the whole “mermaids are all colourful and friendly and wear seashells as clothes and collect sparkly things and sing to the fish” is definitely appealing, 10/10, but let’s be realistic for a sec.
the ocean is scary as shit.
as humans, we have only explored about 5% of the ocean. meaning, we have seen very, very little of what lives in the ocean.
in that mere 5% we know about, while we have found some awesome stuff (coral reefs, starfish, dolphins, fish that glow!!!), we have found some absolute fucking monsters. huge sharks, giant squids, eels, some pretty freaky fish, the list goes on.
so, let’s be realistic.
you’re gonna look me in the eyes and tell me that all mermaids are dainty little figures with brightly coloured tails, long, flowing hair, big blue eyes and perfect white teeth? no. way.
show me the mermaids that live in the deepest parts of the ocean, of places man has never, and will never, get to. show me mermaids who hunt in packs, who don’t sing, but rather shrill and screech, or are so silent that you don’t notice them until it’s too late. show me the mermaids with grey, silver, multicolour, scaly skin and eyes that glow yellow in the dark and teeth that make great whites look friendly. show me the mermaids with coral and plankton and barnacles growing on their skin, with kelp in their hair.
give me mermaids who can camouflage into their enviorment, who can shoot ink, who can electrocute unsuspecting prey. give me giant mermaids with tails like eels or like jellyfish or like sharks, that will kill anything they see, that can cause tsunamis with a wave of their hands. give me mermaids who are ripped, with no hair, with fangs. give me mermaids with armour similar to crabs, with flesh harder than rock, with nails like talons. give me mermaids that have hidden themselves away from man in the furthest reaches of the depths, who have slowly evolved to look more monster than girl.
bring me the mermaids that no one wants to acknowledge, the ones that fuel nightmares and folk tales and urban legends.
bring me the diversity, the reality, of the ocean into mermaids.
Published
