#i don't know if anyone does vikings tbh

[margridarnauds]

What would you recommend to an aspiring Celticist for a tattoo? My sister wants to get matching Celtic tattoos, and while I’ve started to study Celtic mythology, I’m definitely no expert lol. I know a lot of symbols you’d find on the internet are bullshit, and a lot of the real ones have a ton of baggage associated with them (literally the first thing I told my sis when she brought this up was that we had to be careful & do our research when picking these out bcs the nazis looove that shit). But what would you recommend? Is there anything we should definitely steer clear of? Thanks!!

I'm going to either be really helpful or really non-helpful: A lot of this will depend on you and your sister.

Like, for me, when I've thought of Celtic-inspired tattoos, they're always things that are very personal to me. Like, for example, Bres' name in Ogham on my wrist, since it's always been him and me surviving this together, the Children of Lir, because that's a personal good luck symbol (yes, the most notoriously UNLUCKY story in the Mythological Cycle -- I have a Children of Lir necklace that I wore when I was giving my Capstone Presentation in my undergrad, and I've worn it to every talk I've ever given, even to my interview with my current program), an image of an owl (for Blodeuedd) or something like the Pictish Beast, since I love marine animals and waterhorses in the folkloric tradition. So, I'd look at what appeals to you and your sister, your relationship, shared interests, etc.

There's only one Celtic image that's formally been designated as being a potential white supremacist symbol by the anti-defamation league, and that is the Celtic Cross.

This is the image that most white supremacists will use, you'll notice that it has very short ends.

This is the more traditional Celtic cross -- you'll see these in just about every single tourist shop in Ireland, as well as in cemeteries. I'd be lying if I said that I don't still feel a bit of a jolt whenever I see the regular one in a tattoo; it shouldn't, because it's an image that is emblematic of Irishness and Irish heritage. And I don't feel that way about, say, a necklace, but a tattoo is much more different to me. It's permanent, it's...intimate. So I would suggest staying away from either version, even though the one at the bottom is NOT the one that has been appropriated by white supremacists.

I also tend to be distrustful of people who have like....mixed Celtic and Nordic symbols. Like, the Vikings did settle in Ireland, some Irish words are based in Norse terms, Cork, Dublin, and Waterford are Viking cities originally, there are a lot of folktales in common between Ireland and Norway, there are historic links there. That being said, anyone who treats them as being interchangeable (the term "Nordic-Celtic" makes me shudder whenever I see it in an organization's name and, no, I do not give a single fuck if you say that you aren't THAT kind of Nordic Celtic) raises my fight or flight response. Like, they're both part of this implicit idea of White Warrior Male Culture. But that's not a problem unless you're getting multiple tattoos. (Tbh, if I see a random Celtic knot on someone...I might think 'white supremacist' or I might think 'Irish American', it depends on everything else.)

...also a Celtic knot world tree symbol. Not because they're white supremacist, but because it isn't really based strongly in the Irish tradition.

Quite a few people in the field will get ogham tattoos, especially in Modern or Old Irish, possibly using a word or phrase that's important to them. One friend of mine has one that is a phrase that is related to their health problems and reflects their fortitude. You might get an image based on a particular story (I might actually choose the Children of Lir, just because, everything else about it aside...it does contain a really strong sibling relationship.)

Basically: Why do you want a Celtic-inspired tattoo (from any of the various Celtic cultures?) What are you interested in? What speaks to you as people?

[grimmgrinningghouls]

Ark map tier list?

ark map tier list. for u anon. I'll even give u a whole breakdown cause I love talking about this game.

S Tier

Ragnarok - I remember when rag released and everyone lost their goddamn minds. It was and still is such a good map, I remember the frantic rush to be the first on the server to have griffins or steal wyvern eggs, especially ice wyvern eggs. Ragnarok is an absolutely beautiful map and I've built some of my all time fav bases on there, I'll have to see if I can find some pics. It has a lot to it in terms of creatures, caves, base locations, and scenery. Its got a lot to it, and theres even a good amount of hidden easter eggs if you look hard enough. I'd very much recommend rag for any beginner ark players out there, trust me it is easier than the island lol. plus u can get dragons.

