Jawnomicon

Selkie

Also called Selchie.

In Celtic and British coastal folklore, particularly of Scotland and Ireland, this seal-folk shapeshifter sheds its sealskin to walk on land as a human, and must recover that skin to return to the sea.

At a glance

Tradition
Scottish folkloreIrish folklore
Region
Scotland (place of origin)
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

  • Shapeshifts human animal
    why

    selkies live as seals in the sea but can shed their sealskin on reaching dry land, revealing a human form beneath.

Behaviour

  • Shapeshifts animal to human and back
    why

    In this body of maritime legend, selkies live as seals in the sea but can shed their sealskin on reaching dry land, revealing a human form beneath.

  • Weakness to specific animal or object
    why

    A Selkie's central power is this transformation between seal and human shape, but the act depends entirely on the sealskin itself: without it, a Selkie cannot return to the sea and remains trapped in human form.

  • Selkie skin theft forces marriage
    why

    The best-known myth built on this weakness is the "selkie bride" tale, in which a human man steals and hides a female Selkie's skin while she is ashore in human form, compelling her to stay and marry him; she typically bears his children while continuing to search for her hidden skin, and when she eventually finds it, she abandons her human family without hesitation to return to the sea.

Utility powers

  • Shapeshifting
    why

    A Selkie's central power is this transformation between seal and human shape, but the act depends entirely on the sealskin itself: without it, a Selkie cannot return to the sea and remains trapped in human form.

Curses

  • Seductive charm
    why

    Once the skin is shed, most tellings describe the human form as strikingly beautiful, and Selkie women in particular are said to be irresistibly attractive to human men who encounter them dancing on moonlit beaches.

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.