#vik the viking

[viktheviking1]

Hi! Vik the Viking here. I'm a writer. At the bottom of this post will be links to my page on all the websites my fan works are on, so you can read my stuff if you'd like!

I don't talk to minors over the Internet. It's a dangerous place. Don't trust random adults.

If you like Hazbin Hotel or Helluva Boss, I have a fan account for that here

And here is my Owl House side blog

Below is art I've done for my fanfic The Pompous and the Prick and general art I've done. (I'm more a writer than an artist)

Below is cover art by @precisespace for their Huskerdust commission I wrote, King of Hearts. Cover art by @nosamiam345 for my Stolitz Holiday One-Shot: First Snow. And cover art by @dramamines for my Fizzmodeus One-shot: The First Canoodle. And some art by @sweet-marigold that I used as inspiration for a chapter in The Pompous and the Prick. Links below.

[automatic-purification-system]

Magitober Day I - Puella Historia

"And what I saw there was... The figure of Gunhild, with countless swords piercing her body..."

[therealvikingstrash]

Today's entry for @vikingsevents autumnal equinox. Day 2: Favorite Episode - S04E18 - Revenge

[raposarealm]

Here are the quest victory quotes for Gunhild! I took the screenshots this time.

Top: It’s gonna pile up ahead of us, too..! Middle: I’m waiting for what lies beyond victory. Bottom: This is a small step...

As always, friendly disclaimer that my Japanese isn’t the best, as I’m still learning. If you spot a mistake, please let me know, and I’ll fix it!

[2t2r]

La magnifique plage de sable noir de Reynisfjara

Nouvel article publié sur https://www.2tout2rien.fr/plage-de-sable-noir-de-reynisfjara/

La magnifique plage de sable noir de Reynisfjara

[anygivengameday]

Montana Grizzlies at Portland State Vikings

Saturday, January 28, 2023

Viking Pavilion, Portland, OR

[redceyed]

what if Red held ur muses hand and kissed their fingertips while going off and listing every reason he thinks ur perfect---

[petermorwood]

Interesting post about costume here.

This paragraph in particular caught my attention...

What we think of as “peasant garb” is actually the product of a game of telephone that travels back from Romantic Revival art, and many of those (urban) artists got their idea of what rural peasants wore from opera costumes. The costumers working at the opera were not going out to the country side to take notes on what farmers actually wore, nor did they want to. Opera is show biz, you want it to be evocative, but not ordinary. Their costumes would have been based on what urban folks were wearing, with extra little touches like a shepherds crook to make it look “rural”.

... because it was Wagner's Ring Cycle that gave us horned helmets.

They didn't originate with the Vikings. They originated with the 1876 costume designs for a bunch of operas, and those designs by Carl Emil Doepler still exist.

For reference, all the horny characters are mortals.

Those helmets were probably based on archaeological finds, even though all Northern European examples are, AFAIK and depending on context, either religious headgear equivalent to a bishop's mitre, or ceremonial headgear equivalent to a crown.

In addition, every single one predates the Viking Age by a period ranging from a couple of centuries to a couple of millennia so - makes vague handwave gesture - they're more appropriate for the sorta-kinda mythic Migration Era setting of the Ring than any Vik who ever inged..

Doepler's designs also feature WINGED helmets, worn by immortals like Wotan...

... and the Valkyries.

Something else I encountered when looking for pics to illustrate this was that other clichéd armour error, the boob-plate.

Here's dramatic soprano Karin Branzell wearing one...

...while here's heroic tenor Fritz Vogelstrom also wearing one.

He's singing the role of Siegfried but wearing the costume of Brunnhilde, at least that's how it looks to an operatic Philistine like me.

Anyway...

Winged helmets are even more historically dodgy - no archaeological evidence at all - yet are actually more feasible as working combat helmets.

The difference is that horns, being heavy, need sturdy mountings so a horned helmet both provides catch-points for incoming blows and handles for an enemy to grapple, while a winged helmet does neither. The wings, being light, wouldn't need solid fixtures so would just shear off under a weapon or come off in an enemy's hands.

I'm well aware that other times, places and cultures - Indo-Persia, Poland, Japan etc. - had helmets with wings, horns and all sorts of other stuff, but this is about how the popular image of Vikings that headgear came from opera.

And went all over the place... :->

[viktheviking1]

. . . Huh?

What's this?

Is that . . . 300 Kudos?

(Long sigh) . . . I am so excited guys, don't get me wrong . . . But did you really have to give me this on the week that I specifically said I wouldn't post anything?

I want to throw a party! I want to celebrate! I want to thank everyone who got me there! But NoooOOOoooo, if I post a thank you this week without a chapter people will be upset!

This is just a ploy to make me post s chapter this week, isn't it? Well it ain't gonna work! I refuse!

[therealvikingstrash]

[bruh-anator3000]

Me: hey you have a second part of a Viktor fic you need to finish up bc we like this story and other people do too!

My brain: vik...

Me: yeah, viktor!

Brain: vik...viking...

Me: what

Brain: VIKjng.. Dag

Me: no

Brain: daggruurr... me write...

Me: stop

Brain: gRaaaA DRAGUER

[mochinomnoms]

ACTUALLY! The vikings and the pacific islanders (aka the daddies of the sea) made contact with North America (Around Delaware and Newfoundland for the viks) and around Chile (pacific islanders) way before the rest of europe did

🦩

Oh I know! That comment was specific to which of the colonizers made contact first.

