Halloween Monster Mash Up!

Time for a little Halloween fun with some monsters!

Our featured monster: The Kraken

 

The Kraken is one of your more famous and popular of the sea monsters and originates from Nordic folklore and legends. It is generally described as squid-like or octopus-shaped, certainly a tentacled creature of some sort, massive in size and with a taste for human flesh. Legends often have the beast attacking and sinking ships, either by damaging them or conjuring a maelstrom or whirlpool to drag them down into the depths (presumably where it would feast on the sailors for lunch).  The most famous account of the Kraken was written in 1180 by King Sverre of Norway, a tale generally thought to have been inspired by a real life sighting of a giant squid.

It has also made appearances in several movies, including Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, and both Clash of the Titans (1981 and 2010) flicks.

Variations of the Kraken also show up quite a bit in literature as well with such works as Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s irregular sonnet, The Kraken, Terry Brooks’ novel The Wishsong of Shannara, Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton, and even a cameo in the A Song of Ice and Fire saga by George R. R. Martin as the sigil of House Greyjoy.

And now, of course, there is only one thing left to say…

 

Release the Kraken!