Where would fantasy heroes be without their trusted animal companions? Just like the rest of us with our pets, they’d be lost. So let’s take a look at some of the most memorable, shall we?
(Incidentally, there are plenty of fantasy stories that involve relationships between humans and magical creatures such as unicorns and dragons, but for the purposes of this article, we’re restricting ourselves only to creatures that have a real-life counterpart here on Earth!)
Scabbers (from Harry Potter)
Hapless Ron’s unpredictable pet rat Scabbers is, of course, not a real rat at all, but it’s not until the third book in the series that he’s revealed as the polymorphed Peter Pettigrew, a coward whose treachery led to the death of Harry’s parents. Pettigrew’s animal disguise plays an instrumental role in Prisoner of Azkaban, inspiring Sirius Black’s escape from prison after he recognizes the rat in a photograph, and Scabbers figures prominently into the book’s conclusion as well.
Coolness Factor: 2 (out of 5)
Loyalty: 1 (out of 5)
Importance to the Plot: 4 (out of 5)
Overall Rating:
Two Torches (Out of Five)
Argo (from Xena: Warrior Princess)
Xena is no ordinary warrior — so why should she have an ordinary horse? Sure enough, hers is extraordinarily intelligent, sensing danger, responding to a number of different commands, being able to command other horses, and even once enduring having been turned into a miniature version of herself. Speaking of which, is Argo male or female? While referred to as “boy” in earlier seasons, she is eventually identified as female (and was usually portrayed by a mare). The horse died during Xena and Gabrielle’s Ares-induced 25-year sleep in the ice-cave, but gave birth to a daughter, Argo II, who, remarkably, had all of Argo’s abilities.
Incidentally, did you ever wonder why Gabrielle had no horse? According to the producers speaking at a fan convention, it took three horses to make it look like Xena had one horse. For Gabrielle to have had a horse, that would have meant having six horses on hand — something that was financially impossible.
Coolness factor: 3 (out of 5)
Loyalty Factor: 5 (out of 5)
Importance to the Story: 2 (out of 5)
Overall Rating:
Three Torches (Out of Five)
Hedwig (Harry Potter)
There’s one question that every reader of the Harry Potter series has asked him or herself at least once: why don’t wizards have email? Then again, would you use email if you have something as cool as Hedwig, Harry’s pet snowy owl, to deliver messages to your friends? Hedwig is, of course, a gift from Hagrid, purchased in Diagon Alley in the first book in the series, and was definitely an owl with ‘tude, never willing to put up with Harry’s thoughtlessness. Sadly, Hedwig is killed in Deathly Hallows by none other than a stray curse.
Coolness Factor: 5 (out of 5)
Loyalty Factor: 4 (out of 5)
Importance to the Story: 2 (out of 5)
Overall Rating:
Three and a Half Torches (Out of Five)
The Animals of Aladdin
All the main characters in the animated Disney movie Aladdin share a bond with an animal that reflects his or her underlying personality: Aladdin has his impetuous monkey Abu, Jasmine has her regal tiger Rajah, and Jafar has his mean parrot Iogo. But the animal companions don’t just mimic their owners, they also reflect the underlying theme of the movie, which is more sophisticated than it seems at first glance: when you try to possess and enslave someone else, you ultimately end up enslaving yourself. True freedom, just like true love, only comes from freeing others and giving them the choice to set you free as well.
And for the record, it applies to life, but it also applies to our relationship with our real-world pets!
Coolness Factor: 3 (out of 5)
Loyalty Factor: 5 (out of 5)
Importance to the Story: 4 (out of 5)
Overall Rating:
Four Torches (Out of Five)
Daemons (from His Dark Materials)
In perhaps the most interesting aspect of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series of books, every human in that alternate-”Earth” is accompanied in life by a “daemon” — that person’s soul made manifest in the form of an animal. In children, the daemon changes forms, finally settling into a single animal upon adulthood — a creature that reflects that person’s underlying personality. Humans share a bond with this personification of their soul that is so intimate that touching another’s daemon is unthinkable. And while separating a human from his or her daemon is possible — and factors closely into the plot of the books — doing so turns both into virtual zombies.
