Who is the mermaid?

[Ashe]

Funky question I was pondering. For you personally, who is the mermaid (or merman or other)? Is it you in a costume tail or are you playing a character, as in a mersona? Does that even make sense?

For me personally, Kalani was a character who I wanted to be when I was younger - kind of like a mask I could hide behind. Lately since my hiatus from the forum, I've been bothered about my name Kalani. Something seems off and I think I realize it is because I don't feel as if I'm playing a character anymore, I see myself, Ashe, as the mermaid - the fun and adventurous and independent one - because that is who I became over the years. I've been thinking of changing my name here to my actual one because of it. Or maybe something shorter like Kal (which actually symbolizes something else for me).

So who do you all feel most comfortable being in the community? Yourself or someone else?
Just late night wonderings

[Marinus Mortimer]

For me personally Marinus is one of my split personalities, from a young age water has been a mental trigger for me even before I saw The Little Mermaid, I may have not had a name for that aspect of my self at the time but growing up in a tropical island we went to the beach and or rivers quite often and every time for as long as I can remember, the moment we parked I was off no helping no nothing I'd have my goggles and fins ready in the car my mom used to call me her little aquaboy (she still does sometimes lol) I always stayed close to shore until dad came to join with his snorkeling gear I swear he is part of why I'm such a great swimmer today I only got out the water when the food was ready and I always came back with some shells for my mom and self. It wasn't until mom got me TLM that I knew why I loved the sea so much I wanted to be part of that world, my room was littered with memories from the sea.

It wasn't after I became a teen that I was diagnosed with (DID) or Multiple Personality Disorder that I found a name for my ocean loving side I decided to call "him" Marinus which translates to "Of The Sea".

A few years after that we on my birthday me and my grandma were talking on a family day at the beach we most went to, she told me that I was a very sick child when I was born that my heart was too big for my new born body (even though I was born 12 inches long and weighed 22lb!) I was practically grown lol but my heart was even more mature for some reason, I was in the hospital in intensive care for 1year and a half after birth and when I was finally discharged my grandma (who practiced Yoruba or Santeria at the time) took me and mom to that same beach to perform a cleansing/blessing and it was that day that my saint was declared to be Olokun the god or saint of the Deep seas, she told me that her saint (the one she was born with) Yemaya came to her in dreams weeks before my discharge and told her to prepare for the up coming celebration for the child of her husband (Olokun) would come home soon, she said that I should always pay my respects to the sea and she would always keep me safe when I was out there, she gave back to me a necklace that used to be a bracelet she made for me for the day of that ritual with dark blue and black beads she said I broke it when I was 7 but the fixed it and kept it until that day she added blue and withe beads to represent the surface or Yemaya and the old beads at the front representing my patron saint Olokun. After that I became involved with her in the religion till this day,

So for me it's not just playing dress up or pretending to be a Merman it's deeper than that it goes way back to my core, it's my religion, my other self, the place I go to feel the bliss and hear the sound of thousands of little shells crashing against each other in the surf making the sound of a thousand little bells, it's a way of life...


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[Teeny]

For me, my "real" self, the one everyone knows in the normal world, is only a role I tend to play, and Teeny, my mermaid self is the real one.
Being a mermaid is an opportunity to be myself, the actual me.

So on weekdays, when I'm among people, I'm playing a role to please society. I have hardships with being myself around others. And this acting can get very tiring. So when I'm finally home alone, I take a break, and become Teeny, the real, hidden me. When I recently got into mermaiding, I finally got an opportunity to be myself even in front of others, while the all think that I'm playing a role. Basically I'm pretending to be myself.

Does this make sense? It probably seems complicated in the way I wrote it all down...

[Mermaid Lanier]

This is such an interesting thread! I've yet to be able to go mermaiding, so I can only guess, but I'll be back here after I've gone for a swim.

[Ashe]

I thought about it overnight, and I've come to an interesting conclusion. Both the "human" me and "mermaid" me are the same person, but maybe just on two different halves. Now I don't think that I am an actual mermaid or a half mermaid, but the "mermaid" who I get to be by swimming around with a tail and meeting people just brings out a different side to me. She isn't a character I'm trying to be, she is me, but I don't get to express that very often.

[moomer]

What an interesting discussion idea. I really like this!

I think for me, it is the same person. I am still me, when in my tail. It feels more like an extension of myself, than a separate part of me. I don't act differently, I don't hide my flaws, likes or dislikes, or enthusiasm. That's why I don't have a mer-name, or have a separate FB page for it. I think that's also why I hesitated to turn it into a business.
This is purely for my enjoyment. My health, my sanity and my heart.
So yeah, that's my spin on it.

