A medieval map of the North Atlantic shows a coiled serpent large enough to wrap around a ship. A Norwegian bishop writes in 1753 of a creature so vast it could be mistaken for an island. These are the two monsters that haunt the deep. The Kraken and the Leviathan are both enormous sea beings, but they come from different traditions: the Leviathan is a biblical chaos serpent of cosmic scale, while the Kraken is a giant cephalopod from Nordic folklore, grounded in sailor sightings of real marine animals. One is a symbol of divine power and primordial evil. The other is a creature of the cold, dark ocean, plausible enough to be cataloged by naturalists.
What exactly are the Kraken and the Leviathan?
The Leviathan appears in the Hebrew Bible as a multi-headed sea serpent (Job 41, Psalm 74:14, Isaiah 27:1). It is a creature of chaos that Yahweh defeats at the beginning of creation. The word may derive from the Ugaritic Litan, a seven-headed serpent in Canaanite myth. The Leviathan is not a species. It is a singular, primordial entity.
The Kraken is a different kind of beast. It comes from Scandinavian folklore, first described in writing by the Norwegian bishop Erik Pontoppidan in his Natural History of Norway (1753). He called it kraken (from the Old Norse kraki, meaning crooked or twisted). Pontoppidan described it as a floating island with arms that could drag a ship down. Unlike the Leviathan, the Kraken was treated as a real animal, not a supernatural one. Sailors told stories of its immense size, and later naturalists identified it as a giant squid.
Where do these sea monsters come from?
The Leviathan’s oldest known source is not the Bible itself, but the Ugaritic Baal Cycle (c. 1400 BCE). The god Baal defeats the sea serpent Litan, a seven-headed dragon. The Hebrew authors adapted this story to describe Yahweh’s victory over the chaos monster at creation. In Job 41, the Leviathan is described with fire-breathing, scales like shields, and a heart as hard as stone. It is untamable, unkillable by human hands. The text is a long poem meant to demonstrate God’s power over the most fearsome creature imaginable.
The Kraken’s origin is oral. Before Pontoppidan, the creature appears in the 13th-century Norwegian Konungs skuggsjá (King’s Mirror) as a creature called hafgufa (sea-mist). It was said to sit at the surface, mouth open, and draw fish in. The legend likely grew from sightings of Architeuthis dux, the giant squid, which can grow to 43 feet. The Kraken’s arms were said to be so thick that a man could not wrap his arms around one. Pontoppidan’s account was influential because he was a respected clergyman who treated the Kraken as a natural creature, not a myth.
What do the Kraken and Leviathan symbolize?
The Leviathan represents chaos, pride, and the untamed forces of nature that only a divine creator can subdue. In Jewish and Christian tradition, it is a symbol of evil that will be destroyed at the end of the world. Isaiah 27:1 says “the Lord will punish Leviathan, the twisting serpent, the dragon that is in the sea.” Later Kabbalistic texts, such as the Zohar, describe the Leviathan as one of the primordial monsters along with Behemoth (land) and Ziz (air). They are the three rulers of the elements, each representing a dimension of God’s creative power.
The Kraken’s symbolism is more practical. It is the unknown of the deep ocean, the fear of the sea itself. In Norse culture, the sea was a dangerous provider. The Kraken embodied the risk of the voyage: the sudden disappearance of a ship, the shoal of fish that vanishes, the island that sinks beneath you. Unlike the cosmic Leviathan, the Kraken is not evil. It is a force of nature, neither moral nor immoral. It simply is.
How have these creatures been used in practice?
In occult and esoteric traditions, the Leviathan has a role in ceremonial magic. The Key of Solomon and later grimoires list it as a demon associated with the element of water. In the Goetia, Leviathan is one of the seventy-two spirits, a great marquis who appears as a sea serpent. The invocation of Leviathan is part of certain rituals for gaining knowledge of the deep, or for accessing the subconscious. The creature is also central to the Book of Enoch, where it is a female monster (the male is Behemoth) that will be served as food for the righteous in the messianic feast.
The Kraken has no place in traditional grimoire magic. It appears in modern fantasy and neo-pagan traditions as a symbol of oceanic power. Some contemporary occultists use the Kraken as a totem for overcoming obstacles or for harnessing the unconscious. But these are modern inventions. The historical Kraken was a creature of folklore, not of ritual.
How do the two compare to other mythical sea beasts?
The Leviathan is often compared to the Babylonian Tiamat, a saltwater dragon killed by Marduk in the Enuma Elish (c. 1100 BCE). Both are primordial chaos beings. The Kraken is closer to the Greek Scylla, a six-headed monster that snatches sailors from ships. Both are localized dangers rather than cosmic threats. The Kraken also resembles the Japanese Shin-en or the Norse Jörmungandr, the Midgard Serpent, but Jörmungandr is a distinct entity that encircles the world. The Kraken is a regional hazard, not a world-encircling serpent.
Another frequent comparison is to Cthulhu, H.P. Lovecraft’s creature from The Call of Cthulhu (1928). Lovecraft borrowed the idea of a giant octopus-like entity from the Kraken, but gave it the cosmic scale of the Leviathan. Cthulhu is a hybrid: a Kraken-shaped god with the Leviathan’s role as a primordial, sleeping chaos.
What are the common misconceptions?
One misconception is that the Leviathan is a whale. The King James Bible translated the word as “whale” in some passages, but the original Hebrew describes a fire-breathing serpent. The Leviathan is not a mammal. It is a dragon.
Another is that the Kraken is a demon. It is not. The Kraken appears in no medieval grimoire. It became a demon only in modern pop culture, such as the Pirates of the Caribbean films. The historical Kraken was a natural creature, albeit a gigantic one.
People also confuse the two in size. The Leviathan is described as being so large that it can swallow a ship whole. The Kraken is said to be the size of an island. Which is bigger? The accounts differ. The Leviathan is cosmic, not measurable. The Kraken is theoretically measurable, but no one has ever caught one.
FAQ
Are the Kraken and Leviathan the same creature?
No. The Leviathan is a biblical serpent of chaos, while the Kraken is a giant squid from Nordic folklore. They come from different cultures and symbolize different things.
Can the Kraken be summoned in magic?
Not in historical grimoire traditions. The Kraken is a folk creature, not a demon. Some modern occultists use it as a symbol, but it has no traditional summoning method.
What is the Leviathan in the Bible?
A sea monster described in Job 41, Psalm 74, and Isaiah 27. It is a symbol of God’s power over chaos, often depicted as a multi-headed serpent or dragon.
Is the Kraken real?
The giant squid (Architeuthis dux) is real and may have inspired the Kraken legend. But the creature described in Pontoppidan’s account—an island-sized monster that drags ships down—has not been proven.
Closing
The Kraken and the Leviathan stand at opposite ends of the sea monster spectrum. One is a creature of scripture, tied to the order of creation. The other is a creature of the sailor’s log, grounded in the cold water of the North Atlantic. Both remind us that the deep is not empty. For more on the beings that dwell in the liminal spaces between worlds, see our mythical creatures guide and the glossary entry for sea monsters. If you are interested in the biblical Leviathan and its role in occult tradition, read our Leviathan in grimoire magic.