Extra Credits Have you ever thought of making a video on Persian mythology(Shahname)? The reason it's an intresting topic to discuss is that the early history of Iranians was not written down for them and thus the stories of Powerful Achaemenid kings and Alexander the great became mixed with legends and myths and it's kind of intresting to trace their origins. Although these are from its historic parts. Its mythical part has some very intresting and powerful stories like Zahhak the king with serpents on its shoulders or Arash the archer or Rostam(He's kind of similar to Hercules i think)
I’m very glad you have pointed out the fact there are different variations of the Wendigo depending on the tribes, and that you discussed the fact the land was taken away. Being First Nation myself, stories are a key part of our history and culture and telling these stories to the next generation keeps our culture alive. I remember hearing and finding different stories and I remember first hearing of the Wendigo. At first there was hardly anything on the Wendigo, but then the game “Until Dawn” came out and then suddenly there was Wendigo everywhere and people telling different stories of it, and yet many I’ve seen were not from the culture. But I also appreciate the fact something if our First Nation culture has become popular and I hope more positive stuff will be known one day and maybe other people will be able to learn more of who we are as a people. I do appreciate the research you seem to put into this.
As someone who reads too much Creepypasta, this series was really interesting because of how often wendigo show up in that particular sphere of the internet. It's interesting to see how these traditional myths continue evolving into modern mythology.
I do like the Wendigo and Skinwalker stories in the creepy pasta fandom? I have a few problems with it though. People seemingly interchange Skinwalkers and Wendigo as the same creatures. The most prevalent image/description of the Wendigo is based off of a Pathfinder homebrew version of it, not the actual Native tale description. Plus the people writing them clearly don't do enough research on either legend. Skinwalkers aren't going to be in Scotland, Wendigo aren't going to be in Russia. If writers could fix that..then I think the stories would be much better.
@@MyLadyPanda I think worse than Wendigo in Russia is Wendigo in Arizona. At least Russia is the right climate and superficially matches the Great Lakes and Canadian Shield regions
@@dragonmandestructinator2847 That is true. I'm sorry for that. I think my point was that people just take these cryptids and myths and creatures and just plop them where they want to, regardless of where the stories place them.
I am just going to say that the Wendigo myth sounds very much like a combination of qivittoq and how people go crazy in very small isolated communities during the winter. Two things that are rather well known in Greenland.
I think it almost certainly developed as a way to explain and rationalize things like cabin fever and people going nuts or cannibal in the middle of winter. Which is probably why people thought there may be such a thing as wendigo psychosis, not that it was interpreted that way to decrease native status (which already was low and didn't matter much)
@polomat14 Iceland was not settled prior to the Vikings, so that is unlikely to have something near identical to a wendigo. Also that’s why Iceland has no volcano deities despite all the volcanic activity.
Should’ve also went into the areas this myth came from. It acted as a deterrent not only for overconsumption but also to say “no matter how bad things get, you cannot eat another human” as it was a large taboo. In regards to the windigo psychosis, it wasn’t only westerners who adopted the term, as even native Americans used it for instances where someone ate another person, a father who killed his family said he was controlled by the windigo and that’s why he did it
These episode are really important. Focusing on the narratives are great (brings a lot of awareness to many world cultures/beliefs). But explaining their meanings is also very important as that’s their purpose. Some people may walk away without understanding the myths unless they spend the time studying (or watch an episode like this). Good job on this one!
I’d love to see a mythology video on the *Nuckelavee* it’s a demonic horse/rider fused into one being in a creepy way. I’d love to see their take on it
The wendigo has always been one of my favorite mythological monsters. It reminds me of the werewolf, which also served to explain psychological and social problems in the form of a warning, with a scary story to tell the kids to keep them from going out alone at night, and to reinforce social values. I love that it's survived as a myth even into modern times and even in parts of the world where dying of starvation is far less common (i.e. North America) but people still retain that primal fear towards cannibalism. In that vein, it's a great use of two cardinal sins, greed and gluttony. It's also just a lot of fun to draw lol. I really dig your drawings and I've personally drawn many wendigos in my life, they're a fantastic monster to doodle when you want to experiment with different ideas. Those big antlers, rotting flesh, and uncanny human form are artistically awesome!
Wendigoes are one of those creatures drawn into modern scary stories where they've developed into something decidedly none-human in their appearance and presence, but still retain a nature based on an exaggerated human concept. In many stories regarding them today they possess the kind of cosmic horror dynamic of being something larger and more intrinsic than the temporary mortality of human beings. Not immortal exactly, but something that can't really be fought or evaded, something as fixed and inescapable as time, death, or gravity. A force or presence that, if we weren't something it wanted or needed, wouldn't pay us any attention in the same way we don't regard bacteria or insects.
