Folklore

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Folklore refers to the set of stories, beliefs and practices within a culture or similar group.

In Toaru Majutsu no Index, folklore is used as the basis for certain forms of Magic.

Principles

The folklore (or lore) of a culture consists of a combination of many things, including legends, music, beliefs, sayings, rituals, customs, fairy tales and more. These can be passed down through several ways, including artifacts and oral tradition.

There are often similarities between certain pieces of folklore between different cultures. These similarities can often be traced to a common origin, however there are some pieces which have an unknown origin, somewhere between the cultures it has spread through. These pieces of folklore are referred to as having 'fallen into the cracks'.

Folklore is often conflated with mythology (and vice versa). The two share certain similarities and differences, though the exact boundary between them isn't entirely clear.

Urban Legends are a form of modern day folklore.

Uses of Folklore in Toaru Majutsu no Index

This section requires expansion Transferring of relevant entries to and from Fairy table

Below is a list of folklore which are used in some shape or form within Toaru Majutsu no Index (mythologies and urban legends are generally covered on their relevant articles).

Name	Culture	Description	Usage in Toaru Majutsu no Index
Robin Hood	England	A heroic outlaw, said to be a skilled archer/swordsman.	Robin Hood is a sniping weapon used by the Knights of England.
Bayard	France	A magical bay horse that could adjust his size depending on his riders.	Bayard is an autonomous metal horse, which while lacking the abilities of the horse it was named after, is capable of evading magical detection.
Cinderella	France	The story of a poor young girl who ends up marrying a prince with the help of her fairy godmother.	The French Magician, member of Gremlin, Cendrillon uses the tale of Cinderella as the basis of her magic.
The Little Match Girl	Denmark	Short story about a child's hallucinations while dying of hypothermia on New Year's Eve	Theodosia Electra mainly uses spells based on the fairy tale.
Vasilisa the Beautiful	Russia	Method to gain happiness	Vasilisa's name comes from this fairy tale and she uses a spell based on it in several ways, usually creating a fiery explosion.
The Bold Knight, the Apples of Youth, and the Water of Life	Russia	Water of Life that gives one eternal life.	Vasilisa has the Water of Life inside her body that grants her youth and longevity, though she denies acutely being immortal.
Jiāng shī	China	A reanimated corpse that moves around at night by hopping.	The Hopping Zombie Spell referred to by Index likely refers to and involves Jiāng shī in some way. The Magic God Niang-Niang's design is also based on the stereotypical depiction of the Jiāng shī.
Unicorn	Various	A legendary creature with a pointy horn projecting from its forehead, often depicted as looking like a horse.	William Orwell's escutcheon bears the unicorn, along with the dragon and the selkie, as one of its charges. There is also folklore regarding Elizabeth I receiving a horn of a unicorn, though Sherry Cromwell says that it was merely an ordinary animal bone. The Female Knight referred to the legends of unicorns only growing attached to maidens when describing Carissa's horse Alex.
Ushi no Koku Mairi	Japan	A curse involving a doll with the target's hair, nailed on a sacred tree at a shrine between 1 and 3 AM.	Tsuchimikado Motoharu makes use of a variant of the Ushi no Koku Mairi spell against Kumokawa Seria.
Hand of Glory	European	A dried, pickled hand from a hanged man which, with a candle made from the same person, displays the power to unlock doors and still people who see the candle	Index refers to the Hand of Glory, among other similar things, on witnessing Kazakiri Hyouka's leg regenerating.
Momotarō	Japan	A hero who was found as a child inside a giant peach	According to Index, the original story of Momotarō is actually a grimoire, camouflaged to look like a harmless fairy tale, concerning the creation of an elixir of immortality.
The Pied Piper of Hamelin	Germany	After being refused his pay for chasing away the rats from the city of Hamelin, the mysterious man known as the Pied Piper uses his magical flute to take away the children of the town, never to be seen again.	When talking to Acqua of the Back, Terra of the Left compares God's Right Seat's role in leading the people to how the children were enthralled by the enchanted flute of the Piper.
Nya-Nya Bulembu	Swazi, Africa	The story of a princess forced to wear an ugly animal skin, causing everyone to find her repulsive but actually keeping men from attacking her as a beautiful princess filled with mystical power was raised within it.	Certain aspects of the story were used by Leivinia Birdway in order to support her Cannibalization spell.
Aradia	Italy	Aradia is a central figure in Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches, a 1899 book written by American folklorist Charles Godfrey Leland, allegedly based on material provided by an Italian woman called Maddalena, supposedly documenting the beliefs, rituals and religious text of pagan witches.	Aleister Crowley refers to Aradia while inspecting the female body of an alternative possibility of himself. Aradia's name comes from this book.
Cutting Lightning	Japan	The story of a famous samurai who, one day, while taking shelter from the rain under a tree, had a bolt of lightning struck him. However, he used his sword to cut the Thunder God inside the lightning bolt, allowing him to survive. After this incident, he renamed his sword Raikiri (雷切, literally meaning: Lightning Cutter).	A member of the Divination Operation Brigade makes use of Raikiri, a Japanese sword and mass produced modern spiritual item based on this type of legend. Kanzaki Kaori uses a spell based on this type of legend to cut through and neutralize Mjölnir's electric attack.
Huotou	China	A legendary creature in Southern Chinese folklore, described as a dog-shaped monster which eats feces and blows fire.	Esther Rosenthal possesses an artificial soul named Huotou which is used for Rosenthal-style Necromancy.
Kappa	Japan	A mythical creature in traditional Japanese folklore, described as a child-shaped imp which lives in rivers or ponds.	One of the playable characters in Gekisho.
Griffin	Europe/Middle-East	Alternatively griffon or gryphon, a legendary heraldic creature with the head and wings of an eagle, and the body, tail and rear legs of a lion.	The Mobile Fortresses Griffin Sky are named after this creature. The Griffon Driver's name is derived from this creature. An artificial specimen owned by Biohacker Matsuo Ryuusuke was named Griffin. A Gryphon is a character in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and one can be manifested by Alice Anotherbible.
Kraken	Scandinavia	A giant cephalopod-like sea monster	An artificial specimen owned by Biohacker Matsuo Ryuusuke was named Kraken.
Omukade	Japan	A giant man-eating centipede yōkai	An artificial specimen owned by Biohacker Matsuo Ryuusuke was named Omukade.
Wendigo	North America	A monster from Algonquian folklore, said to possess humanoid traits or possessing a human.	An artificial specimen owned by Biohacker Matsuo Ryuusuke was named Wendigo.
Mandrake	Europe	A plant root, born from a sinner's bodily fluids, which is said to emit a potentially fatal scream when uprooted and can be used as a medicinal ingredient.	Mass-produced mandrakes are planted across the grounds of Windsor Castle as anti-personnel mines. A magician in Calais was performing research on mandrakes.
Phoenix	Greek/Other	A legendary immortal bird which burns its body and is regenerated or reborn from the flames or ashes in a cyclic renewal. First attributed to ancient Egypt (and Heliopolis) by the ancient Greek writer Herodotus in the 5th century BCE. but suspected not to actually have been a part of Egyptian mythology and originated in Greek folklore, the phoenix has analogues in various other cultures.	Mut Thebes's full power is derived from a fusion of the phoenix and the vulture symbolizing the goddess Mut, the Dead Phoenix.

External Links

• Folklore (Wikipedia article)