Unicorns: Magical Icons or Violent Beasts? | Monstrum

[@captainstroon1555]

I'm convinced some ancient dude saw a rhino once and described it as a large pale horse with a single horn to his peers back home.

[@misspinkpunkykat]

People didn't have cameras back then and not everyone could draw. A horse was the animal most people used as a point of reference to describe other animals.

[@Richard_Nickerson]

Just like how the antelope with a snake for a head was 100% a giraffe

[@Otokichi786]

I've read that Ibex were seen at the "one horn" angle.

[@kingrahzar9351]

Either that or he saw a hairless elasmotherium **before** they died out

[@gingermaniac5484]

I'm guessing phoenix was actually a parrot of some kind

[@ReynaSingh]

Unicorns, fairies, seems like much of what gets marketed to children has an ominous historical presence

[@tijanamilenkovic3425]

You forgot mermaids 🧜‍♀️

[@friend_trilobot]

In the last Narnia book, The Last Battle, there is a male unicorn named Jewel who is fully sentient, talks like a courtly noble, is a friend of the king, is gentle around friends, but is also an adept and violent warrior who kills someone with his horn fairly early on in the story. The inclusion of a steed for Peter in the movie of Lion Witch Wardrobe though visually intense had the potential to confuse or muddle all those ideas, even if it didnt technically go against the Lore

[@danyellerobinson5940]

Indigenous people teach us that we are all part of the same social/spiritual universe. A unicorn can be magician or monster accordingly -- a mirror.

[@friend_trilobot]

@@danyellerobinson5940 that's interesting, but I don't understand the connection to my comment...?

[@danyellerobinson5940]

@@friend_trilobot It is the role of the warrior - to serve and protect. Lewis' stories are filled with splatterings of Indigenous wisdom.

[@kingrahzar9351]

Would've loved to meet him. Sounds like a nice guy!

[@Strider_Bvlbaha]

I may be misremembering this entirely, but I'm pretty sure that in the book Peter is said to ride into battle on a unicorn, there just isn't any further elaboration.

[@kuroazrem5376]

If you've seen a rhinoceros, you've seen a unicorn. And let me tell you, they're terrifying.

[@kyleellis1825]

Scientifically it's part of the name.

[@Lily_of_the_Forest]

Wonder if an albino rhinoceros was the first inspiration

[@Shythalia]

​@@Lily_of_the_Forest Well, white (not albino) rhinos are a real rhino species.

[@mistylover7398]

🦄🦏

[@forickgrimaldus8301]

And also Giant Push overs once they get to trust you

[@diplodorkus970]

Love that we've now gotten TWO episodes about unicorns on this channel, such an interesting part of Eurasian mythologies

[@dubuyajay9964]

Link to other one plz?

[@JohnThurner]

​@@dubuyajay9964 kzbin.info/www/bejne/iqLTnI2DeqihqcU

[@artesiningart4961]

​@jabowackies ...or maybe aswángs in general, with the manananggáls revisited as one of its five categories or subcategories and as the "self-segmenting viscera sucker" aswáng or simply "viscera sucker" aswáng, according to Maximo Ramos, and then do each of the other categories or subcategories of aswángs with their own individual videos in the future: the "vampire" aswáng, the "weredog" aswáng, the "witch" aswáng, and the "ghoul" aswáng.

[@GryphonBrokewing]

@jabowackies This one's "Monstrum"; the other is "Fate & Fabled".

[@GryphonBrokewing]

@@dubuyajay9964 kzbin.info/www/bejne/iqLTnI2DeqihqcU

[@CapriUni]

I was introduced to The Unicorn Tapestries, up close and personal, when I was about 6 years old, when my parents took me on a trip to the museum (One thing you don't mention here is that the scenes depicted are *life sized* -- quite impressive to tiny me). And ever since then, I've seen the rainbow-and-sparkle version of unicorns a vast insult. (And the hunters have it coming).

[@marlonmoncrieffe0728]

🗽 Ah, are you from New York City too?! The Unicorn Tapestries are housed at the Met Cloisters.

[@charade539]

I hate that it is legitimately hard to find anything unicorn related nowadays that isn't pink and cutesy. I've always loved the wild, fierce beast, and now that they're popular, I'm being left out.

