tatterdemalionvulpine:

hugintheraven:

cwicseolfor:

edderkopper:

On the names of Odin

In Grímnismál, Odin states, “Never a single name have I had since first I fared among men.” And indeed, we have a very large number that are attested, as well as many that have no doubt been lost to time.

One of the more well known heiti is Hrafnaguð, the Raven God. In turn, his blood brother Loki is called Gammleið, “the vulture’s path.”

Because of Odin’s connection with ravens as well as his role of selecting those slain on the battlefield for an afterlife in Valhalla, I propose that it is feasible, perhaps even likely, for Odin to have been named “the raven’s path” by viking age skalds.

Another notable name is the one commonly used for him: Odin. The word it most likely derives from, óðr, is usually associated with ritual ecstasy and battle frenzy, but it could potentially extend to other forms of “madness.” For example, of his twin ravens, Huginn and Muninn, traditionally translated as “thought” and “memory”, Odin states, “I fear more for Muninn.” He embodies anxiety about not only the temporary abandonment of ritual or battle, but also a more permanent loss of history and self.

One final aspect of Odin that his heiti point to but is rarely explored is his connection to the night and blackness. He is Fjölnir, concealer, Herblindi, blinder of hosts, and Tvíblindi, twice blind. He is Grímnir, the hooded one. He presides over Yule, the longest night. Ravens are so closely associated with their color that the word is used as a synonym for black. And according to folklore, he notably rides forth with his forces, known today as the Wild Hunt only between sunset and dawn.

So basically, it’s 100% lore compliant to say that Odin is Ebony Darkness Demtia Raven Way.

I can’t believe you did this and am utterly torn between impotent fury and seizing hilarity. Wow. Wow.

@thischarmingmothman

“I was roving, road-weary, beyond the bounds of Asgard’s burnished walls, erected by the unfortunate master of Svaðilfari. A throng of jötnar looked at me. I threw Gungnir at them.”

mantis-prince:

glumshoe:

jess-sheridan:

glumshoe:

glumshoe:

Children’s art in media: fully-colored, stylized but recognizabke figures with backgrounds and aesthetically textured and messy crayon coloring that

Children’s art in real life: an anguished disembodied head floating on one side, a massive sea of amorphous red scribbles taking up half the paper, ‘SAM’ written in enormous shaky letters overlapping everything, partial figure of a dinosaur abandoned before drawing the legs

in a movie this would be a fully-colored crayon drawing of a ranger standing in front of an arch that said “Jurassic Park” but instead it is two dinosaur skulls floating in the abyss while a ranger’s head is swallowed by his own enormous speech bubble and I adore it

Part of my job is literally making those dumb kids drawings in film/tv AND LET ME TELL YOU, the reason why they’re never like actual kid art is because 1. None of us art goblins remember what weird shit kids think of when they draw so we rely on bad reference images and the random stuff we remember drawing 2. We have so much muscle memory that it’s legit difficult to make ‘bad’ art 3. It’s a legal nightmare to use actual kid art most of the time so one of the dept art goblins makes it 4. The colour is because it adds contrast and draws the eye; usually we’re working with nice art supplies with a full spectrum of colours and trying to tone it down to look as bad as possible but failing miserably because it’s just not in us to do it.

This is the funniest fucking professional problem I can imagine.

I’d love to see the results of like… trying to commission children to make art for film and TV. 
“Draw a happy family!” 
“Okay!”
[chird churns out three weirdly proportioned humans and a yellow amorphous blob with a speech bubble shouting something unintelligible]
“Oh uh… it’s very. Nice. Can you tell me who the yellow person is?”
“That’s Spongebob. The family is happy because he came to their party.”