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The bantersnatch is a very dangerous creature… though, thankfully, very, very rare.

Lewis Carroll is the second person to encounter a pack of bantersnatch, however, shortly after, he encountered a jabberwalk, a creature which is named for the effects of it unusual venom. As we all know, once bitten, the victim of a Jabberwalk becomes confused, and wanders (often in circles) while jabbering to himself. While the confusion fades and the victim is able to resume a normal life after the venom’s effects have subsided, most loose all memory of events immediately prior being bitten, and during the period of confusion following. Mr. Carroll, however, managed to write down something of his adventure, which was later celebrated as the nonsense poem, Jabberwoky.

In this poem, he misidentified the beast as a bandersnatch, describing it as “frumious.” The word he had been grasping at while in the throes of jabberwalk venom was “fuming” indicating the smoke-like, ethereal presence of the bantersnatch. However, even in his misidentification, he was able to convey information about the creature’s habits. “Bander” refers to the band, or pack of bantersnatches he encountered. It’s true name, however, is derived from its behavior. Being an ethereal being, it eats unusual things… such as voices. This creature has long arms and fingers so it can snatch the voice, which allows people to banter, right out of those it encounters. They say that the bantersnatch can then use any of the voices it has stolen to lure unwary wanderers within reach.

…Shun the frumious bandersnatch.
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I was going through unposted doodles (Looking for a snarly to post to counteract the cuteness earlier) and came across this. A while ago, I was hanging out in a DA chat, and somehow the conversation came to Alice in Wonderland, and I mentioned that I kinda thought of the bandersnatch as being a smoky creature... and doodled this.

So I decided to post it today. I should probably have put it into scraps. Oh well.