History Main / MonsterWhale

* [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mocha_Dick Meet Mocha Dick,]] the real-life inspiration for the infamous Moby Dick.

* 'VideoGame/{{Alundra 2}}'' features an entire level inside the belly of a gigantic whale, [[GentleGiant once very gentle]], but now a rampaging cyborg demon whale. The player had to escape the enormous cetacean's body (now a mishmash of a WombLevel and EternalEngine) by returning it to normal.

[[caption-width-right:350:"This Monstro, I've heard of him! He's a whale of a whale! Why, he swallows whole ships!"]]

* Though its descendants, the modern sperm whales, were probably the original inspirations behind the depiction of whales as monsters, the prehistoric whale ''Livyatan melvillei'' may very well be the closest to actually living up to the image. At an estimated forty to fifty-seven feet long, it was one of the largest predators to have ever lived, living up to its Biblical namesake. An apex predator in the Miocene oceans of 10-8 mya, it not only competed with the giant shark {{megalodon}}, who lived alongside it, it may have been the only species the giant shark genuinely ''[[HorrifyingTheHorror feared]]''.

* Though its descendants, the modern sperm whales, were probably the original inspirations behind the depiction of whales as monsters, the prehistoric whale ''Livyatan melvillei'' may very well be the closest to actually living up to the image. At an estimated forty to fifty-seven feet long, it was one of the largest predators to have ever lived, living up to its Biblical namesake. An apex predator in the Miocene oceans of 10-8 mya, it not only competed with the giant shark {{Megalodon}}, who lived alongside it, it may have been the only species the giant shark genuinely ''[[HorrifyingTheHorror feared]]''.

* ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'': Subverted with Whamon. He first appears as a creepy-looking {{cyborg}} sperm whale who swallows the Digidestined whole, but he was BrainwashedAndCrazy by a black gear. Once they free him he goes on to be one of their major allies, showing himself to be a GentleGiant and serving as their LivingShip. Alas, he does a [[spoiler: HeroicSacrifice to defend our heroes from Metalseadramon and perishes, but is later [[BackFromTheDead resurrected]] in 02]].

* In ''Literature/KeysToTheKingdom'', Drowned Wednesday's fate is getting cursed into a Leviathan sized whale. In this form she's so big she can get mistaken for islands and her HorrorHunger makes her eat people whole.

** The [[KrakenAndLeviathan Leviathan]] is frequently depicted as a whale, or at least as having whale-like qualities.

* As pointed out in the ''Walking With...'' entry, other prehistoric whales were all hunting other large marine lifeforms rather than filter feeders. ''Basilosaurus'' was an apex predator in its day, although its body is much more slender than most modern whales, hence its NonIndicativeName, as it was initially mistaken for a reptile. And that's not the only way it differed from modern whales. It also had differentiated teeth- modern toothed whales have homozygous dentation: all the teeth in their mouths tend to be more or less the same, usually pointy conical teeth that are good for grasping slippery fish but not for much else and generally forcing them to swallow things whole. ''Basilosaurus'', on the other hand, had incisors, canines, and molars like a modern wolf or big cat, letting it bite chunks off its prey and chew them before swallowing, which made it much more effective at hunting large prey like other marine mammals.
* [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mocha_Dick Meet Mocha Dick,]] the real life inspiration for the infamous Moby Dick.

-->-- '''Captain Nemo''', ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'', [[ScienceMArchesOn about the cachalot (sperm whale)]]

* As pointed out in the ''Walking With...'' entry, other prehistoric whales were all hunting other large marine lifeforms rather than filter feeders. ''Basilosaurus'' was an apex predator in its day, although its body is much more slender than most modern whales, hence its NonIndicativeName, as it was initially mistaken for a reptile.

-->-- '''Captain Nemo''', ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'', about the cachalot

* Icelandic folklore generally didn't depict real whale species this way, especially not the blue whale, which was imagined as benevolent and heroic. However, it did have some ''imagined'' whale species called illhveli (equivalent to either "hell whales" or "evil whales") that fit this trope to a "t", being devoted to the destruction of humans and benign whales and taking sadistic pleasure in the death and devastation they cause. Notable species include the raudkembingur ("redcomb"), a bloodthirsty predator that will die of frustration if its prey escapes it; the mouse-faced mushveli, which can clamber on land to pursue targets; they stökkull ("jumper"), which has eyes obscured by hanging folds of skin and leaps in the air to smash ships to flinders; the sverdhvalur, which uses its sword-like dorsal fin to slice ships open; and the cowlike nauthveli, which lures cattle into the sea to kill. The sole exception is the skeljungur, which is described as NotAlwaysEvil (and unlike other illhveli, its flesh is edible).

* Creator/TheAsylum did a SettingUpdate of ''Literature/MobyDick'' in which Ahab is the captain of a US nuclear submarine, and Moby Dick is a [[{{Kaiju}} monster whale with teeth, that can even walk on land]].

* Creator/TheAsylum did a SettingUpdate of ''Literature/MobyDick'' in which Ahab is the captain of a US nuclear submarine, and Moby Dick is a giant {{kaiju}} whale that can even walk on land.

* ''Series/WalkingWithBeasts'' depicts the prehistoric whale ''Basilosaurus'' as a fearsome predator, hunting smaller whales, sharks and elephant-ancestors that wander into the ocean. Appropriately, the episode featuring it is called "Whale Killer". Ironically, the ''Basilosaurus'' is also the protagonist of the episode, with the plot revolving around [[MonsterIsAMommy a female looking for a safe place to give birth]].

** In the Literature/BookOfJonah, the ''dag gadol'' (literally "great fish", but could refer to any kind of gigantic sea creature) that swallowed the title character after he was thrown overboard has long been imagined to be a whale.

Some of them also, occasionally, eat humans. This is usually unintentional and mostly ''our own fault'' as we're usually in the way when they open their mouths to inhale everything they need to feed on.

Some of them have, in ways unknown to humans, survived ''numerous'' extinction events. Even to this day, we have no idea how they managed this given that they're ''absolutely massive''.

Some of them also, occasionally, eat humans. This is usually unintentional - we're usually in the way when they open their mouths to inhale everything they need to feed on.