NorsePlay.

  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.   If you have e mployment/ opp

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 neologism/brand NorsePlay.   If you h

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 found,

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 and

  Give your cat a more Wagnerian mien with this handknit breastplate & operatic horned helmet set based on the Ring Cycle 's costume for Valkyrie Brünnhilde ! Sure, this  stage-borne  Germanic Romanticism's  where the false impression of the Viking horned helmet comes from , but your cat's not going to call you on that. And if you have singing Siamese or a verbal Norwegian Forest Cat , then it'll totally Valhallidate your feline's performative prima donna tendencies.   [ knitted by Patricia of OonaPatternsEtc on Etsy. ] #    #    # 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/ opportunities in  investiga

In Northern folklore, the water horse attracts, adheres, and drowns those who touch it, but it's never adequately explained why it's called a kelpie.  While it's not for certain, it's thought the Scots word's related to the Gaelic "calpa"  or colt, but one might instead guess it has to do with kelp. In the latter line of thinking,  God Of War: Ragnarok  shows the kelpie with a tail made from strands of kelp, and when it transforms to dive underwater, even more kelp-constructed fins emerge from its body! This visual explanation's a seriously good example of NorsePlay as it helps fill-in an obvious answer that may have never previously presented itself. Yet even if this is an etymological coincidence, it shows how some myths become even more adorned as they roll forward in time by  gathering the moss of artistic decision  ... or in this instance, gathers kelp. Safety warning: Do not be fooled by this GoW:R video -- do not touch a kelpie unless you are a

  So if the mantle of Thor can pass to Jane Foster, then that opens the multiversal door for Spider-Man 's Gwen Stacy to become Thorgwen . Her white-backed cape, it's round embossed clasp, and the golden rope braiding appear to be the distinctive costume touches that set Thorgwen apart as the Lady Of Thunder. Somewhat like Baldr, it seems that the mourning world will never, ever let Peter Parker's tragically deceased girlfriend go. And perhaps it is this same persistence of revered memory, this wishing against unthinkable loss, that allows them both to later return to us. [momoko design variant cover on Gwenverse #4.] #    #    # 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 spearheade

  This 3D rendering of a modern longhouse was made by architecture student Eralp Erkasap. I think this concept is great, something of the pragmatics of a military Quonset hut with the pitched roof of a stave church, eliminating the turf maintenance, and combining the roof as walls at an angle where the snow will mostly slide off. Those slotted and wood-accented gables are a nice touch. I might go with some integrated solar panels, and narrow horizonal sliding shuttered windows for air, light, to keep lookout, and to use as shooting blinds for nearby game, predators, draugr  incursions, and  fire-bearing burners . [go hire Eralp for this & other livingspace designs here .] #    #    # 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, laun

As I looked up at the New Year's sky yesterday, I saw something very much like this goat trotting its way across the firmament. In the Norse Cosmology, the clouds are long-dead Ymir's giant brains, possibly post-mortem thoughts unfolding themselves into shapes, maybe still functionally reflecting things that came into being after his necessary demise to form them. Or this is us catching a glimpse of  Tanngrisnir or Tanngnjóstr out for a solo run , and if you're lucky enough to have the sight of Heathen Worldview you have to believe it to be able to see it. [photo by David McDermott, inverted & bold italicized point in the last line from Netflix's 2022 Troll .] #    #    # 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, lau

  Illustrator David Wyatt's Asgard from his otherworldly exploration  Nine Worlds in Nine Nights  book by "Hiawyn Oram" ( Walker Books, 2019 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 neologism/brand NorsePlay.   If you have e mployment/ opportunities in  investigative mythology,  field research, or product development to offer,  do contact him .

NorsePlay would like to take a moment this Yule to spot the influence of Frost Maiden turned Norse Goddess Gerðr within the figure of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale figure, The Snow Queen. The above Edmund Dulac illustration (1911 CE) found in Stories from Hans Andersen , features a regally divine lady, diaphanously dressed with her pallid arms bared, the Northern Lights encircling her head, perhaps projected or reflected from her physical presence. This presentation of comfort in extreme cold would suggest jötunness heritage given to her. Hans Christian Andersen's original fairy tale (1844 CE) also features heroine Gerda whose name may indicate a storyteller's easy choice of one degree of character displacement from Gerðr. The Snow Queen herself probably trickles down into C.S. Lewis' Imperial Majesty Jadis, Queen of Narnia, whom those thankless rebels impugn as "The White Witch". Gerðr's known for the feature of her shimmering arms, part of why G

The above is a reconstruction of a tapestry fragment found in the Oseberg ship burial made from this: This lacuna-ridden ~12" long by ~8" wide weaving might've escaped notice on many digs, maybe been accidentally dug through or pushed aside as random gauze to get at some shinier sword fittings or silver treasures, but when we look very, very carefully at it, we can make out some of the details. Found during the excavation in 1903 CE, the Oseberg Tapestry makes its way to us after more than a millennium from a prestigious funeral in ~834 CE. That survival's something beyond magic, and the reconstruction by Stig Saxegaard of Storm Studios from 2018 CE (note the not-present colours in the artifact are an artistic choice in the visual reconstruction), revealing what are probably hung men sacrificed to Odin is grimly amazing. This process could be seen as a metaphor for the reconstruction of Ásatrú, for archaeology's restoration of a picture of the past, and of the a

There's a lot going on in this vintage David Andersen made Norwegian Sterling Silver Viking Brooch 1960s Saga Series piece. Looking at the details, we have a Torslunda-patterned figure wearing what appears to be a winged cloak, crescent moons & spirals adorning the upper lining, a square chestplate, a crosspiece binding the figure's feet, and some seemingly aerodynamic fins coming off the sides of its head. As stated in the reverse's engraving below, this figure was recast & reinterpreted from an artifact by famous Norwegian Silversmith David Andersen and released in a limited run. Given the visual cues this could be many things: Freyja in her falcon cloak with the huge chest placard as  Brísingamen  and the side headknotworks as an up-do , Loki in Freyja's borrowed cloak (in  Þrymskviða ) if we look closer at the encircled lips that could be a round scar from their having once been sewn shut (in  Skáldskaparmál ), perhaps even  Baldr as the chestplate resemb

  There's a lot of  great detail in this cosmological sketch print of  Die Neun Welten / The Nine Worlds  by E. Müller-Baden, c. 1900 CE. It almost looks like Yggdrasil's tertiary root is so far away from the main body of its subterranean structure that it's pretty slim pickings for Níðhöggr, who never actually does cause critical damage on The World Tree, so perhaps this offers a reason as to why. This diagram also solves the arboreal co-identification problem by specifically making Læradr the upper portion of Yggdrasil . There's also a more geographical separation between portions of  Niflheim depending if you're an oathbreaking victim unmercifully given to  Níðhöggr 's serpentine children (#2), or if you're a regular deceased (#9), which would probably spare Hel 's broader populace the gnashing of dragon teeth & wailing of the dishonourable. Though if any of you recall where the " Egisheim" Sea is cited from, do let me know. Below is th