Story 90: Freyja is Pretty! She Has Cats! w/ Kelsey Dody

“You know what she could have been? A goddamn Valkyrie!”

Special guest Kelsey Dody “escapes” from Bunker 9 to join the show on the main feed to discuss the divine twins! No, the other divine twins: Freyr and Freyja!

Other topics include the struggle to pronounce symbols not used in American English, Freyr being down so bad he rejects traditional social decorum, another Rick Riordan OC (Do Not Steal), the conflicting identity of Freyr/Surt’s sword, the crime of Magnus being denied a teacup boar, and Rick Riordan’s baffling decision to base his Freyja off a smear campaign written by 14th-century Christian priests.

Spoilers for SMITE, Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, God of War (2018), Marvel Comics, and Valheim

Content Warning: This episode contains mentions of and conversations about death, sex, incest, coercion, colonization, and misogyny.

Find more of Kelsey on Instagram!
https://www.instagram.com/_kelseycam/
https://www.instagram.com/k.hana.art/

Learn more about Family Giving Tree at https://familygivingtree.org/

Come see us at Boise Comic Arts Festival, Saturday, Aug. 24! (https://www.boisepubliclibrary.org/using-the-library/boise-comic-arts-festival/)

‘Fate Be Changed: A Twisted Tale’ AKA BRAVE TO THE FUTURE Bonus Episode available now on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/musesofmythology

About Us

Muses of Mythology was created and co-hosted by Darien and DJ Smartt.

Our music is Athens Festival by Martin Haene. Our cover art is by Audrey Miller. Find her on Instagram @bombshellnutshellart

Love the podcast? Support us on Patreon and get instant access to bloopers, outtakes, and bonus episodes! Patreon.com/musesofmythology

Tell us what you like most about the show by leaving us a review at Lovethepodcast.com/musesofmythology

Find us @MusesOfMyth on Instagram. Find all of our episodes and episode transcripts at MusesOfMythology.com

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Darien (00:00.172)

Muses of Mythology is a spoiler-heavy podcast. We're going to discuss not just the events of this book, but the Ridenverse as a whole, and really anything that we feel is relevant. You can find full spoiler warnings in the show notes. The throne was carved from wood as soft and buttery as light linen. What? Light linen wood? OK. I read it wrong. The throne was carved from wood as soft and buttery as the light. I see. It's an dash, not a hyphen.

That's an understatement.

DJ (00:29.294)

You

one more time.

Darien (00:46.958)

Welcome to Muse of Mythology, a podcast where we explore how Intimus become part of modern pop culture through the lens of his writings Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard. This is Story 90. Freyr and Freya. I'm your co-host and podcasting muse Darian Smart. Joining me is my co-host and brother DJ.

everybody doing it I'm DJ the Muse and I'm doing some last-minute cramming crazy I know

What else is new, Dee? I'll buy you little bit more time. Let's go muse around the garden for a minute. DJ, guess what I found? I found comments. Woo! Spotify comments. We've got two new comments on Spotify. Listeners, if you listen on Spotify, you can do comments now. That's the thing they rolled out. Enjoy. Let us know what you of the episode.

find.

DJ (01:20.248)

Hell yeah.

DJ (01:27.8)

We love.

Probably so much easier for a lot of, like a majority of our listeners to leave a comment rather than like Apple music review.

It's a big... We got two comments. They're left by Will 11 is how I'm going to guess we say it because I believe it's W-I-1-1-11. So I don't think it's We 1111. I'm going to guess Will 11 and if I'm wrong, you let me know by leaving another comment, my friend. On our sort of summer episode, they proudly declared, we all know when, not if.

Will 1111.

Darien (02:03.904)

It becomes a film series or TV show. The music is all going to be European indie. That sounds right. Yeah, I have no notes.

Hopefully.

DJ (02:12.77)

I don't think it'll all be. I think a lot of the background music in Hotel Valhalla will be. Definitely during the big Valhalla scenes.

won't go to it. It's the Sinatra in the elevator.

Yeah, exactly. But like during the like great feasts that he's always having every night.

Like, specifically for, like, drops. Yeah, we're talking like...

I think probably during like opening you'll probably get some like nice 80s to 90s American rock band. Maybe some Nirvana.

