#legendary sigurd

[bananabraiined]

Bears the burdened light, even it meant death.

[silvergarnet12]

Hey what if they put Seliph on the tea banner and also they used some of the Fates Butler class design I think that'd be neat.

[favoritenintendocharacterbracket]

Favorite Nintendo Character 2: Losing Bracket Round 2

[whencyclopedia]

Lagertha

Lagertha (also spelt Lathgertha or Ladgerda) is a legendary Viking shieldmaiden known from Saxo Grammaticus' early 13th-century CE Gesta Danorum. In this work, written in Latin and concerning Danish history, she is the first wife of Ragnar Lothbrok, a legendary Viking king said to have lived during the 9th century CE. Contrasting with the prominent role Lagertha plays in the ongoing Vikings TV series, where she is portrayed by Katheryn Winnick, the Gesta Danorum is the only historical source that even mentions her and ties her in with the more broadly-known Ragnar mythos, making her more of a footnote within his legend rather than a core element. She makes for a bold footnote, though, and an interesting character in her own right; brave and skilled, she is twice responsible for ensuring victory for Ragnar in battle. Although classical concepts of Amazons underlie Saxo's warrior women, his stories are rooted in the Old Norse traditions known from medieval Icelandic literature. Specifically, Lagertha herself may have been inspired by the Norse goddess Thorgerd, local to Hálogaland, Norway.

The Gesta Danorum

Saxo sets the stage for Ragnar and Lagertha's meeting by describing how the Swedish King Frø has slain Siward, King of the Norwegians, who was Ragnar's grandfather, and has publically humiliated Siward's female family members by putting them in a brothel. Ragnar, having just succeeded his father Siward Ring (Sigurd Hring or Ring in other Ragnar stories) to the throne of Jutland in Denmark, hears of this and is obviously not pleased. Coming to Norway with vengeance on his mind, Ragnar is met at his camp by some of the women who had been scorned, dressed up in male attire and ready to join him to hunt down the Swedish king. In the ensuing successful battle, it is one maiden in particular who stands out to Ragnar; he even goes so far as to attribute the victory to her might alone. This is, of course, Lagertha, who is described by Saxo as

…a skilled amazon, who, though a maiden, had the courage of a man, and fought in front among the bravest with her hair loose over her shoulders. All marvelled at her matchless deeds, for her locks flying down her back betrayed that she was a woman. (IX).

As if the fighting skills of the legendary warrior were not enough to set Ragnar's heart aflame, he also hears she is of noble birth, so he instantly starts courting her long-distance by sending messages to her home. Saxo tells of Lagertha feigning interest and basically leading Ragnar on while she sets up an advanced defence system around her house in the Gaulardal valley (in present-day Norway): a bear and a dog stand guard on her porch, ready to tear her would-be lover to pieces. When Ragnar travels to her home thinking he is in for an easy win, he meets the guardians who – although a surprise to him – prove no match and fall to his legendary skills, one speared and one strangled to death. Lagertha becomes Ragnar's prize, and in their subsequent marriage, they have two unnamed daughters as well as a son, Fridleif.

Three peaceful years Ragnar spends in Norway before unrest in his own Danish kingdom calls him back there. At this point, Saxo's account turns to more familiar waters when it comes to the Ragnar legend. He introduces King Herodd of Sweden – known from the main source on Ragnar, The Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok, as Herruð, jarl of Götaland in Sweden – whose daughter Thora has been raising a bunch of snakes who grow out of control. Herodd offers his daughter's hand to whoever can rid them of their slight problem, and Ragnar,

…changing his love and desiring Thora (…), divorced himself from Ladgerda; for he thought ill of her trustworthiness, remembering that she had long ago set the most savage beasts to destroy him. (IX).

He fashions the characteristic hairy trousers that give him his epithet (Loðbrók means shaggy- or hairy breeches), leaves his son Fridleif in charge of his men and goes to fight the snakes alone. Afterwards, his mission fulfilled, he marries Thora.

Thora is a well-known, core element in the various Ragnar stories, and Lagertha here thus features in a sort of prologue. However, this is not the end of her involvement in the story as laid out by Saxo. She remarries and is later asked by Ragnar for aid in his squabbles in his homelands. Not only does Lagertha agree to this and offer 120 ships "to the man who had once put her away" (IX), she herself once again plays a decisive role in the battle. When hope is wavering, Ragnar's son Siward is wounded, and all seems to be lost, Lagertha turns the tide:

Ladgerda, who had a matchless spirit though a delicate frame, covered by her splendid bravery the inclination of the soldiers to waver. For she made a sally about, and flew round to the rear of the enemy, taking them unawares, and thus turned the panic of her friends into the camp of the enemy. At last the lines of Harald became slack, and Harald himself was routed with a great slaughter of his men. (IX).

Saxo ends Lagertha's character arc on a brutal note. He states that when she came home after the battle, she murdered her husband with a spear-head that she had hidden in her dress, usurped his name and began ruling in his stead. For this episode, she is denounced by him as a "most presumptuous dame" (IX).

