#agnete and the sea king

[marine-indie-gal]

Inktober 2024 Day 30: Agnete and The Merman

A Danish Folktale Ballad found in "The Types of the Scandinavian Medieval Ballad" about a Sea King who fell in love with a Woman from Land.

Agnete was already a Married Woman & had children but when she meets a Merman one day, A Sad and Lonely Sea King who he falls deeply in love, asks her to join him under the sea to be his own Queen. So Agnete left the land & her First Family behind as she married a New Husband & bore him his Children. However, their Marriage would be very short lived when she hears the loud bells of Church & leaves her Merfolk Husband behind to return to her Real Family.

In some versions of this Story, she does either return to the Sea (even for a few visits when you have Two Different Families).

Agnete & The Merman (c) Danish Folklore

[solncalych]

[quintusenniusfidelis]

Agneta and the Sea King, by Helena Nyblom (1910)

Illustration by John Bauer

[odium-amare]

The Origin of Elves and Human Relationships in the High Fantasy Genre: The Elfin Knight and Scarborough Fair

The mental gymnastics male Tolkien fans go through to justify why there were only Female Elves x Human Men marriages in Tolkien’s work on reddit or other Tolkien platforms never fail to amuse and amaze me.

The general argument for why there were so many female elves and human men couples in The Silmarillion and Lord of the Rings and not the other way around was because Tolkien focused on old Celtic Mythology where the supernatural partner was often a woman (faery queen, female elf, female dryad, female fae, etc.) 

Second justification was because the human men in Tolkien had more of a “higher purpose” than human women (who were stuck at home doing “women’s chores” and did not need to go out on adventures to meet elves and fight battles.

Third argument was that female elves like rugged men and male elves also like beauty therefore both males of both species would go after elven women and not care for human women who eventually age and would grow “ugly.”

The second argument derived from ignorance and misogyny in male infested writing so it’s not a proper or real argument. With proper research into Celtic folklore that was written since around the 1400s-1600s and looking at the old Celtic/Scottish ballads and Nordic Mythology that influenced Tolkien’s writing, human women did play many vital roles and had A LOT of encounters (romantic or otherwise) with non-human men - Not just human men and supernatural women. If Tolkien wanted, there were a lot of stories with elven men (or fae) with human women he could have EASILY incorporated into his universe and made FANTASTIC stories out of them. 

The third argument was once again not a proper argument or reasoning. It was simply incel logic (or lack thereof) which I would not bother addressing

Frankly, the reason why there were more elven women and human men in Tolkien’s universe was because Tolkien was literally self inserting himself and his real life relationship with his wife (whom he saw as beautiful and a higher level than him) mirroring Beren/Luthien and Aragorn/Arwen’s power dynamics.  Tolkien was a guy and like most guys, fantasize the idea very hot, exotic women. Female elves were supposedly more exotic, magical and beautiful than human women. Naturally, he preferred to write average/plain men getting the hot chick than if the genders were to be reversed.  That’s it. There’s no deeper meaning to it. 

So let’s dive deep into Celtic Folklore/ballads, Nordic and German myths. 

The song “Scarborough Fair” was one of the most classic, timeless songs there was - did you know had another name and story of its own?

What’s funny is that people often used this song for a lot of LOTR and Fantasy music videos.

Its other name was called “The Elfin Knight.” 

This ballad had been collected around parts of England, Scotland, Canada and America.  Its oldest version was found in circa (1600-1650.)

An elven man threatened to carry off a young, mortal woman unless she could perform specific tasks for him:

There stands three trumpeters on yon hill Blaw, blaw, blaw winds, blaw Blaw their trumpets sae loud and shrill And the wind blaws aye my plaid awa'Gin I'd his trumpet in my kist Blaw, blaw, blaw winds, blaw And were in the lad's arms that I like best And the wind blaws aye my plaid awa'Gin ye would be wed wi' me Blaw, blaw, blaw winds, blaw There's ae thing ye maun dae for me And the wind blaws aye my plaid awa'I maun hae a fine linen sark Blaw, blaw, blaw winds, blaw Without a stitch o' needlewark And the wind blaws aye my plaid awa'Ye maun wash it in yon draw-well Blaw, blaw, blaw winds, blaw Where water never sprang nor fell And the wind blaws aye my plaid awa'Ye maun drt't on yon hawthorn Blaw, blaw, blaw winds, blaw That hasna seen blossom since man…

There were many versions of this song and in some versions, it’s the elf who designated impossible tasks for a human woman if she wanted to marry him. She in turn would also reply that he must complete impossible tasks himself if he wanted to marry her.

Scarborough Fair had been officially said that it was the same song as The Elfin Knight but with a different name. This song could be interpreted more romantically and melancholically about lost/unrequited love.

In other versions, by the end of the song, the elf said he could not marry her because he had a wife and 7 sons.

Ballads related or connected to The Elfin Knight/Scarborough Fair were the famous tales such as Tam Lin, Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight and believe it or not, Beauty and the Beast.

Beauty and the Beast (the fairytale) was literally influenced by The Elfin Knight and Tam Lin. 

On to some of Norse Mythology. 

Agnete and the Sea King is a sculpture you will see in Denmark. It’s a well known story in Scandinavian culture about a beautiful merman seducing a young, human girl pulling her down to sea to live with him as his queen. She bore him 7 sons before she ran back to the human world abandoning her merman husband and their 7 children.

Notice how in both the Elfin Knight and the Sea King folklore, 7 was always the number for children.  Who else had 7 sons? Fëanor.

7 had been the fairytale number for kids for a long time and in both folktales involved human women with non-human men. 

Even in the Tolkien universe, the FIRST elf x human relationship ever was Aegnor and Andreth (male elf and human woman.) Those two existed way before Beren/Luthien or Tuor/Idril did.

One of the most fascinating and meaningful discussions that took place in Tolkien’s verse was Finrod and Andreth debating on elves and men and their destinies (a historically significant elf and a significant human woman) that arguably was one of the contributors to Finrod helping Beren/Luthien’s missions. 

If you interpret Caranthir/Haleth romantically, that also took place way before any human man and female elf relationships did.