Will-o'-the-wisps in popular culture

The will o' the wisp has made appearances in many guises across many genres and forms of artistic expression.

Literature

Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" describes the Will o' the wisp. The poem was first published in the "Lyrical Ballads" of 1798: "About, about in reel and rout, the death-fires danced at night; the water, like a witch's oils, Burnt green, and blue and white" [cite web|title=The Rime of the Ancient Mariner|author=Samuel Taylor Coleridge|work=Electronic Text Center|url=http://etext.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/Rime_Ancient_Mariner.html|accessdate=2007-05-30]

Two Will-o-the-wisps appear in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's fairy tale of "The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily" (1795). They are described as lights which consume gold, and are capable of shaking gold pieces again from themselves. [cite web|title=The Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily|author=Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|url=http://wn.rsarchive.org/RelAuthors/GoetheJW/GreenSnake.html]

In literature, Will o' the wisp sometimes has a metaphorical meaning, describing a hope or goal that leads one on but is impossible to reach, or something one finds sinister and confounding. [entry on "will-o'-the-wisp" in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved]

It is seen in Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre" when Jane Eyre is unsure if it is a candle or a Will-o-the-wisp

:"My eye still roved over the sullen swell, and along the mooredge, vanishing amidst the wildest scenery; when at one dim point, far among the marshes and the ridges, a light sprang up. "That is an "ignis fatuus", was my fist thought; and I expected it would soon vanish. It burnt on, however, quite steadily; neither receding nor advancing..."

Also mentioned in that book is when Jane returns to Thornfield after having been absent for a month spent with her dying aunt, Mr Rochester comment upon her arrival

:"I have been with my aunt, sir, who is dead. "A true Janian reply! Good angels be my guard! She comes from the other world - from the abode of people who are dead; and tells me so when she meets me alone here in the gloaming! If I dared, I'd touch you, to see if you are substance or shadow, you elf! - but I'd as soon offer to take hold of a blue "ignis fatuus" light in a marsh. 'Truant! Truant!' he added, when he had paused an instant. Absent from me a whole month; and forgetting me quite, I'll be sworn!"

The Will o' the wisp makes an appearance in the first chapter of Bram Stoker's "Dracula", as the Count, masquerading as his own coach driver, takes Jonathan Harker to his castle in the night:

:"Suddenly, away on our left I saw a faint flickering blue flame. The driver saw it at the same moment... the flame appeared so near the road, that even in the darkness around us I could watch the driver's motions. He went rapidly to where the blue flame arose, it must have been very faint, for it did not seem to illumine the place around it at all, and gathering a few stones, formed them into some device... When he stood between me and the flame he did not obstruct it, for I could see its ghostly flicker all the same. This startled me, but as the effect was only momentary, I took it that my eyes deceived me straining through the darkness." [cite web|title=Dracula|author=Bram Stoker|work=The Free Library|url=http://stoker.thefreelibrary.com/Dracula/1-1|accessdate=2007-06-30]

The following night, when Harker asks Dracula about the lights, the Count makes reference to a common folk belief about the phenomenon by saying that they mark where treasure is buried. [cite web|title=Dracula|author=Bram Stoker|work=The Free Library|url=http://stoker.thefreelibrary.com/Dracula/1-2|accessdate=2007-11-09]

Hinkypunk, the name for a Will o' the wisp in South West England has achieved fame as a magical beast in JK Rowling's "Harry Potter" series. In the books, a hinkypunk is a one-legged, frail-looking creature that appears to be made of smoke. The hinkypunk inhabits bogs and carries a lantern which it uses to lure travellers in the dark. Professor Remus Lupin introduces the creature in the book "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban". Harry and his classmates face a hinkypunk in their final exam for Defence Against the Dark Arts that year. Though Harry passes by it successfully, Ronald Weasley becomes confused by its misleading directions and sinks into the bog. [cite book|author=JK Rowling|title=Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban|year=1999|publisher=Bloomsbury|pages=234]

The Flemish poet Willem Elsschot, aka Alfons-Jozef De Ridder, wrote the short story "Het dwaallicht" ("Will-O'-the-wisp") in 1946.

A Will o' the wisp named Blubb figures in Michael Ende's novel "The Neverending Story". It is a messenger who, ironically, gets itself lost in a forest before meeting the Tiny, Nighthob, and Rock Chewer (Rock Biter in the film), also messengers from different parts of Fantastica to tell the Childlike Empress about the Nothing.

The Will-o'-the-wisp is mentioned many times throughout Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo.

The character Will o' the Wisp in the "Spider-Man" comic books is named after the phenomenon. He is capable of passing through matter and emitting hypnotizing and blinding blasts of light.

In J.R.R Tolkien's work "The Lord of the Rings", will o' the wisps are present in the Dead Marshes outside of Mordor. When Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee make their way through the bogs the spindly creature Gollum tells them "not to follow the lights" meaning the will o' the wisps. He tells them that if they do, they will keep the dead company and have little candles of their own.

The children's fantasy series "The Spiderwick Chronicles", by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi, includes will o'the wisps; they are listed in "Arthur Spiderwick's Guide to the Fantastical World Around You." In the series, Will O' The Wisps are described as fat fireflies that lead travellers astray.

