Hot take: Fenrir, Skoll, Hati, Garm, Hrodvitnir, etc are all different names and roles for the same cosmic wolf, they just got their own names and personalities over time as they were differentiated.

T is for… Trollgädda

The Trollgäddor or “troll pikes” are enormous pikes that haunt lakes in Sweden. The one in Lake Bolmen is as long as the lake is wide, and has a willow shrub on its head. One enterprising angler tried to catch it with a line baited with an entire calf and tied to a farmhouse, but the pike pulled the farmhouse into the lake.

S is for… Shuyu

One of the many denizens of the Guideways, the Shuyu is a four-headed (or four-eyed) cawing red chicken with six feet and three tails. Eating it cures melancholy.

R is for… Rosmaputh

The Rosmaputh is a hideous creature found in the Caspian Sea. It has a man’s head covered with bristles and armed with long sharp teeth. It has a long neck, scaleless skin, broad shoulders, and flippers that reach to the tail. Its tongue is shaped like a laurel leaf. When out of the water it screams nightmarishly.

I always thought the Protoceratops-griffin connection was unrealistic, but this does a way better job of taking it apart than I ever could!

Q is for… Qique

Another of the many monstrous man-eaters of the Shan Hai Jing, the Qique or Qi-magpie looks like a white-headed chicken with rat’s feet and tiger’s claws. It lives on North Shouting Mountain.