#was it vikings that came to england i dont know

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

she has the range <3

..........okay

[caernua]

ok so i may be missing a huge part of not only valhallas story but also some ac lore but i didn't like the vinland arc. i loved the glimpse into the vikings impact on that area and i understand the apple reference was cool however i hate game portions where you lose your armour and i had already forgetten abt gorm at that point ngl it threw me off😂 it may be explained in a dlc but i i also dont get why eivor was buried in north america when she could have been buried in england (also would like to know how basim got from norway 2 n.america ngl)

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

LMAO yea i agree it was frustrating to just ... have to raid camps in order to get a basic weapon but then...once you gather all the resources to get the weapons and armor, there’s nothing left to do? i wish they let us keep the vinland outfit. but i did love the whole theme of storytelling as an act of bonding even when you don’t speak the same language, it was lovely. and yea i wouldn’t have went through all that effort just for gorm fgkdfg but that’s why i’m not a video game protagonist i guess! AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHY EIVOR IS BURIED THERE and it kinda breaks my heart as well because i don’t see why she would ever leave ravensthorpe. :( she worked so hard to forge alliances in england and build the town and she cares so much for the people... but based on dialogue like ‘this land will never be your home’ i just get the feeling that siege of paris might end with her being banished or just forced to leave, which again. OUCH... and yes i would Love to know how basim got to america fhgjkdf because at first i got the feeling that given how shaun and becs seem to listen to layla’s recordings in the US for the first time, basim just came to them in america but it seems more plausible that shaun and rebecca were waiting outside the cave in norway??? did they give him the outfit??? did they tell him to wear a manbun?? did he just get out of the cave in his 9th century outfit alone and had to socialize with people in norway until he found a plane ticket?? i need to know

[ send me unpopular opinions ]

[laurajameskinney]

Okay so. You just caught all my fun arthur facts. So I own a lot of the mythos and such and the issue is that it was being written about by other nation's people. Thats why it progressed from being about a Welsh king fighting again fae and I believe it was vikings or something. I dont think viking is right but I can't get to my books rn. But a few of the most read iterations of the stories- like where lancelot and the holy grail and such came from although it wasn't holy when first introduced- was a French version of the myths! Thats why its associated with England instead of Wales because when adapting, people knew more of England than Wales

no yeah dude i know i know. also it was anglo-saxons, who were basically vikings (they even came from jutland, aka denmark lite), and also the guys the english are (mostly) descended from. i think the og popular writing about arthur that WASNT historium brittanium (highly fictionalized history of ‘england’ c. 800s) was written shortly post-norman invasion and was basically propaganda in favour of a unified state, with i think one of the themes being “hey look we both hate the anglo saxons how about you [the welsh/britons] join up with us or at least support us! we got the backing of Your Man King Arthur!” 

obviously as a propaganda piece it didn’t reallyyyyy work, but it did get some french guy interested and he made lancelot. and then a ton of english guys argued for about 200 years about camelot being real. and then they realized the only source even claiming to be historical that talks at length about king arthur, the historium britanum (which i’m misspelling but idgaf) was written by a guy who literally made half that shit up, and, oh yeah, wrote it THREE HUNDRED PLUS YEARS AFTER KING ARTHUR FUCKING DIED AND SO WOULD BE DUBIOUS AT BEST EVEN WITHOUT THE SHITTY TRACK RECORD. ahem.

source on the viking thing: Bede (author of HB) specifically says that Hengist and Horsa, the leaders of the Saxons, invaded in 449 AD, worked with Uther Pendragon or a contemporary, and then betrayed him. arthur is born within the next few years, or few months, idk, point is he probably became king around like....460, in the ballpark of, and is said to have died in....510ish? oh wow that’s a long reign. point is, anglo saxon invasion - started 449, king arthur, r 460-510 (KEEP IN MIND AT THIS POINT I AM RECITING WHAT I REMEMBER OF AN EVEN THEN PROBABLY MOSTLY FICTIONAL NARRATIVE. KING ARTHUR, AS A POST ROMAN WELSH WARLORD WHO FOUGHT THE SAXONS, PROBABLY DID EXIST, AND THAT DOES MATCH UP WITH THESE DATES)

the only part of that you needed to remember was that he died in 510, give or take a few years, because the viking age started in 793, well over 200 years later. you may be getting the viking thing from King Alfred or his grandson, Æthelsomething the unready, who both fought vikings and are famous for it. i have heard that arthur was based on them, which i think is bullshit, because they’re the most famous early rulers from the SAXON LINE of england, and were, you guessed it, saxons!

