Snakes...Why did it have to be snakes?
- The Animorphs all have signature animals they often turn into, particularly in battle. For example, Marco, the Sad Clown with a creatively ruthless streak, typically transforms into a gorilla, which is big and bulky but still both dangerous and capable of delicate manipulations with opposable thumbs; The Hero, Jake, is a tiger; Blood Knight Rachel initially has an elephant, establishing her as The Big Guy, but later switches to a grizzly bear; Tobias is a hawk (self-sufficient and needs lots of space); while Cassie, presented as the most moral of the team, is a wolf.
- And David is a rat. For all his rage, he is still just a rat in a bottle. Before then he chose golden eagle, lion, orca, and rattlesnake morphs, each of which can underline his savage, vindictive outlook and give him an edge over the Animorphs. Some motif can probably also be gleaned from how lions, orcas, and rattlesnakes are all social animals to various degrees, but David works alone.
- Ax also often goes into battle unmorphed, since Andalites are plenty dangerous in their natural state (extremely sharp tail blades, remember?)
- When Tom acquires the morphing power late in the series, the only morph he is ever seen using is a cobra. This is incredibly fitting, given his role in the final story arc.
- Finally, Visser Three has a grab bag assortment of alien morphs, but the only one he uses more than once is the 'Eight', the bizarre eight-headed, eight-armed, eight-legged, fire-breathing abomination he uses in the climax of the first book. Besides setting up the Visser as an alien threat of monstrous proportions, this particular morph owes a lot to the Beast of Revelation.
- The Arts of Dark and Light: The protagonist Corvus' name means "Crow" in Latin, and is commented upon in this context. The narration also draws attention to it—as does Corvus himself, thinking it an omen when the crows appear to him before a great battle.
- Avalon: Web of Magic play around with this trope; Emily and Kara are magically bonded to various animals, instead of one species in particular. Adriane plays it straight: she feels especially connected to mistwolves, and one is her protector and companion. Fittingly, Adriane is a introverted but staunchly loyal, difficult to befriend, and knowledgeable about nature. As her magical abilities grow, she becomes capable of summoning spirit wolves.
- In Barber Black Sheep, Lord Issac Harrington is repeatedly compared to a dog, and several characters remark that his butler, Leslie Barry, resembles a badger. The Wilson family also qualifies in a more direct sense, as it consists of two sisters named Kittie and Bunny as well as their mother Birdie.
- In the Belgariad, each of the gods has a totemic animal: Belar's is a bear, Torak's is a dragon, Chaldan's is a bull, Issa's is a snake, Nedra's is a lion, Mara's is a bat, and Aldur's is an owl. Each god, and his chosen race of people, take on the personality characteristics of their animal, and in some cases go beyond: Barak turns into a bear when a certain condition is met; Salmissra is transformed into a serpent as punishment for her particular meddling; Torak's successor transforms into a dragon on occasion in an effort to impede the party; and the female sorcerers under Aldur's tutelage prefer the form of the owl for themselves (the males prefer the wolf). The sorcerers also wear an amulet each bearing the image of their chosen form. Poledra is, depending on one's perspective, either a human with wolves as her animal motif or a wolf with humans as her animal motif.
- The Bible is full of animal analogies. Lions, doves, sheep, and cattle are especially prominent: Jesus himself was regularly compared to lambs, lions, and, in later Christianity, unicorns.
- Jacob, and later Moses, blesses each of the Twelve Tribes of Israel before their death; several of these blessings mention animals (lion for Judah, bull for Joseph, wolf for Benjamin, deer for Naphtali). Jewish tradition tends to play up this trope, interpreting other verses about those animals as referring to the tribes in question.
- In The Book of the Named series, the feral exile Newt/Thistle-Chaser has long since forgotten her original name. So when Thakur asks her to identify herself, she points him to the animal she most empathizes with- a newt, which is small and vulnerable.
- Jorge Luis Borges writes a tiger somewhere into many of his stories.
- Felix Leiter is described as having feline slanted eyes in Casino Royale.
- The Chaos Cycle: The supernatural entity known as The Dreamwalker is associated with ravens, with a raven even following and helping the heroes under its sway.
- The two protagonists of The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness come from the Wolf and Raven clans respectively- two animals that frequently share prey. Given that the first book centers around a hunt, this is quite fitting. Every single villain also fits their clan animal to a T. Special mention goes to Tenris, who fits both personality-wise (cute but carnivorous) and taxonomically (pinnipeds and canids both fit under suborder Caniformia).
- In Cooking With Wild Game, everyone has a star representing them except people not native to that world. Huntress Ai Fa is represented by the Cat Star; shrewd Kaslan by the Hawk Star.
- A Court of Thorns and Roses:
- Lucien has a fox motif, he wore a fox mask while cursed and other characters often compare his appereance and cunning with that of a fox.
- Feyre often describes Amarantha's smile as being serpentine.
