The Kraken

[Fun Guy from Yuggoth]

There is a book from the 1700s called The Natural History of Norway (1755) by Erich Pontoppidan (which despite the name is not a scientific text but rather more pseudoscience/mythology), that describes the Kraken / Krabben.  He describes the creature as a polyp, or star-fish of at least a mile in circumference that looks like an island with trees upon its back, later he describes it as a being tree-shaped with many branches / arms / horns radiating from a central trunk.  It is accompanied by swarms of fish.

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The Kraken. . .is to be considered as the most extraordinary in length. . . This creature, particularly in the North Sea, continually keeps himself in the bottom of the sea, excepting in the months of July and August, which is their spawning time; and then they come to the surface in calm weather, but plunge into the water again, so soon as the wind raises the least wave.

 

. . .this enormous monster come up to the surface of the water; he there shows himself sufficiently, though his whole body does not appear, which in all likelihood no human eye ever beheld (excepting the young of this species, which shall afterwards be spoken of;)  its back or upper part, which seems to be in appearance about an English mile and half in circumference, (some say more, but I choose the least for greater certainty) looks as first like a number of small islands, surrounded with something that floats and fluctuates like sea-weeds.  Here and there a larger rising is observed like sand-banks, on which various kinds of small fishes are seen continually leaping about till they role off into the water from the sides of it;  as last several bright points or horns appear, which grow thicker and thicker the higher they stand up as high and as large as the masts of middle-sized vessels.

It seems these are the creatures arms, and, it is said, if they were to lay hold of the largest man-of-war, they would pull it down to the bottom,  After this monster has been on the surface of the water a short time, it begins slowly to sink again, and then the danger is as great as before; because the motion of his sinking causes such a swell in the sea, and such an eddy or whirlpool, that it draws every thing down with it . . .

As this enormous Sea-animal in all probability may be reckon’d of the Polype, or of the Star-fish kind, as shall hereafter be more fully proved, it seems that the parts which are seen rising at its pleasure, and are called arms, are properly the tentacula, or feeding instruments, called horns as well as arms.  With these they move themselves, and likewise gather in their food.

Besides these, for this last purpose the great Creator has also given this creature a strong and peculiar scent, which it can emit at certain times, and by means of which it beguiles and draws other fish to come in heaps about it.  This animal has another strange property, known by the experience of a great many old fisherman,  They observes, that for some months the Kraken or Krabben is continually eating, and in other months he always voids his excrements.  During this evacuation the surface of the water is coloured with the excrement, and appears quite thick and turbid.  This muddiness is said to be so very agreeable to the smell and taste of the other Fishes, or to both, that they gather together from all parts to it, and keep for that purpose directly over the Kraken: he then opens his arms, or horns, seizes and swallows his welcome guests, and converts them, after the due time, by digestion, into a bait for other Fish of the same kind.

 

[He later describes accounts of islands appearing and disappearing in the ocean]

Our sailors have concluded this delusion could come from no other than that great deceiver the devil. . . I rather think that this devil, who so suddenly makes and unmakes these floating islands, is nothing else but the Kraken, which some sea-faring people call Soe-draulen, that is , Soe-troddlden, Sea-mischief. . .

Among the rocks about Stockholm there is sometimes seen a certain tract of land, which at other times disappears, and is seen again at another place.  . . .this [island] cannot possibly be any thing else but the Kraken, Krabben, or Soe-horven, improperly places in a map . . .as an island.  Probably the creature keeps himself always about that spot, and often rises up amongst the rocks and cliffs.

. . .

The double account that is here given of a creature that resembles a wheel, separated into rays, or a tree, with such large branches that it cannot get through a channel, seems to agree with the accounts of the Kraken already given, with his many large horns or branches, as it were springing up from its body, which is round.  Both these descriptions confirm my former suspicions, namely, that this Sea-animal belongs to the Polype or Star-fish species . . .It seems to be of that Polypus kind . . .a Star which shoots its rays into branches like those of trees, according to the more exact description just referred to, where I gave it the name of Medusa’s Head.

What I have farther to observe is, that this curl’d fort of Star-fish, with so many branches or rays, is very apt to stick to, and entangle themselves in the weeds and shrubs that grow at the bottom of the sea, and are often drawn up with them by the fishermen.  . . .

 

However this may be, it remains an unquestionable truth, that certain kinds of Polypus’s grow to a monstrous size.  . . .

Lovercraft certainly took this as inspiration for Cthulhu, as he is a miles-high polypus devil, that is accompanied by swarms of fish-people, who sleeps for ages under the sea, and his island R'leyh (reilig means "grave / burying place" in gaelic) appears and disappears mysteriously.  (In the Shadow Over Innsmouth, there  are similarities between the Innsmouth fish people and the CoTF, they are said to be as secretive as creatures that live in burrows, hiding in tunnels underground, and when they get older they go into the sea and join mother Hydra and father Dagon where they have immortality under the greensea (greensee).  The town of Innsmouth seems depopulated but there are swarms of fish-people hiding out of sight, and I think the same is true of the CoTF, Leaf says her people have "gone down into the rock" --I think there are swarms of them hiding out of sight.

