#valkyrie profile kin

[twst-drabbles]

Valkyrie Prologue

Summary: Seven feathers for seven valkyries. That is the price you must pay to the Crow of Fate's Keys for the chance at them reincarnating as mortals, living out mortal lives.

(sooooo new au! This one deals with death a lot, so lots of angst to be had. It's pretty heavily based on Valkyrie Profile, the first one. I have a soft spot for that game. So, yeah, it's not going to follow the plot of that game. I'm gonna be doing my own thing. It's mostly focused on the various lives everyone lives with you, the lone valkyrie, being the one to pick them up in the end. I love angst.)

“Seven feathers,” the Crow of Fate’s Keys said to you, stroking the plumes on your colorful wings, “In exchange for delivering these seven ignorant souls onto the mortal plane, in exchange for opening this door of reincarnation just for them, I must have seven feathers.”

You sat upon a hill, looking over the vast and luscious landscape of Midgard you have come to regard as precious to you. As home, even though it was so foreign to you. “Is that truly all I have to pay? Would the price not be higher for meddling with fate so, Crow?”

He knelt down, cradling your hand in his own, decorative claws cool against your skin. “Whether or not they cross that door will be up to them. For any other person, I would ask for more. But for you, well, I have many, many favors to repay to you. Is my generosity really so hard to believe, dear?”

Is it not right for one to question everything that he does? Is it not within your right to hold caution against a crow that picked upon the corpse of Fate, stealing their keys, and become owner of them? He is a crow who picks upon carrion. And these souls, however hateful you may find them, are perfect meals.

And yet, he was the very same crow you cradled upon the end of the previous world. The world you were once a part of. You both, older than the kingdoms and gods that lay within these realms, are entirely separate from all else. You trust in him as much as he trusts in you, as fellow beings that witnessed the decaying corpses of this world.

“No, it’s not.” You spread your wings, fluttering the multi-colored plumes until seven distinct light fell from them. With a single beat, you guided them to your lap. “I know you too well. Even without asking, you would give your all to me. Seven of my feathers, correct?”

“Not yours. I would never ask for your plumes.” Dire picked up the seven lights in one palm, “I need their feathers. The ones you claimed for your own. The feathers imbued with their power.”

“Then pluck as you please.”

A red feather, for the Tyrannical Valkyrie.

An orange feather, for the Rebellious Valkyrie.

A white feather, for the Merchant Valkyrie.

A wine red feather, for the Tactical Valkyrie.

A lilac feather, for the Beautiful Valkyrie.

A blue feather, for the Guardian Valkyrie.

A green feather, for the Draconic Valkyrie.

“Only seven feathers, huh?” The price baffles you still. “You do too much for me, Dire.”

“And you do too much for seven valkyries you have slain yourself,” even with this truth laid bare to you, Dire does not condemn you. There is only amusement. “Does striking down your fellow kin not bother you?”

“Does my answer matter?” Winged or not, their intentions have been clear to you. You struck down not allies who you confided in, but arrogant gods who do not hold respect for the mortals lives on Midgard. They cared not for the horrible aftermath that comes with Ragnarok, they only cared for building the armies of the higher gods they served.

They only cared for victory. Their focus solely laid upon the empty throne.

With their powers striped away, with their memories sealed away, you will have them live mortal lives. They will see their beginnings, they will see their ends. They will suffer, they will live in bliss. They will see it all.

And once they have learned their lesson, only then will you give back what remains.

“No, I suppose not.” Dire held the lights close, making sure they don’t fall.

“Then fly away, Dire.”

“Will you wait for little old me?”

“No, not this time.” Voices, death cries, the ends of heroes and human lives. You can hear them. For the first time since the end of your world, you can hear them.

They are waiting.

#twst #twisted wonderland #twst-drabbles #twst-drabbles exclusive #drabble #night raven college staff #dire #dire crowley #valkyrie au #reader insert

[nonbinary-zenyatta]

An aesthetic for Lenneth from Valkyrie Profile with themes of rebellion and kindness

#aesthetic #blue #lenneth valkyrie kin #valkyrie profile kin

[breaniebree]

ASC Playlist

This is for tim2604 on ff.net who requested a list of my playlist from my story A Second Chance.  Some of them are individual songs that are also mentioned on the album, but they are all listed here as being mentioned whether by song title, lyrics, or album name.  The ones at the bottom are still to come at a Halloween party ;)

Here it is!