Living in Vancouver I can't sleep with the lights off anymore. (I know wendigos aren't real, I know they wouldn't be around here, this comment is NOT literal)
If the wendigo was real we would have photos + proof. They seem to be large creatures therefore they would leave large footprints and bite marks on animal carcuses. Don't be afraid of mythology when you can be afraid of dying in your sleep due to a brain anurism 😊
I always thought wendigo psychosis was more like a cultural variation of cabin fever. I mean, these tales are told up north, right? Where the nights are super long in the winter? Not that they actually turn into cannibals, but the cabin fever makes them angry and irritable and they become afraid they might become a wendigo.
There are a few aspects of what appear to be actual empirical observation and experience buried in the Wendigo myth. Compare the Wendigo myth to actual cases of cannibalistic serial killers, for instance, and you will often find the same dehumanization of their victims, the same attitude towards eating humans as touched upon by the myth. And the same "living a normal life facade". Furthermore, while Wendigo psychosis may be debunked as a racist myth, cannibalism can be somewhat "addictive" and according to some testimonies the practicing of cannibalism in times of need can lead to the developement of an intense craving for human flesh in those survivors who ate humans. The notion of the Wendigo always craving more, never being satisfied no matter how many humans he ate can also be a reflection of the fact that humans aren't really all that nutritious (particular in starvation times, when you would resort to cannibalism in the first place, this may be even more pronounced.) Particularily lean meats like rabbit meat are even unable to sustain you (hence why "rabbit starvation" is a thing) and human meat isn't that far off. Finally, there are prion diseases, which those who eat other humans (and particular nervous tissue and the brain) are susceptible to. The monstrous, crazed depiction of the Wendigo may well also contain a kernel of this truth: that cannibalism may give you a degenerative brain disease.
@ExtraCredits the wendigo-psychosis you mentioned was not only attributed to indigenous people but was classified an actual mental illness in the early to mid 1900's where people who had "previously consumed human flesh in a survival situation or not." Had developed a craving for human flesh even if there were other food sources available, natives believed it would eventually lead to becoming wendigo (witaago in Mi'kmaq algonquian)
Years ago, I was hiking through the Smoky Mountains near Gatlinburg Tennessee. At some point I was separated from my group and for fun I thought it would be fun to make a story about American Tarzan. But at some point this character devolved from this strong caveman to a Gollum s creature and finally something that looked just like a wendigo. When I order the name Wendigo the image of it flashed through my mind and I felt a chill down my spine. Before that trip I've never heard of a wendigo.
My grandma used to tell me about a shadow monster called the nalusa falaya and how it will eat me now that I’m older I know she just wanted to keep me off the creeks
Back before we had Psychoanalysts working to discover and name various mental illnesses, Religion did that to greater and lesser amounts of successes. The Wendigo myth is just a way of trying to understand people like the Manson Family, or Jeffery Dahmer, or the Columbine Killers Etc.. We see these things as "Modern" but our ancestors are as human as we are, and suffered from human predators as a result.
Isolation, harsh conditions and starvation can bring out the worst in people ... the wendigo myth demonstrates this perfectly. It also is great on showing that some lines should never be crossed, since you won't be able to get back. If you ate human flesh once, you would most likely do it again if in the same situation.
These mythology matters episodes are really interesting. It would be cool if you make them a regular thing with the talking about the culture when you do a region, like lies in extra history
come on down to ma crib we can make some clay roasted thigh edit: I am out of thigh so maybe I could make blood pies with these hearts I have in my freezer
This wendigo episode was really interesting to watch. And it seems i have actually found something new really interesting to watch, besides extra history. Thanks you! And cogratz on 2,000,000 subs!
James, I'm loving the series here - especially as it relates to Native American Myth. I'm not a game developer, but I'm something of a student of history, and I have on occasion seen these sorts of things incorporated into games and literature as part of the narrative. I'd personally argue that this sort of thing is present in Life is Strange, where there are certain Native American animistic spirits that are kind of hinted at as being responsible for the phenomena that are present in the game - these things are used (in part) to oppose colonizers and exploiter-type figures. This all belongs in a genre of literature that is frequently called "Magic Realism" and is somewhat related to the TV show Twin Peaks and plenty of other aspects that are present in various other media. Keep up the great work!
I had been thinking of using the Wendigo in a D&D campaign I was going to run. The myths episode solidified that with this as a creature with a great origin, sinister appearance, etc. You guys definitely need to make more of these!
I thought the wendigo myth was partially based on prion diseases one could contract from eating human flesh, especially nerve tissue. (Sort of like mad cow.)
The "Wendigo Psychosis" concept sounds to me like the settlers taking the native stories at face value (as much as they could anyway). You do have cases of inexplicable depravity occasionally cropping up in harsh frontier conditions. People could seem to turn into "monsters." The natives explain it as people giving in to base desires and becoming mosters, while the settlers took this idea and thought of it as a kind of madness. If this is the case, the latter definition isn't functionally much different than the former. I, however, can completely see 19th and early 20th-century psychoanalysts fitting this concept into the racial and ethnic theories of the day, as well as the early settlers assuming such madness to be more of a problem among the more "primitive" natives. The concept of a psychological break manifesting from extreme conditions in which the individual foregoes their "humanity" and behaves in an inhuman manner, however, is hardly racist in itself and actual seems like a fairly reasonable hypothesis.
