Fair Folk

"Up the airy mountain Down the rushy glen We dare not go a-hunting For fear of little men."

- — The Fairies, William Allingham

Modern society has lived with the Disneyfied version of fairies for so long—the Fairy Godmothers of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, Tinker Bell in Peter Pan—that it seems hard to imagine that some would consider Fairies evil. And yet, some of them were. The fairies of old weren't cute little bewinged pixies who fluttered happily around humans. Elves didn't make children toys or live deep in forests with no interaction with mortals. At best, they would interact with humans with either no thought to the consequences of their actions (the Little People who put Rip Van Winkle to sleep)note or as tricksters that delight in the mess they're making of mortal lives (Oberon, Puck, and the rest in A Midsummer Night's Dream). At worst, they're like The Joker with magic; otherworldly horrors who kidnap humans for use as playthings to assault, torture, or eat—or sometimes even worse things ("Tam Lin"). The Fair Folk almost always live in the Land of Faerie, and may be depicted as an Inhumanly Beautiful Race. They are usually vulnerable to Cold Iron, though not always (Dullahan are weak to gold) For more information, including much of what used to be this page's description, please see the Analysis tab. In a manner of speaking, the old version of fairies has been replaced with Alien Abduction. In both cases, you have creatures who are ineffable and don't understand humanity, who randomly abduct humans, play with them, and return them with Time Loss and occasionally strange powers/afflictions. Periodically, there are tales of those who have dealt with them and benefited, but for the most part, mundanes are merely their playthings. Frequently found in concert with Grimmification, as the original folklore of the darker breeds of fairies needs little exaggeration. Compare and contrast Fairy Companion, Witch Species, Our Elves Are Better, Our Fairies Are Different, Our Goblins Are Different, Our Mermaids Are Different, Nature Spirit, and All Trolls Are Different. See also Changeling Tale, a specific subtrope having to do with fairy abduction, doppelgangers, and the like. Not to be confused with Changeling Fantasy, which is a type of Cinderella Situation. The Wild Hunt is an often-overlapping trope from Celtic Mythology. Youkai are a rough Japanese equivalent. The Greys is a more modern trope with many similarities. Demons when not The Legions of Hell are often also portrayed this way. An extreme example may be a Humanoid Abomination.