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Saltstraumen maelstrom

A maelstrom (or malström) is a very powerful whirlpool; a large, swirling body of water. The word was introduced from the Nordic form by Edgar Allan Poe in his story "A Descent into the Maelstrom" (1841). Actually, the Nordic word is borrowed from the Dutch maalstroom^[1] which means grinding stream. The original Maelstrom (described by Poe and others) is the Moskstraumen, a powerful tidal current in the Lofoten Islands off the Norwegian coast.^[2]

• Walt Disney Pictures' 2007 film Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, features a scene in which the Black Pearl and The Flying Dutchman engage in battle in the middle of an enormous maelstrom formed after the release of Calypso, goddess of the sea. Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of the film, described it as being "...one of the greatest scenes in all of Cinema history"^{[citation needed]}.
• In 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Captain Nemo's Nautilus makes its last appearance going down into a maelstrom.
• Various special attacks are named "Maelstrom" in the Final Fantasy series of video games, specifically Edea from Final Fantasy 8 and Ashe from Final Fantasy 12
• In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Khan Noonien Singh pledges to chase James T. Kirk "'round the Antares Maelstrom" rather than give him up.
• In the MMORPG World of Warcraft, between the two continents on Azeroth, there is a gigantic maelstrom.
• In the book Eldest, there is a Maelstrom by the name of "The Boar's Eye", which was unique in that it was caused by tidal currents, and spun in one direction during the waxing tide, and the other direction during the waning tide.
• In the MMORPG "Guild Wars", there is an elementalist spell called "Maelstrom" which both interrupts and damages the foe.
• In the cartoon "The Pirates of Dark Water" the pirate captain Bloth's ship is named the Maelstrom.
• In the 1998 computer game Starcraft the Protoss Unit Dark Archon has an ability called Maelstrom. It stuns organic units in an area for several seconds.
• Maelstrom is also a weapon that has an electric aura available in the RTS Warcraft Dota mod.
• in the Warhammer 40,000 Universe, the Maelstrom is an area of space used as a base for raids by the Red Corsairs.

1. ^ See e.g. [1] Svensk etymologisk ordbok (in Swedish)
2. ^ Encyclopedia Britannica, 1958 edition.