Monstrous

Faeries, The Fay & The Hidden => Faeries & The Fay => Topic started by: Levinthross on January 21, 2009, 01:23:00 PM

Title: hhhhmmmmm CHANGELINGS
Post by: Levinthross on January 21, 2009, 01:23:00 PM
since my last topic got locked before i could bring up the neew topic (by the way that was a beautiful degradation to naght whatever's name moloch) i have been meaning to bring up changelings. but unlike most people i thoroughly believe that changeling themselves are either malformed fae or the result of fae and human offspring. which result in the iconic children with weird behaviors probably caused by the unstable mixing of a being of spirit and are meager d.n.a. which would make children mentally unstable and with weird growth patterns. any opinions?
Title: Re: hhhhmmmmm CHANGELINGS
Post by: Daemonin on January 21, 2009, 01:42:48 PM
Changelings are actually a very interesting topic.  Here's what I know:

There were legends back in the olden days that if you didn't protect your children a faerie would change out her malformed child for your human child to take back to the land of the fae where the human would become a kind of slave of sorts.  There were definitely other versions, but that was the basic idea.

I think changelings may have just been the way people tried to explain why some children ended up with defects or mental problems way back when.  I don't know for sure, but that's just my thought on it.
Title: Re: hhhhmmmmm CHANGELINGS
Post by: Amaya on January 21, 2009, 02:08:57 PM
I have done quite a bit of research about changelings. Like Daemonin said, it's a very interesting topic. A big professor had a web page full of reports, theories, and everything relating to them all in one nice, neat collection but I lost it when my computer half crashed last fall....I will try to find it for you.

I have read many theories about changelings and haven't yet found one I solidly back.  I agree with the theory that the early christian churches used changelings as an excuse to butcher and gruesomely kill babies with birth defects, mental disabilities and the like, but that theory only goes so far into history. I do believe there were real changelings among them, but mostly, it was just a way to justify infanticide. Then again, I also agree that changelings were perceived as more of a threat than they really were.

I don't want to go into extreme detail currently because of personal issues so I will try to find the link and post it when I find it.
Title: Re: hhhhmmmmm CHANGELINGS
Post by: Levinthross on January 21, 2009, 03:17:50 PM
thank you Amaya any posted information that you have deemed feesible would be greatly aprreciated
Title: Re: hhhhmmmmm CHANGELINGS
Post by: Amaya on January 21, 2009, 04:15:28 PM
Really? Awww...Thanks.

By a stroke of luck, I found it. It's an article that goes through all the theories and views on changelings while coming to the same conclusion I did. Also, It's slightly off topic but there are links to other in depth articles that may be of liking to many who are interested in other topics as well. I don't know about the quality of the other articles but the changeling one is very good.
Oh, and a warning: some of the stories in the article are a bit graphic.
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/changeling.html (http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/changeling.html)
Title: Re: hhhhmmmmm CHANGELINGS
Post by: Countess on January 21, 2009, 08:30:45 PM
I think there is a thread about changelings already but this is what I know & what I think. Changelings were believed to be the result of they fey switching their children for human children mainly becuase the fey were believed to enjoy pranking humans. When I first visited Ireland at the age of 8 the mistress of the house insisted on tucking me in to the bed so tightly I couldn't move & locking the doors & windows so that the fey didn't attempt to steal me. My opinion of this phenomenon is that it was an attempt by people to explain deformity or mental problems in children that they did not understand at the time. Also, no parent wants an imperfect child, so it makes them feel better to say that the deformed/ill child isn't their's, it's been swapped.
Title: Re: hhhhmmmmm CHANGELINGS
Post by: blow_fly on January 22, 2009, 08:09:56 AM
Changeling tales may also have carried an underlying moral imperative. As a young child, I recall reading a fairy tale that recounts how a troll stole a female villager's baby and replaced it with its own. Despite her husband's urging, she refuses to kill it and raises it as her own. Ultimately, her own child is released as a result of the kindness that she displayed towards the changeling. Perhaps changelings could also have been a means by which the fey determined the compassion and kindness of certain mortals? Just my two cents.
Title: Re: hhhhmmmmm CHANGELINGS
Post by: Angelus on May 14, 2009, 07:55:31 AM
I am the current demonologist and folklore researcher for a paranormal investgation team based in Glasgow and changelings have always been a particular fav of mine, wikipedia has a very good page on them and so does "A Field Guide to Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels and Other Subversive Spirits " by Carol and Dinah Mack. Infact I recomend that book to anyone with an interest in any paranormal creatures.
Title: Re: hhhhmmmmm CHANGELINGS
Post by: Levinthross on June 20, 2009, 06:24:47 PM
ok but in the case of morgan le fay her children had various notable physical mutations though destined for greatness by there mother it seems to be there fae heritage which made them unnatractive for even morgan herself was said to be a water dragon or serpent who had to revert to her normal form every saturday.