I was in Northern Manitoba for a few years. The Cree up there call it the Weetago. Even in modern times they are afraid of it. It apparently stays outside of communities and watches for an opportunity to get someone.
The wendigo has always been one of my favorite movie monsters, but also one of the most realistic in my mind. Its basically just what happens to people once they've been pushed too far beyond societal taboo. A lot of our identity is tied up in our relationships within society. Its difficult to rebuild that sense of belonging once it breaks through trauma or extreme isolation.
Modern Serial killers have much in common with Wendigo possessed people. Perfectly normal 90% of the time, you would never know when passing a monster like that on the street.
I am not American Indian. Was raised my people who lived off the land and faced many hardships in the deep woods. I was raised with wendigo stories but was mostly used to scare us into not entering into the woods too far as you could get lost forever. Aka kidnapped by the wendigo and killed.
The Murder Party Vote Khorne I highly doubt you’ll find any difference between North and South Korean mythology as they’ve only been separated for seventy years, so unless the North Koreans have been busy creating tons of new myths to scare their kids, you won’t see much of a difference.
"Wendigo Psychosis only affects certain members of the indigenous population"... Yeah, there was that Alferd Packer guy, though... certainly a case to be made for him to be counted as a Wendigo. :P
Oh man this would be a fun Witcher like game, going around the americas as a warrior killing the evil creatures and ghosts of different tribes and civilizations
Fun fact: The first year of jamestown (the first colonial town) they weren't prepared for the winter and didn't bring enough supplies. so they started killing and eating each other.
I’ve got an idea for a cool Extra Mythology episode! You could cover the myth about Lech, Czech and Rus (I wrote it in Polish). It’s slavic and a mythical explanation of where the Polish, Czech and Russian people came from. It would be good, since we haven’t had much of slavic mythology here yet. I think that not many people know them. There is also a legend of King Popiel who was eaten in his tower by mice, which I think of as an interesting topic as well. Hope I gave you a good idea!
So I work at a summer camp in the Shawnee national park, Camp Ondessonk, it’s a camp that pays homage to Native American culture and brings faith into it. We have a story named the Brebuff walker, simply put it’s a story about how some counselors saw a pale white figure staring at them in the middle of the night that was extremely fast, it’s a rather recent story as well. I didn’t know anything about wendigos until I told the story to one of my friends and said that wendigos match the description of what I said. Idk I jus thought that was kinda cool and wanted to share.
-James and crew I don't know what inspired you guys to start such an amazing spread of knowledge. But wow. I'm am eternally grateful and amazed. I was just in your game design section going through a few videos. When I heard something many years old about you being forced to be silent due to a nondisclosure agreement. I decieded I would attempt to get your atention by going to your most recent video. I was just going to post the comment and leave ( a few moments ago I didn't care) but I deceided not to be rude and watch your video..... wow just... WOW A few moments ago I had a bad taste in my mouth about mythology. Now?! I want to know more and I'm going to watch more. You've taken stories that nobody hears in extra history and made them heard ( I'm excited to know more about the potato famine. You've made game designers ready to fill the world with ethical non-skinner boxy games. You changed my dad's mind about video games. Now he lets me play them! You've made learning fun You've made me want to learn more You've made knowledge matter, learning matter, history matter, mythology matter, games matter. The time you've dedicated to your many many different series is like Christmas every day. The stories of game addiction and just wow I really could talk all day about everything I've learned But this is already way too long. So instead I'll just say... From the bottom of my heart thank you. You've given me the gift of personal freedom and wisdom. I know more and I'm a more avid learner. These gifts are invaluable and I will treasure them always. p.s. I almost forgot I was curious about some industry examples of story in games. While this started as my main goal I got lost in the amazing history of the wedigo or rather its story and how it was used by both the native populations and the settlers who made America. but If it's not too much trouble, people and I seemed really interested if your Nondisclosure agreement still stands on the multiplayer story info. Thanks either way. Have a nice day :) @
Since wendigo psychosis is apparently fake, I hope you will eventually make a video on the real motives for cannibalism within groups where the taboo was not practiced by necessity.
It wasn't originally wendigo psychosis but wendigo hysteria. Hysteria in the early 1800s was all the rage and any extreme behavior could be labled a hysteria. This is the time when the concept of mass hysteria evolved. Hysteria would return to Galen's definition until the 1860s. Psychosis did not become a term until after 1880, long after the eastern American-Indians and First Nations were long settled. Since the last major conflict in the Great Lakes region occurred with Black hawk war in the 1820s, I doubt either concept played much of role.
I feel as if the Wendigo was major inspiration for Elias Ainsworth in Ancient Magus' Bride. As he has a skull head, horns or antlers and sometimes craves human flesh.
Wow, so I guess the story of the Wendigo is actually a tragic one. One about how the native peoples were driven off their land and didn’t know what to do about it. It’s also sad 😞 that the white settlers tried to justify taking the Native American’s land with the tale of Wendigo psychosis. I never thought of this story this way.