Darien (02:46.126)

That'd be good. This comment does feel so... Dear listener, did leave another comment on our Ship of the Dead episode.

in which

I don't think these series will go past Percy Jackson if I'm being honest. I don't think we'll ever get a Heroes of Olympus series

And make sure you swing over to our Patreon to hear about our thoughts on the recent D23 trailer reveals and announcements. We're doing that? But specifically in this comment, I also don't want to take time to address Will Levin's statement that Samira's hijab is forest green because all of the Valkyrie's cloaks are green. Samira just say like it is her Valkyrie issued camouflage cloak. It's called a swan cloak.

all the Valkyries have on and she did specifically request that hers be able to double answer her job, which is so smart. She wears it all the time. Whenever she needs to jump into her secret Valkyrie double life, she already has it on. So it's great.

DJ (04:03.95)

just don't see the Valkyrie color as green.

will admit, could not, and dear listener, this is not us being like, hey, you're wrong. Like if you could cite us this specific, like that would help us with figuring out, Samira, why are you wearing green if you don't like the green? Because I did look, double check the books and the descriptions of the Valkyries, like when Magnus is seeing them and no color is associated with the Valkyries. Like he doesn't know that they are all wearing green. He actually doesn't even really describe.

the Valkyries in general. And they're flying around and they're serving food. The only Valkyrie we get a clear description of besides Samira is Gunilla. And she is described as wearing a green dress. So we could theorize that her dress is also her swan cloak. And if that is green and Samira's job is green, and they are both the swan cloaks, then yes. But we don't know if that's her swan cloak or if it's just she wears a green dress. I also swung by the

This a third of our crew.

Darien (05:05.238)

Riordan wiki, which, know, great assaults on the specific swan cloak page to see if a color is mentioned there. couldn't find it. So what really this, what I actually want to talk about it isn't just to be like, listener, you're wrong. That's actually not at all. I wanted to like, cause it really made me realize Rick Riordan did not spend a lot of time describing the Valkyries as a whole concept. It really, I wanted to identify it as to actually thank this listener for giving me the opportunity to fully realize.

Hey, Rick Riordan just dropped the ball on Valkyries as a concept. Yes, Sam is great. We get a lot of Sam, but Valkyries. And I'm just, that's the last thing to say about that. I sneak peek to our eventual Valkyrie episode because, hey, now I'm coming. You all are about to hear some of the feelings I have about Freya and Rick Riordan. I'm prepared to come in hot again, but we'll see. So, begin. Will 11?

We 11 11, thank you so much for taking the time. Please, absolutely any other observations you have, we definitely want to hear it. It me so happy to see comments. Like absolutely things we say you disagree with. And you're not just like being a jerk about it, which I don't interpret this person's comments as like rude or anything. please feel free. I like to know we're not screaming into a void. We need to wrap this, this is fast. But I just want to say, hey, we hit 1000 followers on Instagram. Thank you so much. That's, I mean, it's not a big deal. I mean.

careful.

DJ (06:26.446)

Thank you

huge deal, Darien. It's a fucking massive deal. It's four goddamn figures!

You're right. It's something I've worked very hard to build the Instagram to get there. And we've just been hovering like 30 away for six months. So that's why I wanted to mention it because we finally did it today and it makes me so happy.

Hey guys, and if you haven't followed us, please follow us so that we can solidify it a little.

I know I'm so scared that by the time this video comes out we'll have lost six files.

DJ (06:55.15)

It's at exactly a thousand. We would like to solidify it a little more with like a grace period of 10 to 20, you know

Shout out to Mallory from DimmyGodDebut. They were our 1,000th follower today. Thank you, Mallory. Thank you again. If you, I mean, I'm still going to do this even if we dropped to under 1,000. By the time you're listening to this, it's literally the day after we hit 1,000. So if you want, you can jump on our Instagram. We're going to do an AMA on our stories, where it will actually be recording us answering the responses and not just...

Love, to hear it. you so much Mallory.

Darien (07:30.594)

chatting them maybe if we get a crazy response I can't make that promise but the fucking making okay we're making that promise I'll save it as its own

We're making that.

This is my first time hearing about it and I'm making that promise.