Fjordur - Fjordur is just....such an amazing map I don't even have words. Nekatus really outdid himself. It is beyond gorgeous, like, some jaw-droppingly beautiful scenery. It has so much to it, there's so many places to go and so many things to explore, so many secrets to find, so many bosses to kill and so many creatures to tame. I will say I am a little disappointed in Fenrir, but hey, nothin a mod can't fix. Or a lil bit of research on the inis for console players. Plus, all the realms are just so fucking cool. Me and my friends built a massive Viking village in Asgard, I'll make sure to get pics next time I'm on that server. The caves r so fun, and all the bossfights are amazing. I really, really love the boss system they had set up. Its so unique and gave us so much to do, plus the final boss, fenrisulfr (pronoucned fenris-ulver btw) is such a fun fight. I had an absolute blast, also I absolutely love the new dinos. Much more than the lost island ones but we'll get to that.

Aberration - Screaming and frothing at the mouth. How do I even begin to describe how amazing aberration is. Its a hauntingly beautiful map, and the lore is so good. Did you know that you can hear the whispers of the survivors rockwell killed and trapped? its creepy as hell but its just so cool. its just such a unique experience as compared to the rest of ark. Theres no flyers, yet its got some of the most dangerous dinos in the game lurking around every corner. Aberration and scorched are tied for the hardest map imo. Its super fun to play on, and in terms of creatures its got some of the best new ones. I love rock drakes I would die for them.

A Tier

The island - I'll be honest, this ones mostly just here cause of nostalgia lol. I've been playing since day 1, I remember ark before it even had all its biomes. I remember a time when the volcano was just a mountain with a hole in the top, a time when pvp was just a bunch of naked people running around with bolas and spears, when having a rex made you a god, and most of all: When mammoths had buttholes and sabers had nutsacks. Sorry I had too lol. But anyways, the islands still a pretty solid map. Its like, the base map that everyone starts out on but its harder than a lot of the maps lol. Its extremely fun, and it has some fun caves. The boss fights will always be classics to me, Does anyone else remember when the monkey's boulders could hurt the rider? that was fun. The island may not be the best map, but it always has a special place in my heart.

Extinction - Not a ton to say about extinction, its certainly a fun map and the creatures are pretty amazing, I love adhd puppies and turret raptors lol. But its not that fun to actually like, survive on. Extinctions more fun when ur playing on a cluster with access to other maps. I do like OSD's and the boss fights are fr some of the best in the game, and I absolutely adore the ost. Probably my fave tbh lol

Crystal isles - This map is like, beyond beautiful and I do really, really like the crystal wyverns. But it was rather disappointing, I mean we all kinda expected them to remove the cool variants and stuff, but I feel like removing most of the cool variants the original mod had took away a lot from the maps charm. Plus, the removal of rock drakes was just such a let down for me. I do quite like the map still, and its very fun to play on and build bases on, as well as the wyverns, they're super fun, but it doesn't do much to compel me to play on it besides just getting crystal wyverns.

B Tier

Lost island - The big thing that tanks this map for me is its new creatures. Lost islands fun ig, but it just feels like an upgraded version of the island. Its pretty, and it does have manas so yay, but still. Its fun, but there's nothing that really makes it stand out besides being the only free map with manas on it. And as I mentioned before, I really do not like the new creatures. The dinopithecus is just a reskinned thyla with the Ferox's animation, I guess it has the poop stuff but it's just a very underwhelming creature. I feel like people voted for it more because of the memes than actually wanting it. The amargas…okay, I guess. but it doesn't really add anything and is a huge pain to tame, it doesn't feel very worth it. The Sinos prolly the best out of the 3, its a pretty good travel dino, and I call them rich man's glide suits lol. Also I hate the boss fight and the caves are very much not fun.

