1/ Since @JohannaMakesGames was curious, here is a thread on assorted "Underworlds" from German folklore.

Jürgen Hubert

12/ My favorite among these is the Lost City of Pontius Pilate, which supposedly rests in the ground near Forchheim (close to the region where I grew up in). But one day it shall rise again!

https://wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/Pilatusstadt

Jürgen Hubert

13/ A special mention goes on to the folkloric Venetians, who certainly knew how to access the Underworld and its riches.

And their "Land of the Venetians" often took on aspects of a Faerie Otherworld.

The Land of the Venetians

Sunken Castles, Evil Poodles Wiki (wiki.sunkencastles.com)

tuban_muzuru

@juergen_hubert

My father collected stories in Niger and Nigeria in the 1960s. Several of them turned up in the Joel Chandler Harris stories, collected among the American slave cultures.

Jürgen Hubert

@tuban_muzuru

A lot of stories go back a lot further than we think. Although often hard to prove how old they really are.

Jürgen Hubert

14/ Another sometimes-dweller of the Underworld were the "Blessed Maidens" (sometimes called "Wild Women") of the Austrian Alps. Those mortals who visited them in their grottoes were often changed by the experience - and not always for the better.

https://wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/The_Three_Blessed_Maidens_near_Morin_in_the_%C3%96tztal_Valley

Jürgen Hubert

15/ Of further interest to both the people living at the time and modern #ttrpg players were the numerous subterranean "treasure vaults" - caves and chambers filled with riches, for the taking of those who were able to overcome the guardians.

Though some of these treasure guardians took on some unexpected forms.

The Treasures of the Isholz

Sunken Castles, Evil Poodles Wiki (wiki.sunkencastles.com)

Jürgen Hubert

16/ Lakes, too, could represent a form of Underworld - with unfathomable depths inhabited by strange spirits.

The Pale Horse from the Grundlos Lake

Sunken Castles, Evil Poodles Wiki (wiki.sunkencastles.com)

Jürgen Hubert

17/ One such lake - located on the Hoher Meißner mountain in Hesse - was said to be the home of Frau Holle - an incarnation of Hulda, a female goddess or great spirit whose footprint can be found everywhere in German-speaking lands.

The Pond of Frau Holle

Sunken Castles, Evil Poodles Wiki (wiki.sunkencastles.com)

tuban_muzuru

@juergen_hubert

Tolkien's LOTR features such a lake, at the Western Gates of Moria.

Watcher in the Water

"Out from the water a long sinuous tentacle had crawled; it was pale-green and luminous and wet. Its fingered end had hold of Frodo’s foot, and was dragging him into the water. Sam on his knees was now slashing at it with a knife.The arm let go of Frodo, and Sam pulled him away, crying out for...

The One Wiki to Rule Them All (lotr.fandom.com)

Jürgen Hubert

18 (FIN)/ I hope you have enjoyed this glimpse into assorted Realms Below from German folklore!

If you want to support me in making more tales like these accessible to an international audience - by translating them into English, releasing them under a #CreativeCommons Zero license, and ultimately publishing them in books and on this wiki - then you can buy my books and subscribe to my Patreon campaign!

(You knew that part was coming, right? )

Your guide to German folklore! - Sunken Castles, Evil Poodles

Your guidebook to German folklore!

Sunken Castles, Evil Poodles (sunkencastles.com)

Jürgen Hubert

@tuban_muzuru

It's a popular theme. I mean, people in earlier centuries didn't have access to either sonar or diving equipment - so any lake where you could not see the bottom was effectively bottomless.

Fred_S_at (main)

@tuban_muzuru @juergen_hubert

Another was
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Bechstein
or
https://www.wissens-blog.12hp.de/germanische-mythologie/
or
Nibelungen, König Laurins Rosengarten, etc.

Jürgen Hubert

@Fred_S_at @tuban_muzuru

Ludwig Bechstein was a really prolific folklorist, and I have translated quite a few of his tales.

https://wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/Category:Bechstein_-_Der_Sagenschatz_des_Frankenlandes
https://wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/Category:Bechstein_-_Der_Sagenschatz_und_die_Sagenkreise_des_Th%C3%BCringerlandes_Erster_Theil
https://wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/Category:Bechstein_-_Der_Sagenschatz_und_die_Sagenkreise_des_Th%C3%BCringerlandes_Vierter_Theil
https://wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/Category:Bechstein_-_Th%C3%BCringer_Sagenbuch_Erster_Band
https://wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/Category:Bechstein_-_Th%C3%BCringer_Sagenbuch_Zweiter_Band

Fred_S_at (main)

@juergen_hubert @tuban_muzuru
Old books with fairy tales, legends, old stories
(1)

Fred_S_at (main)

@juergen_hubert @tuban_muzuru
Old books with fairy tales, legends, old stories
(2)

Jürgen Hubert

@Fred_S_at @tuban_muzuru

I use this links list for my own research:

Sagen – Wikisource

(de.wikisource.org)

Fred_S_at (main)

@juergen_hubert @tuban_muzuru
One must not forget the German Romantic period, Ludwig II Otto Friedrich Wilhelm of Bavaria (Neuschwanstein), and his court composer Richard Wagner (best known work – Ring of the Nibelung)..

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_II._(Bavaria).