#Argr and Friends

[pigeonindustrialcomplex]

L + ratio + you practice women's magic + you're a bottom + you're friends with wizards + you're a slave + you're a manwhore + you're a poisoner + you've done mpreg + you have no honour + you're a coward

[genderfluid-strawberry-of-doom]

halfborn and alex's friendship is actually something so personal to me. and not because it's healthy or well-written, but because that scene in HoT where alex punches halfborn and he says "you hit hard for an argr" and then they banter but he never really admits he's wrong. that reminds me of my own friendships bc sometimes my friends don't admit when they're wrong about something lgbtqia+ and. yeah

[broodingnightgoddess]

Queer characters in media:

Alex Fierro

Alex Fierro is a main character in Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series, written by Rick Riordan.

----------------------------------------------------

Character info

Name: Alex Fierro

Alias: Child of Loki, Argr, Person who is the Child of Some Parent, among others.

Gender and sexuality: Genderfluid, sexuality unspecified. He's dating the main protagonist of the series, Magnus Chase, who might get his own entry. Alex will be referred with he, she and they pronouns in this post.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)

Alex is an accurate example of a genderfluid person, receiving praise from the community for her respectful and accurate characterization, as well as being a main character who dates the POV character. His transgender identity is essential to his character, and explored in depth along with the rejection that they suffered because of it, which should always be shown as a way to promote tolerance and inform the public.

Brief Story (spoilers)

Alex is the child of the trickster Nordic God Loki, who tricked Alex's married father into sleeping with him in a female shape.

Alex was rejected by his mortal parents for the conditions of his birth and his gender fluidity, however Alex found confort with her Abuelo (grandparent), a Mexican inmigrant who respected and honored Alex's gender fluidity, much to the anger of her father. Abuelo would tell her about Aztec myths and stories and teach her pottery.

Later on, Alex was disowned by her father and she had to live in a youth shelter, where she was constantly abused and bullied.

The protagonist Magnus Chase would meet Alex Fierro years later, in the Half-Blood Camp, where they would become friends and then a happy couple. Alex would explain to Magnus his gender identity, and while the former had some difficulties at the beggining, he would grow to be supportive and understanding.

Trivia

Alex has heterochromia, which means their eyes are different colors, this may be a visual representation of their dual gender identity.

She also states that she looks similar to Loki except for some injuries the latter possesses.

----------------------------------------------------

[skip2mylounacy]

no cos you're completely right cos the way rick is hailed as great for diversity when there is so much covert sexism makes me gnaw on the bars of my enclosure TT

as a fellow afab that's agender and uses it as a pronoun🫡, yeah that's so fair,,,

i get that he was trying to show the kind of transphobia that trans ppl deal with,, but some of the ways he handled it miss the mark I feel. like the Islamaphobia when Magnus assumed Samirah would be transphobic just cos she's religious

and Halfborn continuing to call her argr despite being told not to by Alex but somehow? they r super chill friends at the same time :,) (coming from someone with friend groups who reclaim slurs at each other)

the only one i let off the hook is Jack cos he's been asleep for hundreds of years (unlike the Valhalla lot), i don't remember him being told off for it, and not once in my memory did he use it as an insult (plus reading him yell and twirl his hair about how much he loves argr people makes me giggle and filled me with joy abt how he loves us)

he's also a sword and personally i feel like a weapon would have different understandings of people esp considering basically everyone treats him like a sword rather than a person but that's a different post-

ironically, in Rick's attempts to portray the oppression and un/conscious bigotry and bias of people, he literally portrays it in his actual writing and I'd applaud him for that it I thought it was an intentional meta analysis of human nature rather than just a guy falling into his own traps lmao-

ft the fact that i plan on having a combination of rick's design of olympus & everything being in ny, but also keeping the mythology with its people (tho that's a bit nebulous, but whatever)-

aka camp half-blood stays in long island, yeah

camp jupiter? - still in california

but also: the world trade centre holds an entrance to olympus which is still on mt. olympus and the people do not need to leave their home continents to go to a safe place- olympus is still on olympus, the mountain, rome is still rome, etc- it's just the gods are no longer restricted, they are everywhere-

also kinda just like. rick did this for the egyptians and the norse??? why couldn't the greeks and the polytheistic romans (as compared to the christian/catholic romans) have multiple places of existence???

like. i'm also getting rid of the place-specific things, like álfheimr (alfheim) and niðavellir (nidavellir) not resembling boston and shit but also valhǫll (valhalla) and ásgarðr (asgard) being. like where they were modelled after in norse mythology-

also bye-bye bifrost bc that Did Not exist b4 like snorri sturluson-

actual norse mythology is super interesting, like immensely so-

rick did freyr & freyja so dirty- like, yeah, odin and thor were important, but. uhhhh ppl worshipped freyr & freyja as MUCH bc they were the FARMING gods and important

i feel like this post does a bit to establish my love for sociology, psychology, and anthropology- i love learning abt ppl it's amazing-

[zephiraz]

I got Acroniss! Plus this monkey guy. I also convinced Blue and Echeyakee to stop being so shy, so Echeyakee got his photo retaken.

Acroniss was the last rare spawn that I needed in the pursuit of mimicking my draenei-turned-belf hunter’s stable. The next few I need will be obtained during the course of questing in Outland and Northrend, then I want some more challenging pets from dungeons once I hit max.

