Im changing my profile pic and alias as i grew tired of being a psyborg and also to reflect this classic tale of mythology, of which I am particularly interested...
In the Finnish Kalevala, Kullervo was the ill-fated son of Kalervo. He is the only irredeemably tragic character in Finnish mythology.
His father dies in a clash with his own brother Untamo, who sells Kullervo as a slave to Ilmarinen. Later Kullervo flees and finds that his family is still alive except for his sister, who has disappeared.
Kullervo's father sends him to pay the taxes and on the way back he seduces his sister without realizing who she is. Out of shame she commits suicide. Seeking revenge, Kullervo kills Untamo and his family, only to find his own family dead when he returns home. In the end Kullervo also commits suicide.
Kullervo proved inept and ignorant, having not had a father to pass on knowledge and skills.
The death poem of Kullervo in which he, like Hamlet, interrogates his blade, is justly famous. Unlike the dagger in Hamlet, Kullervo's sword replies, bursting into song: it affirms that if it gladly participated in his other foul deeds, it would gladly drink of his blood also.
The tale of Trin Turambar in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion has similarities with this myth, as it has with Oedipus and with Sigurd the Vlsung. Michael Moorcock's tragic hero Elric of Melnibon likewise contains many elements that may possibly be inspired by Kullervo (perhaps either directly or indirectly through Poul Anderson's novel The Broken Sword); a notable similarity between the two is the near-identical reply of each protagonist's weapon to its master before his suicide.
In the Finnish Kalevala, Kullervo was the ill-fated son of Kalervo. He is the only irredeemably tragic character in Finnish mythology.
His father dies in a clash with his own brother Untamo, who sells Kullervo as a slave to Ilmarinen. Later Kullervo flees and finds that his family is still alive except for his sister, who has disappeared.
Kullervo's father sends him to pay the taxes and on the way back he seduces his sister without realizing who she is. Out of shame she commits suicide. Seeking revenge, Kullervo kills Untamo and his family, only to find his own family dead when he returns home. In the end Kullervo also commits suicide.
Kullervo proved inept and ignorant, having not had a father to pass on knowledge and skills.
The death poem of Kullervo in which he, like Hamlet, interrogates his blade, is justly famous. Unlike the dagger in Hamlet, Kullervo's sword replies, bursting into song: it affirms that if it gladly participated in his other foul deeds, it would gladly drink of his blood also.
The tale of Trin Turambar in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion has similarities with this myth, as it has with Oedipus and with Sigurd the Vlsung. Michael Moorcock's tragic hero Elric of Melnibon likewise contains many elements that may possibly be inspired by Kullervo (perhaps either directly or indirectly through Poul Anderson's novel The Broken Sword); a notable similarity between the two is the near-identical reply of each protagonist's weapon to its master before his suicide.
VIEW 7 of 7 COMMENTS
melika:
arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr 
katrina:
Thanks for voting 