NorsePlay.

Much like God Of War needing to sidestep its previous Classical Mythology context to integrate Norse Mythology into the franchise, Assassin's Creed, with its even larger the Hidden Ones versus The Order struggle for possession of ancient technologically advanced artifacts made by the Isu, Assassin's Creed: Valhalla has to increase its roll call of beings named after Greek & Egyptian deities to now include the Norse Gods. Retroactively fitting the Aesir into the game's continuum is no mean feat, and the story  takes you into Asgard , Jotunheim , and  Svartálfheimr , but the conceit is that those otherworlds are only seen through Eivor's ability to cognate them through a vision quest, and not necessarily as they actually are. Any of that isn't really even partially addressed until you get near the end, and even then the happy/happier/happiest ending doesn't fully connect them to the ancient technoworld ... unless you find the extra super secret invisible a...

  One of the things we wanted in Assassin's Creed: Valhalla was more of the mythological Nine Worlds setting-within-the-synchronized-simulation-within-the-near-future where you were Odin-analog Havi. It's new  Dawn Of Ragnarök  expansion deals with a  jötnar invasion of Svartalfheim and Havi has to sally forth and deal with those foes, plus rescue his son Baldr. Dawn Of Ragnarök  delivers on March 10th, 2022 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 devel...

In the  Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends episode  The Vengeance Of Loki (1981 CE,  S1 E10), there's a total babe alert in deposed Frost Jotunness Queen Zerona : [blue jotunness fever, indeed!] In the show Zerona finds a quick admiration for the flirtatious & like-elemental Iceman who helps her out, first against usurper Ymir , and then to actually reclaim Jotunheim from Surtur himself! [watch this near-extraworldly romance unfold here !]  Collegiate Bobby's libidinous and not-quite altruistic gallantry in helping Zerona matches accounts of the desirability of some giant maidens. In the Norse Lore, when we look at the genealogy of the Æsir , we see an early intermarriage of proto-Gods Búri  & Borr, the former probably marrying/mating with an unnamed jotunness, and his son who marries giantess Bestla to produce Odin & his brothers. Later we have Thor with jotunness Jarnsaxa producing his three children, and ice maiden  Gerðr ...

In reading The War Of The Realms story arc in Marvel's The Mighty Thor , the formidable NorsePlay creation of Sindr, the Queen of Cinders, daughter of Surt , usurps Helheim , much to the dismay of the Thunder God and the rage of Hela herself . In the actual Norse Lore, Surtr has the consort Sinmara mentioned in the Fjölsvinnsmál , interpreted by some to be his wife. In running with that, it would stand to reason that Surtr has children. Using that possibility, this ally of the Dark Elf Malekith invades Helheim and solidifies her power in a meeting with the various factions of the land of the dead. Hela is understatedly displeased, and conflict ensues. Unlike the predestination of the Lore, at this point in the Marvel Comics Thor story the fate weaving Norns are are almost all dead, and it would seem that it's anyone's ball game as to how the ending will ultimately turn out, but it seems that Sindr is one to watch out for. #    #    # Guillermo Maytorena ...

With some concern we've recently been watching the thousands of earthquakes and threat of an eruption of some degree in Iceland, which happened Friday night at Fagradalsfjall Mountain. [3/20 photo by Vilhelm Gunnarsson.] The island country's been statistically overdue for one for awhile now, as Iceland formed up out of the Mid-Atlantic rift, and straddles the North American & Eurasian tectonic plates, so geographically it's lava-made and volcano-centric. The Reykjanes Peninsula happens to be where metro Reykjavík is, which groups nearly 2/3rds of the country's population together, and in this context is a vulnerability in terms of possible lava flow and poisonous gases. While the eruption was originally predicted to be at Mount Keilir, ~20 miles SW of Reykjavík, the instead active Mount Fagradalsfjall fissure eruption is ~25 miles SW on an opposing slope away from the capital. So far the lava is mostly within the unpopulated Fagradal valley south of the mountain. If...

Our distaste for the creation of collectibles of false value which exploit fans occasionally gets put aside by good design . Original Funko's Pop! vinyl figure for Surtur from Thor: Ragnarok has a burning translucent menace about him. #    #    # 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 .

Winning the gold in European Beer Star Awards as the best strong smoked beer for 2015, Borg Brugghús ' Surtur Imperial Stout . The fire giant's namesake brew features malt smoked over a fire of dried sheep dung , another example of clever Iceland using its limited internal resources to make awesome things. #    #    # 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 .

This modern Muspelheim meme depicts the lava-filled and molten tortured landscape as the home of Surtr and his Fire Giants. [From dreamers often lie (Sarah)'s Nine worlds of Norse Mythology series.] #    #    # 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 .

Thor depicted by Heavy Metal Magazine veteran artist Simon Bisley on the cover of Thundergod issue 2 (1996) for Crusade Comics. #    #    # 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 .

Emil Doepler's rendition of Odin and Fenrir, Freyr and Surt (1905) . Definitely a product of Germanic romanticism, the tableau has a doom-shadowed tone, with predominant reds & oranges appropriate of a fiery Ragnarök. Surt appears diminutive, as if Frey could've just ridden him down, and Fenrir appears to be able to shoot flames from his mouth, his baleful eye fixed on Odin. Note Sleipnir's curious absence. #    #    # 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 offe...

In Ragnarok , artist Justin Reed composes a whirlwind tableau of final battles above & on a Fimbulwinter covered Vigrid Plain. #    #    # 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 .