Tuonetar

Tuonetar is the queen of the Finnish Underworld, Tuonela. She is also the goddess of death.

She has a husband, Tuoni, with whom she rules Tuonela. She has five daughters: Loviatar, Kalma, Vammatar, Kipu-tyttö and Kivutar. She is also said the be the mother of various diseases, monsters and plagues.

Tuonetar appears in Kalevala, where she welcomes Väinämöinen to Tuonela by giving him a golden goblet of beer. However, when he looks closer he can see it is really a black poison made of frog spawn, young poisonous snakes, lizards, adders, and worms, known as "The Beer of Oblivion". If a person were to drink it, they would forget they existed and not be able to return to the land of the living. Only Tuonetar and her children are allowed to leave Tuonela.

When Väinämöinen asks Tuonetar to reveal the three magic words he is seeking she refuses and vows that he will never leave Tuonela alive. She then puts him to sleep with her magic wand and has Tuonen poika weave a thousand nets of iron and copper to catch him if he tries to escape down the River of Tuoni. Väinämöinen succeeds in escaping by turning into a serpent and swimming through the nets, and when he returns to Kalevala he warns people never to sin lest they end up in Tuonela.