I am currently in the process of starting from scratch on a story. It's similar to the TV show Supernatural and because of that I'm worried about plagerism I'm worried the monsters might be close to the show portrays them though I admit when your using mythology it can be next to impossible to not be too close to other portrayals. Though I'm considering using demons and I'm not entirely sure how to go about using them.
I'm always bothered when demons are given compassionate attributes; Supernatural does this a lot. When I think about demons, I think about pure evil – the complete absence of God from a religious viewpoint. Demons should be cruel, hateful, and completely self (or hell) serving, 100% all the time. The underworld from other mythologies allows those who travel there to retain part of their human nature. The origins of the demons, in my opinion, is important in the way the demons behave.
How are demons in Supernatural given compassionate attributes? I mean look at Crowley he's as pure evil as they come so were Azaezel and Lilith
Ruby granted was a Lucifer groupie and Meg kind of went soft in the end but Ruby did manipulate Sam and Ruby was only soft with Castiel lol.
This is just me playing devil's advocate (no pun intended), but I think you are too close to the show, in your real life, to write something that isn't going to flirt with or cross the line of being a fan-fiction or at the least an obvious aping of the show. The ease with which you come up with references internal to the structure of the show tells me this.
Is this only in regards to christian demons? If so, are you a christian and think that creating sympathetic demons might tempt people away from the bible? If that isn't the case, why are you so adamant about demons being portrayed a certain way? Do you not think that it might be interesting to see how a world with sympathetic demons might turn out? How that may be different from a world where demons are only pure evil? I think that allowing certain unexpected attributes can make for a much more interesting and "realistic" plot. Question: what is the origin of demons you are referring to?
Being both evil and related to the Christian tradition is inherent in the definition of "demon." A fictional spirit could share attributes with the Christian "demon," but if it violated the definition of the world, then those spirits are not really demons. At least that's how I see it.
I don't think that being related to christianity is inherent to the word demon. Other religions have things that may fall under the heading "demon".
you can get hold of books on mythological creatures, there is one i use in particular if you want to pm me so i can give you the title, its quite a small book, but will have what you need, there is also google....
All things called demons that aren't from Near-East and Abrahamic religions are simply translations of other creatures into English. So something from Japan that is very similar to a demon would be translated as demon into English. That doesn't mean they're the same thing. But usually, these things are malevolent spirits in their native culture. A sympathetic mythological creature that you call a demon isn't a new and interesting kind of demon, it's a mislabeled creature.
