Sea Monster: Difference between revisions

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Since [[Older Than Feudalism|ancient times]], some cultures have had a superstitious fear of the ocean. It was vast and almost completely unknown. It could smash any ship man dared float on it, or sweep it away, never to be heard of again. Oh, and there may have been [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever|gigantic monsters in it]]. Until recent centuries many sea charts were illustrated with mythical and fearsome sea-creatures in unexplored regions, and even today the weirdest creatures on Earth are to be found beneath the waves, and we're still finding more. [[Truth in Television|Some of them ''are'' pretty enormous, too]] (though they're [[Everything Trying to Kill You|not the most dangerous things down there]]).

There are many flavours of [[Sea Monster]] (well, yes, [[A Worldwide Punomenon|most taste a lot like squid]], unsurprisingly). These subtropes include:

There are many flavours of '''Sea Monster''' (well, yes, [[A Worldwide Punomenon|most taste a lot like squid]], unsurprisingly). These subtropes include:

* [[Giant Enemy Crab]] [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Really big crabs]]. Well, other crustaceans, too. They all taste like a lot like crab, though.

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* The sea serpent from ''[[Chronicles of Narnia|Voyage of the Dawn Treader]]''.

* The creature in [[Ray Bradbury]]'s short story ''The Fog Horn'', which was the inspiration behind ''The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms''.

* In ''Orlando Furioso'', two different women, Angelica and Olympia, were offered to placate two different sea ~~monsters -- at~~ least one of which was called an orc. Also, the enchantress Alcina uses a whale as transport.

* In ''Orlando Furioso'', two different women, Angelica and Olympia, were offered to placate two different sea monsters—at least one of which was called an orc. Also, the enchantress Alcina uses a whale as transport.

* [[Discworld]] - The illustrated novel ''The Last Hero'' features a map of the disk with all sorts of monstrous sea creatures popping up here and there. Then a later illustration shows Mustrum Ridcully fishing... with all those creatures lying in a pile at his feet. Turns out the creatures on the map weren't quite on scale.

* The sentient sea serpents in [[Robin Hobb]]'s ''Liveship Traders'' trilogy.

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* Many a woman [[Chained to a Rock]] was to appease a Sea Monster. From Greek legends, Hesione and Andromeda's monsters. Andromeda's was named "Cetus," or "Ceto," which of course means "whale" now.

** To add insult to Ceto's mortal injury, after Perseus slashed her throat, he delivered the deathblow by showing her the petrifying head of her own daughter, Medusa, transforming Ceto into a coral reef.

* The Con Rit, or Tarrasque, a sea serpent claimed to be found in the South China Sea. Some theories say that the possible sea serpent is inspiration to both the Oriental Dragon, and the South African Snake God. <ref>In French mythology the Tarrasque was originally a tortoise-shelled, eight legged land bound dragon that menaced the French region of Tarrascon (thus the name) until defeated by a female saint. The French drew on this legend for their name for the beast of Halong Bay while Vietnam was still part of French Indochine.</ref>

* The Con Rit, or Tarrasque, a sea serpent claimed to be found in the South China Sea. Some theories say that the possible sea serpent is inspiration to both the Oriental Dragon, and the South African Snake God.<ref>In French mythology the Tarrasque was originally a tortoise-shelled, eight legged land bound dragon that menaced the French region of Tarrascon (thus the name) until defeated by a female saint. The French drew on this legend for their name for the beast of Halong Bay while Vietnam was still part of French Indochine.</ref>

* [[The Kalevala]] has a giant pike and Iku-Turso, a malevolent sea monster.

* [[Norse Mythology]] has the Kraken of course. And then there's Jormungandr, the Midgard (World) Serpent, the sea monster to end all sea monsters. An immense sea snake, he wraps all the way around Midgard, holding his tail in his own jaws. He has a major rivalry with Thor, and plays a key role in [[The End of the World as We Know It|Ragnarok]].

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** The ocean-oriented ''Stormwrack'' book includes many Sea Monsters.

** Older editions had the Behemoth (giant hippo), aquatic "dinosaurs" (Elasmosaurus, Mosasaurus, Nothosaurus, Plesiosaur), dragons (Lung Wang and Yu Lung), Froghemoth, Giant (Crayfish, Crocodile, Eel, Octopus, Sea Snake, Squid, Turtle), giant fish (Afanc, Gar, Pike, Verme), Merrow (aquatic ogre), Mottled Worm (aquatic [[Sand Worm|Purple Worm]]), Sea Serpent, Seawolf (lycanthrope), and Vodyanoi (aquatic Umber Hulk).

* ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' has a few, though they're rather obscure. The Space Wolf homeworld has a ''massive'' kraken (said to be a [[Horde of Alien Locusts|Tyranid offshoot]]) and sea serpents straight out of Norse myth, appropriate given the Space Wolves' Viking theme, and a sea monster is said to live on the planet Armageddon, where it attacked Ork ships. Given the nature of the setting, it's a safe bet that most world with any oceans have at least one. The "Iron Snakes" chapter has a mostly ocean-bound home world (their fortress-monastery is on one of the moons), and one of the challenges which aspirants wishing to join the chapter have to face is single combat with a sea serpent using only a harpoon and a canoe.

* ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' has a few, though they're rather obscure. The Space Wolf homeworld has a ''massive'' kraken (said to be a [[Horde of Alien Locusts|Tyranid offshoot]]) and sea serpents straight out of Norse myth, appropriate given the Space Wolves' Viking theme, and a sea monster is said to live on the planet Armageddon, where it attacked Ork ships. Given the nature of the setting, it's a safe bet that most world with any oceans have at least one.

The "Iron Snakes" chapter has a mostly ocean-bound home world (their fortress-monastery is on one of the moons), and one of the challenges which aspirants wishing to join the chapter have to face is single combat with a sea serpent using only a harpoon and a canoe.

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* ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' - The Demoman considers the Loch Ness Monster to be his mortal enemy, and he accidentally [[Self-Made Orphan|killed his adoptive parents]] in an attempt to [[Mad Bomber|blow it up]].

* Del Lago from ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'' resembles some kinda giant newt.

* ''[[Banjo-Kazooie|Banjo-Tooie]]'' - The boss of the [[Under the Sea|obligatory underwater level]] is Lord Woo Fak Fak, a gigantic lanternfish who literally lives in Davey Jones' Locker. He can [[That One Boss|be a bit tricky]], but is much easier to fight if you use the Submarine transformation. Also in Jolly Roger's Lagoon is a giant fish that swallowed Merry Maggie the barmaid. Strangely, it doesn't try to attack you, even when you knock all the teeth out of its mouth in order to rescue her.

* ''[[Banjo-Kazooie|Banjo-Tooie]]'' - The boss of the [[Under the Sea|obligatory underwater level]] is Lord Woo Fak Fak, a gigantic lanternfish who literally lives in Davey Jones' Locker. He can [[That One Boss|be a bit tricky]], but is much easier to fight if you use the Submarine transformation.

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* There are some large aquatic creatures in ''[[World of Warcraft]]''. Notable examples include Ghaz'rankha, a giant hydra that's a boss in Zul'gurub raid instance (gaint hydras also appear as bosses in Zul'zarrak and the Underbog), and The Lurker Below, a boss in Serpentshrine Cavern raid whose ingame model is actually called "kraken". Some of the larger naga may count for this trope too, their queen Azhara most certainly does. Hydra in World of Warcraft are lizards with three heads. They have two legs and a heavy tail, so they basically move on a tripod as well. Normal ones are about the size of a wooly mammoth or so, but bosses are a little bigger. The Lurker Below is big enough to be a genuine kraken, and three other things in the game share its same ingame model: two similar wild animals related to specific quests and a sea goddess.

Also in Jolly Roger's Lagoon is a giant fish that swallowed Merry Maggie the barmaid. Strangely, it doesn't try to attack you, even when you knock all the teeth out of its mouth in order to rescue her.

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* There are some large aquatic creatures in ''[[World of Warcraft]]''. Notable examples include Ghaz'rankha, a giant hydra that's a boss in Zul'gurub raid instance (gaint hydras also appear as bosses in Zul'zarrak and the Underbog), and The Lurker Below, a boss in Serpentshrine Cavern raid whose ingame model is actually called "kraken". Some of the larger naga may count for this trope too, their queen Azhara most certainly does.

Hydra in World of Warcraft are lizards with three heads. They have two legs and a heavy tail, so they basically move on a tripod as well. Normal ones are about the size of a wooly mammoth or so, but bosses are a little bigger. The Lurker Below is big enough to be a genuine kraken, and three other things in the game share its same ingame model: two similar wild animals related to specific quests and a sea goddess.

* ''[[Super Mario]]''

** ''[[Super Mario 64]]'' introduced Unagi the giant eel <ref>who has since made appearances in ''New Super Mario Brothers'' and ''Mario Kart Wii.''</ref> and the Sea ~~Dragon -- who~~ actually lived in an underground lake. The Sea Monster's name is "Dorrie", although in Japanese it's name is "Doshi", which is a parody of the Loch Ness Monster and Yoshi since the nickname "Nessie" in Japanese is "Neshi".

** ''[[Super Mario 64]]'' introduced Unagi the giant eel <ref>who has since made appearances in ''New Super Mario Brothers'' and ''Mario Kart Wii.''</ref> and the Sea Dragon—who actually lived in an underground lake. The Sea Monster's name is "Dorrie", although in Japanese it's name is "Doshi", which is a parody of the Loch Ness Monster and Yoshi since the nickname "Nessie" in Japanese is "Neshi".

