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This is a list of minor creatures in the Dresden Files.

Baku[]

In "Day One, a baku is a Japanese supernatural creature eating nightmares affecting children. According to legend, they were created from the spare pieces left over when the gods finished creating all other animals. One of them has taken the aspect of Dr. Miyamune, appearing as a woman of Asian descent, with incongruous blue eyes, to feed on her patient's nightmares.[1]

Black dog[]

In Welcome to the Jungle, Black dogs are extremely tough and aggressive supernatural hitmen named after their shape and color. Harry Dresden and Willamena Rogers are attacked by one. Dresden is wary of accepting pitched battle with one of them, rather preferring to flee. Under the dog's repeated attacks, however, Dresden leads it to a little-trafficked area and blasts it with a fire spell, managing to destroy it.[2]

Boogeyman[]

In "AAAA Wizardry", boogeymen, boggles or boggarts, are weak phobophages hiding in closets and feeding on children. Fairly non-descript, they're known not only to feed on children's fears, but also originate them so to have something to feed upon. A particularly big one gets banished by Megan Yardly, after Harry Dresden indicates it feeds off her children's traumas.[3]

Cornerhound[]

In Peace Talks, cornerhounds are massive creatures from the Outside, covered in fleshy mouths and thrashing tentacles. Their movements are jerky, and they scuttle more than they walk. The tentacles are their source of magic and shield against it; more tentacles produce powerful infrasonic vibrations that can cause internal organ damage. Cornerhounds always travel in a pack of thirteen; the hounds share a hive mind, and they can only be banished together.[4][5]

Creep[]

In "Zoo Day", creeps are a small family of creatures only able to be perceived by young children. Even Mouse has difficulties, seeing only shadows and smelling cold and hunger. They are referred to as being in the Book created by Molly Carpenter, now in the hands of Maggie.[6]

  • Haunts are phobophages preying on children. Children notice them by their hosts' eyes being black and empty, which, however, appear regular to adults. Haunts do not like salt in their eyes and can be defeated by facing up to and conquering one's fears. They look for the smallest, most vulnerable kid, with the scariest things in their past they can find. They also can leave the children they're parasitizing when they're sated; their hosts will never be the same as before.
  • Baglers attach themselves to adults and force them to discuss politics at any available opportunity. They appear like semi-transparent shrouds over the faces of their victims.
  • Underhides are found hiding beneath children's beds, and can get quite old and nasty.[6]

A group of haunts attacks Margaret Angelica Dresden, who manages to defeat them, taking her first step toward recovery and healing.[6]

Djinn[]

In Proven Guilty, djinn, but also jinns or genies, are supernatural creatures in early Arabian and later Islamic mythology and theology. Lucius Glau is mentioned as being a jann, or a scion of a djinn and a human being.[7]

Giant owl[]

In "Wild Card", a giant owl attacks Harry Dresden and Thomas Raith on their way to pay a visit to Lara Raith for information as to why the White Court was interested in two young women. Dresden magically destroys it.[8]

Hecatean hag[]

In Welcome to the Jungle, hecatean hags are powerfully magical beings, members of the cult of Hecate. According to Bob, they are non-human, though they can pass for human beings, anthropomorphous, and magically extremely powerful, capable of pulling off a rite of ascension. Extremely tough, with skin like armored tanks, they are not to be messed with and can tear an opponent limb from limb. At least some of them belong to the inner circle of the cult of Hecate, who was one of them, before ascending to divine status.

Dr. Dana Watson is one of them, wreaking havoc in Lincoln Park Zoo and collecting the blood of beasts of prey for her own rite of ascension.[2]

Huntsman[]

In Battle Ground, huntsmen are Fomor troops taking part in the attack on Chicago. The Huntsmen of the Land of the Dead are Welsh creatures bound together in groups of 13. It resembles a muscular humanoid with stag horns on its head and a mane composed of hair, feathers, and claws. Initially six and a half feet tall, each huntsman that dies gives strength to the surviving creatures until the final huntsman is larger than a Sasquatch.[9] Humans are used in some way to breed more of them, with the Erlking calling the process "distasteful".[10]

Jili Ffrwtan[]

In "Curses", the Jili Ffrwtan are proud, flirty, high-ranking women of the Tylwyth Teg. One of them works at the Llyn y Fan Fach Tavern, and leads Harry Dresden to meet King Gwynn ap Nudd.[11]

Jotun[]

First mentioned in Changes by Donar Vadderung,[12] Jotuns (more common plural Jotnar) are colossal humanoids and the ancient enemies of the Einherjaren. They originate from Muspelheim, and are used by Ethniu as shock troops to augment her Fomor legion during the events of Battle Ground.[13] Wizards Ebenezar McCoy and Gregori Cristos trap many of them in quicksand so that the Einherjaren can slaughter them all, though they die in droves themselves to accomplish the task, even with the Jotnar hampered by the quicksand.[14] One who survived, Svangar, later confronts Harry Dresden and boasts of surviving a fight with Thor himself. Karrin Murphy kills him with a bazooka.[15]

Kenku[]

In Changes, the kenku are a species allied with the Grey Council. Their faces are crow-like with long yellow beaks, and their bodies are covered in soft black feathers. They all bore Japanese katana. According to Ebenezar McCoy they owed him a favor and therefore agreed to aid him in the fight against the Red Court.[16]

In the Ball Court at Chichén Itzá, Ebenezar McCoy opened a way through which they came by the hundreds to fight alongside the Grey Council. Outlined against the moon, thirty or forty Kenku flew over Harry Dresden and his team and landed to engage the Jaguar Warriors who were blocking Dresden's exit. The Kenku cut a hole in the enemies line that enabled them to continue on their mission to rescue Maggie from the Temple of Kukulkan in time before the Red King and the Lords of Outer Night killed her in the Bloodline curse.[17]

