Undines

In The Real World

Undines or Odines are elemental water spirits that are mentioned and documented in many different texts, ranging from ancient European folk-lore as fairy creatures to ancient Greece and Rome; Often, they are tied to alchemy. They are said to be able to steal a soul by marrying a human man and bearing his child.

Their name is from Latin, unda, meaning "wave".

Overall, besides stealing the occaisional soul, Undines do not appear to be especially malevolent, especially when compared to other water elementals, such as Kelpies and Red Caps.

Traditionally, Undines are seen as mermaid or angelic like beings, often beautiful, aluring and very tempting to human kind.

A Traditional Undine:

In The Real Ghostbusters

In The Real Ghostbusters Episode, "The Devil In the Deep", New York City finds itself in the grip of a heat-wave while out in the East River, things get really hot when one of the Great Old Ones, a water god named Nexa is woken from his age long slumber by pipe layers.

Nexa's emergence triggers a violent outbreak of hauntings across the city, mostly in the water supply causing mass panic. The hauntings are said to be the result of undines, or water elementals. The Undines in the episode are characterized as malicious almost Kappa like creatures, although Egon does make the comment that they are normally benevolent. It is unknown what triggered their shift in behaviors but it can be implied that Nexa's return to our world may have had a large influence over them.

It is unknown what happened to the Undines once Nexa left New York but it is assumed that the Undines reverted back to their pre-Nexa state or went with him.

A Kappa that bears a resemblence to the Undines in "The Devil In The Deep":

Trivia

• This is the famous episode where Janine appears in a yellow-polka dot bikini.
• The book that the man in the bathtub at the begining of the episode is reading is a collection of Melville's works, mostly likely an in-joke reference to Moby Dick.
• This is one of the rare episodes where Peter comes up with a new piece of equipment and saves the day all on his own, but like the other times he has done this, at the end of the day, the Microwave Emitter Thrower fails and explodes, functioning just long enough to save the guys. Another episode where Peter does this is "Standing Room Only."