Creatures of Terabithia

Terabithia is a magical land from Katherine Paterson's Newbery Medal winning novel Bridge to Terabithia. The land has many magical creatures living inside the kingdom, ranging from soldiers, fairies and giants - but all are only the products of Jesse Aarons and Leslie Burke's imaginations.
In the novel, only the giant troll is directly referenced. The Dark Master, Squogers, and Hairy Vultures are all products of the 2007 motion picture adaptation. The Terabithian Fairies (soldiers) who have a strong part in the 2007 motion picture are also shown on the cover art to the 1985 PBS TV Movie.
Terabithians
The Terabithians were briefly mentioned in the novel but play a big part in the 2007 movie adaptation. They are the creatures that live inside Terabithia, they are nice and peaceful beings. The "Bird Woman" and "Soldier Fairies" are two examples. It isn't clear who invented each Terabithian, but in the 2007 movie, it is Leslie that created the soldiers from dragonflies. One could assume that Jess created the rest of the entire civilization by the fact that when they are shown, Leslie is already dead.
The Dark Master
The Dark Master began with Leslie's atmosphere building when she and Jesse first went into the woods, but then developed into Jesse's way of dealing with his own father. His father is sometimes hard on him but it isn't revealed until the end of the movie that he was based on the Dark Master. Once Jesse and his father reconciled in the ending, the Dark Master vanished forever.
The Dark Master is rarely seen and only briefly mentioned between the battles in the bridge to
Terabithia.
The Dark Master is portrayed by Matt Gibbons in the 2007 film.
Squogres
The Sqougers were named by Jesse inside the treehouse in Terabithia. It is depicted as a creature that's half-squirrel half-ogre. After Leslie told him its Scott Hoager, he replies with "a Squogre." The Squogers are enemies Jesse and Leslie use to combat Scott Hoager, a bully from the Lark Creek Elementary school. Once Jesse punched him in the face because of his callous remark about Leslie's death, the Squogers vanished.
The Squogers mimic the beep of Scott Hoager's 'loser detector'.
Hairy Vultures
The Hairy Vulture is a type of vulture that has fur instead of feathers. The origin of the Hairy Vulture's name comes from a bully at Lark Creek Elementary School named Gary Fulcher. Jesse and Leslie's imagination created the Hairy Vultures out of anger toward Gary. This was their way of battling their anger without releasing it on Gary and leading to trouble. Once Janice Avery gave him a bloody nose after he pushes Jess down in the hallway, the Hairy Vultures vanished.
The Hairy Vultures mimic Gary Fulcher's "dead meat" quote.
The Giant Troll
Leslie also invented the Giant Troll based on Janice Avery, the bully from the school bus. Jesse initially found the footprint of the Troll, and Leslie said if they had a Troll Hunter, they could track its scent and sneak up on it. Soon after Jesse buys Prince Terrien (P.T.) for Leslie, they make plans to track it down. P.T. discovers that its weakness is ticklish feet. At first, the appearance of the Giant Troll is a large collection of leaves in the shape of a human body. Later, it is revealed that the Giant Troll is based on Janice when it comes to aid them against the Squogres and Hairy Vultures.
Towards the end of the movie, the Giant Troll along with Janice experiences a large change in heart and befriends Jess and Leslie. At the end of the movie, the Giant Troll is among the Terabithian creature that greet Jess and May Belle.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu