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Norse mythology in WOTLK
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Post by
Kuolema
Hi,
a few days ago I started writing a blog post about Norse references and influences in WoW (Classic & BC) and WOTLK in particular. It's more of a personal reminder but it may be interesting to some mythology nerds.
Anyway I came here to ask you if anything comes to your mind about this subject. Names, places, situations, analogies, other lists, etc. Here is the list; it is in French but most names remain untranslated in English/Old Norse/Icelandic) :
http://wotanidestfuror.blogspot.com/2015/08/correspondances-entre-noms-et-concepts.html
Thank you.
p.s. : feel free to use the "translate" option on the left.
Post by
716877
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
morginar
You could add that the king of the vry'kul Ymiron, is named after Ymir, a great giant from norse myths that from his corpse all things was born or something like that.
And Queen Angerboda is named after Angrboða, a giantess of Norse mythology who gave birth to Fenrir, Jörmungandr, and Hel, the children of the god Loki.
And Svartalf = Black elf.
Just my feedback (cuz I'm swede and should know this stuff) , but it looks good, solid.
Post by
Kuolema
@oneforthemoney : Thank you !
@morginar : Yep, you're right about Ymiron; I forgot about it because somehow I mistook him for Mimir/Mimiron.
I will add Angrboda aswell.
For the Svartalf ("elfes noirs" in French) I think that is what dwarves ("nains") are called in the Eddas.
Post by
morginar
Hmm, what else is there...
There is Ragnaros, named after Ragnarok. The apocalypse of norse mythology.
As for elves. Dark elf would be Dökkálfar. Svart means black (still does in sweden) and svartalf translated to English would be black elves (who are dwarves). Mostly it's just a translation error that peeved my in the second the marvel Thor movie.
The well of eternity might be a reference Mímisbrunnr. The well of infinitive knowledge that Odin sacrificed his eye to drink from. A bit far fetched maybe. But if power is knowledge, it could be a clever reference.
Post by
Adamsm
Mostly it's just a translation error that peeved my in the second the marvel Thor movie.Wasn't a true 'error'; that's what they've been called in the comics since they first came out so long ago.
Their wiki page
, and the Nine World that they are from is Svartalfheim. Remember, in the Cinematic Universe, the Gods are not Gods but just significantly advanced aliens with technology that looks like magic.
Post by
Kuolema
Well, it looks like an error from Google Translator because I wrote "elfes noirs" in French (black elves). Dark elves would be "elfes sombres". Besides I'm not aware of the comics as I have only watched the Thor movie (I nearly cried when I saw that Loki was Oðin's SON and not his blood-brother, but anyway...).
As for Ragnaros it was actually one of the first references I got when I started playing... My bad.
You are right about the well of Mimir considering it's proximity with Yggdrasil. I'll see if there are other similarities between the two wells.
Post by
572211
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
morginar
Well, it looks like an error from Google Translator because I wrote "elfes noirs" in French (black elves). Dark elves would be "elfes sombres"Yea, google translate does that sometimes...
Post by
Kuolema
Well, it looks like an error from Google Translator because I wrote "elfes noirs" in French (black elves). Dark elves would be "elfes sombres"Yea, google translate does that sometimes...
Also, apparently the word dvergar (dvärgar, dwarves) was already in use at the time, and meant "twisted". But no mention of them being shorter than humans. It was Tolkien who popularised the idea of short dwarves (and the plural in "v")...
Post by
716877
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Kuolema
Aside form the obvious allusion to dwarfism in humans.
Yes, my bad. But I don't know at which point the word became associated with small size actually.
Post by
Adamsm
Not completely Tolkien; after all, he drew inspiration from the legends and tales of mythology while creating his world. Yes, we think of his now...but then again, to be fair there have been stories about the Light and Dark court of the Fae/Faerie/the Neighbours etc etc etc for a long time. Look through a lot of mythology and you'll see what could be considered dwarves exist in a lot of them.
There was a lot of Norse references to Wrath, but I don't know if Ragnaros was meant to be a reference to Ragnarok; after all, his rise doesn't mean that the world will end and a new one will be born from the remnants, it just means that world will be razed by fire and flames. After all, you could say that Neptulon was a reference to Neptune...except Neptulon seemed a lot 'nicer' then the stories about the Roman God of the sea.
And of course the Old Gods being compared the Great Old Ones of the Lovecraft Mythos...except those are being of impossible frame of reference who don't care about us while the Old Gods seem intent on just living in chaos for all time.
Post by
Kuolema
Yep, Ragnaros is most likely an indirect and loose reference to Surtr (Surtur, "black"), king of the fire giants.
But then the only fire giant I can think of in Wrath is Ignis, who is actually closer to Vulcan/Hephaïstos.
But "Ragnaros" could be derived from "ragnar", the genitive of "regin" which meant "ruling powers" and eventually "gods".
Or just a cool sounding name...
Post by
Kuolema
List updated (Byfrost, Brokk, Sif, Ymirjar, Dun Baldar, etc...)
Looks like the Halls of Valor (Salles de Bravoure) in Legion will be quite like the Valhalla with its
einherjar
(ymirjar, vrykul) and val'kyr.
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