There are a handful of creatures that appear across various cultures regardless of the early distances between them. Some of these are hard to explain (dragons are an odd one), but others make perfect sense. For our list we will be dealing with a group of the latter. Giants, though they have few set characteristics across cultures, seem to pop up everywhere from creation myths and ancient legends to folk and fairy tales. Perhaps the idea of massive, grotesque humans is just something we all innately fear. Maybe it was just the first and easiest ‘monster’ for early man to concoct? We’ll never know for sure, but what we do know is our human stories are chock full of them and I’ve decided to collect eleven to share with you today. As always, I hope you learn something and enjoy.
1.Gogmagog
Our first entry comes from Welsh and English mythology. There is an odd and eclectic group of stories that aimed to tie the British Isles to the classical worlds of Greece and Rome. In these stories, a hero, in this case a Trojan colonizer named Corineus, travels to the far-off Isles and finds the mythic land of Albion. Despite being an idyllic place for our Trojan and his men to settle, Albion is also home to a gang of giants. Early on in the settlement’s history, this gang of twenty odd giants invades, burning it to the ground and killing many of the settlers. Corineus, not one to just take something like this lying down, rallies the survivors and they retaliate, managing to kill every giant but one; Gogmagog. Now Gog was no slouch. He was said to be 12 cubits tall (just shy of twenty feet) and used an uprooted tree as a club. Instead of just duking it out, our Trojan hero challenges Gog to a wrestling match. Seemingly a good fit for a giant, Corineus uses his superior skill to throw Gog from a nearby cliff and into the sea where he drowns. As always, there are alternate versions of the story worth noting. In some tales Gog & Magog are brothers or cohorts, while in an even later story the giant is not killed, but captured as a prize for King Arthur.
2. The Fomorians
Irish mythology is broken into a number of important cycles that are meant to explain the mythic and legendary ages of Irish history. In these epics, there are a host of non-human species to rival and compete with man. One of these were the giant Fomorians. The exact nature of these creatures is contested, but it seems their main characteristic was their size and otherness. They either came from below the earth or the sea, are either beautiful beyond words or hideous half-animal hybrids, but in all tales they beat early man to Ireland and set up shop. There they are either depicted as sea raiders or demigods opposed to the birth of civilization. Later stories even call them sons of Noah’s son Ham (poor Ham and poor Ham’s wife). Regardless of origins or occupation, the Fomorians were enemies to the human race. They enslaved humans to serve them and took two thirds of all that humanity produced, including children, as a tribute. Eventually an Irish hero rises from this sea of despair (Tuatha De) and they drive the Fomorians back into the sea (or under the earth) before claiming Ireland as human friendly territory.
3. Talos
Talos is one of the coolest entries on the list, though that’s just my opinion. Not a natural entity, Talos was a creation of the ancient Greeks of epic myth (aka fake Greeks). He was a giant automaton made of Bronze who was given life by his molten blood. His origins are a bit murky, though there are a number of core stories that offer various explanations. In some he is a product of a past Age of Bronze, in others he was forged by the gods and in a third he is not a towering mechanical man, but a towering mechanical bull. Either way, his purpose was to circle Crete three times a day to keep watch for sea raiders and pirates. If Talos came across any of these maritime threats, he would huck massive rocks at them (this is actually depicted fairly well in the old Jason and the Argonauts movie) and try to sink their ships. His one weakness is that all of his molten blood is held in by a single pin in either his neck or his ankle. In one story, he is driven mad by the goddess Medea and, in his insanity, he ‘pulls his own pin’ and his molten life blood leaks out into the sea, leaving Greece exposed and without its longtime protector.
4. Hekatonkheires
Less giants and more mini-Titans, the Hekatonkheires are also Greek in origin and their name roughly translates to ‘the hundred handers’. These three beings of immense size not only had the hundred hands (and also arms) their name suggests, but also fifty heads to go along with them. They were the offspring of Uranus and Gaia and played a pivotal role in the overthrow of the Titans. When Zeus, Uranus’ grandson (I think), decides to usurp his father, he uses the Hekatonkheires in his assault. Once Zeus and the Olympians are victorious, the Titans are imprisoned below the Earth with the Hekatonkheires as their guards. Oddly enough there is a second version where the Hekatonkheires are sons of Poseidon and actually fight for the Titans. In this story they try to offer up bull entrails for good luck, but birds come and steal them, signaling their coming failure and destruction.
5. Kumbhakarna
Moving over to the Indian subcontinent, we find our first giant from the Hindu myths. Kumbhakarna is technically a Rakshasa, a type of demon-esque being in the Hindu faith, albeit one of giant proportions. In the early wars detailed in the Hindu epics, Kumbhakarna is depicted as an enormous man with an enormous appetite who is jovial in nature and fierce in battle. His only weaknesses are that he invokes jealousy in the other gods and can be easily tricked or confused. In one story he becomes so confused when asking for a reward from Brahma that instead of smiting his enemies, he falls asleep for six months. When he eventually wakes up, he is so famished that he eats everything in sights, including animals and people. This pattern is then said to repeat itself every time Kumbhakarna takes one of his six month long naps. Luckily the people of mythic India didn’t have to deal with this long. Kumbhakarna’s brother eventually ran afoul of Rama, a major character in these epics, and while Kumbhakarna refused to abandon his brother’s side, he knows the fight is a lost cause. In the end, they both die at Rama’s hand.
