Winged unicorn

A winged unicorn (cerapter, flying unicorn, pegacorn, or unisus) is a fictional ungulate, typically portrayed as a horse, with wings like Pegasus and the horn of a unicorn.[1] In some literature and media, it has been referred to as an alicorn, a Latin word for the horn of a unicorn, especially in alchemical texts,[2] or as a pegacorn, a portmanteau of pegasus and unicorn.

Not to be confused with flying horse or winged horse.
Look up pegacorn, unisus, or unipeg in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Description
A winged unicorn on the Manège d'Andréa

Winged unicorns have been depicted in art. Ancient Achaemenid Assyrian seals depict winged unicorns and winged bulls as representing evil, but winged unicorns can also represent light.[3][4]

Irish poet W. B. Yeats wrote of imagining a winged beast that he associated with ecstatic destruction. The beast took the form of a winged unicorn in his 1907 play The Unicorn from the Stars and later that of the rough beast slouching towards Bethlehem in his poem "The Second Coming".[5]

Detail of the embroidered dress of an Apkallu, showing four-legged winged and horned animals. From Nimrud, Iraq. 883-859 BCE. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul

Other representations in media
  • In Sailor Moon SuperS, a man named Helios, the Guardian Priest (the high priest and guardian) of Elysion who guard the Golden Crystal, took the form of a pegasus, which is depicted as in such form, having both a golden horn and wings, as he hid from the Dead Moon Circus after having been imprisoned by Queen Nehelenia.
  • The PBS Kids series Arthur features one of DW's toys, a blue fluffy unicorn from the fictional company "My Fluffy Unicorn" with white feathered wings and stars on her hips.
  • In the 2010 incarnation of My Little Pony toyline and its Friendship Is Magic television series, winged unicorns have made several appearances, including Princess Celestia and her younger sister Luna who formerly ruled Canterlot, then Princess Cadance, the ruler of the Crystal Empire and her daughter Flurry Heart, and her sister-in-law Twilight Sparkle, who formerly lived in Ponyville and later lives in Canterlot as the ruler of Equestria as of the series finale.
  • In 2021 film My Little Pony: A New Generation, Sunny Starscout was originally an earth pony until the end where she gained translucent wings and a horn. The 2021 soft reboot of the My Little Pony franchise, in which A New Generation is a part of, further explores the idea, as the evil pony Opaline has tangible wings and a horn. Additionally, Friendship Is Magic winged unicorns return in Make Your Mark.
  • In Sofia the First, the Mystic Isles episodes, one of isles have called the Isle of Unicorns where the winged unicorns were, and in episode 29 of the 4th season "Forever Royal, Part 2", Sofia use the amulet of Avalor to change her into a winged unicorn.
  • Luigi's Mansion has two pegacorn statues on the big balcony.

See also

References
  1. "Citations:cerapter". 24 June 2020.
  2. Shepard, Odell (1930). The Lore of the Unicorn. London: Unwin and Allen. ISBN 9781437508536.
  3. Brown, Robert (2004). The Unicorn: A Mythological Investigation. Kessinger Publishing. p. 18. ISBN 9780766185302.
  4. Von Der Osten, Hans Henning (June 1931). "The Ancient Seals from the Near East in the Metropolitan Museum: Old and Middle Persian Seals". The Art Bulletin. 13 (2): 221–41. doi:10.2307/3050798. JSTOR 3050798.
  5. Ward, David (Spring 1982). "Yeats's Conflicts with His Audience, 1897–1917". ELH. 49 (1): 155–6. doi:10.2307/2872885. JSTOR 2872885.
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