ok i’ll step off my soapbox now but just reminder that i’m american and am also just citing this from my brain, so i could be misremembering! i might dig up sources for this later. uhh if any welsh people wanna add in their two cents that’d be neat, or anyone that knows shit about king arthur. the english are rudely asked to refrain from commenting 💔 unless ur polly, bc ily, or anon, who’s nationality i don’t know. 

i’m not doing a tldr read my infodump cowards

[kalaieorion-blog]

I am of the lineage of John Proctor ( by moms line) and Sir Thomas Fuller (by dads line) Both templars descendents of the Surviors of the Fri the 13 massacre of Knights Templars by the Pope and the church for not turning over the Holy Grail. The Great GreatGrand Daughter of Philo, Roselyn and her child Sophia. Who we took to America by way of France to Portugal to England and with Help from Vikings to Oak Island King Davids final Burial spot. Mads the Kensington Rune Stones then the Gold plates found by John Smith. Then be came mission Builders in California . 22 represent the number of our group who set voyage in the 1200's. Nearly 400 years later the Final sequence started With Sir William Knight landing at "Knights Landing Sacremento(al) river where it meets the Portugal River Marys Island and Karnak Single Property titled? I AM THE ANGEL OF REVELATION OF THE Apocalypse( revealing of the truth) Sent by Jesus and God to spread the Word. LIGHTWORKERS DONT DDINK ANY COOLAIDE PLEASE(ya know? NO Jim jones #2!! (at Napa, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp_vwmFnGKC/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=exzpd3rx67zj

[jasminedragonart]

So much research in this.

Also, I want to pop this in here for those who don't know but in england the idea of a consort didn't come into play until I think it was either the Tudors or the Stuart's.

It's a little irk but it's there. Basically, I'm pretty sure its Mary I. They didn't want Mary to lose her power to a foreign king through power so the idea of consort came about to demote the spouse of a Queen and the power he had over her and the kingdom when they married. Before that with both parties they didn't become consorts they were kings and queens in their respective rights. The only difference was that when a king died the queen lost her power whereas before this law the foreign king didn't.

I might be wrong but this is how I've always known it. So, yeah, call those people kings and queens.

Another thing is, I'm just tacking things on now so I dont have to make another post, is that Arthurian Britian was pre Saxon.

Also probably pre catholic. I know some of the Roman's were catholic but the saxons were the ones who truly spread christianity in britian. Which was another thing that annoyed me in Merlin because they say heaven and god and hell where 1. They wouldn't know the catholic variations of this. 2. Hell is a viking word derived from the goddess Hela.

My point is that Catholicism is the reason for a lot of the bigotry and problems we have in modern day. They were the ones who put a stop to homosexuality and quite a lot of other things we're realising aren't bad today.

This means that during Arthur's time, two guys probably could be together and it wouldn't be a problem. I don't know about marriage with the whole heir problem but Merlin would definitely have evolved to a favourite or mistress status if they ever got together. Also, mistresses I need to make a whole rant on those because they get a bad rap in history these days when they actually were good for the kings and queens who had them.

Also the druids? Hella gay. They were probably smoking and having orgies in the woods. I mean they're peaceful people they had to do something with their day.

My point with this post is that Gwen would be a queen not a queen consort. she would remain queen and only queen no attatchements if she had a child and take over as regent until that child came of age. Otherwise I'm sorry to say but Gwen probably isn't queen by the end of the series. She was probably shucked off to a castle to be waited on hand and foot until death as is her right as former queen while one of Arthur's cousins took over.

