Episode
Three Ravens Bestiary #25: Ogres
- Podcast
- The Three Ravens Podcast
- Published
- Jun 15, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 4226
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://www.threeravenspodcast.com/
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Summary
Let's strip away the meat of mythology and render down the fat of folklore to cook up a delicious chat all about Ogres! The word itself was coined by Chrétien de Troyes during the 12th century, and was used to talk about the brutish Britons on the other side of the channel - but from the Ancient Egyptian "Cannibal Hymn" of Pharaoh Unas to the Greeks and Romans with Polyphemus and Orcus, the name of these things is less important than what they do. Personifications of wild, untameable nature and warnings about totalitarian power, what's at the root of this symbol of eating people? Did it mean the same things to the Etruscans as it did to the first Italian chroniclers of folk romances? What about when Charles Perrault re-adapted both 'The Ogre' and 'The Ogress' at the end of the 17th century, and started dressing them in fancy clothes? From cthonic Gods of Oaths to Japanese Oni, Baba Yaga to the Ogre's position in contemporary psychotherapy, we're chopping it up, blending it down, then simmering the Ogre gently until it's ready. Unless you're listening during the Reformation - in which case Ogres are just Catholics, and ought to be hunted down! We also hope you increasingly pleased by our new Bestiary episode art, as drawn by our good friend Tom Peteuil of Creature Castle - check out brand new Ogre merch here and visit the Creature Castle shop for prints and other wonderful things here . Speak to you again on Thursday for this week's Lang Fairy Tale, The Enchanted Fairy , before Saturday's Three Ravens Live Show, recorded on Thursday 11th June at Leominster Festival! Three Ravens is an English Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon. Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on one of England's 39 historic counties,…