Sea monsters and beasts populate Icelandic folktales. Surrounded by gelid currents carrying waters from the Arctic, in ancient times, those forced to go out at sea would have had little hope for survival if anything went wrong, and that includes facing a large animal, like a whale.

Whales were often seen as evil, some more than others. The most dangerous and malignant of these beasts were grouped under the term Illhveli (literally wicked or evil whales).

This large but fairly unknown category of ancient mythological sea monsters can be identified by a set of common attributes:

 1. They all play important roles in Icelandic Folklore. Many of them appear in Viking Sagas alongside other very important monsters and mythical beings (not to mention gods...

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