- Each of the members of the Creature Court is associated with the animal they transform into:
- Deceptively powerful Femme Fatale Livilla is wolves
- Volatile and damaged loner Ashiol is cats
- Sensible, urbane Priest is pigeons
- Tough, noble foreigner Warlord is panthers
- Vicious, cunning power-jockey Dhynar is feraxes (foxes)
- Beautiful, cruel tyrant Garnet is gattopardi (leopards)
- Enigmatic, crafty performer Poet is white rats
- And the rational, industrious and reasonable protagonist, Velody, is little brown mice, though it's soon obvious that she's probably the most powerful of the lot.
- Each chapter of The Darksword Trilogy starts with a small, symbolic illustration. Joram is represented as a frog wearing a crown, referencing his Royal Blood; Simkin is represented as a crow wearing a jester's cap, referencing his trickster nature and status as The Fool.
- In The Dawnhounds, magic users are each tied to a specific Animal God who grants them totemtic powers: crane weavers can teleport, ox weavers are extremely strong, and tiger weavers can hide in plain sight.
- Deltora Quest: "Barda The Bear" is what Barda was called as guard during days of peace in Del, for being the toughest out of all the guards, though Barda doesn't appreciate that moniker when Jinx calls him by it.
- Jasmine associated many animals but mainly with birds since her connection with her pet black bird Kree and distaste for walls and stone, preferring freedom of the air. Lief is tied with Dragons and their majesty as the Deltora royal family are connected to Dragons and literal dragon come back in the third series.
- In the Deverry novels, many characters are associated with animals. Dweomer workers can take the form of one bird decided by their personality (the garrulous and showmanlike Salamander is embarrassed by his magpie form, which is only revealed to the reader after characters who don't know he's a magic user have repeatedly called him "that chattering magpie"). Other characters often have an animal associated with their coat of arms, for instance that of Rhodry's family is a badger, representing the clan founder's steadfastness. In the flashbacks, Brangwen and Gerraent are the last scions of the Falcon Clan, and their later incarnations are often associated with falcons in some way.
- Tris from Divergent is associated with crows and ravens.
- Isaac Asimov's "Does a Bee Care?": This story makes constant references to animals and their instinct, acting as metaphors for an alien, as well as for the ship. Comparisons such as spiders and architecture, wasps and ornithology, salmon, and cartography, not to mention the title question.The ship began as a metal skeleton. Slowly a shining skin was layered on without and odd-shaped vitals were crammed within.
- An in-universe example: In the Dragaera series, each of the 17 Great Houses is named after an animal. However, since a lot of those animals aren't from Earth, the similarities between the personality traits of the House and the traits of the animal are much better understood by the characters than by us.
- The Dresden Files:
- The predatory White Court refer to humans as deer. This is used to establish the Court as unfeeling and contemptuous of their 'prey'.
- The Mantle of the Winter Lady is represented by an incorporeal serpent, a symbol of the sex and danger it drives its hosts to spread. Not coincidentally, one of its future bearers has a snake tattoo.
- At the start of Dr. Franklin's Island Semi compares the other teens she sees to animals. A big-eyed rich girl is a helpless baby seal, a stumbling boy is a young wildebeest, there's a boy that looks remarkably like a guinea pig, Miranda is clearly too cool and together to be an animal... After the change Semi muses that Miranda, transformed into a bird, is a "high flier". If she has something that can be done, something to be accomplished, she does well, like she did on the beach or while imprisoned. Semi herself, turned into a fish, is a "deep swimmer", happy to sit and think, more passive, better in situations like being abandoned in a cage. Also, Miranda calls Arnie a "snake" when furious with him, and it turns out that's what he became.
- Earth's Children:
- Everyone in the Clan (the name Neanderthals give to themselves) has a totem spirit represented by a particular animal, who is believed to guide and watch over them. Mog-urs (holy men) meditate to determine a baby's totem and will usually pick one that seems to match the baby's appearance and personality. Men tend to have stronger or predatory animal totems, while women have frailer or herbivorous animal totems (due to the Clan's belief a man's totem has to battle and defeat a woman's to get her pregnant). There are exceptions though, with Ayla being considered highly unusual for having a cave lion totem. The Clan also heavily identify with bears; their chief deity is Ursus, the Great Cave Bear, whom they believe first showed them how to make and use fire, wear animal skins as clothes and so forth. Ursus is the totem of the whole Clan, though he can sometimes be a personal totem for an individual (such as in the case of Creb, who was 'chosen by the cave bear'...and by that we mean 'nearly mauled to death by one as a kid'). Even Cro-Magnon associate the Clan with bears, with some believing them to be more closely related to bears than humans.
- Some Cro-Magnon, particularly the Zelandonii, have similar beliefs about protective animal spirits, but only some people have them rather than everyone. It usually applies to people who survive an attack by an animal, which is believed to be the totem spirit 'testing' their worthiness.