He likes to make promises he don't know if he can keep. But yeah, celebrate with us if you're on Instagram, you can swing by and just ask us. mean, obviously we get to vet questions. But come ask us whatever you want. It'll be super fun. Thank you so much. And now what the garden is actually for? Some good in the world. Yes. It is a new month, which means it is time for our monthly Patreon donation. If this is your first time listening to the garden, you may not be aware that every month

I'll make it on Twitter.

Darien (08:10.54)

We donate $1 for every patron we have over on Patreon to some organization working to create a net positive in the world.

This month we are giving it to the family giving tree, which is doing a back to school drive and like, you know, in order to give supplies to kids in need.

Yep, is. Back to school shopping is so expensive for parents, so expensive for teachers who often have to supply. That's why the lists are so long, because the students don't have the teachers. It's a wild cycle that the place where children are required to be does not also have the means to give them the supplies they will need. But that's for a different podcast. Darien will not rant about that here. You're already going to hear a big Darien rant in this episode. maybe next time.

Not here, maybe next time.

So we will just say thank you so much to our patrons. We currently have 11 patrons over on Patreon. So we're rounding up, donating out of a pocket to donate a total of $20 to the family giving tree. If you'd like to learn more or you want to give yourself, there'll be a link in our show notes.

DJ (09:13.582)

And hey, if you want to help us support these charities that we do, or if you want like more content from us, patreon.com, For South Muses Mythology. You better believe it. We got a ton of content over there. The same amount of bonus episodes as we got main feed. got the remith episodes last month. We did a wonderful episode. I guess this week last month we did a wonderful episode on Go The Distance, the Disney Twisted Tale of Hercules. Fantastic. We're due like Muses movie night. It's a wonderful

It's just awesome. We'd love to see you guys there and we'd love like it would help us support these charities and it would help support us your favorite podcaster.

Yay! Yep, DJ Seta, you can't take it back. Thank you for our patrons for making this donation possible. Thank you for all our listeners and for commenting and supporting us on Instagram and helping me hit that very, very serially goal that meant so much to me. And now, back to the show. Back to the show.

We are back and we are joined breaking out a bunker and I'm making it to the main feed for the first time ever, Kelsey Doty. Woo! Say hello, you did. Hello. Kelsey, it's been a while since we had a new guest, so I'm gonna throw you the question we haven't asked in so very long, I think. First, tell the audience a little bit about you and then tell them about your Ryre Inverse affiliation.

I am going blank and I have a dog and that's my personality. Okay. mom. And I read the Percy Jackson novels with my mom and brother growing up and then recently read Magnus Chase and don't know how I missed it while I was younger because it's amazing and that's about it.

Darien (10:35.672)

Okay.

Darien (10:49.41)

I think that's perfect. So today we are continuing our tour through Vanaheim with the twins Freyr and Freya. Kalis, you just read the Magnus Chase books, so I'm going to throw it to you. What do you remember about these two deities? Pop quiz!

no, pop quiz. They're very peaceful and I got kind of some cool hippie dad vibes. They like sunshine. They're in like a grassy field and camping. They seem pretty cool to hang out with. I don't know if I'd want them as my parents. Freya cries a lot, but her tears are like worth money. Yeah, that sounds important. Which I did.

They're red gold.

include in the notes because I spaced on that fact at the time but red gold is like a gold and copper alloy that was viewed by the Nordic people as being far more valuable than gold. In fact, they viewed silver as being more valuable than gold which like to be fair gold is pretty but it doesn't hold up. Like if you're not needing it to conduct electricity and you're not putting it over things like temples like you don't yeah gold I'm not surprised that the Norse were like yeah gold is fine but like

We don't care about it that much.

DJ (12:02.542)

We're a war. We like our metals to be sturdy. Gold is too mushy, soft. It bends too easily.

Yeah, you can't fight with gold.

Darien (12:11.404)

easily. Bends too easily. Yeah, I think that's a pretty that's a pretty strong overview of them. They're hippie granola. Into camping. Very crunch.

Very crunchy.

and Frey lost a sword, which is an oopsie, but he did lose Magnus.

I

didn't lose the sword, he gave it up.