Gen 2 - Don't get me wrong, I do like gen 2, and I feel like it approved upon a lot of gen 1's issues and added some super awesome new items into the game, but it also completely destroyed the pvp meta lol. This is very much just personal preference, but I'm not super big on all the tek sci fi stuff. I mean it is fun to use the tek bow as well as like the hoversail. Gen 2 was very heavily biased towards the pvpers, which isn't bad, but as a pve player its just that a lot of the new dinos and items aren't worth getting for me. The stryder is useful I guess but being unable to cryo it...oof lol. Maewings and shadowmanes are also useful, but like the Noglin, Astrodelphis, and Voidwyrm are completely useless in pvp. The delphis is just a fancy way to get around, the Noglin has zero use in pve, and the voidwyrm is just a wyvern that doesn't do breath dmg. They're all cool lookin dinos I guess, but again just not much of a reason for me to tame them since they're a pain in the ass. I like gen 2's scenery, rockwells garden and the eden zone are cool and pretty but to me, they aren't as pretty as like fjordur or aberration. The R-dinos were cool, but I can get all those on other maps. Cool map, and it sent ark out with a bang, but still its meh for me.

Valguero - I do quite like it, but I don't like it enuf to put it on A tier lol. I adore deinonychus and its a pretty fun map to run around on, its also super pretty and I have built some dope ass bases, but its still just not a map I play on much or have much of a reason to go on. I can get deinons on a ton of different maps, so I pretty much go over there to make a cool base lol.

C Tier

Theres only one map on here lol. I do kinda like scorched, its fun, but its just not super enjoyable. I don't hate it or anything, but I don't consider it as good as anything on B tier. It gave us wyverns and has some good base locations, as well as being the first story map, it does offer a pretty fun challenge but much like extinction its more fun on a cluster than it is alone. Its caves are like, super fun tho, I love scorched's caves and I always have a blast doing them. Buuut I wouldn't say they're like, as good as fjordurs or anything. Okayish map, just not a fav.

D Tier

Gen 1 - eugh...I made a whole other post for gen 1 and this is getting long so imma just link that and give a summary here: the missions suck balls, its biomes are lame, and I don't like it lol.

The center - I'll be honest, I totally forgot this existed lol. I do not like the center. I know its fun for pvpers but eh. It was fun back in the day, but nowadays you can just go spend ur time on another map and have more fun. I don't really like the scenery either, very, very forgettable and idk anyone who goes over to the center for any reason lol.

and thats it! sorry for the long post I love ark and I love talking abt it.

[collxctivehxarts-blog]

I have no self control, and so I have added Lagertha to my muses.

[gwynbleiddyn]

LOKI/BASIM/THAT WHOLE THINGAMY GO

OH BUDDY OH BOY i have many thoughts and most of them are incoherent yelling first impression big eyes emoji when he showed up on the docks because ofc playing an assassins creed game warranted something of the ilk showing up, and up until that point i'd been playing blind with no idea how vikings related to anything remotely assassin-y

so first impressions were: oh here they are and oh there's the missing finger and OH his friend looks cute

but for LOKI........ i was delighted. utterly delighted, because norse mythology slaps and it's fucking ridiculous and i absolutely loved havi because HE'S JUST FUCKING TERRIBLE and to have him juxtaposed by loki being sus as shit just [chef kiss] i love that dysfunctional dynamic so much

impression now

like i get it, as an AC ??? antagonist??? what the fuck is basim i dont know, but for what he IS, he does a good job of it as a character and i respect that!! very well written, and carlo rota did a fantastic job with him.

but sometimes (all the time) i think about how if he had never showed up in sigurd's life, eivor wouldn't have almost lost his brother for good. and yeah i get the irony of loki being the one losing his family to havi but man, it hurts, and then i think about the sheer torture sigurd went through, and how basically every single dream he'd chased was taken from him and [incoherent screaming]

so i don't like basim on a very simple level of "hey this dude ruined the lives of my faves that sucks bro"

and loki...... ohhhh loki..........

i will say the bleeding effect is very interesting and has some implications for eivor that do make me wonder sometimes how far eivor is going to go to unbind his fate from havi's

favorite moment

the campfire scene was really strong and tbh, still sits up there with me for fave valhalla scenes. but the dialogue in cent where you're riding somewhere with basim and he's talking about where he came from and the people he loved and all that jazz, that was a really nice touch to the story and i appreciated that ubi gave us those little moments for basim as a character

and for loki it's the moment he reveals fenrir is his blood and havi is just furious. fucking loved that scene

idea for a story

i would prefer less storytime with basim please everything always goes WRONG

however i would REALLY love to see havi and loki on a mission together in classic "everything's gone to hell in a handbasket and this is our only option" fashion, bonus points for mythology references but extra bonus points for havi and loki trying to pass thor off as a bride

