The deities and mythical characters worshipped by the Inuit people living in the Arctic polar circle and Canada.
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Sedna
Sedna is the goddess of the sea and marine animals in Inuit mythology, also known as the Mother of the Sea or Mistress of the Sea. The story of Sedna, which is a creation myth, describes how she came to rule over Adlivun, the Inuit underworld.
- Deity of Human Origin: The goddess of the sea was a mortal who changed when her father tried to sacrifice her to calm down a storm. As she clung to the boat he cut off all of her fingers, creating seals (the animals) from the severed parts.
- Disabled Deity: The sea goddess is missing her fingers (along with maybe her hands or even her whole arms, Depending on the Writer).
Pinga
Pinga ("the one who is [up on] high") was a goddess of the hunt and of medicine. According to the Inuit she was heavily associated with the sky.
- Healer God: Pinga is the goddess of medicine, fertility, and hunting.
- Psychopomp: She also leads the dead humans to the afterlife.
Amaguq
Amaguq is a trickster and wolf god. He's also connected with the Amarok spirit wolf legend.
- Savage Wolves: The Amarok/Amaroq is a giant wolf who hunts in solitude and prefers to not be antagonized by anyone. Sometimes an Amarok plays the role of a Noble Wolf instead but is usually treated as a villain. There is one story in which it being both a mentor to a young boy who wanted to become strong as well as a vicious predator of anyone foolish enough to hunt alone at night.
Nanook
Nanook (translated literally "polar bear") was the master of bears, meaning he decided if hunters deserved success in finding and hunting bears and punished violations of taboos. The word was popularized by Nanook of the North, the first feature-length Inuit people documentary.
- Bears Are Bad News: The Inuit and other Arctic peoples had mixed opinions about polar bears. On one hand, they are the biggest living terrestrial carnivore, so they were obviously feared. On the other, their mythologies usually held the polar bear with a lot of respect, as a sacred shamanic symbol. Inuit people worshipped Nanook the god of hunting, whose totemic animal was the polar bear, and who decided whether or not the hunt would be successful.