From left to right: Echeyakee, Acroniss, Blue, Mukla

[cranberrykissel]

GUYS I UPDATED THIS! (27.O9.21) i've seen some posts about Alex being unnecessary mean, caricatured, inaccurate, and as genderfluid person I agree with a majority of them as Riordan clearly messed up big time with her lack of character development, but think about why she's acting like this, why she's so defensive. guys, gals, and all nonbinary pals, it's victim blaming because

mcga is incredibly transphobic. it's ~everywhere~

a quick study of the case of alex fierro

and here a long post with me picking a few examples (there's more)

The amount of transphobia which definied Alex's whole live (her father threw him off the stairs, rings a bell?? and the man got away with child abuse, Rick?), ultimately forcing her into homelessness. Only to it not being properly adressed, no- while no one tries to (on-screen; we don't get to know what happened while she was homeless) assault him after her father, calling her names... continues? Argr means so much more than "unmanly". The characters are clearly aware (!!!) of this:

‘Literally, it means unmanly,’ Mallory said. ‘It’s a deadly insult among big loutish Vikings like this guy.’ ‘Bah,’ said Halfborn. ‘It’s only an offence if you call someone argr who isn’t argr. Gender-fluid people are hardly a new thing, Magnus. There were plenty of argr among the Norse. They serve their purposes. Some of the greatest priests and sorcerers were…’

According to this logic, calling a cis person a tr**ny is bad but when it's a trans person, that's fine? It's justified? Alex rebukes them for it numerous times, and they act like Alex feels offended for no reason ("was not an Alex-approved term"), as they had done nothing wrong. She's misunderstood and, what's worse, ignored. That's not how you treat your friend (trashtalking, insulting each other a day after first meeting as a love language?) And Magnus, who has had met many non-hetero-normative peers before, and knows how abuse works, does nothing to stop his ignorant neighbours?

Even Jack, who has been there for the longest, says this:

‘I LOVE argrs!’ Jack somersaulted with glee, nearly slicing off my nose. ‘Frey’s Fripperies! We have an argr across the hall? That’s great news.’

...Did Riordan just turn historical trans folks into comedic relief? Trying to be supportive? Try walking around telling everyone how you loves tr**nies because that's what Jack did... also Halfborn, who we know isn't as open-minded as he claims, straightway sexualizes gnc ppl while being portrayed as straight:

‘You know, Frey’s priests were very fluid. During the harvest festival, they used to wear dresses and do some amazing dances–’

TJ's story of a transgender person he met in the past begins the narrative that a transgender person must prove their worth to compensate being somewhat "flawed", which Riordan continues to drag through the story over and over; in his narrative gender non-conformity and fluidity is strongly associated with being untrustworthy, tricky, coward, weak, not suitable for fighting, and incapable of heroism- which Alex have to break through and prove wrong on a daily basis.

"[...] [Loki] He’s fluid, unpredictable, untrustworthy – I don’t want to be like that.’

"[...]You can’t trust an argr in combat."

"[...] They serve their purposes. Some of the greatest priests and sorcerers were…’

‘I still don’t trust an argr to do this job–’

She has to be something extra in order to be accepted.

‘Not only that,’ Helgi added, ‘but such heroism from an argr!’

‘Ow!’ Halfborn complained. ‘You hit hard for an argr.’

‘The larger point,’ Thor butted in, ‘is that you’re not even a proper girl! You’re an argr!’ The air became still, like the moment before a thunderclap. I wasn’t sure which possibility scared me more, Thor attacking Alex, or Alex attacking Thor.

To note, canonically there hardly are any gnc people at Valhalla- suggesting that these stereotypes had been real in the past. She impresses everyone at Valhalla because they don't expect her to be able to such brave acts, treating trans (fem) people like a different human species. Magnus too, is fascinated with her because he finds it

hard to believe that a few hours ago those same delicate fingers had taken down a dragon – and cut off my head – with a wire.

And guess what, she's not the only trans character introduced! Here comes Loki- together they play GOOD TRANS vs BAD TRANS. Loki is like every negative trans stereotype introduced incarnated, no jokes. Good trans has to be nice (looking at u fandom), brave, sass, and help the main character. Bad trans tries to kill the main character, mind controls his kids, and tricks people to bed them.

Moreover, Alex has the ability to shape into any sort of animal, which is fine (and cool). But only given to transgender characters? Poor choice at best- it leaves the door open for headcanoning a trans character shape-shifting to solely fit society's mold of what a woman or man looks like. I've no problem with him being very gnc in appearance in terms of clothing, but "petite", "delicate fingers", "sharp and beautiful facial features" (Magnus is smitten I get it)... raise the bar pretty high for trans ppl as a representation, which is what I'm not 100% okay with. And-

Her genderfluidity and shape-shifiting are very strictly connected, believed to be hereditary (like how!! why it's canon!) and have some sort of a cause-effect relationship? Samirah looks down on her own shape-shifting (and why it's wrong- 'Oh no, fluidity is bad, makes you treacherous'):

‘Magnus, true shape-shifting isn’t like my hijab’s camouflage. Shape-shifting doesn’t just change your appearance. It changes you. Every time I do it, I feel… I feel more of my father’s nature trying to take hold of me. He’s fluid, unpredictable, untrustworthy – I don’t want to be like that.’

We don't really get to know about Alex's human form. Has she any control over it? When introduced everyone assumes she's a boy when she's clearly a girl. Even the (unfortunate) pronouns dialogue suggests she can't:

‘But you’re a shape-shifter,’ I said. ‘Can’t you just… you know, be whatever you want?’ Her darker eye twitched, as if I’d poked a sore spot.

But then she drops this:

"I can look like whatever or whoever I want. But my actual gender? No. [...]"