[@TheEquus92]

That’s why I love Peter S Beagle’s The Last Unicorn. Nothing pink or cutesy about that story

[@sarahallegra6239]

@@TheEquus92OMG, that’s one of my favorite books/movies, and by far my favorite depiction of unicorns! And OP, I totally agree, I love unicorns, but I wish they weren’t ALL cute and glittery and rainbow. I can take some of that, but that’s not a “real” unicorn to me.

[@jeffreygao3956]

The Owl House might be more to your taste; Those unicorns are just violently obsessed with eating crab apples.

[@blueshadowmoses]

You might like to check out the trailer for "Death of a Unicorn" coming out next year with Paul Rudd.

[@charade539]

@@TheEquus92 Same! One of my fave books ever.

[@sandradermark8463]

Narwhals were those marine unicorns. The unicorn horn is a narwhal tusk. And oooh, Legend, Stardust, and the Last Unicorn - those beautiful films!!! I have a unicorn plushie called Lilac for her colour in my bed right now...

[@bastloki]

The whole 'white horned ass with a red head/neck' is a pretty spot on description of a scimitar horned oryx, actually. The Egyptians and late Romans semi-domesticated them, and it's not uncommon to find one with only one horn left bc those things are pretty fragile :)

[@JennieKermode]

Here in Scotland, the unicorn is our national animal. It's traditionally depicted in chains and often people assume that English people did this to it, but in fact it was chained long before the Act of Union or even the Union of the Crowns, simply because it was too wild and dangerous to be tamed.

[@92JazzQueen]

Just like scotland

[@limethewitch.-.727]

Man, be nice if one day y'all cover more equid related folklore creatures like the pegasus and man eating mares of Diomedes. Equids in fiction have made me understood that equids can be unique and gorgeous like a elegant and intelliigent pegasus while terrifying and intimidating with their complicated and broad large appearance like the untamable and vicious man eating mares of Diomedes.

[@Beryllahawk]

And if Fate and Fabled could cover the many and varied Horse Goddesses that would also be incredibly cool!

[@sukulmati]

That slow motion stab and associated sound effect at the opening was a gift.

[@kada2741]

The last unicorn...great movie

[@user-zp4ge3yp2o]

There's a feral unicorn in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel 'Lords & Ladies', it's a savage pet of the elves who are malicious beings.

[@ruthbennett7563]

GNU Sir Terry ❤

[@averycheesypotato]

Malicious beings, but also small, fuzzy & very hard to stay mad at once the magic wears off. GNU Pratchett

[@patricksimmons8117]

The idea of a white unicorn with a blood stained head for stabbing things is so metal

[@skyden24195]

In the 1980s, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus promoted to be in possession of a real, living unicorn. My grandma took me and my younger brother & sister to see that circus when it came to Los Angeles at one point. The "unicorn" that was paraded around the big-top at the end of the show seemed to actually be a one-horned goat. (The single horn was center lined on top of the animal's head.)

[@Lucius1958]

I remember the 'Living Unicorns': they were created by a couple named 'Otter' & 'Morning Glory' Zell, by grafting the horn buds of goats (Incidentally, I recollect that 'Otter' [under another alias] more recently tried to set up a Hogwarts-style 'wizards' school' somewhere)...

[@skyden24195]

@@Lucius1958 lol. yeah I heard about that at one point; the horn grafting thing, not the Hogwarts thing, but the Hogwarts thing probably shouldn't be a surprise thing,

[@janel.8921]

Older versions of unicorns were more goat like. I remember the Circus unicorn too.

[@skyden24195]

@@janel.8921 older versions being goat-like makes sense to be depicted as I'm sure a few goats were born (unintentionally) with only one horn.

[@guy8646]

Lol I saw that goat unicorn in the 80s at the circus, too. They should have somehow tied a fake horn onto a beautiful white horse instead.

[@HeraclesN-fp1bw]

- There is also a Unicorn in the nursery rhyme called “The Lion & the Unicorn” which would later be used by Lewis Carroll who placed as characters in his novel “Through the Looking-Glass” - Also there was an anime called Heaven's Design Team which shows several reasons a horse with a single horn just can’t exist

[@BlueRoseFaery]

Lol, I've never seen anyone else mention Heaven's design team, it's such a weird funny show, with decent biology lessons. Glad other people have seen it.

