Some of the earliest fictional characters that many are introduced to are mermaids and merfolk. We often think of many sirens and sea-dwellers as figures not to be trusted and they are known to lure sailors and other unsuspecting characters into the waters through their demure gazes and their alluring songs only to drown them in the depths of the seas. While many merfolk and sea nymphs are seen to display these kinds of seductive and murderous traits, not all sea-creatures are predators laying in wait, some of them have deeply rooted roles as protectors and guardians of the oceans. Some are there to remind humanity of the wonderment and the majesty of life that exists deep under the sea in the broader oceans, a magical kind of life that lies far below our own stretches of land that we humans know and call home.
Russian Fairy Tales/Folklore: In the collection of stories from Arthur Ransome, Favourtie Russian Fairy Tales, there is a story titled Sadko that features an aquatic character known as the Sea-King. The main character in the tale is a man by the name of Sadko, although he is a handsome young male, he happens to be the very poor son of a merchant who has squandered away all his money. Sadko was known to be a merry man who liked to play his instrument the dulcimer by the banks of river (a dulcimer is a traditional folk-string instrument). One day while playing by the little river he was so fond of, his music was overheard by the Sea King who rose to meet Sadko from beneath the waters. From the text;
"Sadko sat on the shore, on a rock, and played his dulcimer and sang. Very sweetly he sang of the fair lake and the kiveky river - the little river that he thought prettier than all the girls of Novogrod. And while he was singing he saw a whirlpool in the lake, little waves flying from it acrosss the water, and in the middle a hollow down into the water. And in the hollow he saw the head of a great man with blue hair and a gold crown. He knew that the huge man was the Tzar of the Sea. And the man came nearer, walking up out of the depths of the lake - a huge great man, very giant with blue hair falling to his waist over his broad shoulders. The little waves ran from him in all directions as he came striding up out of the water."
The Sea King speaks to Sadko;
"Sadko of Novogrod, you have played and sung many days by the side of this lake and on the banks of the little river Volkhov. My daughters love your music, and it has pleased me too. Throw out a net into the water, and draw it in, and the waters will pay you for your singing. And if you are satisfied with your payment, you must come and play to us down in the green palace of the sea."
After the Sea-King had disappeared beneath the waters, Sadko cast his net in and retrieved it from the river. Inside he found a black box caught in the net. In the box there were many precious stones, gems, and diamonds enough to make Sadko a rich man for a lifetime. He took the gems and with his new-found fortune he became a prolific trader, and such were his trading skills that he continued to double and triple his fortune. He traveled to many kingdoms and sailed many seas, and his wealth continued to grow. But in all that time, he never had children or found a wife, and had not fulfilled his promise to visit the Sea King.
One day while he was sailing with a small crew in the Caspian Sea, his ship remained completely still in the waters even though the vessel had not run aground. The sailors believed sorcery to be at play, or an evil passenger to be aboard the ship, but Sadko knew better. He took his dulcimer with him and dove from the ship. The same instrument he had played all these years where he had thought fondly of Novogrod and the little river Volkhov that ran beneath the walls of his town. He knew he must honor his promise to the Sea-King. And so, Sadko sank in the waters down to the bottom of the sea.
"And there on the bottom of the sea, was a palace built of green wood. Yes, all the timbers of all the ships that have been wrecked in all the seas of the world are in that palace, and they are all green, and cunningly fitted together, so that the palace is worth a ten days' journey only to see it. And in front of the palace Sadko saw two big wobbly sturgeons, each a hundred and fifty feet long, lashing their tails and guarding the gates. Now, sturgeons are the oldest of all fish, and these were the oldest of all sturgeons."
"Sadko walked between the sturgeons and through the gates of the palace. Inside there was a great hall, and the Tzar of the Sea lay resting in the hall, with his gold crown on his head and his blue hair floating round him in the water, and his great body covered with scales lying along the hall. The Tzar of the Sea filled the hall - and there is room in the hall for a village. And there were fish swimming this way and that in and out of the windows."
The Tzar scolded Sadko for not having visited sooner, he said to the young man that he took the offerings from the sea, but did not repay the Tzar with a visit. And to this, Sadko apologized and asked for forgiveness from the Tzar. And all was forgiven by the Sea-King, and Sadko who had brought his dulcimer, played his music for the Tzar. Upon hearing the music again, his royal highness of the seas wished to dance, and he grew and grew as the music played.
"And if the Tzar of the Sea was huge in the hall, he was huger still when he stood outside on the bottom of the sea. He grew taller and taller, towering like a mountain. His feet were like small hills. His blue hair hung down to his waist, and he was covered with green scales. And he began to dance on the bottom of the sea."
"Great was that dancing. The sea boiled, and ships went down. The waves rolled as big as houses. The sea overflowed its shores, and whole towns were under water as the Tzar danced mightily on the bottom of the sea. Hither and Thither rushed the waves, and the very earth shook at the dancing of that tremendous Tzar."
"He danced till he was tired, and then he came back to the palace of green wood, and passed the sturgeons, and shrank into himself and came through the gates into the hall, where Sadko still played on his dulcimer and sang."
And the Sea-King praised Sadko for his playing;
"You have played well and given me pleasure, I have thirty daughters, and you shall choose one and marry her, and be a Prince of the Sea."
Sadko at first declined, saying that he loved only the little river Volkhov, but after having gazed upon each woman, he resolved at last to marry the thirtieth daughter who Sadko thought to be the most beautiful. She showed him a coffer of all the articles she had collected over the years, all the coins and pieces of jewelry he had dropped by the river or thrown into the water she had collected and brought them to the palace for safe-keeping. And in a big celebration under the water they were wed to one another at the bottom of the sea where the Tzar rejoiced and made merry.
"And when there is a big storm, you may know that Sadko is playing on his dulcimer and singing, and that the Tzar of the Sea is dancing his tremendous dance down there, on the bottom, under the waves."
Bohemian Folklore: In the collection of stories from John T. Naake, Slavonic Fairy Tales, there is one called Lidushka and the Water Demon's Wife. The story tells of Lidushka who meets a bloated and pregnant frog by the riverbank while she is washing linen. She tries to drive the creature away, but the frog continues to resurface every time she has pushed it into the water. To appease the frog, she makes a promise to the creature to be a godmother of the frogs children once they have been delivered, one that she is later forced to keep. When the frog comes looking for Lidushka, she is reluctant to follow through on her promise, but she gives in to the persisting nature of the creature and follows the frog to where it lives.
She is led through a river to a waterfall where underneath a rock there is a flight of steps that lead to the home of the frog. She follows the stairs underground and finds the house of the creature to be made of crystal waters. She stayed in the home of the frog and observed the ceremony where she was anointed as a godmother to the dozens of frog children. While in the home however, she noticed some strange objects in the house. There were many glass jars that had been turned upside down. Lidushka could not help her curiosity and she over-turned each jar to see what was hidden underneath them. Inside each jar was a dove who flew away after she uncovered it. The owner of the frog home returned to see what business she was up to and found her releasing all of the doves. The frog informed her that each dove was a captured soul and had been deliberately trapped inside each jar. The frog panicked and told Lidushka that her husband was coming and would rob her of her soul. From the text;
"When the amiable Lidushka heard this dreadful croaking, she turned round to see from what quarter the husband was coming; but she could see nothing of him. Only at a distance she observed a few buds of a beautiful red water-plant floating towards her on the top of the water. Suddenly she remembered what she had often heard before, that the Water Demon sometimes shows himself on the surface of the water in the shape of a cluster of red-flowers. He does this especially to young girls as they are haymaking near a stream or pond, to induce them to try to reach the flowers with their rakes. He then pulls them in and drowns them. Lidushka dashed up the stairs as fast as she could run and fortunately reached the dry land in time. She was overjoyed at having released all the little white doves; they were the souls of the unfortunate people whom the Water Demon had drawn into his power, and had cruelly drowned. Each soul had been kept in a separate dark prison, in the shape of a little jar, Lidushka was the deliverer of them all."
"It is said that the Water Demon has no power over those who hold either a handful of dry earth or a piece of toasted bread; but that he can drown a man in even a spoonful of water."
