My first young adult novel centered on the banshee. My next one will be about the selkie, and because of that, I decided the selkie would be the focus of this blog post. In a nutshell, the selkie is a shape-shifter that turns into a seal. I’ve been to Ireland, and there are indeed a lot of seals around the coast. The myth of the selkie actually started in Scotland but found its way to Ireland. I have to note the selkie has counterparts in Iceland and some of its surrounding islands.
Selkies can be either male or female. They are born in the sea and are able to shed their “seal-skin” and become human when they are on land. That is when they are most vulnerable, especially the females. There are many stories of human males discovering female selkies in their human form on a beach, usually basking in the sun. These men are taken by the selkie’s beauty and will steal their seal-skin. Once they have done that, the selkie cannot change back to seal form and return to the sea. They are also bound to that human male as long as they remain in possession of the seal-skin and end up marrying them.
These selkie wives will bear children and seem to live happy lives with their on-land families. However, they secretly yearn for the sea, and if they ever find where their husband has hidden their seal-skin they will take it and return to the sea. This seems awfully cruel for their children, but not always. According to some stories, the selkie will return to visit her children once a year. In other stories, the children are often visited by a large seal who is very friendly toward them. It’s assumed that is their mother. Sadly, there are stories where the children never see their mother again.
Selkie men are supposed to be just as handsome as their female counterparts and very seductive. They tend to set their sights on lonely human females who are dissatisfied in their marriages. There are, in fact, a number of families who are said to have selkie ancestors, such as the Lee family in Tralee and the Coneely (later, Connolly) clan in Connemora.
Selkies have been the focus of movies and books. The Secret of Roan Inish is an American/Irish independent film and based on a novel, Secret of the Ron Mor Skerry, written by Rosalie K. Fry. It is about a young Irish girl, Fiona Coneely, who uncovers her family's selkie ancestry and its connection to her lost brother.
While I have not read the book, I have seen (and own a copy of) the movie version, and it is indeed quite excellent. The same can be said about Song of the Sea. It is an animated movie from the same team who created the equally amazing Secret of the Kells and Wolfwalkers, which are also based on Irish folklore. Song of the Sea is about a young boy, Ben, who discovers his mother was a selkie. His little sister, Saoirse, has inherited her mother’s shapeshifting ability. She is mute, and Ben must help her find her voice and sing a song that can free the faeries creatures who have been captured by the evil goddess, Macha.
I have my selkie story mapped out. However, I will be working on the second book in The Fifth Cycle series next. There has also been some new interest in my Growing up Supernatural series. That might mean another trip to the town of Harmony. If that wasn’t enough, I have plans to write another middle-grade fantasy novel. I will go into more details on that in my latest newsletter.