It’s Only Rock n’ Roll But I like It - The Rolling Stones

All You Need is Love - The Beatles

Stand - Rascal Flatts

Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd 

A Night at the Opera (album) - Queen

Death on Two Legs (Dedicated To …) 

Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon 

I’m in Love With my Car 

You’re My Best Friend 

39 

Sweet Lady 

Seaside Rendevous 

The Prophet’s Song 

Love of My Life 

Good Company 

Bohemian Rhapsody 

God Save the Queen 

Werewolves of London - Warren Zevon

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper

I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor

Respect - Aretha Franklin

Blackbird - The Beatles

PS I Love You - The Beatles

The White Album (album) - The Beatles

Back in the USSR 

Dear Prudence 

Glass Onion 

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da 

Wild Honey Pie 

The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill 

While My Guitar Gently Weeps 

Happiness is a Warm Gun 

Martha My Dear 

I’m So Tired 

Blackbird 

Piggies 

Rocky Raccoon 

Don’t Pass Me By 

Why Don’t We Do it in the Road? 

I Will 

Julia 

Birthday 

Yer Blues 

Mother Nature’s Son 

Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey

Sexy Sadie 

Helter Skelter 

Long, Long, Long 

Revolution 1 

Honey Pie 

Savoy Truffle 

Cry Baby Cry 

Revolution 9 

Good Night 

Rubber Soul (album) - Beatles

Drive My Car 

Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) 

You Won’t See Me 

Nowhere Man 

Think For Yourself 

The Word 

Michelle 

What Goes On 

Girl 

I’m Looking Through You 

In My Life 

Wait If I Needed Someone 

Run For Your Life 

The Game (album) - Queen

Play the Game 

Dragon Attack 

Another One Bites the Dust 

Need Your Loving Tonight 

Crazy Little Thing Called Love 

Rock it (Primo Jive) 

Don’t Try Suicide 

Sail Away Sweet Sister 

Coming Soon Save Me 

Birthday - The Beatles

Led Zeppelin III (album) - Led Zeppelin

Immigrant Song 

Friends 

Celebration Day 

Since I’ve Been Loving You 

Out on the Tiles 

Gallows Pole 

Tangerine 

That’s the Way 

Bron-Y-Aur Stomp 

Hats Off to (Roy) Harper 

You Like Me Too Much - The Beatles

In My Life - The Beatles

G N’ R Lies (album) - Guns N’ Roses

Reckless Life 

Nice Boys 

Move to the City 

Mama Kin 

Patience 

Used to Love Her 

You’re Crazy 

One in a Million 

Don’t Bother Me - The Beatles

I Saw Her Standing There - The Beatles

I’ll Cry Instead - The Beatles

I’ve Just Seen A Face - The Beatles

I’m A Loser - The Beatles

I Am the Walrus - The Beatles

Act Naturally - The Beatles

Hold Me Tight - The Beatles

Carry That Weight - The Beatles

With A Little Help From My Friends - The Beatles

Across the Universe - The Beatles

While My Guitar Gently Weeps - The Beatles

Something - The Beatles

Eight Days A Week - The Beatles

Can’t Buy Me Love - The Beatles

Because - The Beatles

Let It Be - The Beatles

Strawberry Fields Forever - The Beatles

Dream On - Aerosmith

Innuendo (album) - Queen

Innuendo 

I’m Going Slightly Mad 

Headlong 

I Can’t Live With You 

Don’t Try So Hard

Ride the Wild Wind 

All God’s People 

These Are the Days of Our Lives 

Delilah 

The Hitman 

Bijou 

The Show Must Go On 

Presto (album) - Rush

Show Don’t Tell 

Chain Lightning 

The Pass 

War Paint 

Scars 

Presto 

Superconductor 

Anagram (For Mongo) 

Red Tide 

Hand Over Fist 

Available Light 

Working Man - Rush

Blow Up Your Video (album) - ACDC

Heatseeker 

That’s The Way 

I Wanna Rock N’ Roll 

Mean Streak 

Go Zone 

Kissin’ Dynamite 

Nick of Time 

Some Sin for Nuthin’ 