Indigenous Myth: For many of us, when we think of sea-monsters, those that resemble humans to a certain degree, they become associated with humanoid-monster figures like The Creature from the Black Lagoon, who may come to mind. The monster is shown arising out of the swampy and murky waters to kidnap and carry off his female victims. Or more recently, a similarly shown sea-figure who instead garners sympathy as a monster in the film by Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water. In a lesser known tale found in the text by Lewis Spence, The Myths of the North American Indians, there is a story of a sea-creature and his offspring known as the devil-fish;
The Devil-Fish's Daughter
A Haida Indian was sailing in his canoe with his two children and his wife at low tide. They had been paddling for some time, when they came to a place where some devil-fish stones lay, and they could discern the devil-fish's tracks and see where its food was lying piles up. The man, who was a shaman, landed upon the rocks with the intention of finding and killing the devil-fish, but while he was searching for it the monster suddenly emerged from its hole and dragged him through the aperture into its den. His wife and children, believing him to be dead, paddled away.
The monster which had seized the man was a female devil-fish, and she dragged him far below into the precincts of the town where dwelt her father, the devil-fish chief, and there he married the devil-fish which had captured him. Many years passed, and at length the man became home-sick and greatly desired to see his wife and family once more. He begged the chief to let him go, and after some demur his request was granted.
The shaman departed in one canoe, and his wife, the devil-fish's daughter, in another. The canoes were magical, and sped along of themselves. Soon they reached his father's town by the aid of the enchanted craft. He had brought much wealth with him from the devil-fish kingdom, and with this he traded and became a great chief. Then his children found him and came to him. They were grown up, and to celebrate his home-coming he held a great feast. Five great feasts he held, one after another, and at each of them his children and his human wife were present.
But the devil-fish wife began to pine for the sea-life. Once day while her husband and she sat in his father's house he began to melt. At the same time the devil-fish wife disappeared betwixt the planks of the flooring. Her husband then assumed the devil-fish form, and a second soft, slimy body followed the first through the planks. The devil-fish wife and her husband had returned to her father's realm.
This myth, of course, approximates to those of the seal-wives who escape from their mortal husbands, and the swan- and other bird-brides who, pining for their natural environment, take wing one fine day and leave their earth-mates.
Celtic Myth: In the work by Peter Berresford Ellis, Celtic Myths and Legends, there is told of a kingdom at the bottom of the sea that is part of the dominion of the ocean-god;
"Now of all the ancient gods, one of the last to live upon the Earth with their ancient powers was Manannan Mac Lir, the tempestuous god of the oceans, who, with his angry breath, could raise large white-crested waves that could wreck entire fleets of ships. At the time of the fall of the gods, Manannan Mac Lir had retired to his favourite island, called Inis Falga, which lay between Inisfail and the Isle of the Mighty. Eventually, that island became called after the great Manannan and every Manxman is called, in his own tongue, Maninagh."
Ellis describes the figure known as Mac Cuill, son of the hazel, and the son of the great god of literacy and eloquence, Ogma. Mac Cuill is shipwrecked at sea with some of his companions and they wash ashore the Island Falga. While exploring the island in his weak state, Mac Cuill encounters a beautiful woman known as Blaanid singing by the shores. After exchanging some words with the mysterious woman, Mac Cuill finds out she wishes to make a citizen out of him on the island, and she offers herself to him, along with a basket of riches in hopes he makes the island and the surrounding sea his permanent home. Mac Cuill rejects her offer, but asks that she release him from the chains he is bound by. She did not unshackle Mac Cuill, instead she pulls him into the ocean. From the text;
"Suddenly Blaanid threw her arms around Mac Cuill and so surprised was he, and so great her strength, that she dragged him to the edge of the sea and plunged in. Though he struggled, she drew him downwards to the dwellings of the merfolk that live beneath the waves. And Blaanid took Mac Cuill to a beautiful city under the sea. It was a place of many towers and gilded minarets and stood in a magnificence. It was deep down, beyond the region of the fishes, where there was air which was strangely clear and the atmosphere serene. The streets were paved in coral and a shining kind of pebble which glittered like the sunbeams reflecting on glass. Streets and squares were on every side. Buildings were embossed with mother-of-pearl and shells of numerous colours and there were flashing crystals to decorate their walls."
