Terabithia is a magical land from Katherine Paterson

Katherine Paterson

Katherine Paterson is an American author of children's novels. She wrote Bridge to Terabithia and has received several of the major international awards for children's literature.- Early life:...

's Newbery Medal

Newbery Medal

The John Newbery Medal is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association . The award is given to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The award has been given since 1922. ...

 winning novel Bridge to Terabithia. The land has many magical creatures living inside the kingdom, ranging from soldiers, fairies and giants - but all are only the products of Leslie Burke and Jesse Aarons's imaginations.

In the novel, only the giant troll is directly referenced. The Dark Master, Squogers and Hairy Vultures are all products of the 2007 motion picture

Bridge to Terabithia (2007 film)

Bridge to Terabithia is a 2007 fantasy drama film directed by Gábor Csupó and adapted for film by David L. Paterson and Jeff Stockwell. The film is based on the Katherine Paterson novel of the same name, and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures in the US. The film stars Josh Hutcherson, AnnaSophia...

 adaptation. The Terabithian Fairies (soldiers) who have a strong part in the 2007 motion picture are also shown on the cover art to the 1985 PBS TV Movie

Bridge to Terabithia (1985 film)

Bridge to Terabithia was the name of a telefilm shot in Edmonton, Alberta for PBS in 1985, starring Annette O'Toole, Julian Coutts, and Julie Beaulieu. The film is based on the children's novel of the same name by Katherine Paterson....

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Terabithians

The Terabithians were briefly mentioned in the novel but play a big part in the 2007 movie adaptation. They are the creatures that live inside Terabithia, they are nice and peaceful beings. The 'Bird Woman' and 'Soldier Fairies' are two examples. It isn't clear who invented each Terabithian, but in the 2007 movie, it is Leslie that created the soldiers from dragon flies. One could assume that Jesse created the rest of the entire civilization by the fact that when they are shown, Leslie is already dead.

The Dark Master

The Dark Master began with Leslie's atmosphere building when she and Jesse first went into the woods, but then developed into Jesse's way of dealing with his own father. His father is sometimes hard on him but it isn't revealed until the end of the movie that he was based on the Dark Master. Once Jesse and his father reconciled in the ending, The Dark Master vanished forever.

The Dark Master is rarely seen and only briefly mentioned between the battles in Terabithia.

Squogre

The Sqouger was named, like the Dark Master, by Leslie inside the treehouse in Terabithia. It is depicted as a creature that's half-squirrel half-ogre. After Jesse told her its Scott Hoager, she replies with "a Squogre". The Squoger is an enemy Jesse and Leslie use to combat Scott Hoager, a bully from the Lark Creek Elementary school. Once Jesse stood up to him in the ending, the Squoger vanished.

The Squoger mimics the beep of Scott Hoager's 'loser detecter'.

Hairy Vulture

The origin of the creatures name comes from a bully at Lark Creek Elementary School named Gary Fulcher who always picks on Jesse Aarons and Leslie Burke. It is depicted as a vulture with fur instead of feathers. As time goes on at School, he keeps picking on Jesse, who develops anger toward Gary for bullying him. Jesse and Leslie's imagination created the Hairy Vulture out of anger toward Gary. This was their way of battling their anger without releasing it on Gary and leading to trouble. Once Jesse stood up to him in the ending, the Hairy Vulture vanished.

The Hairy Vulture mimics a quote from Gary Fulcher at the start of the film, where Gary tells Jesse that he is 'dead meat'. This was said after Jesse ignored Scott Hoager.

The Giant Troll

Leslie also invented the giant troll based on Janice Avery, the bully from the school bus. Jesse initially found the footprint of the troll. Soon after Jesse buys Prince Terrien (P.T.) for Leslie, they make plans to track it down. P.T. discovers that its weakness is ticklish feet. At first, the appearance of the troll is a large collection of leaves in the shape of a human body. Later, it is revealed that the giant troll is based on Janice.

Towards the end of the movie, the troll, along with Janice, experiences a large change in heart and befriends Jesse.