A large number of different
mythological creatures from Scandinavian folklore have become well known in other parts of the world, mainly through
popular culture and
fantasy genres. Some of these are:
Circhos The
circhos is a sea creature that looks like a man with three toes on each foot. Its skin is black and red. It has a long left foot and a small right foot which drags behind, making it lean left when walking.
Draugr The
draugr, or
draug (; ; ; ,
drauv; ,
dröger; ), is an old
archaic term for a
malevolent revenant with varying ambiguous traits. In the Icelandic sagas, it describes dangerous corporeal
undeads which protects their burial mounds or thereof. They have magical abilities and can
shapeshift, including changing size and mass. In Norwegian folklore, the draugr either refers to land dwelling revenants, or a collective entity encompassing the drowned at sea, sometimes specified as the
sea draugr (, ), which may appear wearing the clothes of a seaman, but featuring a head of seaweed. The latter is especially dangerous, and acts as a sign that people will drown at sea. The
Wild Hunt, in Norway, has been said to involve draugrs, and, during Christmas, the old Nordic Christmas tradition of leaving out food and beer on Christmas night, as to wellcome spirits of the deceased, household spirits and thereof, into the house, involves leaving beer specifically for the draugrs, to keep them from being malicious, so called "draug-beer" (, being a form for draugr). One famous Christmas story tells of a man who finds the "sea draugr" sitting by the coast on Christmas Eve, aggravating it, and then being chased by it inlands. When crossing a graveyard, the "land draugrs" (the buried) awaken and emerges from their graves to attack the sea draugr. In Faroese folklore, the draugr is said to be a type of undead being that inhabits the mountains and hills of the Faroe Islands. It is typically described as a large, strong creature with pale skin and long, dark hair. It is often depicted as being
cannibalistic. In
Sámi folklore, the draugr (,
roāvvk; ; ; ; ) is a term for a malevolent revenant and thereof. The term entered the
Proto-Sámi languages during the
migration period through
Proto-Norse. In some Sámi folklore, it is said to be the spirit of a drowned person, which in turn drowns people. In
Northern Sámi, this creature is sometimes called a "water draugr" ().
Elves Elves (in Swedish, Älva if female and Alv if male, Alv in Norwegian, and Elver in Danish) are in some parts mostly described as female (in contrast to the
light and dark elves in the Edda), otherworldly, beautiful and seductive residents of forests, meadows and mires. They are skilled in magic and illusions. Sometimes they are described as small fairies, sometimes as full-sized women and sometimes as half transparent spirits, or a mix thereof. They are closely linked to the mist and it is often said in Sweden that, "the Elves are dancing in the mist". The female form of Elves may have originated from the female deities called Dís (singular) and Díser (plural) found in pre-Christian Scandinavian religion. They were very powerful spirits closely linked to the seid magic. Even today the word "dis" is a synonym for mist or very light rain in Swedish, Norwegian and Danish. Particularly in Denmark, the female elves have merged with the dangerous and seductive huldra, skogsfrun or "keeper of the forest", often called hylde. In some parts of Sweden the elves also share features with the Skogsfrun, "Huldra", or "Hylda", and can seduce and bewitch careless men and suck the life out of them or make them go down in the mire and drown. But at the same time the Skogsrå exists as its own being, with other distinct features clearly separating it from the elves. In more modern tales, it isn't uncommon for a rather ugly male Tomte, Troll, Vätte or a Dwarf to fall in love with a beautiful Elven female, as the beginning of a story of impossible or forbidden love.
Huldra The
Huldra, Hylda, Skogsrå or Skogfru (Forest wife/woman) is a dangerous seductress who lives in the forest. The Huldra is said to lure men with her charm. She has a long cow's tail, or according to some traditions, that of a fox, which she ties under her skirt in order to hide it from men.
Kraken Kraken () is a legendary massive sea-monster with tentacles, said to appear off the coasts of
Norway. It is often depicted resembling a giant
octopus or
squid, albeit actual folklore is less defined. The Swedish encyclopedia
Nordisk familjebok gave the following summation of the Kraken myth in 1884:
Mara In Scandinavia, there has been a widespread belief in the
Mara. The Mara (or, in English, "
nightmare") appears in many different forms, but would terrorize the sleeping by "riding" on their chest, thus giving them nightmares. (This appears to describe "apparitions" commonly seen and/or felt during episodes of
sleep paralysis.) The Mara traditionally could ride on cattle, which would be left drained of energy and with tangled fur at the Mara's touch. Trees would curl up and wilt at the Mara's touch as well. In some tales, like the
Banshee, they served as an omen of death. If one were to leave a dirty doll in a family living room, one of the members would soon fall ill and die of
tuberculosis. ("Lung soot", another name for tuberculosis, referred to the effect of proper chimneys in 18th and 19th century homes. Inhabitants would therefore contract diseases due to inhaling smoke on a daily basis.) There was some discrepancy as to how they came into being. Some stories say that the Maras are restless children, whose souls leave their body at night to haunt the living. Another tale explains that if a pregnant woman pulled a horse placenta over her head before giving birth, the child would be delivered safely; however, if it were a son, he would become a werewolf, and if a daughter, a Mara.