6. Jotun
Moving onto the Norse tradition, we find the Jotun. Now over the years Jotun has slowly come to mean ‘Ice Giants’ in some circles and in some texts. From what I’ve read, this isn’t entirely accurate. Like the Fomorians, the Jotun’s main characteristic is that they predate man and stand somewhat in opposition to him and his burgeoning civilizations. They are not men, elves, dwarves or gods. Sometimes they are depicted as large, but plenty of other times they are human sized or maybe even smaller. They are sometimes described as beautiful and at others as hideous monstrosities. What we do know is that the Jotun were born from Ymir’s blood, they were enemies of the Norse Gods, they resided in a place called Jotunheimer and were said to be as wise as they were brutish. Besides that, the Jotun are a fairy mysterious bunch, but I felt they deserved a spot on this list.
7. Quinametzin
Another race that supposedly predated man in the time of myths, the Quinametzin were a twelve foot tall race of Aztec origin. Unlike some of our other mythic races, the Quinametzin did not hate civilization, but instead created a grand one of their own. When they failed to thank and honor the gods though, they were punished. In a story that echoes Gilgamesh and Noah, a series of great tempests descended from the heavens and obliterated most of the Quinametzin’s civilization. While this may seem like a quick episode in Aztec mythology, the presence of the Quinametzin was likely felt daily by many Aztecs. Both the pyramid of Cholula and the City of Teotihuacan were believed to be creations from this bygone era; structures so massive and impressive that humans couldn’t have possibly built them on their own.
8. Flaming Teeth
Moving west to Fiji we find Flaming Teeth. Flaming Teeth is a colossal being with teeth the size of burning logs. It seems his only purpose was to travel from village to village sowing destruction and causing chaos. What he didn’t burn, he ate and eventually this became too much for the local Fijians left dealing with him. In one story, a band of men somehow trick the giant into placing his head under a large rock while he is hunting them. When the unlucky, and frankly kind of dopey, giant sticks his head under the rock, the men let it fall, crushing his skull and killing him. Before the men leave though, they notice that Flaming Teeth’s flaming teeth are still flaming away. Scooping them up, the men take them back to their villages and thus fire is first brought to Fiji. Not bad for a day’s head crushing.
9. Jentilak
The Jentilak (singular form Jentil) come from a land with a rich history of giant folklore and mythology. Spain in general, but the Basque country in particular, are home to a number of giants, the Jentalik simply being one variety. The Jentalik are known as pre-Christian monument builders who lived alongside the early Basque people. They were described as hairy, tall enough to walk in the sea and strong enough to throw a rock from one mountain to another (whatever the hell that means). Unlike some of our other pre-humans, the Jentalik aren’t enemies of civilization, but fathers of it. They taught the early Basque peoples the arts of farming and metallurgy, two essential skills in the civilized world. Despite their roles as benefactors and bigfoot-esque mountain pals, Christianity couldn’t tolerate their existence. It is said that when Jesus rose from the dead, these heathen-giants just couldn’t handle it. They either fled under the earth to avoid his Jesus rays or threw themselves from mountains in some sort of mass suicide. Only one giant remained after this post-resurrection purge, Olentzero. He shows up on Christmas to…celebrate the kid who caused all his friends and family to off themselves. Weird Spain. Very weird.
10. Ojaneanu
Another giant group from Spain, Ojaneanu are a riff on your traditional cyclops, though they are pretty far from Greece. They are described as being ten feet tall and having ten digits on each hand. They are not friends with man and are instead depicted as cruel, beast-like creatures with long red beards and manes. It is within this tangle of ginger hair that their weakness can be found. Within a male’s beard is a single white hair which, if plucked, will cause him to die. For females this doesn’t work so well since they don’t have the beards, though they are described as having massive, sagging breasts (this isn’t helpful, just hammered home over and over again). When these one eyed horrors aren’t fighting people, they are out wrestling bears and bulls. One final odd note is that, upon death, the Ojaneanu reproduce asexually, birthing a child from their corpse. While these nightmares may seem powerful, they live in constant fear of the Anjanas, or the local fairies.
11. Kuafu
Our final entry comes from Chinese folklore. Kuafu was a giant who one day decided he wanted to capture the sun. As he charged across the landscape, hoping to catch the glowing orb before it disappeared into the night, he became increasingly thirsty. To quench this thirst he begins to drink up entire lakes, rivers and ponds, but nothing seems to help. Eventually Kuafu succumbs to dehydration and dies. Where his body falls becomes a vast mountain range and where his club falls the Deng Forest is born. Generally this story is used to illustrate the perils of overconfidence, not tell us cool stuff about made up giants, but it fit the theme so I thought I’d throw it in at the end.
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed yourself and learned a few things. If you liked this article, maybe check out
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