unpopular opinion

basim's... okay??? i wasn't blown away by him, but i generally fall into the camp of "the assassins/hidden ones are kind of boring and i just play these games for the historical aspect" so my word isn't worth shit LOL i think i just got super confused by the lore and it just put me off him by the end

favorite relationship

i don't think i have one for basim D: i don't see him with anyone in a romantic sense, and even platonically im like "be nicer to your friends damn"

loki and havi definitely have one of my fave dynamics tho, the constant bickering but the oathsworn bond they can't really break??? chef kiss

favorite headcanon

i can't really consider one, if there's an infinite tree of possibilities then i'd really fucking dig a timeline where basim is able to be separated from loki because then i think i'd enjoy him

send me a character and i’ll tell you what i think of them!

[couldnt-think-of-a-better-name]

TPN History Theory

So chapter 141 finally gave as more info on the Promise from a 1000 years ago and ofc I couldn't help myself from geeking out in trying to correlate the new characters with historical figures!

The chapter said that the group of 6 working together included collaboration of different nations, and they are obviously mostly European in facial features and clothes. We don't know when exactly the promise was made, but a 1000 years ago should be around 1000-1050AD.

This was a turbulent time in European history, but the 6 biggest players in terms of nations were:

Kingdom of France (normans)

Kingdom of England (saxons)

Kingdom of Denmark (vikings)

Holy Roman Empire (germans, italians and czech)

Caliphate of Cordóba (spanish and north africans)

Byzantine Empire (greek, balkan and turk)

So based on cultures, here is my guess on how our new characters map out!

(Note that the Caliphate of Cordóba is labelled Muslim Spain on the map, also Normandy is the same colour as England because even though the normans were originally vassals of the French kingdom, they conquered England in the 2nd half of the 11th century...)

Okay, so let me explain how I arrived at my conclusions, and how the heraldry is related.

First off, I don't think Julius Ratri is based off of a real historical figure. Once the demon world was separated, he had to leave the human world to be the ambassador inside the demon world, so of course there would be no historical records of him.

Julius is most likely a nod to Julius Caesar, who was a great roman war leader and betrayed by his closest friends. He lived a 1000 years before the promise though, and it is most likely meant to be ironic that Julius Ratri unlike Caesar is the one to betray those closest to him...

I also think that his roman name implies an association with the Holy Roman Empire, which btw was an amalgam of nations ruled by a single, elected emperor legitimized by the Pope in Rome as the succesor to the original Roman Empire.

You may notice that a large part of the Holy Roman Empire were german, and tbh Julius does look like he could be german, and well, it is kind of a cliché that germans are the bad guys...

Now, if we are talking about Roman empires, we should mention that originally the succesor to the Roman Empire was recognised as the Byzantine Empire, which was a very wealthy and important nation for many centuries in Europe.

I was thinking that our black haired, Ray look-alike could represent this empire, as he/she clearly dresses differently to the Western European norms, and shows some asiatic features. He/she doesn't look far asian, like chinese, or even mongolian, so I think the Byzantine Empire is a much better fit.

It is a bit of wild guessing, but I think if they are male, they may be the emperor Basil II, or if they are female, they could be his niece, Zoe, who was briefly an empress. Not sure who else were important Byzantine Empire citizens!

Now looking at the genderbent Emma guy, he clearly looks like one of the fiercest warriors, and his crest seems to look like a lion. At the time in Europe, the most badass knights were the normans, so I am thinking he could potentially be a Duke of Normandy, and my guess is on Richard II "The Good".

The Dukes of Normandy used gold lions on red as their heraldic symbols, and as I have said before, they were french in the first half of the 11th century. When they conquered England later, their descendants like the king Richard Lionheart, put the lion into the English royal crest.

Part of the reason however that the normans could successfully conquer England was that they had a claim to the throne by marriage! Richard II "The Good" had a sister, who he married to not only one, but two English kings, so she was actually queen of England twice (as well as the mother of multiple English kings).

This lady, who was the most influential and politically succesful woman of her time, and is one of the best known early medieval queens was Emma of Normandy.

