Our Banshees Are Louder: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

Here we have the ghostly women who originate from [[Celtic Mythology]]. They are usually noted for their voices, due to either being hauntingly hypnotic, or filled with horrible screams usually [[Sadly Mythtaken]] for a [[Make Me Wanna Shout|sonic attack]].

 

Their wail can sometimes be a [[Portent of Doom]].

{{examples}}

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* [[Marvel Comics]]' Banshee is a male mutant with yelling and [[Not Quite Flight|bizarre flight powers]]. His daughter, incidentally, is called Siryn.

*** ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' writer Roy Thomas actually meant for Banshee to be a woman, but [[Stan Lee]] decided that a male character would be better. When Siryn was created, Thomas' reaction was "that was what Banshee was supposed to look like all along!" So, with Siryn's taking on the name, the Banshee he'd created has finally arrived...and it only took 30 years. But hey, [[Legacy Character]]s can take a while.

* [[Corto Maltese]] once meets an Irish girl named Banshee, and asks her why she was given such an inauspicious name. She dodges the question, but she isn't, as far as the story goes, a supernatural creature.

** Of course, Silver Banshee has to know your [[True Name]]. Her power doesn't work on Superman because she doesn't know his birth name is neither Superman nor Clark Kent, but Kal-El.

 

== [[Film]] ==

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* Erica Hayes's ''Shadowfae'' series of urban fantasy novels features banshees with [[Enthralling Siren|siren-like abilities]]. These banshees seem to be a type of [[The Fair Folk|fae]] with a [[Magic Music|magical affinity]] for sound rather than death, although they can kill with a [[Musical Assassin|song]] or [[Make Me Wanna Shout|scream]] if they want to. They can also cast a variety of spells through song, [[Compelling Voice|manipulate humans]], and secrete venom from beneath their tongues that they can use as an [[Kiss of Death|additional weapon]] besides their voices. Their magical affinity for sound gives them [[Super Senses|preternatural hearing]] but also gives them the ability to [[Required Secondary Powers|filter sounds so they don't get overwhelmed by auditory stimuli]], as well as enhancements to their inner ear that give them extraordinary balance and agility. They all look like attractive human women, but with unusually colored [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|hair]] and [[Technicolor Eyes|eyes]], and usually their eyes and hair are of different but unnaturally bright neon or metallic colors. They are known for being violent, lustful, and usually [[Ax Crazy|just a little psychotic]], and in one book, a banshee is employed as an enforcer and bodyguard for a supernatural version of the mob. They are born with innately magical voices, but their magic can be taken from them by some other kinds of supernatural beings who [[Powers as Programs|use the banshee's voice magic for themselves]].

 

* In ''[[Charmed]]'' banshees are spirits attracted to heartbroken humans; they use their high pitched screams to kill them. If they use their screams on a witch {{spoiler|that banshee is destroyed, and the witch [[The Virus|turns into a new banshee]]}}.

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* Banshees show up in ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]''. They're pretty nasty. There's even a spell called ''wail of the banshee'', which is basically a "everyone within this radius of the caster, save or die" spell.

* ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' has screaming undead banshee as an unit in Vampires army.

* The original Celtic breed show up in ''[[Scion]] Companion'', under their original name, ''bean sidhe'' ("sidhe" is pronounced "shee"). Since White Wolf [[Did the Research]], they're fixated on death but aren't particularly big on screaming.

* Banshees are a [[Splat|Shade]] of ghost/projector in ''[[Orpheus]]''. In keeping with the name, their major talents are the ability to see the future and a wail that can either control emotions or shatter your eardrums.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* ''[[Warcraft]]'' banshees are Undead units who attack with their high-pitched screeches. They function as spellcasters, making enemies miss, rendering units invulnerable to magic, or possessing enemies. They were once High Elves whose bodies and souls were defiled by the Scourge, forcing them to exist as bitter, spiteful ghosts.

** The most notable Banshee is Sylvanas Windrunner. Originally forced into a ghostly state as a final cruelty by Arthas, she was the first Banshee and became the "Banshee Queen". As a reward for her service to Arthas, she eventually received her original(now undead) body to possess.

*** Didn't she steal her corpse and revive it herself? And she definitely wasn't the first banshee. Night elves slain during the war of the ancients have been banshees for thousands of years. The Lich King got the idea to 'enlist' them for his army, then he decided he needed to make some more. Sylvanas was, however, the first High Elven banshee. She also has taught a few of her banshee sisters to take back their bodies, they are now Dark Rangers.

* One of the enemies in the English version of ''[[Castlevania]]: Order of Ecclesia'' is called the Banshee (in Japan, it was an [[Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl|onryo]]). One quest requires you to record its scream on a phonograph.

* The "Frozen Lady" of ''[[Mystery Case Files]]'': Dire Grove is also identified as a banshee. She doesn't have a scream attack, but when you can freeze a good chunk of England solid while still mystically bound, do you need one?

* [[Nancy Drew (video game)|Nancy Drew]] investigates banshee sightings in ''The Haunting Of Castle Malloy''. {{spoiler|Turns out it's a weird old hermit woman who'd been spotted flying around [[It Makes Sense in Context|with a jetpack]].}}

* A banshee makes a brief appearance in ''[[Shadowgate]]'' in the form of a [[Jump Scare]].

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (animation)|Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]'' had an [[Oireland]] episode with a banshee in it.

* ''[[Gargoyles]]'' features a villainous banshee who is one of [[The Fair Folk|Oberon's Children]]. She has a small cameo in a second episode when she refuses to answer Oberon's summons; as punishment she's dragged back by the Weird Sisters and gagged indefinitely.

* One of the ''[[Casper]]'' cartoons featured his teacher Ms. Banshee, who had a particularly powerful scream.

* A banshee was one of the main characters in the cartoon ''[[Roswell Conspiracies: Aliens, Myths and Legend]]''.

** Actually, the second sister was a Siren rather than a Banshee. Ghost genetics confuse me.

** It was a trap: The Siren was the carrot, the Banshee the stick. In the episode the banshee & siren could stay young if they ate the youth of humans. So they would use the siren to lure young people in and the banshee would then steal the youth.

* In ''[[X-Men (animation)|X-Men]]'', the above mentioned Banshee makes an appearance, and he flies by screaming. So, naturally, at one point he has to give [[Wolverine]] a ride. [[Hilarity Ensues|Logan is not happy about this.]]

* Misery from ''[[Ruby Gloom]]'' is [[Fanonis|often suspected of being a banshee]], along with her [[One-Gender Race|all-female family]], though it's not official.

[[Category:Our Tropes Are Different]]

[[Category:Index of Fictional Creatures]]