In Nordic folklore and mythology, a fylgja (Old Norse: [ˈfylɡjɑ], Old Swedish: fylghia, older Dalecarlian: fylgja) is a supernatural being or spirit which accompanies a person in connection to their fate or fortune. They can appear to people in their sleep as dream-women, or appear to them while awake, often in the disembodied spiritual form of an enemy.
Etymology The word fylgja means "to accompany". The term fylgja is typically translated into English as "fetch", a similar being from Irish folklore. The term fylgja also has the meaning of "afterbirth, caul", and it has been argued by Gabriel Turville-Petre (cf. § Placenta origins) that the concept of the supernatural fylgja cannot be completely dissociated from this secondary meaning; in fact, there may well be a connection to the hamr, referring to the skin used by shapeshifters (hamramr, cf. fjaðrhamr).
Description The fylgja is a ghost who associates with (or, for lack of a better word, stalks or shadows) a particular individual, and may be characterized as a "guardian spirit". However, contrary to its name meaning 'follower', it generally moves ahead of its host, making a kind of "contact" with the person before they arrive at some key spot. The fylgja will, however, follow a person when they are near death. A fylgja is sometimes associated with a particular family or clan, in which case it is called an ættarfylgja (pl. ættarfylgjur 'family followers'). A closely related type of fylgja is the "dream woman", as appears in Gísla saga (Cf. § Sleep and dreams below). It is contended that the Icelandic mar or mara (the folkloric "[night]mare") is a dream fylgja which has strayed from its assigned host and visiting the dreams of others, which tend to be more sinister than when visiting its usual host or ward. The fylgja is said to take on either an animal form or a female human form, and this is due to a conflation of two distinct types of spirits, according to Else Mundal; the term fylgja, she argues, was first associated with the animal spirit, then later applied to the woman-spirit type.
Placenta origins The Icelandic word fylgja can also mean "placenta" or "afterbirth of a child" and the folkloric supernatural connection made between child and afterbirth may be the origins of the fylgja as a concept. According to some, the fylgja takes on the form of whatever animal that first showed itself and consumed the newborn baby's afterbirths; these creatures taking on such forms as mice, sheep, dogs, foxes, cats, and raptors, birds of prey, or carrion eaters.
Animal forms Thus, while the fylgja usually was a female ghost in the shape of a woman, it sometimes took on the shape of animals (also female animals according to Mundal). The animal fylgjur typically came in the form of a dog, but also as various other land or even sea creatures. The particular animal type that the fylgja takes on may reflect the character of the person it represents, akin to a totem animal. Hence fox-like fylgjur shadowed deceitful people, swan-like forms shadowed beautiful women. Men who were viewed as a leader would often have a fylgja displaying their "true" character. This means that if they had a "tame nature", their fylgja would typically be an ox, goat, or boar, and if they had an "untame nature", they would have a fylgja in the shape of an animal such as a fox, wolf, deer, bear, eagle, falcon, leopard, lion, or serpent. The animal fylgja is also said to appear in front of its owner, often in dreams, and offer portents of events to come. As such it is a representation of the future itself, not the character of a person. Like a person's fate, the fylgja is not changeable, nor can it improve or act on its own. Fylgjur may also "mark transformations between human and animal" or, in other words, they may be shape shifters. In Egil's Saga, there are references to both Egil and Skallagrim transforming into wolves or bears, and there are examples of shape shifting in the Saga of King Hrolf Kraki, where Bodvar Bjarki turns into a bear during a battle as a last stand. These transformations are possibly implied in the saga descriptions of berserkers who transform into animals or display bestial abilities. Else Mundal has argued that the animal fylgja and the woman-ghost type fylgja are of different origins, and the solitary animal fylgja is actually that individual's alter ego present since birth, which perishes together when that person dies.
Occurrences Fylgjur usually appear in the form of an animal or a human and commonly appear during sleep, but the sagas relate that they could appear while a person is awake as well, and that seeing one's fylgja is an omen of one's impending death. When fylgjur appear in the form of women, they are then supposedly guardian spirits for people or clans (ættir). According to Else Mundal, the female fylgja could also be considered a dís, a ghost or goddess that is attached to fate.
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