[@HeraclesN-fp1bw]

@@BlueRoseFaery Yeah it was a underrated show that had fun facts about biology which people can learn in very episode

[@evilovesperry]

Rhinos do exist though ...

[@BLACKIE16491]

If Unicorns were real (like Rhinos) there would be people who'd assume they were gentle and try em in the wild

[@TupocalypseShakur]

You mean like with hippos

[@BLACKIE16491]

@@TupocalypseShakur Them too

[@reddhafallen7289]

Have you considered Unicorns being real just not on Earth?

[@BLACKIE16491]

@@reddhafallen7289 yis

[@zionleach3001]

Then get shived by something with a rainbow horn. Now most urban fantasy saying how normally cute fantasy creatures are actually deadly were right.

[@BlackReshiram]

YES!!! finally someone who talks about this! I actually have a worldbuilding for a story in progress that has violent and terrifying unicorns because im so tired of people not knowing about it

[@zeropoint2594]

the funny thing about the scottish use of the unicorn in it´s crest is that the unicorn was thought to hunt and eat Lions and well England had a lion so...

[@moniqueloomis9772]

😂

[@Beryllahawk]

Absolutely my favorite "monster" - as Piers Anthony put it, the Unicorn is horse-PLUS! I have my particular favorite takes on the creature in literature and film of course - for instance, Mercedes Lackey has two entirely different treatments of the beast in two different series. In her 500 Kingdoms books, unicorns can be male OR female, but they are almost always incredibly SILLY, becoming downright goofy when in the presence of a virgin (assuming said virgin is of the appropriate gender). They can be ferocious in battle and are very much the defenders of virgins, and they're intensely magical - but they have all the smarts of a lap dog. However! In the Elvenbane books that Lackey wrote with Andre Norton, the Alicorn is hands-down a vicious beast that will gut you on sight! Bred up in an attempt to give elven knights better mounts, the creatures could NOT be tamed, and they're both carnivorous and territorial, making them incredibly dangerous to their own creators. (And, in a later book, a virgin girl does tame two Alicorns, for a very short period of time.) Then there's Piers Anthony's "Split Infinity" and the novels that follow it. Unicorns there are ASTONISHING creatures, coming in every conceivable color combination EXCEPT normal horse colors; every one of them is fully intelligent, they can shapechange into two forms other than their equine one (forms that THEY choose, no less), and they all have musical instruments within their horns - or rather the horns are magically capable of producing the sound of ANY instrument. (Yes even percussion) They can dance, they have their own Olympics, and they are a pivotal force in the world-shaking events that take place. Anthony's adoration of horses in general really shines through in the way he characterizes these four-legged characters, one of whom is a protagonist in a later book in that series. But, of course, Beagle's Last Unicorn is my all time favorite. She is glorious, innocent and yet not foolish, wise and strangely cruel at times ("Never run from anything immortal.") For most of the book she simply can't understand regret - it is a trait reserved for mortals, and for beings less perfect than a Unicorn. The ways that Beagle explored and constructed what the concept of Unicorn meant just did SO much for my own imagination and the ways that I've adored these creatures.

[@i3osco717]

Thank you for another fascinating episode. I hope that you will one day do one about the Scandinavian “Myling”. Its origins will send chills down the spine all the while giving us a whisper of insight into the hardship women faced back in the day (And still do in some places) For those who don't have sleep on the schedule I recommend diving into the literature. Also related is “Ängla makerskor” (Eng: Angel makers)

[@restezlameme]

I looked up the Myling lore. It is both fascinating and heart wrenching.

[@lilbasenji1]

Yay!!! Nothing like a new monstrum video to brighten up my day. I was looking forward to the video on unicorns. Thank you so much Dr. Z and staff for this education video.

[@EmnM2010]

I knew it! In my world-building lore, dragons are very similar to angels and unicorns are very similar to demons. The dragons are the actual children of stars, who are living beings; but the unicorns are the children of moons, born from the reflected light from the nearest stars. My original thinking in high school was that it would be so EDGY and QUIRKY to swap their expected religious roles, but I keep learning new information that backs up my own lore all the time.

[@whycantiremainanonymous8091]

By the way, as late as 1871, in Lewis Carrol's _Through the looking-glass and what Alice found there,_ the unicorn is still explicitly referred to as a monster.

