NorsePlay.

Luke cutting off the wampa's arm after reclaiming his lightsaber in the ice cave is much like a combination of Beowulf tearing off Grendel's arm in Heorot and killing Grendel's mother with the ancient magic  sword he retrieves in the monsters' cavernous grotto lair. We could also point out that Anakin & Luke both lose hands whilst fighting a Dark Side figure, sort of like Tyr's sacrifice of his hand to Fenrir , and that the name of ice planet Hoth appears to be linguistically derivative of Norse God Höðr as Høtherus, this latter name being Saxo Grammaticus' more heroic version of that figure in his Gesta Danorum: The History of the Danes . Does all this make the technologically scavenging Jawas & Ugnauts species of dwarves ? Is the blaster-wielding aggro Princess Leia in essence a  space-shieldmaiden ? Are nigh-invulnerable Krayt dragons really children of Níðhöggr? Would the Emperor's Crimson Guard be derived from Viking Varangians? Is Snoke'...

In the Norse Lore, Dragons are an obstacle to hoarded wealth like Fáfnir , or a total cosmic menace like Níðhöggr, but in taking these creatures and harnessing their images to menacing poles on ships to show adversaries at sea we mean business, or ornamenting our halls' rooftops with them for powerful architectural accents, USPS Stamps does the same with this month's postage offering , albeit in a more cartoon-like fashion. Note the black dragon at left threatening a longship ... unless Sigurd or Beowulf's crewing, in which case that dragon's taking a sword to the snout. #    #    # 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...