Pegasus - Television Tropes & Idioms

The winged horse in Greek Mythology, born from the blood that flowed when Perseus slew Medusa (just roll with it). Since then, the image of a horse with wings has persisted in stories and culture, whether these horses are named Pegasus or another name.

Such stories may turn Pegasus into a whole species (plural is often "pegasi").

A Sub Trope of Cool Horse.

Compare Unicorn, Winged Unicorn, Winged Humanoid, Our Angels Are Different.

Examples:

Advertising

The Tri-Star logo.
The Mobil logo.
The logo of the Reader's Digest Association.

Anime and Manga

In Fate/stay night, Bellerophon, the Noble Phantasm of the Servant Rider (Medusa), can be used to control even the most powerful mythical beasts. Rider due to her part in the creation of Pegasus is able to summon Pegasus and perfectly control it in battle with Bellerophon.
Metal Fight Beyblade is similar to the above example, but with spinning tops. Again, the protagonist uses Pegasus.
One Piece has Pierre, a bird who has the ability to transform into a horse after eating the Horse-Horse Devil Fruit. Pierre's in-between form is effectively a pegasus. A rather ugly pegasus.
Pegasus was a character on Sailor Moon that the villains of the season were seeking, although he could take human form. Or, more accurately, his original form was human.
Saint Seiya is based around warriors who use constellations as their motif. The protagonist's constellation is Pegasus.
Teppei from B't X rides a mechanical pegasus. Notably, this manga is from the same artist who made Saint Seiya, Masami Kurumada.

Comic Books

DC's Shining Knight's (both of them) also have winged horses. Justin's was called Victory, Ystina's was Vanguard.
Danielle Moonstar of the New Mutants acquired a winged Valkyrie steed, Brightwind, on a trip to Asgard. In that Brightwind chose her, which was the Word Of God (Horse) technically.
Dane Whitman, the Black Knight, first had Aragorn, a genetically engineered flying horse, and then eventually upgraded to Strider, a magic horse capable of flying faster than the speed of sound (which would lead to all sorts of other problems, but hey, it's magic, so that clears it all up). The less said about the mechanical "Atomic Steed" he rode for a while, the better.
The Valkyries from The Mighty Thor ride winged horses, one of which ended up in the possession of Danielle Moonstar of the New Mutants.
One of Wonder Woman's foes has Pegasus (the original one from Greek myth) as his personal steed.

Fan Works

George becomes one twice in With Strings Attached. His doing so is the first indication that his shapeshifting ring is more powerful than it seems.

Film

In the first Clash of the Titans, most were said to be killed off by Calebos. In the remake, Pegasus himself is marked by being bigger, Darker and Edgier, more aggressive and black.
- You mean he's a Scary Black Horse?
Pegasus is also in Hercules.

Literature

In The Chronicles of Narnia, the horse Strawberry (from our world) was given wings by Aslan and took the name Fledge.
- Fledge deserves special mention since he began his life as a non-speaking cart-horse, one of the first animals given speech by Aslan, then given wings to help Digory on his quest.
Variant: In Xanth, Winged Centaurs eventually became a viable species (a combination of love springs and people getting transformed as such).
The winged horses from Harry Potter, particularly the Thestrals.
In Pegasus, by Robin McKinley, there's an entire species of pegasi, who co-exist peacefully, though they can only communicate via specially-trained Speaker magicians. Each member of the human Royal family has a pegasus companion.
One of these shows up in the first book of the Alex Verus series, as the mount of an older diviner.
A number of winged horses appear in the later books of the Tortall Universe. They're never referred to as pegasi, and come in a variety of forms, including little insect-sized ones and the carnivorous hurroks.

Live-Action TV

Two Super Sentai series have had warriors with Pegasus motifs: Dengeki Sentai Changeman and Gosei Sentai Dairanger. Both of them are the Blue Rangers of their teams.
At least one of Pegasus' owners was the legendary Cowboy Curtis...

Religion and Mythology

The Trope Namer and Trope Maker comes from Greek Mythology.
- Arguably not the Trope Maker: Flying horses have been depicted in several other cultures, such as Thailand.

Tabletop Games

Dungeons & Dragons has Pegasi included as one type of monster players can encounter.
Pegasi appear in several Warhammer armies. Empire and Bretonnian heroes can ride them and the Bretonnians can also field an entire unit of Pegasus Knights. The Dark Elves have access to an evil version with bat wings and dark colouring.
The Yu-Gi-Oh! card Firewing Pegasus.
In Magic: The Gathering, pegasi are a lesser White creature race (Six creatures, plus four other cards that summon pegasus tokens). White Shield Crusader also rides one.

Video Games

Fire Emblem has Pegasus Knights.
God of War II gives Pegasus Hot Wings.
Master of Magic gives the High Men access to Pegasai [sic] as a unique flying mounted unit.
One of the bosses in Mega Man Zero 4 is the Reploid Winged Humanoid steed, Pegasolta Eclair.
- Also there's Spiral Pegasion/The Skiver from Mega Man X 5.
- And one of the three version of Mega Man Star Force is named after Pegasus Magic.
One of the more useful summons in Scribblenauts, although it's somewhat skittish.
The Flying Builder unit from Total Annihilation Kingdoms.
Nightmare from King's Quest VI, who is a black pegasus owned by Death himself.
- He will be your bestest friend if you feed him a stink-bomb. Free trip to Hell! Woo!
The Handsome Pegasus dream eater in Kingdom Hearts 3D.

Web Comics

In Sinfest, Paradise has winged horses.
At Arm\'s Length features Alexander, a fast-talking winged horse desperate to close a deal.
In Skin Deep (Exchanges) one of the characters has an angry rant about how the correct name for their species is Pterippi, literally "winged horse," and that Pegasus was just one indivdual.
Karate Bears are man enough to admit that they ride pegasus's over rainbows

Web Original

Pegasus is featured in Thalia's Musings as a gift from Athena to Thalia and the other Muses.
- "I created him to be used in battle, but I made him such a brilliant tactician that his riders can’t get him to cooperate. He thinks he knows better, and he usually does. But he doesn’t know anything about the arts or sciences. He’ll get along great with you and your sisters." [1]
Two of the creature families in UniCreatures are pegasi. There is also a winged zebra.

Western Animation

The "Pastoral Symphony" segment of Fantasia features a whole Pegasus family, including a black baby Pegasus who is always last.
In Disney's Hercules, Pegasus is Herc's mount, a gift from his father Zeus.
Some of the My Little Ponies are winged horses.
- And the Flutter ponies from The Movie. The Flutter Ponies are an unusual example, as they have iridescent wings like those found on insects and not the feathered, birdlike wings of Pegasi.
- In My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic, they're one of the main three races of ponies, along with the Unicorn and the good old earth pony.
  - Two of them, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, are part of the mane cast. Rainbow Dash in particular is an incredibly talented flier, having broken what is depicted as the sound barrier multiple times, to the point of doing it as a Mundane Utility.
The Three Caballeros has a segment about a flying donkey.
Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus