Kraken in popular culture

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An illustration from the original edition of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
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An illustration from the original edition of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

The sea monster Kraken has seen numerous appearances in fictional works and popular culture.

Contents

[edit] Literature

The Kraken by Tennyson

 Below the thunders of the upper deep;
 Far far beneath in the abysmal sea,
 His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
 The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
 About his shadowy sides; above him swell
 Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
 And far away into the sickly light,
 From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
 Unnumber'd and enormous polypi
 Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.
 There hath he lain for ages, and will lie
 Battening upon huge seaworms in his sleep,
 Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
 Then once by man and angels to be seen,
 In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.

In 1830, possibly aware of Denys de Montfort's work, Alfred Tennyson published his popular poem "The Kraken" (essentially an irregular sonnet), which disseminated Kraken in English forever fixed with its superfluous the. Tennyson's description apparently influenced Jules Verne's imagined lair of the famous giant squid in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea from 1870. Verne also makes numerous references to Kraken and Erik Pontopiddan in the novel.

According to Philip A. Shreffer in The Lovecraft Companion, it is safe to suppose that Tennyson's portrayal of Kraken also influenced the 20th century horror writer H. P. Lovecraft in his description of the octopus-headed monster-god Cthulhu, which is currently trapped at the bottom of the ocean, until strange æons shall bring about its return to the surface; and which in his short story The Call of Cthulhu is encountered by a Norwegian sailor. [1]

A Tolkien Bestiary by David Day proposes that the Watcher in the Water in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring was based on Kraken, though it seems unlikely that Tolkien would have placed the Kraken in fresh water. This view has been further contested by those who note that the tentacles of Tolkien's monster are nowhere described as octopus-like, though "The Watcher" does suggest a single creature. In the 2001 film version by Peter Jackson, the Watcher is clearly more similar to our modern view of Kraken.

The book The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham details an almost apocalyptic scenario in which the massive sea creature is the main cause. Although it is made clear in the book that the 'Kraken' of the story is in actual fact a process of invasion by ocean-dwelling aliens, it is still clear that the Kraken is the basis for these aliens and Wyndham's fictional narrator quotes Tennyson's poem in the preface. Presumably for this reason Wyndham has been cited as having based the story on the poem.

In the fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, the kraken is part of House Greyjoy's coat of arms, and the Greyjoys are themselves sometimes referred to as "krakens" by association.

Kraken also appeared in the Erevis Cale trilogy in the Forgotten Realms setting. The third book, Midnight's Mask, depicts it as an octopus several times the size of a full sized dragon and an intelligent life form.

In Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley are discussing the coming apocalypse while very drunk. Aziraphale mentions Kraken in this scene, paraphrasing Tennyson, stating that it will rise at the end when the seas boil. Later, Kraken does in fact rise underneath a whaling research ship.

In Tamora Pierce's Wild Magic, there is a Kraken that lives in the Copper Isles.

In Eva Ibbotson's "Island of the Aunts" the Kraken is pictured as a sort of friendly squid who can speak several languages.

Jerry Oltion's Star Trek novel The Captain's Table: Where Sea Meets Sky features large "space-whale" type creatures called Krakens.

In some of the Xanth books by Piers Anthony, the Kraken is portrayed as a mammoth marine plant with extremely long, tentacle-like leaves. And, rather than being unique, it is a fairly common species.

Kraken also appears in popular Svarog series fiction books by Russian author A.A.Bushkov.

The Kraken also appears in a Fighting Fantasy book, Demons of the Deep.

Arthur C. Clarke's 1986 novel Songs of Distant Earth is set on an ocean bound planet Thalassa, which features a Volcano named Kraken. The volcano eruption being such an important event in the planet's history, the inhabitants also use the name as when swearing.

The Kraken appears in the book "A Triumph of Souls" by Alan Dean Foster. In return for receiving a pot of coffee from the crew of the ship Gromsketter, it helps the ship cut several days off of its trip across the ocean by dragging it behind it on its own crossing.

In Tuf Voyaging by George R. R. Martin, blue and gray kraken are two of the creatures Haviland Tuf delivers to the world of Namor from his ecologically-equipped seedship.

"The Krakens" is the name of a galactic football team in "The Rookie" by Scott Sigler.

