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Description
Popular modern depictions of beings from mythology and folklore are often rather different from what the early versions the old legends and folk tales actually spoke of were like. Beings of mythology and folklore were often so strange and/or freakish that they make most of today's fantasy depictions look downright dull. Here's just a few examples. The top beings are the more familiar modern depictions while the ones below are their stranger counterparts from actual mythology and folklore.

Angels: Yes, I know I've depicted some of the ancient eldritch versions of angels before: tarturus.deviantart.com/art/My… But so what, I say. Any excuse to draw a seraphim again is just fine with me.
So anyway, above on the left we see a typical halo wearing, bird wings growing from the back sort of angel. The sort made popular by medieval and Renaissance artists.
Below we see one of the more original angels- in this case a seraphim. The seraphim were the most powerful of the angels. They looked like giant fiery serpent dragons with six wings, each wing covered in lots of eyes. Though not considered "evil" they were very dangerous, so dangerous in fact that even looking directly upon one could result in being burned to death by all the divine energy it emitted. Other angel types were at least as weird, including such things as the cherubim who looked like strange mix and match hybrid beings and the ophanim who looked like fiery flying wheels covered in eyes.

Fairy: Above in the middle we see the sort of fairy most people today will be familiar with. A tiny little person with insect wings and magical powers. Such fairies are generally seen as cute and friendly, which is VERY different from what fairies were actually like in the old folk tales.
The term "fairy" does not seem to have actually referred to a race of beings but was rather a broad term covering various different types of supernatural beings. These ranged in appearance from beings so human-like they could be mistaken for humans to beings that looked truly nightmarish. The example I've chosen is such a being- the dullahan, who we see standing below in the middle. The dullahan's head is not attached to the body but instead carried by one of its arms. And it wasn't just any old severed head either, but a rotting one the colour of mouldy cheese, with small black eyes and a nasty toothy grin. In the other hand was a whip made from a human spine. The dullahan also had a horse whose head was also detached, but I have not included that in the picture. In any case though, don't mess with a dullahan. Other frightening fairies included the nuckelavee, which looked like what would happen if a one-eyed skinless horse was fused with a one-eyed skinless rider; the pooka, a malevolent shape-shifter that could take many forms, including the form of a man-faced horse; the cath sith, which looked like a black cat with a white spot on its chest and as big as a large dog; and many more.

Troll: The previous beings were ones often portrayed as less monstrous than what the earlier tales showed. Now here is an example of the opposite. Above on the right we have your standard modern fantasy troll. A giant ugly brute of little intelligence. More likely to eat you than to try to start a conversation. It may come as a surprise to know that old Nordic tales tell of trolls that were not particularly monstrous at all.
Believe it or not but the pretty young lady on the bottom right is actually supposed to be a troll. Old Nordic tales actually speak of trolls as beings that looked much like us. They were not seen as having an ugly or monstrous appearance. Indeed, troll girls could be exceptionally beautiful. They were also not generally considered evil though they could potentially be dangerous. Trolls wore clothes and lived in societies with their own laws and languages. Their societies were found under cliffs and mountains. They shunned steel, feared thunder, were cunning thieves, and possessed great strength and magical powers (hence why I have depicted my troll woman conjuring some magical energy in one hand). In fact, the word "troll" is derived from an Old Norse word that means "magic", and in modern Norwegian the word for "wizard" is "trollman". The trolls' magical powers included turning invisible and shape-shifting into shadows, animals and "balls of string" (perhaps an old description of ball lightning?). There are also a few tales about human children who gained supernatural strength from being breastfed by troll women who'd lost their own babies. Yes, these beautiful magical trolls would certainly come as a surprise to anyone familiar with the monstrous trolls made so popular by fantasy fiction.

Description
Popular modern depictions of beings from mythology and folklore are often rather different from what the early versions the old legends and folk tales actually spoke of were like. Beings of mythology and folklore were often so strange and/or freakish that they make most of today's fantasy depictions look downright dull. Here's just a few examples. The top beings are the more familiar modern depictions while the ones below are their stranger counterparts from actual mythology and folklore.

Angels: Yes, I know I've depicted some of the ancient eldritch versions of angels before: tarturus.deviantart.com/art/My… But so what, I say. Any excuse to draw a seraphim again is just fine with me.
So anyway, above on the left we see a typical halo wearing, bird wings growing from the back sort of angel. The sort made popular by medieval and Renaissance artists.
Below we see one of the more original angels- in this case a seraphim. The seraphim were the most powerful of the angels. They looked like giant fiery serpent dragons with six wings, each wing covered in lots of eyes. Though not considered "evil" they were very dangerous, so dangerous in fact that even looking directly upon one could result in being burned to death by all the divine energy it emitted. Other angel types were at least as weird, including such things as the cherubim who looked like strange mix and match hybrid beings and the ophanim who looked like fiery flying wheels covered in eyes.

Fairy: Above in the middle we see the sort of fairy most people today will be familiar with. A tiny little person with insect wings and magical powers. Such fairies are generally seen as cute and friendly, which is VERY different from what fairies were actually like in the old folk tales.
The term "fairy" does not seem to have actually referred to a race of beings but was rather a broad term covering various different types of supernatural beings. These ranged in appearance from beings so human-like they could be mistaken for humans to beings that looked truly nightmarish. The example I've chosen is such a being- the dullahan, who we see standing below in the middle. The dullahan's head is not attached to the body but instead carried by one of its arms. And it wasn't just any old severed head either, but a rotting one the colour of mouldy cheese, with small black eyes and a nasty toothy grin. In the other hand was a whip made from a human spine. The dullahan also had a horse whose head was also detached, but I have not included that in the picture. In any case though, don't mess with a dullahan. Other frightening fairies included the nuckelavee, which looked like what would happen if a one-eyed skinless horse was fused with a one-eyed skinless rider; the pooka, a malevolent shape-shifter that could take many forms, including the form of a man-faced horse; the cath sith, which looked like a black cat with a white spot on its chest and as big as a large dog; and many more.

Troll: The previous beings were ones often portrayed as less monstrous than what the earlier tales showed. Now here is an example of the opposite. Above on the right we have your standard modern fantasy troll. A giant ugly brute of little intelligence. More likely to eat you than to try to start a conversation. It may come as a surprise to know that old Nordic tales tell of trolls that were not particularly monstrous at all.
Believe it or not but the pretty young lady on the bottom right is actually supposed to be a troll. Old Nordic tales actually speak of trolls as beings that looked much like us. They were not seen as having an ugly or monstrous appearance. Indeed, troll girls could be exceptionally beautiful. They were also not generally considered evil though they could potentially be dangerous. Trolls wore clothes and lived in societies with their own laws and languages. Their societies were found under cliffs and mountains. They shunned steel, feared thunder, were cunning thieves, and possessed great strength and magical powers (hence why I have depicted my troll woman conjuring some magical energy in one hand). In fact, the word "troll" is derived from an Old Norse word that means "magic", and in modern Norwegian the word for "wizard" is "trollman". The trolls' magical powers included turning invisible and shape-shifting into shadows, animals and "balls of string" (perhaps an old description of ball lightning?). There are also a few tales about human children who gained supernatural strength from being breastfed by troll women who'd lost their own babies. Yes, these beautiful magical trolls would certainly come as a surprise to anyone familiar with the monstrous trolls made so popular by fantasy fiction.