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Pixies are a type of land fae, some of the Small Folk. They are not descended from Oberon or his ladies, but are descended exclusively from Maeve, who bled onto some stones which became the first Pixie eggs.[citation needed] The Aes Sidhe are descended from them.

About[]

Appearance[]

Pixies are small, about four inches tall, and only weigh a few ounces. They each glow with their own colorful light, and they glow most brightly when content.[citation needed] Pixie-sweat leaves a trail of glitter behind.[1] They are constantly in motion, much like hummingbirds, and do not hover well.[2]

Nature[]

Pixies are mischievous and tricksy. They can be greedy and viscous and territorial, and they have their own customs and culture within Faerie. They do not deceive; they never pretend to be anything they aren't.

They are "fond of roast[ed] moth" [2]

"They’re pretty but savage, and they’ll attack if you provoke them. They’re like mice with wings and thumbs, except for the part where mice don’t usually come armed with knives carved from broken beer bottles and homemade spears that may have been dipped in equally homemade poisons. They had an entire community thriving inside the Safeway downtown grocery store, and nobody knew about it."[3]

Faerie's smaller citizens have their own culture and their own customs. Most of us are almost human one way or another: almost human-sized and almost human-minded. The smaller folks never acquired that “almost” and they scorn and resent the rest of us for having it. They don’t wear suits, get mortgages, or attend PTA meetings. They haunt the garden pathways, living in the space between what the eye sees and what it chooses to ignore, and they never pretend to be anything that they aren’t. I guess that makes it harder to forget what they really are, and what they are is inhuman . . . and greedy. — [4]


Habitat[]

Pixies are well-suited to city living, as their innate magic makes them invisible to humans. They are scavengers, using all manner of discarded human debris to wage territory wars against each other.[3] In the Summerlands, they are known to claim territory within forests and guard it fiercely, charming those who invade their space.[5] They live in "clever homes of sticks and twigs and carefully blended mud" [6]

Place in Faerie[]

Pixies can understand human speech, though regular-sized fae are unable to understand their tiny voices. To most, their speech sounds like chiming bells.[2] A human with fairy ointment, changelings and fae have to be shrunken down by a Pixie's magic in order to hear what they can say. The reverse is true - a Pixie can grow to the size of a regular human, and can be understood if done.

Oberon's Law does not apply to pixies; they can be killed without repercussions. [2] They are looked down upon by most of the fae community, often considered bestial and not worth their concern. In some knowes, they are captured and used as a light source.[7]

They rarely crossbreed with humans, and their changelings are thin-blooded when they do.[1]

Crossbreeding with the Aes Sidhe birthed the Piskie race, however resulted in the former's endangered status, as some surviving Aes Sidhe retreated to the Duchy of Ships for self-preservation.

The Fae custom of naming does not apply to them due to their high birth rate.

Characters[]

In the Series[]

The Lorden Courtship Timeline[]

Patrick becomes a protector and caretaker for the local pixie colony. They stay in his workshop, and he helps heal those who are injured. The pixies trust him and, by extension, Simon Torquill. After Patrick disappears to live with Dianda Lorden, Simon helps the colony relocate to the Summerlands.

Rosemary and Rue[]

Toby acknowledges the local pixie colony in the Safeway where she works.[8] Sometimes she contributes ammunition such as toothpicks toward their territory wars.

A Local Habitation[]

Peter, a computer programmer in the County of Tamed Lightning, is a Cornish pixie and sheds pixie dust wherever he goes.

Late Eclipses[]

Oleander de Merelands bribes a pixie to give October Daye an oleander flower, leading Toby to chase the woman through the Tea Gardens.

Through This House[]

Toby and her friends must face down an infestation of pixies while clearing out Goldengreen. Rather than drive them out, Toby reaches an understanding since she recognizes Goldengreen is more their home than hers.

One Salt Sea[]

Rayseline Torquill uses captive pixies as lanterns, one of them being Poppy. Toby frees them and they voluntarily help her find Gillian Marks.

Chimes at Midnight[]

Toby bribes the local pixies to scatter her hair ribbons around the city, making it harder to track her whereabouts. She promises them three bags of cheeseburgers and fries per week for the next three months in exchange for their help.

Once Broken Faith[]

Toby bargains with the pixies to find the tower where Quentin Sollys is being kept. They seem surprised that she acknowledges their help.

The Brightest Fell[]

Toby and Simon Torquill trigger a trap in pixie territory that turns them tiny. The pixies recognize Simon from his and Patrick Lorden's days of helping them out centuries ago, while Poppy acknowledges Toby as the one who rescued her from Rayseline, and Poppy joins their quest to find August Torquill.

Night and Silence[]

The pixies of Muir Woods escort Toby and her rescued Arkan sonney to Arden Windermere. Later, when Toby and her friends visit Goldengreen, they find the pixies asleep while Marcia cooks in the kitchen.

Toby encourages the False Queen's old knowe to welcome the pixies who choose to settle there.

A Killing Frost[]

Toby bargains with the local pixies to help her and May Daye shrink to escape a tight spot. They pixies share that she is legendary among their race as someone who actually believes them worthwhile.

Mythology[]

Pixies originate in Celtic mythology and particularly appear in tales of the moorlands. In traditional regional lore, pixies are generally benign, mischievous, short of stature and attractively childlike; they are fond of dancing and gather outdoors in huge numbers to dance or sometimes wrestle. In modern era, they are usually depicted with pointed ears, and often wearing a green outfit and pointed hat although traditional stories describe them wearing dirty ragged bundles of rags which they happily discard for gifts of new clothes.[9]

References[]

Types of Fae (Browse All)
Creator
MaeveOberonTitania
Habitat
AirFireLandSea
Physiology
Animal FeaturesCreaturesShapeshiftersSkin-ShiftersWinged
Appeared in Series
AdheneAes SidheAfancAlmereBannickBansheeBaobhan SithBarghestBarrow WightBlodynbrydBogeyBridge TrollCait SidheCandelaCentaurCephaliCeryneian HindCetaceChangelingCoblynauCu SidheDaoine SidheDóchas SidheDopplegangerDryadEllyllonFetchFirstbornFollettiGean-CannahGlastigGremlinGwragenHamadryadHippocampusHobKelpieKitsuneLamiaMerrowManticoreNight-hauntPeriPixiePucaRaven-maidRedcapRoaneRose GoblinSatyrSelkieShyi ShuaiSileneSirenTuatha de DannanTylwyth TegUndine
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