This kind of got away from me. I had points and I think I just ended up rambling. Have a look at this first response though, they did their research and it's so detailed.

oh god, the inconsistencies in bbc's merlin. I was just replying to a comment, no shade btw, i probably did get a few things wrong, but the show itself has a lot of inconsistencies I wish they'd gotten straight before making this damn show.

Like, how many kingdoms are there? There are like 5 in one episode and 7 in another. There's like four Olaf's and Cenreds and I honestly can't keep track of them all.

Also, I said this in a reply, but Morgause's backstory doesn't make sense. She was smuggled out of camelot for having magic, meaning that morgana's mother was in camelot when she had morgause. Unless we're going with the fact that Uther might be her father and they're half sisters this way (unlikely since Morgause knows they're siblings but she doesn't know Morgana is Uther's daughter until Merlin almost offs her in her bday epiosde) then she's Morgana's mother's daughter and they're siblings that way.

But this makes no sense whatsoever because it looks like Morgause is the older daughter. Yet Morgause is the one smuggled out? Meaning that the great purge would have been going on when Morgause was born. The great purge that wouldn't have happened if Arthur wasn't born, meaning that Arthur isn't the youngest which I've assumed simply because of the myths and is in fact the oldest.

It doesn't make any sense. It would imply that it goes Arthur, Morgana and then Morgause because I don't see why Morgana's mother would be in camelot if not to keep Uther company. I'm guessing she came to camelot when Gorlois went off on campaign and they had an affair that way- campaigns can last years, we don't know exactly when he set off. Or maybe Gorlois and his wife spent a lot of time in Camelot- I'm saying his wife because he's not married to Ygraine in this show but is in the myths which is how morgana and morgause are born. Then Uther sent him off to war because he needed someone to fight magic or something after Morgana was born?

I don't know. We don't get any information on this and it looks like the writers didn't think this through either.

Also, the magic stuff. It kind of annoyed me that they had Merlin speaking old english- i think, there was a behind the scenes and they had him speaking something- but there were also runes included in this show??? Runes came over with the Vikings. Before that the writing in england was probably either celtic or latin with the roman's having left not long before. The idea of runes being there would mean that there had been a viking invasion, yet the vikings don't come to England until after the Saxons. the Saxons who are just invading at the start or end of Season 4. The saxons were from the German region so they wouldn't have runes- I don't think, I could be wrong.

But keep your magic consistent bbc. Don't just throw shit in and expect me not to notice this.

Like, I can excuse historical inaccuracies, but only to a point. If you're going to use old english then don't use runes. they don't exist yet. Work out your kingdoms. Write out your character's backstories so you don't mess up their continuities. My GOD!

It's so enraging.

[writingguide003-blog]

Super Bowl LII predictions: our writers pick the winner, MVP and players to watch

New Post has been published on https://writingguideto.com/must-see/super-bowl-lii-predictions-our-writers-pick-the-winner-mvp-and-players-to-watch-2/

Super Bowl LII predictions: our writers pick the winner, MVP and players to watch

Will the Patriots win a record-tying sixth Super Bowl championship or will the Eagles win their first? Our writers hash it out

Super Bowl LII

Super Bowl LII predictions: our writers pick the winner, MVP and players to watch

Will the Patriots win a record-tying sixth Super Bowl championship or will the Eagles win their first? Our writers hash it out

Paolo Bandini and Bryan Armen Graham in Minneapolis

Sat 3 Feb 2018 11.40EST Last modified on Sat 3 Feb 2018 13.25EST

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Can Nick Foles punctuate Philadelphias fairytale playoff run with the hard-luck clubs first title in 57 years? Photograph: Eric Gay/AP

What the Patriots need to do to win

PB: Let Philly build up a lead, then stick the ball in Tom Bradys hands? Im being glib, but when a team pulls off as many come-from-behind wins as this one, over such an extended period, what else are we supposed to say? You probably dont need reminding that the Pats trailed by 25 points in the third quarter of last years Super Bowl. Or that they stuck 14 fourth-quarter points on a previously dominant Jacksonville defense in last months AFC title game.