Ruff Stuff 

Two’s Up 

This Means War 

Bleach (album) - Nirvana

Blew 

Floyd the Barber 

About a Girl 

School 

Love Buzz 

Paper Cuts 

Negative Creep 

Scoff 

Swap Meet 

Mr Mustache 

Sifting 

Big Cheese 

Downer 

New Jersey (album) - Bon Jovi

Lay Your Hands On Me 

Bad Medicine 

Born To Be My Baby 

Living in Sin 

Blood on Blood 

Homebound Train 

Wild is the Wind 

Ride Cowboy Ride 

Stick to Your Guns

I’ll Be There For You 

99 in the Shade 

Love for Sale 

Like A Prayer (album) - Madonna

Like A Prayer 

Express Yourself 

Love Song 

Till Death Do Us Part 

Promise to Try Cherish 

Dear Jessie 

Oh Father 

Keep It Together 

Pray for Spanish Eyes 

Act of Contrition 

Wide Awake in Dreamland (album) - Pat Benatar

All Fired Up 

One Love (Song of the Lion) 

Let’s Stay Together 

Don’t Walk Away 

Too Long A Soldier 

Cool Zero 

Cerebral Man 

Lift ‘Em On Up 

Suffer the Little Children 

Wide Awake in Dreamland 

Whiplash Smile (album) - Billy Idol

Worlds Forgotten Boy 

To Be a Lover 

Soul Standing By 

Sweet Sexteen 

Men for All Seasons 

Don’t Need a Gun 

Beyond Belief 

Fatal Charm 

All Summer Single 

One Night, One Chance 

Dark Side of the Moon (album) - Pink Floyd

Speak to Me 

Breathe (In the Air) 

On the Run 

Time 

The Great Gig in the Sky 

Money 

Us and Them 

Any Colour You Like 

Brain Damage 

Eclipse 

I Will - The Beatles

We Will Rock You - Queen

Toto IV (album) - Toto

Rosanna 

Make Believe 

I Won’t Hold Back 

Good for You 

It’s a Feeling 

Afraid of Love 

Lovers in the Night 

We Made it 

Waiting for Your Love 

Africa 

Back in Black (album) - ACDCHells Bells

Shoot to Thrill 

What Do You Do for the Money Honey 

Givin’ the Dog a Bone 

Let Me Put My Love Into You 

Back in Black 

You Shook Me All Night Long 

Have a Drink On Me 

Shake a Leg 

Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution 

London Calling (album) - The Clash

London Calling 

Brand New Cadillac 

Jimmy Jazz 

Hateful 

Rudie Can’t Fail 

Spanish Bombs 

The Right Profile 

Lost in the Supermarket 

Clampdown 

The Guns of Brixton 

Wrong ‘Em Boyo 

Death or Glory 

Koka Kola 

The Card Cheat 

Lover’s Rock 

Four Horseman 

I’m Not Down 

Revolution Rock 

Train in Vain 

The Boys Are Back in Town - Thin Lizzy

You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC

Cherry Pie - Warrant

Baby, I Love You - The Ramones

Insomniac (album) - Green Day

Armatage Shanks 

Brat 

Stuck with Me 

Geek Stink Breath 

No Pride 

Bab’s Uvula Who? 

86 

Panic Song 

Stuart ant the Ave. 

