My first experience with Otherkin was through my best friend. In 2015 she told me a story that involved a secret part of her life and within the story, she revealed that she was a wolf in a human’s body. At first, I thought she meant that she goes out with her friends (tribe) and they roleplay as animals, but after talking to her about it, it occurred to me that she was revealing a serious fact about her identity.
So what are Otherkin? According to Otherkin.com, the definition is wide and has been argued over for a while. The definition they give is, “Otherkin are people who don’t identify as wholly human on some level. But what that means, and what level or part of self it refers to varies from person to person. This does not mean they do not recognize that they are human, but that there is something else, something other about themselves. If otherkin don’t think of themselves as wholly human, what’s the “other” part? Much like the definition of otherkin this can be explained broadly but is harder to define in clear detail. Essentially the “other” part of otherkin is exactly that, other than human. Some of the more prevalent kinds of otherkin include things such as animals, fae, angels, and dragons, but the community includes far more than that, as the identity is anything other” (Who and What Are Otherkin?).
Otherkin.net has a lot of articles about the topics which are helpful for anyone interested in the community. In their frequently asked questions, they also mentioned the changing definition of Otherkin “what are otherkin? I’m sorry to say that you’re probably not going to find a straight answer on this one. That’s not because people don’t want to give you one, but because no one has ever been able to get the members of the otherkin community to agree on a single definition. Oh, many have been proposed over the years but they always seem to leave someone out or else include members of other groups” (Dreamsinger).
So Otherkin identify as anything that isn’t fully human. Online communities are so important for Otherkin because it gives them a sense that they are not alone and can share their personal experiences. Otherkin.net said that if you have a feeling you may identify as Otherkin to do some basic soul searching and exploring to see how you resonate. When you find the right kin which you will then identify with, you won’t feel “other” or “alien” any longer. They describe the experience of being an Otherkin as very spiritual.
Seeing that an Otherkin is someone who identifies as anything not human there is as one would guess many different kinds of kin. Some of them include humanoids such as gnomes, nymphs, vampires, brownies, fomorii, and satyrs. Others are part of the aerials, those being pixies and fairies. Animals are known as Animalkin and some unsorted identities are goblins and phoenix (Brinn). This site also has a link so people are able to add their own identity to the list.
Many kin have a long and interesting history coming from various European folktales and legends. It was actually really cool to read up on the history or different kin, but I had to keep reminding myself that while some of these identities are found in fantasy literature and film, Otherkins and their identity is not fantasy but a real way to make sense of how they feel in the world.
It was hard to take my best friend seriously when she first began telling me about her wolf-pack. She is not the kind of person to be overly interested in fantasy games or role-playing so it came as a surprise and also seemed as if this was just one of her interests. I assume one of the reasons that it is so hard for people to define Otherkin is because it’s always changing and more kin are being added to the list of kin that is formally recognized. It makes me wonder how life would feel if I walked around feeling as if I was not completely human, and that there was a part of me that was very other and cannot be identified easily. If I felt this way, supremely alien, find an Otherkin community would probably feel like a life-saving moment of acceptance.
WORKS CITED
“Who and What Are Otherkin?” Otherkin.com, 13 Oct. 2018, otherkin.com/who-and-what-are-otherkin/.
Dreamsinger, Jarandhel. “Jarandhel Dreamsinger.” Otherkin.net, 24 July 2018, www.otherkin.net/2016/09/a-revised-otherkin-faq/.
“Brinn.” AnOtherWiki, anotherwiki.org/wiki/Brinn.