In Turkic mythological thought Kormos designates a spectrum of souls or spirit-forms that occupy different layers of existence: some inhabit the underworld (Tamag), some roam the earth, and some belong to the sky-world (Uçmag). The lexical root of the term carries senses of "does not see" or "blind" and can also denote "mentally ill," which shapes metaphorical associations in the tradition. Kormos functions as an umbrella category for various post‑mortem conditions — including ancestral Ozor, damned Çahık, suicide-associated Alban — and is organised in a threefold moral typology: angelic Kormoses under Ülgen, demonic Kormoses under Erlik, and neutral/roaming Kormoses on earth. Their collective chief is named Körmös Khan (Kürmez Han).
No single uniform appearance is prescribed for all Kormos; descriptions vary by subtype. Alban (souls of those who committed suicide) are said to resemble humans but with extremely long hair, long claws, and inverted eyes and feet. Çahık (souls of the damned) are described with bloody hands, dry eyes, and dangerous speech, and are said to be capable of changing form. Angelic and neutral Kormos are not given fixed physical traits in the cited sources.
Cited sources attribute a range of behaviours: demonic or Caman/Yaman Kormoses that dwell in Tamag can harm the living, abduct or capture people's souls, and torture; angelic (Arug/Arı) Kormoses act under Ülgen to help and protect humans and to maintain balance; neutral or Kal/Gal Kormoses roam the earth in a distressed state. Some subtypes (e.g., Çahık) are said to change forms and to possess perilous speech. The tradition links ordinary souls' postmortem fate to the possibility of becoming a Kormos, and it is noted that a soul so turned may still ascend to Uçmag if the good in it outweighs its evil.
Weaknesses
- conditionmoral balance of the soul (overweight of good enabling ascent)
Wards
- conditionavoidance of being awake at sunrise and sunset (preventive practice)
Abzar İyesi
A Turkic iyesi (possessive/guardian spirit) of the courtyard, outbuildings, and farmstead grounds; ambivalent in nature, it protects its domain but may harm livestock and cause mischief, often appearing in animal forms.
Ak Ana
Ak Ana (also Ağ Ana, Ak Ene) is the primordial water-mother of Turkic and some Siberian (Khanty, Mansi) traditions: a holy maternal creator principle associated with the pre-earth expanse of water, fertility of the land, and the threshold to the spirit world.
Al (Alı)
No folkloric or ethnographic evidence for a supernatural entity named "Al" or "Alı" is present in the supplied source set. The available materials are modern biographical, political, linguistic, and religious texts that do not describe a Turkish spirit, demon, or other supernatural being by this name.
Alaz
Alaz is the Turkic god of fire associated with hearths, flame, and the Great Fire (Ulugh Od). He is described as a powerful fire-being who sends protector-spirits (İye) to household hearths and can cause destructive fires when angered; fire under his authority is also a purifying force.
Alp Er Tunga
Alp Er Tunga is a legendary heroic ruler of Turan in early Turkic tradition, remembered as an ideal warrior-king and ancestral figure invoked in medieval dynastic genealogies. He also appears in Iranian epic tradition under the cognate name Afrosiyab/Afrasiab, where the figure is framed differently.
Amazons
A society of women-warriors in ancient Greek myth and legend, depicted as skilled horsemen and archers who inhabit the periphery of the Greek world and act as recurring opponents and counterparts to Greek heroes. Treated by ancient authors as a past people and by modern scholars as a mythic construct possibly inspired by Eurasian female warrior burials.
Amrak
Amrak is not attested in the provided sources as a supernatural being. The lexical string "Amrak" appears across unrelated secular contexts — as a historical regnal name (Amrak Khagan / Ashina Anluo), a Turkish place-name (Çamrak / amrak), titles in modern Arabic-language music, an institutional name/acronym (AMRAK Institute), and as a modern brand/typeface/project name. No folkloric, ritual, or mythological descriptions of an entity called "Amrak" are present in the cited material.
Antimachus
Antimachus is attested in the provided sources primarily as a classical Greek personal name borne by historical figures (notably Antimachus of Colophon, a poet and grammarian ca. 400 BC, and Antimachus I Theos, a Greco-Bactrian king). The name is also reused in modern contexts (a Wikidata taxon entry and small-press fictional/divinatory pages). The sources do not present Antimachus as a supernatural or folkloric entity.
Apa Qaghan
Apa Qaghan (阿波可汗, Ābō Kèhán) is an historical Ashina prince and mid-6th century claimant to the Göktürk khaganate. Sources portray him as a political and military actor involved in the succession disputes after Taspar Qaghan's death, ruling contested steppe territories and engaging with both western Turkic allies and Sui China.
Aq Bars
Aq Bars (Tatar: Ак Барс, 'White Leopard') is an ancient Bulgar tribal totem and heraldic emblem historically used in Volga Bulgaria and the Khanate of Kazan and adopted in the modern era as the official symbol of the Republic of Tatarstan (formally since 7 February 1992). It functions as a dynastic/tribal mark of identity (derived from the Barsil tribe) and as a political-state emblem rather than a personal supernatural being.
Archura
Archura (Arçura) is a Turkic woodland chura — a shapeshifting forest spirit associated with particular woodland tracts and wild animals. Traditions portray Archura as a protector of wildlife and a trickster-like figure that can be dangerous to humans.
Asena
Asena is a mythic she-wolf who functions as the ancestress in the Göktürk foundation myth; she rescues an injured child after a battle, becomes pregnant by him according to the legend, flees across the Western Sea to a cave near the Qocho mountains, and gives birth to progenitors of the Ashina clan. The figure legitimizes the ruling lineage of early Turkic polities and has been revalorized in modern Turkish nationalist symbolism under the related label Bozkurt ('gray wolf').
Community Record
- [1]Kormos (Wikipedia entry excerpt). Wikipedia: 'Kormos or Kormoz (Tuvan: кормос; Turkish: Körmöz or Körmös) are spirits in Turkic mythology...' (entry text used in research notes)wiki
- [2]Wikidata: Kormos. Wikidata item for Kormos (linked from research notes)other