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Utukku


The utukku were a type of spirit in Sumerian religion that had escaped the underworld, either by their own power or by being summoned forth by a priest, such as the one appearing in the Epic of Gilgamesh. They could be either benevolent or evil. The evil utukku were called Edimmu and the good lamassu or shedu.

Two of the best known edimmu were Asag (slain by Ninurta) and Alû. Though they are sometimes confused for The Seven Evil Spirits, an utukku is the raised spirit of a mortal, while The Seven were created by Anu as plague gods.

The proper Sumerian form of the name is UDUG; Utukku is the Akkadian form. It is common to change /D/ to /t/ and /G/ to /k/ in converting Sumerian into Akkadian. The final /-u/ is the Akkadian nominative case-ending.

The canon of exorcism of the evil UDUG is known as UDUG HUL, the Akkadian expansion of which (known in Akkadian as Utukkū Lemnūtu) is in sixteen tablets.

They were siblings of the Anunnaki. They were in the service of the underworld, and were required to fetch home the fruit of the sacrifices and burnt offerings, which generally consisted of the blood, liver, and other "sweetmeats" of the sacrificed animal.

Utuk'ku is the name given to the wicked queen of the Norns in Tad Williams' fantasy trilogy Memory, Sorrow and Thorn.

Utukku appear in Dungeons & Dragons in "Creature Catalog", Dragon #89 (September 1984). It is an outsider from Tartarus that looks like a lion-like humanoid with a quilled mane and a scaly body. They sometimes come to the Prime Material Plane to spread misery and evil and to gather treasure.


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