Faun

A faun is mythical creature that is half man, half goat.^[1] It appeared in Greek mythology and Roman mythology.

In fiction

Fauns have been referenced in literature, theater, and film for over 200 years.

1800s

Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1860 book The Marble Faun is a romance novel set in Italy. Hawthorne was reportedly inspired by viewing the Faun of Praxiteles in the Capitoline Museum.^[2]

H.G. Wells' 1895 book The Time Machine is set in the year 802,701 CE. While exploring the far future, the Time Traveller sees "a statue – a faun, or some such figure, minus the head."^[3]

1940s-1950s

There is a faun called Mr. Tumnus in C. S. Lewis' famous novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1949). According to Lewis, the entire Chronicles of Narnia story came to him from a single picture he imagined of a faun carrying parcels and an umbrella through a snowy forest.

In Lolita (1955) the main character is attracted to young adolescent girls, whom he calls "nymphets". He calls young boys "faunlets".

1980s - 2010

In the 1981 film My Dinner with Andre, viewers are told how fauns befriend mathematicians and take them to meet the god Pan.

In the Spyro video game series (released in 1999), Elora is a faun from Avalar, who helps Spyro the dragon navigate the world around him.

The Chronicles of Narnia film series (released between 2005-2010) portrays fauns as different from satyrs, which are more goat-like in form.

In Guillermo del Toro's 2006 film El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan's Labyrinth), a faun guides the film's protagonist, Ofelia, to a series of tasks. These tasks lead her to a wondrous netherworld.

2011 - present

In Rick Riordan's The Son of Neptune (2011), the character Don is a faun. In the book, several fauns appear, begging for money. Due to his memory of the Greek satyrs, Percy Jackson feels like there should be more to fauns. Also, in the prequel to The Son of Neptune, The Lost Hero, Jason Grace calls Gleeson Hedge a faun upon learning that he is a satyr. In the third installment in the series, The Mark of Athena, Frank Zhang calls Hedge a faun.^[source?]

In The Goddess Within (2015), a visionary fiction novel written by Iva Kenaz, the main heroine falls in love with a faun.

In Carnival Row (2023), fauns or 'pucks' are one of the mythical creatures in the series.

References

↑ Moffett, Joe (2023-02-01), "Copyright Page", New Materialism and Late Modernist Poetry, Liverpool University Press, pp. iii–iv, ISBN 978-1-63804-049-1, retrieved 2025-03-09
↑ "Online discussion of The Marble Faun (1860) and its connection with the statue". English Department. San Louis Obispo, CA: California Polytechnical University. Archived from the original on 2011-09-27.
↑ Wells, H.G. (1961) [1895]. The Time Machine (reprint ed.). New York, NY: Dolphin Books. p. 246.

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[1] Moffett, Joe (2023-02-01), "Copyright Page", New Materialism and Late Modernist Poetry, Liverpool University Press, pp. iii–iv, ISBN 978-1-63804-049-1, retrieved 2025-03-09

[2] "Online discussion of The Marble Faun (1860) and its connection with the statue". English Department. San Louis Obispo, CA: California Polytechnical University. Archived from the original on 2011-09-27.

[3] Wells, H.G. (1961) [1895]. The Time Machine (reprint ed.). New York, NY: Dolphin Books. p. 246.

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