The reinterpretation of the wendigo as Western expansionism is revisionist, racist bunk. This wasn't the first time tribes were displaced by other tribes, nor that they went hungry, nor that they were faced with a more powerful and competitive tribe. Most mythologies develop with urbanization and cultural expansion, but the earliest-stage myths tend to be: 1) Where the world came from, and 2) What lurks in the dark and eats children. That's why this story becomes more common as literacy spreads.
When you block a shot top-down it makes the subject look diminutive. Button one button up, that's why they're there, and put the camera at eye-level. Otherwise, cool (y)
The hungry ghosts of the Great Lakes are far older than the 400 year old presence of Europeans. Just my opinion. Good video, you guys do try to get it right. More so than many.
Help us make Extra Mythology a *weekly* show! bit.ly/EMPatreon
Wait a minute ...could you please poke the fire and make sure there isn't any frozen hearts in it ...
Extra Credits Have you ever thought of making a video on Persian mythology(Shahname)?
The reason it's an intresting topic to discuss is that the early history of Iranians was not written down for them and thus the stories of Powerful Achaemenid kings and Alexander the great became mixed with legends and myths and it's kind of intresting to trace their origins. Although these are from its historic parts. Its mythical part has some very intresting and powerful stories like Zahhak the king with serpents on its shoulders or Arash the archer or Rostam(He's kind of similar to Hercules i think)
Can you spell what the lady in the intro is singing?
I had a teacher at school say the epic of Gilgamesh is one of their favourites, so I'm looking foreword to seeing if I agree with him.
Wonder if these guys would like the game, "Until Dawn," which has the Wendigo as the primary antagonist?
Being indigenous my self. This used to give me nightmares
I still find that idea of a wendigo I shit my pants and ran into to the forest and then died
Mecha How do you get rid of wendigos? I really wanna know straight from a person who has lived in this culture.
I'm from the great lakes area in a small town surrounded by woods and terrified to back in the woods and to be out late at night
Soy Gato with fire
Minato Wantae But isn't there other stuff to do? Hearts and all that?
I’m very glad you have pointed out the fact there are different variations of the Wendigo depending on the tribes, and that you discussed the fact the land was taken away. Being First Nation myself, stories are a key part of our history and culture and telling these stories to the next generation keeps our culture alive.
I remember hearing and finding different stories and I remember first hearing of the Wendigo. At first there was hardly anything on the Wendigo, but then the game “Until Dawn” came out and then suddenly there was Wendigo everywhere and people telling different stories of it, and yet many I’ve seen were not from the culture.
But I also appreciate the fact something if our First Nation culture has become popular and I hope more positive stuff will be known one day and maybe other people will be able to learn more of who we are as a people.
I do appreciate the research you seem to put into this.
As someone who reads too much Creepypasta, this series was really interesting because of how often wendigo show up in that particular sphere of the internet. It's interesting to see how these traditional myths continue evolving into modern mythology.
I do like the Wendigo and Skinwalker stories in the creepy pasta fandom? I have a few problems with it though. People seemingly interchange Skinwalkers and Wendigo as the same creatures. The most prevalent image/description of the Wendigo is based off of a Pathfinder homebrew version of it, not the actual Native tale description. Plus the people writing them clearly don't do enough research on either legend. Skinwalkers aren't going to be in Scotland, Wendigo aren't going to be in Russia. If writers could fix that..then I think the stories would be much better.
@@MyLadyPanda I think worse than Wendigo in Russia is Wendigo in Arizona. At least Russia is the right climate and superficially matches the Great Lakes and Canadian Shield regions
@@dragonmandestructinator2847 That is true. I'm sorry for that. I think my point was that people just take these cryptids and myths and creatures and just plop them where they want to, regardless of where the stories place them.
Your Wendigo drawing looks great! (Just wanted to get that out.)
Nice profile picture
@@LowercaseBirds aoe 2 life
I am just going to say that the Wendigo myth sounds very much like a combination of qivittoq and how people go crazy in very small isolated communities during the winter.
Two things that are rather well known in Greenland.
I think it almost certainly developed as a way to explain and rationalize things like cabin fever and people going nuts or cannibal in the middle of winter. Which is probably why people thought there may be such a thing as wendigo psychosis, not that it was interpreted that way to decrease native status (which already was low and didn't matter much)
Greenland: yeah, you don’t want to come here, we got wendigos
Someone: what?
Native Americans: nope nope nope nope nope nope fu*k this sh*t I’m out.
@@coolsceegaming6178 I wonder if there is an icelandic version of that myth...
@polomat14 Iceland was not settled prior to the Vikings, so that is unlikely to have something near identical to a wendigo. Also that’s why Iceland has no volcano deities despite all the volcanic activity.
@@thatonecubchoo1541 Irish MONKS
Should’ve also went into the areas this myth came from. It acted as a deterrent not only for overconsumption but also to say “no matter how bad things get, you cannot eat another human” as it was a large taboo.
