Can anyone help me with shared mythologies?

Question

Whilst investigating the commonality of mythological characters I have, so far, been able to determine some shared appearances as follows:

Drangons - Appear on all continents with the exception of Antarctica.
Dwarfs - Europe, North Africa (Egypt) and India
Gnomes, Giants & Orcs appear peculiar to Europe
Elfs - European
Orcs - Europe
Werewolves/Changelings - Europe, Asia, North Africa and America

I am only interested in thoughts on Mythology and Legends, not Science Fantasy where I know these characters are widely used.

Could anyone ofer me additional information / clarification / sources of information etc.

Thanks in advance for any assistance you can provide.

Answer 1

Vampires appear in almost every culture, although they tend to be animalistic monsters in folklore rather than the Dracula figure that was a construct of 19th century english literature.

have a look at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire

http://www.vampgirl.com/vampmyth.html

Answer 2

The spread of some mythologies are due in part to the migration of humans over thousands of years. From a European perspective, the most widely known mythologies are those of the Celts. The stories abound and predate anything from the Classical world of Greece and Rome.

If you check your list, you'll see that much of it relates to Europe. Europe has, dragons, dwarfs, gnomes, giants, ogres [orcs] elf's, fairies, ware wolves/changelings etc. I think a lot of this may come from Celtic mythology. It would be extremely difficult to prove because the Celts did not have a written language until the Romans took over much of what was their lands in Europe. The Romans were only interested in their conquests and not in making detailed records of what the local inhabitants believed or knew about. There are however oral traditions such as those in Ireland, which was not swallowed up by Rome. There is also a lot of stuff in Wales. The Celts, probably the most widely known people, moved as far east as China and as far West as Eire and Breten [Britain] and occupied most of Europe including great swathes of what is now called Germany. If you find anything Germanic in a mythology, it is probably of Celtic origin, the Celts are Germanic people but with Indo-European languages.

Answer 3

witches, banshee sort? or desperate or troubled ladies, this seems to be everywhere. Or perhaps heroines?
Once I was told by this Guatemalan person, that there is a legend in his country about this lady who drowned her children, now, being so desperate about this, you can still hear her sorrowing, screaming and crying. Interesting story.
There is also Xi Wangmu, in Chinese mythology she is the goddess of inmortality, there is also Ba who signified drought.
So I see there are stories around the world about ladies, women always take a great part in mythologies.
This that I mentioned have to do with death, or something of the sort, but I'm not sure if this is all related or is what you are looking for.

Answer 4

Folklore Myths And Legends Of Britain, Readers Digest London contains a lot of what you seek. Now out of print but available secondhand, you will find American source via w w w. alibris.com. I highly recommend this book, over 530 pages of joy, you will not be disappointed!

Answer 5

Just a guess, but I suspect Tolkien did a great deal of research on various mythologies to write his trilogy - perhaps there is a compendium or his notes are available.

Joseph Campbell spent a lifetime studying mythology - perhaps he has something out there that would help you.

Answer 6

This is a large part of my thesis (which is in, actually, mythology & folklore). If you're looking for anything specific, drop me a message--I've been researching overlaps of myths for the past couple of years, and I have a bit too much infor to readably post here. :D

Answer 7

In addition to those that you have listed, I have heard that in different mythologies that you restle with a hideous old hag when you sleep (where the word haggard comes from). Maybe you should look into that too....

Answer 8

Dragons do appear in Antartica - but it has to do with the clouds and weather patterns - you have to look at the Chinese Cloud / Sky Dragons for a better description for them.

Answer 9

huge amounts of information on all subjects are on
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check it out there will be alot more than you could possibly think of or get from answers... or more specifically
http://66.194.119.96/search?site=public&client=public&proxystylesheet=public&output=xml_no_dtd&filter=0&q=Mythology+and+Legends&x=36&y=32
for mythology and legends

Answer 10

~~ Save yourself hours and hours of research,,, and wasted time ! Start reading Joseph Campbell and deliver yourself from ignorance. It will be the wisest ivestment for your intellect. Unequivocally Guaranteed. ~~ The Hawaiians have Little People called "Menehune" (meh-neh-HU'-neh),,, among other things, they build things in the night and are extremely rare to be seen.