"But around the circle perimeter were countless wrecks of ships. Fearful wrecks, strewn on the slimy bottom, yet the city was protected from them. And among the wrecks, Mac Cuill saw the decomposing bodies of men, women and children. There were countless eyeless skeletons, all scattered and on which the fishes gnawed. And from the dead people's skulls, which worms and fish inhabited, there arose a fearful wailing sound. The noise was so penetrating that Mac Cuill had to stop his ears."
Mac Cuill questions Blaanid where she had taken him, to which she replies;
"This is our home now, and this could be your home. For you wish to exist by what you steal. The gods and goddesses are only left with theft in this new world. We have built our city from the ships that we entice to our mist-shrouded island and wreck upon the rocks above. Each ship comes tumbling through the seas to our city and we may take from them great heaps of pearl, wedges of gold, inestimable stones, unvalued jewels, thus our city prospers."
Blaanid offers Mac Cuill the option to join them beneath the waters in their rich palace at the bottom of the sea, or to return to the island and live out his life under a new name and new faith. He rejects her offer and returns to the Island of Falga and preaches the new religion.
Chinese Myth: The book by E.T.C. Werner, Myths and Legends of China, has a wide collection of stories about interesting river-gods and other water deities.
From The Ministry of Waters;
"In the spirit-world there is a Ministry which controls all things connected with the waters on earth, salt, or fresh. Its main divisions are the Department of Salt Waters, presided over by four Dragon-kings - those of the East, South, West, and North - and the Department of Sweet Waters, presided over by the Four Kings (Ssu Tu) of the four great rivers - the Blue (Chiang), Yellow (Ho), Huai, and Ch'i - and the Dragon-spirits who control the Secondary Waters, the rivers, springs, lakes, pools, rapids."
Included by Werner is a story of land and sea who found themselves engaged together in a great battle over stolen ship cargo and a lost servant;
The Shipwrecked Servant
Once the Eight Immortals were on their way to Ch'ang-li Shan to celebrate the birthday anniversary of Hsien weng, the God of Longevity. They had with them a servant who bore the presents they intended to offer the god. When they reached the seashore the Immortals walked on the waves without any difficulty, but Lan Ts'ai-ho remarked that the servant was unable to follow them, and said that a means of transport must be found for him. So Ts'ao Kuo-chin took a plank of cypress-wood and made a raft. But when they were in mid-ocean a typhoon arose and upset the raft, and servant and presents sank to the bottom of the sea.
Regarding this as a hostile act of a water-devil, the Immortals said they must demand and explanation from the Dragon-King. Ao Ch'in. Li T'ieh kuai took his gourd, and, directing the mouth toward the bottom of the sea, created so brilliant a light that it illuminated the whole palace of the Sea-King. Ao-Ch'in, surprised, asked where this powerful light originated, and deputed a courier to ascertain its cause.
To this messenger the Immortals made their complaint. "All we want," they added, "is that the Dragon-King shall restore to us our servant and the presents." On this being reported to Ao Ch'in he suspected his son of being the cause, and, having established his guilt, severely reprimanded him. The young Prince took his sword, and, followed by an escort, went to find those who had made the complaint his father. As soon as he caught sight of the Immortals he began to inveigh against them.
Han Hsiang Tzu, not liking this undeserved abuse, changed his flute into a fishing line, and as soon as the Dragon-Prince was within reach caught him on the hook, with intent to retain him as a hostage. The Prince's escort returned in great haste and informed Ao Ch'in of what had occurred. The latter declared that his son was in the wrong, and proposed to restore the shipwrecked servant and the presents. The Court Officers, however, held a different opinion. "These Immortals," they said, "dare to hold captive your Majesty's son merely on account of a few lost presents and a shipwrecked servant. This is a great insult, which we ask permission to avenge." Eventually they won over Ao Ch'in, and the armies of the deep gathered for the fray. The Immortals called to their aid the other Taoist Immortals and Heroes, and thus two formidable armies found themselves face to face.