In regards to the windigo psychosis, it wasn’t only westerners who adopted the term, as even native Americans used it for instances where someone ate another person, a father who killed his family said he was controlled by the windigo and that’s why he did it
I'm pretty sure almost everyone keeps thinking of the Until dawn rendition when they think of the wendigo
+Justin Y. Honestly you're a myhtological creature for th UA-cam(!)
Originally heard of it from my grandmother (I'm 1/4 native). I've never even played that game.
I normally dont because I grew up with these myths but I like how until dawn made the myth into something more interactive
@@thedoruk6324 Justin Y as a dnd monster
first time I heard of a Wendigo was from an episode of Charmed
These episode are really important. Focusing on the narratives are great (brings a lot of awareness to many world cultures/beliefs). But explaining their meanings is also very important as that’s their purpose. Some people may walk away without understanding the myths unless they spend the time studying (or watch an episode like this). Good job on this one!
I honestly couldn’t wait for the part 2
Will Hollis same
Neither could i
I’d love to see a mythology video on the *Nuckelavee* it’s a demonic horse/rider fused into one being in a creepy way. I’d love to see their take on it
Used to be a fan but now I’m a toaster
welcome comrade. Join me in producing toast for the people.
@@Sgt.Dornan omg is this the lenin of toast
Toaster? Nah, I'm a spoon.
Lol wut?
*in tears*
Welcome comrades
How did they get an IRL wendigo picture for the thumbnail?
Disturbing
It turns out he wasn't a vampire after all. They sure fooled us!
Lol
XD
Lol
What's Keanu Reeves' Cousin doing on this channel!
LOL He runs this channel.
WOA!!
like Keanu Reeves if he never got laid
@@BalzyMcSwollensack I think the host gets laid every night, dude.
Looks like Shaggy to me
The beginning of the 17th century is also the mini ice age, that might contribute to the famine.
The wendigo has always been one of my favorite mythological monsters. It reminds me of the werewolf, which also served to explain psychological and social problems in the form of a warning, with a scary story to tell the kids to keep them from going out alone at night, and to reinforce social values. I love that it's survived as a myth even into modern times and even in parts of the world where dying of starvation is far less common (i.e. North America) but people still retain that primal fear towards cannibalism. In that vein, it's a great use of two cardinal sins, greed and gluttony. It's also just a lot of fun to draw lol. I really dig your drawings and I've personally drawn many wendigos in my life, they're a fantastic monster to doodle when you want to experiment with different ideas. Those big antlers, rotting flesh, and uncanny human form are artistically awesome!
A little more about the warrior Anwe who finished off these monsters. Can't find anything on Google.
Same..... in fact I haven't found much of any Native American mythological figures anywhere
Not surprising. He is really good at not being seen. lol the legend lives on
@@thebard8048 You won't find a lot because most of them are oral traditions.
Right? What the fuck happened after? I want more Anwe
I would assume Anwe was for the Wendigo story only.
So maybe a different hero per different story
Wendigoes are one of those creatures drawn into modern scary stories where they've developed into something decidedly none-human in their appearance and presence, but still retain a nature based on an exaggerated human concept. In many stories regarding them today they possess the kind of cosmic horror dynamic of being something larger and more intrinsic than the temporary mortality of human beings. Not immortal exactly, but something that can't really be fought or evaded, something as fixed and inescapable as time, death, or gravity. A force or presence that, if we weren't something it wanted or needed, wouldn't pay us any attention in the same way we don't regard bacteria or insects.
Living in Vancouver I can't sleep with the lights off anymore.
(I know wendigos aren't real, I know they wouldn't be around here, this comment is NOT literal)
I know, when I watched a different video on the Wendigo, I was hiding under the blankets sweating, too afraid to come out.
Dang man
If the wendigo was real we would have photos + proof. They seem to be large creatures therefore they would leave large footprints and bite marks on animal carcuses. Don't be afraid of mythology when you can be afraid of dying in your sleep due to a brain anurism 😊
@@mattmcewen794 of course it's all for joke's sake.
Matt Mcewen you mean human carcasses?
I always thought wendigo psychosis was more like a cultural variation of cabin fever. I mean, these tales are told up north, right? Where the nights are super long in the winter? Not that they actually turn into cannibals, but the cabin fever makes them angry and irritable and they become afraid they might become a wendigo.
There are a few aspects of what appear to be actual empirical observation and experience buried in the Wendigo myth. Compare the Wendigo myth to actual cases of cannibalistic serial killers, for instance, and you will often find the same dehumanization of their victims, the same attitude towards eating humans as touched upon by the myth. And the same "living a normal life facade". Furthermore, while Wendigo psychosis may be debunked as a racist myth, cannibalism can be somewhat "addictive" and according to some testimonies the practicing of cannibalism in times of need can lead to the developement of an intense craving for human flesh in those survivors who ate humans.
