>>>>>>John Galt.
>>>>>
>>>>>I don't think purely fictional characters count as being mythical ?
>>>>
>>>>Sure. Even one of the dictionary definitions of 'mythical' says: without foundation in fact; imaginary; fictitious: The explanation was entirely mythical.
>>>
>>>So your definition of 'mythical' will include all fictional characters ?
>>
>>Unless somebody gives me a good reason it shouldn't. Before going to the dictionary, I always took mythical to simply mean "made up". "Mythological' is a different issue altogether. I always considered mythological beings to be those that are part of the mythological pantheon of gods and warriors.
>
>What about the first recorded vampire, Sava Savanović (Сава Савановић)? Not belonging to any pantheon, not a warrior, yet a completely mythical creature. The vampire stories were circulating for generations before Milovan Glišić wrote the story (and its title is "150 years ago"). Where do vampires, akreps, dragons, vilas (fairies) etc belong?

They certainly are mythical. I just don't see them as 'mythological'. Different cultures may see things differently, but generally we key in on what we grew up with. In the case of north americans, that's pretty much Greek, Roman, Norse, Celtic, maybe some Egyptian, and Native North American mythologies. I've never had any real contact with slavic myths.