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In Hawai’ian folklore, giant reptilian beings called Mo’o are believed to haunt the islands. These entities can shapeshift at will and may help or harm mortals depending on their mercurial moods. In their natural shape mo’o are described as jet black lizards, large as a small whale. They are rarely seen in this form, though, since they usually appear as mortal women, beautiful and seductive but also fierce and dangerous.

Mo’o inhabit rivers, waterfalls and other bodies of water. They are particularly associated with loko i’a (fish ponds)- large, artificial coves create by building up walls of lava rock to form a partially-enclosed bay in which aquatic vegetation is cultivated to attract herbivorous fish. In addition to being a major source of protein, many loko i’a are also sacred sites and are thus protected by the fearsome “lizard goddesses”.

Many families of native Hawaiian descent have ancestral guardians or ‘aumakua (the apostrophe at the beginning signals a glottal stop like the pause in the Cockney English pronunciation of bottle as “bo’le). ‘Aumakua often take the forms of animals such as sharks, owls, birds and, for some families, Mo’o.

The most well-known of these Mo’o ‘aumakua- and one especially important to Hawaiian history- is Kihawahine. She is said to live in the loko i’a of Moku’ula, a sacred site on the island of Maui. In times past the chiefs of Maui ruled from this site with the Mo’o acting as intermediary between the mortal and spirit worlds. When King Kamehameha the Great united all the Hawaiian islands under his rule in 1810, he made Moku’ula the seat of his kingdom and married a woman, Keōpūolani, whose ‘aumakua was Kihawahine. This union put him under the reptile goddess’ protection and granted him good fortune as he fought to maintain his kingdom. Today Moku’ula is buried under a baseball field in the town of Lahaina, but plans are underway to restore the ancient site.

Like many supernatural beings, Mo’o can be malevolent as well as helpful, and there are numerous stories in Hawai’ian mythology of these creatures antagonizing humans. In one legend the volcano goddess Pele sends her sister Hi’iaka on a mission to rescue Pele’s mortal lover who has been captured by a trio of mo’o. In addition to these three, Hi’iaka must contend with Kikipua, a mo’o woman who tries to devour the goddess by casting an illusion that makes her long, reptilian tongue look like a wooden bridge.