Welcome to I Am Your Target Demographic and welcome to our series Lore, where we look at
fantasy creatures and races and where they came from and their evolution into mainstream media and
where we see them now. So this video is something that I'm interested in and that is the progression
of the genie and the jinn, and where did that come from, and the basis in real life religion and
mythology into the genie in the lamp that a lot of us know. So let's dive into the history of genies.
We’re going to start broadly. The general term genie has evolved from what we call jinn,
or sometimes with a silent d like djinn. Sometimes this is meaning general demonic or evil beings,
but many also believe that jinn can be good or bad, as if jinn might almost be a term for a
powerful entity that might include things like angels and demons. Some people believe that the
djinn are a third category, more powerful than humans but still reliant on God for salvation.
Across religions and mythologies, this might differ wildly. Typically the djinn appear
as elementally tied to air, such as the cartoon version of the genie that we know from Aladdin.
Now, a lot of people connect djinn and genies in general to the lamp,
and the idea of wish granting. This isn’t really tied to reality or mythology but
rather old folk tales that share the story of a djinn captured and granting wishes.
This origin is actually complicated as the story that is supposedly Arabic in nature was translated
and we may have gotten our idea of genies from a French translator who took some liberties.
We also have the ifrit, or sometimes efreet. This phrase originated in pre-Islamic mythology
and Islamic scripture, with the ifrit appearing as a demonic being to interrupt the prayers of
the prophet Muhammed. Across the Quran, ifrit and djinn are mentioned almost 30 times. In Egyptian
lore, the ifrit is an apparition, like a spirit wandering through places like cemeteries and is
believed to be a part of one’s soul left behind. While the djinn has evolved to be related to
air and often just a wisp of smoke, the ifrit is a flame elemental, fiery and much more typically
demonic in appearance. The terms ifrit and djinn can be complicated and interchanged, but the idea
of a powerful spirit being remains the same. We then get the name Marid, which in Arabic
has ties to words like demon and giant, but it doesn’t appear in mythology the same way
as the terms djinn and ifrit do. Marid seems to be a much more modern invention as the water
elemental type of genie, appearing in books such as the City of Brass, the Fairyland franchise,
and in the game Dungeons and Dragons. If it was tough to figure out the origin of Marid,
it’s even harder with Dao. In some fiction, Dao is the earth elemental type of genie. It seems almost
exclusive to Dungeons and Dragons but is starting to blend into other fiction. Even the name Dao
doesn’t have any sort of Arabic origin so it seems to just be an invention to cover the elements
traditionally missing from the other genie types. I mentioned the story of Aladdin and the lamp, but
genies pop up in other franchises as well, such as an important wish featured in the Witcher series.
Sometimes they grant wishes and seem generally helpful, while other stories
have the genie contort the wishes to always cause the wisher harm. The ifrit appears as a summon
in the Final Fantasy series, retaining its fiery demeanor.
In other typical fantasy settings, these races are pretty common, usually as djinn or ifriti.
Where else have you seen these creatures show up? What other types of fantasy creatures might you
be interested in discussing? Let me know in the comments and hopefully you found this interesting!