[QUOTE=Shienvien]Hmm... Average adult human typically has a skull 16-18 cm wide, with a depth (distance from forehead to the back of head) of 20-22 cm. (6.3''-7'' and 7.9''-8.7'' respectively.) Skin, hair, et cetera would only add to the measurements... In other words, human skulls are pretty big things, and their jaws would have to be capable of opening up pretty wide to accommodate. And swallowing (I actually didn't go that far, I just pictured them taking half a head between their jaws) would be an entire different matter, especially since it has been stressed that they cannot expand their jawbones like snakes do... Neck-wise it would be okay, it's only jawbones that are questionable.
As for the yth width matter (aside of head) - I understood that the ten inches was at their widest. My statement was mostly derived from the fact they appear to be have fairly large heads, followed by three or four inches until the arms, which have been stated to be as thick and strong as average human arms (my own upper arms are maybe three and a half inches thick, so let's go with that for simplicity) begin... Well, there is not too much yth left after the arms. From the back of head to the underside of the last pair of arms would be over a foot. You'd also have to take account of the fact that the long arms make their upper bodies very massive, and accordingly, the hind body must be quite powerful to be of any use while moving or rearing up...[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I see what you mean... I'll admit that when I designed yths I did so more hurriedly and abruptly than with most of my other original species (usually I'll get the idea and ponder on it, thinking every detail over for at least several days and trying to picture it in my mind all the while before I even try to write a description) and I realize now that I was definitely off with some of the proportions because I only saw each part of the creature separately at the time and didn't try to make them match; even worse than that, I didn't even stop to think about whether I could have made a mistake after I'd designed them, I just went with it. Clearly some of the yth-dimensions will have to be altered, I see that now, and feel somewhat annoyed that I didn't realize this myself much, much earlier.
First of all the head clearly needs to be smaller; I'd say that if an adult yth can open its jaws 15 cm/5.9 inches that would be somewhat appropriate... This won't make them ridiculously oversized, I think, and will mean that they definitely can't go around swallowing people's heads but will still be able to bite down on most limbs and the throat. That's probably the best compromise in that regard, I think. Its body probably also needs to be a little thicker, particularly in the torso, so if I adjust that to average a full foot in width (excluding "shoulders") but only nine inches thick, that seems to suit it better... at least in my mental image. If the tail is then made a little thicker - let's say that rather than there being a sudden narrowing beneath the torso, the tail will rather adjust its width to more closely match the thickness of it and then narrow towards the tip of the tail at a constant rate. And finally let's add an extra foot to the length of the tail (which I realize now, horrifyingly, is actually close to an increase of 30% its previous length even with the head being downsized), bringing an adult yth up to a total average length of six feet. The arms will remain as they are now.
Hmm... in my head that seems more realistic. What do you think?