#MythicalCreatureMonday – Golem – D.A. Henneman

I have posted about Golems before, but since I have officially started the final book in my Power of Four series, I decided it was a good time to revisit my thoughts. In Heaven on Earth, we will be investigating the concept of the golem more than the creature itself, since I love the idea of someone having the power to make an army out of natural materials. You never know when you might need to fight to the death so this would be an especially great skill to have don’t you think?

Golems are featured in my book Playing with Fire, and come to us from Jewish folklore. The word golem means “raw material,” which is appropriate since a Golem is an animated artificial man made from, you guessed it, raw materials. Traditionally, the material used to create a Golem was clay, molded by a rabbi or magician, and they were animated by writing the word “emet” on the creature’s forehead. Should for any reason the golem would need to be deactivated, the first letter of the word could be erased leaving “met” which formed the word for death.

It seems for the contemporary golem, all bets are off when it comes to the material you can use to create one. In Minecraft, you can use iron or snow, and in Dungeons and Dragons you can use flesh, clay, stone or iron. I’m sure Mary Shelley had this very creature in mind when she wrote Frankenstein, her creature, of course, being of the flesh variety.

In some games, the magically animated creatures are considered elementals, made from earth, fire, wind or water. It was in this vein that the golems were used in my book, creatures created by whatever is closest and brought to life for a single purpose, to destroy the enemies of the Golem’s creator. It will be interesting to see who will be using this skill against our elemental ladies, and which materials these hulking beasts will be made from.

Have you used golems in your writing? If so, let me know what your creature was made from! Would love to see your comments below! Happy Writing! XO