The notion of the Wendigo always craving more, never being satisfied no matter how many humans he ate can also be a reflection of the fact that humans aren't really all that nutritious (particular in starvation times, when you would resort to cannibalism in the first place, this may be even more pronounced.) Particularily lean meats like rabbit meat are even unable to sustain you (hence why "rabbit starvation" is a thing) and human meat isn't that far off.
Finally, there are prion diseases, which those who eat other humans (and particular nervous tissue and the brain) are susceptible to. The monstrous, crazed depiction of the Wendigo may well also contain a kernel of this truth: that cannibalism may give you a degenerative brain disease.
@ExtraCredits the wendigo-psychosis you mentioned was not only attributed to indigenous people but was classified an actual mental illness in the early to mid 1900's where people who had "previously consumed human flesh in a survival situation or not." Had developed a craving for human flesh even if there were other food sources available, natives believed it would eventually lead to becoming wendigo (witaago in Mi'kmaq algonquian)
I normally don't like videos that are all face, but I just listened and the content was very good
Can you do a video on Skinwalkers at some point?
@Mecha I'm pretty sure +furryking380 is referring to yee naaldlooshii from Navajo myth.
Years ago, I was hiking through the Smoky Mountains near Gatlinburg Tennessee. At some point I was separated from my group and for fun I thought it would be fun to make a story about American Tarzan. But at some point this character devolved from this strong caveman to a Gollum s creature and finally something that looked just like a wendigo. When I order the name Wendigo the image of it flashed through my mind and I felt a chill down my spine. Before that trip I've never heard of a wendigo.
Waited for this ! Native americans has some of the *best monsters!* :)
Facts!
Can i haz chezzemonster?
My grandma used to tell me about a shadow monster called the nalusa falaya and how it will eat me now that I’m older I know she just wanted to keep me off the creeks
JAPAN has the best monster,change my mind!
@@campersr2298 2nd
A myth being misapplied to a psychosis? Oedipus complex, anyone.
Back before we had Psychoanalysts working to discover and name various mental illnesses, Religion did that to greater and lesser amounts of successes. The Wendigo myth is just a way of trying to understand people like the Manson Family, or Jeffery Dahmer, or the Columbine Killers Etc.. We see these things as "Modern" but our ancestors are as human as we are, and suffered from human predators as a result.
Oedipus complex is not a pychosis! And oedipus didnt had oedipus complex in his myth, he took his eyes out when he found out, for gods sake
@@twotone3471 um, no. Wendigo is a spirit that was used to explain the occasional cannibalism caused by arctic hysteria
Racism, the excuse for us always. For empire or whatever wypipo nonsense of the day
Isolation, harsh conditions and starvation can bring out the worst in people ... the wendigo myth demonstrates this perfectly.
It also is great on showing that some lines should never be crossed, since you won't be able to get back. If you ate human flesh once, you would most likely do it again if in the same situation.
These mythology matters episodes are really interesting. It would be cool if you make them a regular thing with the talking about the culture when you do a region, like lies in extra history
This video sort of made me hungry... anyone else?
Medium D Speaks I guess you are a Wendigo. *Loads Dragon's Breath shells into 12ga Shotgun*
I’m feeling pekish, anyone up for some fingers?
come on down to ma crib we can make some clay roasted thigh
edit: I am out of thigh so maybe I could make blood pies with these hearts I have in my freezer
...
Medium D Speaks ... I’m not at liberty to discuss that information.
This wendigo episode was really interesting to watch. And it seems i have actually found something new really interesting to watch, besides extra history. Thanks you! And cogratz on 2,000,000 subs!
Native American Myths can be so unique yet follow all the same paths. Great stuff. Love all the Dune merch.
I'm surprised no one has made a video game based on the wendigo myth.
Wow this was a really good companion/sequel video to the Wendigo one.
James,
I'm loving the series here - especially as it relates to Native American Myth. I'm not a game developer, but I'm something of a student of history, and I have on occasion seen these sorts of things incorporated into games and literature as part of the narrative. I'd personally argue that this sort of thing is present in Life is Strange, where there are certain Native American animistic spirits that are kind of hinted at as being responsible for the phenomena that are present in the game - these things are used (in part) to oppose colonizers and exploiter-type figures.
This all belongs in a genre of literature that is frequently called "Magic Realism" and is somewhat related to the TV show Twin Peaks and plenty of other aspects that are present in various other media.
Keep up the great work!
I had been thinking of using the Wendigo in a D&D campaign I was going to run. The myths episode solidified that with this as a creature with a great origin, sinister appearance, etc. You guys definitely need to make more of these!
Now we need a video about the skinwalker and the ravenmocker
I love this. The conversation of how people shaped the myth, and how the myth shaped them.
I thought the wendigo myth was partially based on prion diseases one could contract from eating human flesh, especially nerve tissue. (Sort of like mad cow.)
