Nerrivik

In the Inughuit (Smith Sound) variant summarized in Rasmussen (1921), a woman who becomes the sea-mother was cast overboard during a storm; her grandfather cut off the hand by which she still grasped the boat, and she became one-handed and took up residence at the bottom of the sea. This narrative is given as an origin for her present condition and role as a submerged, powerful female proprietor of sea creatures. Regional variants (named Sedna, Arnapkapfaaluk, Arnakuagsak, etc.) preserve the core theme of a woman transformed into the owner/provider of marine life while differing in local detail.

Sources consistently describe her as an 'old woman of the sea' or 'mother of the sea' and narrate a mutilation motif: in the cited Inughuit tale she is one-handed after relatives cut off her hand. Beyond this aged female characterization and the one-handed detail, the supplied materials do not provide a standardized visual iconography (no consistent descriptions of hair, skin, hybrid anatomy, or size are given in the excerpts provided).

Nerrivik is described primarily as the mother/owner of sea creatures and the provider of food for Inuit communities; she is named as the patron of fishermen and hunters. Her disposition or standing in mythic accounts is tied to whether hunters and fishermen are able to catch enough food. The supplied sources emphasize provision and patronage of subsistence resources rather than cataloguing a wider system of supernatural powers.