#vodyanoy

[enchantedbook]

A creature of the rivers and swamps of Slavic mythology, he lurks beneath the water, waiting to drag people and animals down to his underwater palace.

“Vodyanoy,” Ivan Bilibin, 1934.

[weepingwidar]

Ivan Bilibin (Russian, 1876-1942) - Vodyanoy, the Water Sprite (1934)

[dappergent1927]

VODYANOY (@roundtaipan.bsky.social)

Ouch... #Jax #Ribbit #TADC

[yugioh-puns]

"Vodnika the Fountain Spirit" appears to be based on vodník (water spirits from Czech and Slovakian mythology).

[the-wood-sprite]

I'm starting on here by posting some old art. For everyone who has seen this before on my Insta, hello a second time. And for everyone who is seeing me for the first time, I welcome you with a drawing from 2023.

One of the things that still fascinate me is how often humanity feared water. While many other spirits from Slavic mythology were seen as mostly neutral, the image of the Vodyanoy was almost always evil. Humanity shivered by the thought of drowning and this guy become the embodiment of that fear.

We can see some traces of human terror even in the names of rivers. In Bulgaria we have a "Луда река", translating to "insane river". But nothing can beat it's first name "Shaytan" this time translating to "Devil".

I just noticed mistakes in that text and can't edit it because the original file is long gone. But I don't want to edit just the alt text, because that way it wouldn't match. So now I will just live with it.

[ndemon93]

Drew it for Riley, but not sure is she in tumblr

[nevertoomanyspiders]

a wet gentleman

[twintailedsiren]

I saw this image on United24's BlueSky account around Halloween. While vodyanyks, or vodyanoy, aren't usually shown with fish tails, this dude has a fish fin peeking out of the water behind him. They're usually shown as older men with beards, and occasionally webbed feet.

For another vodianoi drawing, see this post.