Selkie

## Physical Description

The only named selkie in the canon is Oura Selich, and she appears largely humanoid, but she always appears topless, revealing her upper chest and the scar over it. She also wore her seal skin draped around her neck like a cape while in human form.

## Characteristics (culture, habits)

Oura is Queen of the selkies/the finfolk seal-shifters. Augus Each Uisge noted that 'it was a more cut-throat world beneath the sea', which might help explain Oura's sharpness, or the viscous scar on her torso, and which implies that the finfolk world is likely dangerous.

Gwyn ap Nudd watched 'selkies dancing in the foamy spray' of a sea he was near during *Unwound*, so it's possible they enjoy playing around, though Gwyn 'wondered if their life was any bit as carefree as they made it seem.'

## Folklore/Mythology

'In Norse and Celtic mythology, selkies (also spelled *silkies*, *sylkies*, *selchies*) or selkie folk (Scots: *selkie fowk*) meaning "seal folk" are mythological beings capable of therianthropy, changing from seal to human form by shedding their skin. They are found in folktales and mythology originating from the Northern Isles of Scotland.

The folk-tales frequently revolve around female selkies being coerced into relationships with humans by someone stealing and hiding their sealskin, thus exhibiting the tale motif of the swan maiden type.

. . . In Orkney lore, *selkie* is said to denote various seals of greater size than the grey seal; only these large seals are credited with the ability to shapeshift into humans, and are called "selkie folk". The type of large seals that might have been seen on the islands include the Greenland seal (also known as the Harp Seal) and the crested seal (also known as the hooded seal). Something similar is stated in Shetland tradition, that the mermen and mermaids prefer to assume the shape of larger seals, referred to as "Haaf-fish".

. . . A typical folk-tale is that of a man who steals a female selkie's skin, finds her naked on the sea shore, and compels her to become his wife. But the wife will spend her time in captivity longing for the sea, her true home, and will often be seen gazing longingly at the ocean. She may bear several children by her human husband, but once she discovers her skin, she will immediately return to the sea and abandon the children she loved. Sometimes, one of her children discovers or knows the whereabouts of the skin. Sometimes it is revealed she already had a first husband of her own kind.

. . . Male selkies are described as being very handsome in their human form, and having great seductive powers over human women. They typically seek those who are dissatisfied with their lives, such as married women waiting for their fishermen husbands.

. . . The folk-tale "*Selshamurinn*" ("The Seal-Skin") published by Jón Árnason offers an Icelandic analogue of the selkie folk tale. The tale relates how a man from Mýrdalur forced a woman transformed from a seal to marry him after taking possession of her seal-skin. She discovers the key to the chest in her husband's usual clothes when he dresses up for a Christmas outing, and the seal woman is reunited with the male seal who was her betrothed partner.

. . . A famous selkie story from the Faroe Islands is *The Legend of Kópakonan,* Kópakonan literally meaning "seal woman." The story tells of a young farmer from the village of Mikladalur who, after learning about the local legend that seals could come ashore and shed their skins once a year on the Thirteenth Night, goes to see for himself. While laying in wait, the man watches as many seals swim to shore, shedding their skin to reveal their human forms. The farmer takes the skin of a young selkie woman, who, unable to return to the water without her skin, is forced to follow the young man back to his farm and become his wife. The two stay together for many years, even producing several children. The man locks the selkie woman's skin in a chest, keeping the key to the lock on his person at all times, so his wife may never gain access. However, one day the man forgets his key at home, and comes back to his farm to find that his selkie wife has taken her skin and returned to the ocean. Later, when the farmer is out on a hunt, he kills the selkie woman's selkie husband and two selkie sons. Enraged, the selkie woman promises vengeance for her lost kin. She exclaims that "some shall be drowned, some shall fall from cliffs and slopes, and this shall continue, until so many men have been lost that they will be able to link arms around the whole island of Kalsoy." Deaths that occur on the island are thought to be due to the selkie woman's curse.'

Irish merrows are also sometimes regarded as seal-women.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 not\_poignant. “Game Theory.” *Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 31 January 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/915296/chapters/2363349. Chapter 39: Alone.
2. ↑ not\_poignant. “Unwound.” *The Fae Tales Verse - canon extras. Archive of Our Own,* 25 July 2016. https://archiveofourown.org/works/7562599/chapters/17251441. Chapter 2: II.
3. ↑ "Selkie". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selkie. Accessed 22 May 2021.