User:Roman Pilgrim

Kharakternyk − a legendary warrior-sorcerer type, featured in folklore about Ukrainian, first of all, Zaporozhian Sich, Cossacks. Separated from the main mass of Ukrainian population, the Sich Cossacks were often perceived as mysterious bearers of supernatural qualities. Folklore narratives, recorded by Ukrainian folklorist and ethnographer Iakiv Novyts'kyi (1847-1925), contain references to numerous anonymous and historical Cossacks as kharakternyks. Among the latter was Chieftain of the Sich Cossacks, Ivan Sirko (d. 1681), who, according to the oral folk tradition, had been able to stop bullets, survive mortal saber wounds, see enemy ambushes by looking into water and so forth. Before his passing Sirko instructed Cossacks to cut off his arm promising that it would make them victorious even after its master's death.