BESTIARY MONSTERS
Most of these creatures don't actually originate in Medieval bestiaries, I'm using the phrase "bestiary monsters" for lack of a better term. Most of the creatures I'm dealing with on this page appear in bestiaries, which is what they're generally best remembered for, although I've also included other creatures from Pliny's Natural History. I personally see these groups of monsters as connected.
Barometz -- Catoblepas -- Crocotta -- Leucrocotta -- Manticore -- Mermecolion -- Peryton
A scaly, winged, bull-like creature that could turn people to stone by looking at them, but fortunately usually looked downwards. According to ancient Greek naturalist Pliny, the catoblepas lived in Ethiopia. It is now thought that the stories of catoblepi actually referred to the gnu.
According to Pliny, India was home to crocottas. These creatures resembled combinations of dogs and wolves, leading the naturalist to speculate that they were, in fact, hybrids of the two animals. Pliny also noted the crocotta's powerful jaws.
FF3's crocotta has noticebly large teeth, but other than that looks more like a horned monkey than anything else.
Pliny claimed that leucrocottas lived in India, and were combinations of lions, stags and badgers (while Pliny identified the head as being that of a badger, later writers said that the monster had a horse's head). The creature's mouth was its strangest feature - it was wide enough to reach both ears, and had a bony ridge instead of teeth.
FF3's leucrocotta... erm, well. It doesn't really match Pliny's description at all.
IMAGE: Illustration of a leucrocotta from a Medieval bestiary (MS. 24)
The ancient Greeks believed that creatures called manticores lived in India. Manticores had the bodies of lions, heads of men and the tails of scorpions (with several stings that could be flung at pray). They were said to eat people; the word "manticore" means "man-eater".
The FF manticores are modelled around the Dungeons and Dragons versions, which added bat wings to the mix.
IMAGE: Image of a manticore from a Medieval bestiary (MS Bodley 764)
A creature of Medieval folklore, which arose from a mistranslation of the Bible (in Job 4:11, "The old lion perisheth
for lack of prey, and the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad", "old lion" was changed to "ant lion", or "mermecolion"). It was reasoned that the mermecolion was an ant with a lion's head, aand "perisheth for lack of pray" because the head and digestive system weren't built for the same types of food.
FF3's mermecolion has a recoloured version of the manticore's sprite. manticore was chosen as it is also part lion and part arthropod (a scorpion, rather than an ant). However, it's also part human and part bat.
According to the ancient Greeks, perytons were winged stags with the shadows of humans. They were said to be the souls of travellers.
FF3's peryton is a generic dragon-like creature.CATOBLEPAS
The catoblepas is also known as a gorgon, the name of another monster that can petrify with a glance.
CROCOTTA
LEUCROCOTTA
MANTICORE
MERMECOLION
PERYTON
