#m: thor

[rossaka]

ANOTHER!!

#brothers

[why-i-love-comics]

Alligator Loki: Holiday Special #1 (2024)

written by Alyssa Wong art by Bob Quinn & Pete Pantazis

[thebestcomicbookpanels]

The Origins of Marvel Comics character paintings by John Romita

[itsnevssin]

Protective older brother 🌸

He’s still gonna scold him for whatever he did 🙄

[drgrlfriend]

Everyone in the air can fly except Nat who is on a rope and ... Hawkeye who either got yeeted up or is actively falling with zero concerns.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!! :D

(link to a slightly bigger version so you can see everyone!)

[cyberdelph]

by @AmyHiyori

[themuseumofwitchcraftandpaganism]

Did Christianity Steal From Paganism? Yes... No... It's Complicated. Part 2: Vikings

Tis the season so I figured I'd talk about the topic that's been the subject of debate for a long time, most recently with the 2024 Olympics. I will be discussing the visual aspect of these religions, not the theological aspects.

Short answer: Yes

Long answer: No

Let's get into it: The Viking era is from 800-1050 AD and can be divided into seven parts based off the style of visual art that was popular. The first style is called the Oseberg style (775-800 AD) and would be the basis of all the Viking styles of art after it. It was made of three forms that were derived from Pagan pre-Viking art: ribbon animals, gripping beasts, and ambiguous forms. You can see it on the bow of the ship below; the ship dates to the 9th century and was found in a burial mound in Tønsberg, Norway. Remember these forms because they're going to be important later.

The Vikings started coming into contact with Christian Anglo Saxon (modern day English) missionaries in the 700-800s, but they had little effect. The missionaries were well received by the kings but when their Pagan chieftains threatened to rescind their support, the missionaries were sent away. Another example of that is in 878 AD, the Christian king of the Anglo Saxons, Alfred the Great of Wessex, and the Pagan king of the Vikings, Guthrum the Old, were at war. King Alfred ended up winning and as part of the peace treaty, Guthrum had to get baptized into Christianity. He did so but maintained his Pagan worship and did not implement Christianity.

Besides the kings, common people had also started to slowly assimilate to Christianity. Christians had a rule that they couldn't trade with Pagans so Pagan Vikings began primsigning. Primsigning is an old Norse word meaning "to make the sign of the cross," the way to show you followed Christian beliefs before converting all the way through baptism. Even though they weren't being baptized and were still practicing Paganism, primsigning was enough for Christians to feel comfortable trading with them and brought the Vikings more into the world of Christianity.

An interesting example of this is in Kopparsvik, Sweden, where a large number of Viking individuals were buried in a prone position from 900-1050 AD. This is completely different from traditional Pagan Viking burials: there were no grave goods, no animal sacrifices, no mighty ships. Typically, a prone position is a sign of showing humility towards God and all the figures had notches carved into their teeth (below). Historians theorize that they used the notches to secretly signal to Christian merchants that they were also Christian to get discounts while not being alienated from their Pagan communities.

The coin below is from ~921 AD. It's a Viking coin from York, England and wonderfully shows the mixing of Pagan and Christian iconography. Coins like this typically had the name of the Viking king engraved on them but this one has "St. Peter." However, it also depicts the hammer of Thor on both the head (left) and reverse (right). It really demonstrates the visual mixing of religions.

Sometime between 940-1000 AD, the cross below was made. It was found in St Andrew's Church, Andreas, Isle of Man (between England and Ireland), and is another great example of the combination of Pagan and Christian art. On one side (left) it depicts Odin with one of his ravens fighting the wolf Fenrir at Ragnarök. The other side (right) depicts Christ triumphing over Satan. Both of these are stories of good vs evil and depict a god triumphing at the end of days. It would have drawn attention to the theological similarities between Christianity and Norse Paganism, making it easier for people to conflate the differing theologies.

Remember the Oseberg style from before? We're going to revisit it. By the 900s, Viking art was being done in the Mamman style; the ribbon animals and gripping beasts had combined into an icon called the Great Beast. The Great Beast was a symbol of power and strength, frequently put on longships and other Pagan items. In 986 AD, Viking King Bluetooth, a recent convert to Christianity, had the jelling stone below erected in honor of his deceased parents. On one side, he included a Great Beast; this was to show the strength and nobility of his parents and the nation they ruled. On the other side, he put an image of Christ Triumphant. This makes sense for a cenotaph as the promise of a resurrection is a comfort in the face of death. But the combination of a Pagan symbol of strength and an image of Christ is very interesting; it's doing more than pointing out the similarities between the two religions, it's uniting both Pagan and Christian subjects under his rule and proudly displaying the two different sources of the Viking's strength.

I can't end this without also talking about architecture. The last Viking art style is called the Urnes style and it's primarily because of the church below. It was built in 1132 AD in Urnes, Norway and is a stave church, meaning the whole thing was built without any nails!! The entire thing is self-supporting wood made using the post and lintel system. It's a Chrisitan church but has Pagan iconography on the sides: the last version of the Great Beast (right) and Pagan runes. It's fascinating how a Christian place of worship is decorated and protected by Pagan icons, once again showing the combination of visual cultures and methods of thought.

So, the answer everyone is looking for is NO.

The Christians didn't steal anything from the Pagans, they made an association. They produced art in the style that was popular and followed the artistic trends of the time. Christian and Pagan imagery was produced in the same medium and combined until Paganism was phased out over hundreds of years. They saw similar gods and iconography and combined them to make a message that was understandable to all audiences.

