So, if Hellhounds are in no way related to canines: Where DID they come from?
And why are they referred to as hellHOUNDS?
I mean think of it this way. Hellhounds developed same as we did irl, as did every species on this planet. They had distant ancestors, maybe even a shared common ancestor between all sentient species, and through isolation, adaptation, etc. etc. they developed into the modern day hellhound.
I like to think that they're the ones who first tamed the wolf and named them after themselves as a kind of reverence for their species? So the first dogs were probably hounds, or, at least, were all called 'hound' despite maybe not being exactly what we consider hounds.
As for the term hellhound there's two stories, exhibit a being when first contact between species happened the term hellhounds went by was either mistranslated/colloquially translated to the other language as 'hellhound' or even 'hound from hell'. Or exhibit b, some ignorant explorer witnessed a coming of age ceremony and titled them hellhounds in their own narrow-minded view and the name stuck.
I'm rather more fond of exhibit a because then it infers that hellhounds in their ancient language, whatever that may be, named themselves as such. Why? For fun? Because they liked the imagery? Or was there a sect of hellhounds that truly believed their species came from the depths?
This is also assuming hell is the same as we understand it, and since Christianity doesn't exist in the same capacity (as if Christianity was the creator of what we know as 'hell' lol), we should assume that hell is, perhaps, a different understanding in this world and maybe more refers to a specific place--perhaps the original land by which hellhounds originated from? Though I do like religious imagery being peppered in their backstory too if just for aesthetic lol
Maybe hellhounds in medieval times were keen on serving religious orders? Hence why they can sometimes come with religious iconography/aesthetic these days?
So maybe a bit of all of the above? It is an ancient name by which no one truly knows exactly where it comes from, and this can go for a large number of species on this planet where it's just all they've known/the original culture or language died out so they don't fully understand the origin/or they adapted a more modern name to describe themselves (i.e. Porcelains).
I also wouldn't be surprised if the same species is referred to differently across borders too. There are, of course, different languages in this world, but colloquially, hellhounds are called hellhounds, plus or minus variances therein.