[@eliasschaffels538]

My favorite unicorn depiction is from the witcher books. Telepathic and able to travel between worlds they are in a constant war with the elves in their home world. Its wild, but it works

[@eaglewolffox6275]

The Unicorn in The Hunt of The Unicorn fought to the end against the hunters like a Samurai. I see the magical creature as a warrior symbol of inspiration and. imagination.

[@sapphirII]

In the first episode of a season of The Legends of Tomorrow, where creatures escapes from Hell through time, there's the unicorn. It seeks virgins to eat their hearts and can shower goo on people, which causes them to hallucinate.

[@strandedinseattle9931]

If you like reading and you like unicorns, definitely read The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. It is an all ages book, and it is wonderful. The children's animated movie enchanted me as a child, and the book filled in all the gaps for my adult brain. 100% recommend. Trivia: It was published in 1964 and had become his wife's favorite story by him. She used to beg he write a sequel, and it was when she was upon her death bed that he wrote one for her. That book, The Way Home, was published and released just five days ago (April 2023).

[@fiberpoet6250]

It’s bittersweet that he waited till she was dying to write the sequel

[@Mikeztarp]

1:24 I very clearly see two lines that do not intersect. Either they're two horns, or more likely since they're so thin whereas the legs are represented fully, two projectiles (spears, arrows... I don't know what people used back then).

[@natmorse-noland9133]

Was not expecting you to mention the use of "unicorn" as polyamorous slang, lol! I appreciate your thoroughness, as always.

[@ZedaZ80]

Me: "There's no way they are going to mention that though." Monstrum: There's definitely some missing nuance though 😅

[@ShandorDavies]

I'm sure I read a story about a unicorn when I was much younger, where a knight manages to trick a unicorn into charging into a tree where he is able to safely behead it when it gets stuck. Sadly I remember little else about the story but that's been my formative thoughts on unicorns and I can't really think of when they suddenly became so rainbow-centric.

[@BlueRoseFaery]

I have a pop-up book of unicorns & it has that anecdote in it, it mentions a virgin luring it first but if you don't have any virgins on hand, getting it stuck in a tree is the other method of hunting one. It's supposed to be like an encyclopedia on unicorns so it's not a specific story, just talking about various lore. Maybe it's just from legends, maybe it was made up later, I don't know for sure, but the pop-up book was mine in the early 90s & wasn't new, it was made in the late 70s-mid 80s, it's in a box somewhere probably in my attic so I'm not sure. So idk the source or a specific story that includes it, but as a piece of unicorn lore it's been around for a while.

[@Lily_of_the_Forest]

That king is evil!

[@mistingwolf]

The first book of _The Unicorn Chronicles_ called _Into the Land of the Unicorns_ was my first adventure read that included a unicorn named Lightfoot. I don't remember very much other than the plot twist and a she-dragon named Firethroat, who I thought was pretty cool. I should probably give it a new read; I know the book is lying around somewhere...

[@sugaxshyxtype]

I love that series. Bruce Coville is one of my favorite writers.

[@cobrachicken07]

I bet your (excellent) artist had a blast illustrating this episode! Great work Monstrum team!

[@wyvern723]

I was obsessed with unicorns as a child... I checked out every book I could find as a little kid and begged my parents to read them to me... So I was fully aware of the origin of the mythical creature. My daughter never had to be told what the horn was for. ;) The Last Unicorn was both mine and my husband's favorite movie.

[@saeklin]

I love the idea of real sea creature bones and fossils feeding myths of terrestrial cryptids. And especially when the real creature is so much stranger than the cryptid itself, like with narwhals and unicorns.

[@Koda89]

Suddenly this completely recontextualizes the unicorns in the anime series Chaika the Coffin Princess. This entire time I thought those unicorns was a badass variant on unicorns, but turns out they were actually accurate to the historical folklore versions.

[@eileenappleby8899]

Thank you for the videos, they are very entertaining and educational, although often frightening. Have you considered discussing the symbolic creatures associated with alchemy and alchemical potions? Unicorns and Dragons are some of them. Thanks again!

[@giboit.]

Great video. You should also make one talking about the Kelpie, the mythical water shapeshifting horse

[@karenritter2574]

The last unicorn I s a good movie. They also were helpful is the D&D cartoon and the original Thundercats.

[@allonzehe9135]

Of all the Orns, the Unique Orn is the best.

