![Kittelsen - Nøkken (Nasjonalmuseet)2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Kittelsen_-_N%C3%B8kken_%28Nasjonalmuseet%292.jpg)
The Nixie, Nixy,
Nix,
Näcken, Nicor, Nøkk, or Nøkken (german:
Nixe; nl,
nikker, ; da, nøkke; Norwegian nb,
nøkk
The Nixie, Nixy, Nix, Näcken, Nicor, Nøkk, or Nøkken (german: Nixe; nl, nikker, ; da, nøkke; Norwegian nb, nøkk; nn, nykk; sv, näck; fo, nykur; fi, näkki; is, nykur; et, näkk; ang, nicor; eng, neck or ) are humanoid, ...
; nn,
nykk
The Nixie, Nixy, Nix, Näcken, Nicor, Nøkk, or Nøkken (german: Nixe; nl, nikker, ; da, nøkke; Norwegian nb, nøkk; nn, nykk; sv, näck; fo, nykur; fi, näkki; is, nykur; et, näkk; ang, nicor; eng, neck or ) are humanoid, ...
; sv,
näck
The Nixie, Nixy, Nix, Näcken, Nicor, Nøkk, or Nøkken (german: Nixe; nl, nikker, ; da, nøkke; Norwegian nb, nøkk; nn, nykk; sv, näck; fo, nykur; fi, näkki; is, nykur; et, näkk; ang, nicor; eng, neck or ) are humanoid, a ...
; fo,
nykur; fi,
näkki
The Nixie, Nixy, Nix, Näcken, Nicor, Nøkk, or Nøkken (german: wikt:Nixe, Nixe; nl, wikt:nikker, nikker, ; da, nøkke; Norwegian nb, wikt:nøkk, nøkk; nn, wikt:nykk, nykk; sv, wikt:näck, näck; fo, wikt:nykur, nykur; fi, wikt:näkki, ...
; is,
nykur; et, näkk; ang,
nicor
Nicor Gas is an energy company headquartered in Naperville, Illinois. Its largest subsidiary, Nicor Gas, is a natural gas distribution company. Founded in 1954, the company serves more than two million customers in a service territory that en ...
; eng,
neck
The neck is the part of the body on many vertebrates that connects the head with the torso. The neck supports the weight of the head and protects the nerves that carry sensory and motor information from the brain down to the rest of the body. In ...
or ) are
humanoid
A humanoid (; from English ''human'' and ''-oid'' "resembling") is a non-human entity with human form or characteristics. The earliest recorded use of the term, in 1870, referred to indigenous peoples in areas colonized by Europeans. By the 20t ...
, and often
shapeshifting
In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shape-shifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through an inherently superhuman ability, divine intervention, demonic manipulation, Magic (paranormal), sorcery, Incantation, ...
water spirit
A water spirit is a kind of supernatural being found in the folklore of many cultures:
African
Some water spirits in traditional African religion include:
* Mami Wata is a transcultural pantheon of water spirits and deities of the African dias ...
s in
Germanic mythology
Germanic mythology consists of the body of myths native to the Germanic peoples, including Norse mythology, Anglo-Saxon mythology, and Continental Germanic mythology. It was a key element of Germanic paganism.
Origins
As the Germanic language ...
and
folklore
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...
.
Under a
variety of names, they are common to the stories of all
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and ear ...
,
[The article ''Näcken'']
tome 20, p. 317
in (1914) although they are perhaps best known from
Scandinavian folklore
Nordic folklore is the folklore of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. It has common roots with, and has been mutually influenced by, folklore in England, Germany, the Low Countries, the Baltic countries, Finland and Sapmi. ...
. The related English ''
knucker'' was generally depicted as a
wyrm
Wyrm may refer to:
Folklore
* Germanic dragon, a creature from which the modern word originated
* Dragon
* Sea serpent
Media
* ''Wyrms'' (comics), a six-issue comic book mini-series by Orson Scott Card and Jake Black
* ''Wyrms'' (novel), a ...
or
dragon
A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...
, although more recent versions depict the spirits in other forms. Their sex, bynames, and various transformations vary geographically. The German and his Scandinavian counterparts were male. The German was a female river
mermaid
In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Mermaids are sometimes asso ...
.