- Main protagonist Ayla is associated with the cave lion, which is her totem animal. She is strong in both mind and body, brave and powerful, yet also protective and nurturing. She is nearly killed by a cave lion as a child, who claws her leg and leaves her with scars resembling the Clan's symbol for lion, which Creb believes was the Cave Lion spirit claiming her. Lions are also directly or indirectly involved in other important events in her life; among others, the cave she lives in for three years was once the home of lions, her adopted lion Baby 'brings' Jondalar to her, and her first experience living with a Cro-Magnon society is with the Lion Camp.
- Clan leader Brun's totem is a bison, often symbolizing strength, unity and prosperity: all signs of a good leader.
- Medicine woman Iza's totem is a saiga antelope. Although they may appear frail at first glance, they're stronger than they look, which applies to Iza (both in terms of physical and mental strength); some people remark that a saiga antelope is an unusually strong totem for a woman to be protected by and it's believed this is the reason Iza's mate failed to get her pregnant for so long. They're also considered intelligent and observant, definitely traits Iza shares. Some cultures also believe saiga antelope - especially their horns - possess healing properties (which unfortunately is a big part of the reason they're now critically endangered to due to over-hunting), which could allude to Iza's own abilities as a healer.
- Creb has two Animal Motifs, due to having two totems. His second totem, the Cave Bear, represents his persona as one of the most powerful Mog-urs of all the clans, a person inspiring awe and commanding respect. His birth totem is the roe deer, which represents the person he is Beneath the Mask; gentle and shy.
- Broud is associated with the wooly rhino, his totem. He tends to have the more negative traits associated with rhinos, such as a quick temper, displaying aggression towards anything perceived as a threat and (metaphorical) short-sightedness.
- Ayla's son Durc has a grey wolf totem.
- Ona is given the totem of the owl early in the first book; while Creb is meditating to uncover her totem, he keeps coming back to an owl despite this being considered an unusually strong totem for a woman. Creb notes that Ona's big, round eyes even remind him of an owl and so he decides this must be her totem.
- Oda, a woman who has a half-Clan daughter, has a hamster totem.
- The Mamutoi are closely associated with mammoths. They are a central part of their culture, with the people holding great mammoth hunts every year and using every part of the mammoth for building materials, tools, clothing, food and so on. They are famed for hunting mammoths and the animals also have spiritual significance to them - the mamuts (their spiritual leaders) as a collective group are called 'the Mammoth Hearth' and Mamut has a screen with alleged magical properties made from the skin of a white mammoth, believed to be extremely sacred.
- Willomar claims the golden eagle as a totem, after he survived an eagle attack as a child. He is said to be restless with a love of travelling and adventure like an eagle.
- In the Fairy Oak series, when the Captain's Band transforms into birds, each member has a code name based on their transformation, which reflects their personality. Their personality and likes also get reflected in the animals they prefer interacting with. Some examples are:
- Vanilla turns into a robin and speaks to porcupines, turtles, ladybugs, and other forest animals.
- Lavender talks to foxes, spiders, and scorpions.
- Grisam transforms into a grey hawk and talks to crows because he has the patience to do so.
- Flox transforms into a woodpecker and speaks to pheasants and partridges.
- Cherry turns into a crow, courtesy of Shirley. La also likes to compare her with various kinds of snakes.
- Fate Series:
- Ryuunosuke Uryuu from Fate/Zero has a motif for leopards, a species of animal whose lifestyle he models his life around, with him also always wearing some form of leopard print clothing.
- Berserker of Black (a gender flipped Frankenstein's Monster) from Fate/Apocrypha is compared to a large dog that doesn't quite trust people, which is quite obvious with her constant growling.
- Lucius Tiberius, a character mentioned in Fate/Prototype: Fragments of Sky Silver, had a bear motif, acting as a contrast to the dragon motif of his rival, King Arthur.
- Lord El-Melloi II Case Files:
- Svin Glascheit has a dog motif. He specializes in Beast magecraft, he can sniff out things like a dog, and Flat even gives him the nickname "le chien", French for "the dog".
- Hishiri Adashino has a snake motif, her personality being easily comparable to one as well as her Mystic Code resembling one.
- Fate/strange Fake:
- Saber has a feline motif, being compared to a cat on occasion, being described by the Watcher as "a lion in a man's skin", and the fact that his true identity is Richard the Lionheart.
- True Berserker, aka Humbaba, has both a lion motif and a spider motif, having the upper body of the former and the lower body of the latter.
- Ghost of Spirit Bear: The homeless man has motifs of the Spirit Bear. The man appears on-and-off and disappears quickly like the Spirit Bear, is quite mysterious, and just stares at Cole and Peter.
- In The Girl from the Miracles District, Nikita is often associated with mantis in-universe, to the point where it's her nickname and the Big Bad threatens her with a box of dead mantids, and Robin — or, rather, Robin's past life — is symbolized by a deer.
- The Grapes of Wrath has in its third chapter a tortoise trying to cross a road and getting run over by a truck. In the fourth chapter, we meet Jim Casey, who's described as having a "long head" and a "beaked" nose.
- A very similar Steinbeck example occurs in Of Mice and Men. Lennie and Candy's dog are described in very similar terms: both have "pale...eyes" and dragging feet. Both succumb to Death by Newbery Medal via Shoot the Dog.