[edit] Cinema and television

A SciFi Channel original movie premiered on September 23, 2006 called Kraken: Tentacles of the Deep

In the anime, Saint Seiya (Knights of the Zodiac) Poseidon - one of Poseidon's marine generals is Isaac of the Kraken, his scale (armor) however resembles a mantaray and not a real kraken. The scale was granted to Isaac for being as the kraken, fearless, aggressive and dangerous.

An alleged Kraken appeared in the episode titled "The Night of the Kraken" of the 1960's television series The Wild Wild West. Secret Service Agent James West eventually determined that what he (and the dwellers of a Portuguese-American fishing village) had taken for a Kraken tentacle was an artificial construct and a weapon of murder, which the renegade crew of an undersea laboratory used to keep people away from the waters above the lab.

In the 1981 film Clash of the Titans, "Kraken" is given as the name of the creature that is sent to kill Andromeda. In fact this monster, slain by Perseus, was typically referred to as a "ketos" by the ancient Greeks, a word that is best translated by the English phrase "sea monster", and in fact gave its name to 'cetacean'. The ketos has no historic connection with Kraken.

In the Nickelodeon cartoon "Catscratch", Gordon battles the Kraken in order to gain a full size tail.

In the Fairly OddParents episode called "Something's Fishy", King Greg and the rest of the Atlanteans owned a lot of Kraken to use to eat Cosmo, the "accursed one", who sunk their city in an attempt to make it cleaner.

In Yu-Gi-Oh!, there are Duel Monsters that use the name Kraken in their title like Fiend Kraken and Fire Kraken.

The Kraken was referenced in the Neptunati episode of Sealab 2021 on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.

The Krakken (here spelled with two Ks) in Ben 10 is a territorial creature that lives in a lake. It appears in the episode "The Krakken" which its eggs were being stolen by a poacher.

In American Dragon: Jake Long, Kraken are depicted as giant fishmen when Jake and Spud (disguised as Huntsclan Academy students) ended up having to fight one as punishment for demolishing the potions class.

Also, in Walt Disney's Atlantis: Milo's Return, the Kraken appears as one of the mystical creatures mistaken to be from Kida's home, Atlantis. As they search for the Leviathans, drones of war created by her father to protect Atlantis, they stumble into a little (probably) Norwegian village under the hypnotic powers of the Kraken, a demon-octopus that gave the town life in exchange for the soul of one man, making him immortal, and took over the town. The monster attempts to lure Milo and Co. over the edge of a cliff, and is destroyed by the submersibles.

The Kraken is a monster in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. It is summoned by Davy Jones to destroy the ships, especially those carrying people he wants to kill, most notably Captain Jack Sparrow and Will Turner. For more information, see The Kraken (Pirates of the Caribbean).

In the Robot Chicken episode "The Munnery", a Kraken is released; the story of the newly freed Kraken is similar to The Shawshank Redemption.

In the episode "Daydream Beliver" of My Life as a Teenage Robot, Jenny is stuck in dream mode and believes a magles telephone pole is the Kraken.

[edit] Games

Kraken, either alone or as a collective of "krakens" (the Norwegian plural, which is never used, would be kraker), has appeared in many games, particularly computer and video games.

In the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, the kraken is a colossal, intelligent, evil creature that dwells deep underwater. In the Eberron campaign setting for D&D, the kraken is the heraldic beast of the dragonmarked House Lyrandar.

The Kraken also appears in the 1987 RPG Final Fantasy I, released for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) as the fiend of the sea. He resides on the bottom floor of the Sea Shrine, and The Nintendo Power Strategy Guide Vol 17, Lists his HP as 800.


The Kraken also appears as one of the bosses in the 1998 SEGA arcade game The Ocean Hunter. Each level of the game featured a boss based on a different giant beast of the sea. The Kraken is the first one fought.

The collectible card game Magic: The Gathering associates Kraken with blue magic, which is associated with water, and they have appeared on many such cards. Most of them are cephalopods, though the artwork of the card "Tidal Kraken" depicts a bipedal sea beast with four arms that resembles the one from Clash of the Titans. The blue life-generating artifact is the Kraken's Eye. Up until the Ice Age expansion set, the largest creature was the Leviathan; it was then superseded by the Polar Kraken, which with the release of the 'lost 3rd set of the Ice Age block Coldsnap, has been superseded by the Jokulmorder, a creature resembling a cross between an Orca whale and a large worm.