Similar creatures are known from other parts of Europe, such as the
Melusine in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, the
Xana
The xana is a character found in Asturian mythology. Always female, she is a creature of extraordinary beauty believed to live in fountains, rivers, waterfalls or forested regions with pure water. She is usually described as small or slender wit ...
in
Asturias (Spain), and the
Slavic water spirits
In Slavic paganism there are a variety of female tutelary spirits associated with water. They have been compared to the Greek ''Nymphs'', and they may be either white (beneficent) or black (maleficent). They may be called Boginki, Navki, Rusalki, a ...
(e.g. the
Rusalka
In Slavic folklore, the rusalka (plural: rusalky/rusalki; ; pl, rusałka}) is a typically feminine entity, often malicious toward mankind and frequently associated with water, with counterparts in other parts of Europe, such as the French Melus ...
) in Slavic countries.
Names and etymology
The names are held to derive from
Common Germanic
Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages.
Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic branc ...
or , derived from
PIE
A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts ( pecan pie), brown sugar ( sugar pie), swe ...
("to wash"). They are related to
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
, Greek and , and
Irish (all meaning to wash or be washed).
The form ''neck'' appears in English and Swedish ( or , meaning "nude").
The Swedish form is derived from Old Swedish , which corresponds to Old Icelandic ( ), and in
Norwegian Nynorsk
Nynorsk () () is one of the two written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language ( no, Landsmål) parallel to the Dano-Nor ...
.
In Finnish, the word is . In Old Danish, the form was and in modern Danish and Norwegian
Bokmål
Bokmål () (, ; ) is an official written standard for the Norwegian language, alongside Nynorsk. Bokmål is the preferred written standard of Norwegian for 85% to 90% of the population in Norway. Unlike, for instance, the Italian language, there ...
it is /.
The Icelandic and Faroese are horselike creatures. In
Middle Low German
Middle Low German or Middle Saxon (autonym: ''Sassisch'', i.e. " Saxon", Standard High German: ', Modern Dutch: ') is a developmental stage of Low German. It developed from the Old Saxon language in the Middle Ages and has been documented i ...
, it was called and in
Middle Dutch (compare also or plus ).
The
Old High German
Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050.
There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...
form also meant "crocodile",
while the
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
could mean both a "water monster" like those encountered by
Beowulf
''Beowulf'' (; ang, BÄ“owulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...
,
and a "hippopotamus".
The Norwegian and Swedish are related figures sometimes seen as by-names for the same creature.
The southern Scandinavian version can transform himself into a horse-like ''
kelpie'', and is called ("the brook horse"), whilst the Welsh version is called the (the "water horse").
England
English folklore contains many creatures with similar characteristics to the ''Nix'' or . These include
Jenny Greenteeth
Jenny Greenteeth a.k.a. Wicked Jenny or Ginny Greenteeth is a figure in English folklore. A river-hag, similar to Peg Powler or a grindylow, she would pull children or the elderly into the water and drown them. The name is also used to descri ...
, the
Shellycoat, the river-hag
Peg Powler Peg Powler is a hag and water spirit in English folklore who inhabits the River Tees. Similar to the Grindylow, Jenny Greenteeth, and Nelly Longarms, she drags children into the water if they get too close to the edge. She is regarded as a bogey ...
, the -like
Brag, and the
Grindylow
In English folklore, grindylow or grundylow is a creature in the counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire.''The Nineteenth Century and After, Volume 68'' (1910). Leonard Scott Pub. Co. p. 556. The name is thought to be connected to Grendel, a name or t ...
.
At
Lyminster, near
Arundel
Arundel ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Arun District of the South Downs, West Sussex, England.
The much-conserved town has a medieval castle and Roman Catholic cathedral. Arundel has a museum and comes second behind much large ...
in the English county of
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...
, there are today said to dwell "water-wyrms" called
knuckers, in a pool called the ''Knucker-hole''. The great Victorian authority
Walter William Skeat had plausibly suggested the pool's name of ''knucker'' (a name attested from 1835, Horsfield) was likely derived from the
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
, a creature-name found in ''
Beowulf
''Beowulf'' (; ang, BÄ“owulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...
''. Yet the waters at the pool were badly muddied by a local antiquarian named Samuel Evershed, who from 1866 tried assiduously to connect the pool with dragons and thus with the tale of
St. George and the Dragon
In a legend, Saint Georgea soldier venerated in Christianitydefeats a dragon. The story goes that the dragon originally extorted tribute from villagers. When they ran out of livestock and trinkets for the dragon, they started giving up a human tr ...
