Why is this comic called Theri There?

[frameacloud]

Page number 5 of Theri There, originally posted on September 26, 2005.

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Transcript:
Narration: "Why is this comic called Theri There?"
Narration: "Therianthrope, from Greek: animal + human. A combined human and animal entity, as appears in mythology."
Some examples of such beings are shown:
A monkey wearing a circlet and clothes, captioned: "Monkey King, China, 1570 CE."
A figure with the head of a jackal, captioned: "Anubis, Egypt, 4000 BCE."
A creature with the face, hands, and feet of a human, and the body of a stag, captioned: "A stag man, Les Trois Frères, 14000 BCE."
"This, the dictionary definition, is not the definition we'll be using in this comic! (But it's similar.)"
"The neologistic definition we use here: a person who spiritually identifies as a specific animal, in some way. (Abbreviated to 'therian' or 'theri.')"
Several people speak up with some remarks on this definition:
Someone with short hair says, "Like me! I may not look like a wolf, but I am one at heart!"
Someone with graying hair says, "Like me, but I would have said it differently..."
Someone with a long braid says, "Like me... but I don't call myself a 'theri'..."
Someone with micro braids says, "Like me! But I wouldn't call a dragon an 'animal'..."
Narration: "So, altogether... THERI." A glove points at a wolf, who says, "Here's how I look on the inside!"
Narration: "THERE - somewhere now." The glove points somewhere distant, and the wolf glances up at it, saying, "...uh!?"
Narration: "THERE THERE - a reassuring interjection." The glove pats the wolf on the head.
Narration: "THERI THERE - reassuring therianthropes somewhere now." The wolf smiles at the glove and says "Oh."

A note from 2015: After I made this comic, I found out there are therianthropes who don't define it as a spirituality. Each person has their own unique way of being a therianthrope, and that diversity makes it difficult to make a definition that works for everyone, while still being clear about what they have in common.

[Edit October 21, 2023: Added local images, links, and transcript.]

Comments

[zuki-san.livejournal.com]

Ah, and now we get the explanatory comic.

For some reason I am particularly amused that you showed the Monkey King as an example of the dictionary therianthrope. Probably because I've been working off and on on reading Journey to the West for the last two years (spotty access to the library). I'm very fond of his character.

I'm now very tempted to go into a semi-rant about the novel, but this is a comment on a livejournal feed, not a message board. So I'll refrain.

Great work again, Orion!