How to Write Realistic Fantasy Equines

Some of the most iconic fantasy creatures are the spin-offs of horses. Pegasi, unicorns, and alicorns have graced many types of fantasy fiction, from Keeper of the Lost Cities to Narnia. I myself have used all three, along with some others, in several different fantasy novels.

But how do you write a realistic creature that doesn’t exist? It’s easy to learn how to write horses, pandas, polar bears, or some other creature that really exists in our world. But how do you write a creature that came from other people’s imaginations?

Today, I’m going to break down that question and give examples on how you can use what you know about real horses and apply that to writing fantasy equines.

We’ll start with the most popular (and my favorite): The pegasus.

***

Writing Pegasi

Featured in Percy Jackson, the Pegasus series and The Guardian Herd, pegasi are arguably one of the most written fantasy equines. Pegasi are also the main species featured in my gaslamp fantasy Skybound and my MG anthro fantasy Wings of Equinox.

But how do you write them?

Whenever I’m creating a magic system with magical creatures (and BTW, this is just my preference), I like to think of how they could be created. As a Christian I prefer to create “magic” systems with creatures that could, with a small miracle or two from God’s hand, exist in our world. So for pegasi, I think about how a horse would get wings, and how the aerodynamics would work when that pegasus is flying. Since birds have lighter bones, I like to write pegasi with lighter bones as well, meaning that they are more prone to breakage. They also have larger hearts and lungs than normal horses to get enough oxygen to fly and run.

The nice thing about fantasy creatures is that you have a lot of leverage on what you can do with them. There’s no set boundaries on what a pegasus can and cannot be. Maybe the pegasus in your story is really a cyborg from an experiment, and its wings are mechanical under the synthetic feathers.

I would say the main things to research when writing pegasi:

• Horse behavior. I’m going to say this for all of them, because you can’t go wrong researching a little horse behavior when writing equines. Specifically, research fight, flight, or freeze responses. It’s up to you which to choose as a primary fear response for your pegasi, but I like to make my pegasi bolder than my horses since they have they have the added defense and advantage of flight.
• Breeds of horses used for jumping. These horses are specifically bred to “fly”, and understanding what body types are the most aerodynamic in the real horse world will help you with designing the confirmation for your pegasi.
• Gaits. Because pegasi have to deal with wings while traveling on the ground, researching different gaits could be an interesting thing to add in. Maybe trotting would jostle the wing joints too much, so your pegasus travels on the smoother pace gait. I’ll be writing about gaits in a future article.
• The heart and lungs of birds. This is an extra, but understanding how birds can fly and how you can integrate those details into your pegasus might be a fun research project.

You don’t have to do all of this if your pegasus is just a minor steed, but it can be an interesting thing to add to the story. It’s always fun to have those random bits of worldbuilding that make your setting seem a little bit more real.

***

Writing Unicorns

The unicorn might be older than the pegasus in legend. Some unicorn legends date all the way back to ancient China and Egypt. And of course, they are a favorite, glittery icon in modern day.

Me? I prefer killer unicorns. Modern unicorns with rainbow manes and tales are a far cry from the original Scottish legend that made them popular.

One thing that a lot of people forget is that the unicorn does not have a horse’s hooves. The original unicorn legends had cloven hooves. The interesting thing about cloven hooves is that it spreads the weight of the foot more, allowing for lighter steps. They also have the ropy tails of cows and a beard. You can have a lot of fun with that beard.

Since unicorns have such a vast origin across cultures, something fun to do would be to research the different variations of those legends and base your unicorns from the model on that legend. It could be the classic Scottish white horse who kills all who come into the forest only to fall asleep in the lap of a little girl with a pure heart, or it could be the Chinese Qilin, with a dragon’s head, a horn, mane, beard, and a scaled body of a horse with cloven hooves.

Me? I like to use the Scottish version with a twist. Since my unicorns only show up in my anthro fantasy (thus, they talk), I like to have them as a rough herd, more violent than my other equine cultures because they have the most weaponry. Beards are a main part of their culture among the stallions– the more glorious and tangled the beard, the stronger the stallion. Broken horns of their opponents are weaved into their manes for ceremonies. I have a lot of fun drawing those stallions.

Another thing– that horn can be used as a deadly weapon for stabbing. I think they are the most weaponized of the fantasy equines, since they can easily stab with those horns, even a flying creature like a pegasus.

Some things to research when writing unicorns:

• Unicorn legends in different cultures, as mentioned already.
• Research the culture that your unicorn type comes from. You might be able to add something interesting in their herd dynamic.
• Research horned or antlered animal skulls and how they fight with those horns and antlers. It takes a lot of bone to support such appendages, and you might be able to discover something interesting about the anatomy of your unicorn.

Like a pegasus, you also have a lot of leeway with unicorns. Personally, I prefer deadly unicorns. They’re more interesting to write and read about.

***

Writing Alicorns

Made famous by Silveny of Keeper of the Lost Cities fame, the Alicorn is one of the least used of the fantasy equines (besides kelpies) in fiction. In ancient Assyrian legends, they were symbols of darkness, although other cultures use them as symbols of light. I use them as prophets in my anthro fantasy Wings of Equinox.

Alicorns might also be the easiest to write if you combine the research of pegasi and unicorns together. They would need to have an exceedingly strong spinal cord and muscular system to hold up not only that horn, but their wings.

Since both research recommendations on unicorns and pegasi would work for alicorns, I only have one research idea: research equine hybrids. Zorses, mules, hinnies, zonkeys, etc. See how the hybrids of these two creatures result. Most of the time, since these creatures have different chromosomes, the hybrids are sterile themselves. You could have alicorns be the “mules” of the fantasy world. See how different genetic patterns result in the hybrids, which traits they inherit from their sire and dam.

***

Writing Kelpies

The final fantasy equine we’ll talk about is the Kelpie. I have yet to find many kelpies in written fiction, outside of a friend’s manuscript. These are shape-shifting legends from Gaelic folklore, usually taking on a horse form and are able to turn into humans, who reside in lochs.

Kelpies are usually black, gray or white and they have varying forms in legends. They are told to devour people and lure them into the water by offering rides or singing. Their hooves are usually backwards. Some have tails or dragon appendages, others do not. I would recommend researching the varying legends.

Kelpies are the mermaids of the horse world, and the main thing to consider when writing them is how they function underwater. I do not use Kelpies myself in my fiction, but I use a Kelpie spin-off called a Hydrequid. I decided to make them camouflage with the water, a little bit like Nokk from Frozen 2. They have two forms: a land form, which is normal like a horse outside of its watery body and bright, translucent eyes, and a water form that has a scaled tail.

Kelpies usually have seaweed manes or tails. Consider whether they have gills like a fish or they must come up for air like a dolphin. Another cool element to add would be countershading, like many sea creatures– light on the bottom, dark on top.

Recommended research:

• Kelpie legends
• How gills work and/or how a whale or dolphin’s respiratory system works.
• Underwater camouflage systems.

It’s ultimately up to you whether you want to make Kelpies killers or protectors. My Hydrequids are guardians of water, usually rescuing drowning people. They are also quite dangerous and easily angered. It’s really up to you how you want to write your kelpies.

***

Fantasy worlds allow for a range of ideas and colors to be added to your palate of worldbuilding. Whether you have cyborg pegasi, tiny unicorns that only dwarves ride, alicorns who bring omens of darkness or Kelpies who guard the Loch Ness, I hope that this article was able to give you some ideas on how to really bring your fantasy equines to life.

Tell me in the comments: what types of equines do you use in your fantasy stories? How do you like to worldbuild them?