Bonus: the word Ib means "to drink" in gaelic, and there were fish people from the Grey Stone City of Ib, and the fish people from Innsmouth drink excessive amounts of liquor. 

 

LmL and @ravenous reader among others have argued that the Kraken sigil of the Greyjoys is an upside down Weirwood, and this seems like pretty solid confirmation that the Kraken/Krabben is the actually the Weirwood.  That the God's Eye Island is a gigantic Kraken and the weirwood grove is the trees that stick up out of the Kraken's back.  Also brings to mind the floating castle/island of the Reeds that appears and disappears. 

The Kraken is also called Krabben, Krake, and Skykraken.  Krake means "a crooked tree" in norwegian.   And in George's story Guardians, a large part of the story is about krakens that launch themselves into the sky to bring down and destroy airships.  And Krake/krage means "crow" in norwegian.   I have posted before about the crabs from the Whisperer in Darkness being weirwoods that live in caves and steal peoples' brains, and all the stuff that from Crackclaw point being a metaphor for weirwoods, with the talking severed heads at the Whispers, and their hero Clarence Crabb uprooting a tree and throwing it into the air, (craobh means tree in gaelic) and he rides an aurauchs which is a bull (or bole).

ETA: and Krakyn means "rook" in Bulgarian.

 

He also says the Kraken might be a star-fish, and star-fish turn to stone after they die.  And the mention of horns upon its back ties it in with the Black Goat.  And the mention of ship's masts upon its back ties it in with Nagga's Ribs.

[Fun Guy from Yuggoth]

 

In the Oxford English Dictionary (1888 ed) the word Greking / Greyking means "dawn" and gryja means "dawn" and krieken means "dawn"  --the whole plot of the Greyjoys being descendants of the Grey King, and their sigil being a kraken came from this entry. 

Dagan means "dawn" in Old Norse, and Daeg means "day" in Anglo-Saxon,

And the Greyjoy house words are a reference to the line from Cthulhu, "That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die"

And many of the Ironborn are fishy (like Dagon Codd), like the Innsmouth fish people.  It makes sense that the Kraken's servitors are fish people.

Also, has anybody thought about the similarities between Gollum and Reek?  Is Theon going to be pivotal in the climax of the story like Gollum was?

 

From the New Annotated Lovecraft footnote about the Kraken/Cthulhu:

"In 'The Dunwich Chimera and Others: Correlating the Cthulhu Mythos,' Will Murray argues that there is only one creature that resembles Cthulhu, the Kraken, the gigantic sea creature first described in Erik Ludvigsen Pontoppidan's The Natural History of Norway (1755): 'It is called the Kraken, Kraxen, or some name it Krabben, that word being applied by way of eminences to this creature, which is round, flat, and full of arms, or branches.'  According to legend, there were only two such creatures, nearly immortal and said to rise with the apocalypse. 

 

Round, full of branches, immortal, rises (from under the sea) with the apocalypse.  Called "Krabben" and in gaelic craobh means "tree".  and krieken means "dawn"  --and an upside down squid looks like a tree.

"lesser gods such as the Crab King and the Old Man of the River—to put aside their bickering and join together to sing a secret song that brought back the day. "

The Crab King was one of the gods that brought the Dawn.  And Clarence Crabb was a mythical giant who rode a bull (bole) and uprooted trees and threw them.

 

Does anybody have a copy of Lovecraft Studies Issue #8?  There is no fulltext online, and that is the issue that mentions the background about the Kraken legend.

[Moiraine Sedai]

The northmen and rivermen are the historical enemies of the ironborn. The ironborn won the first round when they took WF and MC. Ramsay beat them and won the second round for the north. I guess Euron will do something to lay some pain on the north in the next round.  

[Targaryeninkingslanding]

20 minutes ago, Moiraine Sedai said:

The northmen and rivermen are the historical enemies of the ironborn. The ironborn won the first round when they took WF and MC. Ramsay beat them and won the second round for the north. I guess Euron will do something to lay some pain on the north in the next round.  

 

The Crow's Eye doesn't seem content to attack just the northmen and the rivers. He plans to conquer the seven kingdoms, and is currently occupying the shield isles of the reach, so if anything his next course of action will be to take on the Redwyne fleet to have full naval superiority. the reach and the wastelands are still relatively un-plundered, so I expect that to be his next target. Depending on how things go with Vic in Meereen, Euron may not have time to care about the north and riverlands as much, especially during the winter.

[Targaryeninkingslanding]

Hey @Odin's Beard I was wondering if you had any options about the Antithesis of the drowned god, the storm god, which in the iron born tradiiton is the source of Crows... or was it ravens... well this question might be better off being a post in itself, but It felt on topic enough to try asking