Beings in the dark

[Bastemhet]

Just curious if anyone is familiar with any stories or myths of beings that use darkness in which to manifest themselves. Not that the darkness itself is sentient or a being, but that only in deep, thick darkness can this being use it as a physical form in which to manifest itself. Kinda like if air were to use a black scarf to give it physical form. Does that make sense? xp  

[rmcdra]

Well in the gnostic mythos after Sophia gave birth to the Darkness/Shadow/Matter all forms of divinity came out from it.

On the Origin of the World

Now the eternal realm (aeon) of truth has no shadow outside it, for the limitless light is everywhere within it. But its exterior is shadow, which has been called by the name 'darkness'. From it, there appeared a force, presiding over the darkness. And the forces that came into being subsequent to them called the shadow 'the limitless chaos'. From it, every kind of divinity sprouted up [...] together with the entire place, so that also, shadow is posterior to the first product. It was the abyss that it (shadow) appeared, deriving from the aforementioned Pistis.

 

[Cranium Squirrel]

If you want to count comic book mythos, there's always the creature/symbiote from The Darkness. Light physically burns it in the video game version (which was oddly better than the comic edition), and it needs shadow to work right and manifest all its powers.  

[Brass Bell Doll]

There are some things from Japanese folklore, and also some Eastern European folklore as well.  

[Collowrath]

Brass Bell Doll

and also some Eastern European folklore as well.

What kinds of things were you thinking of exactly? A couple of beings came to mind immediately, because darkness/shadow was part of their modi operandorum, but I wasn't quite sure about them.  

[Brass Bell Doll]

Collowrath

What kinds of things were you thinking of exactly? A couple of beings came to mind immediately, because darkness/shadow was part of their modi operandorum, but I wasn't quite sure about them.

I would think Vampires are the obvious ones, but also the Nari are sometimes described as shadow-forms.  

[Cranium Squirrel]

Brass Bell Doll

I would think Vampires are the obvious ones, but also the Nari are sometimes described as shadow-forms.

Problem with vamps is that historically, they don't need the dark. They could come out in daytime, it's just easier to hide the fact you're dead post-sundown in a society that lacks electric lights everywhere. 3nodding

The 'immolated in sunlight' is a modern invention for them. 3nodding  

[Shearaha]

Shadow people spring to mind. I don't know much about them, but they're supposedly comprised of shadow.  

[Collowrath]

Brass Bell Doll

Collowrath

What kinds of things were you thinking of exactly? A couple of beings came to mind immediately, because darkness/shadow was part of their modi operandorum, but I wasn't quite sure about them.

I would think Vampires are the obvious ones, but also the Nari are sometimes described as shadow-forms.

Yes - vlkolaci (werewolves) and upíri (vampires) are probably the two most obvious (or the one most obvious, as the folklore is a little schizophrenic on the matter).

I don't know much about nari. smile I was also thinking about mory/moras - the souls of people who travel through the night as whisps of hair or moths (mora/mory means moth/moths in Slovak) and suffocate or otherwise torture people as they sleep.

Byaggha - in the original mythology, as far as I can remember, a vampire does have an acute aversion to sunlight. While I can't think of any vampire that lights on fire or anything like that upon encountering sunlight, I think the usual consensus was that, upon touching the sunlight, a vampire would simply fall over dead as a doorknob again.  

[Cranium Squirrel]

Collowrath

Byaggha - in the original mythology, as far as I can remember, a vampire does have an acute aversion to sunlight. While I can't think of any vampire that lights on fire or anything like that upon encountering sunlight, I think the usual consensus was that, upon touching the sunlight, a vampire would simply fall over dead as a doorknob again.

Hm. Mythos must be somewhat wacky about it then, or the translations I got when I was younger were shoddy, because all the versions of the older stuff I found said sun wasn't a huge deal for them, and they could operate in daylight - it was just easier at night.

Bah. Thanks. biggrin  

[erinnightwalker]

Nyarlhotep comes to mind.... isn't he referred to as the Black Man, as in he is jet black all over?  

[Collowrath]

Byaggha

Hm. Mythos must be somewhat wacky about it then, or the translations I got when I was younger were shoddy, because all the versions of the older stuff I found said sun wasn't a huge deal for them, and they could operate in daylight - it was just easier at night.

Bah. Thanks. biggrin

*shrug* There's a huge variety among different peoples. Vampires in Croatia are different from in Serbia and from in Slovakia, and Poland, and Ukraina, ad nauseum. It's very likely that in some of these myths, the vampire wasn't concerned about sunlight.

Actually, I know one from Slovakia that's a case of a vampire who doesn't care about sunlight AND the Slavic schizophrenia about what exactly the difference between a vampire and a werewolf is.  

[Bastemhet]

rmcdra

Well in the gnostic mythos after Sophia gave birth to the Darkness/Shadow/Matter all forms of divinity came out from it.

On the Origin of the World

Now the eternal realm (aeon) of truth has no shadow outside it, for the limitless light is everywhere within it. But its exterior is shadow, which has been called by the name 'darkness'. From it, there appeared a force, presiding over the darkness. And the forces that came into being subsequent to them called the shadow 'the limitless chaos'. From it, every kind of divinity sprouted up [...] together with the entire place, so that also, shadow is posterior to the first product. It was the abyss that it (shadow) appeared, deriving from the aforementioned Pistis.

This is interesting because in the Kemetic mythology, chaos can be equated with the darkness at the edge of the created. There are also more than one type of divine being (apart from what we understand as gods) which is comparable to kami. But then I wonder, can chaos itself not just be a state of being but a multiplicity of sentient beings in itself, just like Ma'at is a divine being as well as a divine principle? Hmm...

Brass Bell Doll, which Japanese beings are you thinking of?

Thank you all for the responses but I think this was closer to what I had in mind. It also brings to mind the idea of areas in which there are doorways between this reality and other spiritual planes. I can't be too sure about how this would align with the cosmology I adhere to.  

[CuAnnan]

Yes.
But they are not pleasant and best left un-named.
Though The Secret of Kells did a wonderful job at imagining one of them wink  

[rmcdra]

Bastemhet

This is interesting because in the Kemetic mythology, chaos can be equated with the darkness at the edge of the created. There are also more than one type of divine being (apart from what we understand as gods) which is comparable to kami. But then I wonder, can chaos itself not just be a state of being but a multiplicity of sentient beings in itself, just like Ma'at is a divine being as well as a divine principle? Hmm...

I honestly don't know. In the myth after Matter/Chaos was created, something(s) arose to bring order to it modeling after what little bit these beings knew of the Plemora. If you'd like, I'll provide some links to the Gnostic Creation myths I know of.

On the Origin of the World
The Apcryphon of John