Continue reading...

[synindoodles]

— The Tale of Ragnar Lothbrok — An illustrated, handwritten book project I did for university - it tells the story of Ragnar as a legendary viking figure but also of those that were later associated and mixed with the original myth, such as Reginherus, Ragnall Ua Ímairr and Ragnar's famous sons according to legend aka Ivarr The Boneless, Bjorn Ironside, Halfdan "Hvítserk" Ragnarsson and Sigurd Snake-In-The-Eye. I did, however, mix history and myth with History Vikings' depiction of some of these characters, though what is written in each page is based on several articles I found about these people and not in the show's version of them. I'll be posting the rest of these sections separately in the coming weeks so you can also see each drawing in HQ 🤭

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

Please give Sigurd a Christmas Alt IntSys. Make him ride a reindeer. Maybe have him be a duo unit with Baby Seliph. I know that doesn't make sense timeline wise but Legendary Sigurd is a ghost you can make it work somehow

.

[intrepid-fictioneer-7]

I've come to the conclusion that, in my humble opinion, Higashide is the writer in TYPE-MOON who makes the best ships involving Heroic Spirits.

Which might sound really weird. After all, the central couple in Fate/Apocrypha is Sieg/Jeanne d'Arc, and it's a pretty divisive one. No offense to those who like it, but it's always a dynamic I thought made no real sense narratively and didn't have much chemistry. Sieg on his journey of self-affirmation and personhood didn't need a romance (except maybe with Astolfo, with whom the dynamic is much more fun). Jeanne, the historical figure who rejected a marriage proposal, wore male clothing, and whose famous nickname refers to her celibacy, getting into a romance just never vibed with me (especially when it felt like the parallels/relationship between her and Shirou Kotomine were far more relevant). Add to that the ending copying Last Episode without what made LE have a strong impact, and it makes the whole even less appealing.

But despite that, Apo is also the work where there is the surprising ship of Shirou Amakusa and Queen Semiramis of all people: the semi-legendary Assyrian queen credited with making one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world falling in love with the young charismatic Japanese Christian who rebelled against the shogunate and failed. It's a very strange crossover ship between two people who never could have met if not for being brought back and it somehow works in being endearing.

(Achilles and Atalanta kinda count I guess, but it's a one-sided ship with little reasoning, that I care so little about, and is eclipsed by the more compelling foils each get, Chiron for Achilles, Jeanne for a Jackie the Ripper-driven mad Atalante.)

Higaside having grown and improved as a writer by the time of FGO, what followed this growth was him not doing a repeat of Sieg/Jeanne, but writing better ships mostly involving Servants. Asterios the Minotaur and Euryale the Gorgon; last Byzantine emperor Constantine IX and fictional Popess Johanna; heck, you can even see the relationship between Mordred and Dr. Jekyll this way (it also works as simple close friendship). Being characters from usually completely different mythologies and historical cultures, there is care done to make it clear why they fall for each other and as a result these couples are very different from one another instead of being the same formula everytime. In a game where a lot of (female) Servants are made to fall for the last Master of Chaldea for sometimes very little reason, these are a breath of fresh air.

For all my problems with her, Sakurai does something similar, though her ships are usually people who canonically were together in their legends: Sigurd/Brynhild, Aslaug/Ragnar Lodbrok, Julius Caesar/Cleopatra, Ozymandias/Nefertari, Tomoe Gozen/Kiso Yoshinaka, etc. They can be one note and there is a repeated thematic tendency of hers of writing "inhuman woman discovering humanity by falling in love", but they tend to be very cute and I easily understand that these people are in love even beyond death, so I root for them to reunite. Higashide also has "canonical" pairings, but the results are more muddled here: Siegfried and Kriemhild are adorable as a divorced couple where there are clearly still feelings, no matter what the tsundere wife says. But Rama and Sita are just...there. I understand the point of their separation, but it's not very engaging and Rama essentially disappeared after the American Singularity, while Sita was yeeted to Arcade. A mark against Higashide, but not as bad as Sieg/Jeanne and overshadowed by the numbers of better ships he wrote in FGO.

And there's Orion and Artemis, where I'm split. Super Orion and LB Artemis was really good and poignant. Orion the teddy bear and ditzy Artemis are a realy bad joke that overstayed its welcome.

FGO prioritizes Master/Servant relationships, both because the last Master of Chaldea is a blank slate for players to self insert into, and also because human×Servant is the type of ship Nasu specializes in (Shirou/Saber, Rin/Saber, Kuzuki/Caster, Caren/Angra Mainyu, and to a lesser extent Bazett/Cu, Yukika/False Assassin, and Ayako/Medusa in FSN; Fate/Extra as a whole; Ritsuka/Castoria in FGO). But even there Higashide made better choices than when he penned Sieg/Jeanne. Charlotte Corday is a surprisingly well-done choice for her archetype, it seems like it's going to be another Kiyohime but no, he actually makes her a good character you get attached to.

