Otherkin
Published September 20, 2026
Otherkin describes people who believe their true selves are non-human souls, from dragons and elves to angels, faeries, and animals. The term was coined in 1990 on a Usenet-era mailing list for elves and grew from a tiny pagan-adjacent circle into one of the most mocked and defended online identity subcultures of the LiveJournal and Tumblr eras.
Overview
Otherkin is an umbrella label for people whose sense of self is not fully human. A person's claimed identity, often called a "kintype," can be a mythological creature such as a dragon, elf, faerie, demon, or angel, but the category also covers wild animals, domesticated pets, and stranger picks like starseeds and extraterrestrials2. The belief is framed spiritually rather than as a claim about the physical body, and it overlaps with the older therianthropy scene that focuses specifically on animal identities1.
Most Otherkin communities center on a personal narrative called an Awakening, described as the moment a person recognizes their non-human self and reconnects with traits tied to it2. Community sites like Otherkin.net and the Kinhost FAQ became the standard reading list for newcomers, laying out kintypes, etiquette, and language such as "mundane" for one's everyday human life3. The subculture is small but loud online, and it collects both sincere spiritual writing and heavy mockery from outsiders in roughly equal measure3.