Is James a Wendigo in Taboo?

Published February 4, 2017 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hello, Gentleman!

I’m glad you guys enjoyed my earlier emails! I wanted to write another one about Nootka Sound’s relationship to the French Revolution, and how James could, ultimately, bring in the Dutch, French, and Spanish to offset the Americans and the British, but I decided to bring in some parallels between African and Native American myths instead. Depending on your interpretation of Algonquian lore, the Wendigo is either a monster that was never human but appears to be human, or it’s an evil spirit that possesses a real human host. Regardless, the result is the same: they feed off humans.

Personally, I am of the school of thought that believes greed (or if you want to bring in Christian themes, sin) can cause an individual to turn into a Wendigo. Now, who do we know could have been greedy and has led a questionable life until their recent return to England? James Delaney, of course. Now, I’m not saying he’s literally a Wendigo, but that could be where the rumors of cannibalism came from. Most of my information about Wendigo’s comes from Algernon Blackwood’s novella, The Wendigo, and I highly recommend it if you want to an amazing, fairly quick read.

In regards to the Wendigo’s connections to Africa, there is a pretty good connection to the Ewe People’s Adze which, while in human form, can possess humans, and generally negatively affects the people around the host and not the host itself (I’m pretty sure it’s a metaphor for malaria, but I can’t be sure). Interestingly enough, the Ewe people believed that those possessed by the Adze were, to give a more European term, witches. And I’m not talking about the good, Shaman kind; their word literally for witches literally translates to Snake of the Woman. Going back to my malaria theory, many African tribes believe these witches are the bringers of terminal illness (today, malaria and AIDs). And, for my crackpot theory, it could be possible that this is how James’ father was poisoned, but only if the show suddenly goes down the supernatural route.

So is it a possibility that James has been possessed or is still possessed by a Wendigo or Adze? Well, the connection with the Ewe people is completely possible, because they are primarily in Togo and Ghana, which is the heart of West African coast. The Wendigo connection is also completely possible because even if he hasn’t been to Nootka Sound and learned of Wendigoes there (and this theory might also be crazy), it may have been his mother who was possessed, and that’s why she had the erratic behavior and had to be locked up; a bunch of Englishmen probably aren’t going to know about evil Native American spirits, after all. And now, many years later, the Wendigo spirit (his mother) is coming back to haunt James for his sins (which include possibly participating in the slave trade/killing slaves?)

Again, thank you so much for your time and your amazing podcast!

-Niko

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