Redcap
Also called Redcomb, Powrie, Bloody Cap.
In English and Scottish Border folklore, the Redcap is a murderous goblin that haunts ruined castles and peel towers, dyeing its cap in the blood of travelers it kills.
At a glance
- Tradition
- English folklore
- Region
- Anglo-Scottish Border (habitat)
- Trait family
- The Great-Thewed
- Symbols
- Claw/ NailHairHandIronTeeth
Near this figure
and 4 more
Symbols
Judged against the description by a model. Meanings are our own paraphrase.
- Claw/ Nail bears image-domain The claw denotes the fierce efficiency of tearing and clutching, kept as talisman, while nails hold soul-substance and grow uncannily on after death.
why
Accounts describe it as a squat, wizened old man with long, wiry hair, taloned hands tipped with claws, teeth like fangs, and eyes that burn with a fierce red light; it is said to wear iron boots and carry a pikestaff or similar weapon, and in some tellings it possesses unnatural strength despite its small stature.
- Hair bears image-domain Hair denotes vitality and the state of the head it grows from, ordered or wild, shorn in renunciation, and red for ardour and suspicion alike.
why
Accounts describe it as a squat, wizened old man with long, wiry hair, taloned hands tipped with claws, teeth like fangs, and eyes that burn with a fierce red light; it is said to wear iron boots and carry a pikestaff or similar weapon, and in some tellings it possesses unnatural strength despite its small stature.
- Hand bears image-domain The hand denotes agency and the reach of consciousness, which makes, blesses, grasps and destroys, so its loss figures a will barred from acting.
why
Accounts describe it as a squat, wizened old man with long, wiry hair, taloned hands tipped with claws, teeth like fangs, and eyes that burn with a fierce red light; it is said to wear iron boots and carry a pikestaff or similar weapon, and in some tellings it possesses unnatural strength despite its small stature.
- Iron bears Iron denotes meteoric power, hardness, durability, strength, and constancy, but also bondage, cruelty, war, evil, slavery, and a dark final age.
why
Accounts describe it as a squat, wizened old man with long, wiry hair, taloned hands tipped with claws, teeth like fangs, and eyes that burn with a fierce red light; it is said to wear iron boots and carry a pikestaff or similar weapon, and in some tellings it possesses unnatural strength despite its small stature.
- Teeth bears image-domain Teeth denote the capacity to seize, bite and hold, bared in threat or defence, and dreamt falling when the power to grasp life feels compromised.
why
Accounts describe it as a squat, wizened old man with long, wiry hair, taloned hands tipped with claws, teeth like fangs, and eyes that burn with a fierce red light; it is said to wear iron boots and carry a pikestaff or similar weapon, and in some tellings it possesses unnatural strength despite its small stature.
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Form
- Wild unkempt hair and burning eyes
why
long, wiry hair, taloned hands tipped with claws, teeth like fangs, and eyes that burn with a fierce red light
Behaviour
- Resistible through piety and prayer
why
Folklore holds that a Redcap cannot be fought off by ordinary means, and that the only reliable defense is a text or symbol of Christian faith, such as reciting scripture, brandishing a crucifix, or displaying a passage from the Bible, at which the creature is said to shriek and vanish, sometimes leaving behind a single tooth or claw as the only proof of the encounter.
- Bound to haunted site of violence
why
Various tellings associate it with strongholds linked to cruel or bloody history, as though the goblin's presence were drawn to or born from sites where violence had already occurred
- Underworld gatekeeper
why
The Redcap is consistently described as hostile to intruders rather than merely mischievous, attacking travelers, soldiers, or anyone foolish enough to shelter overnight in the ruins it claims as its home.
Sight and sound
- Glowing red eyes
why
Accounts describe it as a squat, wizened old man with long, wiry hair, taloned hands tipped with claws, teeth like fangs, and eyes that burn with a fierce red light
Offensive powers
- Superhuman strength
why
in some tellings it possesses unnatural strength despite its small stature
Curses
- Ward susceptibility
why
the only reliable defense is a text or symbol of Christian faith, such as reciting scripture, brandishing a crucifix, or displaying a passage from the Bible, at which the creature is said to shriek and vanish
Roles
Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.
- Shadow carries both readings
4 citations
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Redcap."
- Katharine Briggs, An Encyclopedia of Fairies, s.v. "Redcap."
- Patricia Monaghan, The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore, p. 392.
- William Henderson, Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders, p. 246.
- Hero meets
4 citations
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Redcap."
- Katharine Briggs, An Encyclopedia of Fairies, s.v. "Redcap."
- Patricia Monaghan, The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore, p. 392.
- William Henderson, Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders, p. 246.