The Quest For Kalevala is a comic created by Don Rosa, originally published in the Danish Anders And Co in 1999 (first U.S publication Uncle Scrooge #334 in 2004), and is based on the Finnish national epic The Kalevala, a collection of rural poetry and folk tales gathered together by physician and scholar Elias Lönnrot
in the mid-19th century.
While going through his old trunk of mementos and souvenirs one day, Scrooge comes across an old I.O.U note scribbled on a torn page from a notebook, and recalls how he got it - back during his shoeshine days in Glasgow, a young Scrooge helped patch up the footwear of a visiting Finnish scholar named Elias Lönnrot, who was visiting Scotland to give a lecture on folklore and mythology at the university. Due to Lönnrot only having Finnish currency on him, and not wanting a repeat of how he got his #1 Dime, Scrooge tore a page out of Lönnrot's notebook and wrote the I.O.U on it, with Lönnrot agreeing to tell the hotel he was staying at to pay Scrooge in return for the page. However, Scrooge was never able to collect his pay (since he was a street urchin, the doorman wouldn't even let him inside) and he never saw Lönnrot again, eventually forgetting the whole affair. Curious, Huey, Dewey and Louie decide to look up Lönnrot in the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook, which contain information not just on Lönnrot himself, but also his magnum opus, the massive collection of Finnish myth and folklore known as The Kalevala - and much to Scrooge's intrigue, the legend of the wizard Väinämöinen, the witch Louhi, and the magical Sampo, a machine that can produce grain, salt, and gold out of nothing.
While Donald dismisses the Sampo as a silly myth, Scrooge points out his past successes in discovering so-called myths, and according to the nephews, the notebook page contains what might be the location of the remains of the Sampo, somewhere in Finland. With this knowledge, the Duck family is off on another treasure hunt!
In Helsinki, the capital of Finland, the journey is slow-going at first, as the director of the Finnish Literature Society, which hosts the rest of Lönnrots notes, proves reluctant to allow the Ducks access to the books, as this normally requires permission weeks in advance. However, when Scrooge reveals that he possesses the long-lost "missing page" from Lönnrots book, the director quickly changes his tune; with the page repaired, the now-complete text points towards the island of Mustasaari in Western Finland, giving the Ducks their next destination, though Donald grouses about having to explore the remote area in the middle of winter.
The island proves to be a rather strange place; the only inhabitant appears to be an old man living in an old-fashioned cabin, who points them towards an ancient lighthouse on the shoreline, despite the Ducks pointing out that there doesn't seem to be anything there. Sure enough, as they reach the ocean, they find a lighthouse overlooking the cliffs, just as a snowstorm begins to blanket the area. The building appears to be deserted and empty, with the exception of a magnificent sword in the middle of the room, a pearl necklace draped over the hilt. An excited Scrooge reaches for it, only to be shocked by a bolt of energy...
...and something, or someone speaks through him - the spirit of Väinämöinen himself, brought back from wherever he has been all this time.
Using the sword, and whoever touches it as a conduit, Väinämöinen reveals what happened to the Sampo after it's destruction during the battle with Louhi; the metal scrap scattered around the lighthouse is in fact the shards of the Sampo, waiting to be reforged by it's creator, the smith Seppo Ilmarinen. Using his magic, the wizard summons his old ally, but ends up pulling Gyro Gearloose all the way from Duckburg instead. Gyro is magically gifted the knowledge of how to repair the Sampo by touching the sword, and with the help of the Ducks, constructs a primitive forge outside the lighthouse, fusing the broken Sampo back together. Unfortunately, it still doesn't work, as there is a part missing - the lynchpin for the handle, taken by Louhi during the battle. Scrooge and Donald have no choice but to seek out the ancient witch to get it back, a journey that takes them across the ocean to the bleak Halls of Tuonela, the Underworld...
