Rusalka - Blog Posts

Hazbin Hotel oc? Kinda?

I just like the simple style of the show, and feel since there are like mummy and other kinds of monster-ish sinners it won't be far-fetched to say that a sinner could look like a monster from their culture. So, here is my samodiva design for the Hazbin Hotel vers! It would also work with the fact that every person there has a feature that they hate, so if someone was very afraid of water/lakes/drowning/mermaids/water spirits, it would be a great direction to go in

She isn't really perfected, but I'm working on my Genshin ocs and don't feel like working with them anymore, so for now, that's how she will look

(She/they pronounce if you refer to the character)

rusalki are not mermaids. stop translating the word "rusalka" as "mermaid" and stop calling rusalki "slavic mermaids". it's confusing, it's misleading, and it's simply isn't true. the association of rusalka with a western mermaid and undine began in 19th century, when russian empire poets wanted to adapt a popular western motif of a sorrowful water maid that is unrequitedly in love with a mortal man. this literature character of rusalka has nothing to do with actual rusalki folklore and cult.

rusalki are natural undead spirits that are connected to slavic ancestral worship. they don't have tails. they are not in any way connected to the sea: only lakes, ponds, and rivers. often, they're not even connected to water at all: there are forest rusalki, field rusalki, meadow rusalki, etc. they are in close relationships with their human kin: during the spring and summer, they are used in agricultural rites and are believed to help with farming and raising crops. rusalki were sacred to slavic people. the "week of the rusalki" festival, when rusalki are believed to walk on earth and visit their relatives, is celebrated to this day. to call them "slavic mermaids" is very diminutive of their actual role in slavic cultures.