Happy Yule! Happy Winter Solstice!

Further reading:

Smarthistory – Art of the Viking Age

BBC - History - Ancient History in depth: Viking Religion

The Vikings and Christianity | History of Christian Vikings – Sons of Vikings

Treaty of Wedmore - Wikipedia

Manx runestones - Wikipedia

Prone Burials and Modified Teeth at the Viking Age Cemetery of Kopparsvik - Historische Beratung Dr. Matthias Toplak

Ancient Viking Art - Medievalists.net

Gamla Uppsala - Wikipedia

[tomhollandsteacup]

𝄞⨾It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas⨾𝄞

@hurtspideyparker

[judeid]

Attention: fanfics from writers in the Captive Prince fandom and other fandoms have been stolen, used to train AI, and uploaded to this platform. If your fanfic has been affected, please email them (support@word-stream.com) to request its removal

does anyone know wtf word-stream.com is or where to send them a takedown request? i just found a bunch of fics, including my own, hosted on this AI slop site—apparently offering what I assume are AI-generated audiobook versions & (equally AI-generated) ratings and reviews. i can’t take a closer look without signing up, which, no thank you, but it looks like they’re hosting the full fics and are peddling a paid subscription for the trouble of hosting them. can someone more knowledgeable than me explain what our options are in this situation?

[coolcomicbookcovers]

[sh9t9]

saw people draw their marvel rivals mains but i like. did that plenty of times already

i bought loki s2 and tlat thor skins almost instantly

[lullabyofthejotnar]

Christmas joke icons

Thor, Sif, Thrúd, Skjoldr, Odin, Heimdall,

[catmaraudersfan]

*Danny, just waking up:*

*Groggily asks what happened*

*John, feeling nice given that the Ghost King doesn't seem to want to be here anymore than they WANT him here:*

A cult was attempting to summon the Ghost King.

*Danny:*

😨🥱

Good thing I put him back in the sarcophagus of sleep, then.

😮‍💨

*John, having intelligence and putting SEVERAL things together:*

😨😱

You FOUGHT the Ghost King?!

*Danny:*

Yep.

*John:*

*Looking at the Crown on his head and ring on his finger*

By yourself? Like in singe combat?

*Danny:*

Uh-huh. Though I did have help shoving him back in by my Rouges.

*John:*

😰

*Now pondering on JUST HOW BADLY they messed up*

What about other heroes?

*Danny:*

😳

There are other heroes?

*With the other listening heroes*

*Tony Stark:* (I'm making this a triple crossover)

*WAY ahead of everyone and having Jarvis hunt down Amity Park to see if it's back*

*Back with John and Danny*

*Danny:*

I've been doing this by myself since I half-died via electrocution. *Thor flinches in the other room. Loki pats his back, assuring him that he's sure the kid knows he wouldn't hurt him*

The only help I've gotten are my friends and sister. *Tony brings up a picture of a group of kids, making everyone's guilt and horror worse*

*John, sensing the horror of the other heroes:*

Well, kid, you and Amity Park are about to get more help than you know what to do with.

*Danny, still out of it from the fight:*

K.

💖

Just don't tell my parents.

*EVERYONE tenses at that, PRAYING it's a "I don't wanna get in trouble" type of situation*

*John:*

... Why?

😟🥶

*Danny:*

They don't know I'm half ghost and keep threatening to rip my ghost-half apart "molecule by molecule" and I'm afraid they still will even if they knew it was me. You see, they HATE ghosts. They and the Guys in White *Tony quickly finds them and everyone is outraged at the hidden "law"* don't believe ghosts feel pain or have emotions. *Frantic* BUT WE DO! They want to tear ghosts apart and experiment on them in horrible ways. *Bruce Banner taking deep calming breathes*

*John, equally as pissed:*

I have a feeling that won't be an issue much longer. *Firm agreement from the heroes* 'You and your sister MAY wind up moving, though,' John thinks to himself. *Martian Manhunter, and everyone else once he shares John's thoughts, agrees firmly with John's thoughts.*

*Loki and Thor vow to help the new Prince on how to run a kingdom. Other heroes with similar kingdoms agree.*

Danny Phantom just defeated Pariah Dark. Like he is still in that suit his father made in Pariahs keep. He doesn't know the ghost rules. It hasn't even been a year since he died and became a halfa, so no one has explained to him that if you defeat the king you become the king. In another dimension John Constantine is panicking because because the JL failed to stop a cult from completing the summoning ceremony that will summon the ghost king. They are all expecting Pariah Dark, but what they get instead is a ghost child. The summoning pulled him out of the suit that Jack made.

Danny looks around, confused with his vision blurring exhausted from fighting Pariah Dark. "Where am I?" Danny asks. Danny has no idea that he now has a floating crown above his head. He finally passes out right in front of the JL, and he transforms back into Danny Fenton.

The JL decides to take Danny to the watchtower in space and put him in a cell until he wakes up. None of them trust Danny, especially not John Constantine. When Danny wakes up, he is very confused, and sitting right outside his cell is John Constantine.

[mythosandsuch]

Hey guys do we think Magneto could levitate Thor's hammer with his powers? Or would the worthiness rule still apply?

[why-i-love-comics]

Alligator Loki: Holiday Special #1 (2024)

written by Alyssa Wong art by Bob Quinn & Pete Pantazis