Preternatural characters in the book of dede korkut [Dede korkut kitabi’nda olağanüstü tipler]

The Book of Dede Korkut is an important literary work that conveys the thoughts, behaviors, perceptions and in a broad sense the way of life of the Turkic people. It is thought to be penned around the 15th century and consists of epic stories and legends, called “boy” describing the hardships faced by the earlier Turkic people, the relationship between man and nature are woven with symbols and symbolisms of various factors from the past to the time it was first penned. The Book consists of a prologue composed of quotes from Korkut Ata and twelve stories. There have been many studies on the stories in Turkey, the Turkic World and overseas. The Dede Korkut stories have a broad spectrum of elements from society, family, individual to religion, faith, nature and of course the supernatural and the preternatural. In some of the stories the preternatural types are a plot device of the story they are in. In this article, the preternatural types of the Book, Hızır, Azrail, Faerie and Tepegöz has been explored. Firstly the concepts of type, preternatural and the preternatural type has been explained. Then the four preternatural types of the three stories have been explored according to their role and as a symbol, in context with the Turkish mythic concepts. Lastly, the reason why Hızır, Azrail, Faerie and Tepegöz have been accepted as types have been discussed; of these four, the ones that stand out with their spiritual and sacred quality have been clarified as preternatural types with religious quality and the ones connected with old faiths, nature and man’s relationship with nature have been explained as nature related preternatural types; what characteristics of these types feature their preternatural qualities and the factors ensuring their preternaturalness have been stated. © 2015, Milli Folklor Dergisi. All rights reserved.