Can unicorns fly?

With all the unicorns parading the internet and Facebook adorning cute t-shirts, many people are considering these magic equines for the first time. Naturally, the mythical nature of the unicorn raises many questions, such as "Can unicorns fly? ". The story of the unicorn has an answer, but the modern interpretation of the creature takes a markedly different angle on the same subject.

The story of unicorns

A creature of the Middle Ages, the meaning of the unicorn was intimately linked to purity and even to Virgin Married. These animals were first described as goats sporting singular horns growing out of their foreheads. Over the centuries, illustrations began to show the unicorn as a majestic horse with a horn. Whatever historical variation we look at, they all kept their hooves firmly planted on the ground. There are no historical stories about unicorns frills, but there are vague legends that anyone who manages to steal a unicorn's horn could use it to fly.

The unicorn confused with the pegasus

Here is a pegasus that distinguishes it from the unicorn since it has wings and does not have a horn.

Many people confuse unicorns with another mythical horse from the Greek era, the Pegasus. The Pegasus does not have horns or antlers, but it does sport a pair of large, bird-like wings. Hercules fought the Pegasus and took the horse with him when he climbed Mount Olympus as a demigod. Since the Pegasus was as real as the unicorn, they have mixed and confused thousands of times over the more recent centuries.

Emergence of Flying Unicorns

Aside from a few mistakes, it is very rare to find descriptions of flying unicorns. That changed in the 1970s when fantastic artists started producing winged unicorn and horned pegasus works. These flying unicorns decorated album covers, school satchels, and fantasy novel books. Since designers and artists do not need to write explanations about their art, it is not always clear what type of creature is depicted. The whimsical exploration of the imagination developed all kinds of new concepts and ideas that lasted into the 80s and 90s.

A flying unicorn called Unipeg

They are called alicorns in cartoons

Some people call them unipegs or pegacorns, while games and comics call them alicorns, an ancient term for the horn of the unicorn.

With and without wings

In modern internet culture, not all flying unicorns have wings.

The star of the viral hit game Robot Unicorn Attack doesn't have wings, she still glides on the pitch.

There are several characters in My Little Pony that have wings or horns, but all the horned unicorns in the cartoon can fly, although not all of the horses that fly have horns. Most of the unicorns in the universe itself stay on the ground, but a few jump or bounce instead of flying.