Mormo
Also called Mormolyce.
Mormo is the child-frightening she-monster of Greek and Roman nursery lore — a blood-smeared shape-shifter, in one telling a bereaved queen who now takes other mothers' children.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Greek mythologyRoman mythology
- Region
- Greece (place of origin)
- Trait family
- The Child-Frighteners
- Symbols
- Vampire
Near this figure
and 3 more
Symbols
Judged against the description by a model. Meanings are our own paraphrase.
- Vampire is image-domain The vampire denotes the dead that will not stay dead, feeding on the living, seductive and repugnant at once, draining what it claims to love.
why
In that nursery office she passed from Greece to Rome and far outlived her own monstrosity, dwindling from vampire to bogey while keeping the same name.
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Behaviour
- Invoked to frighten children into obedience
why
Whatever her origin, her working life in antiquity was domestic — she was the name nurses and mothers invoked to keep children in line, the threat that something would come in the night and bite the disobedient.
Offensive powers
- Blood drain
why
The lore the compendia preserve is grisly: in her true form the mormo is covered in her own blood and blisters — though the tradition allows she is not so hideous as her kin the empousa — and she is a shape-shifter of legendary range, credited with a thousand horrid forms as well as one lovely one, the beautiful young woman with which she lures young men to be drained and eaten.
Utility powers
- Shapeshifting
why
The lore the compendia preserve is grisly: in her true form the mormo is covered in her own blood and blisters — though the tradition allows she is not so hideous as her kin the empousa — and she is a shape-shifter of legendary range, credited with a thousand horrid forms as well as one lovely one, the beautiful young woman with which she lures young men to be drained and eaten.
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.
- Anima carries both readings
3 citations
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Empouse (Em-Poo-Say)."
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Empouse (Em-Poo-Say)."
- Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, s.v. "Empouse (Em-Poo-Say)."
- Shadow carries both readings
3 citations
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Empouse (Em-Poo-Say)."
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Empouse (Em-Poo-Say)."
- Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, s.v. "Empouse (Em-Poo-Say)."
- Trickster carries both readings
3 citations
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Empouse (Em-Poo-Say)."
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Empouse (Em-Poo-Say)."
- Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, s.v. "Empouse (Em-Poo-Say)."
- Queen meets
3 citations
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Empouse (Em-Poo-Say)."
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Empouse (Em-Poo-Say)."
- Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, s.v. "Empouse (Em-Poo-Say)."