** ''[[Super Mario Sunshine]]'' had a boss named Eely-Mouth, who was more goofy-looking.

* Niptra of ''[[Arcana Heart]]'', an ancient fish that became the largest and wisest fish in the seas through cycles of [[Reincarnation]] before [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence|finally becoming the]] [[Making a Splash|Arcana of Water]].

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== Real Life ==

* Whales, [[Captain Obvious|obviously]].

* And including extinct animals, we have [[Stock Dinosaurs Non Dinosaurs|plesiosaurs and similar creatures]] like the ichthyosaur and mosasaur, and [[Megalodon]], a prehistoric shark the size of a whale. Its modern counterpart may be the Whale Shark, which is thankfully nonaggressive and feeds on plankton. Indeed, so many different creatures like this existed in the past that one can argue that plesiosaurs can't have survived to the present, because ''the mosasaurs would've eaten them'', long before the K-T extinction took down subsequent forms of reptilian [[Sea Monster]]. The modern equivalent of ''Carcharocles megalodon'' might be the Whale Shark from a size perspective, but in every other respect it's basically a Great White that is... bigger.

* And including extinct animals, we have [[Stock Dinosaurs Non Dinosaurs|plesiosaurs and similar creatures]] like the ichthyosaur and mosasaur, and [[Megalodon]], a prehistoric shark the size of a whale. Its modern counterpart may be the Whale Shark, which is thankfully nonaggressive and feeds on plankton.

Indeed, so many different creatures like this existed in the past that one can argue that plesiosaurs can't have survived to the present, because ''the mosasaurs would've eaten them'', long before the K-T extinction took down subsequent forms of reptilian Sea Monster.

The modern equivalent of ''Carcharocles megalodon'' might be the Whale Shark from a size perspective, but in every other respect it's basically a Great White that is... bigger.

* Check out the miniseries ''Sea Monsters'' (from the creators of ''[[Walking with Dinosaurs]]'') for some of the nastiest aquatic predators ever.

* [http://www.canada.com/Technology/Predator+fossil+makes+look+feeble+Scientists/1395499/story.html Predator X]. Its teeth are each a foot long.

* The Oarfish: an eel-like fish that can exceed fifty feet long. Harmless, but quite impressive.

* The African country of Burundi is home to Gustave, a well-known man eating crocodile. Gustave weighs in at approximately one ton, is approximately twenty feet in length, and has been known to eat adult hippopotami. Given the number and variety of bullet-shaped scars which cover his body, it's quite possible that he's [[Immune to Bullets]].

* Saltwater crocodiles can be even larger than Gustave. Large adult male saltwater crocodiles can be more than six meters long and weigh more than 2,600 lbs.

* Saltwater crocodiles can be even larger than Gustave. Large adult male saltwater crocodiles can be more than six meters long and weigh more than 2,600 lbs.

* [[wikipedia:Bloop|The Bloop]], or rather, whatever made the Bloop, an ultra-low frequency underwater sound that matched the profile of a living creature, but not any specific living creature we know. If it did come from a living creature, scientists agree that it would have to be several times larger than the Blue Whale, the largest known animal on earth.

** Interestingly enough, the signal originated from a point in the South Pacific roughly 950 nautical miles from [[Cthulhu Mythos|the sunken home of another large monster.]] Now, if the Bloop was made by... '''THAT''', then we [[The End of the World as We Know It|might be in for a surprise]] sometime in the future...

* ''Tullimonstrum'', a bizarre fossil invertebrate, bears a striking external resemblence to the Loch Ness Monster, except it's barely a foot long and found in North America.

* The Coelacanth. Now, fair ~~enough -- as~~ fish go, they're small and rather harmless. But the fact the coelocanth has been swimming around virtually unchanged for millions and millions of years, makes a lot of supposed sea-monster sightings just a little bit creepier.

* The Coelacanth. Now, fair enough—as fish go, they're small and rather harmless. But the fact the coelocanth has been swimming around virtually unchanged for millions and millions of years, makes a lot of supposed sea-monster sightings just a little bit creepier.

** A person-sized carnivorous fish is not harmless.

* The whole point of fishing shows like ''[[River Monsters]]'', ''Hooked'', and ''Monster Fish''. Their catches range from the modest (Taimen), to the bizzare (catfishes of the Amazon), to the truly gargantuan in scale (marlins, giant catfishes, and the Mekong Giant Stingray).

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[[Category:Index of Fictional Creatures]]

[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]

[[Category:~~index~~]]

[[Category:Index]]

[[Category:Sea Monster]]