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Wraths
Also known as: ‘True’ Giants, Hugboys,
Atach, Gawr, Ents, Childes.
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Cyclopes
The Cyclopes are a distinctive variety of
Giant, easily distinguished by their large solitary eye. Although the
Fomorii warlord Balor, the Wrath King Yspadden Pencawr and the Blue Hags,
Cailleach Bheur and Black Annis, are all notably one-eyed they are not true
Cyclopes as they actually have two eyes - one permanently closed and
useless, and the other sharp and monstrous. True Cyclopes only have a single
huge eye situated in the centre of their forehead, though some may also have
two mock eyes situated in the normal place, but these are completely grafted
shut and non-functional and have been since birth.
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Foawr
Also known as: Stone-Throwing Giants,
Fooar.
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Ogres
Also known as: Fifel - females known as
Ogresses.
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Anthropophagi
The Anthropophagi are a bizarre breed of Ogre, for they have no heads. Their grim features are instead set apart on their muscular torsos, though due to the proximity of the bowels, Anthropophagi have no noses. Their rudimentary brains are thought to lie beneath their stomachs. Whilst they certainly cannot be claimed to be amiable towards mankind, perhaps only slight relief may be found in the claim that they will only kill us if they are hungry. They frequently arm themselves with crude weaponry and use tools and artefacts often crafted from human bones. Though the Anthropophagi tend to be encountered in isolation or in small numbers (they also have a cannibalistic tendency), it is possible that they are closely related to very similar North African creatures called Blemmyae.
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Thyrs
Whilst sightings of living, breathing Giants are perhaps becoming increasingly rare, encounters with huge Ghosts have been reported in recent times. Such a Giant Ghost or Thyr is Jack in Irons, who haunts lonely roads in Yorkshire, England. Manacled and chained, it is thought that in his ‘natural’ life Jack was a Wrath who had been captured, incarcerated and eventually executed for crimes against humanity. Subsequent sightings have reported a motley collection of human heads hanging from Jack’s belt and it has also been claimed that this ghost is well aware of the terror he inspires in people, and that he revels in the fact. Another acclaimed Giant Ghost is the Big Grey Man of Ben Macdhui (also known as Am Fear Liath Mor, or the Bodach Mor) in the Cairngorm Mountains, Scotland. Also sighted at Braerich in Glen Eanich, he appears as a very large hazy male figure when actually seen, however other manifestations of his presence include the appearance of big footprints mysteriously crunching into the snow and a strange disembodied, resonant voice muttering and chanting in a vaguely Gaelic-like tongue. Some suspect that the Big Grey Man is actually the spirit of the mountain itself rather than the revenant of a dead Giant. Wales also has its equivalent to the Big Grey Man known as the Grey King (or also as the Monarch of the Mist, or Brenin Llwyd). This tall mysterious figure is said to haunt various peaks in Snowdonia and in bygone days was feared to be an abductor of children.
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All artwork and text © Andrew L. Paciorek |
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