Faerie Folklore The Leanan Sidhe
The Leanan Sidhe is another faerie of Irish faerie folklore. She could perhaps be a benevolent faerie, as she is said to inspire poets and artists, but at the same time she is also considered malevolent because the price the poet or artist pays for his/her pays for inspirations in death or captivity.The Leanan Sidhe is a very beautiful faerie, but is also said to be a vampire faery of sorts. There is said to be only one of her kind.... no other like her... Leanan Sidhe has been sighted or told of from the Isle of Man. It is said that as she is a vampire faerie, she enjoys drinking the blood of her victims. However she doesn't just bite her victims and suck the blood out like a normal vampire does...she actually drinks her victims blood from a large red cauldron. This cauldron is said in legends to be the source of her power and good looks. The creativity that she inspires in poets and the artists is said to by drinking from this red cauldron of blood... of the life force of the humans she has taken...
It is also said in a Irish legend, that if one is under the lure of the Leanan Sidhe the only way to escape her luring eyes is by punishment is to call out to the Irish Sea God Known as Manann.
The origins of the Leanan Sidhe are not fully known any longer, however many believe that she , like many Irish faeries is a demonized version of a once-powerful ancient Irish deity [An Goddess]. She has a similar name in Hebrew legend and is known as Estrie.
With her charming looks, the Leanan Sidhe will seek out human lovers. However beautiful and charismatic she may appear, the Leanan Sidhe uses her lover as a source of energy ,slowing drawing the life from her lover until they are nothing more than just a corpse, wasting away until the human lover succumbs to death not even realizing it...til it is too late... The Leanan Sidhe feeling no remorse for the death of her human lover, simply moves on to seek out for another victim. The only way to escape from this Vampire fairy once you are already in her spell is to find another human to take your place, without her finding out. If a man is to refuse her seduction, she will attempt to instead make him her slave. This is not a nice Fairy … This is a bad evil Fairy in my option
These Faeries particularly seek out the affection of young struggling artist, coming to them to serve as their muse in exchange for their devotion. The Leanan Sidhe fairies will bring good fortune, great fame and inspiration to the artist that they seek – It all comes at a price [kinda like signing your soul to the devil eh!]. Evil little fairies these Leanan Sidhe …. Anyways what happens is if the artist bites while the Leanan Sidhe fairy will bite even harder. These Artist will fall victims to madness, misfortune, financial lost to premature death. Some sources say that this trade for glory and fame has extended to warriors too- As the Leanan Sidhe Fairies would fill the warriors and fighters with courage and strength through a song. The name of the song is; “Leanan” comes from the Gaelic word for sweetheart or lover; and the “Sidhe” part of this fairy's name indicates her race.