. Any authentic water-sprite folklore the site may originally have had was thus trampled down by Evershed's enthusiastic inculcation of the local people in ideas about water-dragons.
The Nordic Countries
Näck, Nøkk
The Nordic , , were male water spirits who played enchanted songs on the violin, luring women and children to
drown in lakes or streams. However, not all of these spirits were necessarily malevolent; many stories indicate at the very least that were entirely harmless to their audience and attracted not only women and children, but men as well with their sweet songs. Stories also exist wherein the Fossegrim agreed to live with a human who had fallen in love with him, but many of these stories ended with the returning to his home, usually a nearby waterfall or brook. (Compare the legend of
Llyn y Fan Fach
Llyn y Fan Fach (Welsh meaning "little lake (near) the peak") is a lake of approximately on the northern margin of the Black Mountain in Carmarthenshire, South Wales and lying within the Brecon Beacons National Park. The lake lies at an altitud ...
in Wales.) The were said to grow despondent unless they had free, regular contact with a water source.
The Norwegian or , Swedish , is a related figure who, if properly approached, will teach a musician to play so adeptly "that the trees dance and waterfalls stop at his music".
It is difficult to describe the appearance of the nix, as one of his central attributes was thought to be
shapeshifting
In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shape-shifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through an inherently superhuman ability, divine intervention, demonic manipulation, Magic (paranormal), sorcery, Incantation, ...
. Perhaps he did not have any true shape. He could show himself as a man playing the violin in brooks and waterfalls (though often imagined as fair and naked today, in folklore he was more frequently described as wearing more or less elegant clothing) but also could appear to be treasure or various floating objects, or as an animal—most commonly in the form of a "brook horse" (see below). The modern Scandinavian names are derived from , meaning "river horse". Thus, it is likely that the figure of the brook horse preceded the personification of the nix as the "man in the rapids". and derivatives were almost always portrayed as especially beautiful young men, whose clothing (or lack thereof) varied widely from story to story.
The enthralling music of the was most dangerous to women and children, especially pregnant women and
unbaptised children. He was thought to be most active during
Midsummer's Night
Midsummer is a celebration of the season of summer usually held at a date around the summer solstice. It has pagan pre-Christian roots in Europe.
The undivided Christianity, Christian Church designated June 24 as the feast day of the early Chri ...
, on Christmas Eve, and on Thursdays. However, these superstitions do not necessarily relate to all the versions listed here. Many, if not all of them, developed after the Christianizing of the northern countries, as was the case of similar stories of faeries and other entities in other areas.
![Ernst Josephson-Näcken](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Ernst_Josephson-N%C3%A4cken.jpg)
When malicious attempted to carry off people, they could be defeated by calling their name; this was believed to cause their death.
Another belief was that if a person bought the a treat of three drops of blood, a black animal, some (Scandinavian
vodka
Vodka ( pl, wódka , russian: водка , sv, vodka ) is a clear distilled alcoholic beverage. Different varieties originated in Poland, Russia, and Sweden. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impuritie ...
) or (wet snuff) dropped into the water, he would teach his enchanting form of music.
The was also an omen for drowning accidents. He would scream at a particular spot in a lake or river, in a way reminiscent of the
loon
Loons (North American English) or divers (British / Irish English) are a group of aquatic birds found in much of North America and northern Eurasia. All living species of loons are members of the genus ''Gavia'', family Gaviidae and order Gavi ...
, and on that spot, a fatality would later take place. He was also said to cause drownings, but swimmers could protect themselves against such a fate by throwing a bit of steel into the water.
In the later Romantic folklore and folklore-inspired stories of the 19th century, the sings about his loneliness and his longing for salvation, which he purportedly never shall receive, as he is not "a child of God". In a poem by Swedish poet
E. J. Stagnelius, a little boy pities the fate of the (), and so saves his own life. In the poem, arguably Stagnelius' most famous, the boy says that the will never be a "child of God" which brings "tears to his face" as he "never plays again in the silvery brook".
On a similar theme, a 19th-century text called "Brother Fabian's Manuscript" by
Sebastian Evans
Sebastian Evans (2 March 1830 – 19 December 1909) was an English journalist and political activist, known also as a man of letters and an artist. He helped to form the National Union of Conservative Associations.
Life
Born on 2 March 1830 at M ...
has this verse:
(The source has "bloometh" for "boometh", but this is clearly an error; a bittern is not a plant, but a bird, and it is known for its booming call. A "ghittern" is a guitar. The spelling "Nickar" ''vice'' "Neckar" is sometimes used.)
