Undine

Written in 2024

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In the games

Whenever an Undine appears in a game, it's mostly a female looking spirit or elemental that grants the heroes or party members powerful water magic.

In the "Tales of" games, she is a summoning spirit for ice and water and can be used to utilize powerful offensive water and ice magic. So she is pretty similar to Final Fantasy's Shiva and opposed to Ifrit.

In Secret of Mana, Undine is one of the Mana Spirits and responsible for Water - her magic is not only focused on attack magic, but Undine is also partially responsible for healing magic, in Secret of Mana. This part was handed over to Wisp in Trials of Mana. Undine's design here is more like that of a mermaid.

In Undertale, there is the famous character "Undyne", which is a mixture of "Undine" and "Undying". Her design is also resembling a mermaid (or fish person, but generally not unlikely her appearance in Secret of Mana). She is, however, not a real water elemental in terms of water magic but rather a knight with a spear - and, depending on how the player acted, she can be the hero of the monsters.

In the real world

Undines are said to be water elemental spirits that live in forest lakes or waterfalls. They possess no souls and have to marry a human in order to get one. If their loved one betrays them, the Undines will kill the human.

Undines are named after the old german word "undia", which means "wave". They were mentioned by the old Swiss doctor Paracelsus and they exist in the legend of the Staufenberg knights in the 1300s.

Greek Nereids or slavic Rusalkas are similar to Undines in terms of design and legend.

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