The Kraken is a mandatory boss in the Xbox and PC game, Fable. Once the game's protagonists saves his mother he is forced to duel a kraken (it is implied that there are many kraken however there is only one available to fight per game). The Kraken's head and tentacles are the only body parts shown and because there is no descriptive record of the Kraken in the game, the rest of the creature is left to the players imagination. While its tentacles do follow the original design of the Kraken, its head is furry and almost wolf like, with large insect like eyes.

Kraken appear in NetHack. They are worth more experience than Death.

In the collectable toy game Monster in My Pocket, the Kraken was one of the most powerful and rarest monsters in the original series.

In the Warhammer 40,000 universe, Kraken is the name of the second Tyranid hive fleet that invaded the Milky Way and the Imperium of Man.

In the PC MMORPG game, Puzzle Pirates, one does not encounter a Kraken itself, but Kraken's Blood is one of the items featured in the game, used as a dye.

The Pokemon Gyarados's English name was originally Skullkraken, a combination of "skull" and "Kraken", however, this was changed to Gyarados at some stage prior to the release of the games Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue.

[edit] Computer and video games

  • On Nick.com[2], there is a Catscratch game featured called "This Means War!" In it, the Kraken can be used as a weapon of last resort.
  • In Earthbound, a Super Nintendo Entertainment System game, Kraken is a mini boss that appears during a boat ride. There is also an item Referring to the Kraken called "Kraken soup", which is rare and heals one person a lot of HP.
  • Nethack contains a non-unique water monster called "kraken", lower-cased.
  • In the MMORPG Final Fantasy XI, there is an octopus-like enemy scattered in the game that is known by several names, including the Kraken. Another monster, the Lord of Onzozo, drops a coveted weapon, the "Kraken Club", which attacks up to eight times in quick succession, recalling an octopus attacking multiple times with its arms.
  • The Sega game Wonder Boy in Monster Land has the Kraken as one of the boss monsters. While the level its in takes place by the sea, it is not underwater, however, it hovers as though it were swimming, and in some versions, releases a small spread of fireballs as its primary attack.
  • The PlayStation/Game Boy video game Azure Dreams features an enemy and caputurable monster (known as a familiar) as a Kraken, however the Kraken floats, is not in water, and can electrocute the player and surrounding monsters on your team.
  • One of the bosses in Mega Man X5 was named Bolt Kraken in the original Japanese version of the game, but was changed to Squid Adler in the English version.
  • A squid Reploid boss in Mega Man Zero 4 is named Tech Kraken. He was formerly in the Zan'ei army of Phantom, one of the 4 Guardians of X, and in the game had joined the 7 other Einherjar Warriors serving Dr. Weil.
  • One of the first monsters encountered in the early PlayStation game King's Field is a Kraken. A larger form appears as a boss later on in the level.
  • A sea monster called the Giant Octorok in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker has a similar appearance to a Kraken. It may be based more off the early Norse myths than the modern conception, as its only threat is a massive whirlpool.
  • In Warcraft III's custom map Battleships "Kraken Shell" is an obtainable item.
  • The game R-Type had a boss called Kraken at the end of the fifth level (undersea), which, it should be noted, looks nothing like a Kraken. It depended on its numerous "bodyguard" creatures for both defense, and attacking
  • The PlayStation game Strider 2 has Kraken appearing as one of the bosses.
  • The PlayStation game Legend of Dragoon, a creature called Last Kraken is created to guard the Signet Sphere in the city of Agelis, but is manipulated by Zieg to destroy the Signet Sphere.
  • In Zeus: Perseus and Medusa, Kraken is a monster with more of a humanoid construct. A player who worships Poseidon is protected from sea attacks by the Kraken. Alternatively, if the players city is attacked by the Kraken, sea trade, as well as many water-reliant industries are frequently destroyed until the player calls upon a heroes help.
  • In the MMORPG City of Heroes, Kraken is the name of a Giant Monster in the Hydra enemy group. This Kraken does not resemble a cephalopod in anyway, as the Hydra are amorphous blobs of animated matter from an alternate dimension. However, the Giant Monster "Lusca" is a giant octopus that bears more of a resemblance to the Kraken of legend.
  • In the computer game Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, there is an elite-class armour called Kraken Shell, the unique variant of which is known as The Leviathan, which references the Biblical sea monster of the same name.
  • In the Xbox Game Fable, the player is forced to fight a giant Kraken in the underground chamber just before he gets his mother to safety.
  • In the game Worms Blast, there is a weapon that makes a sea monster resembling a kraken to come up from the bottom of the screen and grab an opponents boat.
  • In the Game Boy Advance game Golden Sun, while crossing a small section of the ocean, you are attacked by a variety of different sea monsters. The final of these monsters is the Kraken appearing as a giant squid. The Kraken is one of the strongest enemies in the game.
  • In the recent Playstation 2 game, Guitar Hero, there is a Kraken-esque creature in the background on the main menu of career mode.
  • In Konami's Suikoden IV there is a huge sea creature that attacks your boat. It will attack your boat and it looks painfully obvious like the common Kraken that is used in numerous of videogames. You have to beat the tentacles, as well as the monster itself. It is known for one of the tougher bosses in the game.
  • In the PC game Guild War's Factions, you have to drive the Kraken away to prove yourself to the Luxon armada
  • In the LucasArt's PC game The Curse of Monkey Island one of the passages of a song sung by Guybrush's crew is: "If you disrespect our singing, we'll feed you to a Kraken"
  • In the LucasArt's PC game Grim Fandango there's a giant squid-like creature that captures people from aboard the ships, but it's actually a well-trained pet of one of the game's main villains
  • Once you get large enough in the video game Katamari Damacy, you can roll up a Kraken-like creature.
  • In the Pokémon video game series, the Pokemon Gyarados was originally going to be called Skulkraken, however it bears no resemblance to the sea monster and instead resembles a Chinese dragon.
  • In the videogame Tales of Symphonia, the "Kraaken" is an octopus monster that can be found on beaches.