- Harry Potter has Patronuses, protective spells that take animal form, and Animagi, wizards and witches who can turn into animals. (Wizards usually have the same Patronus and Animagi form.) Harry himself has a stag Patronus like his father, an Animagus, did, and his mother had a doe Patronus. Stags are majestic and brave but also prideful. When Harry (who doesn't remember his parents) sees someone's memory of James, the arrogant pride really shines through and sours his opinion of him (this was before James Took a Level in Kindness).
- Severus Snape is often compared to a bat. His Patronus is a doe, which represents his love for Lily Evans. Notably, his Patronus is a copy of Lily's instead of a complement like James's.
- On Pottermore, it was revealed that Remus Lupin has a wolf Patronus, which he is ashamed of because he dislikes the reference to his lycanthropy. Yet, wolves are intelligent and loyal to their packs. Nymphadora Tonks's Patronus changes from a jackrabbit to a wolf after the events of the fifth book out of love for Remus.
- Dolores Umbridge fills her office at Hogwarts with cat-themed knickknacks and has a cat Patronus, thus representing Cats Are Mean and as the Evil Counterpart to Minerva McGonagall's cat Patronus/Animagus form (representing Cats Are Magic).
- Other characters whose Patronuses are known and notable include Ron Weasley (a Jack Russell terrier, loyal, and tenacious), Hermione Granger (an otter, playful, intelligent, and J. K. Rowling's favorite animal), and Ginny Weasley (a horse, wild and fierce) all revealed in Order of the Phoenix. In the final book, we also get Patronus reveals for Luna Lovegood (a hare, most likely in reference to phrases like "mad as a March hare", fitting with her status as a Cloudcuckoolander), Ernie Macmillan (a boar, fitting with his slight tendency towards being a bit "boorish" and "pig-headed"), and Seamus Finnigan (a fox, fitting with his devotion to Hogwarts as well as his snarkiness).
- Sirius Black can turn into a big, black dog because he's clever, loyal, and lacks impulse control. Peter Pettigrew is a rat, which could be interpreted as bearing the virtues of dexterity and cleverness or the vices of secretiveness and duplicity.
- Albus Dumbledore's brother Aberforth has a goat Patronus. This is in keeping with how he once used "inappropriate charms on a goat", and his place of business ( The Hog's Head) smells of goats.
- Unconnected to her Patronus, Ginny is often compared to a cat; Harry's narration will mention her curled up "cat-like" in a chair or at the foot of a bed, while her hair is sometimes described as "a mane that frames her face", not unlike that of a lion. She is also mentioned to love cats. Unlike most of the other motifs in the series, this does not appear to have any deeper magical meaning.
- Each of the four Hogwarts Houses also has a symbolic animal: Gryffindor has a lion, the King of the Jungle; Hufflepuff has a badger, a docile animal that can take down much larger creatures if threatened;note Ravenclaw has an eagle, intelligent and independent; Slytherin has a snake, which is sneaky, clever, and loyal to a close few (and, In-Universe, because its founder could talk to them). Slytherin's descendant Voldemort inherited his snake motif.
- Incredibly important in 'Het verrotte leven van Floortje Bloem', a Dutch book whose title translates to 'The screwed-up life of Floortje Bloem'. It's about a young hooker hooked on heroin who gets a fur rabbit from a pedophile. This fur rabbit is used to portray her innocence and it deteriorates further and further from that point.
- Her Crown of Fire: Birds, particularly dead ones. Rose's first magical experience at the start of the book is her dreaming of a dying bird, and multiple birds die around her during the course of the book. A silver bird is the symbol of Stanthor Academy.
- In His Dark Materials your daemon's form (an animal) represents yourself and is part of your soul. Since children have not yet truly defined who they are in life, their daemons can shape-shift until they mature.
- While used throughout most of John Irving works, the motif of the bear is especially prevalent in his novel The Hotel New Hampshire. On the obvious level, two bears are found in the story: State O'Maine, a trained bear that is the family's first pet, whose presence indirectly caused the birth of the Berry children and whose death also indirectly began the family's habit of buying and running hotels; and Susie, a woman the Berry family meets in Vienna and that spends her time dressed up and acting as a bear, both as a way to cope with her rape and help her friend and employee. On a less obvious level, the novel is filled with subtle references to bears: for example, the protagonist's mother and an old Viennese prostitute both have collections of china bears; or when John the protagonist gets fat he is compared to a "teddy bear" and a "panda".
- In The Hound of the D'Urbervilles, Colonel Moran often compares Professor Moriarty to a snake, cold-blooded, deadly, with cobra eyes, an adder's smile, and a neck-wobbling habit that reminds him of a snake.
- The Hunger Games: The motifs actually play a lot into the story & symbolism.
