Terrifying monster or cursed woman? You be the judge. Learn about the real-world mythology behind the Pathfinder creature known as the lamia in this free sample episode of Share Lore by Find the Path Ventures.

Share Lore is a bi-weekly Patreon-exclusive podcast that delves into the lore of the world of Pathfinder in a variety of ways. Support us on Patreon to access this and other great episodes.

Host and Author – Jessica Peters

Opening and Closing Music – “Spare the Dying” by Arcane Anthems

Additional Music – Ryan Mumford

Sources

“Lamia” by John Keats

Bestiary by Paizo Inc

https://www.greekboston.com/culture/mythology/lamia/

https://www.greeklegendsandmyths.com/lamia.html

https://www.theoi.com/Ther/Lamia.html

https://mythology.wikia.org/wiki/Lamia

 

TRANSCRIPT

She was a gordian shape of dazzling hue,

     Vermilion-spotted, golden, green, and blue;

     Striped like a zebra, freckled like a pard,

     Eyed like a peacock, and all crimson barr’d;

     And full of silver moons, that, as she breathed,

     Dissolv’d, or brighter shone, or interwreathed

     Their lustres with the gloomier tapestries—

     So rainbow-sided, touch’d with miseries,

     She seem’d, at once, some penanced lady elf,

     Some demon’s mistress, or the demon’s self.

But who was she? This beautiful, confusing woman? She was Lamia.

[music]

I’m Jessica Peters, this is Share Lore, and today we’re talking about Lamia. 

In the Pathfinder setting, lamia are a type of bloodthirsty creature, not a single woman. 

Just as they were cursed long ago, lamias can curse those they touch, clouding the mind and regressing conscious thought to purely animalistic instincts. Creatures affected by this curse grow reckless, becoming unaware of the consequences of their own actions and unable to think clearly. This makes the hapless victim all the more susceptible to the lamia’s cunning illusions and insidious charms. The lamia’s animalistic nature and the effect of their cursed touch has led some scholars to theorize that the original lamias must have, millennia ago, turned away from their own reason and intellect and embraced the life of simple beasts. Whether this change was rewarded as a monstrous gift from Lamashtu or inflicted as a curse for abandoning their responsibilities by Pharasma remains the subject of debate to this day.

Whatever the source of this ancient transformation, lamias themselves have grown to enjoy the strengths it has granted them. Regardless, they continue to cling to a hatred of the gods, seeing them as the cause of their monstrous forms and, thus, their eternal exile from the societies they watch with jealous eyes from their lairs amid the ruins of lost civilizations. Because lamias blame divine powers for their curse, they take special delight in the downfall of temples, the suffering and death of champions and clerics, and the spread of dissension within organized religions.

While they can briefly assume humanoid form with magic, lamias are usually forced to hide from civilization, making their homes in the barren wilderness. There, they attract cults of their own, gathering up chaotic and evil humanoids. With the help of these cultists,