Poseidon in Folklore | The Faeries and Folklore Podcast

ByRonel Janse van Vuuren
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Episode 216: Irascible Immortals: Poseidon

The folklore of Poseidon in a nutshell and how I reimagined it for my writing.

Transcript

You’re listening to the Faeries and Folklore podcast by Ronel.

I’m dark fantasy author Ronel Janse van Vuuren. With nearly a decade of digging around in dusty folklore books, researching creatures of imagination that ignited my curiosity, I’m here to share the folklore in a nutshell and how I reimagined it for my writing in an origin of the fae.

This is the Faeries and Folklore podcast.

Hi, I’m your host Ronel Janse van Vuuren. You can just call me Ronel. In today’s episode, we’re continuing our exploration of the fae realm.

This episode is brought to you by my Irascible Immortals series, available in ebook, paperback, hardback and audiobook. They’ve been alive forever. They’ve been bored for some time. And now they’re showing it. Go to ronelthemythmaker.com/my-books/the-irascible-immortals-series for more.

We’re continuing our exploration of the Immortals.

Today’s faery: Poseidon

Folklore in a nutshell by Ronel

In Greek mythology, Poseidon is the brother of Zeus and Hades. They had divided the universe among themselves: Zeus got the sky, Poseidon the sea, and Hades the underworld. Poseidon is known as the god of the sea, earthquakes and horses. His weapon of choice, and main symbol, is the trident which was fashioned by the Cyclopes.

The Romans equated him with Neptune.

Horses are sacred to him. In some tales, one was offered to his father Cronos in his place and he was thrown into the sea to protect him. In other tales, he had created horses. He is the father of Arion, the immortal horse, and Pegasus, the winged horse.

His wife is the nymph Amphitrite. They had several children together, including Triton, the half man half fish messenger of the ocean. He was as faithful to her as Zeus was to Hera… which means, not at all. He also took what he wanted with force, as in the case of Medusa who refused his advances, and even Demeter who turned herself into a horse to flee from him. Medusa is the mother of Pegasus and Demeter the mother of Arion.

Poseidon’s trident is the symbol of his power over the sea, storms, earthquakes and the creation and destruction within his domain.

Poseidon always wanted to stretch his domain further than the oceans. So he became the god of springs as well. He tried to conquer Athens by thrusting his trident into the earth and a salt water spring erupted. But Athena planted an olive tree and the people chose her as their patron goddess. In another version, he gave them the first horse, but they still chose Athena. He helped build the walls of the city of Troy, but when the king backpedalled on their arrangement, Poseidon sent a sea monster to ravage the land.

Violent and ill-tempered, Poseidon isn’t someone to mess with. Just ask Minos who didn’t sacrifice the bull he should’ve and the consequences Poseidon created: Pasiphae’s curse that resulted in the Minotaur.

Origin of the fae: Poseidon

Poseidon has the power to shape-shift. He has the power to cleanse the waters of the earth when needed. He has retreated to his home in the sunken city of Atlantis, not bothering with the mortal realm for a very long time. His sons Triton and Pegasus have tried to reason with him, telling him that he was needed, but he refused their pleas. Because of his mismanagement of his domains, pollution has gotten out of hand.

His wife, Amphitrite, has been making his life a living hell because of his past sins – especially the assaults on vulnerable young women. He believes that he deserves whatever she meets out. Amphitrite is worried that he has given up on life and doesn’t know of any other way to reach him.

Triton runs the day-to-day operations of Poseidon’s realm, hoping that his father will take an interest again.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed this episode of the faeries and folklore podcast and that you’ve learned something new about faeries.

Remember that you can get a transcript of this episode in the description. If you’re new to the podcast, why not go and grab your free copy of Unseen, the second book in the Faery Tales series, on my website ronelthemythmaker.com? Loads of folklore, magic and danger await! Take care!

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