Alternative creatures to use in place of demons?

I'm envisioning something that fits the appearance with horns, batlike wings, and/or cloven hooves, but isn't tied to Christian tradition, as being a Catholic myself I wouldn't feel too comfortable using them in my story. So to summarize, it should LOOK the part, but not be demonic in nature.

Edited by Spottedleaf on Mar 25th 2019 at 12:32:56 PM

To be honest, my first thought was the satyr, faun, or something evoking the god Pan, which all originate from Greco-Roman myth and became conflated with depictions of Satan in the early Middle Ages. The satyrs, fauns, and Pan were associated with nature and fertility and if anything had more Fair Folk-esque Blue-and-Orange Morality, rather than being fiery creatures of darkness and pure evil.

Note that if you're truly trying to avoid having Christian-esque demons in your work yet end up having something with physical attributes heavily associated with artistic depictions of Satan or demons that is ostensibly on the side of evil, other people are going to describe them as demons. If you're specifically envisioning these things to also be evil and/or acting out of actual malice, not just Blue-and-Orange Morality, you may want to consider taking a different, less-Christian devilish tack to avoid comparisons. "Horns" and "batlike wings" could even invite dragons, and those aren't necessarily assumed in modern fantasy lit to be evil.

Although it's worth noting that dragons do have connections to Christian tradition, I believe.

Still, modern fantasy dragons are fairly removed from those antecedents, so they (perhaps in some humanoid form) might well make for a good substitute.

Pterosaurs (or perhaps some modified humanlike version thereof) might sort-of work: their wings aren't quite batlike, and some had crests that bear a similarity to a single horn. (And I wouldn't be surprised if there was a genuinely-horned pterosaur of some sort.)

Edited by ArsThaumaturgis on Mar 26th 2019 at 8:38:54 PM

Well depending on the story you could invent a new name for some kind of wicked creatures that serve the purpose. Or perhaps you're searching for creatures that can be mischivous but not necesserily evil.

You could also try looking for inspiration from other cultures - Japan has some kickass demons massively removed from cloven hooves and a forked tail.

Edited by Tightwire on Apr 3rd 2019 at 12:34:52 PM

Oni, or Old Ones, or Dark World humans. There are so many alternatives! Or you can make up your own creature.