Jawnomicon

Kutkh

Also called Kutkha, Kutq.

In the folklore of the Itelmen and Koryak peoples of Siberia's Kamchatka Peninsula, Kutkh is a raven creator-trickster whose antics shaped the world even as his foolishness undid his own schemes.

At a glance

Tradition
Itelmen and Koryak folklore
Region
Kamchatka Peninsula (place of origin)Arctic (habitat)
Trait family
The Tricksters
Symbols
Cloak

Near this figure

and 2 more
  • Troll Trickster outwits larger foes · Trickery and cunning
  • Akhtya Trickery and cunning

Symbols

Judged against the description by a model. Meanings are our own paraphrase.

Traits

Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.

Behaviour

  • Shapeshifts animal to human and back
    why

    He can shift between raven and human form and is credited with the cunning to trick stronger animals out of food or possessions.

  • Trickster outwits larger foes
    why

    He can shift between raven and human form and is credited with the cunning to trick stronger animals out of food or possessions.

Utility powers

  • Shapeshifting
    why

    He can shift between raven and human form and is credited with the cunning to trick stronger animals out of food or possessions.

  • Creation
    why

    His powers center on creation and transformation: in some tellings Kutkh forms the Kamchatkan landscape, sets the rivers running and stocks them with fish, and brings fire or daylight to the first people.

  • Trickery and cunning
    why

    He can shift between raven and human form and is credited with the cunning to trick stronger animals out of food or possessions.

  • Terrain shaping
    why

    Notable myth cycles include his theft of daylight or fire for the benefit of humankind, his contests of wit with other animals such as the fox, and his role in a flood or world-shaping episode in which his actions inadvertently produce the landscape's rivers and mountains.

Roles

Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.