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Book Club 2w
Are mermaids considered fae?
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Anonymous 2w

I think fae has been very misconstrued in recent books, id look at google for accurate information!

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Anonymous 2w

The term fae has been used for a lot of things lol! Recently in book spaces it seems to refer to otherworldly beings from specifically Irish, Scottish, and sometimes Welsh folklore. In that case, I think you can argue yes - in some Scottish ballads mermaids are used interchangeably with elf / fairy maidens, Lí Ban is a classic mermaid story from Lebor na hUidre (oldest extant Irish manuscript), and other stories in LU include personifications of rivers to be part of the síd.

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Anonymous replying to -> #1 2w

Okay! Thank you!

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Anonymous replying to -> #2 2w

I think there’s been an interesting development in the term recently where people want to use aspects of old depictions of the otherworld but want a modern use of the term. Like using the term “fairy” to mean one specific thing came from Edwardian England and the beginning of people studying folklore. Often when you look at old stuff if something isn’t quite human or even if a human has magical tricks it’s slotted under elves/fairies/síd. It’s a lot of soft rather than hard worldbuilding haha

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