Mythical Creatures [EDITING]

Sirens

What are Sirens?

Sail too close to the island of Anthemoessa, and you will quickly find out what a Siren is. These bird-women can stop any ship that approaches their coast, bewitching the sailors with songs that make them forget everything else: the rocking ocean, the sails and tackle, the families waiting for them at home, even life itself.

CharacteristicsPhysical Description

If you search the internet for images of Sirens, you'll probably get a flood of beautiful women with fish tails. In many ways, the modern Siren is a creepy version of the mermaid.Her long hair and scaly tail are darkly colored. Her eyes and skin are ghostly pale. And she is set against a stormy background—a shipwreck waiting to happen.

These images are a far-cry from the original Sirens. Instead of having fish tails, the first sirens had bird features: feathered wings, clawed feet, and sometimes sparrow's tails. They were not particularly beautiful, especially considered to the sea nymphs who frolicked in the waters below them.

Personality

The Sirens were a deadly bunch; there's no use for argument there. According to Homer,

"They bewitch any mortal who approaches them. They sit in a meadow; men's corpses lie heaped up all round them, moldering upon the bones as the skin decays."

A search of the sea floor around their island would turn up entire ships, wrecked as they tried to get to the Sirens.

Yet, the Sirens may not have been evil by nature. Few stories describe the temptresses physically attacking humans, which leaves the possibility that their songs weren't designed to kill. According to Nonnus,

"When a sailor hears the Siren's perfidious song, and bewitched by the melody, he is dragged to a self-chosen fate too soon [...] falling into the net of melodious fate, he forgets to steer, quite happy."

So if Sirens aren't cold-blooded killers, what motivates them to sing?

Before the Sirens took up their deadly singing career, they suffered several setbacks in life. They were cursed by both Demeter and the Muses and exiled to a small island, where they were forced to live alone.

It's possible that the Sirens sang to avenge the wrongs against them. Abused by life, they decided to become monsters and destroy the lives of others.

It's also possible that the Sirens sang to express their grief. As they told Odysseus,

"We know of all the sorrows in the wide land [...]; we know all things that come to pass on the fruitful earth."

This truth was something that they needed to share, even if it was more painful than mortals could bear to hear.

Finally, the Sirens may have been desperately lonely and used their songs to tempt men to join them on their island. Although the island was littered in human remains, there were no signs that the Sirens killed men. Instead, the men might have died of starvation after keeping the Siren's company for several weeks.

Special Abilities

The Sirens are famous for their high, clear singing voices, which were so full of emotion that they drove men insane. They also accompanied their voices with musical instruments: lyres, flutes, and pipes. They also had—or claimed to have—prophetic abilities, which lent depth to the lyrics of their songs.

Legends about SirensPersephone's Handmaidens

Before the Sirens became the Sirens, they were mortal girls who served the goddess Persephone. These lovely girls trailed behind Persephone when she visited her favorite meadows to pick flowers. They sang to her in sweet voices and played instruments to please her.