Should I take a fish out of water?
Probably not unless I want to eat it… Although I don’t enjoy eating fish, so it seems unnecessarily cruel…
But this may be what I’m doing with my WATER main character.
I’ve been delving into the water mythologies looking for an unknown or lesser being of the water myths than mermaids. Honestly, I do not think William (main character) would appreciate me donning him in a fishy tale with scales. Even though I think they are quite sparkly. Wouldn’t you agree?
I wanted something like mr. Aquaman himself, Jason Momoa. Who stood on two legs and could flit between the land and water.
And so the hunt began…
The usual water nymphs and sirens came up, but they didn’t quite seem to fit either. The nymphs being too well known and the sirens being a majority of females. Although a male siren would have made a nice little twist. Will said no…. Sigh, why did he have to have a say in what he was?
I scoured again and ran several other suggestions by him…
Draugen- Are from the scandinavian folklore. They are the spirits of drowned sailors, that live on ghost ships, hidden in kelps, etc… but they were Undead… and Will doesn’t sail.
Hippocamps- Water horses… But I didn’t want him to change form either… Aquaman remember?
Mary Morgans- The celtic Mermaids. They were malevolent compared to their mermaid counterparts who could be benevolent or neutral… Something here clicked a little, but it still wasn’t quite right until I found…
These two.
Ashrays- Scottish mythology tells us Ashrays, or Water Lovers, are completely translucent water creatures that are often mistaken for sea ghosts. They can be both male and female and can be found only under water. Being completely nocturnal, one would never come across such creatures during the day. When captured and exposed to sunlight ashrays supposedly melt and only a puddle of water remains.
Asrai- The Asrai are almost always female aquatic beings similar to a water Nymph or a Merfolk. They stand anywhere from two to four feet tall, but can be tall and slender. Some tales describe the Asrai as having fairy wings, while others describe them as having a fish tail instead of legs, or webbed feet….
The webbed feet part caught my eye, along with almost always female. There was also another part of the Asrai and Ashray that caught my eye as I dug deeper, but giving you that information would spoil the surprise… Needless to say I could work with the Asrai and the Ashray.
William agreed…
And so I began his tale with the Elements…
Click here to read the first three in the series.
Thanks for reading,
S.McC
Sconnie Books 