Several attempts were made by other divinities to avert the conflict, but without success. The battle was a strenuous one. Ao Ch'in received a ball of fire full on his head, and his army was threatened with disaster when Tz'u-hang Ta-shih appeared with his bottle of lustral water. He sprinkled the combatants with this magic fluid, using a willow-branch for the purpose, thus causing all their magic powers to disappear.
Shui Kuan, the Ruler of the Watery Elements, then arrived and reproached Ao Ch'in; he assured him that if the matter were to come to the knowledge of Shang Ti, the Supreme Ruler, he would not only be severely punished, but would risk losing his post. Ao Ch'in expressed penitence, restored the servant and the presents, and made full apology to the Eight Immortals.
Norse Mythology: In the text by H.A. Guerber, Myths of the Norsemen From the Eddas and Sagas, there is a Norse god known as Aegir who is the equivalent to the Greek figure Poseidon;
The God of the Sea
"Besides Niord and Mimir, who were both ocean divinities, the one representing the sea near the coast and the other the primeval ocean whence all things were supposed to have sprung, the Northern races recognized another sea-ruler, called Aegir or Hler, who dwelt either in the cool depths of his liquid realm or had his abode on the Island of Lessoe, in the Cattegat, or Hlesey."
"Aegir(the sea), like his brothers Kari (the air) and Loki (fire), is supposed to have belonged to an older dynasty of the gods, for he ranked neither with the Aerir, the Vanas, the giants, dwarfs, or elves, but was considered omnipotent within his realm."
"He was supposed to occasion and quiet the great tempests which swept over the deep, and was generally represented as a gaunt old man, with long white beard and hair, and clawlike fingers ever clutching convulsively, as though he longed to have all things within his grasp. Whenever he appeared above the waves, it was only to pursue and overturn vessels, and to greedily drag them to the bottom of the sea, a vocation in which he was thought to take fiendish delight."
"To the Anglo-Saxons the sea-god Aegir was known by the name of Eagor, and whenever an usually large wave came thundering towards the shore, the sailors were wont to cry, as the Trent boatmen still do, "Look out, Eagor is coming!" He was also known by the name of Hler (the shelterer) among the Northern nations, and of Gymir (the concealer), because he was always ready to hide things in the depths of his realm, and could be depended upon not to reveal the secrets entrusted to his care. And, because the waters of the sea were frequently said to seethe and hiss, the ocean was often called Aegir's brewing kettle or vat."
Aegir was married to a delightful figure named Ran;
"Aegir was mated with his sister, the goddess Ran, whose name means "robber," and who was as cruel, greedy, and insatiable as her husband. Her favourite pastime was to lurk near dangerous rocks, whither she enticed mariners, and there spread her net, her most prized possession, when, having entagled the men in its meshes and broken their vessels on the jagged cliffs, she would calmly draw them down into her cheerless realm."
"Ran was considered the goddess of death for all who perished at sea, and the Northern nations fancied that she entertained the drowned in her coral caves, where her couches were spread to receive them, and where the mead flowed freely as in Valhalla. The goddess was further supposed to have a great affection for gold, which was called the "flame of the sea," and was used to illuminate her halls. This belief originated with the sailors, and sprang from the striking phosphorescent gleam of the waves. To win Ran's good graces, the northern races were careful to hide some gold about them whenever any special danger threatened them on the sea."
Greek Mythology: The first character that immediately comes to mind for many people when it comes to the Greeks are the figures Poseidon and Neptune. But among the pantheon of Greek Gods, there are many aquatic figures that exist. Edith Hamilton in her work Mythology wrote the following;
"Poseidon: He was the ruler of the sea, Zeus's brother and second only to him in eminence. The Greeks on both sides of the Aegean were seamen and the God of the Sea was all-important to them. His wife was Amphitrite, a granddaughter of the Titan, Ocean. Poseidon had a splendid palace beneath the sea, but he was oftener to be found in Olympus. Besides being Lord of the Sea he gave the first horse to man, and he was honored as much for the one as for the other."
"But when he drove in his golden car over the waters, the thunder of the waves sank into stillness, and tranquil peace followed his smooth-rolling wheels. He was commonly called "Earth-shaker"and was always shown carrying his trident, a three-pronged spear, with which he would shake and shatter whatever he pleased."
