History Main / OurNymphsAreDifferent

* ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'': Nymphs appear fairly often as supporting characters. A large population of dryads inhabits Camp Half-Blood's forest alongside the satyrs, while naiads live in its lake; like many of the gods, [[ModernizedGod they wear modern clothing]]. Other nymphs appear inhabiting rivers throughout the series, including the Mississippi. Nereids are part of Poseidon's court, and while naiads do not serve him directly they still honor him.

* ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'': Nymphs of various sorts appear fairly often as minor {{Nature Spirit}}s and supporting characters. A large population of dryads inhabits Camp Half-Blood's forest alongside the satyrs, while naiads live in its lake. Other naiads appear inhabiting rivers throughout the series, including the Mississippi. Nereids are part of Poseidon's court, and while naiads do not serve him directly they still honor him.

** The Hesperides were the nymphs of the twilight and the West. There were only three, who guarded Hera's golden apples in a garden in the utmost west of the world. They're usually considered to be the daughters of the titan Atlas, although some myths have them as daughters of Zeus or of Nyx and Erebus.

** The lampads were the nymphs of the Underworld, and accompanied Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft and magic, in her nightly travels.

** Oceanids, contrary to what some would assume with their name, were the nymphs of both fresh and salt water, and sources of water. They numbered three thousand and were the daughters of the titans Oceanus and Tethys, and sisters of the three thousand river gods the two titans had also begat. Styx, the nymph/goddess of the Underworld river that bears her name, was the oldest of their number.

* In Persian folklore there's a type of [[OurGeniesAreDifferent jinn]] and {{fair folk}} called peri, which are possibly synonyms of houri or a Persian counterpart of them. They are beautiful winged women; some of them evil, but most of them good. They can also appear and disappear as will.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': Dryads appear in ''Literature/TheColourOfMagic'', where they live in pocket dimensions within trees and are extremely protective of their homes. Since they're stated to be vanishingly rare, it's possible that their absence from later books is because they've gone extinct. They're also unusual in that they aren't AlwaysFemale; as the dryad Druella puts it, "Where do you think acorns come from?".
* ''Literature/{{Everworld}}'': A nymph named Idalia appears after being rescued from gangrape by satyrs. She's four feet tall, green, unable to leave the woods, has SuperSpeed and is a thousand years old. She's willing to sleep with Jalil, but he comes to realize she's closer to sentient furniture than a real woman, whose role is essentially to fall in love with mortals (see also nymphomania...), and she can't remember how many other lovers she'd had or why it might be important, and even unable to count two plus two.

* The nymphs of ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'' already show a fair amount of discrepancies with the Greek nymphs. Instead of being very minor deities (if they can even be called that) tied to some natural aspect such as trees or water, these nymphs are the most powerful fairies across all dimensions and the rulers of said dimensions' fates after the Great Dragon's disappearance. Also, all of them harbor the Dragon's Flame during their lifetimes. In ''Fanfic/{{Paradoxus}}'', however, the nymphs draw more from the Ainur of ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'' than their canonical counterparts. They were still created by the Great Dragon's thoughts, but they also represent one aspect of magic (light, time, shadows...). Furthermore, their souls are immortal and will reincarnate from time to time (mostly to fix messes) while remembering each iteration unless they are in peace with themselves so they can choose not to.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'': Hercules meets Philoctetes as he is peeping on a group of nymphs lounging by a river. When his cover is blown, Phil is quick to try and catch one, only for them to turn into a pile of flowers and a tree.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Rayman}}'' series has Betilla and her sisters, who were the first of Polokus's creations and act as his emissaries. ''Origins'' gives them a more {{Stripperiffic}} makeover.

* ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'': Dryads first appeared in ''Warcraft III'' as AntiMagic units for the Night Elf faction. Rather than forest spirits, they instead look like night elf women [[OurCentaursAreDifferent with the lower body of a deer]]. Also uniquely, "dryad" is almost exclusively the name used, with nymph being a rare interchangeable term for the same creature.

* [[https://www.thezorklibrary.com/history/nymph.html Nymphs]] in ''VideoGame/{{Zork}}'' are HouseFey. Tiny [[WingedHumanoid Winged Humanoids]] summoned to act as servants, guards or exotic dancers.

See also OurElvesAreDifferent and OurFairiesAreDifferent.

* '''Nereids''', '''naiads''', '''oceanids''' or '''undines''' might appear in the role of water-dwelling nymphs, living within and protecting ponds, lakes, seas and other aquatic environments. They may be similar to [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent mermaids]].

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: In the Marston stories Nymphs are the all female residents of the [[{{Lunarians}} lunar forest]] who are ruled by and worship Artemis.

