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Centaur
| Tropes and genres | |
|---|---|
| Related tropes/genres | Centaurification |
| See also | Greek Mythology |
 centaur fan art by unknown artist, from the 1977 Space-Con program book | |
| Related articles on Fanlore. | |
Centaurs are creatures from ancient Greek mythology that can be found in many original and fanworks.
Description
Centaurs are traditionally depicted as hybrid creatures with the lower half of a horse and the upper half of a man. Unlike similar half-ungulate creatures, centaurs have six limbs (four horse legs and two human arms) and two torsos (the human torso beginning where the base of a horse's neck would be).
Perhaps the most famous individual centaur is Chiron, a wise teacher who tutors many famous figures from mythology, including Achilles and Jason. He stands in contrast to the typical portrayal of centaurs as wild, brash, and lustful beings.
Canon Centaur Characters
The Harry Potter series features centaurs who live in the woods outside Hogwarts; among them is Firenze, a centaur who helps Harry and briefly teaches Divination. The Percy Jackson series includes centaurs, including Chiron as a mentor to Percy. The animated series Centaurworld takes place in a world full of centaurs.
In Fandom
Like most mythical creatures, centaurs have made their way into fanworks. In fandoms where canon centaurs are not present, fans may turn existing characters into centaurs, either through a transformation or through an AU in which the character(s) have always been supernatural. Sometimes the characters are permanently in centaur form, and in others they can shapeshift.
Variants on the centaur in which the character is a non-horse ungulate, such as a deer, can also be found in fandom. Rarer but still extant are centaur variants where the non-human lower half is that of a non-ungulate, such as a tiger.
Example Fanworks
Art
- Sabriel as Centaurs by fateserpent8 (SPN, Sam is part-moose and Gabriel is part-alpaca)
- Stripes on Stripes by unfortunatefae (Centaurworld)
Fic
- Field of Play by octogon (SPN, Sam is a moose-centaur.)
- Forest Guardian by IcyPanther (VLD, Lance is a deer-centaur.)
- Horsing around by orphan_account (a Teen Wolf Sterek smut fic featuring centaur!Derek.)
- The One with the Curse by Mamajo (SPN, Dean is cursed by witches and becomes a centaur.)
- Why Bones Hates Transporters by Triskellion (Star Trek AOS, Bones has a transporter accident.)