I think by far the strangest thing about HP Veela is the fact that they're so associated with the French witches and wizards despite being based on a Slavic myth.
Like ... the vila are a species of Slavic fae and/or nymphe-like creatures. Like, the Basiliskos, the elves, the boggarts and the vila are all so far removed from what they were in their original myths. Basiliskos and vila aren't even spelt correctly, and what she did with boggarts and elves is honestly wild.
The Basiliskos was a North African bird with a serpent tail whose touch is deadly and venomous breath would slowly wither you away. It could kill ANYTHING. Elves are from the Germanic Alf, referring to the magical creatures of either light (ljosalfar) or dark (dokkalfar) that were ambivalent towards humans. Boggarts were a type of Unseelie Fae that either served as household mischief, stealing your cutlery and trinkets, or as horrifying swamp monsters, stealing children. Vila were a type of Slavic shapeshifter, who might be found dancing in circles naked to lure in men, however joining uninvited meant death, and would turn into hurricanes or wild animals like deer but have ZERO bird or fire association.
Like, after a certain point of making your own mythology for those creatures you've just got to admit they're no longer any close to what the inspiration was, and therefore, should simply be named something else. She really tried with Veela but girl, it's not that hard to figure out what they were supposed to be based on. And why are they all French?? The vila to Veela transition confuses me the most. Even her boggart confuses me less.
