Koschei & His Secret Soul

In discussions and popular conversations on folklore and myth you rarely hear his name. Sidelined by Grimm tales and Greek Gods, not favored as well as the Norse, lie the Slavic folktales. Hiding in the shadows of the old world, in deep forests and decrepit castles, they are ancient monsters beings of unspeakable machinations. Forest spirits and mountain gods. The likes of Baba Yaga, Firebird, Leshy, and Chernobog come from these lands. While you may have heard those names, you are probably not as familiar with Koschei the Deathless.

As with many folk characters, there are many spellings. Koschei the Deathless, Koschei the Immortal, Kashchey, Kashchej and more. For purposes of clarity, I will refer to him as the most common spelling, Koschei. But some sources carry different spellings and epithets.

Koschei appears in multiple tales, but the most well-known is his villainy with Marya Morvena and the foolish Prince Ivan. To greatly condense the story, Prince Ivan meets and falls in love with Marya (not to be confused with his sister of the same first name) who tells him to not under any circumstances open up the armoire. Prince Ivan, like a fool, opens it up and rather ironically nurses Koschei back to health. Koschei then kidnaps Marya to be his princess and hijinx ensues! Prince Ivan tries and fails multiple times to retrieve his Marya, after a brief death, multiple animal aides, bypassing Baba Yaga, and more our Prince recovers his Marya. Interestingly, the Red Fairy Book story doesn't cover the most unique and perplexing quality of Koschei. Why it is so difficult to kill Koschei.

Because Koschei has what very few other folkloric characters have, what I consider to be an in-universe mechanism to justify different iterations and rebirths. Koschei's soul is hidden inside a veritable Russian Nesting Doll of objects, making him ostensibly immune to all forms of death. Sure, Koschei can be harmed, he can even seem to be killed after being chopped up into little pieces, but not truly deceased. His death can only truly be obtained by capturing his soul. This soul is...

Inside a needle.

Which is inside an egg.

That is inside of a duck.

Living in the bowels of a hare.

Which itself is in an iron chest.

Buried under an oak tree.

On an island in the Buyan ocean.

The specific package tends to change, the chest is made of different materials, different eggs and animals, etc. but the premise remains the same.

Theoretically, one only needs to get the egg, hold on to it break it and Koschei will age to his eternal demise. But in order to get that egg, you not only have to go far and above on your treasure hunt but even if you do manage to crack open that chest you have several problems. The hare will run away, if you catch the hair the duck flies away. Remember, you are on an island at this point and would have to get back on your boat and hit the duck with your arrows. Hopefully, you don't miss it, lose it before the duck flies far enough away, or falls into the depths, otherwise, Koschei's soul is now at the bottom of the ocean. Back to square one. This means, that Koschei can be temporarily held at bay as Maraya did by chaining him up, but not killed.

Perhaps it's a bit of a stretch to say this device is a ret-con a la comic books, but I do think it is fair to say this is a rather convenient answer if some kid questions the folk teller reusing Koschei when he supposedly died last time. And thus, Koschei may be anything from Prince of the Underworld, a hoarder of gold, abductor of wives, or whatever purpose the story needs.

Koschei the deathless is by far my favorite folkloric monster. His creativity, cunning, strength, and the ridiculous way he made himself immortal all promise a mysterious and exciting hero's journey when he enters the frame.

Read The Red Fairy Book here. Courtesy of Project Gutenberg.

An overview of Koschei's various appearances.

Finally, an analysis of thematic elements.

Thank you for your time, and may your souls be kinder and not as well hidden as one Koschei the Deathless.