At the gates of Tuonela, they're met by Tuoni, the Grim Reaper, who at first denies them entry, as it's not yet Scrooge's time. However, Donald, a "big lover of sleep" is treated as a guest of honor, and they're allowed inside. Unfortunately, death hasn't improved Louhi's disposition much, and while Scrooge manages to trick her out of the lynchpin, the witch is furious. Still trapped in the ice of the afterlife, Louhi uses what remains of her magic to summon a "sister" to help her get revenge - none other than Magica De Spell, who is all too happy to steal the Sampo, especially once she finds out Scrooge is involved.
After their abrupt exit from the Underworld, Scrooge and Donald make it back to Finland and finish repairing the Sampo. After first getting a face full of grain and salt, Scrooge soon gets the Sampo to begin creating gold coins out of nowhere, joyfully declaring it to be even better than the Philosopher's Stone. Unfortunately, Magica attacks the ship using Louhi's war suit, a massive, bird-like harness that allows her to fly. In the ensuing struggle, Donald is almost knocked overboard, but as he furiously drags himself back on the ship, discovers that he brought something back from the ocean - Väinämöinen's long-lost kantele, a mystical instrument carved from the jaw of a giant pike, and the conduit of his magic. A single note played on it is enough to bring Vänämöinen back to the world of the living in both body and spirit, and quickly overpowers Magica with his sword, cutting the war suit to splinters. Unfortunately, she manages to snatch the kantele, using it to summon Louhi to the ship and giving the witch the instrument. Gleeful at having her hands on such a powerful artifact, Louhi loses any interest in the Sampo, and uses the kantele to summon Iku-Turso, a massive, frog-like leviathan, from the bottom of the sea, intending to resume her reign of terror from thousands of years ago. The witch and her monster sets off for Helsinki, with Donald hitching a ride in the hopes of stopping her, leaving Väinämöinen and the nephews with Scrooge, who is now in the full grip of gold fever, happily cranking out enough gold coins that the ship is beginning to sink.
Meanwhile, Louhi's new reign comes to an abrupt halt when she discovers that Helsinki is not the scattered medieval settlements she remembers - the sight of the modern city completely mystifies her, and despite it's monstrous size, Iku-Turso quickly turns out to be terrified by the sounds and sights of this new era. Making matters worse, Donald manages to snatch the kantele in the confusion, leading a panicked Iku-Turso back to the sea before transporting himself back to the ship, leaving Louhi powerless and stranded. In the process, Gyro and Magica are also sent back to their own homes, but there's a bit of a mix up - Gyro finds himself at Magica's shop in Italy, while Magica is chased out of Gyro's workshop in Duckburg by Little Helper.
With Scrooge completely beyond reason in his greed, Donald returns the kantele to Väinämöinen, who plays a haunting melody that is able to break through Scrooge's gold-making trance. The ship begins to levitate into the winter sky, as Väinämöinen prepares to return to his own realm with the Sampo. The Ducks are hefted overboard to be magically transported to the mortal world, but Scrooge refuses to give up the Sampo, clinging to the handle as they ascend into the sky. Seeing a kindred spirit in Scrooge, Väinämöinen and offers the old duck the chance to come with him, to journey "beyond the Northern Lights", though this means Scrooge would have to forsake his own Kalevala in the Yukon... A Kalevala where a lost love still waits for him...
Well, there's only one answer for that, isn't there?
"No."
Congratulating Scrooge on his choice, Väinämöinen pulls the pin holding the Sampo's handle and let's Scrooge fall back to Earth before vanishing into the sky, leaving a trail of gold coins in his wake, gold that becomes a gentle snow that blankets the Finnish lands beneath, before disappearing back to his own distant, shining realm.
Back in Finland, Scrooge finds himself reuniting with his nephews, and discovers that he didn't come out of the adventure empty-handed - the golden handle of the Sampo is still with him, a final gift from the wizard. As they prepare to return to civilization, the Ducks are met by the old man who first directed them to the lighthouse and plays a song for them on a box kantele.
An old man who the reader might notice looks awfully familiar...