- President Snow identifies with a snake, especially his eyes. Snow is described as having features that make him look like a snake and importantly, later on, we learn that he gained his position from poisoning his enemies. The prequel with Snow as the main character is called The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
- Katniss has been compared to a mockingjay, and Katniss's role as the Mockingjay is revealing about the nature in which she's been manipulated in the novels; the mockingjays were emblems of freedom and signs of rebellion but could not produce their own words. Katniss is constantly a puppet for the 'players' of the books, like President Snow, Plutarch, and Coin. She also is reduced to a poor mental state where she begins singing to herself at the end of the last novel.
- Rue is described as having bright, dark eyes and satiny brown skin and standing tilted up on her toes with her arms slightly extended to her sides, as if ready to take wing at the slightest sound. It's impossible not to think of a bird and Katniss repeatedly compares her to one, highlighting her fondness for Rue and Rue's sweet and free-spirited nature. Her swift and almost invisible movements through the treetops added to the bird-like description. Rue's pre-games interview costume is described as a sheer dress with shimmering gossamer wings. Of course, she can also communicate with the birds through song.
- Katniss nicknamed the girl from District 5 "Foxface" because of her fox-like appearance. She has red hair and is described by Katniss as sly and elusive. Foxface demonstrated her cleverness by figuring out the path into the Careers' supply pyramid and reaching the bulk of supplies, taking an unnoticeable amount of food, and then running back to the safety of the woods.
- Prim's cat Buttercup has a very similar personality to her sister Katniss and takes the role in Prim's life that Prim takes in Katniss's life.
- Tigris looks and acts like a tigress so much that Katniss wonders if she picked the name herself. She didn't.
- Oreg of Hurog, a wary, badly-abused slave and Forsaken Child, is regularly compared to a skittish and mistreated warhorse, with protagonist Ward noting the similarities between convincing Oreg to trust him and untraining the damage done to his inherited mount, Pansy.
- In the poem Hyena, the authoress compares someone she knows (but is clearly not fond of) to the titular animal, the animal generally being seen as annoying and unpleasant (mostly the former).
- Similarly, we have this in the poem Bitten by the Snake, where the authoress likens herself to a mouse (small, meek, generally passive) and a former friend of hers to a snake (cruel, predatory, deceptive).
- The Iliad is heavy with animal similes when describing characters' emotions and actions.
- The main characters in The Impairment each are associated with an animal which reflects their personalities.
- Lead and POV character Kyle Griffin is associated with, what else, Griffins. His motif is the only one among the rest that isn't actually a real animal, but rather a mythical beast. This is a reflection of his desire to escape from the cruel real world and find solace in the "fantasy world" of his drunken stupor. It may also reflect his desire to be free of suspicion (the bird/flying aspect of the creature) and his aggressive nature towards his suspicion (the lion aspect).
- The sole believer on campus to Kyle's claims, Mark Rivera, has a wolf motif, which reflects his aggressive attitude towards anyone that's hostile to anyone to whom he's fiercely protective and loyal. It's a part of a gag with his deceased girlfriend Naomi Portman's motif of the Moon, and also a reflection of his sad and lonesome outlook on life.
- Nathan Reeves Bret Cameron, takes the falcon as his both for the fact by personality he’s an excellent tracker and a careful and silent overseer of his surroundings and that he uses camera-bots disguised as taxidermy falcons to spy on Kyle.
- Allie Parker’s seems to be cats which fit to her curious attitude, the mysterious nature of her personality, and of course in truth to her agile and dangerous skills and techniques and her territorial, independent, and dangerous tendencies.
- Being that he’s a bipedal version and greatly resembles one, Meleeo is identified with Chameleons. This greatly reflects how he blends in to his surroundings and adapted and fooled both the readers and the characters of his true personality and colors. Oh, and, of course, his tongue.
- Kiefer Waldgrave identifies himself with the caterpillar, cocoon, and Moth family. He clearly started out a pathetic, weak and idealistic young man, but slowly gave in to his newfound ideals and confined himself to the cocoon of his new ideals till he hoped to become something much greater.
- The men of the Beta Alpha Omega fraternity are identified by Mark as “dogs”, possibly by how depending on their owner and surroundings it ultimately shapes their personalities, of which these boys are aggressive and brutal.
- Emma Sumiko is identified with koi fish, possibly due to her Asian heritage and her milky, elegant and beautiful appearance.
- In Death series: Roarke has been compared to a wolf in Ceremony in Death, Vengeance in Death, and Promises in Death. Promises in Death actually had Eve and several women discussing the men in their lives and comparing them to animals. Nadine got a turtle of a man. Trina got a snake of a man. Mira got an owl of a man. Peabody got a puppy of a man. Mavis got a bear of a man. Louise got a cheetah of a man. Nadine theorizes that Roarke is a panther, but Eve ends up saying "wolf," and Mira points out that when wolves mate, it's for life.
- Journey to Chaos: Princess (later Queen) Kasile of Ataidar invokes the image of tigers whenever possible because one of them is her divine ancestor's familiar in addition to the fact that they are powerful and majestic creatures. They decorate her dresses, her castle, and they inspired her development of the Mana Claw technique.
