Ahklut

An image of my interpretation of the mythical creature known as an Ahklut or "Sea-Wolf".

The Ahklut comes from Inuit / Native American mythology and is one of many terms for the Sea-Wolf. Obviously, I've focused on the idea of a creature that shifts between the form of an orca and a wolf.
_{This also is to serve as a reference for the Ahklut spirit used in my Gwarcheidwad series.}

It is a spirit that can shift between the form of both a wolf and an orca (killer whale). And is supposed to be a dangerous killer. Its tracks can be recognized because they are wolf tracks that lead to and from the ocean. Often, dogs seen walking to the ocean and/or into it are considered evil.

The Ahklut is unique among cryptids by having been a totem animal of several Native American tribes, an honor shared only with the Thunderbird.
Stories of and usage of it as a totem animal include the Pacific Northwest of the United States, he waters near British Columbia, and southwestern Canada. Several native representations of the creature have been retrieved; all depict a long, serpentine animal with small forelimbs and a doglike or crocodilian head. Stories of a creature with a similar description reached as far North as the Inuit tribes in Alaska, with the only difference being that their version of the Ahklut had six legs. Depictions of what may be the same animal as the Sea-Wolf have been found as far south as the Nazca Plain, in Peru. One of the famous “Nazca lines” depicts a whale-like sea monster, complete with two forelimbs, crocodilian snout, and large eyes. Roy P. Mackal speculates that the monsters are actually a surviving populations of a type of primitive whale called a zeuglodon.

Some legends say the Ahklut is a human transformed into a Orca, while other indicate a Orca was changed into a wolf, and others indicate that a wolf cub (or pair of wolf cubs) were transformed into an Orca.

Other names: sea wolf, sisiutl, wasgo, haietlik, gonakadet, tirichik, mauraa, nikaseenithulooyee, palraiyuk, and others.

Resources: [link] , [link] , [link] , [link] , [link] ,


While the Ahklut is a mythological creature, this is MY interpretation of it. And this particular design is also one of my original characters, Atka. DO NOT STEAL HIM. _{I watermarked the damn thing for a reason.}