Djinn

Origin and myth

The djinn (jinn, genie) are the spirits of Arabian and wider Middle Eastern tradition, older than Islam and absorbed into it. Pre-Islamic Arabs believed the desert was full of invisible beings who could inspire poets, cause madness and take the shape of animals or whirlwinds. The Quran, from the 7th century, describes the jinn as a race created from smokeless fire, parallel to humans made of clay, possessing free will and therefore able to be good or evil. King Solomon, in both Jewish and Islamic legend, was given power to command them and set them to build his temple and carry him through the air.

The djinn of popular imagination come from the Thousand and One Nights, the collection of Arabic tales compiled between the 9th and 14th centuries from Persian, Indian and Arabic sources. The frame story's jinni carries a glass box containing a kidnapped bride; the fisherman's tale has a jinni sealed in a brass jar by Solomon's ring; and the story of Aladdin - added to the collection by its French translator in the 18th century from a Syrian storyteller - gives us the jinni of the lamp who grants his master's commands. Persian tradition adds the div, monstrous horned demons fought by heroes in the Shahnameh, which merged with the jinn in later folklore.

Traditional lore sorts the jinn into ranks: the marid, powerful and often tied to the sea; the ifrit, fiery and cunning; the ghul, a shape-shifting grave-haunter; and the ordinary jinn who live alongside humans unseen.

Appearance

The djinn has no fixed shape, which gives a sculptor freedom and responsibility. The classic figure is a towering humanoid whose lower body dissolves into a column of smoke or flame rising from a lamp, jar or brazier. The upper body is muscular and broad, bare-chested, with arms crossed or spread wide. The face is human but exaggerated: heavy brows, a pointed beard, sometimes small horns or pointed ears, and eyes that glow like coals.

Dress is that of the medieval Arab or Persian court: a turban or a pointed cap, a wide sash, bracers of gold, a vest of rich cloth, heavy earrings. Skin colour in the tales varies from blue and green to smoke-black and ember-red; a blue or violet djinn is a modern convention, while the ifrit is traditionally red and black. Smoke and fire are part of the body - sculpt them as a twisting, flame-like mass with flowing edges, joined to the vessel below. Some traditions add bat-like wings or a scorpion's tail to the ifrit.

In modern fantasy

Djinn and genies appear in Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder as elemental nobles, in Magic: The Gathering, Prince of Persia, various animated films and countless novels. The wish-granting lamp genie is the most familiar version, but the darker ifrit and marid types are equally common in games. A sculptor may work from the general Arabian spirit freely; specific franchise designs, especially a well-known animated genie, must not be copied.

3D printing notes

The djinn's smoke-column body is a gift for printing: the figure tapers down to a single, thick column that widens into the vessel, so it is self-supporting from the base up, with supports needed only under the arms, the chin and the underside of any spread hands. At 28-32 mm, resin is preferred for the face and jewellery; at 75 mm the whole model can be printed on FDM if the smoke is sculpted as a smooth, solid mass rather than wispy strands.

Crossed arms are the friendliest pose and need almost no support. Spread arms should be printed separately and pinned at the shoulder, hidden under a bracer or the edge of the vest. The lamp or jar makes an excellent integrated base and is best printed as a separate part with a socket for the smoke column, which also allows the vessel to be printed in a different colour or material.

The smoke column is the obvious candidate for clear or tinted translucent resin, with the upper body in opaque grey resin for painting. At 150 mm and above, hollow both parts and run a channel through the lamp into the column for an LED. A djinn also works well as an articulated print-in-place model: a segmented smoke tail with ball joints lets the figure be posed swirling from the lamp.

Painting and display

Choose the type first. A lamp djinn in blue-violet skin, with the smoke fading from deep indigo at the lamp to pale sky-blue at the waist, then a rich vest in gold and crimson and gold jewellery dry-brushed bright. An ifrit in brick-red and charcoal skin, with the smoke painted as fire - black at the base rising through red and orange to yellow at the edges - and iron or bronze jewellery. Eyes are always a glowing accent: gloss white or yellow with a glazed halo of the body's colour.

For display, the vessel is the base: a brass lamp painted in warm metallics with verdigris in the recesses, or a sealed jar with a printed Solomon's seal on the stopper. An LED in the vessel shining up through a translucent smoke column is the single most effective lighting trick in this bestiary; warm amber for a lamp djinn, red for an ifrit.

Related creatures

The djinn share the Persian and Arabian skies with the benevolent Simurgh and the vast Roc, both from the same body of tales. As spirits of fire, they are cousins of the Phoenix, and as beings commanded by a sacred name, they parallel the Golem of Jewish legend.

For a djinn rising from a lit lamp on your shelf or an ifrit for your gaming table, ask Fantasy Lab 3D for a custom print.