cocoshomebrew
Villager
This terrifying tyrant of the ocean didn’t start out as impressive as it’s ended up; to find out more, we’ll have to RELEASE THE KRAKEN!
Hello, I’m Conan of Coco’s Homebrew, and welcome to From Mythos to Monsters, where we look at how different mythological beasts have been reinterpreted in the modern fantasy genre. If you like this series and want to support me in making it, check out my Patreon.
Now, let’s get into it, because I’m very excited about today’s monster. I’m a huge fan of nautical history, and I love learning about old ships and naval battles. I’m also only slightly embarrassed to admit that I listen to sea shanties in my spare time, although thankfully not enough to appear on my Spotify Wrapped.
I’m also fascinated by the concept of the sea monster, and today’s subject, the kraken, is without a doubt the most famous and fearsome example of that.
The modern idea of the kraken is associated with a giant octopus or squid, but you may be surprised to learn that this wasn’t always necessarily the case. Descriptions and depictions of sea monsters have been around since the medieval ages, although if you consider the Leviathan of Biblical legend to be a sea monster then you can trace the idea back even further.
Sometimes known as the ‘Primordial Chaos’, the Leviathan is a sea serpent from Jewish mythology spoken of in the Hebrew Bible, although the concept seems to have originally come from pre-biblical Mesopotamia, the modern-day ‘Near East’ that encompasses countries like Turkey, Iraq and Egypt. It is said to be a ferocious and powerful beast with many heads, who dwelt in the depths of the ocean.
Interestingly, the way the Leviathan is described makes it seem as if it was, or I suppose is, a real creature, although most scholars believe it is actually just a metaphor, either for the powerful enemies of the Hebrew people, for Satan or more generally just the concept of chaos, or for the power of God. Or, maybe the real Leviathan was just the friends we made along the way.
The Leviathan may have also inspired creatures from other mythologies, like the Vritra of Hinduism, the humanoid serpent who opposed the Gods by blocking important rivers, or Jörmungandr of Norse mythology, the serpent or worm who was tossed into the ocean and became so large he encompassed the entire world.
With all of these various ideas of the sea monster appearing in myths and religious legends from across the world, it makes sense that the concept kept resurfacing throughout history. Later sea monsters were described as taking a large variety of forms, which indicates that they were probably just real animals like whales, sharks or narwhals, although they still no doubt laid the foundations for the myth of the kraken.
Like the previously mentioned World Serpent Jörmungandr, sea monsters in general have deep roots to Scandinavian culture. One of the first known sea monsters was the Hafgufa, which, according to 13th century Norweigan manuscripts, was said to roam the Greenland Sea. The Hafgufa was perhaps made most famous by its inclusion in the Prose Edda, which is considered to be one of the most valuable sources we have regarding the mythology of Old Norse culture. Well, later translations of the Prose Edda seemed conflicted about what to translate the word Hafgufa as; while some called it a mermaid, others referred to it as a kraken.
Yet while the word kraken has roots to Old Norse, it didn’t start being used in reference to sea monsters until the 17th century. In fact, the kraken itself didn’t become synonymous with having the appearance of a cephalopod, the genus of animals that includes squids and octopi, until the 18th century, when a Danish bishop named Pontoppidan wrote of an octopus of such incredible size that it was capable of pulling ships beneath the ocean.
But where did all of these legends come from? Why, over the course of centuries, did scholars keep referencing the idea of a colossal, tentacled sea creature? … Well, while I’d like to pretend there are maybe things in the ocean beyond our comprehension, this guy was almost certainly just a colossal squid.
Yes, with modern understandings of the world’s ocean, this is definitely one of the easiest myths to unravel; yet to give credit to the scholars of antiquity, the colossal squid wasn’t even confirmed to be a real animal until the 20th century, and we didn’t actually even have a specimen of the creature until the early 2000s. In fact, the first live video of one was only recorded last year in 2025; it therefore makes perfect sense why this idea of the kraken took on a life of its own, considering the creature that inspired it is so incredibly rare that even modern civilisation is having a hard time proving it’s real.
But despite probably having real-world beginnings, over time, the myth of the kraken became increasingly less grounded in reality. It was no doubt popularised by very early works of nautical fiction like Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas and Moby Dick. Even HP Lovecraft was thought to draw heavily on the legend while designing his most famous monster, the eldritch entity known as Cthulhu.
In the modern day, the myth of the kraken is still as alive as ever, with fantastical franchises like A Song of Ice and Fire and Pirates of the Caribbean keeping it relevant in our culture. It’s also become a staple of the game Dungeons & Dragons, first appearing in the game in 1983. While I’ve accused Gary Gygax of running away with legends in the past, I can’t say that about his interpretation of the kraken: in D&D’s first edition, it literally was just a giant, angry squid.
Well, in appearance at least: the kraken also had a few traits than an ordinary squid doesn’t, such as a tough armoured shell and the ability to cast certain magical spells. Oh, and vast legions of slaves. Yikes.
Yet at the beginning of D&D’s lifespan, while the kraken was fearsome, it wasn’t nearly as powerful as what it would eventually become. By the time of the game’s 5th edition in 2014, both its appearance and abilities had undergone massive changes.
The kraken was now a tyrant asserting dominance over entire oceans, whose body incorporated the traits of many different aquatic animals including cephalopods, fish, and crustaceans.
While I think the kraken’s official 2014 design is ugly as sin, I actually really like the concept behind it, since early accounts of sea monsters often described them not as resembling a singular animal, but as an abomination that combined the traits of different creatures; by the time of the 2025 revision of the Monster Manual, however, the kraken’s official design has returned to being a giant, pissed off squid. At least Gygax can stop turning in his grave now.
In 5th edition, the kraken is one of the strongest creatures in the entire Monster Manual, capable of summoning lightning storms, devouring entire parties of adventurers, and even having psychic powers that allow it to telepathically communicate and dominate the minds of animals around its lair. Yet I do think there’s something to be said for the first edition’s more simple and grounded idea of the kraken, which, while still inherently supernatural, was ultimately just a sea monster as opposed to a godlike titan.
So, as a storyteller, how would I depict the kraken in my own legends? Well, while I like the idea of it being the intelligent eldritch overlord of the ocean, I think that idea delves too much into tropes of Lovecraftian writing which ultimately weren’t what invented the kraken nor made it a popular myth.
Instead, while it should still be powerful enough to drag down ships like it could in legend, the kraken should at its core still just be a force of nature rather than something otherworldly: an uncomfortable reminder of just how little we know about the world’s oceans, and what could be lurking in their depths.
That’s going to be a wrap for the kraken, but I hope you enjoyed learning about it. I’m certainly a huge fan of it, and it makes me wish modern fantasy would incorporate more creatures from the superstitions of sailors. You can click the image below to check out my Patreon.
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