My MC is firmly in camp “Don’t hate nor love the gods, but I don’t trust them further than I can throw them, but I don’t want to get smited so I’ll show them a basic amount of respect”.
(attach extra note with “It’s very complicated regarding Athena and Hades”).
(Btw for this next part. I’m not used to talk about Norse Mythology in English, at all. I’ll try to write in () what I mean, when I’m using native terms).
To the people discussing Norse Mythology. It’s been a while since I’ve read about it, but the perspective is a lot different than in Greek. In GM the focus is on the gods and the mortals, and their interactions. In NM the focus is almost only on “Asgård” (Godheim) and “Udgård” (Jotunheim), and not on the humans. In GM the gods could pretty much vipe out the mortals, but in NM the gods can’t kill all Jætterne (I think they are called Giants in English, which is extremely misleading. Since they aren’t giants, as a race.)
Also, iirc then there is a lot more “cruel and unusual punishment” in GM. In NM the ones that come to mind is Lokes (Loki’s) punishment by the gods (tied down to a rock with snakes dripping venom on his face until Ragnarok, where he’ll break free), and Hel’s house in Hel (Hel is both the Underworld and it’s ruler). It’s pretty much one big house designed to f**k with people. Like a doorstep you’ll trip over no matter how high you lift your feet over it. Pretty much everything in the underworlds is named in negatvie terms and with bad luck in mind.
I’m not confident in my knowledge about Hel to outright confirm anything, but I don’t remember anything about a split personality. She is described as half “blue-black” and rotten like a corpse and half “flesh-colored” and living.
But from what I recall, she not a nice person (even though the underworld in itself isn’t an outright place for punishment like “Hell” is, the punishment is more just going to Hel). Her place in Ragnarok is with her arriving at a ship with her father (who’s Loki btw) and an army of the dead.
And it is really interesting to notice similarities and significant changes in religion. For example Hel has a giant wolf called “Garm” who is chained at the entrance of Hel. It’s the norse counterpart to Cerebus. ^^
I don’t recall where I remember it from, but I thought Hel was both “good” and “bad” in the sense that she loves to punish the wicked, and reward the good or something. Sort of like the Greek underworld.
I thought those that died in glorious battle went to Valhalla, whilst everyone else went to Hel. And Hel had both good and bad areas.
More like bad and worse areas. Hel got nine “worlds/realms” to rule over and some were “better” than others, but in general Hel was a sad and gloomy place, so it was a lot like Hades I guess.
It’s been speculated that Hel was originally for all who died, before the concept of going to Valhal when you died in battle arised. So again a lot like Hades.
That’s not really how Hel works. Like yeah there are some bad areas for bad people, but in general Hel was an average place where average people lived. And even before the idea of Valhalla, there was always the idea of Hel and an even better “place”, which is where the idea for Valhalla came from in the first place.
And Hel wasn’t good or bad. She was true neutral. She just didn’t like the gods because they forced her to be the overseer over the realm of the dead and they were assholes to her.
Source: My half sister is a second generation Norwegian immigrant who is a practicing Heathen following the path of Loki and in the online scholarly pagan community she is an expert on tales of Loki and his children.
Back on topic though, any guesses on what the ceremony will be like? I know Rohie gave us a lot of hints on the first task, but I’m really wondering on how things will pan out – after all you’ll be with dad officially.
(Or is my memory playing tricks on me? Vaguely remember Rohie mentioning that the ceremony will have MC and dad together as…MC and dad, and not as MC + god/uncle figure – if ever)
Your dad will claim you at the ceremony whether he wants to or not. After
you meet him, you’ll get to decide how to reply, but no matter how upset or
happy you are, you’ll be claimed by him, just like all the other potential
Heroes. There are other aspects of the ceremony, but you’ll just have to
wait. (:
I swear I didn’t see the explicit message behind this weird phrasing… I’ll go wash my brain to try to forget what I just witnessed…
(kidding, though you may want to use different words for those of us whose minds have been corrupted by internet.)
If our MCs like the gods, can they have other supporters/patrons besides whoever our dad is (who am I kidding, everyone’s gunning for Uncle-Daddy Henry)? Like, can we have the MC praying to Athena and other gods for guidance?
