Tuonetar () is the Queen of the

Underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

Finnish mythology Finnish mythology is a commonly applied description of the folklore of Finnish paganism, of which a modern revival is practiced by a small percentage of the Finnish people. It has many features shared with Estonian and other Finnic mythologies, ...

. Tuonetar is the wife of

Tuoni In Finnish mythology, Tuoni () was the god of Tuonela (the underworld), and darkness personified. He was the husband of Tuonetar. Their children included Kipu-Tyttö, Tuonenpoika, and Loviatar Loviatar (, alternative names Loveatar, Lovetar, Lov ...

, with whom she rules over the Underworld

Tuonela Tuonela (; )Oinas, Felix J., and Juha Pentikäinen. "Tuonela." In ''Encyclopedia of Religion'', 2nd ed., edited by Lindsay Jones, 9396-9397. Vol. 14. Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005. ''Gale eBooks'' (accessed January 3, 2021)/ref> i ...

. In the 16th song of

Kalevala The ''Kalevala'' ( fi, Kalevala, ) is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling an epic story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies and r ...

Väinämöinen Väinämöinen () is a demigod, hero and the central character in Finnish folklore and the main character in the national epic ''Kalevala'' by Elias Lönnrot. Väinämöinen was described as an old and wise man, and he possessed a potent, mag ...

arrives in their kingdom. Tuonetar is delighted to offer him a golden goblet of beer, but when he looks closer he can see it is really a black poison made of frog spawn, young poisonous snakes, lizards, adders, and worms. If a person drinks the brew, known as the beer of oblivion, they forget they ever existed and are unable to return to the land of the living, for only Tuonetar and Tuoni's children were allowed to leave Tuonela. When Väinämöinen asks Tuonetar to reveal the three magic words he is seeking she refuses and vows that he will never leave Tuonela alive. She then puts him to sleep with her magic wand and has her three-fingered son weave a thousand nets of iron and copper to catch him if he tries to escape down the river of Tuoni. Väinämöinen succeeds in escaping by turning into a serpent and swimming through the nets, and when he returns to Kalevala he warns people never to sin lest they end up in Tuonela. Tuonetar is recognized as the Virgin of Death and the goddess of the subterranean worlds. She is the mother of Kipu-Tyttö, Kivutar, Vammatar, Kalma, and

Loviatar Loviatar (, alternative names Loveatar, Lovetar, Lovehetar, Louhetar, Louhiatar, Louhi) is a blind daughter of Tuoni, the god of death in Finnish mythology and his spouse Tuonetar, the queen of the underworld. Loviatar is regarded as a goddess of ...

, as well as numerous plagues, diseases, demons, and monsters.

References

Finnish mythology Finnish goddesses Death goddesses Underworld goddesses Virgin goddesses Characters in the Kalevala {{deity-stub