Changelings: The Devilish Doubles

Fairies have remained prevalent entities in folklore for many different cultures, and across many different regions of the world. Most commonly, they are referenced as being a part of European folklore, particularly from areas of Britain and Scandinavia. While each culture has its own idea of what fairies are, how they behave, and what their motives may be, a certain kind of fairy tends to be pretty similar across the board: changelings.

Changelings are a type of fairy that are believed to kidnap human children and take their place in the family home. Some believe that not only children are in danger of being snagged by the fairies however, and that they are drawn to any beautiful humans regardless of their age.

Motivations

There are several different theories that have evolved in the effort to explain why changelings decide to kidnap and take the place of human children. A common belief is that when fairies are near the end of their life and they begin to wither and die, they can regain their youth if they are cared for by mortals and are fed human food. By switching the human child out with an elderly fairy, that fairy is given a chance to replenish its life force.

Another explanation is that fairies abduct human children to raise as one of their own, to then treat them as breeding stock. This may be…