Darien (12:30.828)

Well, lust isn't completely inaccurate. Yeah, but still willingly. Yes, he had a sword. He no longer has a sword. Yeah. And when it comes time for Ragnarok, that's going to be a big problem. I would too. Yeah. Okay. No, no. Fair. Fair. DJ, did you have any extra to add about Freya or Freya in the Magnus Chase books?

Peace. Give it up.

DJ (12:43.15)

took that purse exactly so he gave it up he didn't just lose him

DJ (12:56.575)

The whole Freya thing did make me little uncomfortable. Just a little.

Yeah, did the way Freya's depicted make you a little uncomfortable?

This is one where I'm like, is that really Howard Redden the noise mythology? What about that one, gee.

Darien has a whole section in her notes called now I yell at Rick Riordan. Yeah, this one will get to that We'll get to that. I'm still smiling. It's fine Hey remember last episode I mentioned how I like maybe one of the times that Rick portrayed a goddess Freya is not on that goddamn list It's a short list and she's certainly not on it So but for now, let's get started. We'll start with

Yeah.

Darien (13:41.848)

Frey because we technically meet Frey first in the books and usually we go in that order, but I'm going to get a little more heated when we get to the Frey stuff. So this makes more sense for the building of the energy of the episode. Frey is one of the major gods of the Norse pantheon, though that's not necessarily something you might realize today, looking at how like

Odin and Thor and Loki and even like Heimdall feel like much, much bigger players. We talked about this a little bit in the last episode, the Aesir versus the Veneer and that like representation and a little bit like why it might be that the Veneer were highly lessened in the following centuries. But like the way we know.

Because again, we don't have a lot of stuff. This is something we talked about over and over again. We don't have a lot to work with for the Norse. But the way we know that Freyr was a big deal is that there were so many places named after him. So many places all over Scandinavia that were named after this dude. And you don't name places after someone who wasn't important. I wouldn't be surprised.

I think there's a mead made in Boise named after him.

I I've seen Merylmead, something like that.

Darien (15:04.628)

wouldn't be surprised. So, Frere, his name literally means Lord, an old nurse, old Norse, excuse me, and he's a deity of kinship, fertility, peace, prosperity, fair weather, and good harvest. So like, kind of good things. Things that like everyday folks would be super jazzed about. can see why he would have been super popular.

This guy gives us the ability to live. At the very least to to brave the harsh winners with our stock up of Bountief.

Yeah, it is the good times. The reason we soldier on through the hard times is because we know there will be good times again. And Freyr represents those good times. Much like with the veneer and how they are mentioned a lot, I'm not gonna go through the Eddas and cite every single time Freyr is mentioned, because that like...

is not interesting audio. Yeah. So I'm going to start with just a brief roundup of some like highlights for this dude. And then we will get into like some of the meteor, the one meteor myth we've got of him. So we know that the gods gave him Elfheim realm of the elves as his teething present, literally like kind of like a birthday present of sorts. We'll get into that later.

He rides on a shining golden boar named Golden Bursey and gold literally means gold so when it says shining it means it's golden. He possesses a ship of which I'm going to struggle to pronounce. Nope, I'm not gonna I'm not even gonna try. DJ, you want to try?

Darien (16:40.072)

No, that's the bull. Sure. That's the ship he has. And it always sails on a favorable breeze. And it can be folded up and carried in a little pouch when not in use. We have to assume. We have to assume that this is the ship that Magnus and Co were sailing on and that it can fold up is not an invention of Rick Riordan, but actual magical thing that I truly love.

get blood.

DJ (16:49.71)

Okay.

Kelsey (16:54.826)

Is it bright yellow?

Darien (17:09.939)

He also was known to have, he was associated with a horse cult? Yeah, I don't know. But he kept, sacred horses were kept in his sanctuary in Trondheim, Norway. And I feel like between the golden boar and the horses, we could have had a little bit more hanging out with animals for Magnus, not to give notes, but.

Magnus suddenly having the ability to talk to animals in the last book and that just doing nothing for us. I feel like he should have been able to summon horses and a boar in the last battle on the ship of the dead. It's just a thought, but how cool would have it been if this giant golden boar just erupted from-

that's fucked that's fucked up skizz blah veneer skizz blah veneer skizz blah veneer that's fu-

All that D is the...

