NorsePlay.

Last time NorsePlay went pretty deep into the sacred groves of Twin Peaks , only later noticing the cereal box actually says right on the front the following spoken ingredients: Major Briggs: O f course the modern age has changed forever the way  your people live, Mr. Thorson, but my guess would be  that there still remains a tremendous vestigial interest in   the legends and folklore of ancient Iceland . Einer Thorson:   (smiles, doesn't have a clue)  Vestigial. Absolutely. Major Briggs:   I  know, speaking for myself, that I find these last  remnants of a connection to a natural, more primitive,  almost pagan way of life, endlessly fascinating; locally,  for instance, we have the Sasquatch mythos, or Bigfoot, a  large, evil smelling forest-dweller, which I suppose  would correspond to your " huldufolk " or hidden people. Einer:   Trolls ? Major Briggs:   Exactly. In the extras, episode 27 director Stephen Gyllenh...

In a clever Wagnerian Ring Cycle adaptation in Marvel's Thor: The Eternals Saga , this striking panel of Marvel's Valkyrie Brunnhilde is being punitively put to her fire ringed bed in an enchanted sleep after doing what Odin actually wants as opposed to what he told her to do. In a strange and somewhat surreal story arc, Marvel Thor seeks out Odin's Eye for answers about an implied previous incarnation of himself that Odin won't reveal to him. The Eye, actually flying around on an ectoplasmic stalk and terrorizing a planet of gnomish aliens just to power flex, submits to Thor's threats and begins telling the God Of Thunder of a hitherto previously unknown Ragnarök and its survivors' link to the current Asgardian cycle , which then follows Wagner's Ring adaptation of The Saga of the Volsungs , with Thor apparently living as both mortal heroes Siegmund and his incestuously born son Siegfried, which helps explain why they look identical to Marvel Thor t...

While Dune is more an obvious analogue for the desert culture of the Middle East, religious versus secular frictions, and the global fuel crisis of the 1970s CE, there's  a strikingly evocative sequence of NorsePlay tucked within the final episode of Dune: Prophecy S1 (2024 CE): This is made more meta-pointed by the casting of Travis Fimmel of Vikings series fame who gets swallowed by the Jǫrmungandr -like sandworm, then finds himself sacrificing the integrity of his eye to becoming augmented with godlike powers, all of which is so very Odinic. And given House Harkonnen roughing out their exile on the North-like wintery world of Lankiveil and having to make do with whaling exports, perhaps there's more NorsePlay to be spotted in the upcoming seasons. We can only hope. #     #    # Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in  the Norse Lore when he picked up a copy of the d'Aulaires'  Norse Gods and Giants  at age seve...

While reading Frog's  Mythology and the Lived Environment (2024 CE), he goes a little more into Finnish and Baltic mythology to flesh out his approach to myth as a "symbolic matrix" as a way to broadly reconcile all previous framings. This interesting & novel redefining aside, at one point Frog uses the idea that every time the Baltic storm god Perkūnas uses lightning and we hear thunder a devil is hit and/or the noise makes them flee from fear of getting hit . This idea of devils being scattered by thunder then made me think of how trolls in the Norse Lore are quite put-out by the sound of church bells, so if we look at this dynamic of audial repellence , it's probably comparatively easy to extrapolate that Thor's fatal lighting & roaring thunder got replaced in the process of conversion tactics to the clapper of a church bell instead hammering the lip to gong away trolls within earshot. In this the church displaces Thor as humanity's protector agai...

Photographer Jennifer Peters has recently begun using her re-enactment group members for a series of photos depicting the Norse Gods! Óðinn freshly eye-plucked !: Iðunn probably looking off-screen at distractive Loki as Þjazi in eagle form circles around to kidnap her !: Þórr unknowing wrestling Elli (old age itself) in the rigged Utgard ian contests!: The work is remarkable in that Peters sometimes picks significant moments in the Norse Lore with dynamic action, which bring those narrative turns to life. We hope she continues expanding on this theme in her photography as we love the results. [ check out her work  here! (And thanks to the Valhalla Conversations podcast for bringing this creator to our attention.)]   #     #    # Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in  the Norse Lore when he picked up a copy of the d'Aulaires'  Norse Gods and Giants  at age seven. Since t hen he's been fascinated by the tru...