Louhi

In the runic-song material Louhi appears as a Pohjolan impi (Pohjola maiden) who becomes Mistress of Pohjola; in variants she is said to have been impregnated while in the water (accounts differ: sea-giant or wind as agents in different songs) and to give birth to the beings identified as diseases and ailments—commonly nine sons (the Nine diseases) and in some versions an additional daughter (named in some songs as Syöjätär). Elias Lönnrot's Kalevala editorial practice separated and reframed related figures (notably presenting Loviatar as a distinct figure and Louhi as the queen of Pohjola), but earlier runic material shows overlapping and variable presentations of these figures.

Louhi is variably portrayed: in Kalevala-influenced narrative she is presented as a queenly or witchlike Mistress of Pohjola; in older Karelian and Finnish runic-song material she is connected with avian shapeshifting, notably turning into bird-forms such as a kokko (a large eagle-like bird in some traditions) or a raven-like vaaka/lievo bird who pursues heroes or the sampo. She is also described as mother of wolves in the tradition.

Tradition attributes to Louhi the power to be the source of ailments and disasters (she is described as the mother of diseases) and simultaneously to prevent or remove such calamities when petitioned. She is reported to name or baptize her disease-children in songs; she shapeshifts into bird-forms to pursue or interact with heroes (including chasing the sampo), bargains with heroes (promising maidens in exchange for services), and is invoked in folk spells—e.g., in burn-wound spells the Pohjolan maiden form is asked to bring cold to the wound. Her agency spans giving rise to, controlling, and being petitioned about misfortune.