So I am thinking that if our genderbent Norman is anyone historical, it would make a lot of sense for her to be Emma of Normandy. She seems to have a crest associated with her that looks kind of like a bird? Emma of Normandy didn't have a crest, but her husbands and sons had crests with either a wyvern or doves, that could maybe fit.

I have also previously theorised that it would be neat if Emma of Normandy was the mystery "Ratri" who forged the original promise with demon!God... and you know what I noticed? That genderbent Norman lady and Julius Ratri seems to be suspiciously close... could they be lovers?

Actually; looking at them, they kinda look like they how you would picture Norman's parents, if he had a happy family... and we know Norman looks almost identical to James Ratri, and very similar to Peter Ratri, so I think I may not be so off on these two having a child together that led to the Ratri clan. I am super excited if we also get an angsty love story out of it!

Btw I just noticed that Emma's original vision already showed us the two promises:

The top panel shows a warrior man, Julius shaking hands in public with a demon, who we now know is the demon king (not yet seen in the manga). We know that these two made a Promise between demon and human leaders.

The mid left panel shows a much more slender, female figure with a headscarf and a Ratri owl shake hands in private, with Lord Yverk. From the new chapter we know that these two made a different promise with demon!God.

So it looks like this is what Mujika meant when she said that there is more than one promises! I am eager to see the official translation of Ray discussing these in the flashback, because the current trans are a bit contradictory...

Either case, I am thinking that this mystery lady in the headscarf is either fem!Norman or the child of Julius and fem!Norman perhaps? I think she could have an owl either case.

I am still hoping this lady is Emma of Normandy, would be very poetic for our Emma then to reforge the promise. Either case, my guess is that she was either going behind Julius' back to create an alternative promise, or she directly opposed him to create a better solution! I think the second would be better drama in my opinion, and would also make Julius feel betrayed!

Speaking of turbulent times, so Emma of Normandy had to marry twice since her first husband was kind of beaten by the vikings, who temporarily conquered England (before the normans took it for good).

The viking king, who was also king of Denmark and Norway who achieved this was Sweyn Forkbeard. I thought it was fun that our TPN viking had a beard that was kind of "forked"...

Even if he isn't Sweyn, there was a really famous warrior captain in his army called Thorkell the Tall, and we know this guy in TPN is also super tall. So it could be either of them! If it is Sweyn though, he was Emma of Normandy's father-in-law, albeit he died before she married his son.

As for the last person, who is the only person of colour, I think it would make sense for them to be from Muslim Spain. At the time, people of colour from that nation could travel Europe, and they were called the moors.

Unfortunately I don't know enough about the history of that area to guess well on who he could be. Let me know if anyone else has guesses!

Oh well, I can't wait to see how the rest of this history plays out. Looks like we will have some prime quality angst thanks to Julius!

[maedarakat]

First of all, dots right about Tuff being interested in Heather. He literally offered to "get rid of" his sister and impersonate her to cover for her disappearance just so she could continue to ride Barf right next to him. Heather was rightfully concerned/scared but the writers intent was pretty clear - they wanted to convey that Tuff had a definite interest in her. Same with the bedroom eyes he and Snotlout were both giving Heather when they found her under the boat wreck.

This infatuation wore off pretty quick on him, notably as soon as Astrid proved Heather was working for Alvin. Of course at the time they didn't realize or believe she was trying to save her foster parents.

Tuff never seemed to fully trust her again after that, but Snotlout and Fishlegs were both able to overlook it and forgive Heather later on.

You can believe Tuff is ace if you want, to each their own, but I personally think it's more a matter of him not feeling like he's good enough to have a girlfriend.

For example - Astrid asks him whether he wants to marry a beautiful Viking woman someday and his response was to laugh. That doesn't seem like a boy with very high self esteem to me.

It's small wonder the twins have self esteem issues considering their own family demanded they do induction trials just to fully belong like ummm ... that's sounding more like a weird cult than a family? Tuff even says their family will disown them both and 'view them as failures' if they decide not to participate.

Gruffnut is so very easily able to manipulate both twins into believing the other would be worse off if they don't get to belong to this abusive family - line, Ruff doesn't question that Tuff might end up on the street, and Tuff doesn't question that nobody will give Ruff a dowry so she can get married.