Skif- skif-vod-blood.

Darien (18:07.566)

Cool. Yes. These are just sounds that we don't use in our spoken language. Not in that order. not following that. like that. We struggle. And he is a deity that is present in a lot of things. Like he's just around. When the gods are doing a thing in like a group, prayer is probably there. He's a big player. He's around. Including that time.

I mean, we use, right? That's the right.

Darien (18:36.054)

Loki showed up and insulted everybody at that party. This guy. So he rolls up and he just starts dunking on Freyr's father, Njorn, who we talked about last episode. And at one point in time, Njorn to defend himself.

Bastard.

Darien (18:59.31)

says, because Loki, as we talked about, Loki tries to make fun of him for getting sent to the Aesir as a hostage during the war. And Nord in defending himself says that he's grateful for this because that I fathered that son who no one hates and is thought to be the protector of the Aesir, which is interesting, because you think that would be a title given to Thor as a protector. So that being something that Freyr is noted for just lends to the fact that this deity was super important.

And at this point is when Loki throws back, yeah, no, no, no, no, I can't keep it a secret any longer. I know that your son was actually born from you and your sister. As we talked about the unnamed, sourceless sister. Because for some reason we decide that Loki's word on this matter must be true and it wasn't Scotty, but whatever. I said my piece on that. I said my piece on that last episode. I'm gonna go on with how at this point, Tyr steps in and he says,

Freyr is the best of all the bold riders in the courts of the Aesir. He makes no girl cry, nor any man's wife, and loosens each man from captivity. So war god out here being like, no, no, no, Freyr's the best dude we've This guy rules. This guy rules. He's just super cool. He's just a stand-up dude. like him a lot. That's kind of the, going into this, that's a vibe we have of Freyr, right? But if we want to talk about the biggest Freyr story, we're going to jump into...

Yeah.

Darien (20:26.67)

pros at it with good old snorey. Chapter 37 of the Gilfeningining, the tale of Frey and the giantess Gurd. I'm not going to read the whole thing. It's not very long, but that's not super interesting. this is the story of Frey who is he, he sits on the holy seats. That's a great question, TG. I definitely would expect there to be a name. Um, that's, I don't have one for you, unfortunately.

What's its name?

DJ (20:56.568)

Got a name for his spear but not a seed.

I know weird, right? Actually, no. Actually, DJ.

It's not the s- I can't even remember what it's called. fuck. It's not sleep near.

What are you talking about? The spear? Odin's spear. I thought you were talking about Frey. No. No. Yes. Odin's spear. Odin's spear does have a name. Yeah. No, this holy seat doesn't have one. And because he decided to sit there when he wasn't supposed to, is, this is, from his vantage point on this holy seat is where he sees this beautiful giantess that light just shines off her. She is the most beautiful giantess ever. And essentially his divine punishment for sitting in this place is that he is just stricken with an immense like,

speed.

Darien (21:39.79)

grief and wanting. He's like, when I said lovesick earlier, like truly, truly lovesick. He is to the point of depression where his father is like, I'm worried about him. He clearly must be angry at all of us because he won't speak to you. So he sends for Skirneer, who is Frey's servant and is like, hey, go ask him what's making him so angry. And Skirneer is like, that doesn't feel like it should be my job.

us.

DJ (22:07.255)

is dead.

Yeah, but okay, so he rolls up totally ready to get like his head bitten off about this whole thing when Skirno met with Frey He asked him why he was so downcast and would not speak with anyone Frey replied that he had seen a beautiful woman and that on her account He was so filled with sorrow that he would not live long if he could not have her and Now you are to go back and ask her hand on my behalf Bring her back here to my home whether or not her father agrees for this service. I will pay you well, and I am like Frey

See you next time.

See, the things we all just said suggested he's a great dude. To be fair, he does say, ask for her hand and bring her here. I don't care whether her dad agrees or not. So we imply that, okay, we'll listen to her answer, but it's still like, that's not above social decorum to like not get the dad's permission in this time. it is, I think we can interpret that as not a conflict of

Oh, Frey isn't actually a great dude. But I think if Frey is supposed to be the greatest of all the Aesir, who holds up what we'd assume like the social and cultural decorum, then from this we can interpret, if he is willing to disregard that in order to marry this woman, he's down fucking bad. Like I said, he's gonna pay Skirnir well. And he's like, okay, bet, I want your sword. The sword was so good that it fought by itself.

