Today, I’ll be discussing a mythological being I found out about a while back. It is called the Fylgja. The Fylgja is a guardian spirit of Norse mythology. They carry a connection to a person or sometimes family and protect or prevent harm from befalling its human. Fylgjur usually appear to their person in the shape of a woman or an animal. While researching this, I read that they are most often seen in the animal form during sleep; although, they could be awake, but if one were to see their fylgja, it is an omen of their encroaching death. Though, when the fylgjur appear as women, they are looked on as guardians, which is fascinating since valkyrjur (valkyries) were also females that would appear to the Vikings in female shape and lead the men to Valhalla. Valkyrjur were also connected with animals.
I’ve been very intrigued by this subject ever since Elizabeth Black guest blogged at The Deadly Vixens (a paranormal blog I used to be part of) about different mythological creatures that are out there for paranormal authors to partake in that step outside the norms of vampires, werewolves, and ghosts, which I love so much. I couldn’t imagine not writing about these more common mythological creatures, but I’ve decided to eventually write a novel on the fylgja. I definitely plan on dipping into how the fylgjur and valkyrjur’s similarities, but that’ll have to wait until next week! I can’t give too much away so soon, can I?
Some great links to find out more about fylgja are:
http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/mythology/text/Supernatural_Beings.htm
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/222990/fylgja
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fylgja
What do you think about this topic regarding fylgja? What are some mythological creatures that you’ve heard about recently that delve outside of the normal of the paranormal genre that you really enjoy or that you’d like to find more information about? Let me know! =)
Bye twitter, hello Bluesky and Netgalley
4 days ago
As a writer of urban fantasy, I am definitely intrigued by characters that step outside the trinity of vampire/werewolf/ghost (and the occasional witch/wizard). The hero of my first novel is a zombie, and there is a sequel being written about him as well. I'm doing quite a bit of research in 'other' mythological beings for future works. I do love vampires, but they've been 'done to death'!!!
ReplyDeleteLenore Butcher
Thanks for the comment, Lenore! I love werewolves and shapeshifters of all kinds. I have to say they're one of my favorites. That's really neat that your hero is a zombie. I have some zombies in a couple of my novels, but they follow the more mindless path.
ReplyDeleteI agree that vampires have been "done to death," but I guess the reason that's happened is because they are so popular. By the way, the "done to death" phrasing was really funny. hehe