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scythemantis — Penanggalan
Published: 2003-09-28 04:04:42 +0000 UTC; Views: 2709; Favourites: 32; Downloads: 133
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Description
Like the nuckelavee, this is also from actual mythology rather than my own imagination...I rarely draw existing things but I just had to try with these two, as there's hardly any art of them online at all.The penanggalan is a species of vampire from malaysia, and consists of a woman's head trailing a full set of body organs (or sometimes just the digestive tract). It feeds exclusively on the blood of children, esspecially unborn babies (which results in a misscarriage). It can squeeze through the tiniest of openings, manipulate its intestines like tentacles, and fears only thorns (for very obvious reasons). In some legends the penanggalan returns to a hollow, headless body by day but can only fit back inside after soaking in vinegar. They will usually employ slaves to gaurd this body while they're gone.
Though personally my favorite of the bunch, the penanggalan is not the only bizarre female vampire in Malaysian folklore...
...there's the Aswang, which transforms into a big, ugly bird and feeds through a threadlike tongue hundreds of feet long (inserted into any convenient cavity on a sleeping victim's body while the creature sits on the roof, or dangled over pathways in the forest)....
... the Self-Segmenter, which can break apart at her joints and only consumes blood to nourish the demonic little baby birds in her abdomen...
...the "Langsuir", another baby-eater, which fed through a hole on the back of her neck (you read that correct), hidden by her long hair...
...and the "Polong", which resembled a very tiny woman and could be summoned as a servant by gradually filling a bottle with blood from your fingertips. Polongs made sounds like chirping birds (again with the birds), and if mistreated would turn on their masters and call upon a cricket-like "Pelesit" to bore a hole in the summoner's body so that both could enter and drive them insane. Those posessed by a polong and pelesit were in the habit of ranting and raving about cats.
One of the few male vampires of malaysia, the Bajang, resembles a weasel or ferret-like animal that mews like a cat and attacks children.
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Comments: 11
great representation of the myth, I had imagined something a little different myself, but I really like your interpretation.
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OMG!
I was just doing a search for yokai and other mythos and found this and I was like woah, that's cool, it looks like... ooh it IS by jonathan 
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This is SO old though, I should draw one in my current style and skill level. Or a nice flash cartoony one!
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This is the creature that made me afraid to open the D&D Fiend Folio when I was very small. I didn't find out that it was from actual mythology until I was in college and someone gave a report on them in a class.
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No offence, But That is the most bizarre vampire I had ever seen. *begs for forgiveness*
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Huh? What do you mean? Bizarre is a bad thing? I thought it was the whole idea.
As said in the description, it's not my creation. The penanggalan is a "real" type of vampire. That is, it comes from real folklore (Malaysian), and that's exactly what it's supposed to look like...just a woman's head with a bunch of hanging guts. Sometimes a spine. There's a similar vampire in chinese mythology consisting of a male head and stomach that sucks up human souls.
Course, this is such an old drawing. After making zillions of necromon I could draw a much better penanggalan these days if I had the energy.
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