Introduction
In myth and legend around the world, people get eaten. A lot. From Jonah to Sun Wukong and Mwindo to Coyote, characters in stories as old as humanity find themselves in the gullets of monsters and magicians alike.
This index, inspired by the Aaarne-Thompson-Uther tale-type index and the Motif-Index of Folk-Literature, seeks to find and catalogue as many as possible. This seeks to catalogue folklore, myths, legends, tropes, and archetypes. There will be a focus on being swallowed whole and alive, but on occasion there will be a bit of your standard cannibalism. What counts as "folklore" is a bit squishy, but for the sake of things, I won't use anything made after 1925; with a few exceptions for certain works of modern art. This includes the Sarlaac from Star Wars, Audrey II, and a few other sci-fi tropes, since a lot of influential sci-fi was made from the 60s to 80s. For these, the cutoff is 1990.
I also won't limit myself to "humans" - if it's sapient and gets vored, it goes here. This is so I can catalogue some myths and fairy tales.
Feel free to use this list to categorize your favorite stories, and your own works of art as well!
A special thanks to my friend Void for helping with this list.
Index Numbers
A: Eaten by the Fantastical
B: Eaten by Humans
C: Eaten by Animals
D: Predator Protagonists
E: Where Modern Stories Fall (COMING SOON)
A: Eaten by the Fantastical
1-10: Fantastical upon Fantastical
- A1: Fantastical parent upon their children
- Examples include the Theogony, in which Kronos devours his children.
- A2: Catalyst upon creator god
- When a monster, person, or some other fantastical catalyst eats a creator god. The Nez Perce creation story is an example of this, in which Coyote slays a monster that ate all the living things of the land.
- A3: Fantastical hero upon fantastical enemy
- After a defeat, the enemy is devoured by the hero. For this class, all parties involved are fantastical in some nature. An example of this is Puss in Boots.
- A4: Fantastical enemy upon fantastical hero
- The hero of the story is eaten by the enemy, either as a conflict or as a punishment. For this class, all parties involved are fantastical in some nature. Examples include Issun-boshi, Tom Thumb, Thumbling, and Sun Wukong.
- A5: Swallowing of souls
- After death, a soul is consumed as divine punishment. This results in annihilation. Examples include Ammit and Ap/ep1, two Egyptian entities who devour souls in the afterlife; the former as part of the judgment process, the latter as part of the journey through the Duat.
11-20: Dragons
- A11: Dragons with ties to gods
- Dragons that, while not deities themselves, are tied to gods in some form. This ranges from friends to servants. Kirimu of the Epic of Mwindo falls under this distinction as the blood brother of the lightning god Nkuba.
- A12: Dragons born of man
- Dragons that are birthed by humans, raised by humans, or otherwise humanity's fault. Summoning counts. The Lindwurm, being born of a human queen, is the poster child of this entry.
- A13: Eaten by dragon, kills from within
- A classic! The protagonist (or whichever character) is swallowed by a dragon, only to kill them from within. Conán Mac Morna of the Fianna did this, earning his title Conán Maol (Conan the Bald) as the dragon's acid dissolved his hair.
- A14: Dragon demands sacrifices
- These dragons are people-eaters, and demand their food now, please. Yamata no Orochi ate quite a few young ladies, and Saint George's Dragon demanded human tribute once a year.
- A15: Wandering dragons
- These dragons wander the land, eating all in their wake. The Tarrasque is an example of such a beast.
21-30: Non-draconic sea monsters
31-40: Deities
- A31: Mortal lover eaten by deity
- A deity eats their lover, for one reason or another. The lover can be human or inhuman; the lover status is what matters. Zeus and Metis is an example of this, as he absorbed Metis, who later birthed Athena from his skull.
- A32: Humans consumed by deities
- Hey, gods gotta eat. Tantalus's son Pelops is a classic instance, as is the serving of Lycaon's son (or Lycaon's cook's son, depending on the source).
- A33: Human consumption as a source of natural occurrences
- Sometimes, natural phenomena are made to be a result of gods eating people. Bila (or Bilah) of the Adnyamathanha people of Australia is a sun goddess that cooks people on her grill, which is the origin of sunlight.
41-50: Ghosts, spirits, and the undead
51-60: Plant life
- A51: Trees and logs
- Sentient or no, getting eaten by a tree isn't a walk in the park. The Czech story Little Otik is one such instance.
- A60: Extraterrestrial plant life
- Plants that are not of the planet in which the tale takes place. Audrey II of The Little Shop of Horrors is one such mean green mother from outer space.
61-70: Demons and unholy creatures
- A61: Man-eating monsters
- Simple, effective, terrifying. Monsters that eat people! The Cretan Minotaur is one such monster.
- A62: Former humans
- Formerly human, now monstrous, and hungry for sapient flesh. The W*ndigo2 is one that is created by human greed.
71-80: Angels and holy creatures
- A80: Lucifer (Dante's Inferno)
- Different from A5, in that his eternal devouring of Brutus, Cassius, and Judas Iscariot is their punishment, rather than their annihilation.
81-90: Demigods, giants, and semi-divine beings
- A81: Cyclopses
- One-eyed giants that are famous for eating humans. Polyphemus of The Odyssey is in this distinction.