Perhaps the more nuanced version of that same answer is: keep on adjusting. As brilliant as Brady is in the clutch, it is Bill Belichicks capacity for tweaking his gameplan on the fly that makes this team so hard to beat. We saw it against the Jaguars, whose offense exploded in the first half but ground to a halt as New England started finding ways to keep Blake Bortles in the pocket. A different approach will be required against Nick Foles and company, but these Patriots know they need not panic if they dont have the right answers at the start.

BAG: Above all New Englands offensive line must protect Brady and they will have their hands full with a stout Philadelphia pass rush thats tormented opponents all year long. Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz likes to rotate Fletcher Cox, Tim Jernigan, Brandon Graham and Vinny Curry frequently with Chris Long, Beau Allen, Derek Barnett and Destiny Vaeao, an embarrassment of riches on the defensive line that allows them to pressure the quarterback without relying on the blitz. Look for the Patriots to run a lot of no-huddle to negate Phillys depth and keep the Eagles offense on the sidelines.

What the Eagles need to do to win

PB: Predictable, perhaps, but disrupting Tom Brady has to be the biggest part of this picture. The Patriots, as observed above, are masters of the in-game adjustment. Take away Rob Gronkowski, and theyll just fire up Danny Amendola. Commit to slowing down the run and they can either start to look for Brandin Cooks over the top or exploit your aggression with James White and Rex Burkhead in the screen game.

Brady is the one essential piece of the puzzle, and has played some of the best football of his career even this year at 40 years old. There might not be a team in the NFL better equipped than Philly to generate pressure with a four-man front at the tail end of a long season, however, thanks to an extraordinarily deep rotation which can alternate the likes of Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham, Tim Jernigan and Vinny Curry with Beau Allen, Derek Barnett and Chris Long. That group must play up to its potential for the Eagles to prevail.

BG: Theres been no shortage of hand-wringing over Nick Foles, the back-up quarterback thrust into the starters role when Carson Wentz was lost to a season-ending injury in December. But the Eagles coaches have done a masterful job of crafting game plans around Foles strengths and masking his weaknesses, putting him in a position to make plays. They will play with irreverence and they will put up points as they have all year, with or without their franchise player.

Not surprisingly, it will come down to the defense, which rated among the NFLs best all season long. The Eagles must harry Brady and shorten the game to keep New Englands offense off the field. Its the common thread in nearly all of the Patriots high-profile defeats, including their AFC title game loss to the Broncos two years ago and both Super Bowl setbacks to the Giants.

Unsung player to look out for

PB: My first thought was Trey Flowers undersized for an interior lineman, and slower than you would really like for an edge rusher, yet somehow consistently productive wherever he is deployed by New England. But is he actually unsung any more? Ill go with Kyle Van Noy instead third on the team in tackles during the regular season and a wrecking ball against Jacksonville, who had made a positive start on their final possession until he sacked Blake Bortles for a seven-yard loss.

BAG: No one is better than Belichick when it comes to denying an opponents best weapon or strategy. That will create opportunities for outsiders like rookie running back Corey Clement, an undrafted free agent who was a longshot to make the team in training camp but whos emerged as Philadelphias best pass-blocking back and a dependable target on screen passes. Clement only rushed for 321 yards, but he leads all Philadelphia running backs in rushing touchdowns (four) and total touchdowns (six).

New Englands Kyle Van Noy shined in the AFC title game after finishing third on the team in tackles during the regular season. Photograph: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

What youre most looking forward to seeing

PB: The coaching duel between Bill Belichick and Doug Pederson. The Eagles opened up the playbook against Minnesota, and were rewarded with a monster game from Nick Foles. So what does Pederson have up his sleeve here, and how will Belichick counter? And after each team pulled out the flea-flicker in the conference title games, what fresh misdirection lies in store?