[edit] Music

  • Kraken is one of the many aliases of drum & bass recording duo Stakka & Skynet.
  • A Colombian heavy metal band is named Kraken.
  • The nouveau swing band Squirrel Nut Zippers wrote an eerie song called The Kraken for their Perennial Favorites album. The song is mostly instrumental, but at the end includes the words, "Tonight I will dream far below the fading light/My dream is for you; my arms were made to hold you tight/Now the time has come, the time has come," ostensibly in reference to the tentacles of the Kraken.
  • Punk/ska group The Aquabats reference the Kraken in the lyrics of their song "Why Rock?"
  • Current Hip Hop emcee and lyricist Aesop Rock refers to a Kraken in his popular song Daylight.
  • The rock band Clutch has a song entitled "Release the Kraken" on their 1999 album Jam Room.
  • Legendary Manchester band The Fall mention "the Kraken" in their song "Iceland" on the LP Hex Enduction Hour. The line goes "a Memorex for the Krakens"
  • MC Frontalot references the Kraken in his song "Floating Bridge" from his 2005 album Nerdcore Rising. The line goes "if I'm lacking in boats, it's 'cause I'm fearful of the Kraken".

[edit] Miscellaneous

The Kraken roller coaster at SeaWorld in Orlando
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The Kraken roller coaster at SeaWorld in Orlando
  • Kraken is Monster in My Pocket #11. He appears only briefly in the comic book, his arm around Triton. In the video game, he is the stage 3 boss, living in a sewer. In the game, he extends only two arms at a time, but is significantly larger, even in his reduced state, than the other monsters.
  • An independent theater company called "The Thunderbird Theatre Company" produced an absurd comedy titled "Release the Kraken" at New Langton Arts in San Francisco, California in August 2006. The play was based loosely on the Myth of Perseus and fashioned in the manner of the American cinematic pop cultural phenomenon "The Clash of the Titans," with numerous references to various other American pop culture phenomenon.
  • The Kraken also appears in Russell Hoban's novel The Medusa Frequency (1987, The Atlantic Monthly Press, New York).
  • In LEGO's Bionicle, the arch-villain Makuta wears Kanohi Kraahken, the Mask of Shadows. The name may be a reference to the Kraken.

[edit] See also

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