Kraken

The kraken is a legendary sea monster said to live in the Norwegian Sea near Norway. People have imagined it as a huge cephalopod, similar to a giant squid or octopus. Stories about the kraken go back many years, with sailors telling tales of it pulling ships underwater.

The idea of the kraken may have started from real sightings of very large giant squid, which can grow up to 10.5 metres long. Writers and explorers from different countries wrote about it over time. One of the first detailed descriptions came from a Danish bishop in 1753, who called it a giant octopus known for attacking ships.

Famous writers like Victor Hugo and Jules Verne also included the kraken in their stories, helping to make it a well-known part of sea legends. Even scientists like Carl Linnaeus may have written about creatures that people later called "krakens." The kraken remains one of the most famous monsters of the deep sea.

Etymology

The word "kraken" comes from Norwegian, where it means a large sea monster. The root of the word is krake, which originally described a crooked or overgrown tree. Over time, this word was used to describe tools and objects shaped like crooked tree trunks, such as anchors. The name "kraken" likely came from these descriptions, as the monster was thought to look like a large, tangled tree or a creature with many arms, much like a cephalopod.

Early names for the kraken included words like horven, meaning "the harrow," and other terms such as søe-horv and krabbe. In Swedish and German, the word krake has also been used to name types of octopuses, showing how the legend influenced everyday language.

General description

The kraken was a legendary sea monster said to appear near Norway. Sailors and writers described it as a giant creature with many arms. Some thought it might be a huge octopus, while others guessed it could be a giant crab or starfish.

One writer in 1884 said the kraken could make the sea floor look higher, attracting lots of fish. Fishermen believed that if they saw the kraken rising, they should row away quickly, as the monster could appear with tall tentacles and even create a swirling danger in the water.

Historical descriptions

One of the earliest possible mentions of a creature similar to the kraken appears on a map from 1539 by Swedish writer Olaus Magnus. The map, called the Carta marina, shows sea monsters in the Norwegian Sea. One looks like a fish with tentacles, and another like a fish with tusks. Magnus described these monsters as having huge eyes and fierce appearances.

The first known use of the word “kraken” was in a Norwegian glossary from 1646 by Christen Jensøn. He described the kraken as a sea monster with many arms strong enough to pull boats into the deep water. Later writers added to the legend, describing the kraken as a giant creature that could cover entire areas of the sea and even pull large ships underwater.

Mythical identifications

Hafgufa

Main article: Hafgufa

The kraken is sometimes thought to be the same as the hafgufa, a huge sea monster from old stories. Early writers thought the kraken and hafgufa were the same creature. The hafgufa was said to live in the Greenland Sea and even near Baffin Island in Canada.

Some people believe the hafgufa might actually have been a whale, based on old descriptions. Others think the stories of the hafgufa could have come from seeing real large sea animals. The old stories also mentioned other strange sea creatures, adding to the mystery of these legends.

Taxonomic identifications

Erik Pontoppidan wrote about a possible young kraken that washed ashore in 1680 near Alstahaug Church on the island of Alsta, Norway. He described it as having long "arms" and guessed it might have crawled like a snail. Some scientists later thought this could have been a giant squid.

In 1802, French scientist Pierre Denys de Montfort described two types of giant octopuses. He believed one type could attack ships, while the other was even larger. Stories of giant sea creatures often mixed facts with imagination.

Later discoveries of real giant squid helped explain the kraken legend. In 1861, a French ship found a huge squid, and in 1873, fishermen in Conception Bay in Newfoundland caught parts of another giant squid. These finds showed that very large squid do exist and may have inspired tales of the kraken.

Iconography

The kraken has been shown in many different ways in art. One famous drawing is by Denys-Montfort, who drew a huge octopus attacking ships. Some pictures show the kraken with spikes or horns. There are also old maps, like the Carta marina by Olaus Magnus from 1539, which show strange sea creatures that some people think might be the kraken. These pictures include lobster-like monsters and big fish, adding to the mystery and imagination surrounding the legendary sea beast.

Taxonomical influences

The famous Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus described a strange creature called Microcosmus in his book Systema Naturae in 1735. Linnaeus mentioned different large sea creatures in his work, including a giant whale called hafgufa and a big sea creature named monstrum marinum. Later, the word kraken was added to a later edition of Linnaeus's book.

An English writer named Thomas Pennant wrote about large octopuses, and another writer, William Turton, included these in an English version of Linnaeus's book. This helped spread stories about the kraken in England in the 1800s, inspiring poems like Tennyson's "The Kraken".

Main article: Mark McMenamin § Triassic kraken

Paleontologist Mark McMenamin suggested that an ancient giant cephalopod, similar to the kraken, might have been involved in events that affected sea reptiles called ichthyosaurs during the Triassic Period, though many scientists have questioned this idea.

Literary influences

The French writer Victor Hugo talked about the kraken in his book Les Travailleurs de la mer from 1866, calling it pieuvre. This idea influenced another famous writer, Jules Verne, who wrote about the kraken in his book Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas. Verne also used real stories, like one from a French ship called Alecton, where they saw something that looked like a giant squid.

In English books, Alfred Tennyson wrote a poem called The Kraken in 1830, and Herman Melville mentioned squid in his novel Moby-Dick.

Modern use

The legend of the Kraken remains popular today, appearing in many books, movies, TV shows, and video games. Notable examples include The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham, the Kraken in Marvel Comics, the 1981 film Clash of the Titans and its 2010 remake, and the Seattle Kraken hockey team. It also appears in video games like Sea of Thieves, God of War II, Return of the Obra Dinn, and Dredge. In the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, the Kraken is the pet of Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and At World's End. In George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series and its TV adaptations, Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, the kraken is the symbol of House Greyjoy.

Two features in space have been named after the Kraken: Kraken Mare, a large sea on Saturn's moon Titan, and Kraken Catena, a chain of craters on Neptune's moon Triton.