In Scandinavia,
water lilies are called "nix roses" (/). A tale from the forest of
Tiveden
Tiveden is a long and wide densely forested rocky ridge in Sweden, throughout history notorious for its wilderness and dangers; historically a hiding place for outlaws. In historic times it, along with Tylöskog and Kolmården, formed the border b ...
relates that a father promised his daughter to a who offered him great hauls of fish in a time of need; she refused and stabbed herself to death, staining the water lilies red from that time on:
In horse form
![Gutt på hvit hest](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Gutt_p%C3%A5_hvit_hest.jpg)
In
Faroese, the word refers specifically to a supernatural horse, described in one Faroese text thus:
The equivalent term in Continental Scandinavian languages is or ('brook horse'). It has a close parallel in the Scottish
kelpie, and the Welsh .
The was often described as a majestic white horse that would appear near rivers, particularly during foggy weather. Anyone who climbed onto its back would not be able to get off again. The horse would then jump into the river, drowning the rider. The brook horse could also be harnessed and made to plough, either because it was trying to trick a person or because the person had tricked the horse into it. The following tale is a good illustration of the brook horse:
Germany
The German ''Nix'' and ''Nixe'' (and ''Nixie'') are types of river
merman and
mermaid
In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Mermaids are sometimes asso ...
who may lure men to drown, like the Scandinavian type, akin to the Celtic
Melusine and similar to the Greek
Siren
Siren or sirens may refer to:
Common meanings
* Siren (alarm), a loud acoustic alarm used to alert people to emergencies
* Siren (mythology), an enchanting but dangerous monster in Greek mythology
Places
* Siren (town), Wisconsin
* Siren, Wisco ...
. The German epic ''
Nibelungenlied'' mentions the Nix in connection with the
Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...
, as early as 1180 to 1210.
Nixes in folklore became
water sprites[Grimm 1835:17:11.] who try to lure people into the water. The males can assume many different shapes, including that of a human, fish, and snake. The females bear the tail of a fish. When they are in human forms, they can be recognised by the wet hem of their clothes. The Nixes are portrayed as malicious in some stories but harmless and friendly in others.
By the 19th century
Jacob Grimm
Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm (4 January 1785 – 20 September 1863), also known as Ludwig Karl, was a German author, linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist. He is known as the discoverer of Grimm's law of linguistics, the co-author of th ...
mentions the Nixie to be among the "
water-sprites" who love music, song and dancing, and says "Like the sirens, the Nixie by her song draws listening youth to herself, and then into the deep."
According to Grimm, they can appear human but have the barest hint of animal features: the nix had "a slit ear", and the Nixie "a wet skirt". Grimm thinks these could symbolise they are "higher beings" who could
shapeshift
In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shape-shifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through an inherently superhuman ability, divine intervention, demonic manipulation, sorcery, spells or having inherited the ...
to animal form.
One famous Nixe of recent
German folklore, deriving from 19th-century literature, was
Lorelei; according to the legend, she sat on the rock at the
Rhine
), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source1_coordinates=
, source1_elevation =
, source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein
, source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source2_coordinates=
, so ...
which now bears her name, and lured fishermen and boatmen to the dangers of the reefs with the sound of her voice. In Switzerland there is a legend of a sea-maid or Nixe that lived in
Lake Zug (the lake is in the Canton of Zug).
''
The Yellow Fairy Book
''The Langs' Fairy Books'' are a series of 25 collections of true and fictional stories for children published between 1889 and 1913 by Andrew Lang and his wife, Leonora Blanche Alleyne. The best known books of the series are the 12 collections ...
'' by
Andrew Lang includes a story called "
The Nixie of the Mill-Pond
"The Nixie of the Mill-Pond" (german: Die Nixe im Teich) is a German fairy tale that tells the story of a man captured by a nix (water spirit) and his wife's efforts to save him. The Brothers Grimm collected the tale in their ''Grimm's Fairy Tales ...
" in which a
malevolent spirit that lives in a mill pond strikes a deal with the miller that she will restore his wealth in exchange for his son. This story is taken from ''
Grimms' Fairy Tales''.
The legend of
Heer Halewijn
Heer Halewijn (also known as ''Van Here Halewijn'' and ''Jan Albers'', and in English ''The Song of Lord Halewijn'') is a Dutch folk tale which survives in folk ballad. Although the first printed version of the song only appears in an anthology pu ...