Brain Stew 

Jaded 

Westbound Sign 

Tight Wad Hill 

Walking Contradiction 

I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You - Elvis Presley

Octopus’ Garden - The Beatles

Who Wants to Live Forever - Queen

Blaze of Glory - Bon Jovi

Waiting for a Girl Like You - Foreigner

Night Visions - AJ McLean

Jagged Little Pill (album) - Alanis Morrisette

All I Really Want 

You Oughta Know 

Perfect 

Hand in My Pocket 

Right Through You 

Forgiven 

You Learn 

Head Over Feet 

Mary Jane 

Ironic 

Not the Doctor 

Wake Up 

These Are The Days of Our Lives - Queen

Follow You Down - Gin Blossoms

Fastlove - George Michael

A Long December - Counting Crows

It’s All Coming Back to Me Now - Celine Dion

How Bizarre - OMC

Thriller - Michael Jackson

Lovefool - The Cardigans

Un-Break My Heart - Toni Braxton

Wannabe - Spice Girls

I’ll Be There For You - The Remembrandts

Dance Like a Hippogriff - Weird Sisters

I Put A Spell On You - Annie Lennox

Open Your Heart - Madonna

The Earth, The Sun, The Rain - Color Me Badd

Everything I Do (I Do It For You) - Bryan Adams

Saturday Night - Whigfield

Mamma Mia - Abba

Waterloo - Abba

You’re My Best Friend - Queen

Ride of the Valkyries - Richard Wagner

#a second chance #breanie

[thehallofgame]

“The Chooser of the Slain”, “Battle Maiden” be her names,

Yet others has the valkyrie to those whose kin she claims.

To the widows and the orphans an angel of death is she,

The thief of their beloved, the accursed Valkyrie.

And so begins a tale of vengeance and betrayal.

Destiny by sinner sought, tragedy by power wrought.

Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume (2008)

#valkyrie profile covenant of the plume #valkyrie profile #lenneth #wylfred #thehallofgame gifs

[cargopantsman]

Signy: Vengeance and Filicide

I started this one by copying (almost) all of Signy’s lines/notable moments in the saga. And then realized that in the relatively vast expanse of the narrative in chapters 2 through 8 (Finch translation btw) Signy gets very little “screen time.” And as such, I actually found it rather powerful to see her part put together in one fell swoop. So bear with me on this, I’m leaving everything below as I compiled it.

Also trying a read-more tag... I know mobile tends to not like those...

A Snapshot of Signy “Their eldest was called Sigmund, and their daughter Signy. They were twins and in every way the best looking and the most remarkable of King Völsung’s children, though, indeed, all of them were outstanding, a fact long recognised, just as the Völsungs have long been famed for their autocratic inflexibility of purpose, and for being far ahead of most people, as old stories tell, in knowledge, attainments and in enterprise generally.”

“[King Völsung] was favorably disposed to the idea [of Signy marrying King Siggeir], as were his sons, but she herself was against it, though she asked her father to decide about this as he did about other matters concerning her. And the king thought it advisable for her to be married, and she was betrothed to King Siggeir.”

“Signy now spoke to her father: ‘I don’t want to go away with Siggeir, nor do I feel at all warmly towards him, and my gift of second sight which runs in the family tells me that this business will result in a great deal of misery for us, unless this marriage is speedily annulled.”

“That same evening, Signy, King Völsung’s daughter, came to ask her father and her brothers to have a private talk with her. She then said that in her opinion- it was also King Siggeir’s own! - Siggeir had got together a large force that was invincible- ‘And he means to break faith with you. So I beg you,’ she said, ‘to get back to your own country immediately. Get hold of as large a number of men as you can, then return and get your revenge, rather than walk into this trap, for you’ll find no lack of treachery in him if you don’t adopt the plan I desire you to.”

“Then Signy wept bitterly and begged not to have to go back to Siggeir.” … “So Signy went back…”

“Signy discovered that her father had been killed and her brothers captured and sentenced to death.”

She-wolf episode here.

“And we are told that when the elder son was ten years old, Signy sent him off to find Sigmund so that he could help him, should he wish to make any attempt to avenge his father.”

“The next time Sigmund and his sister met, he said he seemed no nearer to getting a man, even though the boy was staying with him. ‘Then seize and kill him,’ said Signy. ‘There’s no need for him to live any longer.’ And that’s what he did.”

Repeat 1x.

“He killed the boy at Signy’s bidding.”

Body swapping and twincest.

“Before sending her first two sons to Sigmund, she had submitted them to the following test: she sewed their tunics on to their arms, stitching through skin and flesh. They stood up to it badly, and screamed as it was being done. She did the same to Sinfjötli. He did not flinch. Then she stripped the tunic from him, so that skin came off with the sleeves, and she said that this would hurt him.’

Robin Hood and Little John running through the forests....

