NorsePlay.

So there's a pretty popular kids' book series called Who Would Win? where different wild animals get pitted against each other which compares the aggressive factors and stats of each animal before delivering a conclusion. But what if a publisher then decided to use this face-off bout format with the Gods? It seems Capstone has enlisted authors Claudia Oviedo and Lydia Lukidis to do just that, and 5 of the 8 books are Norse versus Hellenic deities, which gives us: [Odin would mop the floor with Ares!] [wait, not Freyja in a "Battle Of The Beauties"?] Yet if we look temporally further back there's common Indo-European roots for these Gods before the chariots rolled northwest or south depending on their different migrations, and these Gods separated out, changed, and distilled into different figures as those people found new lands, so some of these are the later regional versions of the same God/dess, well, fighting themselves. While I haven't read any of the ~3...

In Skáldskaparmál §5  Snorri Sturluson quotes the example of poet Ulf Uggason using " the god of lamentations " kenning for Baldr. While we have the universe-stabilizing presence of Baldr's handsome light while he's alive, Hel 's request that all things weep for his return explains this characterization shrouded in the sadness of loss. [the stones, grasses, and flowers weep tears of dew and condensation for Baldr. (prompts by me, produced by Gemini.)] Yet, what if there's more to this? Could this kenning potentially refer to a ritual to Baldr where worshippers must lament to recreate the mythic event in the Baldrs draumar narrative? And would it be too much to say that such a ritual would grant the space and grace of participants to mourn the loss of their own sons, daughters, kin , and pets as a purposeful function? The loss of the brightness Baldr grants clearly mirrors all loss of love and companionship taken by death, tilting one's personal world...

While reading the Faulkes' translation of the Prose Edda , there's some hard numerical facts being thrown at King Gylfi by High, Just As High, and Third. In using these exact figures, it lends a level of concrete certainty and reportage to their account of things, which as readers and potential participants/victims of this fate, is unsettling. So to give ourselves an idea of the exact scale of The Twilight Of The Gods , and hopefully some sort of edge when the time comes, let's do some pre-doomsday math crunching so we know what to expect. When the three start speaking about Ragnarök , the scale of Vígríðr, the plain where this final battle unfolds, is brought up and given as 200 by 200 leagues, so this makes it 600 by 600 land miles, which means this becomes 360,000 square miles! To compare historically, we've only got WW2's Battle of Moscow which had a front of 373 miles, or if we go naval there's WW2's Battle of Leyte Gulf that spread over 100,000 square...

Inspired by the dark, dark Icelandic magical practice of making a pact with someone who will allow you to dig their body up, flawlessly skin their lower half and immediately wear that second epidermis over your own, then activate that skin by stealing a coin from a poor widow to place in its scrotum with a magic stave which will then always generate more coins invisibly stolen from those around you, the ritual of which the Necro Pants pedal grabs its name from. Known as the Nábrók from the 17th century Icelandic grimoire  Galdrabók , this effects pedal 's namesake and artful outline is taken from the hanging legs at the Galdrasýning á Ströndum (Museum of Sorcery & Witchcraft) in Hólmavík, where the exhibit has a reproduction of the necropants in a case. While one might perhaps imagine a semi- draugr -like dry skin-rubbing/chafing shuffle sound from wearing them, this effect pedal's been characterized as a filthy ripped speaker garage fuzz sound, which also seems invasivel...

Looking at the Norse Mythology themed art of Milivoj Ćeran , it takes one back to the core classic fantasy artists: the Brothers Hildebrandt, Frazetta , Vallejo, Lee , Elmore , and Howe. Ćeran's technique is flawless, the depictions are stylistically on point, and beyond this there's a reflexive integration of high fantasy's modern visual tradition which acknowledges those tropes' roots in the Norse Lore, which mirrors what one discovers when looking at the fantasy literature it comes from. You gamers might recognize Ćeran's brush as he's also done work for Wizards of the Coast, Fasa, Monte Cooke, Privateer Press, Fantasy Flight, and others. Hopefully the "Art Book 1" in the above title means there's more of his Norse-themed work on the way. [check out his other gallery selections and shop the above book and prints here !] #     #    # Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in  the Norse Lore when he picked up a copy of the d'A...