BAG: Early fireworks. New Englands pass defense has improved greatly since early in the season when it allowed an NFL-record six consecutive opposing quarterbacks to throw for at least 300 yards, but the Patriots remain vulnerable over the top. The aggressive play-calling of Eagles coach Doug Pederson, whose first game as a head coach above the high school level was remarkably less than 17 months ago, has been a key ingredient Philadelphias sudden reversal of fortune. Dont expect a cagey opening. Coming off an NFC championship game where Foles became the first quarterback in NFL history with completions of more than 40 yards to three different receivers in a postseason game, look for Pederson to take shots downfield early.

One bold prediction

PB: Brady throws a pick six.

BAG: Brandin Cooks will go for over 120 yards receiving and a touchdown as the Eagles are forced to devote extra safety to Gronkowski.

Your MVP will be …

PB: Well if my bold prediction is correct then it might be the guy who runs that interception back, but Im going to go with Zach Ertz. The Eagles tight end absolutely dominated Harrison Smith a popular pick for the NFLs defensive player of the year in the NFC title game. Who do the Patriots have who can match up against him better?

BAG: Nick Foles, Super Bowl MVP? It might sound funny, but the 29-year-old quarterback has played himself into form since Wentzs injury shook the constitution of a city. After carrying the Eagles into the Super Bowl with a master-class performance against the Vikings, Foles career playoff numbers speak for themselves: 72 of 96 passes for 793 yards, with five touchdowns and no interceptions. That 116.4 passer rating is the best in NFL playoff history for any quarterback with at least 75 passing attempts, surpassing a mark held by Jeff Hostetler, another understudy who came off the bench late in the season to helm his NFC East team to an improbably Super Bowl win over a heavily favored AFC East opponent.

The winner will be …

PB: I honestly think well look back on this and marvel at the idea that the Eagles were ever able to convince us they were the underdogs, despite a 13-3 record and a 31-point win in the NFC title game. Yes, they lost Wentz. But weve seen enough since to conclude that this is still an excellent team. Eagles 24, Patriots 21

BAG: All seven of New Englands Super Bowls in the Belichick/Brady era have been decided by six points or less and theres little reason to believe the eighth will be any less touch and go. The Eagles will race out to a half-time lead and whether they can hold off New Englands inevitable rally, as an entire city chews their fingernails to nubs, will determine who comes away with the trophy. It says here they will on a late Jake Elliott field goal. Eagles 27, Patriots 24

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us

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13th transcriptions

1 n/a

2 n/a 

3 (selective)

I tell you what, you know, if you were an attacking army looking at that bloody thing, it must cross your mind how the bloody hell you’re going to take that lot, like, isn’t it you know? But I think it was more to protect the country from those bloody viking and all the nordsman and what not coming off the sea, like. 

Does anybody live in it, then? 

I expect it’s got a caretaker, caretaking staff I would think. I mean it belongs to the national trust, I would say it’s a listed building wouldn’t you, ey? 

4 (selective)

This is where you turn off for holy island, here. Something seems very familiar about this. Yeah it’s down there, it’s not far down there either. 

5 miles to holy island.

Sorry?

5 mile to holy island.

yeah aye, it’s not far down there. 

5 (selective)

Now then, I doubt we’ll have time to go totally round it, but Berwick is a walled city, as you’ve probably seen on the sign. The wall runs right round it. We park opposite a big part of the wall.

Loads of people driving into Carlisle, it says, ‘Carlisle, a historic city’. And I think, whats historic about it? Is berwick in england or scotland?

Its in england. Yes it’s in england. 

6 n/a

7 

If you look over here, and it goes round in a cirlce, that is where a volcano was, in there. That was the caldera, long gone, many millions of years ago. But that’s where it was. You can now, you see the limestone’s all gone here, it’s all eroded away, but you see how thick it was on the cliffs there? but that’s only the top of it as well, it goes way down. That’s lindisfarne, lindisfarne, it looks small but it’s closer to us than bamburgh, it’s way over there. but my god, could they see some bloody distance from that bugger. This is the black sand, lavarial sand, volcanic. 

