HOME | DD
LeeDassin — The Manticore and his Kill
Published: 2011-07-12 02:25:36 +0000 UTC; Views: 1183; Favourites: 13; Downloads: 14
Redirect to original
Description
I have shown you my interpretation of both Manticores and Centaurs but I really wanted to experiment a little more with the body shape of the Centaur.I knew Centaurs were killed by Manticores in my story, they throw their poisonous barbs into the body and then chase them down as they die (note the missing barbs in the tail). But I wondered what it would look like to see a Centaur lying on it's side, of how the Manticore would carry it.
Up the top right is a picture of a Manticore paw, they have longer fingers and a "thumb" which goes along with the "human" aspect of the Manticores description.
The bottom right it just a dead Centaur, another angle showing the legs and arms splayed out.
So this has added to my story a little, one of the herd is killed though I am not sure which one yet. But if you feel sorry for the Centaur then consider, as the main character must, that this was a Manticore going to feed her children. Although the Centaurs are killed they live with this every day, for those that think it is unfair they must consider when they kill to eat and how every creature has the right to live. After all, the fastest of the herd survived and the strongest of the Manticore will live.
Related content
Comments: 36
Do the barbs grow back? a little different from how I picture it but yet it looks amazing
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yes they grow back over time, they make a large kill so they don't have to eat for a few days while they grow again ^^
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Are the barbs larger each time they grow back? It seems kind of painful to sleep with a spiky tail, but why does it look, well frightened? It looks like something has startled the Manticore
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Nothing frightened her, just a wide eyed expression after just making a kill... though I imagined the Centaur put up a fight XD
The barbs grow back the same size, it does not hurt and when they sleep they just have their tail out straight and not curled around them like domestic cats do
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
her? hmm she does look more like a girl, but would the females be smaller then the males?
That would be a bit awkward, but do you think it would work like with porcupines? I watched a show that said they had a special medicine line thing in their quils so that if accidently stuck themselves it wouldn't be bad, would the same apply to Manticores?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yes a her, I have not drawn males and females together as yet but I imagined the males to have a thicker mane and are heavier in the chest than females.
I think that if they stuck themselves they would be fine, it would be a pretty silly thing to evolve a poison that could kill the creature that produced it. If the body can create a poison then it would have the antidote for it
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
*scratches head* the title must mean the centuar is a male then, but it could be like lions, maybe they would have more man like faces, the female's one look more femine
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yeah I should change that, when I drew the picture it was described as a male but when I wrote the character in my story I changed it to a female. So the scene was drawn as a male but I changed it to female mainly because I used the argument about "killing to feed her young" to combat the people that say "oh Manticores are evil and mean" because of the dead centaur
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
is your story up? I was wondering about that. I don't think they are evil, I think they are more of a noble breed but they have needs like any other animal
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yes, that is what I try to say in my book, animals kill for a reason and are not evil for doing so
No that story will never be up on DA, this is from my Novel I have been working on for years. I am very sensitive about whom I let read it and I will not ever put it up on DA for fears it may be stolen or copied in any way.
Hopefully I will finish and publish it once I have completed my Uni course
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
exactly.
Wow, it must be a very good one, is it more of a story that tells about mythical animals or is it a bit fictional?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
It is fictional, I have a race of elves that live a very primitive lifestyle; they are very down to nature and can communicate with animals. They recognise the power of Manticores and they are even killed by them but they do not see them as evil as they themselves hunt deer for food.
It is a long and complex plot with several races of Elves, with different traditions, cultures and Gods and how basically they use these beliefs to destroy each other. For the elves that can speak to animals each one had a different belief and God, which is quite tricky. They "speak" through their body language and that is what the elves have learnt to read and "speak" back.
The story is WAY more complex than that though, I will not go into that much detail because it would take hours to relay all the relationships between the characters. Manticores are only a small part of the story, you only see them a few times but they are one of my favourite creatures in it 
Thank you, I would like to hope it is a good story ^^ It may be not be but I enjoy writing it and hopefully I will improve it with every passing day
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Wow that's a long review but I like it, there are not many books that holds fantasy like that, and truly I think that humans could learn, although we can't speak directly to animals, your story just might help us.