Darien (23:34.094)

Frey, however, let nothing stand in the way and he gave the sword to Skirneer who set out to ask the woman on Frey's behalf. And at this point, there is a verse from the Lay of Skirneer, which is one of the poem we have in the Poetic Edda. And I'm actually going to jump over to that a little bit so we can like reference both. I know you don't usually do that. You usually just do one and then the other, but like they cover essentially the same thing. And there's some good shit in the Frey, the Skirneer. There, Skirneer's Journey. That's what it's called.

And this is the one that I talked about last time where it's literally talks about how Scotty, that is the one that tells Skinner, hey, go check on Freya and see what's up, see what's wrong with our son. And he's the one that literally is like, again, I don't know why we decide that this isn't the actual one we're gonna reference in terms of their parentage, but we're just gonna believe Loki who is talking shit about everyone. I-

I feel like most of the Loki episode is gonna be me dissecting that goddamn poem and trying to figure out why we believe everything Loki said. Cause I found, feel like, okay, look at the thing. I think I talked about this last episode. It doesn't matter. I at the thing where it's like, oh, we are meant to assume that everything he's saying is correct. But he's also just accusing all of the goddesses of sleeping with him. And that's probably not correct. So like, I don't get why the bad stuff is the stuff we're gonna assume is true.

Because if you media, you can have like 10 sources telling you one thing and then one has a more fun story in the onion that tells you something else.

Like to be fair, it's like it's the one where Loki admits I was responsible for Baldur not coming back, right? I'm responsible for him still being in hell and we know that's true, but like Okay, that was something he was saying about himself. Not something he was saying about Scotty or Freya Fuck you. I have thoughts

DJ (25:02.526)

insulting us now dude we don't like this

DJ (25:26.478)

Thank

So in this one, when Skirnear goes to Freya and is like, or Freya is like, okay, hey man, what's your baggage? And he's like, go get the girl to marry me. He asks for the sword, he also asks for a horse. Give me that horse which will carry me through the knowing dark flickering flame and the sword which fights by itself against the giant race. And I actually love this, we get a little bit more about the sword because Freya agrees to this.

I'll give you the horse which will carry you through the knowing dark flickering flame and that sword which will fight by itself if he who wields it is wise." And I thought that was some fun flavor, if he be worthy, which is just not a thing from Mjolnir, I don't think, but if he be wise. This is very heavy and Thor very strong, but giants can pick it up really fucking nilly. So this whole play, sorry, not play, poem.

The meal there is just very heavy.

Darien (26:19.116)

I said play because it's kind of, it's written like a play. There are such lively scenes that it may have been intended for like dramatic presentation. Like you may have had not just a bar reciting and presenting, but you may have had a couple performers both going back and forth. And that may have been something we would see. I'm now thinking about it in a lot of the poems, cause it's often people talking to each other.

play.

DJ (26:41.39)

It so interesting to go to like a Viking, like just like a Viking village and there's this fucking cathedral, like a hall where they're just putting on plays.

That's so funny. Yeah, that'd funny. Actually, I had a thought where speaking of Loki's coral, the Loki Senna, I actually thought it'd be kind of cool if we caught some folks together and performed it. Like as an audio, an audio drama where we all just like get, reach out to different podcasters and some other folks you know and be like, hey, this is your lines. This is what's around it. Please recite this. Okay. I'm going leave it in here to see if we'll actually do it. But if it doesn't happen, no one fucking mentioned it to me. Things clearly came up. So.

It's actually a really fun poem. It's very accurate. He does get to Gerd and he's like, hey, basically he's like, I got a lot of gold and lot of apples. Like you, got to marry my boss. And she's like, I don't want to marry your boss. Like I'm not interested in marrying your boss. And that doesn't go well because when she refuses, she says, I won't accept a ring even if it was burnt with Odin's young son. I lack, shit, I think that means fucking Baldur's death.

Hahaha!

