Siren is a drama that started up on Freeform in March of 2018. As its name suggests, it is centered on the concept of mermaids interacting with humans, though its particular interpretation of mermaids and mermaid societies is a much more interesting take on the basic concept than most. Currently, Siren is on its second season, which is expected to run for 16 episodes. Here are 10 things that you may or may not have known about Sirens:
1. Not the First Time that Siren Has Been Reinterpreted
Naturally, this isn’t the first time that Siren has been reinterpreted. For proof, look no further than the fact that the ancient Greeks imagined sirens to have the heads of women and the bodies of birds, though it wasn’t too long before ancient Greek depictions started turning into beautiful women with birds’ wings as well as birds’ feet. Nowadays, sirens tend to be more associated with mermaids, which is an interesting example of how much folkloric creatures can change over time.
2. Plays with Mermaid Stories
Siren makes good use of mermaid stories by playing with them. In its setting, some mermaid stories are either true or have elements of truth to them, while others are not. As a result, part of the fun of watching Siren is making guesses about what it will do with various mermaid stories.
3. It Uses the Siren Song
The siren’s song is one of the oldest elements to the folkloric creature. After all, it showed up in the Odyssey when Odysseus ordered his men to plug their ears with beeswax before having himself tied to the mast of his ship when passing by the sirens because he was curious about their song. Siren gives its titular characters the song as well, which seems to be a defense mechanism of some kind.
4. The Siren’s Song Is Addictive
Curiously, the siren’s song in Siren seems to be addictive because more than one of its victims has shown a desire to hear it after the first time that they were enthralled. In fact, one of those individuals outright compares the phenomenon to an addiction, which says much about how powerful it is.
5. Sirens Can Transform
Sirens possess the ability to transform between a land-based form and a water-based form. However, the process doesn’t make for a pleasant sight to say the least. For that matter, considering the siren’s response to the changes, it seems to be a pretty painful process as well.
6. Sirens and Humans Can Produce Fertile Offspring
It is interesting to note that humans and sirens seem to be pretty close relatives in the setting. After all, it is possible for the two species to have living offspring from their unions. Moreover, it is possible for those offspring to have offspring of their own, which suggests an even closer relationship between the two species. For comparison, consider how horses and donkeys can have mules and hinnies, but mules and hinnies are sterile.
7. Siren-Human Unions Come with Serious Complications
Unfortunately, siren-human unions come with serious complications. For example, the local town founder had a relationship with a siren that resulted in a child, who he winded up giving to the local Haida tribe because she was so strange that he had no idea how to care for her. This is the source for a fair amount of mistrust on the part of the sirens because they thought that he had killed the child, which was even worse than what he actually did.
8. Siren-Human Relationships Aren’t Unsalvageable
With that said, the relationship between sirens and humans isn’t unsalvageable because it is clear that sirens are affected by their experiences in much the same manner as humans. Unfortunately, considering that there is a government conspiracy of some kind that is snapping up sirens for use as test subjects in Siren, there are definitely obstacles in the way.
9. Sirens Are Predators
Amusingly, there is a scene in which a siren spooks some sea lions upon being spotted. In another series, this might have been because she is a supernatural creature or something along those lines. Here, the sea lions have a much simpler reason for being concerned, which is that sirens are very, very good predators, which is fitting for something that is so similar to humans.
10. Sirens Seem to Have a Matriarchal Society
Not too much is known about siren society at the moment, but there are some indications that the local siren population has a matriarchal society that is strongly influenced by the personal strength of the leadership candidates. It will be interesting to see whether other siren populations have other kind of social hierarchies, assuming that Siren lasts long enough to explore such topics.
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