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Norse mythology

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Revision as of 04:21, 20 August 2005 by 220.237.30.150 (talk)
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Norse mythology underpins a lot of the names in Creatures:

Norse mythology Norns
  • Norns are "the three old women who sit round a giant tree spinning men's fates, Urd(fate), Skuld(necessity) and Verdandi(being)."

Also the name of a language which descended from old Norse, which was spoken in the Shetland and Orkney islands. The extinction of the language is believed to have come about during the 15th century, when the islands were ceded to Scotland, and the new government discouraged the language, replacing it.

  • The Grendel was a monster, which was a descendant of Cain, the first murderer, and eats drunken men. Beowulf defeats him bare-handed. Then the Grendel's mother, who was more powerful than the Grendel itself tries to revenge her son, but is defeated also by Beowulf.
  • Yggsdrasil was the World Tree, binding heaven, hell and earth.
  • The Shee, or more properly, Sidhe (Siðe), were faerie folk. They must have seemed all-powerful to the ordinary humans, as are the Shee to the other Creatures.
  • The Banshee were faerie women who sang funeral dirges for the five great clans of Scotland. To hear a banshee foretold a death in the family, however to see a banshee foretold your own death.
  • The Ettins were two or three-headed creatures of English mythology who liked to ask riddles.
  • Albia, or rather, Albion, was the name for the ancient island of Britain.
  • Geatland is another name for Gotland, an island which nowadays is in Sweden and Geats were the Scandinavian inhabitants of that island. According to Jordanes and modern archaeological finds, Geats are, in reality, the same as the Goths.
  • Jormangund was a giant sea serpent that encircled Midgard, holding its tail in its mouth. One of the children of the trickster god, Loki.
  • Mjollnir was Thor's hammer, used in combat and the cause of thunder.
  • The Fimbulwinter will be immediately before the end of the world, Ragnarok. The Fimbulwinter will be three winters in a row without any summers.
  • Audmula was a supernatural cow, who emerged from the nothingness at the beginning of the world. She nourished the first frost giant with her milk, and licked Bor, the father of the Gods, out of primeval ice.

Steve Grand was not unaware of where he had got his material from. Indeed, in a rare posting to alt.games.creatures he mentioned that:

"I do half expect a band of marauding Vikings to turn up any day now, asking for their myths back!"