8

What this was, is it’s obviously been a harbour, but for what i dont know. It’s either that or it’s been put there to break the force of the water against the cliffs to stop them eroding, they do that a lot. Becuase really i see one ring there s nowehere to tie a boat up is there, I mean you’re going to need a fair few fishing boats here. 

as you’re going through the ages, Limestone, sandstone, limestone, sandstone, and it carries on with the limestone up there, theres just like a crease of sandstone and its gone on, but you can see where the pressure came from cant you? to make the sandstone, theres an even better one up there, but the begining of time is here, like. 

[writingguide003-blog]

Super Bowl LII predictions: our writers pick the winner, MVP and players to watch

New Post has been published on https://writingguideto.com/must-see/super-bowl-lii-predictions-our-writers-pick-the-winner-mvp-and-players-to-watch/

Super Bowl LII predictions: our writers pick the winner, MVP and players to watch

Will the Patriots win a record-tying sixth Super Bowl championship or will the Eagles win their first? Our writers hash it out

Super Bowl LII

Super Bowl LII predictions: our writers pick the winner, MVP and players to watch

Will the Patriots win a record-tying sixth Super Bowl championship or will the Eagles win their first? Our writers hash it out

Paolo Bandini and Bryan Armen Graham in Minneapolis

Sat 3 Feb 2018 11.40EST Last modified on Sat 3 Feb 2018 13.25EST

Share on Facebook

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Can Nick Foles punctuate Philadelphias fairytale playoff run with the hard-luck clubs first title in 57 years? Photograph: Eric Gay/AP

What the Patriots need to do to win

PB: Let Philly build up a lead, then stick the ball in Tom Bradys hands? Im being glib, but when a team pulls off as many come-from-behind wins as this one, over such an extended period, what else are we supposed to say? You probably dont need reminding that the Pats trailed by 25 points in the third quarter of last years Super Bowl. Or that they stuck 14 fourth-quarter points on a previously dominant Jacksonville defense in last months AFC title game.

Perhaps the more nuanced version of that same answer is: keep on adjusting. As brilliant as Brady is in the clutch, it is Bill Belichicks capacity for tweaking his gameplan on the fly that makes this team so hard to beat. We saw it against the Jaguars, whose offense exploded in the first half but ground to a halt as New England started finding ways to keep Blake Bortles in the pocket. A different approach will be required against Nick Foles and company, but these Patriots know they need not panic if they dont have the right answers at the start.

BAG: Above all New Englands offensive line must protect Brady and they will have their hands full with a stout Philadelphia pass rush thats tormented opponents all year long. Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz likes to rotate Fletcher Cox, Tim Jernigan, Brandon Graham and Vinny Curry frequently with Chris Long, Beau Allen, Derek Barnett and Destiny Vaeao, an embarrassment of riches on the defensive line that allows them to pressure the quarterback without relying on the blitz. Look for the Patriots to run a lot of no-huddle to negate Phillys depth and keep the Eagles offense on the sidelines.

What the Eagles need to do to win

PB: Predictable, perhaps, but disrupting Tom Brady has to be the biggest part of this picture. The Patriots, as observed above, are masters of the in-game adjustment. Take away Rob Gronkowski, and theyll just fire up Danny Amendola. Commit to slowing down the run and they can either start to look for Brandin Cooks over the top or exploit your aggression with James White and Rex Burkhead in the screen game.

Brady is the one essential piece of the puzzle, and has played some of the best football of his career even this year at 40 years old. There might not be a team in the NFL better equipped than Philly to generate pressure with a four-man front at the tail end of a long season, however, thanks to an extraordinarily deep rotation which can alternate the likes of Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham, Tim Jernigan and Vinny Curry with Beau Allen, Derek Barnett and Chris Long. That group must play up to its potential for the Eagles to prevail.

