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 The Kraken
Kraken are legendary sea monsters of gargantuan
size, said to have dwelt off the coasts of Norway and Iceland. The
sheer size and fearsome appearance attributed to the beasts have
made them common ocean-dwelling monsters in various fictional works
(see Kraken in popular culture). The legend may actually have
originated from sightings of real giant squid that are estimated to
grow to 13 meters (43 feet) in length, including the tentacles.
These creatures normally live at great depths, but have been sighted
at the surface and reportedly have "attacked" ships.
Kraken is the definite article form of krake, a Scandinavian word
designating an unhealthy animal, or something twisted. In modern
German, Krake (plural: Kraken) means octopus, but can also refer to
the legendary Kraken.
Although the name kraken never appears in the
Norse sagas, there are similar sea monsters, the hafgufa and
lyngbakr, both described in Örvar-Odds saga and the Norwegian text
from c. 1250, Konungs skuggsjá. Carolus Linnaeus included kraken as
cephalopods with the scientific name Microcosmus in the first
edition of his Systema Naturae (1735), a taxonomic classification of
living organisms, but excluded the animal in later editions. Kraken
were also extensively described by Erik Pontoppidan, bishop of
Bergen, in his "Natural History of Norway" (Copenhagen, 1752–3).
Early accounts, including Pontoppidan's, describe the kraken as an
animal "the size of a floating island" whose real danger for sailors
was not the creature itself, but the whirlpool it created after
quickly descending back into the ocean. However, Pontoppidan also
described the destructive potential of the giant beast: "It is said
that if it grabbed the largest warship, it could manage to pull it
down to the bottom of the ocean". Kraken were always distinct from
sea serpents, also common in Scandinavian lore (Jörmungandr for
instance). A representative early description is given by the Swede
Jacob Wallenberg in his book "My son on the galley" from 1781:
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