Jawnomicon

Sedna

Also called Sanna, Nuliajuk.

In Inuit and broader Arctic folklore, Sedna is the foundational sea goddess and mother of all sea creatures, ruling the ocean depths from a home she never chose.

At a glance

Tradition
Inuit mythology
Region
Arctic (place of origin)Deep Ocean (habitat)
Trait family
The Two-Realmed
Symbols
Fish

Near this figure

Symbols

Judged against the description by a model. Meanings are our own paraphrase.

Traits

Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.

Form

  • Primordial progenitor of life
    why

    foundational sea goddess and mother of all sea creatures

  • Woman transformed into half fish sea being
    why

    Sedna is most often described as a woman transformed into a being of the deep, her lower body merging into that of a great fish or sea mammal, and her long hair, which she cannot comb herself, drifting loose in the currents around her.

Behaviour

  • Can be placated by specific ritual or trick
    why

    Because her hair cannot be tended in the tangled depths, it becomes matted with the grievances and misdeeds of the living, and it is said that a shaman must undertake a perilous spirit journey to the sea floor to comb and braid her hair, soothing her anger and persuading her to release the animals back to the hunters.

  • Withholds aid from the disrespectful
    why

    Her central power is her total command over marine game: when angered, she withholds the sea animals from hunters, bringing famine to coastal communities, and only releases them again once appeased.

Utility powers

  • Controls marine game abundance
    why

    Her central power is her total command over marine game: when angered, she withholds the sea animals from hunters, bringing famine to coastal communities, and only releases them again once appeased.

Roles

Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.