Bird people

In mythology and fiction (usually fantasy and science fiction) bird people are a race of people who resemble, or who are evolved from, birds. This is a common motif in movies, TV, and video games. Sometimes, the bird people are a "lost race".

Examples

In mythology

*The winged gods of Mesopotamian mythology: Anzu/Zu, Siris, Lammasu/Shedu
*The gods Horus and Thoth of Ancient Egyptian religion, often depicted as humans with the heads of a falcon and an ibis, respectively.
*The Garuda, eagle-god mount of Vishnu in Hindu mythology, was pluralized into a class of bird-like beings in Buddhist mythology
*The Faravahar of Zoroastrianism
*The Angels of Abrahamic mythology, often depicted with bird-like wings in Christian iconography
*Lei Gong, a Chinese thunder god, often depicted as a Garuda-like bird man
*Greek mythology: Nike (mythology), Boreas, Eros, the Gorgon sisters
**The Sirens and Harpies, who are often represented as half-human half-bird,ref|Mortale in Greek mythology
*The Tengu of Japanese folklore, monstrous forest and mountain dwelling humanoids often possessing the wings, claws and sometimes the beak of a bird.
*The Swan maidens found in the folktales of various cultures
*Tangata manu of Easter Island, often depicted as a Frigate bird/Human hybrid
*On his 7th Voyage, Sinbad witnessed a race of winged humans in Indochina
*The second people of the world in Southern Sierra Miwok mythology, as reported by Barrettref|Barrett
*Alkonost, Gamayun and Sirin in Russian mythology

In fiction

Examples of the bird-people motif in science fiction and fantasy fiction include:
*Otis Adelbert Kline wrote a short story for Weird Tales titled "The Bird People".
*The race of bird people led by Stratos in the Masters of the Universe cartoon series (and line of toys)
*The bird people of Brontitall in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", led by the Wise Old Bird — Douglas Adams has the bird people evolving from humans who are so sick of buying shoes that they evolve into bird-like creatures and never set foot on the ground again. (See Shoe Event Horizon.) This is unusual, in that the motif involves bird-people evolving from humans, rather than birds.
*The race from which the character Hawk came in the television series "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" — The race of bird people in "Buck Rogers" had been hunted to extinction by humans, with Hawk as its sole survivor.
*The bird people featured in "Tarzan & the Bird People", episode 17 of "Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle" (a 1976 cartoon series)
*The bird people ruled by Prince Vultan (Brian Blessed) in the cult film "Flash Gordon".
*The Ryuujin in the anime Tenkuu no Escaflowne. While the ryuujin translate to dragon people, their wings are clearly feathered and the dragon of their name is likely symbolic.
*The race of garuda in fantasy author China Miéville's world Bas-Lag as featured in Perdido Street Station.
*In J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, a race of magical creatures called Veela appear as extraordinarily beautiful women, but turn into frightening birdlike creatures when angered.
*The 1943 animated Superman short "The Underground World" has the Man of Steel and Lois Lane discovering a race of evil Falcon-men in caverns deep below the earth.
*Aarakocra a race of bird-like humanoids in the Dungeons and Dragons fantasy role-playing game.
*The Biata in the NERO International LARP game are a playable race of bird-like humanoids descended from gryphons.
*The Japanese movie "The Bird People of China" features a remote village in China where people have the knowledge to fly like birds.
*The are a bird race from Otaria in the novels and collectible card game.
*The cartoon show depicts the main characters as anthropomorphised ducks who play hockey and fight evil.
*Maximum Ride(novel series) features six bird-human hybrids
*In "Gunnerkrigg Court", one chapter focuses on the character Kat befriending a boy who is gradually turning into a bird.
*"Bird Human", a Protoculture bio-mechanical mecha from the Japanese animated series "Macross Zero".

In comics

*Thanagarians, the avian race of DC Comics heroes Hawkman and Hawkgirl.
*Northwind (another DC hero) comes from the hidden city of Feithera, a lost nation of bird people.
*Howard the Duck hails from Duckworld, an alternate Earth where ducks evolved instead of apes.
*Red Raven is the last of the Marvel Comics Bird-people.
*Scrooge McDuck, uncle of Donald Duck, lives in Duckburg along with many anthropomorphized characters, mostly ducks and birds.

In video games

Examples of the bird-people motif in video games include:
*Chozo from the Metroid franchise of games.
*The Rito from the "Zelda" game "".
*The Feather Folk from the "Star Ocean" series.
*The Bird Man from "Jade Cocoon".
*The Tengu from "Guild Wars".
*Windians from "Breath of Fire".
*Falco Lombardi, from the "Star Fox" series.
*The Bird Laguz from "Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance".
*The Aracoix are a race of bird-people in the fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game "Shadowbane".
*The similarly named Arakkoa are the race of bird-like humanoids in the World of Warcraft fantasy role-playing game.
*The Yagudo from the MMORPG Final Fantasy XI
*The Aviantese of the MMORPG RuneScape.
*The Hawk Men from the "" series.
*The Aegyl from "".
*The Gria from "".

References

# cite journal|journal=University of California Publications in American Archeology and Ethnology|volume=16(1)|pages=1 – 28|year=1919-03-27|title=Myths of the Southern Sierra Miwok|author=S. A. Barrett|url=http://www.yosemite.ca.us/history/myths_of_the_southern_sierra_miwok/
# cite journal|journal=Widdershins|title=Death Is In the Air: Egyptian Sirens Came to Ancient Greece to Ease Souls' Path to Persephone|author=Bestia Mortale|url=http://www.widdershins.org/vol5iss5/02.htm|volume=5(5)|year=1999|pages=

Further reading

*cite web | url=http://home.planet.nl/~m.theune/tc-hawk/about_hawk.htm|title=About Hawk|work=Thom Christopher/Hawk fansite|accessmonthday=October 31 |accessyear=2005
*cite web | url=http://www.tvacres.com/birds_hawks_hawk.htm|title=Hawk|work=TV Acres|accessmonthday=October 31 |accessyear=2005
*cite web | url=http://members.aol.com/MG4273/lantern.htm|title=The Green Lanterns of Multiple Worlds|work=Classic Comic Books|accessmonthday=October 31 |accessyear=2005 — a discussion of Tomar-Re, a Green Lantern of a bird people, and the artwork for that character by Gil Kane
*cite web | url=http://members.aol.com/MG4273/hawkman.htm|title=Battle of the Bird-Man Bandits|work=Classic Comic Books|accessmonthday=October 31 |accessyear=2005 — a discussion of a complex bird-people society created for a Hawkman tale

ee also

*Reptilian humanoid
*Talking animal
*Funny animal
*Avians

External links

*cite web | url=http://www.h-net.org/~nilas/seasons/bpeople.html|title="The Princess of the Bird People" a retelling of "Manora, the Bird Woman," from Thailand|author=Cathy S. Mosley|work=H-NILAS: Stories for the Seasons|accessmonthday=October 31 |accessyear=2005 — This cites cite book|author=Toth, Marian Davis|title=Tales From Thailand| location=Tokyo | publisher=Charles E. Tuttle|year=1971|id=.
*cite web | url=http://www.freecherokee.org/birds/birdpeople.htm|title=The Story of the Bird People|author=Zerah'el Dancing Grouse|work=Free Cherokee|accessmonthday=October 31 |accessyear=2005 — a story from a story teller of the Bird Clan of East Central Alabama that parallels the evolution of birds from dinosaurs