History Main / TheMarvelousDeer

* This trope applies to Santa's reindeer, at least in those versions of holiday folklore that attribute their flight to their own innate abilities (as opposed to Santa's magic, to eating magic grain, etc). Any child who's stayed awake on Christmas Eve listening for their arrival can testify that they're both mysterious and elusive.

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** Module O2 ''Blade of Vengeance''. Karelia the faedorne sends a magical and intelligent white stag to lead Erystelle to the
Circle of Dreams.

** Artemis' chariot is pulled by a pair of silver that can fly. Percy thinks they look like Santa's reindeer which she takes credit for inspiring.

* In the ''[[PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Demigod Files]]'' short story "The Sword of Hades", Thalia is led to meet Percy and Nico by the Golden Hind, which is, in fact, ''literally'' gold.

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* SnowWhiteAndTheHuntsman approach a marvelous deer deep in the forest that seems to be some kind of nature spirite.
* Disney/{{Bambi}}'s father is the Great Prince of the forest who guards the woodland creatures from the dangers of hunters.

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* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' module [=IM3=] ''The Best of Intentions''. During the Olympic Trials, the Immortal {{PC}}s compete in an event called "The Wild Hunt". They must chase and kill a great white hart twice as large as a normal deer. The hart is actually another Immortal in deer form.

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* Beast girl Sveta Czamaral of ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'' is nicknamed "The White Deer" by the people of her homeland, but it only shows during the first few encounters with her, as she leads you into Teppe Ruins before revealing herself... as a werewolf. Even more strangely, she doesn't even look like a deer in her LittleBitBeastly form, if Tyrell's "kitty-dog" comment is anything to go by.

* In ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryI'' the hero followed the white stag to its resting place. It led him to the Dryad who was a spirit of nature. If the player attempts to harm the stag the Dryad will turn him into whatever he attacked, invoking a Game Over.

* In ''Literature/BrotherAndSister'', Brother is transformed to a white stag, and the king discovers that he can talk and lives with his (still human) sister in the woods.
** This may be an Americanization, as in the case of Bambi. In the original German, Brother is a roe fawn, not a stag, but roes are not native to North America.
* In TheBrothersGrimm's ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/60twobrothers.html The Two Brothers]]'', one brother, having rescued a princess from the dragon and married her, goes hunting and is lured into danger by a deer.

* In ''{{Erswhile}}'', [[http://www.erstwhiletales.com/snow-white-and-rose-red-02/#.UQNWevJeCPQ a deer is one of the forest creatures that looks over Snow White and Rose Red]].

Deer, being wild animals, can easily be magical and mysterious while still being hard to reach for humans.

* Hircine, the [[TheWildHunt god of hunting]] in the ''ElderScrolls'' universe, has a white stag as one of his avatars in ''{{Skyrim}}''. Hunting the stag is necessary if the Dovahkiin wants to earn Hircine's favor.

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* There are several powerful shots of Disney/{{Bambi}} and his father in the movie.

Marvelous deer are often the quarry in hunts. Catching them may be another matter, especially since the marvelous deer tends to be a lone animal; herds of marvelous deer are impractical for maintaining the marvelness. It can lead to FollowTheWhiteRabbit.

* One of the [[ClassicalMythology Twelve Labors of Heracles]] was that he had to capture- alive and unharmed- the Golden Hind sacred to the goddess Artemis.

* There are several powerful shots of Bambi and his father in the movie.

* Hircine, the [[WildHunt god of hunting]] in the ''ElderScrolls'' universe, has a white stag as one of his avatars in ''{{Skyrim}}''. Hunting the stag is necessary if the Dovahkiin wants to earn Hircine's favor.

* In ''AssassinsCreedIII'', Connor can accept a quest to hunt a unique deer. According to the huntmaster, several hunters have tried and failed to bring it down before, and they all swear it's got some mysterious power that makes it ImmuneToBullets.

* Deerling and Sawsbuck from PokemonBlackAndWhite seem to be based off this concept, being the only Pokemon that change forms with the seasons. Sawsbucks antlers particularly are marvelous as they're tree branches with leaves that grow and die throughout the year.
** There's also Stantler, from Gen II. It's said to be able to hypnotize and psychologically affect people and Pokemon with its antlers,which give the illusion of two large eyes in the center of each side.

* In TheBrothesrGrimm's ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/60twobrothers.html The Two Brothers]]'', one brother, having rescued a princess from the dragon and married her, goes hunting and is lured into danger by a deer.

* In TheBrotherGrimms' ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/60twobrothers.html The Two Brothers]]'', one brother, having rescued a princess from the dragon and married her, goes hunting and is lured into danger by a deer.