Damn, okay. She didn't just throw that out. Skinner said that it was, will give you a ring, the one which was burnt with Odin's young son. Ooh, talk to you about this. Balder gives that guy a ring to bring back. Yeah. Yeah. I think this is that ring. Why does Skinner have it? Or he's just lying. He could be. He could be lying. We don't know. Or he could. Yeah. I'll figure it out. So he basically offers, I'll give you Balder's dead, I'll give you dead Balder's ring.

DJ (28:13.39)

You'd be like, I'll go get the rent.

Darien (28:21.718)

And she said, he was, listen, he was cremated at this. This is funeral rights. And she's like, no, I lack no gold in Gearmir's courts. My father's wealth at my disposal. She's like, you can't buy me, bitch. I am the, I'm a giantess. I'm the most beautiful. My father is very powerful, very wealthy. I've never met this guy. I'm not gonna play this game. Fuck off. Now, Skarner doesn't take this well.

Yeah.

Do you see this sword girl slender in laid, which I have in my hand? Your head I will strike from your neck unless you dare we are reconciled. And that escalates from there where he goes on to threaten her dad. He says, I'm going to tame you to my desires. Threatening to put her on an eagle's mound. Madness and howling.

Darien (29:33.45)

And after all this, she's finally like

Welcome now lad and receive the crystal cup full of ancient mead though I had never thought I should ever love one of the veneer well And then she tells him barry is the name as we both know of a wind calm grove and after nine nights there to Nord's son Garad will give loves pleasures So basically she's like all right fine. I'll go meet him. We'll go we'll fuck in a week We'll fucking like ten days up in this field And he rides home tells Freyr the noose and Freyr's like

Yeah.

Darien (30:09.422)

Sorry. It's fucking so dramatic. This is the guy whose madness is dad. This is the guy that Rick picks. Long is one night, long are two. How shall I long through three? Often a month to me seemed less than half of one of these wedding eves.

Hehehehehe

So that's, and that's the, what is, I saw it referred to as the most complete Freyr myth that we have. Like there are others things are scrapped. That's the full narrative we have. Like Baldur's big thing is he dies. Maybe he did more things, but we don't have those anymore. This is Freyr's like big starting role. Except for when Ragnarok rolls around and our bro dies. So.

hands of search.

Sword as we discussed. Circling back to the Snorri's prose at a real quick, as I remember the Gilfunding inning is I say it every time I must say it again, you'll hear it again. It's a conversation between a king and the three high ones who are probably just Oda doing a triple goddess routine. Yeah. And so after they say, you know, the outcome of the mission, he gave a sword away. But for this reason, Frey was without a weapon when he fought with Belly, killing him with a stag's horn. Then Ganglary said,

Darien (31:31.8)

How very strange that a leader such as Frey would willingly give up his sword when he did not have another as equally good. For him, this lack would be a great handicap when we fought with Belly. Truly, he must have regretted this gift. High replied, it was of little importance when he and Belly met. Frey could have killed him with his hands. Time will come when the sons of Muspel set out on their war journey, and then Frey will find it worse to be without his sword. Bom bom bom! Hate to see it. You hate to see it. So that's what we've referenced a ton of times in Ragnarok with Surt.

Bye.

Darien (32:01.426)

Once the time comes when Odin will be killed by Fenrir, Frey will fall at Surt's hand because he does not have his sword. Now, what do we all know about this sword?

not its name.

It sings.

It does.

Poorly, but it sings.

Darien (32:22.538)

I actually... does Jackson poorly or does he just...

People really don't like it. Nobody likes him singing.

Is it because he's bad at it or it's just annoying and ill-timed? I believe that. Yeah, I believe that, but I think he's great at karaoke.

both.

DJ (32:40.696)

He's a sword, not a violin.

he doesn't sign! No, no, he doesn't, he's not a bow.

He doesn't know how to sing. He wasn't made to sing. He was made to fight. He's so good at it. He's not great at singing.

No, that's true. DJ, what's Jack's name?

DJ (32:59.468)

in the Edes. It's the sort of summer but I remember its Norse name.

