its nest before it dies and the new pheonix comes from the spices, in another myth, a worm comes from the bone marrow of the dead pheonix and grows into the new pheonix. Genre-famous myth. Source: a similar bird appears in the myths of several ancient cultures. I think it is origonally from Assyria or Egypt.

      Pixie: Grouping: fairy. av.height 3"-4". A tiny flying fairy with the ability to give off light. Often silly, but helpful, known for helping lost people find their way, helping with household chores and for doing many magical things with their 'pixie dust'. Depending on the legend they are also sometimes known for leading people astray and off course. Sometimes they are obligated to help around a certain house and will be able to leave if given a gift of clothing. When obligated to a house they do not work gladly and will sometimes pick on people or cause damage to the house or animals belonging to the household. Genre-Pixie and related fairy. Source: popular idea and British and Irish folklore, some info from "The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter" by Stephen Colbert. (note about the source: that book points out differences between how Rowling describes things and how the things accually are from legend. I use the descriptions that are from the older stories and not the other details which Rowling adds or changes. One thing that the book points out is that Pixies from folklore are similar in some things to Rowling's house elves.)

      Playful Fairy (see Zimp)

      Pooka: Grouping: fairy. This troublesome fairy can take several shapes including a goblin, a large ugly ape-man, a large eagle, or a black goat with curled horns, but most often it appears as a dark horse with yellow eyes.
     Describing Quote: "In this [horse] form, it roams large areas of countryside at night, tearing down fences and gates, scattering livestock in terror, trampling crops and generally doing damage around remote farms. ..The mere sight of it may prevent hens laying their eggs or cows giving milk, and it is the curse of all late night travellers as it is known to swoop them up on to its back and then throw them into muddy ditches or bogholes. The pooka has the power of human speech, and it has been known to stop in front of certain houses and call out the names of those it wants to take upon its midnight dashes. If that person refuses, the pooka will vandalise their property because it is a very vindictive fairy. [Sometimes] the pooka is rather more mysterious than dangerous, provided it is treated with proper respect. The pooka may even be helpful on occasion, issuing prophecies and warnings where appropriate. For example, the folklorist Douglas Hyde referred to a 'plump, sleek, terrible steed' which emerged from a hill in Leinster and which spoke in a human voice to the people there on the first day of November. It was accustomed to give 'intelligent and proper answers to those who consulted it concerning all that would befall them until November the next year. And the people used to leave gifts and presents at the hill...'" Quote from:
http://www.irelandseye.com/animation/intro.html. Genre-sedhe. Source: Irish folklore, info from mentioned website.

      Pyroq: Grouping: magical semi-humanoid(?). av.height 5'10"-6'8". The appearance of a pyroq is unknown since it keeps itself surrounded by a cloud of fire and smoke. When it dies, the fire and smoke dissapears, but its body quickly shrivels up into what appears to be a pile of dark brownish-gray skin. By the size and shape of the cloud it seems to be roughly human-shaped and usually a little taller than most humans. The Pyroq is a warrior of fire, it can use many weapons usually with a firey enchantment on them so that when it weilds a sword, the sword becomes red hot and laced with fire and the arrows it shoots catches on fire anything that burns. They can speak a little, but rarely do; they don't seem to be very intelligent. It is said to be the invention of a non-human wizard. Genre-magic invention. Source: mine.

Q

      Quasit: Grouping: magical humanoid/demon. av.height 8"- 1'6". A tiny winged devil closely related to the imp. Their personality is more wild and they are faster than the imp. They don't look very harmful because of their size, but they have poisonous talons. Like the imp, they can also sometimes change shape into animals like bats, oversized centipedes or frogs. Genre-minor demon. Source: pieced together from various ideas and sources. (see also Imp[2])


Back To Monster Dictionary Page
to M-N
to R-Se