A Poem I Made

I hate the “Ragnarök is a Post-Christian Myth” theory.

First off, it feels like most people see that Snorri Sturluson was Christian and immediately assume he did what the Irish monks did to Irish mythology. This completely ignores why he wrote the myths down, which was to establish a cultural connection between Iceland and Norway, in order to try and get Iceland to join the Kingdom of Norway (which failed). It also ignores that fact that he WASN’T A MONK. Outside of a part about the Aesir being Trojans and living in Asia (which makes no sense when looking at the rest of the Edda and the myths within), and some stuff about some great god who is more powerful than all of the Aesir and is never actually named, there isn’t much evidence to there being large post-Christian changes.

The second problem is that the theory focuses too much on Loki. He doesn’t do much during Ragnarök. He captains a ship (whatever that meant to the Norse) and he kills/dies to Heimdallr. Each of his kids from Angrboda does more. Fenrir eats Odin, and in some versions also the sun, moon, and stars. Jormungandr floods Midgard and poisons the sky, along with killing the strongest of the Aesir, Thor. Hel(a) brings an army of Draugr from her realm to fight Odin and Freya’s einherjar (Freya got half of those who died in battle). I agree that Ragnarök is a story of revenge, but its not Loki’s. ITS THE JOTNAR’S REVENGE. Revenge for a long list of insults and grievances that started with the killing of Ymir during the Voluspa by Odin and his brothers. Also, both Fenrir and Jormungandr are getting revenge against the gods they hate most, whom they are stated to kill. In the end Surtr, king of Muspelheim, kills Freyr, destroys Asgard, and burns all of the worlds (which since they are made of Ymir’s corpse, make this technically Ymir’s funeral pyre). Also the Jotnar on Loki’s ship aren’t his troops, they are led by a different Jotun, and it isn’t even his ship.

I could do an entire other post on the problems with how Loki gets viewed through modern lenses, and I’m tempted to.

Would this be "Multiverse of Strahd" or "Strahd and the Extended Family?"

CURSE OF STRAHD 2

THIS TIME

IT'S STRAHDIER

dont tag bible stuff as mythology God isnt mythology

hi hello how are you. most if not all story-based religions are in fact considered mythology by definition including the abrahamic religions. god is in fact abrahamic mythos whether you think he’s real or not. im sorry if that upsets you but im assuming this is regarding the post i just reblogged and i have to say im surprised the part you’re upset about is me tagging biblicalia as mythology and not the entire discussion on who tops in jesus/judas ship discourse

Edgin might not be a bard

I recently saw Honor Among Thieves, and Chris Pine’s character, Edgin, doesn’t actually use any bardic abilities. He doesn't cast any spells (except for the thing at the end which anyone could have used), the things that I’ve heard explained as bardic inspiration can be explained away through other things (Holga using the semi-melted axe could just be because it is still functional, Simon attuning to the helm at the last moment is just the “last time is the charm” trope, and Doric now trusting humans makes sense considering the shit that just happened), and any character can learn to perform and play instruments. He might just be a fighter or rouge with performance and instrument proficiencies.

Also I don’t think that Holga uses any Barbarian abilities either. Simon cast magic and notes that he is a wild magic sorcerer, and Doric uses wild shape several time.

All said though, I did really enjoy the movie. I loved the easter eggs, the things from the game (like the owlbear and mimic), and I enjoyed the plot. But I’m still not sure Edgin is actually a bard.

What I'm hearing is that people should send asks about theories and ideas that they DON'T want to happen.

I think people should be very careful of the asks they send you. Like, this is more-so rambling into your ask box than anything, considering how many asks you have, but y’know.

People can be really excited about a theory or idea they have, they hype it up, get themselves all in on it, and then do the most foolish thing ever: send you an ask about it.

Because isn’t there some sort of thing where, if an author/show runner/etc ends up consciously or subconsciously using a fan’s theory or idea, there’s a chance they could get into trouble with lawsuits or something?

So by sending you an ask about a theory or idea, it makes it less and less probable for it to end up becoming real.

I've pointed this out many times. Yes.

CLASSICSTOBER DAY 3- ASTERION

Warning for light nudity

You know, this vase painting didn’t need to BREAK MY HEART the way it did.

Mmhhh little baby bull and his mama

Hot take but you can’t learn about paganism without also learning about white supremacy and how it uses pagan religions to push hate group agendas all over the world today. If you don’t learn about the connections between the two and how it operates, your ignorance enables white supremacists to keep on doing it and using it to recruit others. People in our community who do nothing and stay silent are literally a part of the problem, there is no opting out whatsoever. Divorcing the two makes the issue repeat itself over and over and over again.

It’s not hard to include this in your research and stay aware. It’s the bare minimum.

I had a fantastic time working with Jack Stockdale-Haley of Jack of All Blades! It’s a huge testament to his skill and patience that we were able to get these clips despite my complete lack of stage combat experience!

For more clips from these sessions, art references, archery tutorials, and more, please consider supporting my Patreon

Are the dwarves in Tolkien's works actually anti-Semitic or is that another thing that comes from Norse myths? I don’t know how much of The Hobbit was based on Norse stuff (the premise and size of Thorin’s company come from Beowulf), but two of the famous dwarves from Norse myth are famous for their greed, Andvari and Fafnir. Andvari had a lot of gold and a cursed ring, and then when Fafnir got the ring, his greed was so great that he became a dragon (probably where the concept of dragon sickness comes from), and his presence is sometimes said to have poisoned the land.

Either way, modern dwarves seem to have mostly grown past the anti-Semitic stuff.

thoughts on goblins in the DRG universe?

(I don't really like goblins as a concept bc of antisemitic story behind them)

But would be cool to see other sentient little creatures in DRG that are not dwarves

Thoughts on zweihanders?

Zweihänders are SUPER fucking cool! If I had a spare $900 I would totally get one.

A lot of video games and other media actually get them wrong, though. Slamming a sword that big into the ground is gonna really damage the sword, but abruptly stopping something with that much momentum can severely damage your joints and muscles if you aren't careful. You want the sword to only come to a stop when it's either hitting something you want to hit or when stopping its movement won't injure you. The trick, then, is to let the momentum of the sword carry it into this very beautiful flowing cutting pattern where the sword and its wielder are working together.

So, in practice, zweihänder/doppelhänder/montante/spadone looked less like this:

And more like this:

Some fun zweihänder facts:

"Zweihänder" is specifically a German name for this kind of sword. "Montante" was the word for more or less the same kind of sword in Spain, and in Italy they were called "Spadone."

There are some particularly massive swords of this style called "Paradeschwert" that were purely ceremonial. I saw a few at the Chicago Art Institute last time I went that were absolutely enormous.

It wasn't too uncommon for these swords to have wavy "flamberge" blades.

The prongs on the blade are called "parrying hooks."

The Landsknecht mercenaries famously used zweihänders to push past enemy pikes and break front lines.

Aside from Landsknecht, they were also used by bodyguards.

Flamberge zweihänders are still used today by the Papal Swiss Guard for ceremonial purposes.