Rick, you tell me Alex can shape-shift into a different person but never does it for some reason? Have you ever heard of gender dysphoria? Does this mean she's probably able to voluntarily appear male while being a girl and vice versa, or can she take the shape of Magnus/Samirah/anybody? (Why didn't she make use it during the "suicidal bridal mission"?) Magnus notices his hair seems longer when he's a boy. In "9 from nine worlds", he noticeably "sounds male" to Amir (and that isn't impossible, voice manipulation is a thing)... This feels like a middle finger to trans people who don't have any control over their physical appearance/anatomy. Shape-shifting is cool but I'm tired of lazy storytelling where character's supernatural abilities validate their trans identity.

Again, looking at you fandom- stop shaming Alex for being confident! A tRaNs PeRsOn wOuLdN't CoRrEcT tHeIr PrOnOuNs LiKe ThAT my ass. Sometimes it's self-harmful to remain humble, patience is virtue etc. If she wasn't 'strong' enough nobody would ask and respect her, because, apparently even nordic undead warriors and gods are assholes: and that's what living as transgender person taught her, first in her own house (!!) and then on the streets. Her rough attitude is a coping, defensive mechanism. Guys, victims come in all shapes as everyone deals with trauma differently. She literally DIED and STILL gets misgendered. She owes them nothing. There are times when she appears unnecessary rude and defensive- which made me dislike her during my first read (internalized transphobia, self-hate, jealousy over her confidence, etc.):

‘Call me she? I’m gender fluid and transgender, idiot. Look it up if you need to, but it’s not my job to educate–’ ‘That’s not what I meant.’ ‘Oh, please. I saw your mouth hanging open.’

It's called 'defensive offence'. She assumed the worst based on her previous experiences, and decided to strike at Magnus. Despite of being unwilling and uncomfortable with this, till the rest of the story Alex's treated as a living dictionary because Magnus doesn't take time to look it up, and neither does Halfborn, TJ, or Mallory. Coming to her gender identity, Alex's her own prosecutor, judge, and defendant. Unfortunely, it comes out as a "trans person will eat you alive if you misgender them" trope.

Rick clearly didn't try to contact anyone to check his facts or look over imporant Alex's lines, as if he understood how it works. Maybe he 100% unironically listened to Alex (and thus his own advice, jokes aside) and looked it up himself, huh? Here's the comedy peak of his ignorance (Alex's pov in "9 from the Nine Worlds"). I'll never end cracking up over this:

Now I returned to my wheel. As I worked the slick spinning clay under my fingers, I felt myself undergo a subtle shift. I’d been identifying as male when I was with Mallory and Halfborn, and earlier, when I was with Samirah and her fiancé, Amir. Now I was female. And yes, the change really is that simple sometimes. Hence the term gender fluid. I was deep into my new pot when Jack suddenly leaped up from his stand. The runes running down his blade pulsed an alarming red. “Señor! Señor!” he cried. Then he paused as if looking at me. Again, hard to tell because of the whole no-eyes thing. Regardless, he picked up on my gender change. “Sorry. Señorita! Señorita!”

Now not only Magnus but also a talking sword can miraculously pick on Alex's gender without exchanging a word with her. "Undergoing a subtle change." ... WHAT. Can't say for other genderfluid folks but personally I've to be very self-focused and on time to be able to immediately tell something has changed (there were like two times in my entire life when I was hyper-aware when it happened (and it blew my mind). Most of the time it's a itchy feeling when I incorrectly gender verbs, and that's due to my native language) And you know what's wrong? Alex is treated as a trans representation, making it her main. character. trait. when canonically she's not comfortable with educating others, and does it out of necessity- as many trans people have to in real life, suffering from the pressure of a constant need to be prepared to defend their existence. Don't shame ppl for knowing their worth.

UPDATE: I said we don't know how Alex was treated outside of his home, where he was verbally and physically abused by his father. In fact, we get an idea of what it was like: that's what Magnus expects to see when he heals Alex. Last time, it was exactly what he saw as the most 'relevant' memory (showing how deeply hurt Alex was because of this, as a lot of time has passed since this). (Magnus remembers this, and 'gets' that Alex's been hurt and mistreated, which tbh tells a lot about his empathy.)

I steeled myself for more painful images. I was ready to face her awful father again, or see how badly Alex had been bullied at school, or how she’d been beaten up in the homeless shelters.

But what Magnus finds at the top of Alex's memories? Himself acting dorky. It's a hopeful moment, and leaves me with a thought maybe that's how Alex heals and makes peace with his past.

[yanderemontgomerygator]

who are u. ur so cool. I'm high on marijuana

thak yoy so muc!! :D i am yangerde montgomergy gagor! my pronons argre he/him abd i am boy! i 18, i arm a bad bjitch an i lov montgomrgy gato, duck, twerkig, an bernie sandar!!!! and i HAT. THE SMEL. OF THE BEAHCH.

if anyon want to talk t me, i hav an instagrum! @yanderemontgomerygator! i dunt hav any posts ther yet but i wil post there son! so fel fre to mesag! i lov talk ang making friend :) notificatons are a litle bugy thoug so if you mesag me i may not respon imedistely i applogiz.

an congrsats on the marjinunagua! i lov marjunigna i hav nevr had it but i am glad it is legl because geting high is poger for thos who want to. ihop yoyu get hgigh again!! :) [if yoy wan to]

[thevagueambition]

I meant to do this yesterday: 8 and 14 for the writeblr ask.

8. Which OC of yours is your favourite and why?

Hmm, god, do I have a favourite?? I love all of them but honestly it’s been a while since I thought about any of them, I’ve been so heavy into fanfic land lately... Hmm, this would be easier if my desktop worked and I could look through my art folder simply called “OCs” but I am still stuck with my laptop, rip

Let’s go with Sølve, one of my older ones

Sølve is a viking age mercenary. He’s one of the children Loki gave birth to, but was raised almost solely by his human father whom he doesn’t get along with. He’s known for being quite argr (ie “not performing the male gender role correctly”) and is probably something like genderfluid -- ie, he will sometimes put a dress on and use she/her and indeed there are some towns where people know him as female. 

