The Sea Swine
Up until the era of modern science, folks used to think that every land animal had a corresponding version in the ocean. And a sea pig, according to Olaus, would look a little something like this. It had eight eyes, quite unlike a regular pig, “four feet like a Dragons [sic],” also quite unlike a regular pig, and “a quarter of a Circle, like the Moon, in the hinder part of its head,” which, let’s face it, is quite unlike anything to ever exist.
The reason for these obvious discrepancies is that Olaus had created a rather thorough allegory for heretical people. The dragon feet they use to spread around evil, the eyes represent their temptations to others, and the misplaced moon stands for their distortion of truth. Olaus really had it out for heretics, specifically Protestants. I’m not editorializing here. I don’t mind Protestants. But as a devout Catholic, Olaus really didn’t like them. Like, so much so that he created a monster to represent them.
You’d be right to think the sea swine was probably based on a walrus, only with way more eyes. With its tusks – turned down as opposed to the pig’s upturned tusks – and its flippers, the walrus was likely the inspiration here, at least in part. Which begs the question: What do you get when you mix a Protestant and a walrus? A pretty clear indication of one mapmaker’s deep-seated religious rage.