The wiindigo has been the victim of the fiction trade in recent decades. Whether you spell their name as wendigo, wintiko, windigo it does not hide the fact that the unethical and unregulated trafficking of these monsters has been rampant in media of every kind. Movies have used them, they’ve been brought into comics and even the Ducktales reboot had a wiindigoo in one episode. As shocking as this trade is, it somehow remains legal. The irresponsible uses of the wiindigoog (plural of wiindigo) have led to bizarre mutations in the creatures and their indigenous habitats. Today it is high time we address these problems and discuss what can be done to preserve the wiindigoo.
First of all it’s important to establish the natural habitat and nature of wiindigoog. Wiindigoog thrive best in the winter months of starvation where they are free to infect and poison the minds of individuals suffering from starvation. There they release their insatiable appetites to consume anyone they come into contact with, growing ever more famished with each bite and even changing those they infect into one of their own. They thrive in these conditions growing to enormous size in which form they are best able to inflict havoc and destroy lives, eating all in their path. When they appear in this state they look more or less human. But they are a human who has become gaunt, stinks and sometimes can no longer communicate with words instead only releasing a terrifying scream that paralyzes all who hear it.
Naturally it is understandable that various media would see such great potential in this resource. They are almost endlessly terrifying and indeed it is in our minds that they truly can make their best homes.
However the removal of the wiindigoog from their native range has caused strange mutations within them. They are now often seen with antlers or even whole deer skulls for their heads, symbols with opposite associations in among the cultures they originate from. Sometimes they are even bulky and hairy, quite the opposite of their emaciated and withered natural state. It makes me wonder what kind of horrible mistreatment these wiindigoog suffered to make them appear so starkly different!
An example of a horribly mutated wiindigoo, almost unrecognizable from it’s original appearance, though this is a good source for more information on wiindigoog (source: https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Wendigo_(mythology) )
But let it never be said that wiindigoog are not clever. Indeed the more resourceful among them will call out to their victims and entice them with clever deceptions. It is possible that we are in fact seeing an evolution of the wiindigoog. Perhaps, as a natural predator of humans, more recent generations of wiindigoog have learned new hunting strategies, adopted new disguises or even been able to expand their range (no doubt in large part to the seismic climate change of the human psyche we have witnessed over the last century).
With the overall suppression of those who would keep the wiindigoog in check (see the story of Jack Fiddler), there has been little to curb the appetites of these monsters. It may make more sense that they have been able to go beyond the indigenous communities they once exclusively terrified and into the rest of the world who are woefully unequipped to manage these horrors. There is even a strong argument that could be made that they have adapted the new form of billionaire, expanding their greed to attempt to consume the world.
Marvel has never had a good track record of Native Representation, it is little wonder they’ve participated in the trafficking of wiindigoog as well (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendigo_%28comics%29)
This theory would also explain their proliferation while other indigenous horrors such as the hairy hearts, flying heads or monster skunks, have remained largely untouched outside of their native range.
There has been a delicate balance maintained between these monsters and their ilk and the communities they terrorize. It is important to preserve these monsters. What I fear audiences often overlook is that if you remove them from their native range you run the risk of them becoming invasive. Certainly it seems that we are beyond this point with the wiindigoo. It has invaded the minds and hearts of the masses. Perhaps soon they will consume us all as they so desperately wish.
A more accurate portrayal of the wiindigoo by Ojibwe artist Norval Morriseau. Here we see the wiindigoo thinking it’s eating animals but in reality those are humans who the wiindigoo sees as their clan animals (source: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/windigo)
So I ask you to please use extreme caution when interacting with wiindigoo. It is best to leave them be, do not pull them from their native habitat or stories. While they are there they can be managed, they can be kept at bay by people who are qualified for such work. Just remember if you attempt to bring the monster out of its home it will make a new one wherever you put it.
A few ideas for cover art:
Source: http://petakovmedia.com/quebec-land-of-the-wendigo/
Source for both above works: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/KaogKG
Also Monstrum/PBS
Source: Monstrum/PBS