“Then he [another young son of Siggeir and Signy] ran back into the hall to his father and told him what he had seen [Sigmund and Sinfjötli in hiding]. .. Now Signy heard what they said. She stood up, took both children and went into the outer room to [Sigmund and Sinfjötli] and said that they ought to know that the children had given them away- ‘And I think you had better kill them.’” [Sigmund, this time, hesitates. Sinfjötli does not. At all.]

“And while [the serfs] were busy covering over the mound [which held Sigmund and Sinfjötli] with turf, Signy came up with an armful of straw [containing a chunk of pork and also the sword from Stabby McOne-Eye the Murder Hobo]. She threw it into the mound to Sinfjötli, and told the serfs to conceal this from the king.”

“[Sigmund] told his sister to come out and receive from him every consideration, and high esteem, meaning in this way to make up for what she had suffered [for roughly 27 years at this point].

‘You’ll know now whether or not I have remembered King Siggeir’s killing of King Völsung against him!’ she answered, ‘and I had our children killed when they seemed to me all too tardy in avenging our father, and in the shape of some sorceress I came to you in the forest, and Sinfjötli is your son, and mine. His immense vigor comes from being King Völsung’s grandson on his father’s as well as his mother’s side. Everything I have done has been to bring about King Siggeir’s death. And I have done so much to achieve vengeance that to go on living is out of the question. I shall now gladly die with King Siggeir, reluctant though I was to marry him.’

Then she kissed her brother Sigmund, and Sinfjötli, and walking into the inferno she bade them farewell, and thereupon she perished there with King Siggeir and all his men.”

Vengeance and Filicide Revenge is, I’m guessing, going to be an ongoing theme here, so what constitutes revenge in the old Viking, or possibly slightly pre-Viking, society? If one person kills another the family of the victim is entitled to compensation, which can come in three varieties:

Weregild: An economic payment of either currency, valuables, livestock or land commensurate with the societally agreed upon value of the victim. Blood vengeance: The murderer is executed. Outlaw: The murderer is banished from society and whatever happens, happens.

This is pretty clear cut as long as the death is not part of a battle in war or that it is not an instance of kin-slaying.

Kin-slaying in most societies is a big no-no. Family members "are caught between irreconcilable duties: to extract vengeance on the one hand and to honor the bonds of kinship on the other hand." [Lindow, John (1997) Murder and Vengeance among the Gods. Baldr in Scandinavian Mythology.] Even Óðinn had to take a moment when Baldr died to figure out how vengeance was going to be had. In a parallel of this, Óðinn goes off and knocks up the giantess Rindr, rushes the birth, and after being alive for one day (apparently enough time to learn how to crawl, walk, brandish a longsword), Váli slays Höðr. Because, supposedly, if Óðinn himself took vengeance on Höðr, Óðinn would then have to take vengeance on himself for kin-slaying. [Margaret E. McKenzie (2012) Filicide in Medieval Narrative: A Dissertation]

Interesting point here is that, even amongst the gods, a vengeance killing apparently does not wipe the slate clean. While, by law, a society cannot punish one for exacting a warranted revenge, it doesn’t seem that no one is restricted from taking revenge on the avenger as well.

So Óðinn gets out of having to directly avenge Baldr by having a half-brother take the blood. In this case we can surmise that uncles and half-brothers are distant enough to commit a kin-slaying without bearing the complications thereof. (I have absolutely no source for this thought and it could be wildly erroneous.)

The slaying of children, particularly by, or at the behest of, a parent wasn’t as big a taboo as outright kin-slaying. Leaving infants or small children out for exposure was not unheard of in these times, though it was frowned upon. [MacKenzie 2012] But a parent killing their own, young, child seems to somehow skirt the complications of invoking a need for revenge upon the murderer. Two of these filicides happened to boys that were near the age of majority (at least by Icelandic standards at the turn of the millennium, which was about twelve years old). The next two to be slain were probably significantly younger yet given the descriptions of them at play in the hall. So perhaps being children and not yet adults in some way puts them outside the law in regards to reprisal just as they are too young to participate in legal matters on their own.

A Profile of Signy Given the few direct references we have to work with regarding Signy, it is difficult to figure out who she would be as a person and not a plot device. When reading the saga in its complete text, she is thrown in the background so often that it is easy to dismiss her as cold-hearted, as the stereotypical “disposable” princess that is there only as a political pawn.