- A82: Giants, Fee-fi-fo-fum Distinction
- Giants that are, for all intents and purposes, human. The giant from Tom Thumb is one such giant.
- A83: Giants, Orc and Oni Distinction
- Giants that have more monstrous or demonic features. The Oni of Issun-boshi are in this category.
- A84: Giants, Furred Distinction
- Giants that are furred. These are more akin to wild animals, such as the South African Abiyoyo.
91-99: Magicians, sorcerers, and magical humans
- A91: Witches
- Hungry witches, often wanting to eat children. Examples include Hansel and Gretel, Baba Yaga, and Prince Ivan, the Witch Baby, and the Little Sister of the Sun.
100: Unique scenarios
- A100-A: Pit that eats you
- Says it right on the tin: a living pit in the ground that eats one whole. The Sarlaac of Star Wars is a famous example.
B: Eaten by Humans
1-10: While at full size
11-20: While shrunken
21-30: While transformed into an animal
- B21: Transformed into livestock
- A person is transformed into livestock - cows, sheep, pigs... - and is consumed. The Wonderful Birch is an example, wherein a woman is turned into a sheep and eaten.
31-40: While transformed into an inanimate object
- B31: Pills or elixirs
- Eaten while transformed into a pill or elixir. Sun Wukong does this more than once.
41-50: Humans eating the fantastical
- B41: Theophagy
- A god is eaten by a human. The Compert Chon Culainn (conception of Cu Chulainn) is one such example, in that Lugh enters Deichtire's body in miniature and fertilizes an egg. Possibly the earliest example of unbirth in myth?
51-160: Anthropophagy
- B51: Cooked and served to a parent
- Says it right on the tin: offspring killed and served to their parent. This appears in Titus Andronicus, Atreus and Thyestes, Ithys, Lay of Atli, The Juniper Tree... why does this happen so often?!
C: Eaten by Animals
1-10: Wild animals
- C1: Whales and large fish
- Because "fish" meant "whale" in some translations. Includes Jonah, Pinocchio, and Moby Dick.
- C2: Small fish
- Usually seen with miniature protagonists, like Tom Thumb and Thumbling.
- C5: Non-speaking wolves and canines
- Big hungry pups. Seen in Peter and the Wolf.
- C10: Large invertebrates
- Includes crustaceans, bugs, jellies, or any number of boneless extraterrestrials. The Sandworms of Dune are particularly horrific examples.
11-20: Domesticated animals
- C11: Bovines
- Cows, bulls, and other milky dogs. Tom Thumb gets eaten by a cow!
21-30: Trained animals
- C21: Mares of Diomedes
- Horses trained to eat human flesh. Named for the mares from Heracles's 12 Labors.
- C22: Hunting dogs
- Trained hunting dogs.
- C22-A: Actaeon, devoured by his own hounds
31-40: Talking animals
- C31: Talking wolves
- A common trope. Seen in Red Riding Hood, The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids, The Three Little Pigs, and Thumbling.
41-50: Magical animals
- C41: Fox spirits
- These spirits are best known for eating the hearts (or livers) of humans. Includes the Kumiho, Huli jing, Kitsune, and Hồ ly tinh.
- C50: Monkeys and primates
- Examples: Sun Wukong
*Talking animals and magical animals are distinct categories due to their presence in the narrative. Talking animals rarely, if ever, use magic; and may have simply evolved to communicate with humans. Magical animals are explicit magic users, whether it's standard spells, life force/qi, enchantments, or otherwise.
D: Predator Protagonists
1-10: Metaphorical consumption
- D1: The Eucharist
- Theophagy via sacred or blessed foodstuffs. The Eucharist ritual of Catholicism counts, and is the origin of the name.3
11-20: Literal consumption
- D11: Standard consumption as part of diet
- The protagonist eats people as part of their diet, natural or otherwise. Sun Wukong4 famously ate humans for a few hundred years.
- D12: Sentient food
- Foodstuffs are sentient and willing to be eaten. One of the stories of Anansi the Spider involves food wanting to be eaten by him.
- D13: Willing sentient animals
- Animals wish to be eaten by the protagonist. Quetzalcoatl once came across such an animal, a rabbit that offered itself to be eaten, which Quetzalcoatl immortalized in the moon.
1Among worshippers of Kemetism, this god's name should be censored or cut in half to prevent getting its attention. There is some precedence for this, considering some heiroglyphs split the deity's name, but a source is yet to be found for this.
2There is controversy regarding the use of the name of this particular monster by non-Algonquin people. Out of respect for the legend, it has been partially censored. Uncensored information is available on Wikipedia. This particular monster is used as a metaphor by First Nations people regarding their colonization, but has been the subject of appropriation by non-First Nations people. This monster is a product of human greed - not a random beast one can slaughter. Further reading: Cannibalism in Contact Narratives and the Evolution of the W*ndigo by Michelle Lietz
3Depending on who you ask, the ritual of the Eucharist genuinely turns the bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus of Nazareth. This would count as Literal Consumption. Due to the lack of consensus, it remains metaphorical.
4Sun Wukong of The Journey to the West does SO MUCH SHIT that he falls into multiple categories. He is predator and prey, depending on the situation, but always holds the power. He's also the protagonist of the first few chapters of the Journey. He can do it all!