Nuckelavee

 

Nuckelavee is a prominent figure in the folklore of the Orkney Islse, Scotland. He is the most evil and malevolent of all the unseelie fae folk, more comparable to a demon than anything else. Nuckelavee would spend most of his time resting in the sea, only occasionally venturing onto land to torment people.

Nuckelavee had the appearance of a horse with a human torso emerging out of its back, like a mutated rider who had merge with their horse. The whole monster was skinless, every muscle and sinew showing. Nuckelavee's body was covered in yellow pulsing veins which carried black blood. The human torso was quite misshapen too. The head was massive, too big for the neck and would roll side to side as Nuckelavee walked. Nuckelavee's arms were so long that even positioned on horse back would reach all the way to the ground. The most terrifying detail was that Nuckelavee had one singular eye that would glow like a lantern through even the thickest night and fog. Although it's not clear if this single eye was on the horse's head or the human head. As Nuckelavee wandered the land his horse head would breath out a noxious, suffocating cloud of gas, leaving a trail of miasma wherever he went. It was believed that this was simply the form Nuckelavee took on land, and that he had a different form at sea, but no one knew what it was. Nuckelavee was consider to be a unique being with no others of his kind, which was one small mercy for the people of the Orkneys.

It's believed the origins of Nuckelavee come from a mixing of Celtic and Norse folklore found on the Orkneys. Nuckelavee combining the horse like appearance of Celtic water spirits like the each uisge with the more humanoid appearance of Germanic water spirits like the nokk or neck. His appearance and behavior became especially nasty due to the harsh conditions of living on the Orkney Isles.

Nuckelavee was capable of inflicting many kinds of torment on the people of the Orkneys. He could control the weather, and was equally capable of causing damaging storms as he was to bringing drought and drying out the isles, withering the crops. Nuckelavee was also responsible for spreading disease. One disease known as mortesheen came directly from Nuckelavee, possibly from the noxious gases he was known to breath out. Mortesheen would infect all sorts of livestock, but especially horses, and cause them to waste away and die. In addition to mortesheen Nuckelavee was blamed for pretty much every disease which came to the Orkneys, infecting both humans and animal.

In addition to inflicting suffering from afar Nuckelavee would also come onto land and attack victims directly. If you were unlucky enough to encounter Nuckelavee on land then he would tear you limb from limb, devour you or drag you off to his layer in the sea. Either way you were in for a violent death.

While everyone was threatned by Nuckelavee, he was especially enraged by the burning of kelp for soda ash. It was believed the smell of the smoke would draw him onto land where he would then wreck havoc. Those people who were involved in kelp burning were most likely to feel Nuckelavee's wrath in the form of blight and disease. Unfortunately soda ash was needed for many things on the Orkney Isles and was an important part of both farming and their economy, so it could hardly be avoided.

The only thing that could truly stop Nuckelavee was the Mither-o-the-Sea, a benevolent being from folklore. She was only active in the summer though, so Nuckelavee was free to wreck havoc in the winter. Nuckelavee however hated fresh water. He wouldn't come on land during rain, and he couldn't cross fresh water. If someone was being pursued by Nuckelavee the only sure way to escape him was to cross a stream or lake of fresh water. Other than fresh water, there was no way to ward him off.

Mercifully, Nuckelavee has stayed in the realm of folklore and legend. Actual belief in a real living Nuckelavee has diminished in modern times but he remains an important part of Orkney culture and folk tails.