Anyway, he went viking at an early age which was pretty harrowing because he’s afraid of open water after nearly drowning as a child. He’s a competent fighter, though, and made friends on the raid whom he’d later end up forming a mercenary band with. He tends to make a mess of things and pretends it’s either intentional or doesn’t matter to him, but he cares more than he’s willing to admit. I love him because he’s a chaotic dumbass who is ready and willing to defy the gods probably??? Dumbass

I really associate the opening lines of Eurovision winner song Heroes, of all things, with him: Don't tell the gods I left a mess / I can't undo what has been done / Let's run for cover 

14. Is there a specific moment you’re looking forward to when it comes to your WIP? Which one?

There are several really spicy dramatic conversations between Enjolras and Grantaire later in Elysium that I look forward to writing the rest of/writting the context of but I don’t want to get too specific. Aside from those, I look forward to getting into the lead up to the July Revolution. 

[harclay]

geoff harclay is averyl’s cousin by marriage and was one of the men w/ a technically superior claim to the chieftainship averyl now has. they’ve been friends, however, ever since she married his cousin; they’re of the same age and connected instantly, with geoff being averyl’s perennial sidekick. when she took control of the clan, he joined her as her second-in-command.

public opinion of the two of them is ambivalent, and virtually everything them and their relationship is a double-edged sword. geoff’s willingness to play second fiddle, despite his greater claim, adds legitimacy to averyl’s rule as chief, the implication being that she was the best choice and his respect for her means other people should respect her too; on the other hand, people suggest he’s waiting for averyl to die--or the opportunity to get rid of her himself--and is using his position to build up good opinion/a power base in the meantime. their friendship has been misread as a romantic relationship and some people think geoff was the real father of averyl’s children, and that they haven’t married now only as a way to avoid drawing attention to the truth; others think he’s a kind of miserable Nice Guy™ who isn’t strong enough to win averyl over sexually, so he hovers around her hoping she’ll change her mind. those people who have met averyl personally or who have heard rumors/stories about her argr nature add their own, usually homophobic twists to these stories.

geoff is all around a fairly straightforward, nice dude who, because of his closeness to averyl from a young age, kinda Got Woke really quickly in a way that many men of westeros have never had to do. his adolescence in the clan was very turbulent, violent, and troubled, as any difference from normative masculinity is harshly punished in their warrior culture, but his friendship with averyl was central to his ability to survive that without being pushed in a toxic direction. he can’t opt out of many aspects of masculinity in his world--violence and war, for one, are crucial to being a male member of the mountain clans, especially a noble one--but his awareness of norms and structures as norms and structures, rather than absolutes that were impossible to defy, made him capable of growing and processing rather than becoming emotionally stagnant.

[directionlessbuthappy]

Hit Me

Reader is a good shot. Ivar claims he’s better.

for reference: argr means “womanish” 

Taglist: steadypiepsychicflower cbouvier23

Taking in a breath. Lining up your finger to the eye. Exhaling. Releasing. Your arrow goes right through the deer’s eye.

The sons of Ragnar were always good sparring partners. Bjorn taught you how to shoot while you grew up alongside him in Hedeby. You decided to come with him to Katteget a few winters ago; it had been a few years since his father disappeared, and he seemed somber. You would be a bad friend to let him go alone.

This is how you met them so many years ago. Ubbe, Hvitserk, Sigurd, and Ivar, Bjorn’s half brothers.

Bjorn’s youngest brother seemed ever bristled by you. You could remember the first thing you ever said to Ivar. You were shooting alongside the four of them (Sigurd had elected to stay home) and you were the first to hit a bullseye into the neck of their small songbird targets. Ivar grumbled at his loss and muttered, “You were just lucky, not skilled.”

You snorted and shrugged nonchalantly at Ivar. You failed to hide your smirk of victory.

“Everyone is good at something.”

You found the more time you spent in Kattegat, the more you could see how Ivar disliked to lose. Arguments, fights, competitions. Ivar refused to fail at anything he started. Despite the fact that he was the one antagonizing these situations, you respect him and his drive to clean up his own mess. His legs did not stop him from being a man; a boneheaded, superiority complexed, stubborn man. Ivar the Boneless was not boneless; you felt that sometimes you were the only one who could see that. His brothers always referred to Ivar as “harmless.” You never once believed them. You thought this was why Ivar took a liking to taunting you the most.

“More luck, Ivar?” you chirped. You heard a harrumph off to the side as you stepped forward to retrieve your arrow. Leaves crunched under your feet as you walked to the target, taking the deer’s antler to roughly pull the arrow free. You’d just ripped it out when another arrow hit the deer between the eyes.

You stumbled back with a yelp. Ubbe began shouting.

“Ivar! She was retrieving an arrow, where is your honor brother?”

“She could see I was not finished,” Ivar shrugged. You turned to the arrow’s origin. The frown on your lips made your usually sparkling eyes sour. With reddened face, you ripped Ivar’s arrow free of the deer’s skull without looking. “Are you finished now?” you shouted across the field. Ivar laughed while his brothers shook their heads, dismayed at his foolishness.

“I was not going to hit you y/n.”

“Oh?” you said with a head tilt. You were still angry, so very angry… “Then prove it, Boneless.”

Ivar’s smug grin turned to a scowl. He hated when you called him that. His name held meaning, but his title was demeaning the way you used it by itself. He watched you with slow steam building in his ears; you had taken up the deer’s head and tossed it to the ground. Stepping aside, you knew these evergreen woods did not hold many fruit trees. So you improvised.

