Shapeshifting

Zeus turning Lycaon into a wolf, engraving by Hendrik Goltzius

1722 German woodcut of a werewolf transforming

Vertumnus, in the form of an old woman, wooing Pomona, by Gerbrand van den Eeckhout.

Gianlorenzo Bernini, Apollo pursuing an unwilling Daphne who transforms into a laurel tree

"Cadmus Sowing the Dragon's Teeth" by Maxfield Parrish

Kelpie by Herbert James Draper: transformed into a human

The Children of Lir, transformed into swans in Irish tales

"The giant Galligantua and the wicked old magician transform the duke's daughter into a white hind." by Arthur Rackham

Loge feigns fear as Alberich turns into a giant snake. Wotan stands in the background; illustration by Arthur Rackham to Richard Wagner's Das Rheingold

Louhi, Mistress of the North, attacking Väinämöinen in the form of a giant eagle with her troops on her back as she tries to steal Sampo; in the Finnish epic poetry Kalevala by Elias Lönnrot. (The Defense of the Sampo, Akseli Gallen-Kallela, 1896)

"Madame White Snake" Picture on long veranda in the Summer Palace, Beijing, China

Kuzunoha the fox woman, casting a fox shadow

Tsarevna Frog (or The Frog Princess), by Viktor Vasnetsov, tells of a frog that metamorphoses into a princess.

Monday, June 22, 2026 08:52AM

Svipdagr Transformed by John Bauer shows Svipdagr being turned into a dragon after angering Odin; but despite his monstrous appearance, his lover, the goddess Freyja, refused to leave his side.

Valkyries as swan maidens, having shed their swan skins.

Sister Alenushka Weeping about Brother Ivanushka by Viktor Vasnetsov, Russian variant of Brother and Sister: Alenushka laments her brother's transformation into a goat.

Shapeshifting

See also

Attachments