BG: Theres been no shortage of hand-wringing over Nick Foles, the back-up quarterback thrust into the starters role when Carson Wentz was lost to a season-ending injury in December. But the Eagles coaches have done a masterful job of crafting game plans around Foles strengths and masking his weaknesses, putting him in a position to make plays. They will play with irreverence and they will put up points as they have all year, with or without their franchise player.

Not surprisingly, it will come down to the defense, which rated among the NFLs best all season long. The Eagles must harry Brady and shorten the game to keep New Englands offense off the field. Its the common thread in nearly all of the Patriots high-profile defeats, including their AFC title game loss to the Broncos two years ago and both Super Bowl setbacks to the Giants.

Unsung player to look out for

PB: My first thought was Trey Flowers undersized for an interior lineman, and slower than you would really like for an edge rusher, yet somehow consistently productive wherever he is deployed by New England. But is he actually unsung any more? Ill go with Kyle Van Noy instead third on the team in tackles during the regular season and a wrecking ball against Jacksonville, who had made a positive start on their final possession until he sacked Blake Bortles for a seven-yard loss.

BAG: No one is better than Belichick when it comes to denying an opponents best weapon or strategy. That will create opportunities for outsiders like rookie running back Corey Clement, an undrafted free agent who was a longshot to make the team in training camp but whos emerged as Philadelphias best pass-blocking back and a dependable target on screen passes. Clement only rushed for 321 yards, but he leads all Philadelphia running backs in rushing touchdowns (four) and total touchdowns (six).

New Englands Kyle Van Noy shined in the AFC title game after finishing third on the team in tackles during the regular season. Photograph: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

What youre most looking forward to seeing

PB: The coaching duel between Bill Belichick and Doug Pederson. The Eagles opened up the playbook against Minnesota, and were rewarded with a monster game from Nick Foles. So what does Pederson have up his sleeve here, and how will Belichick counter? And after each team pulled out the flea-flicker in the conference title games, what fresh misdirection lies in store?

BAG: Early fireworks. New Englands pass defense has improved greatly since early in the season when it allowed an NFL-record six consecutive opposing quarterbacks to throw for at least 300 yards, but the Patriots remain vulnerable over the top. The aggressive play-calling of Eagles coach Doug Pederson, whose first game as a head coach above the high school level was remarkably less than 17 months ago, has been a key ingredient Philadelphias sudden reversal of fortune. Dont expect a cagey opening. Coming off an NFC championship game where Foles became the first quarterback in NFL history with completions of more than 40 yards to three different receivers in a postseason game, look for Pederson to take shots downfield early.

One bold prediction

PB: Brady throws a pick six.

BAG: Brandin Cooks will go for over 120 yards receiving and a touchdown as the Eagles are forced to devote extra safety to Gronkowski.

Your MVP will be …

PB: Well if my bold prediction is correct then it might be the guy who runs that interception back, but Im going to go with Zach Ertz. The Eagles tight end absolutely dominated Harrison Smith a popular pick for the NFLs defensive player of the year in the NFC title game. Who do the Patriots have who can match up against him better?

BAG: Nick Foles, Super Bowl MVP? It might sound funny, but the 29-year-old quarterback has played himself into form since Wentzs injury shook the constitution of a city. After carrying the Eagles into the Super Bowl with a master-class performance against the Vikings, Foles career playoff numbers speak for themselves: 72 of 96 passes for 793 yards, with five touchdowns and no interceptions. That 116.4 passer rating is the best in NFL playoff history for any quarterback with at least 75 passing attempts, surpassing a mark held by Jeff Hostetler, another understudy who came off the bench late in the season to helm his NFC East team to an improbably Super Bowl win over a heavily favored AFC East opponent.