Being native hearing this growing up this is one of the most terrifying things in our culture lol and it’s all from dark magic
The "Wendigo Psychosis" concept sounds to me like the settlers taking the native stories at face value (as much as they could anyway). You do have cases of inexplicable depravity occasionally cropping up in harsh frontier conditions. People could seem to turn into "monsters." The natives explain it as people giving in to base desires and becoming mosters, while the settlers took this idea and thought of it as a kind of madness. If this is the case, the latter definition isn't functionally much different than the former. I, however, can completely see 19th and early 20th-century psychoanalysts fitting this concept into the racial and ethnic theories of the day, as well as the early settlers assuming such madness to be more of a problem among the more "primitive" natives. The concept of a psychological break manifesting from extreme conditions in which the individual foregoes their "humanity" and behaves in an inhuman manner, however, is hardly racist in itself and actual seems like a fairly reasonable hypothesis.
Next you should do the tales of the odyssey
The wendigo on the last thumbnail but the one on this one is terrifying
The wendigo is absolutely terrifying. Almost didn’t want to watch just cause the thumbnail is so disturbing
I was in Northern Manitoba for a few years. The Cree up there call it the Weetago. Even in modern times they are afraid of it. It apparently stays outside of communities and watches for an opportunity to get someone.
I am Lakotah and I say send the wendago to DC!! Great video kep up the great job👍👍
The wendigo has always been one of my favorite movie monsters, but also one of the most realistic in my mind. Its basically just what happens to people once they've been pushed too far beyond societal taboo. A lot of our identity is tied up in our relationships within society. Its difficult to rebuild that sense of belonging once it breaks through trauma or extreme isolation.
These things are so interesting and terrifying they grow a portion based on the person they eat so the body keeps starving and are still gluttons
Modern Serial killers have much in common with Wendigo possessed people. Perfectly normal 90% of the time, you would never know when passing a monster like that on the street.
I am not American Indian. Was raised my people who lived off the land and faced many hardships in the deep woods. I was raised with wendigo stories but was mostly used to scare us into not entering into the woods too far as you could get lost forever. Aka kidnapped by the wendigo and killed.
Love the Arrakis picture in the background!
They're amazing.
Very much looking forward to Gilgamesh!
Br?🙂
Hello
Gilgamesch von Uruk King of heros, whatever are you doing here? Why are you not back at Chaldea?
Korean mythology?
Kim Jong-un only Southern Korea’s mythology!
The myth of kim jong un held a handstand for 5 seconds day
The Murder Party Vote Khorne I highly doubt you’ll find any difference between North and South Korean mythology as they’ve only been separated for seventy years, so unless the North Koreans have been busy creating tons of new myths to scare their kids, you won’t see much of a difference.
Trevyn Case aye, I ken mate! But, eh... That's the fun.
*point.
"Wendigo Psychosis only affects certain members of the indigenous population"... Yeah, there was that Alferd Packer guy, though... certainly a case to be made for him to be counted as a Wendigo. :P
James look like a rockstar!
Oh man this would be a fun Witcher like game, going around the americas as a warrior killing the evil creatures and ghosts of different tribes and civilizations
Fun fact: The first year of jamestown (the first colonial town) they weren't prepared for the winter and didn't bring enough supplies. so they started killing and eating each other.
I think of the Donner party when I think of the wendigo myth. Hearts turned to ice indeed...
Plz make Extra history a weekly or monthly show
I still want to know where people got the idea that wendigos have horns. I keep trying to find sources but there's none
Can't wait for other monster episodes
I’ve got an idea for a cool Extra Mythology episode!
You could cover the myth about Lech, Czech and Rus (I wrote it in Polish). It’s slavic and a mythical explanation of where the Polish, Czech and Russian people came from. It would be good, since we haven’t had much of slavic mythology here yet. I think that not many people know them. There is also a legend of King Popiel who was eaten in his tower by mice, which I think of as an interesting topic as well.
Hope I gave you a good idea!
Ps.
I‚m really happy you’re doing the epic of Gilgamesh next. I loved reading it!
So I work at a summer camp in the Shawnee national park, Camp Ondessonk, it’s a camp that pays homage to Native American culture and brings faith into it. We have a story named the Brebuff walker, simply put it’s a story about how some counselors saw a pale white figure staring at them in the middle of the night that was extremely fast, it’s a rather recent story as well. I didn’t know anything about wendigos until I told the story to one of my friends and said that wendigos match the description of what I said. Idk I jus thought that was kinda cool and wanted to share.
Thanks hippie!
I distinctly remember reading about stories of European settler who suffered wendigo psychosis and killed their families
Can you do some Aussie monsters?
Why is John Wick talking to us about wendigos?
The Epic of Gilgamesh is next? Should be interesting to see what parts of the tale inspired the character in Fate/Stay Night.
Yay part 2
How about the Kuru disease that happened to cannibals caused by eating human brain? That probably part of Wendigo mythos.
@@zhg4485 The disease happened when someone ate human brain. So it's not a regional based virus.
@@zhg4485 Well we don't know they eat the brain or not. It's not like they wrote detailed version of how cannibal processed their food.
Could you make an Extra Mythology series about the worst and most disturbing monsters there are?
