Joukahainen

Joukahainen (also known as Joutavoinen, Jompainen or lappalainen) is a young, skinny and audacious noita or tietäjä. He's Väinämöinen's arch enemy and, in some stories, his brother.

In Kalevala
Joukahainen envied Väinämöinen's skills in spell singing based on the rumors he had heard, and decided to challenge Väinämöinen in a duel. Väinämöinen didn't agree to fight with swords but came up with alternative means of competition. They cast spells on each other and Väinämöinen won by singing Joukahainen into a swamp. In order to get out, Joukahainen offered Väinämöinen his belongings and land but Väinämöinen wasn't interested. Only when Joukahainen promised his sister's hand in marriage to Väinämöinen did he get out. However, the sister, Aino, drowned herself because she didn't want to marry Väinämöinen. Joukahainen, angry about his sister's death, shot Väinämöinen with his crossbow as Väinämöinen was crossing the sea, plunging him into the water.

In folk tradition
In Finnish and Karelian folk poems, there are multiple different versions of the confrontations of Joukahainen and Väinämöinen. Some stories go as far back as prior to the creation of the world, where Joukahainen and Väinämöinen (and Ilmarinen) are all sons of a maiden named Iro. They start their journey together but end up separated and attack each other. Väinämöinen wins with his magic and/or sword, but the bitter Joukahainen has his revenge. The world was created when Väinämöinen is riding on water and Joukahainen shoots him down into the sea. As Väinämöinen lies in the sea, only his knee is above the surface. A goldeneye lays eggs on the knee, but the eggs fall off and break, creating the universe.

Hostility between people is another thing that originates from the fighting of the two. Joukahainen, who is also referred to as "lappalainen", represents the assumed bitter and malevolent nature of lappalaiset and witches in general. Out of all real and fictional enemies, "lappalaiset" were seen as the original paragon of enmity, and this could have been because of their connection to the most evil cardinal direction, north. Even still, Joukahainen was Väinämöinen's brother, so it could have been his revengeful attitude that turned him into a lappalainen with magic powers of anger, and noidannuolis.