, a dangerous lord who lures women to their deaths with a magic song, may have originated with the Nix.
Alternate names (kennings) for the female German Nixe are Rhine maidens (german: link=no, Rheintöchter) and
Lorelei.
In a fictional depiction, the Rhine maidens are among the
protagonist
A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...
s in the four-part Opera ''
Der Ring des Nibelungen'' by the composer
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
, based loosely on the nix of the ''Nibelungenlied''.
The Rhine maidens
Wellgunde
The Rhinemaidens are the three water-nymphs (''Rheintöchter'' or "Rhine daughters") who appear in Richard Wagner's opera cycle ''Der Ring des Nibelungen''. Their individual names are Woglinde, Wellgunde and Flosshilde (Floßhilde), although the ...
,
Woglinde
The Rhinemaidens are the three Nixie (water spirit), water-nymphs (''Rheintöchter'' or "Rhine daughters") who appear in Richard Wagner's opera cycle ''Der Ring des Nibelungen''. Their individual names are Woglinde, Wellgunde and Flosshilde (Floà ...
, and
Floßhilde
The Rhinemaidens are the three water-nymphs (''Rheintöchter'' or "Rhine daughters") who appear in Richard Wagner's opera cycle ''Der Ring des Nibelungen''. Their individual names are Woglinde, Wellgunde and Flosshilde (Floßhilde), although the ...
(
Flosshilde
The Rhinemaidens are the three water-nymphs (''Rheintöchter'' or "Rhine daughters") who appear in Richard Wagner's opera cycle ''Der Ring des Nibelungen''. Their individual names are Woglinde, Wellgunde and Flosshilde (Floßhilde), although the ...
) belong to a group of characters living in a part of nature free from human influence.
Erda and the
Norns
The Norns ( non, norn , plural: ) are deities in Norse mythology responsible for shaping the course of human destinies.'' Nordisk familjebok'' (1907)
In the ''Völuspá'', the three primary Norns Urðr (Wyrd), Verðandi, and Skuld draw wate ...
are also considered a part of this 'hidden' world.
They are first seen in the first work of the Nibelungen cycle, ''
Das Rheingold'', as guardians of the ''Rheingold'', a treasure of gold hidden in the
Rhein
Rhein may refer to:
Places
* Rhine, a major river in Europe (german: Rhein, link=no)
* Rhein, a village in the municipality of Morsbach in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
* Rhein (Ostpreussen), a former name of the town Ryn in Poland
Ships
* ...
river. The dwarf
Alberich, a
Nibelung
The term Nibelung (German) or Niflungr (Old Norse) is a personal or clan name with several competing and contradictory uses in Germanic heroic legend. It has an unclear etymology, but is often connected to the root ''nebel'', meaning mist. The te ...
, is eager to win their favour, but they somewhat cruelly dismiss his flattery. They tell him that only one who is unable to love can win the ''Rheingold''. Thus, Alberich curses love and steals the ''Rheingold''. From the stolen gold he forges a
ring
Ring may refer to:
* Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry
* To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell
:(hence) to initiate a telephone connection
Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...
of power. Further on in the cycle, the Rhine maidens are seen trying to regain the ring and transform it back into the harmless ''Rheingold''. But no one will return the ring to them; not even the supreme god
Wotan
(''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the ''Nibelun ...
, who uses the ring to pay the giants Fasolt and Fafner for building
Valhalla, nor the hero
Siegfried
Siegfried is a German-language male given name, composed from the Germanic elements ''sig'' "victory" and ''frithu'' "protection, peace".
The German name has the Old Norse cognate ''Sigfriðr, Sigfrøðr'', which gives rise to Swedish ''Sigfrid' ...
, when the maidens appear to him in the third act of ''
Götterdämmerung''. Eventually
Brünnhilde
Brunhild, also known as Brunhilda or Brynhild ( non, Brynhildr , gmh, Brünhilt, german: Brünhild , label=Modern German or ), is a female character from Germanic heroic legend. She may have her origins in the Visigothic princess Brunhilda o ...
returns it to them at the end of the cycle, when the fires of her funeral pyre cleanse the ring of its curse.
Descendants of German immigrants to Pennsylvania sometimes refer to a mischievous child as being "nixie".
In popular culture
In the video game ''
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege'', the Danish operator Nøkk is named for the mythical creature.