And then there is Kadoc and Anastasia. Words cannot describe how much I love them, how their personalities clash and complement each other in the best way, how aesthetically good they look put next to each other, etc. And it's not even just that we got a MasterxServant relationship outside Ritsuka, though that helped.

Basically, Higashide has become my go-to source for good ships, especially intra-Servants ones where Ritsuka is not involved and characters are allowed to not orbit around their Master. Sakurai also provides in that last aspect, but Higashide is doing that and also giving that crossover flavor you see in things like that one Cartoon Network ad with Johnny Bravo and Velma, and that works really well for me.

[koroart]

if lambert ever gets added to heroes, how do you think the lambert and dimitri reunion goes? i think at first it'd be a little difficult for dimitri to come to terms with, seeing his father, who he watched die a horrible death, alive and well

Honestly I think it would depend on the Dimitri they decide to use -- but knowing Intsys, they'll probably go with Academy age Dimitri and I feel out of all the ones there, he'd have the more difficult time coming to terms that his father-- who he indeed saw die a horrible death -- alive and well. Maybe he might even avoid him because he can't fathom it, and everyone is trying to comfort Lambert and telling him to give Dimitri some space. The same is being done for Dimitri, with people reassuring him that Lambert here is real and they can spend time together and whatnot. Say the things that were left unsaid and just hug him.

The people comforting Dimitri would probably be Seliph and maybe Ike? Who both lost their fathers and have met them in Askr alive and well. ( Maybe the Byleths, too, since they lost Jeralt and all )

Sigurd would probably be the one talking with Lambert. He's the best candidate because he died when his own son was so young, too. Maybe Ike's father ( i forgot his name ) and Jeralt too!

Eventually, this would accumulate to the moment where they both finally talk, and when that happens, I will bawl my eyes out.

Legendary and Brave Dimitri would, at the very least, have been more mature about it but perhaps still a little shaken up because they never thought they'd see Lambert again. And perhaps express worry and fear that they haven't lived up to his expectations and whatnot, as any adult does when it comes to their parent. Oogh, I'm in a glass case of emotions rn.

[gascon-en-exil]

Fire Emblem Heroes: 2024 Year in Review

Now that we've gotten the trailer for the year's last new unit, I wanted to take some time to look back on the additions to FEH's roster in 2024. Rather than focusing on the ever-increasing deluge of powercreep, I'll instead be tallying up how each of the contributing games performed in Heroes appearances this year and using that information to make observations on trends in the mobile game. I keep spreadsheets of this stuff, because reasons.

Note that I'll be counting units as FEH itself does - so the backpack characters in Duo/Harmonic units aren't factored in, and characters who appear in multiple titles will be grouped with whichever game they're listed under in the catalogue.

The Year of Engage

Even in spite of its disappointing performance in the year's Choose Your Legends, FE17 took the prize for the game with the most number of new additions to the roster in 2024, at 27. This isn't the highest end-of-year total ever - Houses hit 31 in 2021, and Fates (48), Awakening (36), and even Archanea (30) surpassed that in FEH's launch year - but that's nonetheless an impressive showing. This number encompassed two New Heroes banners, appearances on multiple seasonal banners as well as the Fallen banner, a Legendary (m!Alear), and 2024's sole non-FEH Mythic (Lumera).

Now that all the major non-DLC characters are in Heroes, I expect that Engage will be quietly shuffled down to getting just one New Heroes banner per year from here on out. There are still some big ticket options left to add - base Yunaka and Goldmary, most notably - but IS isn't going to want to race through those too quickly especially with no new games currently on the horizon. Engage is doing very well with regular seasonal appearances though, and with the DLC taken into account it could easily supply literal years' worth of Fallen units, so unlike just about every other mainline game it's still got plenty of options. Most notably it appears to be slowly taking over Houses's previously solid dominance of the summer and winter banners.

This isn't even mentioning the Emblem units, which are counted for their respective games but nonetheless owe credit to Engage as the first ever game to introduce a distinct unit type. Emblems have saved the flagging prospects of the end-of-month 8% banners, providing an excuse for broken alts of already popular characters and filling in for the greatly-depleted mainline options for Legendary and Mythic units. The only new Legendaries this year were male Avatars - Alear, Corrin, and Shez - and as mentioned only one of 2024's Mythics didn't come from FEH itself, so you know they're getting to the bottom of the barrel. Also, Emblems Celica and Sigurd just so happen to be the sole additions from their respective games this year...which is disappointing, but not terribly surprising. At the rate IS is going it'll be late 2026 before they even have to consider adding DLC Emblems or "backpack" Emblems (ex. Ephraim), much less having to come up with anything genuinely original. Although they've got plenty of that going on as well...

