We’ve all heard of mermaids: beautiful, sea-dwelling creatures that are human-like in appearance, with a fish tail instead of feet. There are plenty of stories about how they lure in fishermen with their enchanting voice. Stories like these also exist in the Celtic folklore, however, the Irish merpeople are called Merrows.
Merrows vs. Mermaids vs. Selkies
“The Irish merpeople are called Merrrows and they can be distinguished from other sea-dwellling faeries in that they wear red feather caps to propel themselves down to their homes in the depths. Should their cap be stolen, they can no longer return to their watery homes. The female Merrows are very beautiful and, like other Mermaids, appear before storms as an omen, but they are gentle by nature and often fall in love with mortal fishermen. This can partly be explained by the extreme ugliness of the male Merrows. Despite their alarming aspect, the males too have their redeeming features as they are generally amiable and jovial in character. Both males and females sometimes come ashore in the form of little hornless cattle.” Faeries by Brian Froud
Merrows shouldn’t be confused with Selkies, who are a different kind of sea-dwelling creatures. Female Selkies can come onto land by discarding their seal-like skin. Should anyone steal their skin, they are unable to return to the sea (much like the merrows can’t return without their cap). Male Selkies can whip up heavy storms that will punish fishers for slaughtering the Selkies’ seal brethren.
The merrows who inhabit my books
In Seelie Princess, Kayla befriends a faerie who has a bit of merrow blood in her. It isn’t until Unseelie Queen that she meets a pure-blooded merrow.
In front of them, in the frothing waves, lay a creature Kayla had never seen before. Her upper body was humanoid, while the lower part ended in the tail of a mermaid. Shimmering scales in all shades of green and blue covered her skin. Her long deep-red hair had seashells and pearls woven into the strands. A gash ran along her arm, and blood tinged the surrounding water.
“She needs help.” Nooa crawled toward the creature, leaning over her to inspect the wound.
Kayla joined him on the girl’s other side. She had never seen such a strange face, and she had seen her fair share of weird things in this realm. The girl’s nose was flat, almost like the snout of a snake. Even her face was covered by scales, and instead of ears, she had fins protruding from the side of her head.
Her eyes fluttered open. They were wholly black and gleamed like wet pearls. She didn’t seem surprised to see a stranger leaning over her, and she reached out a searching hand, closing it around Kayla’s wrist. The girl’s fingers were webbed, like Maeve’s. Like that of a merrow, Kayla realized.
Just as Brian Froud described in his work, the female merrows have a vastly different appearance compared to the male merrows. Kayla learns that pretty quickly, too.
The merrow women were all beautiful, with hair the color of seaweed or red ink, green-scaled skin, and black eyes. Compared to their beauty, the men were hideous, with bulbous noses, red eyes, and protruding teeth that spoiled their faces. Instead of hair, they had green spikes and gills.
Merrows played more of a supporting role in my first trilogy, and only two were ever actually called by name. But the merfolk is still on my mind, and I’m hoping to feature them again in my upcoming projects.
Last updated: December 11, 2023
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