If I was Tuff, I would absolutely not want a s/o, because what kind of situation is he roping them into?! Ruff can marry though, bc then she will be free of the Thorston clan - but anyone Tuff married - especially if female - would become a Thorston and bound by the same rules as himself. To be frank, it doesn't sound like a very cozy family to marry into. It stands to reason that any boy or girl Tuff flirts with he's going to later feel like he needs to push away bc he feels they don't deserve to have to put up with it all.

If he never marries in the franchise, it seems less likely he's ace/aro and more likely to be because Tuff doesn't think anyone would ever want to be with him.

After all, he got absolutely floored by Hiccup referring to him as a best friend. Also Snotlout - Tuff claimed he'd never had a best friend before, only "unofficial acquaintances".

He reaches out to people desperately for affection and yet he doesn't quite know what do do when he receives it - a classic case of emotional neglect. I'm not even gonna touch the whole 'having to share one spoon, one blanket, one sword, one stuffed yak' etc - that really does something bad to a kids brain, I'm not joking.

Also, let's examine Snuffnut from Ruff's perspective - she wasn't going to marry Throk bc Throk wasn't going to take her brother along. I can only assume Tuff had the same mentality and had someone offered to marry him, he also would have refused unless they also took along Ruff. Like ... what even ... Babies, no ....

Honestly the twins should have been separated long before puberty hit so they could grow and become their own ppl, and they should *not* have been expected to share things - let alone ONE dragon for as long as they did, but this post will become even longer if I get into that particular pet peeve. (Laaaazy writing, booooo, hisss, okay moving on)

TBH I really think if Tuff had a better family and more confidence in himself, he'd happily have either a girlfriend or a boyfriend.

He doesn't seem like he'd be happy at all spending the rest of his life alone - more like he feels he's unworthy of love in general. So he doesn't really bother.

Does anyone else get an asexual vibe from Tuffnut or is it just me?

I mean, in both the trilogy of films and the series, he at no point seems to express much interest in romance or being attracted to someone. He seems to have more love for Chicken, Macey etc., though that’s not really sexual (for the love of Thor I hope it’s not). In the first film, he says something about Astrid and Ruffnut, “your butts are getting bigger, we thought you were a dragon” - which, given that Ruff is his sister, is unlikely to be sexual. In HTTYD3, he talks about crashing weddings and Hiccup being marriage material but there’s no mention or indication that he himself has ever actually been in a romantic relationship.

And it’s not just because HTTYD is primarily family oriented either - there’s been a lot of adult jokes or jokes that could be seen as adult that slip under the radar for both the movies and the shows:

The Axe To Grind deleted scene from the first movie where Hiccup is openly staring at Astrid’s ass, so much so that he accidentally breaks her axe

Hiccup: “Well, you know, Astrid, training dragons isn't the only thing I think about.” // Astrid: “Are you actually saying that to me with a straight face?”

Dagur calling himself “Daddy” (I’m sorry I’m just peverted)

Ruffnut openly desiring Eret

Snotlout wanting to bang Valka, though I think there’s more to it than that - possibly him looking for validation, but that’s a whole other post!

“Can we lose the whole honking goose thing, it’s hard to imagine wedded bliss with that going off every minute”

That scene where Hiccstrid give each other bedroom eyes as they set a whole ship on fire

I know in one episode of Race to the Edge, Tuffnut is asked about wouldn’t he want to settle down with a nice Viking woman, and he says yes, but that’s not necessarily indicative of him actually being straight or anything. He could a) not realize that he’s asexual or b) believe that it’s what EVERY Viking guy wants and so he’s sort of just saying it like “well, yeah, I guess, who doesn’t”. It sounds like a nice idea, in principle, but he might not realize until later that actually, it’s not for him.

You could argue that we don’t see him interested in anyone because the only girl in the tribe his age who is single is his twin, Ruffnut - but he never showed any interest in other girls like Heather, Minden, Mala etc.

I don’t know, I suppose it’s open to interpretation. I personally love the idea of Tuffnut being asexual or aroace, and being the fun uncle of the group. I think he’d made a good parent though (uhm...kind of?) and he did sound genuine when he mentioned wanting a family, but you could then argue that a family doesn’t have to equal a spouse and children - the riders are like a family.

I’m curious to know what everyone else thinks?