- Two examples from the works of Jacqueline Wilson:
- The Suitcase Kid: Andy's stepfather Bill is likened to a baboon; she describes him as large, hairy, with a monkey-like face, and probably a large, red behind.
- The Bed and Breakfast Star: Lions for Elsa; her hairstyle resembles a lion's mane, she is said to "roar" like a lion, she was named after the famous lioness Elsa, and at the end of the book, she is seen wearing a jacket with a lion emblem on it.
- Elsa's stepfather Mac is associated with wild pigs; she refers to him at one point as "a big, hairy warthog" and even sounds like a warthog when he snores.
- A Zen Koan describes
a monk who was afraid of a spider that appeared during his meditation. His master told him to mark the spider with a chalk 'X' next time it appeared — and upon doing so, the monk realizes that he's marked himself. - In Lola Rose, Jayni associates her abusive father Jay with sharks. She develops a phobia of sharks after seeing them in the aquarium, which is implied to be due to underlying anxiety and trauma about her father. She sometimes has nightmares about sharks looking for her. At one point, she creates a collage at school about her family and impulsively sticks a picture of the shark on the page beneath the figures representing herself, her mother Nikki, and her brother Kenny (she'd been discussing fathers with Harpreet at the time); she tries to cover it up with other pictures but still knows the shark is there, symbolizing how Jay is a constant presence even if he can't be seen. Jayni convinces herself that standing in front of the shark tank for one hour will cure Nikki's cancer, believing that if she can overcome her fear of her father her mother will be spared.
- The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn is associated with eagles. During his time as a captain in Gondor and Rohan, he went by the name Thorongil which means "Eagle of the Star". During the events of Fellowship of the Ring, he is given a brooch that is shaped like an eagle. It also fits Aragorn's status as royalty, as eagles are often seen as symbols as such.
- The Lost Years of Merlin has its Big Good spirit, Dagda, take the form of a stag, while its Satanic Archetype, Rhita Gawr, appears as a boar.
- The Machineries of Empire loves its animal motifs.
- Spaceships are called "moths", with various types being called "__moths".
- Most factions are symbolized by an animal:
- Shuos — ninefox
- Kel — ashhawk ("suicide hawk")
- Rahal — scrywolf ("execution wolf")
- Vidona — the stingray
- Shuos Jedao's signifier is the Immolation Fox, a variation on ninefox.
- Kel Cheris' signifier is Ashhawk Sheathed Wings, symbolizing mentally-stable Kel.
- Drones are shaped like stylized animals, with a particular animal depending on the owners' faction and the drone's purpose.
- Cheris' home is called the City of Ravens Feasting.
- Maiden Crown: Queen Sophie is associated with birds used for falconry, such as goshawks and falcons. Her uncle Oleg's falconer, who first teaches her to take care of her goshawk when she is a child, tells her that a goshawk is an affectionate bird when treated well, but can be moody and unforgiving when wronged. When she has her future divined by the wizard Heikki, he states while pronouncing her destiny (she will live a long life, and have many children) that a royal heart is like a falcon, and "can only love where it is loved and trust where it is trusted". Valdemar also gives her a pet merlin as a wedding gift.
- A Master of Djinn: For Siti, cats. She worships the lion goddess Sekhmet (symbolized by cats) and uses metal claws on her gloves to fight. She growls before getting into a fight. She's also described as purring often. Fatma's cat Ramses loves her as well. Her djinn form also has cat-like eyes.
- The Springers in The Medusa Chronicles by Stephen Baxter and Alastair Reynolds have a leaping springbok as the family crest. Throughout the centuries, Falcon identifies members of the explorer dynasty by seeing the springbok on jewellery, mission patches, tattoos, and eventually as the vaulting decoration on their throne.
- This is more overt with Gordon Reece's short story Mice, as the titular "mice" are a mother and daughter who are timid, sensitive, and conflict-aversive and are treated with much mistreatment throughout the story, much like actual mice. In that vein, one can liken their abusers to anything that preys on mice.
- Each novel in the Miriam Black series has a particular bird as a title, the mythology of which relates in some way to their stories.
- Blackbirds: Psychopomps — beings that transport dead souls to the afterlife. Miriam believes for most of the novel that she's no more than a witness to death and that she can't control fate.
- Mockingbird: A bird with no unique song; instead "mocking" those of others. The serial killer Miriam has to hunt down is capable of imitating other voices.
- The Cormorant: Symbolizes greed, gluttony, or overindulgence. The main antagonist is Drunk with Power, and to save her mother's life, Miriam must find a way to defeat him.
- O'Reilly Media's computer programming books have old-fashioned lithographic illustrations of animals on their covers.
- The Poster Children has an abundance of these. The Underwoods, including Ellie, have a bird motif. Zip is referred to as a cheetah both in-universe and out, June has the tigress, Maks is compared to a monkey, and Ernest is actually based on a golden retriever. Ofelia also has sea lion physiology.
- in Quest for Fire, Aghoo the Son of the Aurochs is brutish and violent whereas Naoh the Son of the Leopard is more clever and cunning. The physically imposing and bloodthirsty Kzamm are compared to bears.
