Louhi
Also known as: Pohjan akka, Pohjolan emäntä (Mistress of Pohjola), Louhiatar
Mythological Narrative
Scholarly Commentary & Evolution
## Mistress of the North
In Finnish folk poetry the Old Woman of the North, *Pohjan akka*, rules Pohjola, a cold, dark, hostile land somewhere to the north, and is a formidable sorceress; in charms the related *Louhiatar* or *Loviatar* is the mother of diseases. The Kalevala makes Louhi the chief antagonist of the Kalevala heroes, though an ambivalent one: she rescues the shipwrecked Väinämöinen and bargains fairly for her daughter's marriage.
## The Sampo
Louhi promises her daughter to the man who can forge the Sampo, a wonder-mill that grinds grain, salt, and money. Ilmarinen succeeds, and she locks it in the rock-mountain of Pohjola behind nine locks, where it roots itself deep in the earth. When the heroes steal it, she sends fog, wind, and the sea-monster Iku-Turso after them, then transforms herself into a giant eagle carrying a hundred warriors under her wings. Väinämöinen smashes her talons with his rudder, and in the struggle the Sampo falls into the sea and breaks; Louhi carries home only its lid, which is why, the epic says, the North is poor.
## Revenge
Louhi then sends plagues and a bear against Kalevala and steals the sun and moon, hiding them in a mountain until Ilmarinen's forging frightens her into releasing them. Her daughter becomes Ilmarinen's wife and is killed by Kullervo's wolves and bears.
Academic Discussion & Critique
Exchange peer-reviewed hypotheses, comparative Indo-European etymologies, and archaeological field interpretations regarding Louhi.
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The god of waters and fish, named by Agricola in 1551 as the one who brought fish from the water, called king of the waves in the runo-songs, husband of Vellamo and lord of the underwater realm of Ahtola.
Ilmarinen
The eternal smith of Finnish tradition, who forged the vault of the sky and, in the Kalevala, the Sampo for Louhi of Pohjola; named by Agricola in 1551 as the maker of calm and storm who carried travelers on their way.
Ilmatar
The virgin daughter of the air who, in the Kalevala's first rune, descends to the primeval sea, becomes pregnant by wind and wave, and on whose knee a duck lays the eggs from which earth, sky, sun, moon, and stars are made; mother of Väinämöinen.
Lemminkäinen
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