As I have done plenty of research on myths for the sake of my own writing, I have found it quite amusing that many of the elements that define fantasy especially, come from my own faith of Judaism and so I will spend this post informing you of some of them in hopes that you will go take a look for yourself and learn something.
I'll start with a monster that anyone who has read any of my fiction knows I have an almost creepy infatuation with: The Succubus. The Demon of the Night as it is known in Judaism, they are the offspring of the Monster Lilith who is debated to either been Adam's first wife, or not in the Torah at all depending on who you ask.
What matters is the legend behind this monster. They are said to enter a home at night. Kill all the children they find, strangle the mother in her sleep and then shape-shift into the wife of the now widower and childless father and rape him in his sleep before killing him as well. A Mezuzah, the scroll with the Shema, a vital prayer in Judaism is the way to keep them out of the home,
Most fantasy that makes use of the Succubus tends to have them kill via sex or acts of compassion and love and keeps with the theme of shape-shifting and being exceptionally beautiful although the original version of the Demon was hideous to behold which is why it would shape-shift.
The Succubus helped inspire a multitude of other monsters that kill via charm and guile not limited to the Vampire, The Sirens (although this myth came about not too long after the Jewish myths) Mermaids, Erinys and other beings like them. Each one has a slightly different feel to them, but they all come from the same source. (although, some can argue that the Succubus was only half the inspiration for these other monsters and I will give its counterpart, the Lamia a reference as well.)
It doesn't stop there though. The Golem is another myth right out of Judaism. Golems are non living creations who are given life by words, usually the Shema in Judaism. Bringing life from stone or metal may be familiar as Golems have become quite common in fiction as of late, but some of the most famous stories such as "Frankenstein" (which I would like to point out is a Jewish sounding name) are based of the legends of the Golem, bringing life to that which has none.
Even Pokemon of all things has gotten into the fun with this one. The Regi Trio in Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald and their remakes as well as Regigigas added in Diamond/Pearl/Platinum are a direct homage to the Jewish Golem.
Of course I saved my favorite and the most interesting influence for last as this is the one that had the most influence on fantasy. If the Succubus is my favorite of the evil inclined monsters in fantasy, then it is also interesting that my favorite of the good aligned races also happens to have Jewish influences. Although it was not originally created by my people, the way that this type of creature exists exactly the same in every single form of fiction is indicative of Judaism's influence.
I speak of the Dwarves of course. In every single story they are in just about they have the following characteristics: Males with Long Beards, Strong Traditions, Loving to drink dance and sing at every meal, A love of gold and wealth, friendly to strangers but give their full trust sparingly, letting the hungry in to eat, a mind capable of vast inventions and things that change the world, and are constantly trying to reclaim a homeland that was stolen from them. I basically just hit almost every Jewish Stereotype out there. There are way more but I may write a future blog post on just how Tolkien s Dwarves have transformed into a race that constantly eludes to the Jewish people at large.
As a Fantasy and Science Fiction Writer, it pleases me to no end to see that my religious faith and my writing do not need to be mutually exclusive. As I continue to write more stories with biblical elements, I will likely write more posts like this one to explain some of the research I find.
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