Tropes:
- Amphibian at Large: Rosa's interpretation of the Kalevala's monster Iku-Turso is a giant amphibian-like creature that has the body-shape of a monkey. At the climax of the story, it goes on a rampage across Helsinki.
- Art Imitates Art: There are some references to the works of the famous Finnish painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela:
- In one panel, the heroes and Magica in her bird form are in the same position as the people in The Defense of the Sampo. The same goes for the cover image as seen above, but even more obvious with Magica being replaced by Louhi.
- Earlier in the story when Gyro is forging the remains of Sampo into a new one he strikes a pose just like Smith Ilmarinen does in The Forging of the Sampo.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Väinämöinen at the end, as he travels "beyond the Northern Lights" with the Sampo. He offers Scrooge to come with him, who considers it for a moment before deciding that he still has unfinished business in the world of the living, so Väinämöinen sends him back to Earth.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Iku-Turso, who looks like a massive cross between a frog and a lizard.
- Back from the Dead: Magica manages to free Louhi from the Underworld using the kantele. Technically, Donald did the same for Väinämöinen, but the wizard wasn't literally dead like Louhi was.
- Call-Back: Scrooge thinks the Sampo is even better than the Philosopher's Stone (from The Fabulous Philosophers Stone, The Crown of The Crusader Kings and A Letter From Home), as it required scrap metal to work, while the Sampo creates gold from nothing.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Väinämöinen vs Magica. She even complains about how unfair this is, as he's a "sorceror supreme" while she's just an amateur.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: Both Louhi and Iku-Turso are completely unprepared for how much Finland has changed in their absence, and are so shocked by modern Helsinki they forget to do any actual rampaging.
- Getting the Boot: Little Helper takes offense at Magica's sudden appearance in Gyro's workshop and chases her out while hitting her with a broom.
- Giant Flyer: Magica when she's wearing Louhi's war suit, which makes the wearer look like a giant predator bird.
- Gold Fever: Scrooge hits it bad after the Sampo is fixed, obsessively churning out gold coins to the point that the weight is making the ship sink. It takes magical intervention to snap him out of it this time.
- Grail in the Garbage: The I.O.U - Scrooge had kept the notebook scrap with him for over 70 years and eventually forgot he even had it, never knowing what it contained since he'd never heard of the Sampo, and even if he had, couldn't read Finnish.
- The Grim Reaper: Tuoni, who appears as a robed skeleton with a beard made from ice.
- Impractically Fancy Outfit: The shoes Lönnrot wore when he met Scrooge - they're traditional peasant slippers made from birch bark, easy to repair and replace in the Finnish countryside, but not up to city wearage in Glasgow. The money Lönnrot owed Scrooge was from Scrooge patching up the slippers with tar rather than a shoeshine.
- Inept Mage: Donald while using the kantele - since he's neither a musician, nor a wizard, the effects are clumsy and only does what he wants in broad strokes. He slams into things when transporting himself with it, and sends both Gyro and Magica to the others house rather than their own.
- Non-Standard Character Design: Both Väinämöinen and Louhi are drawn with realistic-looking faces instead of the usual "dog-faced" look that non-bird characters have.
- Only One Afterlife: Tuonela is portrayed as great, frozen halls where the dead simply sleep for eternity rather than recieve any rewards or punishments. Louhi herself is just another resident despite the evils she committed in life, and didn't seem to mind staying there forever until Scrooge revealed they were there about the Sampo.
- Stranded Invader: Louhi is left behind in Helsinki after Donald sends Iku-Turso back to the ocean, and is reduced to begging for change on the street to pay her way back to Tuonela. That's going to be even harder than she thinks, as without magic, she can't access the realm of Kalevala anymore, which is where the Underworld is located.
- Trapped in Another World: From the moment they reach the lighthouse, the Ducks are stuck in the realm of Kalevala itself rather than modern Finland. Only magic can bring anyone in or out, as shown when Gyro and Magica are summoned, or when Louhi tries to attack Helsinki.
