NorsePlay.

Hello my NorsePlayers! Yes, NorsePlay is moving! Due to an oncoming service closure to my online account provider, I have to migrate all my data to a new account. With technical differences between these accounts, it appears there's no easy way to handoff ownership of this blog to the new account, and so the online URL location of NorsePlay will likely have to change , and there may be other differences post-migration. In the meantime there could be a delay as this happens, and I've not been given a timeframe for how little/long this current blogger will be up as I strive to move these 600+ entries (and 200+ drafts). In the event this location does deactivate before I get to announce the new URL, do seek out #NorsePlay in your search engine of choice for its reappearance, and you can add as a cyberbridge in that interim  NorsePlay's FB account . Note the linked email in the footer paragraph below has also been updated to reflect this, so in case you have direct inquiries...

  A girl's body's discovered floating in the open sea by a Viking prince's ship. Barely alive, they spare some of their dwindling water for her, and when she comes to, her eyes open ... to reveal goat-like horizontal pupils! This is the hook for Vei , a two-volume graphic novel , originally a Swedish 12-issue limited series from 2012 CE, and it is a stunningly executed NorsePlay. Writer Sara Bergmark Elfgren & artist Karl Johnsson gift us a re-scripting of Norse Mythology that answers the very real question of why don't the Jotnar or the Aesir just make a pre-emptive attack now to get an early victory and not have to suffer the pyrrhic resolution of end-time Ragnarök? The answer is a détente struck by a longstanding "peace" agreement mediated by a periodic gladiatorial combat. The winning side then for that time gets the domain of contested Midgard, which makes our world & its mortal reverence the key to divine power! This gives us a sweeping story rev...

When Valheim from Iron Gate Studios released in February 2021 CE, it blew up & sold 5M copies in its first month! Watching the initial gaming streams of it, Valheim looked too grindy for my liking, and the premise that there was a separated 10th world also seemed repeated from Marvel Thor back in 2013 CE where Odin cuts off & hides a whole unknown Realm as vengeance for the occupants apparently killing his daughter (and yes, that storyline's a ridiculously heavy-handed retcon for the sake of inserting of Angela from Spawn as Thor's incredibly angry sister [!?!], do not recommend), but then I heard that the Gods make cameo s : The horizon also has a gargantuan view of Yggdrasil looming in the distance as a contextual setpiece. As an aside, there's also a weird craft called The Tolroko Flyer from an unpublished earlier game that can only be unlocked via a cheat, but it doesn't do anything other than litter the landscape & look anachronistic. What I can...

In 2020 CE, Kenny's Gelato premiered a mead gelato in collaboration with The Viking Museum of Stockholm! If only that miniature runestone was made of waffle cookie! I would like a pint of this airmailed to me from Sweden for review, please & thanks. Historically in 859~861 CE a mead gelato might have had a cultural throughline if Björn Ironside & Hastein had managed to land & take Rome as they intended with Björn seated as a Norse Emperor! Instead they pulled in further north up the boot and mistakenly took Luni for Rome, but if they'd decided to stay anyway for the more clement Mediterranean weather, perhaps in future a mead gelato might've evolved way before this. #    #    # 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 truthful potency of Norse Mythology, passionately read...

  Yes, this splash page flashback scene from The Mighty Thor #22 has Marvel Odin wistfully remembering his hottest date ever with the fiery Phoenix Force herself! Perhaps the Phoenix's flavour of ice cream's one-eyed leaders? In terms of prestige, it's All-Father Odin over Blue Team X-Men leader Cyclops in any epoch of the Marvel Universe, but if a girl feeds her emotions with whole planets of sentient beings, perhaps that dark dinner bill's more than even a Norse God can afford. This surprising panel evokes what stories could be suggested about a more nascent Odin in the Norse Lore. If his forefathers married frost giantesses, then perhaps the idea of a dating a hot Eldjötunness isn't outside the Nine Realms of possibility. Many of the hard-won dating lessons in the Hávamál implies stories attached to them, and Odin's shouting match with Thor in the Hárbarðsljóð has them both relating & bragging on experiences that came from their pasts. It makes one w...