[@blahlbinoa]

In Dungeons and Dragons: Unicorns are said to be sent by the good of Law and Good to a champion of the gods (usually a Paladin) in a time of great need to show faith within the individual and that they are chosen by the gods (that's 5e, not sure about other editions) In the Everquest MMO: There is a Unicorn in the Lesser Faydark forest that has a Unicorn that walks around the area and attacks Evil Aligned Characters

[@Beryllahawk]

in the now-venerable AD&D version they're wild magical beasts, hunted by the foolish and the brave, and they are VERY intolerant of humanoids because of it...

[@alex9190]

the last unicorn movie scared me SO MUCH as a kid. i don't know what it is about it but the whole thing is unsettling

[@gwyndolinds-en8yt]

I swear, somewhere in the 1000 years of the Middle Ages, someone must have drew anthropomorphic unicorns

[@seleuf]

1:22 That looks more like a bovine than a rhino or horse. It's also drawn well enough that I'm pretty sure the artist could have connected the two lines to a point if a single horn had been the intent.

[@Just_Some_Guy_with_a_Mustache]

"When I was five, I imagined that there was such a thing as a unicorn. And this was before I had even heard of one, or seen one. I just drew a picture, of a horse, that could fly over rainbows, and a had a huge spike in its head. I was five! Five-years-old. Couldn't even talk yet."

[@maxpowers9129]

I suspect you are probably not remembering properly. Most kids are talking way before they are 5. You likely heard about a unicorn and just forgot about it. Early childhood memories are unreliable. I remember having a dream about the classic alien that looks like this 👽 before ever seeing such an image. However after that dream I saw their image all over TV just a few days later. I had probably just seen the image of an alien on TV, and had forgotten it.

[@T.BG822]

There's some even darker associations and behaviours attributed to early unicorns, but I fully understand not including them. Great video, and good to see a decent primer for the beast out there.

[@sailormoonfan224]

Okay, now I'm curious. How bad does it get?

[@T.BG822]

@@sailormoonfan224 I mean, bad. The association with virgins didn't always have them laying down in the poor girl's lap: they'd 'check' in physical ways, eat her flesh, etc. They were a midpoint between old-school angels and demons, a 'divine and natural force of wrath and reckoning'. As with most 'monsters', what we currently think of is an amalgam of a few different tracks of belief and conceptualization - some older Slavic variations had associations with the holiness of silver and the soullessness of the dead, and some russian ones fed on corpses (some freshly made). Unicorns of Northern African tradition trended toward being fearful creatures, but shared associations with fertility, poison, and strange physical abilities with others of their regions - but there were also tales of single-horned, cloven-hooved horses that breathed poison that melted the skin of children. Like I said though: the video's a good primer, especially for European interpretations.

[@msjkramey]

I feel so validated. I'm terrified of horses, so I've always said that unicorns would be terrifying since it's just a house with a built in weapon on its face!

[@averycheesypotato]

The older unicorn portrayals show a more deer-like creature. The body is lean & flexible, the hooves dainty & cloven

[@evilovesperry]

Why of horses?

[@nyrdybyrd1702]

Dr. Z doesn't mention the Fate and Fabled unicorn episode (debuted about a month ago) until the very end so I just spent the past thirteen minutes fairly convinced I was a time traveler. 😅

[@connorthompson8376]

You should totally check out the space opera series “Acorna: The Unicorn Girl,” as well as “The Dragon Riders of Pern” by Anne McCaffery.

[@kharza6145]

Great video, It would be really cool if you made a video exploring the prominence of fox monsters in Asian mythologies like the Huli jing and the kitsune

[@Mokiefraggle]

I have that exact copy of The Last Unicorn that was shown first in that part of the video, and in about the same condition (looking rather yellowed, particularly about the pages). If I didn't know better, I'd swear it _was_ my copy you'd put there! Honestly kind of nice to see all the different versions of the book cover that have come out over the years, and how many different ways the artists have depicted the unicorn, from being very much like a deer to much more horse-like (which, given her sheer offense at being called a mare by humans who couldn't see her true nature, suggests to me that she actually looks nothing much like a horse).

[@sapphirII]

In a Magic the Gathering book, The Wildered Quest, one of the twin's friend is a healer with an unicorn mount. Well, the unicorn impale something at one points and it shocks them. The knight accompanying them remarks that it is a creature of the Wilds and not because it looks benevolent that is harmless.

