Fifty Horror Clichés That Need to Die in a Fire

#6: Kitsunes Are All Bad Creatures

  For those who do not know much about Japanese mythology, here is quick briefing on what the awesomeness that is a kitsune is.  A kitsune is a mythical fox that has a range of two to nine tails, empowering them with grand abilities after they reach a hundred years of age.  They gain then vast amounts of intellect, can take on human form, effect the weather, and if they desire, take over the body of a regular human.  Although mischievous in nature, kitsunes are actually quite loyal.  If a person in Japanese mythology is lucky enough to gain the trust of a kitsune, they are given a fearless guardian to protect them in the form of a regular house pet or another human for the rest of their lives.  Popular examples of the kitsune legend can be seen in many franchises, such as Ninetails in Pokémon or Mystery from the Mystery Skulls music videos.  (Tails the Fox from The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise is confirmed to not be a kitsune himself despite having two tails.  It was a mutation he got from birth and he confirmed to be inspired by Fennec Foxes.)  The kitsune is another great example of Japanese mythology that has slowly but surely integrated itself into western popular culture.

  However, with that rising popularity comes a complete misconception of the creature itself.  Many people mistake kitsunes due to their mischievous nature to actually be a horrifying creature that preys upon innocent humans for their own gain.  In many horrific examples, the kitsune will in some way take complete control of a person's body, making them lose a complete sense of themselves.  Like a plague, more kitsunes gather around the area to take control of more humans or anything human-like they can get their hands on.  Their end goal; create a mindless army of minions to take over the world.  In recent years, more kitsunes in popular culture have been depicted in an overly exaggerated mischievous fashion.  The confusion comes from the misconception that foxes in general are sly, chaotic creatures in nature.  Therefore, it translates into kitsunes, who are a magical form of foxes known for being a bit mischievous.

  One of the best examples of this ideology being used in popular culture is inside The Vampire Diaries fifth book, The Return: Nightfall.  In there, iconic vampire Damon alongside various other characters are taken control of by two particularly bad kitsunes.  At first expressed in a slew of out of character mischievous acts, it later starts taking complete control of the individuals infected by the kitsunes.  This is best expressed when driving a car, Damon completely loses sense of what he was doing, almost crashing the car with his love interest Elena inside.  It is the character's strong will power alone that stopped Elena from becoming road kill.  The kitsunes continue to be a threat through the rest of The Return arc, only leaving for good when their life orbs are destroyed by the cast.  Although it is proven that a rare few kitsune in the series are good, it is clearly stated that this is not normal in The Vampires Diaries book universe.  Kitsunes there were still with that exception depicted as evil, mischievous creatures.

  In reality, those depicting kitsunes as completely evil creatures are using a different variant of the creature, nogitsune.  These creatures are the ones that truly should be depicted in place of regular kitsunes.  Despite being similar looking with similar abilities, what makes them different is that they survive solely on making human lives terrible.  They are usually darker in color and tend to stay in either in spiritual or fox-like form at all times.  Nogitsune are the natural enemies of regular kitsune, who constantly fight against one another due to their differing morals.

  The only example so far that correctly used a nogitsune as a horrific body snatcher was in the Teen Wolf TV show.  There, main human character Styles is taken over by one, who creepily sends him closer and closer to insanity.  At one point, the nogitsune even tries to eliminate Style's spirit for good with a complete body takeover.  Even when Styles takes back control, he slowly is being killed by the nogitsune's presence.  If nothing was done to release the nogitsune, in a matter of weeks the character would have been dead.  I do not personally like this season of the show in particular for some bad writing choices, but they did get the lore right  by using the purely evil nogitsune.  They also gain bonus points for having regular kitsune characters fight against the entity, such as newly introduced character Kira, who is a thunder kitsune. 

Kitsune in reality according to the lore are not meant to be used as horror symbols at all.  Instead, they are to be treated as respected creatures that would fit perfectly inside a fantasy novel.  If you want to use a creature for a horror story, use a nogitsune.  The scares you can create from them is a more unique take on the horror genre as a whole.  Be creative with how you use a nogitsune and do your research on the lore surrounding them.  You could end up with a psychological horror novel equal to the utter terror of A Clockwork Orange, one of the most controversial as well as scary books out there that later was adapted into an equally controversial film.  Just leave regular kitsune out of the equation!