While reading volume one of P. Craig Russell's graphic novel adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology , the immediate result from the death of primordial Ymir is shown in a panel as a giant wave of blood being released. This is so enormous that the flood kills all but two of the jötnar, which implies that Ymir's sanguine deluge also drowns the giantess wives of Buri & Bor, and collaterally their grandfather & father as well if such a flood is on so large of a cosmically uncontrollable scale. Such a consequence would then explain why after the waves settle it is the third generation of Odin, Vili, & Ve that are left to craft & rule the Níu Heimar, while Buri & Bor are unmentioned after that, and maybe settle why such a cosmic creature as Auðumbla is absent as well. This isn't necessarily the answer: There could just be missing stories, or the death of Ymir & universal creation passes forward ruler-worthy powers or status or both to the three ...

  Given the Norse Lore, one might think this is possibly Thor's trophy room of jötnar skull s at Bilskirnir, or perhaps his gathered material for a borderland hunting lodge/nithing pile, and maybe that's Þjálfi at right trying to figure out how to organize his master's giant ossuary. Well, that's what my Heathen Worldview saw anyway, and one can sometimes argue a case for what personal contexts a viewer brings to a piece over artist's intent . This evocative art installation is Mass by Ron Mueck from  2016-2017 CE , detail (!), media of synthetic polymer paint on fiberglass. [thanks to Sofie Vanherpen (go read her scholarship on Aud the Deep-Minded here ) for incidentally bringing this to my 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 truthf...

Possibly inspired by the idea of  Disney's multiversal Boastful Loki 's hammer, this 1lb 8 3⁄4 oz wooden mallet is Såssnir the Lost, Loki's lost War Hammer! This one-of-a-kind creation made of ancient reclaimed oak, white ash, & purpleheart is an Etsy offering from OutlawArtbyJAMES, who invented this flavor text lore for it: "Såssnir the Lost is the prized war hammer of the God of Sass - Loki! Who knew Loki had a war hammer with the same power as Thor's Mjölnir? Whomever owns Såssnir is granted the power of the Sassy Asgard"! And it even comes with a Pokémon-style item card: Whatever this other hammer 's provenance or special powers, it wouldn't hurt to have this in the car or carried on your person , just in case of giant problems that require such a solution. [go get Såssnir here , or maybe get a custom NorsePlay'd commission from them and let us know about it.] #    #    # Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in  the Nors...

Witness the power of Mjölnir-rang : This video posted by Jastino Hasni seems to feature a homebrewed boomerang. There's also another similar one posted on Pintrest by Franco Nero: NorsePlay would totally buy these, so if either of these possible creators ever decides to vend, do let us know! In the Norse Lore,  Mjölnir  is crafted by dwarves Sindri & Brokkr with its amazing returning attribute, and  aetiologically this explains why lighting appears to return from its skyward origin point.   #    #    # 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 truthful potency of Norse Mythology, passionately read & studied, embraced Ásatrú, launched the  Map of Midgard  project, and spearheaded the neologism/brand NorsePlay.   If you have e mployment/ opportunitie...

  The amazingly kitch chain-wielding Valkyrie product shot aside, this limited edition $9,000 USD Legends Of Valhalla pinball machine features unlocks that include a wizard Valhalla mode, and a super wizard Ragnarök mode. Yes, the honoured hall of the slain can be reached for naught but a quarter . Well, unless the Gods of your local Asgardcade Hall have set it for four quarters, in which case it's still a bargain. The Odin playing field art seems strongly based on Amon Amarth 's Johan Hegg! And who ever suspected there'd be a Mammen Axe unlock in a game? #    #    # 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 truthful potency of Norse Mythology, passionately read & studied, embraced Ásatrú, launched the  Map of Midgard  project, and spearheaded the neologism/brand NorsePlay. ...

So if Jane Foster or Gwen Stacy can be Marvel Thor, why not supermodel Mary Jane Watson :  It seems someone's pinned a man-spider for their insect collection. You get that tiger, Mighty MJ. Thor's supposed to be a redhead anyhow. Still, such handoffs aren't out of the question in the Norse Lore:  If we look at  Vafþrúðnismál §51's post-Ragnarök event of  Móði & Magni inheriting their father's hammer, the idea of the thunderer being someone else, and even a shared position, is a possibility.   [ The Mighty Thor #20's variant cover by Patrick Brown, 2015 CE] #    #    # 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 truthful potency of Norse Mythology, passionately read & studied, embraced Ásatrú, launched the  Map of Midgard  project, and spearheaded the neol...

