Marid
Also called Mārid.
In Arabian and Islamic folklore, the Marid are the most powerful and prideful class of jinn, rebellious spirits of sea, sky, and ruined places famed for their strength and their reluctance to submit to human masters.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Arabian folkloreIslamic mythology
- Region
- Arabia (place of origin)
- Kind
- Arabian jinn
- Trait family
- The Water-Beckoners
Near this figure
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Form
- Serpentine elongated body
why
in some tellings it takes on a more serpentine or monstrous shape
- Shapeshifts human animal
why
Marids are credited with immense physical strength, the power of flight, and shapeshifting
- Made of smokeless fire
why
The Marid belong to the jinn of Arabian folklore, a class of spirit beings recognized in pre-Islamic Arabian belief and later absorbed into Islamic cosmology, where jinn are described in the Quran as creatures made of smokeless fire.
Behaviour
- Outwitted by a clever trickster rather than force
why
Their most notable myths are the bottled-jinni tales of the Nights, in which a Marid trapped for centuries vows first to reward and then, after too long a wait, to slay whoever frees it, only to be outwitted by a clever human captor.
- Reluctant servitude through magical binding
why
Their defining trait of character is pride: a Marid resents captivity and submission, and where a story requires a jinni to be bound into servitude by a ring, lamp, or bottle, it is the Marid whose enslavement is treated as the greatest feat, since compelling one against its will is said to require rare and exacting magic.
Sight and sound
- Absorbs light appearing pitch black
why
often smoke-formed or shadow-black
Offensive powers
- Superhuman strength
why
Marids are credited with immense physical strength, the power of flight, and shapeshifting, and in some tellings with granting wishes or performing impossible tasks once bound to a human master, as in the tale of the fisherman and the Marid confined in a bottle from the Nights.
Utility powers
- Shapeshifting
why
Marids are credited with immense physical strength, the power of flight, and shapeshifting, and in some tellings with granting wishes or performing impossible tasks once bound to a human master, as in the tale of the fisherman and the Marid confined in a bottle from the Nights.
- Flight
why
Marids are credited with immense physical strength, the power of flight, and shapeshifting, and in some tellings with granting wishes or performing impossible tasks once bound to a human master, as in the tale of the fisherman and the Marid confined in a bottle from the Nights.