Music

*"Will-o'-the-Wisp" is the fourth track on the album "Black Ram" by Magnolia Electric Co. [http://www.magnoliaelectricco.com/archives/237]

*"Canción del Fuego", a piece central to Manuel de Falla's ballet "El amor brujo", focuses on the symbolism of will-o'-the-wisp: "Lo mismo que er fuego fatuo/ lo mismito es er queré/ Le huyes y te persigue,/ le yamas y echa a corré" ("Just like will-o'-the-wisp/ so exactly is love/ You flee from it and it pursues you,/ you call to it and it takes off running"). [http://www.geocities.com/ubeda2002/falla/amorbrujo.htm Lyrics from "El amor brujo".] ]

*In the song "Maria" (sometimes known as "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria"), from the musical "The Sound of Music", the nuns attempt to describe Maria by comparing her to a will-o'-the-wisp.

*British progressive rock band Yes guitarist Steve Howe first solo album, Beginnings, includes a song called "Will o' the Wisp".

*Hungarian composer and virtuoso pianist Franz Liszt composed a piece named Feux Follets [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcendental_Etude_No._5_%28Liszt%29] or, In English, Flighty fires.

*American singer/songwriter Leon Russell has an album titled "Will O' The Wisp" (1975).

*One of the songs in Franz Schubert's Winterreise is entitled "Irrlicht" ("Irrlicht" is German for Will-o'-the-Wisp)

Games

*In the trading card game, "Magic: the Gathering", there is a creature card named will 'o the wisp.

*In the video game "The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion" Will-o'-the-wisps are an enemy you battle with throughout various quests in the game.

*In the "Pokemon" game series, Will-O'-Wisp is a fire type attack and can be learned by few fire type "pocket monsters" (Ninetails, Vulpix, etc.) and a few ghost types. It's shown as a blue ball of fire that causes the target Pokemon to suffer a burn.

*In the game Diablo II Will-o'-the-wisps are an enemy you can encounter (Referred to in the game as willowisps)

*In the PC game "Gothic II" a Will-o'-wisp can be trained to find valuable items for the player.

*In the Playstation game ", Moebius the Timestreamer tells Kain to follow the ignis fatuus. After Kain queries the term, Moebius answers "The Ignis Fatuus lights the path to Hell, nobleman. Your path."

*In the PC game "Arcanum" Will-o'-the-wisps are an enemy you can encounter.

*In "Super Mario RPG", ghost and undead enemies could use a magic attack called "willy wisp" which appeared as a glowing ball.

*In the MMORPG World of Warcraft, Night Elves gain a wisp form upon their death.

*In Castlevania: Circle of the Moon there's plenty of them.

*In the PC RPG, Icewind Dale 2, Will of the WIsps are encountered in the dark forest area.

*In the PC game EverQuest, Willowisps are abundant in plains and forested areas and used to be the favored prey of low-level players due to their tendency to possess Lightstones, stones that glow in the dark and can be sold for money.

*In the MMORPG RuneScape, wisps can be seen floating over the swamps of the Vampyre kingdom of Morytania as well as the elven forests of Isafdar.

*In the Playstation2 game Soul Calibur 2, the console-only character Necrid wields energy-based weapons, one of which is called "ignis fatuus".

*In the Playstation2 game Soul Calibur 3, an unplayable (except through use of third party cheating devices) character named Will-O'-the-Wisp could appear in a "Prepare to Defend Yourself" event during Tales of Souls.

*In the Playstation2 game Final Fantasy X, creatures known as pyreflies share striking similarities with the will-o-wisp. They feature prominently into the game's plot, being the cause of numerous supernatural phenomenon.

*In the stealth game , Will O' the Wisps can be found in pagan territory. They appear as slowly-moving, glowing white orbs that illuminate the area around them, sometimes making concealment difficult for the player. They also emit a strange, though somewhat musical sound. In they are instead silent and resemble small green clouds.

*Wisps are one of the ghostly power classes, or Shades, in Orpheus. Characters who are Wisps manifest as lights similar to the legends, and possess an ability called "Unearthly Repose" that allows them to create distractions or draw others to them.

Film or TV

*In the 2006 Pixar short "Mater and the Ghostlight", the character Mater is made to believe there is a Will-o'-the-wisp phenomenon known as the "Ghostlight" which he is then tricked into thinking one is following him.

*In "So Weird", a Will O' the Wisp called Spunkie becomes Fi's nemesis after she banishes it from her brother's body by using its true name, Bricriu. It first appears in the episode "Will O' the Wisp" when the kids are investigating the "ghost lights of Marla," and again in "Destiny" where it not only reveals it knows what killed Fi's father, but that it or others like it caused his death. It returns one more time to warn Fi of danger, only to be banished into a floppy disc.

*"Willo the Wisp" is also a British children's cartoon, first shown in the 1980s.

ports

*Professional wrestler Jeff Hardy used to be referred to as Will-o'-the-Wisp during his days prior to becoming part of the WWE. He was inspired by the character from Spider-Man, and based his persona off of the comic book character.

References