Discussion

In case you want to talk about this stuff, you can do it here

Nice Jay,

here's something I found;

Doppelganger (not related to norse myth, but pretty damn interesting.)

The frightful image seen at the window, or staring back from the mirror, could be your own--a double, or doppelgänger (from the German for "double goer"), the sight of which could foretell your own imminent demise. Sometimes described as the soul embodied, sometimes an astral projection or aura, the double most often presented itself as a warning.

Queen Elizabeth I reportedly saw a vision lying on her deathbed, pale and still, soon before she died. Geothe and Shelley also claimed to have seen their doubles, and when Catherine the Great of Russia saw her own coming toward her, she took no chances and ordered her soldiers to shoot at it. Witches, it was long accepted, could project their own doubles and set them loose to do mischief far and wide. As a result, many a women was hanged as a witch even though it could be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was somewhere else entirely when the barn burned down, the cow died or whatever else had happened that she was now charged with having done. On other occasions, a double--of someone else--could be called forth or seen.

One old Halloween custom has it that if a young girl lights two candles before a mirror, while eating an apple, she will see in the mirror the spectral image of her future husband, peering back at her as if from over her shoulder. If she is brave enough to venture out to a graveyard, and walk all the way around it twelve times, she will meet up with the double itself.
According to another old belief, anyone who wants to know who will pass away in the coming year has only to stand vigil near the church door on April 24, the eve of the feast day of St. Mark. At midnight, the airy doubles of all who will die file in a solemn processional into the church, if the watcher is unlucky enough to see his own image there, he knows his own time is not far off.

To this day, the fear of the double is observed, if unknowingly, in the custom of covering all the mirrors in a house where a death has just occurred. The double of anyone passing the glass, it was once thought, could be projected into the mirror and carried off by the deceased to the afterworld.

(Freaky, huh?)

Yesh, freaky indeed.

Read the Secret Sharer for a look at one author's take on doppelgangers.


Doppelgangers are used in many games, and they're always shape-shifters and shadows, usually of your character.

there are stories of dopplegangers somehow saving a person's life as well. I can't remember specific details, but one I read was about a soldier who avoid a dangerous accident or an ambush because he saw his doppleganger.

:OOO Where's Sleipnir and Brinsingamen and -DRAUPNIR?!- *waves around plushie of her alchemist* x3 yougossaaddthoseyussyuss!

Well, considering Sleipnir is actually a horse, and not a pair of shoes, I didn't include it. But probably, it was a very fast horse and so the shoes gained it's speed

Sleipnir was Odin's horse and had 8 legs

What about Medjingard?

I liked the DoppleGanger in the first Tomb Raider, it was fun tricking it into killing itself

Mejingard was the belt Thor used to control Mjollnir, was it not? And Draupnir was the gauntlet used for the same effect? I could be mistaken, as it's been a long time since I read any of my Norse books ^^;;

I do have something, however, on a few weapons:

Namely Mysteltainn and Sigfried.

Mysteltainn's quest is symbolic of its story.

The item "The Foolishness of the Blind" exemplifies the brother of the slain god Balder, Hod, who was blind and was tricked by Loki into killing the God of Light.

The item "Loki's Whispers" Further exemplifies the ploy Loki played, as Loki beguiled Hod into throwing a dart at Balder, killing him.

The item "Mother's Nightmare" portray's Freyja's visions of Balder's death. Because she was plagued by these visions, she travelled the nine worlds, putting every plant, mineral, animal and substance under an oath that they would not harm Balder.

The item "Young Twig" is the final piece of the puzzle: It is the twig from the tiny mistletoe plant (hence the name of the sword), that was overlooked by Freyja as she sought oaths from the world. Loki tricked Freyja into admitting that she had not formed a pact with the mistletoe, so Loki crafted a dart from its wood, gave it to Hod, and guided the blind diety's arm. Hod, of course, suspected nothing; Balder was more or less invincible, and Hod had no idea that the dart he was throwing was made of the one substance that could kill Balder.

Sigfried, a giant two-handed sword for use by Knights, is named after the Norse and Germanic hero Sigfried, or Sigmund (he goes by many names according to translations). Sigfried was a great hero, and had a very large amount fo adventures, similair to folk heroes of the middle ages (Like King Arthur). One such adventure was of the slaying of Fafnir, an uncle-turned-dragon guarding a massive heap of gold. Also note that Sigfried is the true name of Nightmare from Soul Blade/Edge/Calibur, and he wields a zweihander, which is a two-handed sword...

Hehe, That's all I've got for now. Let me know if you want more!

-Darkest

Oh, and one more thing... About Garm and Fenrir (or Fenris):

The reason Garm is equated with Fenris is because the two are constantly chasing the sun and moon (respectively). It is said that on the day of Ragnarok, or Gotterdamerung, the two wolves will finally catch up to the sun and moon and eat them, plunging the world into eternal night...

Also, Fenrir and Odin do battle at on the fields of Ragnarok, and Fenrir eats Odin, but is killed later by Thor. I think.

-Darkest, double-posting with KNOWLEDGE!

rofl, now i know why the mysteltainn quest is so damn hard...

and its actually really interesting, it would be nice to read a book about this topic, and cool, i didnt know nightmare's name was sigfried...but...since i think he is le suck on the game me no care talim kicksbutts!! and ivy too..

keep on the info. its interesting and entertaining

He's not killed by Thor, but Odin's son.. Who I can't remember the name
EDIT : Actually, Thor killed Jormundgang then died of poisoning.

This is actually believed by some, but isn't true. There ARE two wolves chasing the sun and moon, but their names are Skoll (chasing the sun) and Hati (chasing the moon). On Ragnarok they will finally catch their prey and swallow it, plunging the world into darkness, but there is a lesser not-so-important-now goddess who will survive Ragnarok with a few others to bring about a new world. This goddess will be the sun and bring light to the world.


In this sense, we can see that Hati and Garm are actually not the same creature, and when you kill a Garm you shouldn't be getting Fang of Hati

By the way, Poem of Bragi (Magic Strings) is the god of eloquence and poetry.

And Loki's veil is self-explanatory

Loki = god of trickery and chaos


and...um...other things that ended up with some giant children-monsters of his