- The witches of the Pallid Masque from the Revanche Cycle are given animal names and bone masks to match the coven's mistress. Said names are sometimes deceptive, as the bandits who waylay Hedy, the Mouse learn the hard way.
- The Reynard Cycle: Given the initial source material, there's quite a lot of this present throughout the series. Some of it is quite overt, especially when the primary cast of characters is concerned, though there are a few subtler instances of it as well.
- For instance, Duke Nobel's coat of arms depicts a white lion, his father's name is Leo, and he aspires to be the king. On the other hand, in spite of her being raven-haired, living in a figurative gilded cage, and hailing from a city with a raven as its symbol, it can still be easy to miss that the Countess Persephone is oft likened to a bird.
- Multiple characters in the Sandokan novels have one or more animal motif:
- The most prolific is the tiger: starts out as Sandokan's symbol (known as the Tiger of Malaysia because people realize he's just that badass. They are wrong, he's stronger), and by association is extended to his pirate crew (the Tigers of Mompracem), with their flag being originally a tiger head in red field and later changing to three heads (representing Sandokan, his most trusted companion Yanez and his late wife Marianna, all of them more than capable of murdering any tiger stupid enough not to run when they show up); Suyodhana, leader of the Thuggee cult, is known as the Tiger of India, and he's the only man who could hold his own in a one-on-one fight with Sandokan.
- The British Empire is associated with lions and leopards, and both animals are used to refer to Britishmen and British warships;
- Subverted with Tremal Naik, who is known as "The Hunter of Tigers and Snakes of the Black Jungle" because that's what he used to do for a living before meeting his future wife.
- In "The Shadow of the Vulture", Oglu wears a dark costume with a pair of vulture wings that fell across the floor.
- The Shadowspawn: The titular vampire-like creatures are shapeshifters, pseudo-werebeasts as well as vampires, and often assume the forms of predatory animals that fit their preferences and personality traits. Villain Protagonist Adrienne's favorite non-human shape is that of a dire wolf; her brother Adrian's is a saber-tooth tiger.
- Sherlock Holmes:
- Holmes is often compared to a hunting hound when he's hot on the scent of a criminal. Moriarty, meanwhile, is likened to a spider at the centre of a web. His right-hand man, the grizzled tiger hunter Moran, is described as being very much like a tiger himself. Similarly, The Devil's Foot features a character named Leon Sterndale, a lion-hunter with a mane of blonde hair and a fierce, noble temperament. And then there's the "ferret-like" Inspector Lestrade...
- Antagonist turned Asshole Victim Charles Augustus Milverton, a notorious blackmailer, is described as a snake.
- She Who Became The Sun: Zhu's lean, triangular face is often compared to insects like a cicada, cricket, or mantis. It's doubly appropriate because those insects symbolize rebirth, good fortune, and strength, and Zhu is a Determinator who took on a new identity to achieve greatness.
- A Song of Ice and Fire: Many of the noble houses have animals on their coats of arms, and are commonly referred to by these animals as well as showing an awareness of how they are "supposed" to act to fit the animal characteristics; the series has a lot of fun with the possible symbolism.
- The grim, grey, noble Starks, who live in a cold northern realm dominated by vast wildernesses, have a direwolf on their arms. At the very start of the first book, the Starks come across the body of a direwolf that was slain by a stag, symbolizing how their eventual downfall will be tied to the Baratheons, who use that animal as their own symbol.
- The blonde, vain, and aggressive Lannisters have a lion. The "Rains of Castamere" song leans heavily on the fact that both House Lannister and House Reyne had lionsnote for their coats of arms.
- Littlefinger deliberately chooses the small, bright, and cunning thief, the mockingbird, for his arms to appear nonthreatening.
- Crows seem to act as the motif for the series as a whole, symbolizing war, ill omen, and death. Members of the Night's Watch are also (somewhat mockingly) referred to as Crows, due to their black cloaks and dour attitudes.
- The sigil of House Martell isn't an animal, but Oberyn and his daughters have a snake motif, especially connected to their fighting style: fast, sneaky and poisonous.
- Subverted by the Florents, who have a fox for their sigil and look like foxes with their large ears, but are not particularly cunning, being vain and unpleasant.
- The Freys don't have it as their sigil but are frequently compared to weasels, looking like them and acting sneaky and unpleasant.
- The Starks, Targaryens, and Dothraki have a closer relationship with their animal sigils (direwolf, dragon, and horse, respectively) than most (no, not like that). The Stark children all get direwolf companions early in the first book, the Targaryens rode dragons to war, and the Dothraki consider horses essential to their nomadic lifestyle.
- Additionally, many characters have specific animal motifs, and are sometimes referred to by animal nicknames based off their traits.
- Sansa Stark is nicknamed "little bird" for her ability to repeat "pretty words". Additionally, her chapters are usually rife with symbolism relating to birds, the sky and flying, she is currently living with Petyr Baelish, the other avian-associated character, and they're located in a mountaintop castle nicknamed the Eyrie.