But considering what a daughter of Völsung, the greatest warrior and king in the history of Hunaland, would be like within the confines of the family, it wouldn’t be hard to surmise that she had a happy enough, comfortable enough upbringing. “The Völsungs have long been famed for their autocratic inflexibility of purpose, and for being far ahead of most people, as old stories tell, in knowledge, attainments and in enterprise generally.” She would have had a sense of duty of course, but also education and, with a valkyrie for a mother, no small amount of initiative of her own. That she defers her will to her father’s on matters says less about Signy as it says more about King Völsung, who from a young age was successful in war and kingdom building. Despite my earlier jibes at the man regarding how he handled the voyage to Gautland, we are supposed to take from this saga that King Völsung is a powerful, forceful figure that commands respect and oozes leadership, even among his own children no matter how “remarkable” and “outstanding” they may be.

Arranged marriages, as repulsive as we may find them nowadays, were how international politics worked then. Signy would have known this and while she may not like the prospect, her respect for her father, her sense of duty to the family, to her position, and her own pride would not let her back down from the proposal.

Of course this changes shortly after the marriage itself, whether it was purely based on kynfylgja alone or a few other factors grouped in with that for brevity, as Signy very much does not want anything to do with this. While the saga thus far has been lacking in emotional flare in the telling of the characters thus far, it does say something that against a tremendous respect for her father, despite her proud duty to her family, she asks to be released from this arrangement. Someone like Signy, daughter of an Óðinn blessed king and a valkyrie, would not do this just because she doesn’t want to be with Siggeir. Even when her family arrives in Gautland and is about to be betrayed and slaughtered, when Völsung confirms he will not back down from this fight as he never had before, she asks again to be released from the marriage.

“Then Signy wept bitterly and begged not to have to go back to Siggeir.” Völsung responds, dutifully as ever, “Of course you must go back to your husband, and stay with him, whatever happens to us.”

If ever Signy is to be described as cold-hearted, it should only be considered in this moment, where we see the most emotionally filled line in the saga to this point in six words, that Signy’s heart has broken. We know the Völsungs are defeated and she is doomed to be with Siggeir for the rest of her life, but on the other side we should consider that if Völsung had defeated Siggeir and killed him, if Signy would have had to prepare herself to follow him to Valhalla. If that custom were valid for the era and place of this episode, then Signy is facing the end of her life, either literally or metaphorically.

As Hamlet learns from his father’s ghost that his death was due to “something rotten in Denmark,” we can easily see Signy slipping into a similar despair, depression, and trauma induced madness. For whatever reason she must sit idly as over the course of nine nights she loses nine brothers. Imagine how long those days must have been, how sleepless the nights?

With only the consolation that she has her twin brother escaped and hidden in the forests does she have one small hope in the world for her true family. So she spends days as Siggeir’s wife in Siggeir’s hall surrounded by Siggeir’s men and bearing Siggeir’s children all while hating him, his country, his kingdom for leaving her alone in the world. Vengeance becomes the only road to hope. That Siggeir dies and Sigmund can be free to rebuild their legacy.

Her sons are Siggeir’s sons, but they are half Völsung. So perhaps they can be instrumental to avenging King Völsung. Women were not supposed to take up revenge themselves according to the old laws, but they could readily incite it. [Andersson, Theodore M. and William Ian Miller. (1989) Law and Literature in Medieval Iceland] Even if she were to entertain the idea of slaying him herself, she would then be in a position of being kin-slayer. Though she may disregard her own life even at this early point, it could damage the family reputation.

She subjects her first two sons to a sadistic test of having their tunics sewn to their flesh. This appears to be an intentional sadism, perhaps as a post traumatic symptom, transferring her hatred of Siggeir to these children. It is extraneous since there’s no reason to believe these boys would not have been raised to be warriors in accordance with Germanic tradition. Furthermore, despite that “they stood up to it badly, and screamed as it was being done,” she still sends them, in turn, to Sigmund anyway. This is a cruelty, clearly done with a sociopathic, methodic coldness which could suggest that these children lived their entire lives with a stony mother that from day one made every conscious effort to quell any maternal warmth she may have had for her children lest she lose focus on her goal, her vengeance.

