# 1. Atargatis
Atargatis was a Syrian goddess who is referred to by many as the original mermaid. Her story is tragic, and let’s be honest… don’t we all love a protagonist with emotional baggage? If you read the Twilight books, you might remember that Edward was genuinely afraid of injuring Bella when she wanted to consummate their marriage while she was still human. Iin my humble opinion, this fear was totally legitimate.
When this beautiful goddess fell in love with a mortal man, he was unable to survive their passionate supernatural love-making. Atargatis was so devastated that she returned to the sea in the form of a fish, but not before giving birth to their daughter, who would go on to become the Queen of Syria.
I would argue that maybe Atargatis didn’t live out the rest of eternity in the depths of the sea. What if she emerged on a different continent to live amongst humans, hidden in plain sight? Throw in a reincarnated version of her long-lost love, and that sounds like a story I would obsessively read from beginning to end.
# 2. Merrow
You may or may not be familiar with the Irish folklore surrounding the Merrow, which are a slightly more malevolent version of the ocean-dwelling creatures. The stories of mermaids and selkies that originated from the British Isles prior to the 1900s often center around the idea of a beautiful woman coming from the sea and a man who falls in love with her. In this narrative, the mermaid requires an enchanted garment or cap to return to the sea. But the male lover can’t stand the thought of losing her, and he inevitably hides her coat or cap to prevent her from leaving him.
Ew… right?
Don’t get me wrong… Beauty and the Beast is a guilty pleasure of mine, despite the obvious Stockholm nightmare that’s taking place. But the happily-ever-after doesn’t come along if the beast doesn’t eventually let his captive leave. When the anti-hero learns to respect the person’s freedom and choices, then, and only then, can any kind of trust begin to form.
Two authors, namely Thomas Keightley and Thomas Crofton Croker, published two separate collections of Irish folktales and legends. Both of these included a story about a fisherman who was trapped and held prisoner in an underwater city by a grotesque merman. Add the beauty and the beast trope and throw in some environmental themes about over-fishing and pollution, and there might be an opportunity for a rad LGBT romance about a guy who gets the merman for a change.
# 3. Suvannamaccha
This legend has been spotted in artistic renderings both in Cambodia and Thailand. The story is intertwined with another love story about the god Rama attempting to rescue his lover Sita from an island where she’s being held captive. You might remember stories about these characters from the movie “My Little Princess” from 1995.
Rama commissions a bridge to be built from the mainland to the island so that he can go rescue his lady love. But the bridge-builder runs into trouble when a group of mermaids decides to wreak havoc by stealing the rocks from the water each night and doing everything they can to stop the construction of the bridge.
Things take a turn when Rama threatens to kill the bridge-builder if he doesn’t figure out a solution. He speaks to the leader of the rowdy mermaid pod, and she falls immediately in love with him and orders her friends to return all the rocks, assisting in building the bridge so that Rama will spare the life of the bridge-builder.
The thought of our mermaid falling in love over one conversation and making a complete one-eighty about something she felt so strongly about makes me want to gag. But if we put our own twist on it, it could be a compelling story.
For example, if we have a sassy leader of a mermaid pod and a man who’s doing something that encroaches on their territory, there is definitely an opportunity for conflict. But call me crazy, I’d want to see the character interact and get to know each other before they fall in love. So, what if she turned into a human woman and showed up at his construction site (or marine-research facility) to learn more about these humans and hopefully figure out how to make them go away. Then as she learns that not all humans are there to harm the ocean, she slowly starts to trust him and eventually decides that she’s going to help him conduct the research he needs to protect her ocean. But, with her being a creature of the sea, she can’t stay on land forever… how will their love survive?
# 4. Nereid
The Nereid were Greek deities, referred to as water nymphs that were often friendly to humans. They sang beautiful songs and rescued sailors from drowning. It kind of makes you think of dolphins when you read the stories. But every good re-telling needs a twist. Instead of the mermaid saving the man, what if there was a man on one of those solo sailing trips crossing the ocean, and he sees a woman swimming in the middle of the ocean.
He pulls her up to find that she’s injured, but her blood is blue instead of red. Maybe she can’t speak a word of his language, but it’s obvious that she is terrified to go back into the water. Throw in a storm and get them good and lost… it could be a fun journey.
# 5. Iara
Any writer who has done their mermaid research has heard the story of Iara, the Brazillian mermaid princess. She was the daughter of a chief who was a fierce warrior and a skilled hunter. Her two brothers were so jealous that they drowned her and left her body in the river. Some say that she returned as a vengeful spirit that seduces men to come to the water where she drowns them, others say that she takes them to her kingdom where they are added to her harem.
It wouldn’t be hard to take this tragic and spooky ghost story and turn it into a compelling mystery or even a steamy romance. Throw in a modern male character who appreciates a strong woman, and I think the potential for a decent book is definitely there.
For those of us who grew up watching Splash and The Little Mermaid, we’ve never lost our love of these mysterious, graceful beings. That’s one of the reasons I’m so in love with the Siren series on Hulu. The last season, I actually just purchased on Amazon Prime Video because I couldn’t wait for Hulu to release it.
People say you should write the books you want to read. While I can’t abandon my current work in progress, I figured I’d toss these ideas out into cyberspace and see if anyone could put them to use. If you know of any great mermaid novels, or better yet… If you’re an author looking to promote your mermaid novel, please leave a link in the comments, join me on any of my social media platforms, and I’d be happy to share your stories with my network.
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