You took a pinecone, walked back to where the deer’s head had perched upon the half cut tree, and held your back to the short trunk. You put the pinecone on your head. Perhaps this was the first game of Russian roulette ever played. And Ivar was willing to spin.

“Wait, y/n, wait! What are you doing?” Ubbe protested. You smiled slightly.

“Do not worry Ubbe. Ivar is a good shot, he always says so. Apparently all my skill with a bow is luck. Let us see if your brother is as lucky as I, hmm?”

Ubbe shook his head and turned, muttering something to Ivar. You could not hear it.

“Do not do this brother. She is offended, be nice and she’ll stop this.”

“Why would I do that? She just wants to be right. Let her be right…or not.”

“Ivar, this isn’t fair,” Bjorn stepped up. “If you miss…”

“She is just being argr,” Hvitserk added. “All girls are this way. You should ignore it.”

“You doubt me too dear Hvitserk?” Ivar suggested. “If I miss and hit her, at least she will not be nagging in my ear anymore. But I do not miss. Besides, I did not put her back against that tree, did I?”

His brothers fall silent. If you wanted to play games, no man could stop you. You observed this conversation with slightly confusion, not knowing what it was they talked about, but you could see it was over and Ivar was ready to shoot.

You stood flat on your feet, hands to your sides, nervous to even lift a finger out of place. You were giving Ivar every opportunity to kill you. He really could. Your head was much smaller than a deer’s, and although easier to miss, your head was alive. The stag’s head was not.

Ivar shifted in his seat and picked out his arrow. Along the other side of the field you stood motionless, waiting, blood pumping in your chest and through your veins faster and faster. It was almost thrilling, if you hadn’t noticed the gleam in Ivar’s eye. You considered for a moment why you were gambling. Was this your anger talking, or did you trust him? Either way, he shot the arrow.

The breeze hit you across the face and for a moment, you were convinced he hit you in the chest. The pinecone did not fall off your head. You reached for your neck; there was nothing sticking out of it. You realized you forgot to breath and sucked in a gasp of air.

Jumping away from the tree and looking up, you saw what happened. The pinecone was pinned to the trunk, half the arrow inside the bark. Ivar used full force and had pulled all the way back on the bowstring to make that arrow hit so deeply. Either it was confidence, or the urge to kill…

You turned with shuttering breath to see Ivar chuckling. He turned to Ubbe and nodded in your direction as your legs willed themselves to walk back to the shooting line.

“I told you, I do not miss.”

[norsesuggestions]

please give me a source for that "crime to call someone a bottom" thing it sounds amazing

here from wikipedia, search word “ergi”

Ergi (noun) and argr (adjective) are two Old Norse terms of insult, denoting effeminacy or other unmanly behavior. Argr (also ragr) is “unmanly” and ergi is “unmanliness”; the terms have cognates in other Germanic languages such as earh, earg, arag, arug, and so on.

Ergi in the Viking Age

To accuse another man of being argr was called scolding (see nīþ), and thus a legal reason to challenge the accuser in holmgang. If holmgang was refused by the accused, he could be outlawed (full outlawry), as this refusal proved that the accuser was right and the accused was argr (= unmanly, cowardly). If the accused fought successfully in holmgang and had thus proven that he was not argr, the scolding was considered what was in Old English called eacan, an unjustified, severe defamation, and the accuser had to pay the offended party full compensation. The Gray Goose Laws states:

There are three words—should exchanges between people ever reach such dire limits—which all have full outlawry as the penalty; if a man calls another ragr, stroðinn or sorðinn. As they are to be prosecuted like other fullréttisorð and, what is more, a man has the right to kill in retaliation for these three words. He has the right to kill in retaliation on their account over the same period as he has the right to kill on account of women, in both cases up the next General Assembly. The man who utters these words falls with forfeit immunity at the hands of anyone who accompanies the man about whom they were uttered to the place of their encounter.[1]

The practice of seiðr (sorcery) was considered ergi in the Viking Age, and in Icelandic accounts and medieval Scandinavian laws, the term argr had connotations of a receptive, passive role of a freeborn man during homosexual intercourse. There are no written records of how the northern people thought of homosexuality before this conversion.

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergi

oh and also here!

Níð, argr, ragr and ergi

Ergi and argr (Wendish ‘inclosure’) or ragr (Wendish ‘entrance’) can be regarded as specifying swearwords. Ergi, argr and ragr were the severe insults made by calling someone a coward, and due to its severity old Scandinavian laws demanded retribution for this accusation if it had turned out unjustified. The Icelandic Gray Goose Laws[2] referred to three words that were regarded as equal to argr by themselves. Those were ragr, strodinn, and sordinn, all three meaning the passive role of a man included in same-sex activities among males.[3] Another semantic belonging to argr, ragr and ergi was, from the Gray Goose, “being a sorcerer’s friend.”

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C4%AB%C3%BE

i am no expert of gayness in the viking age, but this is what the joke refers too in my previous post.

as the text points out, these laws and customs are all written down when the norse were christian, so that is something to keep in mind. and i am sure there are lots of persepectives of these laws which are not presented in the wiki text.

but, anyway, bottom = ergi is a possible way to translate ergi in this context. and thats the basis of the joke ;P

[airisdonxem]

My beautiful OC, Sati Argred. Art by https://m.vk.com/lilitmanga

[thorraborinn]

So I have a couple friends in Norway, one who grew up on the countryside whose family have some folk traditions, and one who lives in the city but has a great interest in folklore. Both of them are baffled and appalled at the idea that anyone would want to work with vættir, as they say those are evil. A better bet might be tusser. Now that's not a term I can find much English info on. At first I assumed we are all mistaken, but could it be that vættir is something different in Icelandic?