Humans
Tayebz Tayebz :3 humans are top of the food chain nothing can kill it not even a all the myths can kill it
Looking forward to any Dresden Files fans in the patreon voting for a video on the Skinwalker.
-James and crew
I don't know what inspired you guys to start such an amazing spread of knowledge. But wow. I'm am eternally grateful and amazed. I was just in your game design section going through a few videos. When I heard something many years old about
you being forced to be silent due to a nondisclosure agreement. I decieded I would attempt to get your atention by going to your most recent video. I was just going to post the comment and leave ( a few moments ago I didn't care) but I deceided not to be rude and watch your video..... wow
just... WOW
A few moments ago I had a bad taste in my mouth about mythology. Now?! I want to know more and I'm going to watch more.
You've taken stories that nobody hears in extra history and made them heard ( I'm excited to know more about the potato famine.
You've made game designers ready to fill the world with ethical non-skinner boxy games.
You changed my dad's mind about video games. Now he lets me play them!
You've made learning fun
You've made me want to learn more
You've made knowledge matter, learning matter, history matter, mythology matter, games matter.
The time you've dedicated to your many many different series is like Christmas every day.
The stories of game addiction and just wow
I really could talk all day about everything I've learned
But this is already way too long.
So instead I'll just say...
From the bottom of my heart thank you.
You've given me the gift of personal freedom and wisdom. I know more and I'm a more avid learner.
These gifts are invaluable and I will treasure them always.
p.s. I almost forgot I was curious about some industry examples of story in games.
While this started as my main goal I got lost in the amazing history of the wedigo or rather its story and how it was used by both the native populations and the settlers who made America.
but If it's not too much trouble, people and I seemed really interested if your Nondisclosure agreement still stands on the multiplayer story info. Thanks either way. Have a nice day :)
@
Since wendigo psychosis is apparently fake, I hope you will eventually make a video on the real motives for cannibalism within groups where the taboo was not practiced by necessity.
This channel is so underappreciated, keep it up!
This is what UA-cam is for. Thanks.
*Deer Women next?!* :^)
@bryan diaz varela More like all-female race like nymphs, harpies, the furies, some-yokai, lamia...etc.
@bryan diaz varela They *are* more akin to nature female creatures
Yes I have been waiting
really interesting how the two people groups interpreted the same myth
It wasn't originally wendigo psychosis but wendigo hysteria. Hysteria in the early 1800s was all the rage and any extreme behavior could be labled a hysteria. This is the time when the concept of mass hysteria evolved. Hysteria would return to Galen's definition until the 1860s. Psychosis did not become a term until after 1880, long after the eastern American-Indians and First Nations were long settled. Since the last major conflict in the Great Lakes region occurred with Black hawk war in the 1820s, I doubt either concept played much of role.
I found the windigo interesting because there tale look at human morality.
Next week hype! Cant wait to hear the tale of clay bae and his golden bro
Nice Dune collection.
your videos are cool
This is Cool keep going🎉
Now This is the kind of analysis I was hoping for when you first announced this series
Christians call that demonic possession.
@bryan diaz varela not all Christians do or believe that and those who did that to you are simply ignorant.
@bryan diaz varela maybe but in today's world I shouldn't be surprised.
default dance: ba ba bah baah ba bum bap bah ba bab bada bapapa bada bah bah ba bah
Have to ask if that is a sleep no more mask! Love your show, keep up the awesome content.
It absolutely is ; )
I feel as if the Wendigo was major inspiration for Elias Ainsworth in Ancient Magus' Bride. As he has a skull head, horns or antlers and sometimes craves human flesh.
Ooh, Gilgamesh is next? Fun.
I no joke only know of the Wendigo from Dusk. So I'm so happy to see this covered on your channel.
Great video! I love learning about how myths and legends had an impact on society. Can't wait for the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Gilgamesh is (iraq) arabic not europe fate
I see that you're a fan of Dune. Good. Good.
Whoa, this was even cooler than the mythology episode itself. James is getting so good at this!
Wow, so I guess the story of the Wendigo is actually a tragic one. One about how the native peoples were driven off their land and didn’t know what to do about it. It’s also sad 😞 that the white settlers tried to justify taking the Native American’s land with the tale of Wendigo psychosis. I never thought of this story this way.
Yay new vid!
The reinterpretation of the wendigo as Western expansionism is revisionist, racist bunk. This wasn't the first time tribes were displaced by other tribes, nor that they went hungry, nor that they were faced with a more powerful and competitive tribe. Most mythologies develop with urbanization and cultural expansion, but the earliest-stage myths tend to be: 1) Where the world came from, and 2) What lurks in the dark and eats children. That's why this story becomes more common as literacy spreads.
When you block a shot top-down it makes the subject look diminutive. Button one button up, that's why they're there, and put the camera at eye-level. Otherwise, cool (y)
The hungry ghosts of the Great Lakes are far older than the 400 year old presence of Europeans. Just my opinion. Good video, you guys do try to get it right. More so than many.
Do one on the tikoloshe