Stallions at the Ready

Those Awaiting their Masters’ Ascent

Fantasy equal: Centaurs

Centaurs are one of my personal favourite mythical beings. They galloped across the dry grasslands of Ancient Greece and today make their appearance in many a fantasy tales, computer games and movies. You fight just about every Greek (amongst other civilizations) mythical being in the game called Titan Quest. This includes the majestic and powerful Centaurs. You face them rather early in the game and make formidable enemies, especially since you are a wee little hero early on in the game.

Oreius is the leading centaur in the movie Narnia; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He is the fearless general of the Narnian army and is an excellent swordsman. He carries three blades with him, not including his natural blade. In the Harry Potter movies, Ronan and his fellow centaurs make their appearance twice.

As mentioned in the extract below, centaurs rarely allowed human beings to ride them and under no circumstances were you allowed saddling them up. If you were bestowed the honour of riding off into the sunset with your beloved centaur, it had to be done bareback. As centaurs bestow a fortunate few with the honour of riding them, so too do the stallions in the following collection.

“The Centaurs were a race of highly intelligent creatures. They appeared human from the abdomen up but had the body (including the four legs) of a Horse. Centaurs were often prophets and/or stargazers, the Centaur Oreius was a general in Aslan's Army and the Centaur Cloudbirth was a famed healer.

Centaurs had long life-spans some living up to two hundred years. They were the only race that could interpret the dance of the Stars. Oaten cakes, apples, herbs, wine, and cheese formed the staple of a Centaurs diet. Centaurs had two stomachs, one of a horse and one of a man. They had to fill both of these stomachs, making inviting a centaur over for the week-end a serious thing. Centaurs were known for waking up before it becomes light. A centaurs breakfast migh include Porridge, pavendors, kidneys, bacon, omlette, cold ham, toast, marmalade, coffee, and beer then they graze for on hour then eat hot mash, some oats, and a bag of sugar.

Centaurs were considered excellent strategists. In battle the female Centaurs prefered to use a Bow, while the males prefered to use swords and hooves. No one would dare laugh at a Centaur, and no one who valued his life would dare try to put a saddle on one. It was a great honor to be able to ride a centaur; though one had to ride bareback, the only known people to receive this honor were Susan Pevensie in the movie, and Jill Pole and Eustace Scrubb in the books. Out of all the many creatures of Narnia they may be the most respected. Female Centaurs are sometimes called Centauress.”

http://narnia.wikia.com/wiki/Centaur