Demons and Impulse #1; Imps: the overview, the history, Other descriptions of the Imp, and Objects and Culture
Dear Hermit fans of Tumblr
As we all know, our beloved Impulse is a demon, but I’m here to specify what type of demon I believe him to be by talking about different demons in a series of posts and then talking about Impulse and his personality in a separate post before I make my comparison to the types of demons. Now before I ramble too long about the process of this I will get to the demonology behind the comparison at the end of the series.
Demon type #1 is the more obvious one, an Imp. Imps are a European mythological being, similar to a Fairy/Faerie, frequenting appearances in folklore and superstition. The word ‘Imp’ may be based off of the word ympe (pronounced ‘Imp’), used to indicate a young, grafted tree.
Imps are often reported as troublesome and mischievous more than seriously threatening or dangerous, and as lesser bodies rather than more important supernatural entities. The servants of the devil are sometimes depicted as Imps. They are usually documented as lively and having and having small stature.
The Old English noun ‘Impa’ meant a young shoot or scion of a plant or tree, and later came to mean the scion of a noble house or a child in general. Starting in the 16th century, it was often used in phrases like imps of serpents”, “imp of hell”, “imp of the devil”, and so on; and by the 17 century it gained the meaning of a small demon, a familiar of a witch. The Old English noun and associated verb ‘impian’ appear to descend from an unattested Late Latin term ‘emputa.’
Now that that’s out of the way and has been explained, lets get into the History of imps, shall we?
Originating from Germanic faith and stories, the imp was a small lesser demon. Unlike the Christian folklore, demons in Germanic legends were not necessarily always evil. Imps were often mischievous rather than cruelly intentioned and in some religions they were attendants of the Gods.
The Lincoln Imps. Main Article; Lincoln Imp
A legend in Lincolnshire dating to the 14th-century recounts that the devil, being annoyed with the completion of the cathedral, paid a visit, accompanied by two imps who proceeded to wreak havoc in the building. An angel appeared and ordered them to stop. One turned to throw a rock at the angel and was instantly petrified.
For the tiniest angel, with amethyst eyes,
And hair spun like gold, 'fore the alter [sic] did rise,
Pronouncing these words in a dignified tone
"O impious imp, be ye turned to stone!"
While his companion fled, the unfortunate imp remains enslaved by the Angel Choir at the east end of the cathedral. The imp is also depicted on the emblem of the local football team Lincoln City F.C. They are also nicknamed The Imps.
Other descriptions of Imps
Imps are often shown as small in stature and not incredibly attractive. Their behaviour is described as being wild and uncontrollable, much the same as fairies', and in some cultures they are considered the same beings, both sharing the same sense of free spirit and enjoyment of all things fun. It was later in history that people began to associate fairies as being good and imps as being malicious and evil. However, both creatures were fond of pranks and misleading people. Most of the time these pranks were harmless fun, but some could be upsetting and harmful, such as the switching babies or leading travelers astray in places which they were not familiar. Although imps are often thought of as being immortal, they can be damaged or harmed by certain weapons and enchantments or be kept out of people's homes by wards.
Imps were also portrayed as lonely little creatures in search of human attention, using jokes and pranks to attract human friendship. This often backfired when people became annoyed with the imp's endeavours, usually driving it away.
Even if the imp was successful in getting the friendship it sought, it still often played pranks on its friend either out of boredom or simply because this was the nature of the imp. This trait led to using the word “impish” for someone who loves pranks and practical jokes. Eventually, it came to be believed that imps were the familiar spirit servants of witches and warlocks, where the little demons served as spies and informants. During the time of the witch hunts, supernatural creatures such as imps were sought out as proof of witchcraft, though often the so-called imp was merely a black cat, lizard, toad, or some other form of uncommon pet.
Imps have also been described as being “bound” or contained in some sort of object such as a sword or crystal ball. In other cases, imps were simply kept in a certain object and summoned only when their masters had need of them. Some even had the ability to grant their owner's wishes much like a genie. This was the object of the 1891 story The Bottle Imp by Robert Louis Stevenson, which told of an imp contained in a bottle that would grant the owner their every wish, but their soul would be sent to Hell if they didn't sell the bottle to a new owner before their death.
Imps can be found in art and architecture throughout the world, most of the time carefully and painstakingly hidden and only being found by the most interested and observant of people.
And after that lengthy look into Imps, we have a solid base from which to stem this series. So, we can now gather some main points and then I’ll be away.
As we now know, Imps aren’t typically dangerous or evil, so they don’t really pose any actual harm to anyone, tending to be more mischievous and troublesome. They are also mostly described as small and lacking any good looks, making it more believable they would work for the devil, which leads me to my next point, Imps are depicted as attendances of the devil. My final piece of information is that they are described as being bound or contained in something like a sword or crystal ball, only to be summoned when their masters need them, and some could even grant their owner’s wishes much like a genie. This information will be useful when I finally compare Impulse to the demons I do the research on with the key points.
Thank you for reading and listening to the information I gathered from wherever I could find information. Which you can find here and here. Please feel free to give me a type of demon to research if you you have an idea on what demon you'd like me to go in-depth for.