In Neil Gaiman 's American Gods the operating premise for the divine is that the Gods are regionally bound and that their existence & power depends upon those who believe & worship them. In Starz' TV adaptation, Season 3's opening addresses Viking Metal 's celebration & reclamation of Heathen Nordic contexts by kicking off with this scene of faux band Blood Death lead by Johan Wengren (Marilyn Manson!?!): As the story of the ancient Old Gods versus the emergent New Gods of Technology unfolds, we see the Old Gods adapting some of that technology in order to garner digital followers, and Odin (the venerable Ian McShane) connecting with metalheads, bikers, and aggro  fans , which seems appropriate for Mr Wednesday who banks on & rewards those of the warrior ethos. The teleplays expands in notable degrees upon the book, backgrounding & filling out minor characters into fan favourites, and giving us such clever lines as Wednesday's:  "Ask and y...

I've successfully plotted 1100+ mappoints for my Map Of Midgard Project! This is the ninth progress update since  the initial blog post ,  the first update ,  the second update ,  the third update ,  the fourth update ,  the fifth update ,  the sixth update , the seventh update , and the eighth update . What marks this as a watershed is that aggregating mappoints is now "complete", and the Map Of Midgard Project can move one huge step forward towards publishing physical maps! When originally starting this project over six years ago , I imagined that there would be fewer than 100 mappoints. Then finding literature-to-location correspondences exponentially grew into far, far more than I'd imagined. Even with over 1100, there's more out there, but I feel that stickpinning a thousand-plus mappoints is a massive accomplishment and contribution of aggregation & original research to the field of Norse Lore. And sure, there's certainly more mappoints to be...

Last week someone anonymously dropped off this 6" x 6" art print featuring Hel, the Norse Goddess of Death , in my mailbox: While I haven't truck with Hel Lokisdottir , I can't help but admire the designwork in this semi-Art Nouveau-inspired circular format. The braids inventively used as blade frogs, the bone & ring linked daggertailed chainwhip, her "H" monogrammed shoulder brooch, the horned crownhelm (which is possibly Marvel Hela derived), and Hel's modest coverage of her half-deathly side with the exception of sharp boned left arm, while intentionally  revealing her living leg & top, all of which makes her both seductive & Goddess-level dauntingly formidable .  Searching online, I can't seem to find any artistic attributions, so if you know who drew this do comment below, as I would love to see if they've done a series of other Norse Gods to match. And to NorsePlay's secret admirer, thank you! [3/5/2023 Addenda: Thank yo...

If a Buddha statue can be found in a Swedish Vendel Era grave, the implications for even further East-West travel becomes an open question. (Field archaeologist Cat Jarman explores this expansive thought in her recent book  River Kings: A New History of the Vikings from Scandinavia to the Silk Roads  (2021 CE), which is in our TBR pile.) So if a Norse trader/raider went East on the Silk Road to Beijing & then further, or say a ronin/diplomat Samurai went West into China or further on those same roads, or maybe a Viking raiding ship made an arctic passage down to Japan, then just maybe this cross-cultural Viking vs. Samurai duel from Deadliest Warrior might've actually gone down: Watch the duel here: [Episode aired April 14th, 2009 CE] I was impressed with the efficacy of chainmail versus the much-vaunted katana, compared to the Viking sword easily cutting through the 2" x 4". While the computer simulated best-of-1,000-battles came up with the dramatized result, I...

I was going to paraphrase this runic revelatory online exchange with the  Roxy Vinyl Cafe , but I've decided to work smarter not harder, and one should always leave magical source material in its original transmission as much as possible. NorsePlay: You know, the barista hands you a to-go cup, but you're staying, so you don't expect the leaf art , but you lift the lid, and boom, it's there. Roxy Vinyl Cafe: It’s a ritual.   NP: That makes total sense in the Zen/Gurdjieff  work way. RVC: We also encode weirding runes in those frothy swirls, to bless or curse the sleeping masses. Fate delivered with a caffeinated kick.  NP: Yasssss! I might be able to spin that into a blog entry, Nornrista. RVC: Make of it what you will, but take care to enunciate your coffee orders with due respect to our barista brethren behind the cafe counters, lest you incur the ire of one trained in the ancient milky arts. NP: The esoteric implications of this are staggering. Am quoting ...