NorsePlay.

  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...

In his annual April Fool's Day video for 2021 CE, Old Norse Philologist Jackson Crawford uses some vintage plastic Vikings figures from the 1983 CE Lakeside Games classic Crossbows & Catapults , which happens to be one of our favourite boardgames : So we left this comment as an open challenge: 5:02 Crossbows & Catapults Viking figures!?! Jackson, we have to holmgang over that boardgame. Yes, I'm calling you out. Caroms & rubberbands at high noon. Let's do this! norseplay.blogspot.com [Commented on The Kittredge Runestone (April Fools Day 2021)  video.] It's been a year since I issued this draw-the-square challenge , but no response (though I did receive a reply regarding a Map Of Midgard mappoint inquiry in the interim, so there was that). This technical default totally makes NorsePlay more drengr. Yep, I said that Jackson! Get in that fancy truck and drive down from your AZ brother's house to Tucson to prove me wrong! Loser buys the mead and can use t...

NorsePlay wants to put forth the original & doctorate-worthy observation that there could be a historical throughline betwixt medieval Scottish Sword Dances, Viking Age Berserker Rituals, and the Vendel Period Spear Dancers. Our NorsePlay hypothesis runs thus visually, backtracking with the Scottish Sword Dances (15th c. CE): [ Go, lassies, go! ] In this tradition there's also the halberd-like  Lochaber Axe used in a dance, and a Dirk Dance, the latter termed a "battle dance" with "dueling" performers. The sword dance is done without touching the crossed swords before battle, which if successful is an indicator of imminent victory ... or death if not.   Further back, we have tentative guesses that the Viking Bersærkergang  was a ritually evoked religious ecstatic state reached via a frenzied dance , either pre-battle or done just before battle in front of assembled enemies, which would double as a psychological warfare technique. And at earliest, the Odinic ...

While rollin in the NorsePlay mobile , we were bumping Lorde's Glory and Gore track and couldn't help but notice how lyrically evocative the song seems to be of holmgang duels , battle readiness, craving for achievement through confrontation, and warrior ethos. Lorde, on the other hand, actually wrote this song as a "black satire to express disdain towards modern emphasis on violence, and compares celebrity culture to gladiatorial combat". Yet sometimes art can  miss its target,  transcend its creator's intent, and even be flipped into opposition of that. Perhaps the straight-on bloody fistfight imagery of Lorde's breakout single Royals  video carried over into how its audience reads Glory and Gore (and we suspect these aspects may actually have led to her curation of the 2014 Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 soundtrack, definitely a combat-centric franchise) , but it's obvious we're not the only ones to instead embrace it as a martial anthem, gi...

Or Freya versus Sif? These three NorsePlay'd characters  along with different poly/monotheistic choices   are available in Fight of Gods , the fighting game where divinities holmgang off videogame-style . Sif gets oddly fitting golden wheat-related special moves, whereas Freyja's been overly bishōjo'd. Created by Taiwanese indie developer Digital Crafts for Windows & Nintendo Switch. Any of you played 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 & 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 develop...

With gritty sensibilities framed in epic yet humanistic stories, writer Brian Wood scripted Northlanders for DC Entertainment's Vertigo Comics imprint for a run of 50 issues from 2011-2012. There was some talk of a film for a while. This cover is from our favourite issue featuring a duel of champions in the Viking Age. #    #    # 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 .