Gacha Waifus Galore (Also Men Sometimes)

Second place this year went to Heroes's own characters, adding 24 new units. FEH has been gradually subsidizing more and more of its roster with its OCs, with each year adding more reasons to showcase them whenever possible. Each main story book now brings with it multiple new characters that predominantly take up Mythic slots, there are the Tempest Trial stories bringing in a new type of premium alt every year, around half of the year's New Heroes banners get supplemented with an OC, and certain seasonal themes like New Year's and summer are all but guaranteed to feature Heroes units. FEH units actually had an even wider spread in 2024 than Engage, appearing in every month of the year except February.

Perhaps the most noteworthy new Heroes character this year was Eikþyrnir - arguably the closest we've ever gotten to a straightforward male fanservice character, even if he still pales in comparison to the likes of most FEH waifus like the notoriously censored-on-YouTube Mythic Loki also released this year. December brought further surprises on that score, with the bara deer guy getting a seasonal alt less than half a year after his initial release (a Tempest Trial reward, granted, but it's still something) and, even more shockingly, the first ever male new book character unless you count Alfonse for Book I. Rune may be a prepubescent boy obviously voiced by a woman, but...baby steps, I guess. IS still sucks at male fanservice, just to be clear, but at least it's a tiny bit of variety.

Of course, as the mainline games' available rosters continue to dwindle and as IS continues to drag its feet on announcing any new games, they're naturally going to rely on FEH OCs more and more. The other games have a fixed number of fanservice options, but Heroes waifus are theoretically infinite in number.

The Old Titans, Neck and Neck

Tied at a distant third were Awakening and Three Houses/Hopes, at 13 new units apiece, with Fates just behind them at 12. Despite the similar totals, each of these three formerly overrepresented games came out of 2024 in a very different position:

With the addition of summer Vaike, FE13 is the first game in the series to have its entire playable roster available in FEH in some form. That naturally bodes ill for its New Heroes prospects, but between Vaike, Kellam, Noire, and assorted premium alts IS should still be able to squeeze out two or three more over the coming years. Of these three games Awakening is the one up for a reappearance the soonest, so I'd expect some real blood-from-a-stone shenanigans sometime in the first half of 2025. On an unrelated but quite ridiculous note, Chrom showed up as a Duo backpack twice this year, once for child f!Robin and once for ninja Lucina. The Awakening child banner was also notable as the first time that seasonal theme was given to a modern game, so anticipate more of those in the future.

Fates hit 150 units in 2024, solidifying its spot at the top of the FEH heap yet again. Its roster is by far the largest of these three games and is in a sense the largest of any mainline game (Radiant Dawn and New Mystery are bigger, but each of them shares a significant number of characters with another game), so it can field a fair number of new offerings even after all this time. Since FE14 is one of several games that typically alternates generations, look out for a Gen 2 banner in the middle of 2025 sporting Sophie and/or Mitama along with a premium alt and a random guy or two. Fates doesn't have much to worry about, all things considered.

Controversially, 2024 was Three Houses's worst year since its release. It also got 13 units when it debuted in 2019 - but bear in mind that those all came out within the last six months of that year, and that two of the units it got in 2024 were player-chosen. It's easy to understand why; after years of getting pushed hard in seasonals and multiple years of double New Heroes banners, Fódlan has very little left to give. In terms of base units it's just the unpopular half of the Golden Deer plus various non-student characters, and of those only Leonie, Manuela, and (if we care to count her) Houses Anna are female. Of course there will be premium units - I fully expect we'll get lazy Hopes alts of the house leaders at some point - and the occasional smattering of seasonal alts that haven't been done yet, but the pickings are getting increasingly slim. Also worth noting is that Houses last got a New Heroes banner in October, so it's possible that its next one may get bumped back to 2026. The scandal!

Tellius Got a Surprise Upset

In years past the Tellius games, which have substantial roster overlap between them, have alternated annual appearances. Not so in June of 2024, where we not only got a Radiant Dawn banner for the second year in a row but further got a book midpoint banner without a Heroes OC on it - but with two premium alts in Micaiah and Sothe, lest you think IS missed out on an opportunity to attract whales. Technically FE9 got only three new units this year, all of them on the Hoshidan festival seasonal in August. FE10 even poached Emblem Ike somehow!

All told, the Tellius games claimed 12 new units. Will Path of Radiance finally get a chance to shine again in 2025? Seeing as laguz characters are universally grouped in with Radiant Dawn, the game only has Calill left for female characters...along with a predictably large number of male characters most of which will be extremely lucky to ever see the light of day. FE10 has significantly more female options available (including Calill as well) even now, so how Tellius will be handled going forward seems like a tossup.

Archanea and the GBA Games Have Almost Played Out Their Hands

FE7 and FE8 came in just behind with 11, while FE6 trailed with 8 and Archanea collectively with 7. Again, it's the dearth of female units that impedes these titles the most, because those are the only ones that IS believes sells once all the plot-relevant male characters have been exhausted. Archanea has three spread across its two stories, while each of the GBA games went into 2024 with only a single female unit left. Binding Blade and Sacred Stones held theirs (Elen and Ismaire, respectively), but Blazing Blade turned Vaida into a Grand Hero Battle unit of all things presumably because she's too butch to be a target for whales.