Coolness Factor: 4 (out of 5)
Loyalty Factor: 5 (out of 5)
Importance to the Story: 5 (out of 5)
Overall Rating:
Four Torches (Out of Five)
The Talking Animals (from The Chronicles of Narnia)
With a few exceptions, it’s hard to find better companions than the talking animals of Narnia. Most of these animals rarely stretch beyond their stereotypes — donkeys are stupid, owls are wise, cats can be unreliable, and dogs are loyal. But every now and then, author C.S. Lewis surprises us, as with one of the most memorable of Narnia’s talking animals, Reepicheep: the bravest, most noble creature in all of Narnia (excepting Aslan) is none other than … a mouse. And then there is Aslan. Is there another story that turns an animal into a metaphor for God?
Coolness Factor: 5 (out of 5)
Loyalty Factor: 5 (out of 5)
Importance to t
the name gets tossed out and people act interested enough to suspend disbelief, he’ll figure out a way to make a movie about it. So what creature mashup should he try next? I’m going to suggest Piraneagle, because I can’t think of anything more menacing that flocks of flying piranha. Put your suggestions in the comments!
about Vamps, which she’s doing with Alicia Silverstone. She won’t say much about the film, besides telling us that it’s Clueless with vampires, but the other things she says speak volumes. She’s never seen Twilight, loves True Blood. And she may be questioning her immortality, but she’s not standing in the shadows brooding, either.
super hero is about to get a major outing from the House of Mouse. But seriously - does anybody think that paying $2 to GoDaddy constitutes a $200 million decision from Disney?
Voyage, where a team gets shrunk down and injected into a person to zap a clot. He has a point that what we know about medical imaging and CGI has improved dramatically since the original in the 1960s, every cartoon on the planet has copied the idea at this point, including Family Guy and Phineas and Ferb – how interesting can they make it? No director yet, but with Cameron fresh off Avatar’s mind-boggling box office, somebody is going to jump on this.![[Bloglines]](http://thetorchonline.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/bloglines.png)
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As a New Yorker, the Tribeca Film Festival has always held a special place in my heart. I love that in a city as commercial as New York there’s a festival that really honors the independent, artistic spirit of roll-up-your-sleeves filmmakers. And I’m proud that they’re honoring that tradition by opening the festical this year with … 
Daniel Radcliffe consistently proves he’s a bloody brilliant bloke, most recently for 
but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to do a genre film. 
under development. The producers of said project occasionally leak concept art that people pray to be fake. This is another such piece of art. 
But Rowling wasn’t the first woman to enjoy monetary success and critical praise for her fantasy writing. Before her, there were vampires — and three women who, er, brought them to life.
There have traditionally been plenty of needy females in fantasy — what is a “damsel in distress,” after all, except a needy female? And while that character type seemed to have fallen out of favor in 1960s, she’s back in full retro force in the form of Bella from Twilight. She’s a weak, dependent girl who exists almost solely to pine for the vampire Edward Cullen. For good measure, there’s also her clingy relationship with the shape-shifter Jacob Black.
What’s the opposite of Bella? Well, she’s the strong-willing, bossy control freak with “masculine” energy who yaps like a terrier whenever someone does something wrong. She is a perfectionist, a leader, a fighter, and every now and then, a bit of a brat.
Which brings us to our last category. She’s the classic female in fantasies and adventures, whether it’s games, books, or movies. The Prince of Persia fought alongside her in The Sands of Time, she took a trip to see the Wizard of Oz, she’s the princess who saved Galen in Dragonslayer, and she created the land of Terabithia. For the most part, she’s neither out there stepping on toes nor lying down to be walked over like a doormat.
Is Avatar unconsciously racist (or at least racially insensitive)? The argument is that the story of minority-liberation is told, yet again, from the POV of a member of the “white” majority; racial minorities are allowed to be sort of “side-heroes” in their own story, but they really exist only to motivate the main character, who is the one who does all the changing. It’s a compelling argument, but I agree with 
The incredible resurgence of the fantasy genre, which began in the 1980s and gathered steam in the 1990s, exploded in the 00s.
Many beloved fantasy films (and these days, television series as well) are adapted from novels and comic books, and it’s almost unheard of that a story will be reflected on the screen precisely as it’s described on the page.
Did the writers go too far? The reaction is split, and while almost everyone can agree that the films were a success, there still remains a faction of rabid fanboys who have turned their back on the movies (often after watching them many times to find out just why they hate them.)