I’m not so familiar with Norwegian folk customs but yeah, the word vættr as we tend to use it in the sort of general discourse is heavily influenced by Icelandic and even the Icelandic huldufólk ‘hidden-people.’ In Old Norse anything living was a vættr (this itself a narrowing of meaning as it originally just meant ‘thing’). I think the best translation of ON vættr into Norwegian would probably be vesen. Óðinn and Loki both get called rǫg vættr ‘ragr/argr wight’ in various sources. In some places it might have been used in place of specifically harmful or troublesome wights until that became the primary meaning. Whereas in Icelandic it typically refers to the four landvættir guardians of Iceland. Icelandic conceptions of invisible beings may also have been influenced somewhat by folk custom from the British isles that didn’t reach the Scandinavian peninsula. Of course even the more positive of them were always considered potentially dangerous. 

In Scandinavian I know there is at least some linguistic remodeling that might point to a strong perceived connection between vættir and jǫtnar resulting in vætte/vätte and jætte/jätte. Although I don’t think that happened in Norway specifically.

The word tusser is cognate to þursar (/þussar) which are far more explicitly dangerous than vættir both in Old Norse and even moreso in Modern Icelandic. (The re-borrowing back into Icelandic, tussa, is one of the most offensive things you can say in Icelandic, especially to a woman, btw. Don’t do it). But lexical drift works in mysterious ways. Based on the descriptions on Bokmål WIkipedia and Den Store Norske leksikon I’d say tusser sound an awful lot like what I’d tend to call huldufólk (note that they have to translate þurs, and to Norwegian troll rather than tuss).

I don’t actually know why a Norwegian would consider a vette more dangerous than a tusse but if Norwegian folk custom is as diverse as its dialects it seems very reasonable to me that it could be a regional thing.

I wonder if your friends recognize alver/alvar and if they would include them under the subheading of vætte/vetter.

Maybe @hedendom would have something to say about this. Whatever you find out, I would be interested in hearing about it.

[apolla62200]

My lord, My liege.

Summary: Tessa is aspiring to be a sheild madien to avenge the death of her village and her father. being taken under the wing of her cheif she slowly learns the ways of a warrior while also learning what it is to be a woman.

Warnings: viking themes/violence/slight smut/ knife kink?

A/N: so this is my first story on tumbler ever so enjoy and please overlook any spelling or grammar mistakes. Shout out to @lovelynemesis for helping me with this, and go check out our combined efforts on dark lovers. Its Amazing i promise. The gif is not mine but thx for whoever bogged it i just felt like this set the theme for the beginning. 

Chapter one: 

Timing. Timing was life or death in a combat situation. Lunge, block, dodge, repeat. She must become one with her weapon. feel the splintered wood against her calloused palm. Lunge, block, dodge, repeat. See every move before it happened and counter accordingly. Lunge, block, dodge, repeat. Hear every sound to determine if anyone tried to ambush and take her from behind. Lunge, block, dodge, repeat. Smell the desperation on her opponents skin. Lunge, block, dodge, repeat. Taste the feeling of victory only to have it violently ripped away from her. Lunge, block, dodge repeat.

" You did well" the man told her, a well earned smirk plastered across his face. the man, whom had given her everything and still found reason to taunt her. " I could've done better" she protested rising to her feet and dusting off her torn tunic. " Tessa you're too hard on yourself, You've come a long way since this morning." he said offering a hand to which she politely refused. " I beg pardon my liege but we both know, had i blocked that last jab, the match would've lasted much longer." Her cheif gave her a sad smile, seeing her for what she really was. " Again" she prompted, grabbing the axe from the ground and shifting into a battle ready stance. " We've done enough for today." her cheif said, his face hardening with concern, his voice tight with the command. "Please James, one more time. I know i can do better" Tessa pleaded, desperate for a second chance. " No" James repeated turning to walk away resovled in knowing  she needed rest. He heard her before he saw her. her torn tunic made a slight ruffle against the wind and her cloth boots crunched with the ground as she shifted stances. Turning to meet her strike, he blocked her attack and pushed her back ,   laughing at her failed attempt at an ambush. " you dont know when to quit do you?" James asked shifting into his preferred sparring stance. now it was her who smirked at him." Wasn't that lesson one?"

Entering the winter clan village was nothing knew to steve. By now it's people knew him well enough to welcome him and most directed him to thier cheif,knowing he was here on business from the look on his face. However he did not expect the chieftain to be in the chock hold of an angry madien. The madien had her axe at James windpipe pulling hard and yet just as he saw it, it was goneand the madien was on her back with james axe at her chest. The madien said something to James causing him to burst with laughter. removing his axe he offered her a hand to which she exepted. During the spar a tight feeling had grown within steves chest almost like anger. " Jealousy" he realizedas he took in the madien properly. Her hair was a golden chestnut pulled to the crown of her head and her as were as blue as the rivers of Asgard. Her smile was enough to make any man weak at the knees, and was filled with mirth. In truth she was a beautiful madien and steve couldn't help but be fixated on her lips. The soft pink curve of her top lip and the plump plushness of her bottom. He had a fleeting thought of what those lips would look like stretched around him. As if sensing his thoughts James turned turned to face him, his famous smirk resting on his face. James turned to dismiss the madien and she made the most sultrous pout, it had steve wondering if she was even aware she was doing it. He laughed and patted her head, cauing her to narrow her eyes in a heated glare. he sent her away and allowing steve to make his way over to where he stood." You need not have such jealous thoughts, or such lustful ones for that matter. Had i not known better i would say you were ready to pounce and ravish her" James teased picking up his axe from the ground, and throwing it over his shoulder. " I admit, I am not accustom to seeing you interact with madiens in such a manner. She seems to hold her own well, what was the cause of such a vigorous spar," James laughed at steve and smirked harder at his question" she is acually my apprentice, she wished to beome a sheildmaiden" Steve stopped short of his next words. Sure sheildmaiden were not unheard of, take lady sif for example, but , most preferred to stay at home, to care for the young and complete daily chores for the household. As if once again reading his thoughts James supplied with" she doesn't hail from our village. She was rescued from a village nearby that had been raided and burned. Her mannerism are a bit... different so no one was willing to take her in. Natasha, the madien that runs the mead hall, took to making sure she was fed, and dressed warmly. the twins of our elder where her only friends. she grew watching me and the sons of the village warriors spar with father and eventually took to sparring with us, but upon my fathers passing the warriors shunned her and put an end to her  training. I remember when i first asked her to be my apprentice, i had just broken up a fight between her and the son of my fathers top warrior. He walked away from the fight in a worse condition than she did, if that tells you anything" Bucky laughed and turned, looking the way she had gone." she hold you high among the gods, just as much as lady sif. She vaules you two more than the all father, and his wisdom. she hold true to her vengeance, and swears to avenge her village."  Steve smiled at this information, proud to hear of her admirince towards him. The rest of the day was spent sparring and discussing random things, that was until a madien with hair of blood came running towards James. " My liege ,my leige" she panted between breaths" theres a brawl in the mead hall" she finished once she regained her breath. " there is a brawl almost every fornight natasha" James said confused on her reasoning of informing him. " It's about Tessa, He wants to kill her."

