Илмаринен: Божественный кузнец финнского эпоса

A god from the Finnish mythology

Ilmarinen (, also known as Ilmari and takoja iänikuinen or "the eternal hammerer"), a blacksmith and inventor in the Kalevala, is a god and archetypal artificer from Finnish mythology. He is immortal and capable of creating practically anything, but is portrayed as being unlucky in love. He is described as working the known metals of the time, including brass, copper, iron, gold, and silver. The great works of Ilmarinen include the crafting of the dome of the sky and the forging of the Sampo. His usual epithet in the Kalevala is seppä or seppo ("smith"), which is the source of the given name Seppo.

Cognates of the Finnish word ilma ('air') are attested in almost all the main Finno Ugric languages apart from the Mari and Mordvinic languages, allowing the reconstruction of proto Finno Ugric *ilma meaning something like 'sky'. This noun is also attested as the name of a god in Khanty (Num Iləm), Komi (Jen), Udmurt (Inmar) and the Finnic languages, suggesting that proto Finno Ugric likewise had a sky god credited with creating the sky called *Ilma. In Proto Finnic, the suffix r(i), which is used to form words for people associated with the root word, was added to *ilma to give the god name *Ilmar(i) ('Sky being'); rare attestations of similar forms such as Udmurt Ilmar and Sámi Ilmaris seem to be loans from Finnic.) In Kalevala metre poetry, the diminutive suffix nen enabled the formation of the name Ilmarinen, which neatly fills two trochaic feet and so became the dominant form of the name in that tradition. Ilmari(nen) is believed to have taken on the qualities of a smith through the Proto Finnic contact with iron working cultures, such as the Indo European Balts or speakers of Common Germanic. Ilmarinen is also directly appealed to for aid in several incantation runes. Insofar as Elias Lönnrot heavily redacted the original runes collected by him and others, it's valuable to differentiate between the Kalevala and the original poems sung by Runonlaulaja. Other names for Ilmarinen that are found in rune variants include Ilmorinen and Ilmollini.

Variants of the original runes used by Lönnrot in compiling the Kalevala present a different picture of Ilmarinen. In one variant of The Sampo for example, Ilmarinen goes willingly to Pohjola to forge the Sampo, not because he was tricked by Väinämöinen, but in order to redeem Väinämöinen from death. In addition, the same rune portrays Ilmarinen as returning home successfully with the Maiden of the North. Ilmarinen's portrayal as "unlucky in love" in the Kalevala is primarily due to Lönnrot's own choices while revising and compiling the original runes to form a cohesive narrative. In another example from an original rune entitled Kosinta (The Courtship), Ilmarinen takes a journey to compete for Hiisi's daughter. He again succeeds in obtaining his wife after completing the tasks of ploughing a field of vipers, bringing Tuoni's bear, and bringing the pike of Tuoni.

In another example of Lönnrot's editorial license, the Kullervo cycle originally existed as an independent series of runes. In his effort to create a homogeneous narrative, Lönnrot presented Kullervo as Ilmarinen's slave in order to insert Kullervo into the Sampo cycle of runes. However, some scholars are convinced that the Golden Bride was originally an independent rune that was eventually added to the Sampo cycle. Furthermore, independent variants of the Kultamorsian (Golden Bride) rune have been collected. In Matti Kuusi's opinion, the warning reproduced above is a secondary element that was probably added during the Christian period. Rather than serving as a cautionary tale, the original runes probably expressed the widespread myth of a Golden Woman found throughout Arctic Eurasia.

A portrayal of Ilmarinen and depiction of selected tales from the Kalevala can be found in the 1959 movie Sampo (film). Finnish metal band Amorphis released their ninth album in 2009 called Skyforger, which is a concept album based around the stories and legends of Ilmarinen. The band Turisas recorded a song called "Cursed Be Iron" about the aforementioned smith, and he is mentioned in "Rauta" by Korpiklaani. In the trilogy The Winter of the World by Michael Scott Rohan, Ilmarinen is the godlike Power revered by the duergar, who say he forged the mountains in which they live. Another Power, the Odin like Raven, speaks of Ilmarinen, "greatest of the Elder Powers," having taught him. Ilmarinen appears in Joseph Michael Linsner's comic Dawn: Return of the Goddess when the title character seeks him out to forge a sword for her. Ilmarinen appears as Ilmari Heikkinen the Wonder smith in Mercedes Lackey's 500 Kingdoms Series' homage to Sámi (among other Scandinavian and northern European) myths and legends, The Snow Queen (2008).