The winner will be …

PB: I honestly think well look back on this and marvel at the idea that the Eagles were ever able to convince us they were the underdogs, despite a 13-3 record and a 31-point win in the NFC title game. Yes, they lost Wentz. But weve seen enough since to conclude that this is still an excellent team. Eagles 24, Patriots 21

BAG: All seven of New Englands Super Bowls in the Belichick/Brady era have been decided by six points or less and theres little reason to believe the eighth will be any less touch and go. The Eagles will race out to a half-time lead and whether they can hold off New Englands inevitable rally, as an entire city chews their fingernails to nubs, will determine who comes away with the trophy. It says here they will on a late Jake Elliott field goal. Eagles 27, Patriots 24

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us

[windforestsso]

I think it was mention somewhere that the water in the swamp gets heated up from inside the mountain or something so yeah it could be the warmest place on Jorvik. New Hillcrest is probably not that warm thou. They right by the ocean and bit hight up so they most get cold winds from the ocean that probably overwhelm the warmth from the swamp. I could see that New hillcrest have cold winds but warm ground. Just like greatbritain, the water that goes by them are hot so the ground doesnt usually get frozen. Can you imagen being a tourist or have just moving in and the people just “Oh yeah, so we have a tropical swamp over there, a permenent frozen valley over there. And lets not forget about the area where it is permanent autumn, the leaves falls from the trees all year long but never goes bare” (it just made me realise we dont know why golden hills are like that).

My theory is that the romans got chased out or killed by pandorians or kelters. I just dont think a volcano eruption wouldnt leave some kind of bigger change to the landscape. Like black sand or something. Did Jon Jarl find druid people? The ghosts from his time talked about how the island was empty when they arrived and only found ruins. It wasnt untill later time when druids started to be mentiond by the ghost, so I assumed the people from Jon Jarls socicity discovering witchcraft and fripp and Witches and druids starting poping up. One of the loadingscreens quotes mention The Keepers of Aideen has only been around for few hundred years. And with Jon Jarl arriving almost 800 years ago to Jorvik it would suggest that it was his people that become the keepers. 

I have no idea how celtic got mixed in with all of it. Jorvik means ‘horse bay’�� in old (I belive, its a viking name atleast) , A Jarl was a kings right hand man in the nordic, Galloper real name being Gunnar (common nordic name) Thrymson and being Jon Jarls Huskarl (danish word I belive) just suggest they all came from scandinavia. Jorvik apparently was ruled by england at some point but would people be that quick to take in another cultur like that?

And with the horses I belive it was the Druids that gave Jon Jarl the strong horses and it have been hinted that fjords are actually kelters horses that vikings took back home to Norway.

As an non-celt I would love to hear what you have to say. Because I dont know much about celtic cultur or tradition.

THEORY RANT AHEAD

Okay, I estimate the warmest place in Jorvik is Epona. Epona makes sense. Grapes. Swamp must be warm considering the amount of steam that rises off it, though humid, and there's the hot spring area in the dormant volcano that must generate heat.

Okay, so you know how there's a bit of Roman architecture, seen around the Buttergood manor and the like? (Also would explain the grapes being imported to Jorvik, which is clearly far north considering the permanent night in winter)

Anyway is it possible that the last eruption either wiped them out in a Pompeii type situation, or forced them to evacuate, hence the Jarl finding no Roman settlement and only finding the druid-type people? Perhaps the remaining Roman people were integrated into their society.

And perhaps Romans imported and bred horses, since viking ships couldn't carry much livestock, and would only bring small Icelandic and Fjord types anyway.

That would explain the diversity of horses on the island, and how the Jarl was able to breed war-type horses capable of carrying armour. Otherwise his only possibility would be breeding his small horses with Jorvik Wild Horses, which wouldn't create the refinement necessary, if he could even get close to the Wilds. Which I doubt.

And bearing in mind that travelling Romans needed horses primarily to work, they'd still be quite draft-like cobbish types.

Onto the Jorvik Warmblood? Not as sleek as most warmbloods? Possibly a descendant of the Jarls horses, with warmblood only added in later from newer settlers to create a more athletic riding horse, hence the unrefined appearance.

Don't even get me started on Celtic influence on the druids. As a Celt who still follows our ways I have a LOT to say.