Neck The Neck or the Nixie (, , ; , ; , ), among other names (, "the stream man"), is a dangerous and powerful
fresh water-dwelling spirit. It plays an instrument to lure victims to water in order to drown them. It has commonly been used as a
boogieman to keep children away from dangerous water, however, it is not really a malevolent being. If gifted goods, it can give music lessons. It is a
shapeshifter, and appears in many shapes. In mainland Scandinavia, it often appears as a naked slender man, either an older bearded man, or a young fair man, but it can also appear as inanimate objects, such as underwater treasure, as well as animals. A common animal form is a white horse the
water horse (,
åhästen, "the brook horse"), which is the conventional form on the
Faroese Islands. File:Theodor Kittelsen - The Water Sprite - NG.K&H.B.03202 - National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design.jpg|"The Water Sprite" by Norwegian
Theodor Kittelsen (1857–1914), featuring a Neck lurking nighttime in a calm body of water. File:Stromkarlen 1884.jpg| by Swede
Ernst Josephson (1851–1906), featuring the Neck as a fair naked man. File:Johan Tirens naecken.jpg| by Swede
Johan Tirén (1853–1911), featuring a young boy learning violin from the Neck in the waterfall. File:DnD Nixie.png|Drawing of the Neck with aquatic plants for hair. The Neck is said to have green hair or foliage in the hair.
Selkie The
Selkie is a mythical creature that is part-human and part-seal. According to legend, Selkies can shed their seal skins and transform into humans. There are many stories in Faroese folklore about Selkies falling in love with humans and leaving their sea life behind to live on land.
Selma Selma is a legendary
sea serpent said to live in the
Lake Seljord (
Seljordsvatnet) in
Seljord,
Vestfold og Telemark,
Norway.
Storsjöodjuret Storsjöodjuret, often referred to as the "Great Lake Monster," is steeped in the folklore of Sweden, specifically with
Lake Storsjön. Notably the legendary creature was briefly granted a protected status by the
Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, but this was later removed by the
Swedish Parliament.
Trolls , 1915Troll (Norwegian and Swedish), trolde (Danish) is a designation for several types of human-like supernatural beings in Scandinavian folklore. They are mentioned in the
Edda (1220) as a monster with many heads. Later, trolls became characters in fairy tales, legends and ballads. They play a main part in many of the fairy tales from Asbjørnsen and Moes collections of Norwegian tales (1844). Trolls may be compared to many supernatural beings in other cultures, for instance the
Cyclopes of
Homer's
Odyssey. In Swedish, such beings are often termed 'jätte' (giant), a word related to the Norse 'jotun'. The origins of the word troll is uncertain. Trolls are described in many ways in Scandinavian folk literature, but they are often portrayed as stupid, and slow to act. In fairy tales and legends about trolls, the plot is often that a human with courage and presence of mind can outwit a troll. Sometimes saints' legends involve a holy man tricking an enormous troll to build a church. Trolls come in many different shapes and forms, and are generally not fair to behold, as they can have as many as nine heads. Trolls live throughout the land. They dwell in mountains, under bridges, and at the bottom of lakes. Trolls who live in the mountains may be rich and hoard mounds of gold and silver in their cliff dwellings.
Dovregubben, a troll king, lives inside the
Dovre Mountains with his court, as described in detail in
Ibsen's
Peer Gynt.
Wights of an angry nisse stealing hay from a farmer
Wights (, , ; ; ; 'm', 'f'), is one of many common terms for supernatural, small, human-like creatures, often thought to live underground. Such is both defined as its own thing, as well as being an
umbrella term for many different types of folklorean beings. In
Finnish, such are called: , , and ; in
Sámi:
ganij,
sajva (),
ulda (), and
kadinah, depending on the area. The
Nisse (in southern Sweden, Norway and Denmark) or
tomte (in Sweden) is a benevolent wight who takes care of the house and barn when the farmer is asleep, but only if the farmer reciprocates by setting out food for the nisse and he himself also takes care of his family, farm and animals. If the nisse is ignored or maltreated or the farm is not cared for, he is likely to sabotage the work instead to teach the farmer a lesson. Although the nisse should be treated with respect, some tales warn against treating him too kindly. There's a Swedish story in which a farmer and his wife entered their barn early in the morning and found a little, old, grey man sweeping the floor. They saw his clothing, which was nothing more than torn rags, and the wife decided to make him some new ones; when the nisse found them in the barn, however, he considered himself too elegant to perform any more farm labour and thus disappeared from the farm. Nisser are also associated with Christmas and the yule time. Farmers customarily place bowls of rice porridge on their doorsteps to please the nisser, comparative to the cookies and milk left out for Santa Claus in other cultures. Some believe that the nisse brings them presents as well. In Swedish, the word "tomten" (definite form of "tomte") is very closely linked to the word for the plot of land where a house or cottage is built, which is called "tomten" as well (definite form of "tomt"). Therefore, some scholars believe that the wight Tomten originates from some sort of general house god or deity prior to
Old Norse religion. A Nisse/Tomte is said to be able to change his size between that of a 5-year-old child and a thumb, and also to have the ability to make himself invisible. A type of wight from Northern Sweden called
Vittra lives underground, is invisible most of the time and has its own cattle. Most of the time Vittra are rather distant and do not meddle in human affairs, but are fearsome when enraged. This can be achieved by not respecting them properly, for example by neglecting to perform certain rituals (such as saying "look out" when putting out hot water or going to the toilet so they can move out of the way) or building your home too close to or, even worse, on top of their home, disturbing their cattle or blocking their roads. They can make your life very very miserable or even dangerous – they do whatever it takes to drive you away, even arrange accidents that will harm or even kill you. Even in modern days, people have rebuilt or moved houses in order not to block a "Vittra-way", or moved from houses that are deemed a "Vittra-place" (Vitterställe) because of bad luck – although this is rather uncommon. In tales told in the north of Sweden, Vittra often take the place that trolls, tomte and vättar hold in the same stories told in other parts of the country. Vittra are believed to sometimes "borrow" cattle that later would be returned to the owner with the ability to give more milk as a sign of gratitude. This tradition is heavily influenced by the fact that it was developed during a time when people let their cattle graze on mountains or in the forest for long periods of the year. ==See also==