All Tessa wanted was a pint of mead.Thats all she wanted.That was until they came up behiend her with sneers on thier faces. Kadr, the eldest of the group. came up and swung his arm around her waist. She tensed up and and gripped her mug with a vice." Remove your arm or I will remove it for you." she growled through her teeth. Kadr laughed at her and tightned his grip." Oh, come on Tessa" he slurred, the stench of alcohol strong on his breath.  " Come back to my hut tonight and we'll give you an unforgettable night." she snatched his arm from around her and snarled in his direction. " the only thing i dont want to forget about this night is the look on your face, when i kick you ushit'r face into next thorsady." The statment sobered him up a bit anger fueling his actions. he lunged foward and grabbed her throat pushing her into the wall " listen here you liitle whore" he hissed cutting off her air supply. " your lucky i took pity on you, no one in this village will ever want you" Blck spots began to cover her already blurry vison and in an act of defense she geared up and kneed hin in the grion, wincing as her lunges refilled with oxygen. " You argr" she wheezed knowing that that statment could very well have her killed. Kadr straighten up and drew his axe Your dead now bikkja" He snarled and charged only to have his axe be met with hers. " Stand down kadr'' tessa commanded breaking to clash to advance. When she knocked his axe out of his hands she threw her to the side and began to pound on him. the fight was a blur of fist and snarles, it was only when tessa had kadr on the ground unconscious did someone try to remove her. She turned on the man a wild feral look in her eyes and clipped him on the left cheekbone.  quickly she came to her senses and realized who it was she had hit. The men in the hall scattered as she fell to her knees at the god and cheif before her. " My lord, my liege, please forgive my transgression i was not myself and knew not who sought to handle me."

James was not the least bit remorseful to say the moment tessa hit her knees , several sinful thoughts of the many things he could do to her swarmed his mind. And a glance to the side told him steve was having a similar situation. In truth james had lusted after tessa many times but he and his lover always disscussed bedding another woman beforehand.  Now seeing steve feel the same as he towards this madien bucky saw the unspoken truth. Steve wanted her, and so did he. They have loved eachother since the day bucky risked his life for steve on the battlefeild but they both new neither could give them a child. soon bucky would need an hier to the winter clan and steve would want a son he could bost about during  the long banquets of asgurd. thay had considered finding a woman, many seemed willing but none would have them both as a lover and a parnter. it was also hard finding one that could keep up with both of them. it was time to she if she was up for the challange. Tessa led the pair to James hut, determined to right the wrong she had commited. leading them in like she owned the place, tessa sat james down on his bedspace allowing steve to take the chair to her right. She quickly left, and returned with a bowl of clean water and a cloth, and set to work cleaning the wound she had inflicted. She situated herself betweens James legs and softly hummed as she dabbed the wound.  James lifted his gaze to meet steve starring unabashedly at tessa's ass.  Thier gazes met and an entire conversation was had with one look, hunger taking over thier eyes. James raised his hands and slowy traced the outline of her thighs where she sat before him. she froze for moment and he wondered if he had gone to far, but she soon unfroze and continued on as if nothing was happening. but both men noticed the slight hitch in her breath as James grazed past her hips and traced patterns into her ribcage. " my liege" she whimpered when she felt steve come behind her and remove the cloth from her hands returning it to the bowl. " Yes Tessa" he answered nodding at steve letting him know he knew tessa well enough to know if she didn't want this she would have already kicked both thier asses. steve traced the edges of her tunic where strings met cloth, slowly losing each knot. " my liege " she whimpered again falling forward when she felt the pads of steves fingers brush the skin of her neck. James pulled her into his lap and grazed his lips upon hers." Waht do you want, Tessa?" james asked slowly sliding the shoulder of her tunic down to reveal her skin to him. " I dont know" She replied. James laughed at her response, and nodded at steve who unsheathed his knife and cut the rest of her tunic away, leaving her bare before them. Her gasp was drowned out by james groan, hunger darkening his eyes as he lay sight on her chest. James rose and flipped them so that she was on her back, her skin ivory against the darkness of the furs. " Tell me what you want tessa" James growled, " Oh so help me thor, we will take everything you have to give and more." tessa gasped but otherwise remained silent, a coy smile resting on her face. James chuckled darkly and smirked at her." Your going to wish you had spoke up" Steve situated himself so that he was seated beside him with a full view of both his lovers. he watched as James ripped her hands away from her chest and pinned them above her head, and slowly lowered himself down so he was even with the creamy mounts of flesh he so badly desired. Steve watched her chest heave as the excitement rushed through her viens, her skin flushed and her cheeks rosy. James reached u to cupped her breast, rolling the small pink bud between his fingertips as he left a trail of wet kisses from the valley between her breasts all the way to her neck. He bit gently and Tessa moaned softly at the new feeling. whining she bucked against him, not knowing what to do with this on slough of new sensations. Laughing at her desperation James began to ravish her in honest causing the most sinful noises to fall from her lips when he pulled her bud between his teeth. Arching forward she silently begged for more, which James supplied graciously. He devoured, taking everything he could, but haply giving back twice fold. Tessa overcome with the sensation of James full affection, and the burning stares of her godly lover began to slip away into oblivion, feeling like she was ascending into Valhalla.