In ''The Nixie's Song'', the first book in the children's series
Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles
''The Spiderwick Chronicles'' is a series of children's fantasy books by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. They chronicle the adventures of the Grace children, twins Simon and Jared and their older sister Mallory, after they move into the Spider ...
, the main characters rescue a Nixie named Taloa after her pond is destroyed by fire-breathing giants. Nixies are depicted as aquatic female humanoids related to mermaids, but with frog-like legs instead of tails.
In the 2017 game ''
Unforgiving: A Northern Hymn'' the Näcken is portrayed as villainous in the story, tempting the protagonist into handing him Freyjas' Harp as part of an endless limbo.
In the 2019 film ''
Frozen II'', Queen
Elsa of Arendelle encounters and tames the Nøkk (in the form of a horse), the Water spirit who guards the sea to the mythical river Ahtohallan.
Nekkers are a common swamp and water area enemy in the award winning "The Witcher" Video games.
The 2021 video game ''
Valheim'' features Neck as a common type of enemy encountered near water. In contrast to their humanoid appearances in folklore, the Neck in Valheim are depicted as small, aggressive lizards.
In the 2021 novel ''Lone Wolf'' by Sam Hall, the main character, Paige, is a nix. The mythological version of the nix exists in the world as lore, but a nix is also a special female wolf shifter. She has greater powers and calls to all eligible bachelors, pitting them against each other and then taking the greatest of the fighters as her mates.
In the 2021 game Northern Journey, Nøkken is used as the cover art for the game, and can be found in-game as part of the story. The game also has a related soundtrack called "Nokkpond".
A 2021 Urban Fantasy series of novels, ''The Legend of Nyx'' by Theophilus Monroe, highlights a "nyx" who attempted to seduce a vampire by song and lost her abilities, freezing her in a human form and seeking vengeance on the vampire who bit her.
In the 2013 novel "Dead in the Water", the character Quinby Stromhest is a nøkken.
In the mobile game ''
Year Walk
A year or annus is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by change in weather, the hour ...
,'' one of the Watchers is a Brook Horse, put in charge of newly found
Mylings.
In the subsequent ''Year Walk: Bedtime Stories for Awful Children,'' the second chapter is devoted to the Brook Horse.
See also
*
Water horse
A water horse (or "waterhorse" in some folklore) is a mythical creature, such as the , , the and kelpie.
Name origin
The term "water horse" was originally a name given to the kelpie, a creature similar to the hippocamp, which has the head, n ...
*
Nuckelavee
*
Hulder
A hulder (or huldra) is a seductive forest creature found in Scandinavian folklore. Her name derives from a root meaning "covered" or "secret". In Norwegian folklore, she is known as huldra ("the rchetypalhulder", though folklore presupposes ...
*
Kelpie
*
Naiad
In Greek mythology, the naiads (; grc-gre, ναϊάδες, naïádes) are a type of female spirit, or nymph, presiding over fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of fresh water.
They are distinct from river gods, who ...
*
Selkie
In Celtic and Norse mythology, selkies (also spelled ', ', ') or selkie folk ( sco, selkie fowk) meaning 'seal folk' are mythological beings capable of therianthropy, changing from seal to human form by shedding their skin. They are found ...
*
Undine
Undines (; also ondines) are a category of elemental beings associated with water, stemming from the alchemical writings of Paracelsus. Later writers developed the undine into a water nymph in its own right, and it continues to live in modern li ...
*
Taniwha
Notes
References
*
Riordan, Rick (2017). ''
Magnus Chase and the gods of Asgard: The Ship of the Dead''
* Grimm, Jacob (1835). ''Deutsche Mythologie'' (German Mythology); From English released version ''Grimm's Teutonic Mythology'' (1888); Available online by Northvegr 2004–2007
Chapter 17, page 11 File retrieved 4 June 2007.
* Hellström, AnneMarie (1985). ''Jag vill så gärna berätta...''. .
* Karlsson, S. (1970). ''I Tiveden'', Reflex, Mariestad.
*
External links
an amateur translation (no rhyme, no meter) of Stagnelius's poem.
Scandinavian Folklore
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neck (Water Spirit)
Creatures in Norse mythology
Danish folklore
Danish legendary creatures
English folklore
English legendary creatures
Faroese folklore
German legendary creatures
Medieval literature
Mermaids
Scandinavian folklore
Scandinavian legendary creatures
Swedish folklore
Shapeshifting
Water spirits
Horses in mythology
Germanic legendary creatures