A Name To A Creature?

[Anaya]

Is there a name to a creature that feeds off the essence of the departed? When I say this, I don't mean like "om nom nom dead cow/human!" I mean like, a soul. They feed off of souls and harness the spirits for their bidding. I suck with names but I think i recall something similar in my Mythology class two years ago but it was mentioned in passing.

:/ If anyone can help, that'd be great! 

-Spiritually Yours-

[KohakuClan]

do you mean the grim reaper? He is said to collect the souls of the dead for his bidding, but it is said that he does go around killing to "free the soul" and direct them to the "other side" (depending on what you believe in). There is another of a creature similar named ankou in Breton/gaulish mythology which is similar to the grim reaper but has a little bit of a story behind him other than the "angel of death"

[Anaya]

I don't mean the Grim Reaper but Ankou sounds familiar. Are these the only creatures like that? (Google search yielded nothing!)

[Anaya]

I'll have to check that site out further when I get home. After reading more about Ankou, it's not quite right...

[blow_fly]

Out of curiosity, what type of creature is it supposed to be exactly? An incorporeal spirit? Or a being of a more tangible nature

[Anaya]

Flesh and blood; living supposedly.

[Loki]

Ankou is the personification of death in French Britain. The article on Monstropedia is quite accurate. I guess this folktale is inherited from the Middle Ages when the black plague and warfare were taking a huge toll on the local population.

[Angelus]

The japanese Oni were sometimes said to eat souls, but then again, so were hundreds of monsters and demons.

[blow_fly]

Flesh and blood; living supposedly.

Does the creature slay those whose souls it intends to enslave or are they already dead to begin with?

[Anaya]

Already dead.