Mormo

In Greek mythology, Mormo (Greek: Μορμώ, Μορμών, Mormō) was a spirit who bit bad children, said to have been a companion of the goddess Hecate. The name was also used to signify a female vampire-like creature in stories told to Greek children by their nurses to keep them from misbehaving. This reference is primarily found in some of the plays of Aristophanes.^[1][2] He is also referenced in The Alexiad, which goes to show that Mormo was still taught to children during Byzantine times.

Modern references

"The Horror at Red Hook" by H. P. Lovecraft, 1925, describes an inscription to Hecate, Gorgo, and Mormo, found in the raid of Red Hook.

Joanna Scanlan plays a character called Mormo in the 2007 movie Stardust, which is based on a novel by Neil Gaiman. In this movie, Mormo is an evil witch who lives with her sisters Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Empusa (Sarah Alexander), all three of whom wish to devour the heart of an anthropomorphic star named Yvaine so as to regain their youth. When Mormo is dueling Tristan (Charlie Cox) toward the end of the movie, he opens a cage of ferrets, used for sacrifice. These animals attack Mormo, distracting her while Tristran slashes open another cage, this time full of sacrificing wolves, who maul her to death out of revenge for killing their friends and relatives.

The name of Mormo has also been used by a relatively popular role-playing video game called, "Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology" for the PSP. The character, Mormo, is a "flying cat" who hails from the world of Yaoon and moved to Terresia to defeat the Devourer, a monster who destroyed his world and countless others for the creation of a superior one and has Terresia as his next target. Mormo is the one who helps the main character (the player) defeat the Devourer and other minor villains in the game, although he does no fighting himself.

James Cuomo, an American musician, composed a dance suite, "Warraguk, a Flying Mormo" in the late 1960s, with his sister Deborah as the winged Warraguk. This particular Australian mythology also spawned Cuomo's eclectic Paris-based band, "Mormos", originally "The Misty Mountain Mormos." This earlier group was composed of pit musicians from New York's La MaMa Theater, which Cuomo music-directed. While touring Europe with La MaMa, Cuomo landed a recording contract with CBS France, left the troupe in 1971 and settled in Paris with several members of the original Misty Mountain Mormos — Sandy Spencer (cellist) and Tobia Taylor (balalaika). He later recruited vocalist Annie (the Hat) Williams, flautist Rick (Ernest) Mansfield and guitarist Elliott Delman from the U.S. Mormos lived in Paris from 1971–1973, performing throughout France, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Romania, and England.

According to Anton LaVey, in The Satanic Bible, Mormo is the "King of the Ghouls, consort of Hecate."

Notes

1. ^ Aristophanes. Archanians, 582ff. "Your terrifying armor makes me dizzy. I beg you, take away that Mormo (bogy-monster)!"
2. ^ Aristophanes. Peace, 474ff. "This is terrible! You are in the way, sitting there. We have no use for your Mormo's (bogy-like) head, friend."

References

• Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). "Mormo"