[@kendrickcurriculum]

I love this channel and even use it in my classroom 😊 This once, you have missed a modern fictional unicorn that is vicious! I grew up reading about this one, so I have always seen them as fictionally dangerous thanks to Piers Anthony's Double Exposure trilogy. It is SO worth a read, and it's disappointing this iconic sci-fi and fantasy writer is often overlooked. #piersanthony #splitinfinity #dangerousunicorn

[@whitewing2]

I can't help not to say this The Unicorn... is "The beast of Possibility"

[@thepsychopotato]

Berserk NT-D activated makes the Unicorn really violent.

[@RaidoDemonSimp]

I love unicorns there so cool and I think their both beastly and magical ❤ so monstrum you havent change my veiw at all only enhanced my love for this creature

[@zoushaomenohu]

"Stay where you are, poor beast! This is no world for you. Stay in your forest and keep your trees green, and your friends protected. And good luck to you, for you are the last!" - The Last Unicorn, Peter S. Beagle.

[@liquidformat]

love that she slipped in the polymerous partner there at the end🤣

[@renecorrea892]

I would like all these chapters to be in the future seasons of Monstrum. *Sea Serpents *Leviathan *The Headless Horseman ✅ *Phantom Vehicles *Boogeyman *Ghosts *Possessed Dolls *Shadow People *Undead *Goblins *Bigfoot *Man-Eating Plants ✅ *Creepy Clowns *Killer Robots *Swamp Monsters *The Mummy ✅️ *Scarecrows *The Invisible Man *Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde *Merfolk *Demons *Skeletons *Stingy Jack (Jack of The Lantern) *Gnomes *Sea Monsters that attacked Submarines *Alien Abductions ✅ *Ogres *Ghouls *Lich *Cyborgs *Witches *Kaiju *Cthulhu ✅ *The Rake *Revenants *Vampires *Dagon *Ogopogo *Colossal Claude *Spectral Carriages *Kappa *Flatwoods Monster *The Flying Dutchman *El Charro Negro *La Santa Compaña *Davy Jones & the Undead Pirates

[@Vox-Multis]

It always makes me a little sad when I see a unicorn depicted as just a horse with a horn - as opposed to older depictions, when they were their own, original animals that just happened to bear a passing resemblance to a horse.

[@skurvay3429]

3:35 In the Jetix Original series *Yin Yang Yo* as well as the Simpsons episode *Lisa the Drama Queen* (Season 20 Episode 9), they both have two-horned unicorns but refer to them as *Twonicorns* (2-Nicorns / Two + Unicorn = Twonicorn).

[@bardic_grin]

When I hear sea unicorn I immediately think of the narwhal!

[@connorthompson8376]

I really like the cover of “The Unicorn” song done by The Irish Rovers, and their own sequel, showing the unicorns who missed the Ark being changed into narwhals.

[@john80c]

Great presentation. Typical example of something gory sanitised for modern children much like nursey stories.

[@pauliewogmastercertifiedli535]

Just found your site today. Watched the one on Baga Yaga, now this. I am hooked. Well researched and presented. Host is amazing! I feel a binge coming on. Also have been sharing videos and texting people to try out site.

[@pbsstoried]

Glad you found us! And thank you-*Dr.Z*

[@adrianmorrison4678]

Talking about unicorns today makes me feel even more desperate and ready to see you do a video about the bad reputation in bats and how it evolved over the decades. I'm also ready to see you do a video on dinosaur monsters in movies through evolution and the impact it got from Jurassic Park. Lastly I wish you could break down the impact king kong had throughout the near century span of his existence.

[@Kehy_ThisNameWasAlreadyTaken]

Jaws, both the novel and the films has had a massive negative impact on oceanic ecosystems worldwide, and cause a hell of a lot more fear and panic around sharks than there should have ever been

[@jonathan0225]

Watching so much casual geographic and now this, im quite convinced that the violence lore is definitely because rhinos are legally blind, it shoots on site without any regard.

[@PokhrajRoy.]

1:55 This is interesting indeed.

[@johndemeritt3460]

One of the things I noticed in the many varied images of unicorns was one that appeared blue. The creature depicted looked like a Corgi with a horn on its forehead. That would explain why unicorns have the dispositions they do.