[muffinrecord]

Mirage of Alexandria rambling

alright, having rewatched Ebony's event, it's a little better than I remember, but it still has some issues for me and it's probably my least favorite of the PH stories (and no, not just cause of her design).

I feel like it has a lot of really interesting ideas presented throughout the writing but I'm just not a fan of the execution. Like, on paper, I dig the idea of a ruler taking as much power as they can from their servants and using them disposably until that ruler has made an entire mess of her own head, while those they subjugated rise up to live their own lives. With so much magic and wishes focused on the ruler, they feel more like a witch with tenuous human form messing with powers that they don't fully understand, and having that ruler come undone by their own greed feels pretty cool. I also think that having the Tokime Clan be the ones to say "fuck tradition, do what you want" is pretty nice considering their whole shtick.

But like... it kind of doesn't feel great that Cleopatra was used for this character assassination as it were. I guess they had to use some historical figure, and for the story's purposes, you would want one that had impressive feats to speak of-- you wouldn't want to choose a "historical villain" for it because that goes against the point of this story. But man, it also doesn't feel good. I think also it REALLY doesn't help that Cleopatra has this cloth over her face, so we never see her have any expressions or anything like that. She's emoting with her body but it would have really helped to have seen her eyes so that she feels like a person at least-- all her greed and madness makes her feel less like a human and more like a comical bad guy from an afternoon special.

The other problem is that for a story where Ebony is leaving for her own path, she doesn't really... I dunno. The girls show up, they give her a pep talk, Ebony is convinced by them, Ebony tells Cleopatra she's leaving, Cleopatra thinks that Ebony is leaving to get more sacrifices (so it's easy on her to leave), Ebony goes to the Met clan to say goodbye, Met clan is like "yo cleo was kidnapped so go get her and then you're free of service," Ebony is convinced, Ebony goes to Cleopatra who is pissed, Cleopatra dies to an assassination, Ebony goes back to Met Clan, Met clan leader dies to a witch's kiss, Ebony kills witch, everyone leaves.

The last couple of events (Cleopatra's death and the clan's leader's death) I think really hurt the event for me, because neither of them happen thanks to Ebony's actions. I mean, Cleopatra dies because the Met Clan was following Ebony around, but it's not Ebony who has an affect on her own story. Things just kinda happen to her and keep happening to her.

And yes, I know that's part of the point that she's passive and stuff. But hmmm.

I think my issue with it is best illustrated with the Viking event actually. I'm surprised by how similar "Mirage of Alexandria" is with "Valkyrie of Vik" though. Both deal with characters learning to take steps on their own, agency, choices, etc. And both protagonists are passive in the beginning and things happen to them as opposed to them doing things.

But the viking event, when it ends, it genuinely feels... uplifting? That's not right. Maybe it feels more like the protagonist is genuinely going to go somewhere. It's so bittersweet and Olga has lost everything, and it feels like the last few episodes are just hammering in the misery there, but it also feels like Olga is really, FINALLY, ready to step on onto her own.

But Ebony...? I dunno. When it ends I just get this overwhelming feeling of emptiness.

I think part of it is that Ebony doesn't have a moment like Olga does. Olga's big triumphant moment of choice is when she makes a wish and sends her sister off to Valhalla. Yuna leaves Olga alone, knowing that Kyubey will be there to make a contract with her... But it's still Olga's moment, and her moment alone. She has to be given a pep talk (a pep kick?) at the very end to kill the witch, but still, I feel like she's the one holding her own reigns at that point.

Ebony meanwhile... Where is her big moment? I'm not saying she needed to kill Cleopatra or the Met clan leader herself, but I feel like all of her big moments were more afterthoughts. Her deciding that the met clan leader's death was deserved isn't really good enough for me. Killing the witch isn't good enough for me either, because all magical girls do that and it's not like Ebony was having issues killing witches to make this particular witch's defeat all that notable. Ebony deciding to leave Cleopatra feels like the closest "moment" that she gets, but it's hampered by the Tokime clan's shenanigans and then watered down by her running around between Cleopatra and the Met clan back and forth.

Maybe the point of the story is that her beginning starts at the ending. Like she ends the story by finally taking steps of her own, without Cleopatra, the Met Clan, or the Tokimes to guide her. She's finally all alone and able to make her own decisions. I can buy a narrative structure like that I think.

I think one big difference between Olga and Ebony is that while both girls lost everything, Olga still has memories of Gunhild and her dream to guide and propel her. What does Ebony have? She loses her Pharaoh, she loses her clan, and she loses the only friends she's ever made.

I guess again, that's the point. Ebony starts clean and fresh and new. She gets a new start.

I'm just talking myself in circles akfssaklfa.

Anyways, the event wasn't bad, it just doesn't sit well with me either and it's frustrating me like a fly buzzing around a room.

...

I think what I would have liked for this event would be for Ebony to make a choice that was against what Cleopatra, the Met Clan, AND what the Tokimes wanted. Something that really says that she's under no one's rule now. Not that she needs to be bad or anything, but like-- a choice that she really made and wasn't coerced into. Cause it's nice that the Tokimes were hyping her up, but I also think that they overshadow her real fast. Something that makes Ebony stand out against them and as her own person.

Anyways I could talk in circles about this all day so I'll stop here. Genuinely curious as to what other folks think, even if you disagree with me.

[jazzstarrlight]

So I've seen this image a couple of times during my rune study searches. And I've been pretty torn as to which one I should use in any love spells, so after a few attempts and whatnot, I came up with an enby for women bind rune. I should also do enby for male too.