I look forward to reading other people's thoughts!

[Merman Andrew]

I asked a similar question on the Cosplay thread about whether people felt like Mermaiding is the same thing as Cosplay, the general consensus seemed to be that Mermaiding is really about expressing or uncovering who you are really are whereas Cosplay is about specifically playing a character and acting to make your mannerisms and gestures etc the same as that character.

I do sometimes wonder though if professional Mermaids see thier Mersona differently, given they have to act up to entertain kids or an audience, or is it still just thier own personality made into a professional role?

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[Neerai]

My mersona is one of the visions of myself. I like to have some "myselfs" in my mind. Like a character, like an avatar. They're all me in the diferent worlds. There's a fairy me, a mermaid me, a human me, a fawn me. I love to roleplaying so it's easy for me to change to one or other, depending the situation.

Mermaid Neerai is brave, and she's not afraid of storms. She's a happy pirate, deeply in love with adventure and loyal to the Captain and the crew. But she's part of me. One of the faces of myself. My characters have the skills and the personality traits I want to have for living.

[aquamtc]

For me personally Marinus is one of my split personalities, from a young age water has been a mental trigger for me even before I saw The Little Mermaid, I may have not had a name for that aspect of my self at the time but growing up in a tropical island we went to the beach and or rivers quite often and every time for as long as I can remember, the moment we parked I was off no helping no nothing I'd have my goggles and fins ready in the car my mom used to call me her little aquaboy (she still does sometimes lol) I always stayed close to shore until dad came to join with his snorkeling gear I swear he is part of why I'm such a great swimmer today I only got out the water when the food was ready and I always came back with some shells for my mom and self. It wasn't until mom got me TLM that I knew why I loved the sea so much I wanted to be part of that world, my room was littered with memories from the sea.

It wasn't after I became a teen that I was diagnosed with (DID) or Multiple Personality Disorder that I found a name for my ocean loving side I decided to call "him" Marinus which translates to "Of The Sea".

A few years after that we on my birthday me and my grandma were talking on a family day at the beach we most went to, she told me that I was a very sick child when I was born that my heart was too big for my new born body (even though I was born 12 inches long and weighed 22lb!) I was practically grown lol but my heart was even more mature for some reason, I was in the hospital in intensive care for 1year and a half after birth and when I was finally discharged my grandma (who practiced Yoruba or Santeria at the time) took me and mom to that same beach to perform a cleansing/blessing and it was that day that my saint was declared to be Olokun the god or saint of the Deep seas, she told me that her saint (the one she was born with) Yemaya came to her in dreams weeks before my discharge and told her to prepare for the up coming celebration for the child of her husband (Olokun) would come home soon, she said that I should always pay my respects to the sea and she would always keep me safe when I was out there, she gave back to me a necklace that used to be a bracelet she made for me for the day of that ritual with dark blue and black beads she said I broke it when I was 7 but the fixed it and kept it until that day she added blue and withe beads to represent the surface or Yemaya and the old beads at the front representing my patron saint Olokun. After that I became involved with her in the religion till this day,

So for me it's not just playing dress up or pretending to be a Merman it's deeper than that it goes way back to my core, it's my religion, my other self, the place I go to feel the bliss and hear the sound of thousands of little shells crashing against each other in the surf making the sound of a thousand little bells, it's a way of life...


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What a touching beautiful story


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[Marinus Mortimer]

What a touching beautiful story


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Thanks it's hard to share my past for some reason but this thread helped me express some of my history.


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[Mermaid Alea]

My mersona is definitely me, but some parts of it are not very 'normal' for human me. These things just came about on their own too...It hasn't come about by me trying to be different when I am a mermaid. For example when I am a mermaid I like kids - I usually don't like kids but when I am a mermaid I like saying hi to kids and answering their questions. I am usually okay with attention as a person, but when I am a mermaid I WANT attention and I will do tail slaps and swim fast and drag myself to land to get attention - I know this sounds vain or something but I do it without thinking and then I feel stupid for it - but I figure it comes from me being a quiet, reserved person in life who secretly craves attention and a sense of belonging. I also feel safer swimming as a mermaid in the water then I do if I were swimming without a fin and/or tail.

So overall I would say my mersona is more outgoing. I took a personality test recently for work and it said I am 70% introverted. I figure when I am a mermaid that 70% introverted changes to perhaps 70% extroverted.