[zephiraz]

My hunter and most of his pets. Blue, his starting kitty cat, wasn’t playing nice with posing, so she sat in the stable.

From left to right: Grizzlegut, Echeyakee, Goldwing, and Sunwing.

(Echeyakee and Blue were being jerks and not unstealthing anyway)

[eleven-pipers-piping]

thanks for being so chill! basically, it is great that she (im gonna use she for now because its convenient and thats most common for her) is so confident in her gender identity, but the first thing is that a lot of genderfluid people use the pronouns they/them some of the time (i do all the time because i am too tired to constantly be telling people what pronouns to use) and she talks about the they/them pronouns kinda disdainfully, like she says that if other people want to use they/them thats fine "but i change a lot. thats sort of the point." which completely ignores the possibility of people like me, who are tired of correcting people daily, or fluid people who move between boy, girl and agender, etc. and implies that no fluid ppl use they bc we "change a lot". if she had said "for me personally, i only use he and she, because i flip between girl and boy, so i will let you know when i want you to call me what." that leaves it open for people like me to still exist

also she talks as if rickald copied and pasted a wikipedia definition of genderfluid and then tried and failed to finesse it into being actual dialogue. and then she talks completely differently for the rest of her time when shes not talking abt fluidity. there was also definitely an easier way of mentioning her fluidity and slipping it in there, the way he did it was really awkward and stilted. she occasionally would announce to the room how fluidity works and what pronouns she was using, and obviously yes she has weapons and she fierce and blah blah blah but people dont do that. people get tired of explaining time after time after time, thats why people dont want to explain in the first place, because it takes so much energy and its so frustrating to be expected to educate everyone on your gender.

then there is how people are written as percieving her. halfborn, since he no comprendo her gender, calls her an "argr", and she reacts as if that is a comment on her gender but in norse it just means bad or angry. its not even a noun, its an adjective, wtf rick can u not google things? and when she reacts, she again turns into a teacher to everyone, which wouldnt be how someone reacts, especially if, as its implied she has, they have repeatedly said that a term is offensive or incorrect. they would react with way more annoyance, and they would not try to reiterate, unless theyre extremely patient, which, from how shes written, she isnt! shes all over the place for no fuckin reason. and mallory tried to protest calling alex she the first time they met, and alex becomes a teacher, which actually isnt that bad since they just met but shes still not really a teacher-type for the rest of her interactions.

and then we have magnus. fucking magnus. who can magically tell when alex is a he and when alex is a she. no. stop. stop it now rickald. stop please. yes, when i am a boi i walk a little different than when im a girl, but people do not notice because they dont notice, or they dont have enough information. we act a little differently based on our current pronouns but for fucks sake, you cant magically tell by looking at us, no matter how woke you want magnus to be. this is especially annoying because magnus literally says he doesnt get the genderfluidity, but can still magically tell when alex's gender changes, something that usually doesnt happen suddenly, at a snap of the fingers and something that the person themselves will sometimes not notice. so stop, rickald, because you are going to give kids the impression that they too will be magically able to tell what their nb friends' gender is, and that leads to conflict, and relearning everything.

tl:dr, alex is a caricature of a genderfluid person and obviously rank did a quick google search, didnt do any deeper research, definitely didnt talk to any genderfluid people or ask a genderfluid person to look over alex's scenes, but still thought he could write her correctly, but failed and refuses to admit it. as per usual.

no research, no conversations with real people, just rick assuming hes perfectly correct, as always. (sorry this was so long i really went off oh boi)

im actually not a big fan of alex fierro, or at least how dear old rickald wrote her. im genderfluid, and i have some other nb and genderfluid friends, and shes such a caricature of how an actual genderfluid person acts. i like her as a concept, but as with everything rickald does, the execution was absolutely terrible. just thought i would put that out there (not trying to be rude, if im being rude im sorry)

oh! no you’re not being rude don’t worry!!! i’m not trans myself, and i don’t know the extent of how badly trans folks are treated, but i do know that y’all face a lot of hardships and discrimination. i was so happy when rick introduced a genderfluid character, it actually helped me learn a little more about trans issues and identities and stuff cuz i did some research after reading. i didn’t know she was written like a caricature, likely because of my own ignorance as to what it’s like to be genderfluid. thank you for telling me this. i do think that rick did a good thing in introducing a genderfluid character, but if the way he did it is offensive to trans folks, i won’t talk over y’all. would you mind telling me specifically what’s wrong with alex’s character portrayal? not trying to sound like an idiot, but i don’t particularly understand your stance. but i want to!! you don’t have to explain but it’d be cool if you did, i’d like to know more so i can identify stuff like this in the future !! (also thank you so much for this ask, i really appreciate it!!!)