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HareTrinity β Tatzlwurm and flower
Published: 2014-02-05 17:41:15 +0000 UTC; Views: 1102; Favourites: 20; Downloads: 11
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I'm going to go ahead and headcanon that s/he purrs when happy (the Tatzelwurms of alpine mythology are part cat).Related content
Comments: 17
Thanks! 
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Yep
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No wonder it really wants that flower in the first place, because it's a bond between those 2
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I'm surprised more fans haven't explored that!
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Me neither, the reason why it protected the flower in the first place.
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Oh, they are? that's pretty interesting to hear! Where did you learn that?
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Well, there's a little article on Wikipedia, but more can be found from other sources too, e.g. www.unknownexplorers.com/tatzeβ¦
I can't say it's one I'm terrible familiar with, but "tatzlwurm" did ring a tiny bell for me! I love that such obscure mythological creatures like this and the ahuizotl are appearing in MLP!
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That is a pretty cool reference, although given the Tatzlwurm's design in the episode and the chimera's original components in Alpine mythology, I think its more a case of cultural appropriation. That's alright, since the worm isn't called a Tatzlwurm in the episode and only referred to as such in the credits, so the audience will associate it with the Graboids from the movie Tremors instead. The wrongful association between the two will thus be limited.Β
All the same, I don't appreciate such liberal appropriation like that; at best it will spawn future minor misunderstandings of other cultures, and at worst erode the meaning these mythological creatures once had. Nothing is more tragic than the perversion or erasure of a culture from history. If the writing staff wants an impressive-sounding name for their monsters' species, and want to draw from real world cultures, they should pick more accurate names. That, or create a new species name like 'draconequus.' That's enough juxtaposition of Latin to sound like a genuine mythological reference. Maybe they could even begin their own mythology!
But you probably don't want to hear all that! Generally, I do appreciate these mythological references that MLP makes, whether its popular mythology like the Greek's Cerberus, or obscure mythological figures like the Aztec's Ahuizotl (even if Ahuizotl wanted to create 800 years of drought, despite being a water creature. His attempt to drown Daring Do was a nice touch, though).
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I don't know about that... Is a travelling doctor's misunderstanding of a local legend 300 years ago any less treasured a description of a mythological creature than the remains of the original myths? It's annoying when folk don't cite their sources, or misinform, but sometimes that brings in new elements, and working out the real influences offers mini mysteries to those who are bothered to look.
Sometimes the "real" answer isn't as fun anyway. For example, the Chimera seems to be just an analogy for Mount Chimaera, which had populations of lions, goats, and snakes, and did indeed belch forth flame as it's a volcano. I don't mind symbolic creatures, but that might have just been a misunderstanding.
Still, I think mythological creatures would suffer more from being entirely forgotten, reduced to just a single line in books only mythology nerds like me look at, than they do from being turned into modern cartoon form. The Tatzlwurm may only bear a little resemblance to one of its illustrations (with the legs lost for MLP) but it's still nice to see it's not forgotten. It was still a digging/jumping worm, too!
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I don't quite understand why you brought a 'travelling doctor' into the discussion, especially if its a Doctor Who reference. And its not necessarily about 'fun,' but preserving a culture's mythology so it won't be lost to the sands of time, and so future generations can appreciate other cultures. But you are right, cultures are constantly changing, and while some things are forgotten with the change, so are some things remembered such as theΒ Tatzlwurm. Now, if a fan of the show wants to learn about that purple monster worm, they can always track it down to the original source and enrich themselves that way. Not only that, but new ideas are added to myths, and what else do living things like long-held ideas do but adapt throughout time?
Oh, is that the case? I can see why such a mountain would inspire fear, mystery, and inspiration into a culture then, giving birth to the myth of the chimera. I know that amalgamations of animals are common enough in mythology, but never thought that the chimera would be born from such an extreme situation. That's genuinely interesting to know! Thank you for telling me that.
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The doctor thing isn't a Doctor Who reference, I was on about how some mythology gets "updated" because an academic happens to visit an island and record their version, which may not line up with the older versions of the myth. My point was that a 500+ year old myth getting added to 300 years ago isn't necessarily a more valid addition than something in today's cartoons: There's every chance that the person who "recorded" the new data embellished it for a good story, or just made it up and said that it was a local legend. I'd still consider itΒ a great shame for that to REPLACE the original, but no one's going to throw out their old Tatzelwurm info for MLP's Tatzlwurm, right?
Does make me wonder how our current era will be looked back upon in 1000 years, though. Will our urban myths count as "proper" mythology then, or will they stay relatively separate?
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To be frank, I'd be satisfied if the human race wasn't extinct within the next 1000 years. Western culture so heavily supports apocalypticism that I've never much thought of a future for our species beyond the next 100 to 200 years or so. Space travel and having the human race 'live among the stars' feels too optimistic for me to sincerely believe, or even hope for. Even worse, I doubt I'll live to see my 30th year, but maybe I'm being paranoid? I sure hope so, I'd like to stave death off for as long as possible. I'd like to learn what love truly is before dying.
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I'm sure it won't be so bad. Space travel will be slow and manned space travel makes very little sense at this stage, but humanity's barely been around so far! Unless we manage to extinct our entire species (which would take some work; we're pretty resourceful), I'm sure we'll continue with our "two steps forward, one step back" form of progress.
Chances are you'll make it past 30, but no reason not to make the most of life now!
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Well, that's very sweet of you to say. I hope that's the case too. Just wish my future didn't feel like some gaping void sometimes. ^_^" Which may be why I don't like planning much ahead into the future...
Ehehe, but look, we've gone from MLP, to mythology, to space travel, and now my personal hangups! How quickly we, or at least I, changed the subject! My bad.
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One step at a time, right? And haha, no worries, wandering conversations are fun!
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That's kind of you to say. ^_^
Well, hopefully the newest episode had its good moments like Three's a Crowd. I don't care much for the premise, but we'll have to see.
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