Likewise, Odin was fond of transforming into the shape of an eagle. Loki, the god of chaos and mischief, was particularly fond of shapeshifting and could take any shape that he wanted, even mothering a few monsters while he was in a female shape! Freyja, the goddess of love and fertility, had a cloak of feather falcons which allowed her to transform into a falcon at will. Like the Greeks, the Norse people attributed the power of shapeshifting to their gods. They were stuck in a non-human form for the rest of time. Most of these mortals did not become true Shapeshifters after they were transformed by the gods because they werenвЂ™t able to change back into a human form again. Zeus turned Io, a beautiful nymph, into a heifer, to hide her from his jealous wife, Hera, and Apollo mourned the loss of his lover, Hyacinth, by turning him into a gorgeous flower. Still, in other cases, the gods used their transformative powers to protect or memorialize a mortal. Often, this sort of transformation was used as a punishment the goddess Athena transformed a mortal, Arachne, into a spider because she had challenged AthenaвЂ™s skill at weaving, and Zeus transformed another mortal, Lycaon, into a wolf because he tried to trick Zeus into eating human flesh. The gods were also able to transform other people into animals and objects. Zeus, the leader of the gods, used his talent at Shapeshifting for a nefarious purpose he had a reputation for mistreating beautiful women, so he used Shapeshifting as a way to disguise himself when he approached a new victim. Proteus, a sea god, became famous for his ability to flicker from one form to another to another when enemies pursued him. Seemingly all of the Greek and Roman gods were Shapeshifters, although some of them enjoyed changing their form more than others. Again, these characters are almost always up to no good. Indian and Tartar folklore favors Shapeshifters who change from snakes to humans. Sometimes, Shapeshifters take other forms, such as snakes, cats, badgers, and raccoon dogs.

These characters are usually evil, using their beauty to seduce and kill men, but occasionally one of the beauties will turn out to be an innocent romantic. Japanese, Chinese, and Korean legends are all crisscrossed with the pawprints of Shapeshifters that transform from foxes into beautiful maidens.

Shapeshifters Across Culture Eastern Folklore In romantic fairytales, shapeshifting is a burden upon powerless characters, who have usually been tricked or cursed by a more powerful magical being. In trickster folklore, shapeshifting is the charactersвЂ™ only magical ability, but they combines so much cunning with their shapeshifting abilities that they are still a powerful force. In ancient mythology, shapeshifting is just one of the endless magical abilities used by god-like characters. Even Shapeshifting, the trait which unifies them, is sometimes more of a curse than an actual magical ability. ShapeshifterвЂ™s are as diverse in their abilities as they are in their appearance. Other popular forms are wolf-like animals and serpents. These characters frequently appear as radiant maidens or strong young men, whose beauty entrances anyone who crosses their path. As individuals, their shape is constantly changing, and as a group spread across dozens of cultures, they have a wider variety of shapes than anyone could track.Д«eauty is perhaps the biggest trend in their appearance. Naturally, its hard to pin down a ShapeshifterвЂ™s appearance.

Greek god prodeus