That she also so casually permits the murder of her children by Sigmund should also put us in mind of her resolve to attain this revenge. Beyond the initial shock value of a mother saying ‘Then seize and kill him. There’s no need for him to live any longer,’ it stresses that, for Signy at this point, there is only one reason, need, to be alive and that is to see Siggeir’s death. This point may have held more weight in the time the saga was written. While we modern reader’s tend to focus on the children as actual living humans succumbing to a murderous mother, ‘some scholars have argued that children in medieval narrative exist merely to aid in the plot; in that way, they lack agency and are considered more as objects than as people’ [MacKenzie 2012] and a contemporary listener to the saga may have likely just been impressed at Signy’s single-mindedness in avenging her legendary father.

The drive to this end becomes more apparent when Sigmund and Sinfjötli have entered Siggeir’s hall and are hiding in a side room, waiting to strike. Another son of Siggeir and Signy discover them when a toy has rolled away from him. It isn’t until after Siggeir has been warned of intruders that Signy gathers up both of her young sons and brings them to Sigmund to be dealt with. Being so close to the end, with “the wolves in with the chickens” so to speak, Signy sees these children as obstacles. They are not needed for Signy’s purpose, Sinfjötli is clearly capable of being the avenging son/grandson. At this point Signy may know her life will not extend much beyond Siggeir’s and has no notions of ever being able to be a good mother for these children. Having the blood of two sons already on her hands, what’s two more?

A side note here on Sinfjötli; Signy has yet to reveal his incestuous origin, so effectively we witness him committing full-brother kin-slaying.

Finally, after escaping capture in which Signy has returned Sigmund’s sword to him, Sinfjötli and Sigmund return to Siggeir’s hall and, apparently able to just saunter up and set a ton of wood down, light it on fire.

Signy gives a final monologue, her only goal in life having been accomplished. ‘And I have done so much to achieve vengeance that to go on living is out of the question. I shall now gladly die with King Siggeir, reluctant though I was to marry him.’ Which shouldn’t be too surprising. With everything she had endured and done in the course of 27 years, over half her life; in losing her family, being trapped by duty with the betrayer of her family, in being a cold mother, and a cruel one, dismissive of her children’s very lives, you can’t blame her for being done with vengeance and with life.

#norsereadalong #volsunga saga #signy #tragic #norse mythology #projectnorsemyth #week 3 #this went on a lot longer than i thought it would #im sorry #so wordy

[planarchaosproject]

Planar Chaos: Planar Profiles

 Helheim

The plane of Helheim is home to Sverre, a planeswalker who refers to himself by the title of Grave Birther. Sverre's influence on the plane is undeniable after the centuries he has called it home since the Mending.

The plane is organized around a large, central tree known as Yggdrasil sitting alone in a vast ocean. This world tree has three distinct layers, the roots, known as Helheim, the trunk, Medheim, and the branches, Azheim. The wurm Jormungandr lies coiled around the tree's roots waiting for the century-long cycle of Ragnarok to come to its climax before rising to Medheim to do battle with its perpetually reincarnated enemies, the Guardians.

Helheim, as the lowest layer of the plane, is the graveyard, resting place of both civilians and heroes who fight and die in the cycle of Ragnarok. The entrance is through a little known, well-guarded cavern, and it exists in perpetual twilight, rarely ever being what could be called warm. This layer of the plane is swampy, dotted with bogs that give rise to zombies who wander aimlessly until they finally decay and are drawn back into Yggdrasil to feed another cycle. There are sparse forests, little more than thickets, scattered among the bogs that are connected to the great central tree through their roots. A female Guardian named Ehla once presided over this layer, but was replaced by Sverre after he usurped her throne, converting the palace from which she ruled over the dead and dark beings into his laboratory for alchemical experiments into the cyclical nature of the plane and the source of the Guardians' pseudo-immortality. He had since been able to distill an essence from the remains of Guardians into a life-prolonging potion that he takes regularly.