Just curious, why do you like Manticores so much?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I don't know... I did a sketch of one a while back (I think it's on my DA) and I really really liked it.... so I started to create more and more of this creature from the initial drawing and I started to really like them. They already had a place in my story but giving them that realistic anatomy made them all the more special to me
I have always wanted to write a handbook for people about speaking to animals, like when you go walking in the forest and see an animal how to interpret what they say with their body. I think it can be done, we "read" the language of our dogs and cats without even knowing; we know when they are sad, happy or angry, it's not that hard and I think we can all learn if we want to. It's speaking back that's the hard part XD Animals don't speak on the same level we do, it would be simpler but I still think it can be done ^^
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Was it the one where the Manticore was sitting? that and this one is the only ones I seen, but that would be a good way. I like to imagine a world where all the mythical and other animals are real and well do what normal animals do.
I'm a bit curious now. What would these cubs look like? I saw another picture of a cub that had a cub face, would your version have human child faces?
Now that would be something, it could open so many doors and also might be the answer to preventing more attacks, but we won't be able to fully understand they might do one thing, but suddenly do something else, and of course there is human arrogance
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yeah that was the picture
I have no idea about the cubs, I never thought of it. Very few people would see the subs and live to tell the tale, mothers are very protective
Yeah... human arrogance is a pain to get around >.<
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
but could it be possible for a Manticore to act like a lion? in shows there are some humans who gain the big cat's trust and if they keep their distance they will glimpse. But maybe the elves would know, can't say
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Well they act like a big cat.... humans would relate it to a lion as humans like to relate new creatures to those they are more familiar with.
They don't live in prides like lions, they are solitary but their mane means they look similar to lions.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I do wonder how the legend of the Manticore came up, in fact many mythical animals are really more like hybrids, the Manticore looks almost like the mix of a human, lion, and occasionally scorpion, a Cockatrice is just a chicken with a snake tail.
hmm I think they remind me more of leopards then, in fact they seem more leopard like instead
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I always imagined the Manticore to have come from the first sighting of a Lion (despite lions being in the description) because of their very strong and bold faces and their tails having a rounded tuft of hair so it looks like the bulb of a scorpion. They could indeed be a leopard, with a thick body and a strong tail
But it is always strange, we will never know where it came from, many myths have the Manticore possessing Bats wings as well
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
or a mix, now that you mention it that does seem a likely one, especially since there weren't much studying about animals then.
I never heard of that, perhaps it depends on where you live and why, but that is a interesting thing, how could small, fragile wings support a large beast
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
XD The same thing could be said for most creatures in mythology when it comes to flight, look at the Pegasus- a horse could never fly, leg along a dragon the size of a house
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
true.
Do you think the Manticore would hunt more then just Centuars? I was thinking of one hunting hippogriffs
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Possibly, I do not know. I don't have hippogriff in my story. It would be a thing of darting them before they fly away and then a case of catching and holding them down. In my world, they hunt lots of other creatures as they are one of the most powerful predators in the land
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
And there's the back they have sharp claws on their front legs, so it would be risky prey. Maybe they also go after the weak and sick or old ones? like how some small prides of lions hunt the weaker animals because they will be much safer that way. Perhaps the Centuar was injured or perhaps it was sick or just resting
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Wow really? :S I had not tried to make them sad, only give them that hanging jaw lions have
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Well there you go ^^ Perhaps she is
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
very nice
i like how the manticore looks kinda sad, becuase even though she (?) is feeding her family a life has been taken. One that is by rights as intelligent as her
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thanks, she wasn't meant to look sad though 
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Yup, the first thing a Centaur will do is run so it's the best spot to aim
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
realised i called him a girl even though it says he in the title
mum likes the pic too btw
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
That's cool, I used the female feeding her cubs as an alternate view for anyone when they express hate or dislike for a predator killing something. I always say imagine the cubs because everyone likes baby cats but they never realise that you cannot feed them veggies
👍: 0 ⏩: 0