- Sandor is often called a dog or the Hound, partly because the Clegane coat of arms has three dogs and partly because he's perceived as a brutal and fearsome but not very independent enforcer of his lieges.
- Arya Stark has a number of animal motifs over the series. She's referred to as a wolf as per her family's sigil, but also as a sheep (when a helpless prisoner) and a mouse (when seeking to remain unnoticed in the vast enemy-occupied castle of Harrenhal). While in Braavos she nicknames herself Cat of the Canals and both wargs a cat and takes on various catlike traits.
- The female knight Brienne of Tarth is mockingly compared to a horse due to her prominent teeth. And like a destrier, she doesn't hesitate to use them as a weapon.
- Songs of Innocence and of Experience employs the recurring imagery of different animals to represent innocence, e.g. "The Lamb", and experience, e.g. "The Tyger". In "THE FLY", the narrator compares himself directly to a fly with reference to human mortality and vulnerability.
- The Southern Reach Trilogy: Both the biologist and the lighthouse keeper are heavily associated with birds. The biologist is nicknamed Ghost Bird by her late husband, who himself ends up being transformed into an owl, and the lighthouse keeper is an avid birdwatcher, writing down what kind of birds he's seen on any given day.
- In Stardust, a character remarked when Tristran is transformed into a dormouse by a witch, that she isn't sure whether the spell simply transformed Tristran into a dormouse or it had chosen the form that Tristran is most like.
- This trope is something of a Motif for Neil Gaiman, present also in Neverwhere, American Gods, Anansi Boys, and even Good Omens.
- Heraldic animals feature heavily in the Tales of the Branion Realm historical fantasy series set in an alternate Britain. There are two opposing Gods — Essus (a white dragon) and the Living Flame (a fire-wolf). Since the Vessel of the Living Flame doubles as the kingdom's sovereign, the fire-wolf doubles as the national symbol and the royal family's crest. Other creatures that feature prominently include the bear, symbol of one of the strongest noble families; a crimson gryphon, symbol of Gwyneth (an expy of Wales), and the wyvern, crest of the royal dukedom of Yorbourne (aka York). There's also the owl, symbol of choice and totem of a Seer. All these symbols appear commonly in visions and may battle in metaphysical combat.
- In Terra Mirum Chronicles both the Nightmare Queen and Titania, mockingly in the first case and affectionately in the second, refer to Prince Oswin as a rabbit. He takes the place of the white rabbit in the original tale.
- The Thebaid: Prophecy tells the Argives that their princes will come in the guise of a lion and a boar. It is no coincidence that Polynices and Tydeus are fighting while wearing the skins of those two beasts. Even when they ditch the skins for armor, the two are still consistently compared to a carnivorous lion and a wild boar. Sometimes the comparisons are swapped to show the influence the step-brothers have had on each other.
- This Is Not a Werewolf Story: Aside from the various shapeshifters, Vincent has a motif of crows and ravens, possibly meant to indicate that he'll become a shapeshifter himself in the future.
- Several times in the Tortall Universe by Tamora Pierce.
- Song of the Lioness stars a female knight called Alanna, who gains the appellation "The Lioness" because of her courage and tenacity.
- Her daughter, Aly, is a clever girl who likes to joke around. She learns how to talk to crows early in the plot, befriends the crow gods, and eventually falls in love with a crow shapeshifted into a man.
- In the Beka Cooper books, the proto-police force adopts the disparaging nickname "Dogs", call their watchouses "Kennels", and their trainees "Puppies", as they find the connotations of a loyal hunter/tracker to be highly appropriate. Beka is also nicknamed after a breed of hunting dog for her actions in each book as a Title Drop.
- several examples in Virtuous Sons: A Greco-Roman Xianxia.
- As his namesake, Griffon is associated with lions and eagles, (Lio means lion, Aetos means eagle).
- The Tyrant Elders of the Raging Heaven employ a number of agents to undercut each other as they struggle for the vacant Indigo Throne. Naturally, these black-clad midnight agents are referred to as crows.
- Following a series of altercations where they preyed on the crows, both Griffon and Solus are associated with ravens.
- These come up a lot in Way of Choices. Xu Yourong has the blood (and powers) of the phoenix, Qiu Shan the dragon, and Nanke the peacock. While it's a lot less emphasized, a cicada keeps popping up around the protagonist Chen Changshang.
- In the Indian novel The White Tiger: The white tiger.
- Worm
- Taylor (the protagonist) is noted by other characters to be like the insects she controls. Both positive and negative meanings are in play here- insects are creepy, potentially poisonous, and on the bottom of the food chain. But they're also tough, versatile creatures, talented at working in groups and creating useful things like honey and silk. Taylor shows nearly all of these traits over the novel's course.
- The character Bitch controls dogs, and due to a traumatic childhood, thinks and acts like a particularly intelligent one. She essentially considers her pet dogs family (and is deeply touched when Siberian gives her a wolf cub) but is generally not great with humans.
