The vulture like other birds of prey is often shown as a malicious creature that lays in wait for its food and at times the bird does not even wait for the creature to have fully died before it begins pecking away at it. It is portrayed as an eavesdropper or a spy, a circling menace in the sky, and a signal of oncoming death and doom.
The vulture when shown in fictional works is usually the villain. If not the direct antagonist, then the bird is associated with the villain in some way and acts as a direct arm or extension of them in some capacity.
In the children's works The Chronicles of Narnia by the author C.S. Lewis, the shadowy villain known as Tash, is described as a malformed and blackened vulture-like creature. Tash the vulture-demon, is the antithesis of Aslan, the heroic Lion and leader of Narnia. Everything that is represented as admirable and just by the Lion, is perverse and tainted in the figure of Tash.
In the book series by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, the vulture appears in the destitute land of Mordor and Angband. One notable mention is when the character the hobbit Sam goes to retrieve Frodo from the Orcs who have carted him away after he is bitten by the giant spider, Shelob. In the books, he is written to have passed through a set of gates in Mordor, where something akin to an architectural edifice, or a hastily tacked up form taxidermy is hung up, this vile adornment, like a nasty-looking scarecrow posted in a field, or a head crudely stuck on a pike, is a creature described with the anatomy of a vulture. Tolkien was never one to skimp on the world-building, and even the Orcs find time to decorate.
In the works of Game of Thrones by George R. Martin, there is a character known as the Vulture King. He is a low-level villain, a skulking figure that oversees a contemptible lot of cut-throats. He adorns himself in the garb and attire of the bird of prey, but he does not rally large legions or armies to challenge the iron throne or march upon King's Landing, nor does he command other considerable powers. The title of the Vulture King, like any other title to survive within a lineage, is taken on by numerous other figures later in the novels.
In the work by Jim Henson, the film The Dark Crystal, the vultures are an oppressive race known as the Skeksis who rule over the little race of elf-like beings known as the Gelflings. The vultures hoard all the wealth and ancient knowledge. and they have taken control of an ancient property known as the crystal of truth which they have corrupted. A shard of the crystal is missing and a journey is undertaken to return it. Aside from enslavement, the Gelflings are used as fodder to feed the youth and immortality of the Skeksis.
The Greeks very accurately understood the nature of the bird of prey. Hamilton writes of the categorical association with the vulture and a God known as Ares known to be disliked, she writes of him in her work Mythology;
"The God of War, son of Zeus and Hera, both of whom, Homer says, detested him. Indeed, he is hateful throughout the Iliad, poem of war though it is. Occasionally the heroes rejoice in the delight of Ares' battle, but far oftener in having escaped "the fury of the ruthless god." Homer calls him murderous, blood strained, the incarnate curse of mortals; and, strangely, a coward, too, who bellows with pain and runs away when he is wounded. Yet he has a train of attendants on the battlefield which should inspire anyone with confidence. His sister is there, Eris, which means Discord, and Strife, her son. The Goddess of War, Enyo,-in Latin Bellona,-walks beside him, and with her are Terror and Trembling and Panic. As they move, the voice of groaning arises behind them and the earth streams with blood.
The Romans liked Mars better than the Greeks liked Ares. He never was to them the mean whining deity of the Iliad, but magnificent in shining armor, redoubtable, invincible. The warriors of the great Latin heroic poem, the Aneid, far from rejoicing to escape from him, rejoice when they are to fall on Mars's field of renown.
They rush on the glorious death and find it sweet to die in battle.
Ares figures little in mythology. In one story he is the lover of Aphrodite and held up to the contempt of the Olympians by Aphrodite's husband, Hephaestus; but for the most part he is little more than a symbol of war. He is not a distinct personality, like Hermes or Hera or Apollo. He had no cities where he was worshipped. The Greeks said vaguely that he came from Thrace, home of a rude, fierce people in the northeastern of Greece. Appropriately, his bird was the vulture. The dog was wronged by being chosen his animal."
In the work by Alexander Porteous known as The Forest in Folklore and Mythology, he writes of the Vulture perched in waiting on the eve of battle;
"Classical legend tells how Athena and Apollo, taking the shape of vultures, sat on a Beech tree, and watched the conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans."
While the bird is often considered a malicious creature, it is not always regarded in such a disdainful category. Certain cultures in fact revered the bird. The vulture had special significance in Egypt as it pertained to certain female Goddesses. In the work by Lewis Spence, Ancient Egyptian Myths and Legends, the vulture is written of as a symbol associated with fertility and a feature of feminine adornment in his section Mut the Mother;
"The great female counterpart of Amen-Ra was Mut, the world-mother. She is usually represented as a woman wearing the united crowns of north and south, and holding the papyrus scepter. In some pictures she is delineated with wings, and in others the heads of vultures project from her shoulders. Like her husband, she is occasionally adorned with every description of attribute, human and animal, probably to typify her universal nature. Mut, like Amen, swallowed up a great many of the attributes of the female deities of Egypt. She was thus identified with Bast, Nekhebet, and others, chiefly for the reason that because Amen had usurped the attributes of other gods, she, as his wife, must do the same. She is a striking example in mythology of what marriage can do for a goddess. Even Hathor identified with her, as was Ta-urt and every other goddess who could be regarded as having attributes of a mother. Her worship centered at Thebes, where her temple was situated a little to the south of the shrine of Amen-Ra. She was styled the lady of heaven, and queen of the gods, and her hieroglyphic symbol, a vulture, was worn on the crowns of Egypt's queens as typical of their motherhood."
From The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci;
"It seems that it had been destined before that I should occupy myself so thoroughly with the vulture, for it comes to my mind as a very early memory, when I was still in the cradle, a vulture came down to me, he opened my mouth with his tail and struck me a few times with his tail against my lips."
“If my decomposing carcass helps nourish the roots of a juniper tree or the wings of a vulture–that is immortality enough for me. And as much as anyone deserves.”
-Edward Abbey
"Doctrinaires are the vultures of principle. They feed upon principle after it is dead."
-David Lloyd George
“Man’s hope can paint a purple picture, can transform a soaring vulture into a noble eagle or moaning dove.”
-Ralph Ellison
What other notable examples of vultures are there?