Beast.

Some gryphon legends are thousands of years old, almost as old as those of dragons. They are part of Middle-Eastern myth as well as Greek; strong, vigilant guardians of Scythian gold high up in the mountains, enemies of the cyclopes and their horse mounts. Gryphons are half eagle and half lion with the ears of a donkey, and are sometimes said to have a camel's tail. They have incredibly keen eyesight. Having magickal properties, their feathers can cure blindless, while their talons change color in the presence of poison. They are creatures of the Sun.

Gryphons often show up in medieval heraldry. Most often their appearance symbolizes strength and courage, as well as vigilance, intelligence, duality, wisdom, power, pride, vengeance, justice, and retribution. Only female gryphons are given wings; male gryphons, called keythongs, have spines like sunrays coming out of their shoulders where the wings normally would be. Gryphons are often shown in a pose known as segreant where they are standing on their hind legs and appear to be on the rampage. This is different from the regular rampant pose in that a gryphon, unlike most other heraldic beasts, has wings, which are most often shown as standing erect.

Modern depictions of gryphons vary between styles and tastes. Some gryphons don't have ears, while others may not even have avian forelegs. (In legend, a gryphon with feline forelegs is known as an opinicus.) Some gryphon relatives have gained more popularity than their forebears, such as the half-eagle half-horse hippogriff Buckbeak from the Harry Potter series. Other famous gryphons include Skandranon Rashkae from the Mage Wars trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon, the Gryphon from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the gryphons of Narnia invented by C. S. Lewis, and the gryphons of World of Warcraft.

While gryphons were once thought of as powerful guardian spirits and defenders of good, in modern media they are often portrayed as vicious monsters who greedily hoard gold and attack any human they come across. In the animated films Quest for Camelot and Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus, gryphons were servants of evil sorcerors. Personally I don't see the reasons behind these misalignments but some part of it may have to do with the popularization of dragons as powerful creatures which young boys strive to imitate, which leaves most other magickal beings as "bad guys".