[[folder:Myths & Religion]]

** Dryads are the most common of the two types and strongly aligned with Green, the color of nature. They're reclusive forest dwellers and wardens of nature, usually appearing as humanoid women with pointed ears and sometimes green skin and hair. Other times they're out-and-out {{Plant Person}}s. [[https://scryfall.com/card/por/193/willow-dryad Some believe them to be the dreams of trees]]. They're present on multiple planes, including the GothicHorror-inspired Innistrad and the CityPlanet of Ravnica, where they're strongly associated with the Selesnya Conclave, the guild responsible for maintaining Ravnica's green spaces. The founder of the Conclave, Mat'Selesnya, was formed from the fusion of multiple dryads, and the guild's current leader, Trostani, is a group of three conjoined dryads acting as Mat'Selesnya's "face".

*** Hesperides are nymphs of sunset, and guard places from which the setting sun cab be seen particularly well, and often also keep watch over precious or magical artifacts. They can manipulate sunlight to create fire and searing light, and are bonded to the specific panorama they guard. Hesperid queens often form close partnerships with gold dragons.

* OurNymphsAreDifferent: Dryads are one of the species that make up the Aldryami, a collection of sapient plants and plant spirits that most famously includes the elves, and often live alongside other Aldryami in mixed communities. They're a lithe and feminine race of protective spirits of the woods and all within their forests; they are generally incapable of harming anything except those that would harm that forest.

* The ''Prélude à l'après-midi'' short from ''WesternAnimation/AllegroNonTroppo'' has an elderly fawn chasing a green-skinned nymph.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'', Hercules meets Philoctetes as he is peeping on a group of nymphs lounging by a river. When his cover is blown, Phil is quick to try and catch one, only for them to turn into a pile of flowers and a tree.

* The ''Prélude à l'après-midi'' short from ''WesternAnimation/AllegroNonTroppo'' has an elderly fawn chasing a green-skinned nymph.

* ''Manga/RosarioToVampire'': The MonsterOfTheWeek in "[[Recap/RosarioPlusVampireS2E5CurryAndAVampire Curry and a Vampire]]" is Ms. Apsara, Yokai Academy's Home Ec. teacher. [[ADogNamedDog She is a literal Apsara]] (a water nymph of Hindu/Buddhist mythology) with a particular obsession with traditional curry. When Kokoa [[KickTheDog ruins one of her dishes out of spite]], Apsara turns her into a yellow-skinned zombie obsessed with curry before deciding to do it with the rest of the school.

* ''Manga/RosarioToVampire'': The MonsterOfTheWeek in "[[Recap/RosarioToVampireS2E5CurryAndAVampire Curry and a Vampire]]" is Ms. Apsara, Yokai Academy's Home Ec. teacher. [[ADogNamedDog She is a literal Apsara]] (a water nymph of Hindu/Buddhist mythology) with a particular obsession with traditional curry. When Kokoa [[KickTheDog ruins one of her dishes out of spite]], Apsara turns her into a yellow-skinned zombie obsessed with curry before deciding to do it with the rest of the school.

** Nymphs are a type of fey resembling impossibly beautiful, pointy-eared humanoid women, and watch over and protect natural wonders; they are in fact so supernaturally gorgeous that looking at one is enough to strike a man blind.
*** In first edition, the nymphs' traditional subtypes are treated as distinct types of fey in their own right, only similar to nymphs insofar as they're humanoid, AlwaysFemale (usually; male dryads have appeared in stories and official artwork) and protectors of nature. Dryads are less powerful fey that guard specific trees and cannot stray far from them without withering and dying; hamadryads are a stronger variant thereof, who are not bound to individual plants and watch over whole forests. Naiads are bound to and watch over fresh waters such as rivers, ponds and lakes; they can transfer their bonds to other bodies of water, though, allowing them some mobility. Nereids bear more resemblance to medieval water spirits than anything else, being capricious freshwater seductresses who can spray poison and drown with a touch. Oceanids are marine counterparts to nymphs and dryads, possessing lower bodies made out of roiling water than only become legs on dry land and [[MakingASplash extensive power over the element of water]]. Lampads are gloomy, subterranean counterparts of surface nymphs. Oreads are that InNameOnly, being otherwise regular humanoids with earth elemental ancestry.
*** 2nd edition overhauls this classification to more closely resemble the Greco-Roman model -- "nymph", as such, is a general category of humanoid, female fey that watch over natural landmarks, with dryads and naiads being specific types of nymphs associated with specific environments. Nymph queens, rare and powerful exemplars of their kinds, take over the role of the older nymph species, to which they're largely equivalent mechanically; hamadryads are specifically another name for dryad queens. Some dryads' appearances and personalities change depending on the type of tree they're bonded to; cherry tree dryads, called kraneiai, are for instance distinguished by a pink coloration and a preoccupation with the fragile beauty of life. Notably, nereids in 2nd edition are not nymphs, and their flavor is very different; they're HeroicNeutral isolationists who are maligned because of confusion with rusalkas, who are the malicious fey who prey on sailors nereids are mistaken as.
** Nephlei, while not true nymphs or even fey -- they're a type of air elemental, strictly speaking -- strongly resemble them, appearing as giant, blue-skinned, pointy-eared women with skin covered in whorled white markings. They're known as cloud nymphs in-universe and are closely connected to their element, being able to command wind, clouds and lighting to a fairly extensive degree.

* ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon'': Dryads' main bodies are their actual plants, and their humanoid selves are actually their mobile flowers. They're also monosexual, as there are male and female flowers. Pollinated flowers later turn into pumpkin-like fruits with human faces on them.

* ''LightNovel/Overlord2012'': Dryads have wood-like skin and leaves for hair. They get weaker the further they move from their tree, but the tree can be moved -- Pinison Pol Perlia, for example, had hers moved to Nazarick.
* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'': . They have two horns that can be used in powerful healing potions. The horns are often poached with the dryad being sold into slavery. We only see one called Shirobe who can transform into a "Tree Dragon", lengthening her horns and growing wooden dragon-like wings.
* ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'': The spirit form of the Wood Card resembles a dryad.

* ''Satyr Satisfies Nymph'' by Arthur Fischer is an oil painting depicting a nymph being given oral sex by a satyr.

* ''ComicBook/JLAALeagueOfOne'' features two Nympths called Zoe and Athlea, a Nereid and Dryad respectively, who live around Themyscira and shown to have been ComicBook/WonderWoman's childhood friends growing up. Both are depicted as in the forms of little girls (Zoe all blue and Athlea all green) who have powers associated with their respective domains.

* ''WesternAnimation/BarbieFairytopia'' has a dryad called Dahlia. They don't seem to be much different from standard winged fairies but can fly through trees like they aren't there.

* ''Series/Charmed1998'': Wood nymphs use their magic to make nature grow, and their presence causes flowers to bloom. They're also guardians of the Eternal Spring, whose waters make the drinker immortal.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': In the Marston stories Nymphs are the all female residents of the [[{{Lunarians}} lunar forest]] who are ruled by and worship Artemis.

*** 2nd edition overhauls this classification to more closely resemble the Greco-Roman model -- "nymph", as such, is a general category of humanoid, female fey that watch over natural landmarks, with dryads and naiads being specific types of nymphs associated with specific environments. Nymph queens, rare and powerful exemplars of their kinds, take over the role of the older nymph species, to which they're largely equivalent mechanically; hamadryads are specifically another name for dryad queens. Some dryads' appearances and personalities change depending on the type of tree they're bonded to; cherry tree dryads, called kraneiai, are for instance distinguished by a pink coloration and a preoccupation with the fragile beauty of life. Notably, nereids in 2nd edition are not nymphs, and their flavor is very different; they're HeroicNeutral isolationists who are maligned because of confusion with rusalkas, who are the malicious fey who prey on sailors nereids are mistaken to be.

*** 2nd edition overhauls this classification to more closely resemble the Greco-Roman model -- "nymph", as such, is a general category of humanoid, female fey that watch over natural landmarks, with dryads and naiads being specific types of nymphs associated with specific environments. Nymph queens, rare and powerful exemplars of their kinds, take over the role of the older nymph species, to which they're largely equivalent mechanically; hamadryads are specifically another name for dryad queens. Some dryads' appearances and personalities change depending on the type of tree they're bonded to; cherry tree dryads, called kraneiai, are for instance distinguished by a pink coloration and a preoccupation with the fragile beauty of life.

* Pinison Pol Perlia from ''[[LightNovel/Overlord2012 Overlord]]'' is a dryad. They have wood-like skin and leaves for hair. They get weaker the further they move from their tree but the tree can be moved as Pimison had her's moved to Nazarick.
* Dryads are a type of DemiHuman in ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi''. They have two horns that can be used in powerful healing potions. The horns are often poached with the dryad being sold into slavery. We only see one called Shirobe who can transform into a "Tree Dragon", lengthening her horns and growing wooden dragon-like wings.

* The [[https://www.joslyn.org/collections-and-exhibitions/permanent-collections/european/william-a-bouguereau-return-of-spring-le-printemps/ description]] provided for ''Art/TheReturnOfSpring'' on the Joslyn Art Museum website describes the female nude as a nymph, presumably a lesser goddess of the titular season.