Down through the ages, our world’s oceans have spawned tales of monstrous sea creatures. None are more infamous than the legendary kraken. This squid-like leviathan, with its massive tentacles and insatiable appetite, has captured the imagination of sailors, fishermen, writers, and artists for centuries.
The origins of the kraken myth are uncertain, but its presence in folklore can be traced back at least to ancient civilizations. Facing the unknown perils of the sea, mariners often found solace in explaining mysterious phenomena with stories of fearsome creatures lurking beneath the waves. Whether real or imagined, the kraken served as a cautionary tale, reminding seafarers of the dangers that awaited them on their voyages.
Historical descriptions of the kraken
Throughout history, various accounts of the kraken have been recorded by scholars and explorers. The philosophers Aristotle and Pliny the Elder both described encounters with giant squid-like creatures in their writings. However, their accounts were probably based on hearsay more than on fact. The kraken legend, as we know it today, began to take shape much later, primarily in Nordic cultures.
The first detailed descriptions of the Kraken appeared in the 18th century. One such account comes from Bishop Erich Pontoppidan, a Danish theologian and naturalist who published his encyclopedic The Natural History of Norway in 1751. Pontoppidan meticulously documented the flora and fauna of Norway, including a section dedicated to the kraken.
Bishop Pontoppidan described the kraken as a monstrous creature that was miles in circumference, capable of engulfing entire ships
Drawing on local lore and fanciful stories, Pontoppidan described the kraken as a monstrous creature that was miles in circumference, capable of engulfing entire ships and creating whirlpools so vast it could drag down even the largest vessels. He claimed the kraken surfaced only rarely, and when it did, it created such a disturbance in the water that it resembled a new island emerging from the sea.
Other naturalists of the period added their own embellishments. French zoologist Pierre Denys-Montfort, for instance, published an illustration of a kraken attacking a ship in his early 19th-century scientific work Natural History, General and Particular of the Mollusc. His artistic depiction titled Le Poulpe Colossal (above left), along with Pontoppidan’s vivid descriptions, helped solidify the image of the kraken in the public imagination.
Kraken the books
The Kraken’s influence extends beyond historical accounts, permeating world literature and popular culture to this day. In Victor Hugo’s novel Toilers of the Sea, the kraken is portrayed as a formidable adversary to the protagonist, Gilliatt. Jules Verne featured the kraken in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, whose narrator describes “a devilfish so large a whole cavalry regiment could maneuver on it.” In 1830, Alfred, Lord Tennyson published a sonnet titled “The Kraken”. And in his 1850 classic, Moby Dick, Herman Melville referred to “the great Kraken of Bishop Pontoppodan” with arms “twisting like a nest of anacondas”. These literary works, along with countless others, have helped solidify the man-eating cephalopod’s status as an iconic sea monster.
Bishop Pontoppidan and the kraken myth
While earlier accounts mentioned giant squid-like creatures, it was Bishop Erich Pontoppidan’s The Natural History of Norway that cemented the kraken legend in popular consciousness. Pontoppidan, though a respected scholar, likely embellished mariner’s stories to create a more dramatic narrative. His detailed descriptions, including the kraken’s immense size and ability to create whirlpools, became the blueprint for future depictions of the creature.
The following passages from Pontoppidan’s Natural History of Norway offers a fascinating glimpse into the origins of the kraken myth and the details that continue to inspire maritime artists and storytellers to this day.—editor
The Natural History of Norway
by Right Rev’d. Erich Pontoppidan, Bishop of Bergen in Norway, and Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Copenhagen
Part II, Chapter VIII
I am now come to the third and indisputably the largest sea monster in the world; it is called Kraken, Kraxen, or, as some name it, Krabben, that word being applied by way of eminence to this creature. This last name seems indeed best to agree with the description of this creature, which is round, flat, and full of arms, or branches. Others call it also Horven, or Soe-horven, and some Anker-trold. Among all the foreign writers, both ancient and modern, which I have had the opportunity to consult on this subject, not one of them seems to know much of this creature, or at least to have a just idea of it. What they say however of floating islands, as they apprehended them to be, (a thing improbable that they should exist in the wild tumultuous ocean) shall afterwards be spoken of, and will be found applicable without any hyperbole to this creature, when I shall have first given some account of it. This I shall do according to what has been related to me by my correspondents, and what I have otherwise collected by an industrious enquiry and examination into every particular, concerning which I could receive intelligence.