At least the structure of future New Heroes banners for all these games is fairly clear: counterbalance the random male units almost no one cares about with Heroes OCs and premium alts, most of which can be busty waifus. Archanea will come up in the order by the summer, but it'll probably be a while before we see the GBA games again. At least Sacred Stones remained a seasonal darling even after blowing through its entire popular roster over successive summer banners, taking 2024's Valentine's banner and in general showing no signs of slowing down with relentlessly pushing alts for the same half dozen units over and over and over and...

IS Remembered that Thracia Exists!

It's a testament to how used to disappointment Jugdral fans are that I'm still satisfied by the setting's turnout in 2024. FE5 got its first New Heroes banner in nearly two years last January, which still delights me just because it means that IS hasn't completely forgotten about the game. Good thing too, because on account of being chronically neglected Thracia and to a lesser extent Genealogy are relatively well-positioned with new unit options. FE5 still has six unused female characters!

I fully expect not to see Thracia in 2025, but Genealogy is up for a New Heroes banner soon - probably Gen 1, given alternating patterns. Thus there's little chance of my underrated fave Diarmuid making an appearance next year, but one solid showing from FE4 would be enough for me. (Also a few seasonal units wouldn't kill them?)

So there you have it. Most games not named Thracia or Engage are running on fumes, but between the handful of remaining gaps in the roster and the ever-present Heroes OCs I have every confidence that IS will be able to soldier on through at least one more year without a new FE release. After that...I'd imagine things will start getting dicey.

[innumerable-stars]

The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun Promo Post

(written by Zdenka)

Summary The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún is a set of two narrative poems by Tolkien based on stories from Norse mythology: Völsungakviða en nýja (The New Lay of the Völsungs) and Guðrúnarkviða en nýja (The New Lay of Gudrún). Despite their Norse titles, these poems are in English, composed in alliterative verse.

Like The Silmarillion, "The New Lay of the Völsungs" begins with the creation of the world. It then follows the descent of the legendary Völsung family, ending with Sigurd the Dragonslayer. The poem recounts Sigurd's heroic deeds and the complicated entanglements of oaths, love, and betrayal that develop between Sigurd, the former Valkyrie Brynhild, the warrior lord Gunnar, and Gunnar's sister Gudrún.

"The New Lay of Gudrún" continues the story of Gudrún after Sigurd's murder: her grief for Sigurd, her second marriage to Atli (a mythologized version of Attila the Hun), the trap Atli lays for Gudrún's brothers, and the terrible fate of Atli and Gudrún's children.

Why Should I Check Out This Canon? It's a dramatic story of heroism, torn loyalties, fate, love, and hatred! If you enjoy those themes in Tolkien's other works, you'll find them here too.

If you've enjoyed Norse myths or other versions of the Sigurd story, you might also like this one.

If you liked Tolkien's poetry in The Lord of the Rings or the Lays of Beleriand, here's another hoard of it. He makes writing alliterative verse look easy.

You also get a look at some of the sources for Tolkien's Middle-earth works. I don't mean only the plot elements that have been noted by many literary critics, such as the similarities of Túrin's dragon-slaying adventure to Sigurd's. Having these legends in Tolkien's own words can help show the connections he made in his own mind between Norse legend and his Legendarium. Taking just one stanza as an example:

The Gods gathered on golden thrones, of doom and death deeply pondered, how fate should be fended, their foes vanquished, their labour healed, light rekindled.

That sounds a lot like the Valar in the Silmarillion, doesn't it? And there are plenty more resemblances to find.

Where Can I Get This? Your local bookstore or library, or the Internet Archive.

What Fanworks Already Exist? There is one work in Russian on AO3, a fic cross-tagged with the Silmarillion; I don't know Russian, but it seems to be a darker take on the Beren and Lúthien story. (The AO3 tag is here.)

One work from b2mem here, a recording of four stanzas from "The New Lay of the Völsungs" set to music and sung. Full Disclosure: This one is by me.

In other words, if you want to create fanworks for this, the field is wide open!

[blakeswritingimagines]

Dating Sigurd would include:

Dating him is a thrilling experience. He is an adventurous and passionate man, who will take you on wild adventures and sweep you off your feet. His confidence and drive are contagious and his charisma can be alluring. He is a true gentleman who will treat you with respect and dignity. However, he is also a fierce warrior who will protect you at all costs.

On one hand, he has the experience and wisdom of over a thousand years to draw upon. He's also confident and bold, which can be very attractive. The downside is, he has a lot of baggage. He's been through a lot, and he can be a bit unpredictable. All in all, it's an adventure to be sure, but one that is worth it!

He is a fair and loyal person, and people know nothing but peace and happiness if you don't cross them. He would be a good husband to you, with many children and with respect towards you. In short, he wouldn't hurt you even if his life depended on it.

He will protect you as his queen and protect you and your kingdom. He will also be a great father to your children, to mold them into honorable and great men. And also, he will also respect your decisions and he will keep your council private at all times.

He brings you flowers just because he thought you'd like them.

He would always make sure that you're happy and safe, that you don't have to worry about anything. You both would live a simple life in the heartland of Norway and spend the winters together, sitting in front of the fireplace and watching the kids play outside in the snow. That's how he would imagine it.

He would be faithful to you, your beauty would only increase his love towards you, and the best part, he would only have eyes for you.

He would never leave you for another, he already knows that no one is more special than you, and every other person would appear dull in comparison, he would not be a jealous person, but if someone started talking and looking to you for too long and made you uncomfortable, he would let them know to keep their distance.

He would write poems and songs for you, with his most cherished memories of you, and your future plans. He would write you songs and poems every day with the most sacred feelings within his heart. He would also always be there for you, no matter how small or big the issue, he would comfort you, and assure you that he is there with you in every step you take. His biggest joy would always be being with you and seeing you smile.

He would be gentle and loving towards you, always having your needs in the first place. He would show his love in many ways, he would hug you when feeling bad, kiss you randomly, hug you from behind while you cook, and caress your hair. He would give you little attention like bringing you snacks and small gifts.

A very exciting and interesting experience. Being with a man such as himself can be quite a privilege. He is strong, capable and he commands respect. However, this is not to say that he is without flaws. He can be stubborn at times and he often finds himself in situations where his decisions leave others frustrated or angry. But, on the whole, being in a relationship with him is an experience you will never forget.

He's kind and strong, but also passionate and intense. He's always ready to take on new challenges and he never backs down from a fight. Being with him means never knowing what adventure might come next.

Dating him is like dating any other person. You go on dates (walks, picnics, etc.), you cuddle, you laugh, you have intellectual conversations, you cook, you make love. It's just that when dating him, you're dating a legendary Viking warrior, and that changes the dynamics a bit.

He is a gentleman in every way, he treats you with respect and compassion. He will never be unfaithful to the loved one he is with. He is strong and courageous, but also sensitive and vulnerable. His heart is true to the one he is with. He is honest and faithful, loyal and devoted. He is strong enough to protect his loved one, but also kind and protective. He can be fun and lighthearted, but also serious and thoughtful. He is a real treasure.

He has a thing for teasing and loves it when you take over and tease him in the bedroom, making sure he begs and pleads for it until you let him finally release the tension.

He also has a thing for exhibitionism and loves the idea of being watched or having sex in front of a mirror.

He likes to switch it up and be the submissive one sometimes, letting you take control and lead the way.

He also enjoys having you perform for him and put on a sexy show, including showing off your body for him and seducing him with your moves.

He likes you to be a little possessive and jealous, wanting him all to yourself, like a cat marking their territory with a soft bite or a gentle scratch.

Most of all, he likes knowing his partner is enjoying themselves and that he's making you feel good.

[lunarblessingart]

My first completely original emblem design belongs to Seliph!

I knew as soon as I'd finished the Rivals ring design (which still hasn't gone up yet as of writing this post) that I'd want to do Emblem Rings for characters that weren't emblems at all eventually; so now that I've done a few, here's Seliph, inspired loosely by a fanfic series that will be linked at the bottom of the post.

Although I do have to confess that I've never actually *played* Genealogy/FE4 or Thracia 776/FE5, so I'm not the most educated on Seliph as a character. Which isn't new, I haven't played Shadow Dragon or enough of Awakening to really know Tiki that well either, but this became a problem with Seliph when I realized that he doesn't really have a lot of easy, distinguishable character design traits to choose from.

I did eventually find that Seliph's legendary alt in Heroes had a good number of four-pointed stars (something he shares with Sigurd's alts) as well as a pattern that curled in a way that loosely resembled vines (which is present in the design of Deirdre's alts, particularly legendary), so I ended up trying my best to incorporate both of those things here.

I might make one for Julia eventually, since she was one of my favorite units when I still played Heroes, but I still want to make more AA visions, so the emblems will probably end up on the backburner for at least a bit, especially as my fire emblem brainrot starts to slowly die down again.

To end this post, here's that fic I promised:

[rrcraft-and-lore]

Armies of the Dead/heaven in myths and epic fantasy - and the magic horns behind them!

One of the most famous armies of dead soldiers? The Men of Dunharrow, the army of the dead from Lord of the Rings who broke their oaths and renewed them finally under Aragorn.

Let's do this!

If you're a younger fantasy reader, or more modern, perhaps your introduction to this idea is in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time with his magical horn that summons an army and legendary heroes to the field.

Some fans have said this is inspired by the Norse horn Gjallarhorn. 

This is the horn trusted to Heimdallr to be blown to announce the beginning of Ragnarok and summon the Norse gods to the "thing" (thing is used in this case legitimately to mean - meeting, assembly, folkmoot) - in a moment like NORSE AVENGERS, ASSEMBLE! 

