Cthulhu, Kalevala and legendary sea monster Iku-Turso

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VITRIOL
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Cthulhu, Kalevala and legendary sea monster Iku-Turso

Post by VITRIOL »

Hello, this is my first contribution to this forum and I think some of Lovecraft Mythos fans may find this interesting.

Some of you propably might be familiar with the legendary sea creature which is featured in Finnish national epic Kalevala and I just couldn't help not to notice the strong resemblence to Cthulhu
I thought I would share this with all Lovecraft's mythos fans.

The monster which I'm talking about bears strong resemblence to Cthulhu.
It is called "the eternal Turso"; also known as Iki-Turso, Iku-Tursas, Iki-Tursas, Meritursas, plain Tursas or Turisas.

The next text part is from Kalevala ( Finnish national epic ) and it takes place when the old Iku-Turso is summoned by evil sorcerer Louhi, the Lady of the North, to stop the theft of the magical artifact named Sampo.
Wainamoinen, mighty sorcerer, the leader of the plunderers, casts Iku-Turso back to the bottom of sea by his magical words.

Wainamoinen, brave and mighty,
Seizes quick the water-monster,
Lifts him by his ears and questions:
"Iku-Turso, son of Old-age,
Why art rising from the blue-sea?
Wherefore dost thou leave thy castle,
Show thyself to mighty heroes,
To the heroes of Wainola?"


Iku-Turso, son of Old-age,
Ocean monster, manifested
Neither pleasure, nor displeasure,
Was not in the least affrighted,
Did not give the hero answer.


Whereupon the ancient minstrel,
Asked the second time the monster,
Urgently inquired a third time:
"Iku-Turso, son of Old-age,
Why art rising from the waters,
Wherefore dost thou leave the blue-sea?
Iku-Turso gave this answer:
For this cause I left my castle
Underneath the rolling billows:
Came I here with the intention
To destroy the Kalew-heroes,
And return the magic Sampo
To the people of Pohyola.
If thou wilt restore my freedom,
Spare my life, from pain and sorrow,
I will quick retrace my journey,
Nevermore to show my visage
To the people of Wainola,
Never while the moonlight glimmers
On the hills of Kalevala!"



Then the singer, Wainamoinen,
Freed the monster, Iku-Turso,
Sent him to his deep sea-castles,
Spake these words to him departing:
"Iku-Turso, son of Old-age,
Nevermore arise from ocean,
Nevermore let Northland-heroes
See thy face above the waters I
Nevermore has Iku-Turso
Risen to the ocean-level;
Never since have Northland sailors
Seen the head of this sea-monster.



Now lets move to comparing the similitaries in appearance of Iku-Turso and Cthulhu.
Tursas means octopus in Finnish, and it has been named after Iku-Turso [ The Eternal Turisas ]
Cthulhu is also described to have similar appearance ( Tentacles, etc. )
Both are considered to be eternal, Iku-Turso has not been seen in the Northland since Wainamoinen cast him back to the depths of ocean ( alternatively to his "Sea-Castle" as the texts say ) Cthulhu also has been dreaming in the lost city of R'lyeh for quite some time now.

Kalevala also shortly describes the appearance of Iku-Turso:

From the ocean rose a giant,
Mighty Tursas, tall and hardy,


Iku-Turso was also believed to be a god of war, and to be summoned to aid in battles.
In the list of Tavastian false gods ( Epejumalat monet tesse muinen palveltin caucan ja lesse 1551 ) by Michael Agricola, he is mentioned as the god of war indicated by this phrase:
Turisas voiton antoi sodast (Turisas brought victory in war).
Iku-Turso was also believed to be the father of all diseases.

If you made this all through, I hope I was able to shed some light to one of the Cthulhu's most analogous monsters I've come across and I certainly wouldn't mind see Kalevala mentioned in some fan-made novel :-D !
Cheers.
PS. I'm also sorry for my English, it isn't my native language so there might be some elementary mistakes in the text ]
meenween
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Post by meenween »

Lovecraft was no slouch on his History, Science, Religion, Mythology, Folklore, Math, Archeology, Anthropology............... He probably stumbled across the Finnish folklore/legend and wove his own story of Cthulhu----- good find though-- lets just hope that neither Cthulhu or Iki-Turso rise from their slumber!!
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