Welcome to this series of Myths and Monsters, where we will be doing a deeper dive into the lore of some of our lesser known creatures, beasts, gods and entities that weave their way through stories across the globe and through our shared history. Today's topic? Shapeshifters!
Shapeshifters are a common theme in story telling across cultures and throughout time. Stories of people changing into beasts, or beasts taking the form of people kept children from straying into the shadows of the woods, and sent goosebumps skittering across skin as we watched each other around campfires. Shapeshifters can be violent, driven by curses or urges unfamiliar in our civilized world, yet they run rampant in our shared culture - from the 1941 film The Wolf Man, to Harry Potter and Twilight. Shapeshifters can be found across genres, in horror and sci-fi films and books, romance and even - unsurprisingly - erotica.
If you have a thing for change, shapeshifters might just be the thrill you are looking for. Let's learn more about some of the lesser known shapeshifting entities from stories told around the world.
Selkie
The Selkie is a beautiful woman in a seal's skin. She emerges from the ocean and sheds her skin to spend time on land. Anyone who steals the skin of a Selkie can keep her from her beloved sea, but the Selkie will stop at nothing to return to the ocean's embrace.
The Selkie’s story ripples through Celtic and Norse folklore, echoing themes of autonomy, desire, and loss.
In some tales, a fisherman finds a seal’s skin and hides it, forcing the Selkie to marry him. She bears his children, tends his hearth, yet her heart remains with the ocean. When she finds her skin again, she leaves — not out of cruelty, but necessity.
The sea is her first home, the seal her true body. Selkies embody the tension between love and freedom, between belonging and selfhood. They are the mythic mirror of every woman who has ever been loved for her gentleness but not her wildness.
Huli Jing
Huli Jing are fox spirits of Chinese mythology. Known for their shapeshifting abilities, they are significant as both benevolent and malevolent beings.
The Huli Jing’s legend spans millennia, evolving from demon to deity. In early texts, she was feared — a shapeshifter who drained men’s vitality.
Later, she became revered as a guardian of love and fertility. Her duality is a reflection of a woman's untamed nature - keeper of the home, bringer of light and love, but a vicious warrior when those she loves are threatened, or when she awakens to her own powerful worth.
Berserker
The Berserker’s myth bridges history and myth. Their brutality was legendary, their attire widely debated. The animal pelts they are said to wear as they went on a raid seeded myths around them shapeshifting. It is suggested that these tales laid the foundation for the werewolf legend in Europe.
These raiders were often described as violent marauders who murdered and attacked with deep aggression - thus "going berserk". Alternatively they were described as the loyal and brutal guards of warlords and nobles.
When they were not featured wearing their disorienting and intimidating pelts, they were illustrated bare-chested or in chest plates.
Kitsune
Kitsune a fox or fox spirit with the supernatural abilities to shape shift and posess humans. They were painted as both tricksters and bringers of fortune.
The Kitsune stories span centuries — from ancient Shinto shrines to modern anime. She often appears as a beautiful woman to test human integrity through deception.
The longer they live the the stronger and more intelligent they get. Their increased abilities are displayed by an increasing number of tails.
They are seen as the harbingers of good luck - their sightings a promise of a good harvest.
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Snow White and the Wicked Queen: Chapter 1
Snow White and the Vicious Curse: Chapter 2
Snow White and the Seven Thieves: Chapter 3
Snow White and the Poisoned Apple: The Final Chapter
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