Fertile Medheim is home to mortal beings such as beasts, ogres, and humans. This is the site of Ragnarok where the great battle between the serpent sleeping underground and the Guardians and immortals living in Azheim takes place. Some of the Alfen, a race that seems to be related to Elves of other planes, also make their home on Medheim rather than in the lowest branches of Yggdrasil with their kin. In the years between Ragnaroks, they enjoy a time of peace and prosperity, praising the Guardians as deities who protect the mortal races from the evils living in Helheim led by Jormungandr by laying down their lives. Some humans also take part in the great battle, hoping to be chosen by the angelic Valkyries to become an immortal spirit and join the Guardians in their treetop home. A mysterious species of deer roams Medheim, feeding only on the bark of Yggdrasil itself and shunning the many offshoots that form the forests of Medheim. They are said to have mystical healing powers and be linked to the Guardians.

The main city-states of Medheim are Trollhof, the hillside settlement of the ogres surrounded by treacherous fens and flat fields, Emblavin, a lush meadow that is the High Capital of the human occupied principalities, and the seaside kingdom of Skadivik nestled in an icy fjord and home to magical learning.

The highest layer, Azheim, is the home of the Guardians, their Valkyries, and a host of spirits, the ghosts of fallen mortal heroes waiting their turn to lead the forces of Ragnarok. Guardians that die in Ragnarok are reborn from one of these spirits, chosen by Valkyries during previous Ragnaroks. The Guardians emerge from the tree fully grown and fulfill a variety of religious roles for the mortal races below. The Alfen are not wholly immortal, but live long lives and serve as stewards of Azheim and the Guardians, caring for the tree and aiding the process of reincarnation while the Guardians are below in Medheim.

Other creatures inhabiting the plane are the Fenris, a pack of ravenous wolves that roam all over and attack everything in their path. It is even said that they hunt the sun and moon across the sky. It is almost impossible for a person to tame a Fenris, but there are stories of heroes from ancient times riding them into battle as mounts. Supposedly they turned feral and savage when their masters died and no one but their masters' descendants can attempt to tame the beasts. Since records are rather difficult to maintain on a plane that experiences a massive battle once every century, the birth and death records of the Fenris riders have been lost to the ages. Nobody has made the attempt for fear of their bloodline not being recognized as valiant enough to subdue a Fenris.

Off the coast of Medheim, lying just over the horizon and buffeted by the frigid north wind lie islands said to be inhabited by a race of Frost Giants. Few have dared venture forth to investigate this claim, but the ones who have returned tell tales of pale beings with glowing blue eyes that stand taller than trees. It is often said that Tyrodyn, Guardian of Justice, does constant battle with these Frost Giants to keep them away from Medheim. He is accompanied by the divine steed Silepener, a black horse with eight legs that can run faster than the wind and leap higher than the stars, as well as two ravens who keep him informed of the goings on in Medheim. Some say that if either raven brings back news of the wickedness of men that Tyrodyn will abandon his post and let the Frost Giants overrun Medheim.

There exists a race of dwarves who have set up their own small settlement around the cave leading to the roots of Yggdrasil and Helheim. Their histories state they were placed there by Yord, Guardian of the Earth, and that she charged them with keeping mortals from entering the underworld. They are aided by a small group of Alfen dedicated to her worship and that of the Guardian of Heroes, Tor, the sworn enemy of Jormungandr. The dwarves work tirelessly to make weapons fit for the Guardians and Valkyries to carry into battle against the forces of the underworld.

In recent cycles, it has become increasingly difficult to actually kill Jormungandr and bring Ragnarok to a close. This is likely due to Sverre's influence on the plane. Prior to the Mending when he first arrived on Helheim, Sverre resurrected the corpse of Jormungandr, turning the beast into a zombie familiar before it could be reabsorbed into Yggdrasil and reborn. He used the creature to defeat Ehla, Queen of the Dead, and replaced her symbolically with Oona, Queen of the Fae, a faerie from Lorwyn whom he secreted away rather than letting something he viewed as the most precious treasure of the multiverse be touched by the claws of death. The denizens of the bottom layer did not notice much of a difference, since the plane's magic affected Oona in such a way that she became the size of a normal human when she arrived with Sverre. Oona's light blue skin was similar enough to Ehla's pallid appearance that she could sit on the throne unopposed. Since Ehla did not take part in Ragnarok and had never been reincarnated, once Sverre delivered the killing blow she remained dead. No spirit existed in reserve to fill her place.