Kraken[]

In Battle Ground, a kraken is a colossal squid whose beak alone is large enough to slice a fully grown bull shark in half. Created by the Fomor and able to soulgaze, this beast is sent to attack Harry Dresden and his compatriots as he returns to Chicago — it is killed by a fragmentation grenade placed inside its own skull by Freydis Gard.[18]

Leshy[]

Leshyie (pl. for Leshy) are Slavic spirits of the woods and hunting. In Peace Talks, Molly Carpenter is charged to get their numbers up.[19]

Maenad[]

Maenad, Greek word meaning raving one, is a female follower of Dionysus and the most significant members of the god's retinue. Another term for her is Bassarid. In "Last Call", Meditrina Bassarid is a maenad intent to wreak havoc at the United Center.[20]

Mold demon[]

In Blood Rites, mold demons are demons that ate the interior of the Blue Beetle, Harry Dresden's Blue Beetle. They were called out of the decay in the Blue Beetle's interior, and then they used anything organic to make bodies for themselves.[21]

Naga[]

In "Ghoul Goblin", Nagas (also spelled Nāga) are giant magically-endowed cobra-like shapeshifters. They are very ancient beings and consider human beings as not very important. When not in the form of a giant king cobra, they can assume human form. Though strictly bound to neutrality, they can act to restore equilibrium.[22] One of them allows herself to be evoked by Harry Dresden, but provides him with more warning than help.[22]

Näcken[]

In "A Fistful of Warlocks", näcken, also spelled neck, nicor, nixie or nokken, are shapeshifting water sprites. Näcken are huge, foul-smelling water dwellers, capable of assuming the shape of a horse. One of them, after losing a bet with Anastasia Luccio, is bound to assist her in the chase of a warlock named Alexander Page.[23]

Octokong[]

Octokong

In Skin Game, Octokongs are creatures employed by the Fomor. Bulbous and purple-grey with blotches of other colors, they have the torso of a hairless gorilla-like humanoid grafted to the limbs of an enormous octopus, and nearly human eyes. They reek with rotten-fish stench, and leave a trail of yellowish mucus.[24]

They appear at the party at the Peninsula Hotel , attended by Harry Dresden and Hannah Ascher to pick up Anna Valmont, attacking the three.[24]

Psychophagic mite[]

In "Day Off", psychophagic mites are parasites living off the life force of human beings. It is unknown if they feed also on other living beings. They attack Andi Macklin and Kirby, feeding off their life force, and forcing them to request Harry Dresden's help to be cleansed.[1]

Qarin[]

In "Ghoul Goblin", a qarin is an Arabic guardian angel of sorts, duty-bound to a human being. Though often classified among the Djinns,[22] with which they share some characteristics, Qarin (literally "constant companion") are distinct entities; spiritual doubles of human beings, either as an extension of them or as individual creatures.

One of them has fallen in love with Cynthia Cedar, saving her from an attack by a number of magically reanimated mummies. He follows her to Boone Mill, and is willing to forsake his relationship with Cynthia Cedar, joins Dresden's fight against Griswald and Ambre LaChaise, killing the latter and expending all his life force in the process.[22]

Shen[]

Shen

Fighting the Shen.

In Blood Rites, the Shen is a Chinese shapeshifter, which can appear either as a sea dragon or a clam, and can cast mirages.[21]

Harry Dresden paralyzes several ones in the form of flying apes so that he can recover a litter of Temple Dog puppies they were guarding for Brother Wang. Three of them manage to avoid the paralysis and give chase through a school, launching incendiary fecal matter at Dresden and burning down the building. Dresden escapes, traps them inside, and flees to his car, but the Shen combine into a single demon which breaks out of the school and follows. While Thomas Raith drives them away, Dresden manages to knock it down with a fireball, at which point he then finishes it off by blowing up its head.[21]

Shoggoth[]

In "War Cry", Shoggoths are the spawn of Outsiders, bred to sapience. They appear to be spirals of meat-colored substance, studded with mouths, teeth and fangs. Drawn to sapience, they can only subsist on sapient beings. According to Harry Dresden, shoggoths are doomsday devices, able to consume the population of Manhattan in one day, growing exponentially in the process. Catherine Taylor thinks the release of one would usher an era of horror and carnage as yet unknown to man.[25]

The Red Court is trying to get a hold on one of them, something Harry Dresden and Catherine Taylor disagree to. Taylor has been magically bound to it, to keep it dormant. Dresden suspects the involvement of a high-ranked member of the White Council, but has no idea about who he is. In a flashback, a shoggoth has been shown to destroy Akkadia and King Hammurabi's Babylon.[25]

Tylwyth Teg[]

The Tylwyth Teg are a group of Fair Folks from the Nevernever. They are a Welsh Fey court. Proudly independent, they intensely dislike to be called faerie. The Jili Ffrwtan are among their high-ranking women. Their king is Gwynn ap Nudd, and they hold goats as sacred.[11]

In "Curses", Harry Dresden takes a case to remove the Billy Goat Curse from the Chicago Cubs fan. It led him to the Tylwyth Teg and King Gwynn ap Nudd via Jill.[11]

In Changes, Dresden uses the Summoning Circle in his lab to call servants of the Tylwyth Teg, with whose king he is on good terms with. His idea was to gather information regarding his daughter Maggie's location.[26]

Wolf people[]

In "Dog Men", the Wolf people are a race unto themselves; they cannot shapeshift but are ferocious, territorial and extremely dangerous. Joseph Listens-to-Wind compares them to wolves in sheeps' clothes. One of them is seen on the crime scene at the Martineaux's.[27]

References[]

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