This includes the Einherjar, the spirits of Norse warriors of honored dead who fell in battle and reside in Valhalla. But was there another possible influence?

Well, we know RJ was a Tolkien fan, and honestly who wouldn't be back in the days of early fantasy? 

So, what of Tolkien's ghostly army of dead warriors? Well, if you haven't read the books, you might not know that Aragorn too summons his army of the dead with a magical horn (cut from the films). That's right. 

You see, Elrohir (one of the sons of Elrond, also cut from the films) entrusts Aragorn with a silver horn to summon the dead with at the Stone of Erech to deal with them. Tolkien was a Norse buff and loved the old epics as well as poems. 

So he was likely familiar with the stories just like with Gjallarhorn as well. But also, quite possibly the Song of Roland (a French epic poem) in where Roland and his forces are ambushed at Roncesvalles and are going to lose. In final desperation, Roland blows the horn, and the emperor hears the call. But the aid will not arrive in time (unlike the films and more modern stories where the heroes do arrive to save the day - this is cuz we like the just in the nick of time trope) so Roland dies blowing it one last time to hard in vengeance his temples burst (and he ascends to heaven), but...Charlemagne's army arrives in the aftermath and scatters the enemy. But, are there other armies of the dead? In fact, yes. 

The Night Marchers of Hawaii who come with a warm wind, & the smell of sulfur, and the call of a conch shell to herald them. If you come upon this procession with torches in the night, and you are an enemy...time to RUN! Because if you watch them your eyes might be incinerated.

Then there is the Wild Hunt - a shared myth motif present through eastern, northern, and western European cultures. A ghostly army of the souls of dead men (and creatures) usually united under a leader (though this figure changes), Herne, Odin/Woden, Gwyn ap Nudd, Sigurd or Siegfried the Dragon Slayer, Theodoric the Great, onward. Now, they're not summoned by a horn, but in some tales their coming is announced by one.

Now, an Indian cognate of the Wild Hunt and warriors in the service of heavens The Maruts.

The number of them vary from 20+ to over 180, to even more (yay conflicting mythological sources and arguments in ancient texts and interpretations).

But who are they? Companions and servants to Lord Indra, Slayer of the First Born of Dragons, and lord of the heavens and storms! So, fittingly, these warriors are very...storm themed. Violent, aggressive, expert combatants armed with lightning weaponary, and golden chariots to fly through the clouds on. Their war crys and battle sounds are like thunder. Their blows would split clouds (sounding thunder) and would hunt the enemies of Lord Indra and slaughter demons/monsters.

Interestingly they are often associated as the sons (children) of Rudra (the Rig Vedic storm and wind god). However, there is another group that often gets that association (obviously so), the Rudras.

The Rudras are similar in (some) regards to the Maruts but not all. They aid Vishnu in his battles against demons and are clad in lion-skins, and wear serpents around their necks. A crescent moon adorns their foreheads, and they wield golden tridents and carry a skull in one hand they wear necklaces of lightning illuminated clouds (how's that for bling bling?), and are monstrously feral in battle. Lord Shiva can call them with a blow of a conch shell/horn. 

Their overlap, association with the Maruts is because of some etymology and shared functions as they too are a divine/spiritual/demigod group of heavenly warriors to aid the good and destroy evil - demons/adversaries, and the root word in their name means the roarers, thunderers, or the shouters - and this is also mentioned of the Maruts.

Are these all there are for legendary armies of the dead, of gods/heaven to be summoned to the field or aid? No. But, it's rainy, I'm a little messed up (mental health and meds), and tired. 

So I'm going to bow out and read and study for Tremaine 3 and leave this minor comparative thread here for folks into this stuff.

[untitledesquire]

Feanor and Ragnar

I think there’s an interesting parallel to be drawn between Feanor and Ragnar Lothbrook.

Feanor is the greatest elven smith, responsible for the creation of an entire elven writing system, and a charismatic leader and Iconoclast who inspired his people to great and historic actions.

Feanor swears vengeance against Morgoth and leads his sons and their army in an invasion/resettlement of Middle earth. Feanor is struck down by the forces of his greatest foe (Morgoth) and his will and oath are carried on by his sons.

Ragnar Lothbrok is the Mythohistorical Viking king who is credited with countless legendary deeds (including slaying a dragon, marrying the Daughter of Sigurd and Brunhilde, and invading England with two ships) who is generally considered to be a combination of a number of kings through the Viking age. He is Killed by his sworn foe King Aelle, and his will is carried on by his sons, who lead the Great Heathen Army in an invasion of England.

The two of these accomplish legendary tasks and are held up as the greatest of their respective peoples.

It’s interesting to think that most people of middle earth probably wouldn’t believe that Feanor was a real person rather than a myth or legend. I can also just really imagine Feanor saying “How the little piggies will grunt when they hear how the old boar suffered.”

I know that Tolkien hated allegory, but given the way in which he envisioned LOTR as a kind of creation myth for the Anglo-saxons, it’s interesting to see this parallel to the invasion of England by a larger than life figure.