When they (Nordic fishermen) have reached the usual depth of the place, and find themselves out of danger, they lie upon their oars, and in a few minutes after they see 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 a half in circumference (some say more, but I choose the least for greater certainty), looks at 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 until they roll off into the water from the sides of it; at last several bright points or horns appear, which grow thicker and thicker the higher they rise above the surface of the water, and sometimes they stand up as high and as large as the masts of middle-siz’d vessels.
Our fishermen unanimously affirm, and without the least variation in their accounts, that when they row out several miles to sea, particularly in the hot Summer days, and by their situation (which they know by taking a view of certain points of land) expect to find 80 or 100 fathoms of water, it often happens that they do not find above 20 or 30, and sometimes less. At these places, they generally find the greatest plenty of fish, especially Cod and Ling. Their lines, they say, are no sooner out than they may draw them up with the hooks all full of fish; by this, they judge that the Kraken is at the bottom. They say this creature causes those unnatural shallows mentioned above and prevents their sounding. These the fishermen are always glad to find, looking upon them as a means of their taking an abundance of fish. There are sometimes twenty boats or more got together, and throwing out their lines at a moderate distance from each other; and the only thing they then have to observe is, whether the depth continues the same, which they know by their lines, or whether it grows shallower by their seeming to have less water. If this last be the case, they find that the Kraken is raising himself nearer the surface, and then it is not time for them to stay any longer; they immediately leave off fishing, take to their oars, and get away as fast as they can.
TRIVIA: Where does the phrase “Release the Kraken!” come from?
A: This catch phrase originates from the 1981 fantasy adventure film “Clash of the Titans” when Zeus (Laurence Olivier) orders Poseidon to release this underwater menace to destroy the city of Argos. The saying was widely popularized by the movie’s 2010 reboot, starring Liam Neeson as Zeus. In street terms, it means “to open a can of whoop-ass.”
It seems these are the creature’s 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 everything down with it, like the current of the river Male, which has been described in its proper place.
As this enormous sea-animal in all probability may be reckoned 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 feeling 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 fishermen. They observe, 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 colored with the excrement, and appears quite thick and turbid. This muddiness is said to be so very agreeable to the smell or taste of 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. I relate what is affirmed by many; but I cannot give so certain assurances of this particular, as I can of the existence of this surprising creature; though I do not find anything in it absolutely contrary to nature. As we can hardly expect an opportunity to examine this enormous sea-animal alive, I am the more concerned that nobody embraced that opportunity which, according to the following account, once did, and perhaps never more may offer, of seeing it entire when dead. The reverend Mr. Friis, consistorial assessor, minister of Bodø in Norway, and vicar of the college for promoting Christian knowledge, gave me at the latter end of last year, when he was at Bergen, this relation; which I deliver again on his credit.
In the year 1680 a Krake (perhaps a young and careless one) came into the water that runs between the rocks and cliffs in the parish of Alstahaug, though the general custom of that creature is to keep always several leagues from land, and therefore of course they must die there. It happened that its extended long arms, or antennae, which this creature seems to use like the Snail, in turning about, caught hold of some trees standing near the water, which might easily have been torn up by the roots; but beside this, as it was found afterwards, he entangled himself in some openings or clefts in the rock, and therein stuck so fast, and hung so unfortunately, that he could not work himself out, but perished and putrefied on the spot. The carcass, which was a long while decaying, and filled a great part of that narrow channel, made it almost impassable by its intolerable stench.
The Kraken has never been known to do any great harm, except they have taken away the lives of those who consequently could not bring the tidings. I have never heard but one instance mentioned, which happened a few years ago near Fredrikstad, in the diocese of Aggerhus. They say that two fishermen accidentally, and to their great surprise, fell into such a spot on the water as has been before described, full of a thick slime, almost like a morass. They immediately strove to get out of this place, but they had not time to turn quick enough to save themselves from one of the Kraken’s horns, which crushed the head of the boat so, that it was with great difficulty they saved their lives on the wreck, though the weather was as calm as possible; for these monsters, like the Sea-snake, never appear at other times.