[@UltimaLestat]

I think there's an interesting take on the unicorn as a rare and difficult creature to hunt in Monster Hunter's Kirin. It may be named after a different mythological creature, but here it's an electric unicorn with extremely hard skin, which darts around making it hard to land a blow, and also randomly rains down lightning making it even harder to approach. And as an elder dragon class creature, it is also extremely rare to begin with. Definitely some real unicorn inspiration there in a roundabout way.

[@fiberpoet6250]

I have loved Unicorns my whole life My love for unicorns began with The Last Unicorn Such beautiful art and an amazing story and I also had a double sided blanket that had a white unicorn on one side and a black unicorn on the other. I never loved a blanket so much. It was super soft and fuzzy and beautifully made Then some hoe stole it when I was institutionalized. I hope I get another one someday

[@enriqueramirez0615]

Just last week they made the Unicorns bigger, and then they gave them more horns, and then they made them chubbier. I mean, really, they just made a bunch of Weird Fluffy Rhinoceros.

[@meganshaw1987]

A flying unicorn is actually called an Alicorn. And according to some lore an Alicorn’s power level is usually much greater than that of the unicorn. In order to match the power-level of an Alicorn there has to be no less than ten unicorns together who have the exact same level of power.

[@bamboozledan]

As a Terraria player, I've already had my fair share of violent deaths from Unicorns. 10/10 would die to again.

[@devonmunn5728]

Also I'm taking this as an opportunity to recommend the Killer Unicorns duology by Diana Peterfreund. Underrated gem of a duology

[@galaxystarrs5432]

i loved unicorns so much as a child, i had a lot of plushies of them. and one of my favorite mythological creatures.

[@sorchaOtwo]

In the artwork/tapestry beginning around 7:49 in the video, the picture depicts a lion and a unicorn. Could this refer to the rivalry between England and Scotland - aka the lion and the unicorn?

[@robertjohnson5227]

Unicorns are terriffic 21st century artwork as well. I have drawn them for around 30 years now

[@johnopalko5223]

I saw a "unicorn" once at a Renaissance Faire, wow, must be 45 years ago now. It was a goat with a single horn in the middle of its head. I imagine the owner had done a lot of inbreeding of his stock to move the horns closer and closer together until they merged. I always wondered what other genetic horrors were lurking in that poor thing's DNA.

[@Lucius1958]

Possibly one of the Zells' creations? It wasn't breeding, though, but surgery: they grafted the horn buds to the center of the skull.

[@johnopalko5223]

@@Lucius1958 I guess that's not quite as bad, but still... It being surgical makes much more sense, though. I had heard of people burning horn buds off but it never occurred to me to transplant them. I guess that's why Zell was issued a patent.

[@AmericanAurochs]

10:05 Personally, I would still be thrilled to own one of those!

[@jl1618_]

Awesome video! I had no idea the history of the unicorn was so varied. Are there other instances of the modern associations of mythological creatures being far removed from historical associations? Is there a single piece of media that can be pointed to as originating the association of the unicorn with purity and innocence?

[@angelicamcd1165]

"The Lady and the Unicorn" figures prominently in Gundam Unicorn. Banager Links being the pilot of the Unicorn Gundam and Mineva Zabi a noble representing the Lady. Quite a few connections to the Unicorn tapestries as well.

[@eliudcdelgado]

The ferocious nature of unicorns makes me think some of those depictions are actually just embellished rhinos

[@earlsmith6722]

Good job covering the European unicorn. Can we please get a video on the Asian varieties?

[@oliviasvahn4090]

When I was little I read a book once on unicorns (I don’t remember the title) in which a girl is wounded and a unicorn cures her by putting its horn against her heart. But the father of the girl sees it and thinks the creature is killing her daughter so he attacks it. The unicorn defend itself and they battle, killing each other. At that point the girl wakes up and sees her father, dead by the horn of the unicorn and she swears revenge on all unicorns and since a piece of the unicorn horn snapped and got stuck into her heart now she is immortal! I actually never ended the story, but that bit stuck with me, so I actually look at unicorn with careful respect 😅 And I still have nightmares about that scene 😬

[@messypeaches]

The unicorn Chronicles

[@Sophie_Cleverly]

I was going to comment about the bizarre song I had on tape as a kid about the unicorn missing the ark. It really scared me but had no idea what it was and no one I've asked could remember. Then of course you mentioned it 😂 well, now I know what it is! Also, the lion and the unicorn fighting in the book version of Stardust is proper terrifying as well.

