I have a character who is a water mage, which means she can...manipulate water. However, due to where she comes from and her people's special relationship with the sea god, I thought it would be cool if she could also summon a sea creature to aid her in battle. Except I can't think what. Does anyone know of any mythical sea creatures that could move on land easily, and might be handy in a scrap?
lol with the imagery you provided, I thought of a tadpole riding the ocean and slowly evolving into man and walking on land for some reason.
How about a saltwater crocodile? Of course there would be a snake-like sea serpent. Most large sea critters are not going to be land-traveling types. It is difficult for a creature to specialize in water travel/life and land life as well. Maybe a large frog critter? You're only limited by your imagination.
you're the writer, so make up your own! unless you just want her to summon neptune himself, to come to her aid...
A seal or sealion (an unusually vicious one) or maybe a polar bear. A sea dragon/serpent/leviathan where your interpretation of the creature allows it to move on land. Capricorn (goat-fish), hydra (it's both a land and sea creature depending on the myth), or the Jörmungandr/Midgard/World serpent (a sea monster that transformed into a large cat).
Go to deviatart and type in sea creature. You will get some ideas by looking at peoples creations of sea creatures. You could also invent your own, but I find looking at art inspires my imagination.
ahem, as the resident mythology buff I can tell you that the human mind is ripe with sea creatures of all manner and proclivities with respect to your question you are asking about one that is as adept on the land as in the water, that is only a slight challenge I however first agree with the others that there is no substitute for a fruitful imagination, and if it were not for bold people creating new fanciful monsters our minds might dry up anyway, here is a short but I think useful list 1)In the Bible there is a brief mention of a terrible beast called the Leviathan (Job). It is poorly described, compared to a gliding or coiling serpent, and its prodigious size is inferred. It is so open to interpretation in regards to appearance and manner that it could be called a literal sea serpent or sea-faring dragon. Both could theoretically be very useful on the land as well. I prefer a sea dragon with wings, that would make it dangerous in the air, on land, and in the sea. No place is safe. 2)The Babylonians in their epic creation tale, the Enuma Elish, have a very similar concept. In their case the sea serpent is a kind of female personification of the sea called Tiamat. She is of course dealt with by the chief Babylonian god Marduk, and this account no doubt heavily influenced the biblical Leviathan. 3)In Scandinavian folklore there is a fearsome foe in the Kraken, a creature usually depicted as a gigantic squid or octopus (and to tell you the truth, the idea of a titanic squid is quite fearsome to me for some primeval reason). As we both know Squids and Octopusus can operate on the land for a while before they begin to dry out. In the classic film "Clash of the Titans" the Kraken appears as a part humanoid sea creature with half of its body submerged in the water. Such a Kraken would be dangerous to anyone on the coasts at least. 4)The creature of the Blue Lagoon is a rather recent take on a humanoid sea creature that is typified by things like mermaids, merrows (celtic), mermen, Greek sea Nymphs, and the like. The semetic god Dagon and the Greek demigod Triton, son of sea god Poseidon are depicted as part man/fish. The Japanese, who have a very rich folkloric tradition in nature and elemental spirits, have a sea monster called the Kappa (singular and plural). They are as small as children in physical form and often have acquatic features like webbed feet and scaly skin. Their activities range from mere pranks like a trickster spirit to demonic like stealing babies and eating adults. Dont worry, no need to fear the Kappa, they love cucumbers, so throw one their way or keep a few outside and they will be likely to thank you when they see you instead of doing something harmful. Many of these spirits, in addition to spending equal or near equal time on the land as well as in water have magical powers and shapeshifting abilities that could aid them upon making landfall. 5)The Sumerian god of crafts (and the sea) had a number of part human/fish servants called the Apkallu, and curiously they were placed in charge of teaching the arts of civilization to men. When the Greek sea god Poseidon was being raised he had nine tutors called the Telchines, most likely pre-Greek Rhodians gods adapted to their sea god. They were quite old, sons of a sea god who ruled the Pontus before the war between the gods and the Titans, and they had, in addition to vast knowledge in things like magic, webbed feet and flippers. Hope I could help, as you can see many people, even non-seafaring people like the Sumerians (who claimed to have come from the sea and have mysterious origins), were obsessed with the sea and had various beasts/monsters/creatures/gods/demidods for them. Let me know how the story develops, I am genuinely curious.
Im glad to see that you love the myths as much as I do, they are so very charming, but I have a small nitpicking issue. Good old Jormungand, the world serpent, encircles the entire world of midgard which has an ocean around it. In that regard the fact that it encircles an ocean is completely incidental and of little significance in and of itself. I also want to clarify an aspect of the cat thing, the sea monster never turned itself into a cat. Im sure that you knew that but others unfamiliar with Norse legend may read it that way. The frost giants tried to trick Thor in a show of might by asking him to lift a cat. Thor (the champion of the gods and the thunder god) tried his very best, he got the cat's back to reach up to the tall ceiling of their hall but he never managed to get all four paws to come off of the floor. Thor was very upset and felt emasculated, but it was eventually revealed, after the giants laughed him and Loki (his travelling companion on that occassion) out of the hall that the giants used magic to disguise a part of Jormungand as a cat. When Thor almost lifted the cat he was literally lifting the world serpent itself, a truly godlike show of strength that made the giants very scared!
Well there's always the sea serpent. If it had legs then it would be helpful on land. Or a water dragon? I once read a book where there was a spell a mage used to create a dragon from water (not that you should copy this, I just thought it was inventive).
That is right, thanks for clearing that up. The concept may still be an inspiration for the original poster to come up with a creature.
I agree. I can spend hours and hours daily reading about 'em. And in fact, I just got a copy of Irish Myth, Legend & Folklore by Lady Gregory and W.B. Yeats. It's great!
How about a really impressive, whizbang, flashy summoning ritual that creates a gigantic whale (odd colouring is optional) that crests the waves for a moment before opening its mouth to swallow your enemies and then vanishes beneath the waves with absolutely no fanfare or extravagance? A horde of stinging jellyfish might make for an effective defense against sneak attacks from swimmers... How abouts sharks, killer whales, aquatic dinosaurs, giant squid, or sunken warships? And there are some particularly nasty poisonous sea creatures too. Everything beneath the surface does not have to remain there when magic is involved...
I picture some kind of water dragon in this situation. Perhaps mainly crocadilian in design but I certainly see huge, imposing wings! My opinion is, whatever you design your creature to be, if you believe in it your readers will too.
Just scrolling through I immediately thought of a giant crab for some reason. This is possibly related to the fact that I have relatives in Louisianna who recently sent us pics of craw fishing, plus what's more disturbing then a crustacean? armored bug like creatures with claws can be pretty disturbing if written right.
Good point, crabs are lethal on land and in the water They are also very creepy looking up close and have been known to get pretty large! (hmmm, I made myself hungry)
At this point I might advise you type cetacea into google and let the world of random facts come spiralling into your life!! Bloomin' fascinating. Who ever would have thought that whales had the same origins as wolves?!? With a little bit of imagination you could be onto something both beautiful, weird and fierce! Enjoy the randomness Oh, and the idea of a crab is AWESOME!!
I like the sea serpent idea, but with only wings and no legs. Crustaceans are also good. Maybe a google image search for 'deep sea creatures' will be inspiring.
