Kraken (Folklore & Mythology)

Hello guys it is Friday and that means it’s time for a monster from folklore or mythology. This one is a request but I’ve forgotten who requested it actually! Oops. Anyway this is the Kraken!

The Kraken is a giant Octopus with a bad attitude. It was first described in 1752/53 by the Danish bishop Erik Pontoppidan. Descriptions of creatures like the Kraken reach much further back though, at least as far back as Norse sagas. 

Back in the day it was said that if fishermen knew when the Kraken was nearby. They knew if they went to fish places where the water used to be several hundred meters deep but only was 40-40 meters deep. This meant that the Kraken was there and so the fishermen quickly finished their job and went home, because even though the Kraken attracted a lot of fish it was said to be able to pull even the biggest battleship into the depths. The legend of the Kraken is said to be based on encounters with the giant squid which itself was considered a myth until the Dane Johan Steenstrup proved that giant squid existed after he was told a dead Kraken was washed up the beach in Northern Denmark.

The kraken is a very popular monster and has appeared in a lot of popular fiction. It has for example been in Clash of the Titans and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and the creature outside the Mines of Moria in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings was based off the Kraken!