[@terrorcop101]

Don't forget about the unicorns that appeared in the Overlord games, which were driven mad by the sloth of Oberon to the point that they killed and ate pretty much every creature to cross their path.

[@alicewilloughby4318]

0:21 - Let's be clear; although Twilight Sparkle starts off as a unicorn in the first two-or-three seasons of the show, she eventually grows wing to go along with her horn and becomes an Alicorn - much more powerful. 2:55 - Huh. Seems like a slightly different definition.

[@ursatzotschew7541]

I *LOVE* the last unicorn movie so much!

[@MariaMartinez-researcher]

Three trivia things: Unicorn food. A trend starting around 2017 and still around. Desserts, cakes, toast spreads, party food, in pastel rainbow colors. Just google it. In the 1983 TV series Wizards and Warriors, princess Ariel mounts an unicorn. And, a horn on the forehead is a trope in the Star Trek universe to signal an alien animal species. Horned dogs, horned horses - and the fierce Mugato.

[@Noodlemonkey7]

The Last Unicorn broke me growing up. I still haven’t watched it again to this day.

[@warrenbradford2597]

Unicorn archetype came a long way since its conception. It is worth reading horrific tales they have originated from to see how scary they were.

[@tremorsfan]

Beagle did a special screening of the movie at my theater. I was amazed by how popular it was.

[@lanatherana157]

SEE HER AS SHE SPARKLES SHES THE LAST UNICORNNNNNNNN

[@Shatterverse]

While MLP can burn, the modern word for a flying unicorn is 'alicorn' - probably based on that horn name. Personally I think 'Pegacorn' would be funnier.

[@Beryllahawk]

I still call them Pegacorns >.>

[@jeffreywells1832]

Alicorn is, of course, the word for either the horn itself or the material it is made from. The use of "alicorn" as a reference for a winged unicorn is recent, emerging from the work of fantasy author Piers Anthony (who IIRC mistakenly believed it to be the already in-use commonly accepted term, inadvertently popularizing this memetic drift).

[@Beryllahawk]

@@jeffreywells1832 Was it Piers Anthony? In which series, if i might ask? I have no illusions that I've read even half his works, Xanth is MASSIVE -

[@jeffreywells1832]

@@Beryllahawk Not Xanth. Incarnations of Immortality, I think.

[@Beryllahawk]

@@jeffreywells1832 Ah! Time for a re-read then, I don't recall that at all - but it's been a good long while, haha! Thank you!

[@Tyrexthecreaturedesigner]

Incredible video!! I added unicorns to my fantasy world project. They’re more of a cross between a rhinoceros and a Clydesdale if anything. Also, rhinos and horses are related. Elasmotherium is technically a true unicorn.

[@theplan-m6c]

Great video. Could you do an episode on the incubus and the succubus

[@maxpowers9129]

I'd like to see more about sleep paralysis and the images associated within different cultures. In cultures that believe in the succubus that is what will usually be described. In cultures that believe in aliens, that is what they will usually describe. Understanding how the human experience can serve as proof to reinforce mythology is an interesting topic to me, but isn't one addressed often. If you were told that succubi were real and you woke up unable to move and thought you saw a succubus on top of you, then it's going to seem like very reliable evidence to you.

[@theplan-m6c]

​@@maxpowers9129 interesting.

[@petrsevcik5044]

With Ancient Magus's Bride returning with second season this spring, could you perhaps do an episode/s about some of the various "neighbours" appearing in the series?

[@samiam3297]

Anything in the books or folklore that the first Uni's were actually Oryx with just one horn? Those amazing beast are BRUTAL!!!! Able to impale cars & trucks like butter.

[@Bethany342]

I enjoy how Mercades Lackey portrays unicorns in her 500 kingdoms series, pretty, can be fierce and, at times dumb as rocks, especially when in the presence of virgins Im blanking on the name of the book but there was one who was outlined with Snow white where the princess' main suitor happened to be a virgin and of course attracted the last unicorn in the kingdom to him simply by taking a walk through the woods. It was a fun contrast, considering he was a norse demigod looking for a way to avoid his tragic fate.