imp

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Close-up image of the Lincoln Imp at the Medieval Cathedral of Lincoln, England.

Old woodcut showing woman feeding imps

An imp is a mythological being similar to a fairy or demon, frequently described in folklore and superstition. The word may perhaps derive from the term ympe, used to denote a young grafted tree.

Imps are often described as mischievous more than seriously threatening, and as lesser beings rather than more important supernatural beings. The attendants of the devil are sometimes described as imps. They are usually described as lively and having small stature.

Folklore

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Originating from Germanic folklore the imp was a small lesser demon. It should also be noted that unlike the Christian faith and stories, demons in Germanic legends were not necessarily always evil. Imps were often mischievous rather than evil or harmful and in some regions they were attendants of the gods.

They are often shown as small in stature and not very attractive creatures. Their behavior is described as being wild and uncontrollable much the same as fairies and in some cultures they are often considered the same beings both sharing the same sense of being free spirited and enjoyment of all things fun loving. It was later in history that people began to associate fairies as being good and imps as being malicious and evil. However both creatures were fond of pranks and misleading people. Most of the time the pranks were harmless fun but some could be upsetting and harmful such as the switching babies or leading travelers astray in places they were not familiar with. Though imps are often thought of as being immortal, they can be damaged or harmed by certain weapons and enchants or be kept out of peoples homes by the use of Wards.

Imps were often portrayed as lonely little creatures always in search of human attention. They often used jokes and pranks as a means of attracting human friendship, which often backfired when people became tired or annoyed of the imp's endeavors, usually driving it away.

Even if the imp was successful in getting the friendship it sought it often still played pranks and jokes on its friend either out of boredom or simply because this was the nature of the imp. This trait gave way to using the term “impish” for someone who loves pranks and practical jokes. To this end it came to be believed that imps were the servants of witches and warlocks where the little demons served as spies and informants. During the time of the witch hunts supernatural creatures such as imps were sought out as proof of witchcraft though often the so called “imp” was merely a black cat, lizard, toad or some other form of uncommon pet.

Imps have also been described as being “bound” or contained in some sort of object such as a sword or crystal ball. In other cases imps were simply kept in a certain object and summoned only when their masters had need of them. Some even had the ability to grant their owners wishes much like a genie. This was the object of the 1891 story The Bottle Imp by Robert Louis Stevenson which told of an imp contained in a bottle that would grant the owner their every wish but their soul would be sent to hell if they didn't sell the bottle to a new owner before their death.

Imps can be found in art and architecture through out the world most of the time carefully and painstakingly hidden only being found by the most interested and observant of people.

In popular culture

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• In The Scarlet Letter, a story written in 1850 about the Puritans during the colonial settlements, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the child of the main character, Pearl, is constantly regarded as an imp due to her mischievous and conniving behavior.
• In Ivan the Fool, a 1886 short story by Leo Tolstoy, the old Devil summons three imps to ruin the brothers, with an intention to make them fight.
• "The Bottle Imp", a famous Robert Louis Stevenson story, features an imp immured in a bottle, who grants the owner's every wish - but should the owner die before selling the bottle to somebody else, he or she would go to Hell.
• In the Dungeons & Dragons role playing game, imps are a kind of small devil that serve as spies and messengers to their larger masters.
• In the comic books of DC Comics, imps are extra-dimensional beings from the fifth dimension. Imps sometimes travel to the third dimension (the main DC universe) where they have power over the fabric of reality. Imps include Mr. Mxyzptlk, Bat-Mite, Qwsp, and Thunderbolt.
• In the Soul Eater anime and manga, there is an imp that represents madness in the mind of Soul and slowly tries to take over it.
• In the D.Gray Man anime and manga, the Imp Timcampy is a companion-like entity, used for communication, and seems to enjoy human company, and also playing around with things like butterflies.
• In the Doom series of video games, imps are demonic foot soldiers from Hell, and the most commonly-encountered demon enemy. They attack the player with fireballs they generate from their hands, or by slashing with their claws when up close.
• Imps are featured in World of Warcraft as a Warlock pet.
• In RuneScape, imps are portrayed as the size of baby demons. They are weak, pesky, and have a bad rep as thieves. Before a graphics update, imps were portrayed as Gnomes wearing devil costumes.
• The Monstories shorts features two imps pulling pranks on other imps and each other.
• In The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Link's fairy refers to Skull Kid on more than one occasion as an imp. Also, in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, one of the main characters in the game is an imp named Midna, whom Link must fight along with to save her world. Midna is, surprisingly, quite attractive for an imp, and in her true form, she resembles a human (her species are the Twili).
• In the later seasons of hit television show Dharma & Greg, Dharma frequently refers to Gregg as an "imp" (for some unknown reason, this is never explained by the producer, Chuck Lorre).
• In Discworld book series by Terry Pratchett portable appliance - like Iconographs and Dis-organisers - is powered by imps.
• In the famous children's cartoon story in India, called Mayavi, the protagonist Mayavi himself is an Imp.
• In the Pokémon series there is a Pokémon named Sableye who is based on an imp.
• In Guild Wars, imps are a common enemy in a certain region of the game and a spawn able fire version can be carried.
• In the Dungeon Keeper computer game imps are the lowest level minions available.
• In the video game Ōkami, Amaterasu, the main heroine, battles imps throughout her journey.
• In the video game Conker's Bad Fur Day and its Xbox remake by Rare Ltd., Conker has to get drunk then urinate on red hot imps, which are portrayed as being joking blighters with coarse mouths.
• In World of Warcraft the Imp is portrayed as a lesser Demon and is also the first minion the Warlock class is able to summon.
• In the book series, Artemis Fowl, there is an imp-like demon named No.1 who appears in the 5th and 6th books.
• In the manga Angel/Dust, one of the characters is an Imp named Jimmy.
• In Overlord video game series, imps are the minions of the player's character, the Overlord.
• The Digimon series features a small mischevous being able to manipulate fire, called Impmon.
• In the Dark Days Darker Nights video game series there is a small flying enemy called an "Imp"
• In Wizard101, an imp is one of the first magic cards received.
• In Power Rangers' eighth season Lightspeed Rescue, one of the main antagonists is named "Impus" (later Prince Olympius) and is based on an imp.

See also

• Boggart
• Brownie
• Goblin
• Gremlin
• Kallikantzaros
• Kappa
• Leprechaun
• Lincoln Imp
• Mandragora
• Pooka
• Puck
• Rumpelstiltskin

in Wizard101 an imp is one of the first magic cards you receive.