[rosecelebi]

Now that Fire Emblem Heroes has opened it's yearly Choose Your Legends voting period.... I am kindly asking you to consider sparing a vote (or two!) to two of my favorites in the series: F!Robin and Sigurd!

Why?

Well let's start with Robin,

Robin fans won out last year when their Male counterpart won the male division of CYL 7 alongside Soren and I'm sure many F!Robin fans (myself included) helped him reach that victory by voting, just as we did in previous years with Chrom and A!Tiki. F!Robin has waited for her time to shine and has supported her competition for several years now. It's time for her to receive the Awakening vote love!

If that wasn't enough to sway you, let's look at F!Robin's legacy in FEH.

1. Her base version was a year 1 grail unit with a mediocre (affectionate) refine that takes max investment to work around

2. Her summer alt is a year one seasonal with a bad weapon and book 1 era stats (but she sure is cute!)

3. Her legendary alt isn't even her- it's Grima. Grima took away her chance at being a legendary unit

4. Her Halloween alt is another Grima alt. She didn't even get to participate in Halloween because Grima took the spot :(

5. Her Valentine's alt is adorable but still a seasonal locked unit

6. Her rearmed version is yet another Grima.

HALF of all F!Robin's in FEH are Grima alts. There is no F!Robin available to summon in the normal 4/5 star pool. Getting a brave alt would be a big deal for her and her fans.

Please, spare a vote to the best tactician around, F!Robin!

~

Now, let's talk about Sigurd

Sigurd comes from FE4, Genealogy of the Holy War, a game I know many of you may not have played yet. That's okay though! I get it! It's a bit old and jank to play and you need to emulate it with a translation patch if you don't understand Japanese. So I'm gonna explain who this man is to you....

Sigurd is the heir to house Chalphy and a descent of the crusader Baldr in Judgral, which makes him kind of a big deal. Throughout his game, he makes allies with many people throughout Judgral in an attempt to unify and fight back against the rising corruption.

Along his journey, he meets Deirdre and the two fall in love and end up having a son together, Seliph. Sigurd is devoted to his family and loves Deirdre more than anything in the world. Sigurd is a family man. Look at this Cipher art if you need more explanation:

(*SPOILERS ahead for FE4, but FEH and Engage already spoiled this so if you somehow don't know what happens to Sigurd, maybe stop reading here*)

Tragedy befalls the couple not long after their son is born... Deirdre is kidnapped and her memories are wiped clean as she is needed for a sinister plot... Her holy blood is needed to help the Loptous cult resurrect their dark God so they use Deirdre as a pawn and marry her off to Arvis.

Sigurd is distraught with his wife gone and searches and searches for her but ultimately must continue through on his plans. He returns to his home and is met by Arvis, the Duke of Velthomer, and the descendant of the imperial family. He welcomes them in as a deceitful trick and declares Sigurd a traitor and calls for his execution. Before he issues the order, Arvis lets Sigurd meet his new wife- Deirdre as a sick and twisted punishment. With that, Arvis calls down Valflame and kills Sigurd and many of his army members.

Sigurd's legacy is carried by his son, Seliph, who will free Judgral from the horrors that the dark cult inflicted many years later.

~

So that was heavy. But do you understand why he's such a compelling character??? He has such an unfortunate heroes tale, but FEH let's us see him again and be able to reunite him with his love and his son.

Seliph got his own brave alt two years ago in CYL 6 and it feels right for it to be his father's time to step up and shine as a brave hero.

Let's look at Sigurd's legacy in FEH:

1. His base version is a year 1 sword cavalier who's a bit outdated but not unusable by any means with proper skill investment

2. His duo dancer alt is Deirdre is one of the best arts in the game and I won't let anyone convince me otherwise

3. His Legendary alt was a meta threat at one point in time and the art is gorgeous

4. Lastly, this year he got his second seasonal alt, a tea time Butler alt that just cute. He definitely is serving tea for Deirdre and making sure she's happy.

A brave alt just seems perfectly fitting for him at this point!

~

In conclusion, these are two characters who are ready for their moment to shine in FEH with a brave alt. They've waited for their friends or family members to get there first and now it's (potentially) their time for the brave win. Thank you for reading all this and may the CYL odds be in our favor!

TLDR: Vote for F!Robin and Sigurd in CYL 8!

[aladaylessecondblog]

list of places my OCs/fic characters jerk it

Sigurd - uhh....his chamber at the College of Winterhold. No doubt assisted by his mental ridealong who assures him this is fine. He doesn't have to worry about this. At all. (He avoided it at first but is falling further every day)

Torovan/Voryn: Absolutely does not jerk it. He has legendary self control and refuses to let go of it. (this will last until he sees his first pair of naked tits in thousands of years) the hot springs in Skyrim

Sadrith: usually in bedroll to help her go to sleep

Sadara: didn't really do it before, and definitely doesn't now