Wally – Where’s Waldo (Wally) and the Yara-ma-yha-who
https://wiki.wizard101central.com/wiki/NPC:Wally
https://wiki.wizard101central.com/wiki/Creature:Wally
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where%27s_Wally%3F
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yara-ma-yha-who
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/yara-ma-yha-who
Riley is a Walker, one of Those Who Walk the Lines, wizards of old trained by the Great Tree himself. Their mission is to protect and defend. Right now Riley’s mission is to recapture Wally and he needs your wizard’s help.
Wally has many names and many forms. Karamelle calls, him Walter. In Polaris, he is known as Charlie. In Night Mire, they call him Waldo. In the Outback of Wallaru he is known as Yara-ma-yha-who. He is a shape-shifting beast who devours his victims over and over, draining them of their blood. Wally is one of the most malevolent, most dangerous creatures in all the Spiral.
Your wizard manages to stop his feeding once. Wally is prepared to consume you with one bite and have you join the mass of tortured souls that is Wally. Fortunately, Riley has some wild figs, one thing that will stop the vampiric Wally in his tracks. Wally leaves you and Riley alone and goes in search of another victim.
In the final battle, Wally is prepared to feast on the blood and soul of Mrs. Toadslington. Wally has assumed his true form. In an effort to confuse your wizard, Wally summons decoys. You must discover Where’s Wally to defeat him.
Mrs. Toadslington: “Help! Help! There’s no one to complain to!”
Riley: “Never fear ma’am, Walker Riley and his Wizard friend are on the case.”
Wally: “Yes, come join us! Come feed me with your life, with your thoughts, with your soul! Welcome, one and all, to the real Wallyru. …My hunting ground.”
Monstrology Tome Description
If you hear anyone yell: “Where is Wally?”, run. He hunts in crowds.
Where’s Wally? (called Where’s Waldo? in North America) is a series of children’s puzzle books created by English illustrator Martin Handford. The books consist of a series of detailed double-page spread illustrations depicting dozens or more people doing a variety of amusing things at a given location. Readers are challenged to find a character named Wally (or Waldo) and his friends hidden throughout the pages.
The character of Wally goes by different names in different parts of the world. These include Waldo, Wally, Walter, Willy, Hugo, Charlie and Holger. To better adapt and relate to other cultures internationally, the books, artwork, products, and productions have been renamed to better establish the character and brand in the specific markets and languages.
Wally is identified by his red-and-white-striped shirt, bobble hat, and glasses, but many illustrations contain red herrings involving deceptive use of red-and-white striped objects. Later entries in the long-running book series added other targets for readers to find in each illustration. The books have also inspired two television programs (Where’s Wally? the 1991 animated series and Where’s Wally? the 2019 animated series), a comic strip and a series of video games.
As of 2007, more than 73 million Where’s Wally? books had been sold around the world since the debut of the series in 1987. The series has been translated into 26 languages and is published in over 50 countries.
In 1986, illustrator Martin Handford, a graduate of the University for the Creative Arts in Kent, was asked by his art director, David Bennett, at Walker Books in London, to develop a book of detailed crowd scenes, inspired by Bennett having seen Philippe Dupasquier’s Busy Places series. Whilst the book was being prepared for Bologna Book Fair, someone at Walker Books suggested the idea of adding a distinctive-looking character whom the reader could search for in the crowd scenes. After much thinking, Handford came up with the idea of “Wally”, a world traveler and time travel aficionado who always dresses in red and white. Sometimes it would take him up to eight weeks to draw a two-page sketch of the elusive “Wally” and the characters surrounding him.
The Yara-ma-yha-who is a legendary vampiric monster found in Southeastern Australian Aboriginal mythology. According to legend, the creature resembles a little red frog-like man with a very big head, a large mouth with no teeth and suckers on the ends of its hands and feet.
The Yara-ma-yha-who is said to live in fig trees. Instead of hunting for food, it is described as waiting for an unsuspecting traveler to rest under the tree. The creature then drops down and uses its suckers to drain the victim’s blood. After that, it swallows the person, drinks some water, and then takes a nap. When the Yara-ma-yha-who awakens, it regurgitates the victim, leaving them shorter than before. The victim’s skin also has a reddish tint to it that it did not have before. If this process is repeated, the victim becomes a Yara-ma-yha-who themselves.
According to legend, the Yara-ma-yha-who is only active during the day and only targets living prey. “Playing dead” until sunset is offered as a ploy to avoid attack. Additionally, the folklore said that the Yara-ma-yha-who was not meant to be seen and got rid of anybody who glimpsed it. Stories of this creature were reportedly told to misbehaving children.
The children all knew the story of the Yara-ma-yha-who. In the Aboriginal communities of the southeastern Australian coast, parents warned their sons and daughters about the little red men who hid in the boughs of the wild fig trees. Wayward boys and girls who wandered alone through the dense forests were the favored prey of these spirit men, who had lived alongside Aboriginal people since the Dreaming, when the land and its creatures were created.
The current list of all the (known) Wallaru references are located here.
Although I am well versed in Pop Culture references but I do not claim to have caught them all. Let me know your favorites in the comments and if I’ve missed one you caught, let me know so I can add it to the list.
Text for this article is excerpted from the linked wiki pages
Wally images are from Wizard101, and are copyright of KingsIsle Entertainment.
All Where’s Waldo images are copyright Walker Books and NBCUniversal
Yara-ma-yha-who image is borrowed from Atlas Obscura and is © Atlas Obscura.
Image usage qualifies as fair use under US copyright law.
Vulcan Stev's Database 