"Ocean, a Titan, was Lord of the river Ocean, a great river encircling the earth. His wife, also a Titan, was Tethys. The Oceanids, the nymphs
of this great river, were their daughters. The gods of all the rivers on earth were their sons."
"Pontus, which means the Deep Sea, was a son of Mother Earth and the father of Nereus, a sea-god far more important than he himself was."
"Nereus was called the Old Man of the Sea (the Mediterranean) - 'A trusty god and gentle,' Hesiod says, 'who thinks just and kindly thoughts and never lies.' His wife was Doris, a daughter of the Ocean. They had fifty lovely daughters, the nymphs of the Sea, called Nereids from their father's name, one of whom, Thetis, was the mother of Achilles. Poseidon's wife, Amphitrite, was another."
"Triton was the trumpeter of the Sea. His trumpet was a great shell. He was the son of Poseidon and Amphitrite."
"Proteus was sometimes said to be Poseidon's son, sometimes his attendant. He had the power both of foretelling the future and of changing his shape at will."
"The Naiads were also water nymphs. They dwelt in brooks and springs and fountains."
"Leucothea and her son Palaemon, once mortals became divinities of the sea, as did also Glaucus, but all three were important."
The figure of Bellerophan, the man who captured Pegasus and tried to ride the winged steed up to Mount Olympus and was struck down by the Gods was believed to be the son of Poseidon.
Poseidon also fathered the two giants, Otus and Ephialtes, who tried to overtake Mount Olympus, they were almost shot down by a thunderbolt of Zeus, only until Poseidon intervened, they posed no further threat.
The female sea-nymph known as Galatea was known to have taunted the great Cyclops figure of Polyphemus, the same one eyed giant on the island that Odysseus was known to have wounded and escaped from. Galatea knew Polyphemus was in love with her and she would taunt him from the waters near the shores where the monster was known to watch her from, she would attack his herds of sheep with bushels of apples and when he would chase her she would disappear faster than he was able to catch her.
Poseidon also fathered two sons with a mortal woman known as Tyro, the two boys named Pelias and Nelius. Their mother hid her offspring in fear of retribution from her husband, they were later discovered to be the sons of the great God Poseidon and Tyro was punished and abandoned by her husband who remarried one of their servants.
Film/Fiction: In the 1963 film Jason and the Argonauts, the figure of Poseidon is seen emerging out of the waters in the form of an enormous giant of a man with a crown upon his head. He is shown to be holding up two separated rocky formations, he prevents the cliffs from caving in on one another so that Jason and his crew of men in their ship below can sail through unharmed. The special effects in this scene are considered to be impressive for the time the film was made.
King Triton: In both the Disney cartoon and the live-action film, The Little Mermaid, King Triton is presented in all his glory as the Sea-King. He is known as a character to be an over-bearing and protective father, and he forbids Ariel from visiting the surface world, and he becomes enraged when he finds out she is in love with a land-dweller. But he is also willing to sacrifice everything of his own reign in order to save Ariel when her soul has been captured by the Sea-witch Ursula. Triton is willing to trade places with his daughter and he surrenders his trident and rule over to Ursula.
Pirate's of the Caribbean has some of the best character designs and costumes ever created when it comes to their aquatic villains. The memorable character of Davey Jones is shown to be a Captain and pirate who fell in love with the sea, literally and figuratively; the sea as a woman, and the sea who was also the goddess Calypso. Davey Jones (the pirate with the tentacles) was represented as a one-legged pirate aboard a cursed ship. His vessel was notorious for chasing down other pirate ships that waged war in his seas, him and his crew are shown seizing and terrorizing other ships where he destroys their vessels and kidnaps the crew and forces them into eternal slavery aboard his own ship. He was shown to always carry the key to his heart around his neck, one that was known to unlock the chest of his still-beating organ which was hidden inside, one that only he had access to. He is shown playing melancholy songs on the organ aboard his ship with the many tentacles that grow from his face.
Aside from Aquaman and Avatar, what other characters come to mind?