That will be... Sumeranda, yes. I knew I could see it my head, I wasn't trying to pronounce it. Sumeranda. And yes, DJ, spot on, that is not mentioned in the Eddas. And now to be fair, there are other sources. There are the sagas, there's other texts, there's other stories that elements of like, Norse mythology come from. We will discuss that in a bit. But in this case, now I know we love to, you know, ha ha snorey made up Norse mythology.

Summa Brander.

Darien (33:35.015)

Rick Riordan decided he wanted to get his hand in that game.

did it with Greek mythology with Zoe Nightshade and several other-

That's true, Zoe Knight, Steve McSostie, do not steal.

No, but this is a big one.

giving a sordid name?

Darien (33:54.03)

Because the sword doesn't have a name. It's just referred to as Frey's sword.

But it's an excellent sword. Yeah, that fights on itself. Totally. So give it a name

I think it's fine for the Madness Chase book, totally, but...

I'm just not gonna say it's that big of a deal. Winnie the Cloth made a new daughter of Atlas, Darien! This person is not involved whatsoever in any fucking myth.

No, no, no, no, no, no, that's fine here. And I'm not mad about that. Actually, the argument I think I to make is I wish Rick would do that more. Because I feel like some of the things I don't necessarily love about some elements of the Ryan Ripps books.

DJ (34:30.744)

from other sources.

Other sources and or I what it feels like a heavy resistance to Bending the materials more I've talked many many times about my frustrations with the end of trials of Apollo like that's a big war it felt like we didn't get a stronger ending for Apollo because of an inherent resistance in breaking this foundational concept of the north of the Greek pantheon right of not taking Apollo and not making the world more his own so like Zoe nightshade is great uh swimming runner that's great i'm not saying this

are bad things, but I do wanna know that, if you're a kid, which why don't, our show is not for kids, and listen, you gotta test unorthodoxy, and it mentions the sword. Sumer Ronder's not a thing. It's a great name, it's what Jakob's called, but if you look it up, every source is going to be Ryre and Verse associated, and the Wikipedia page for the Sword of Frey does come up.

but only because Suman Ronder is mentioned under other references. Only because Magnus Chase is mentioned, not because there's any reference to it. So now another thing you may have noticed and you may be wondering, hey, if Frey gave his sword to Skidnir, how did Sir end up with it?

You

Kelsey (35:50.21)

I was wondering that. Yeah.

You know, the works of Ragnarok are mysterious.

It also could be that it's just a different sword. The actual general consensus is that it's not the same sword. Now this is not a thing that Rick Riordan made up. Unlike the name, the concept of it being the same sword is not something he connected a whole cloth. This is actually something that some scholars have referenced and it is a way that the text is sometimes translated. So in the Sibyl's prophecy,

when we talk about cert, there is the stanza is cert comes from the south with branches ruin, which we talked about is fire. The slaughter god's son glances from his sword rocky cliffs clash together and the troll women are abroad heroes tread the hell road and the sky splits apart. So that second line, the slaughter god's son glances off his sword is sometimes translated as the sword of the god.

Sun Guide.

Darien (36:55.03)

And that is an intentional translation to make it be Freya's sword. And thus to add another layer of tragedy for Freya dying because he doesn't have a sword. If he used an antler to defeat Belly, we can assume he probably has the antler here, right? It's not, really? I mean, if the mistletoe is stuck in Baldur.

Mm-hmm.

DJ (37:15.83)

at second belly.

Kelsey (37:21.715)

The one time use antler.

the way I broke up, Which is something you'll see Freyr depicted with an antler, that's why. And I'm not getting super into the myth because it just mentioned that he kills that guy one time, but that's like, we don't have that story other than when Snorri mentions it there. Like we don't have, and then it's referenced here as Belly's Bright Slayer, but we don't have it anywhere else. Like that's great. I love this stuff so much. So it is sometimes intentionally translated to be the sword, but it's not necessarily. Like that's really more likely just a...

a cool storytelling beat to, like I said, add more weight, add more tragedy, add dramatic irony. It's not just that Frey didn't have a sword to fight against Surtr with. It's that Surtr had his sword that he would have slayed the fire giant with had he not given it up for the giantess. Because Gernier doesn't give the sword to Gerd or her father. Like, it's not like the bridal gift,

that could thus could have been passed along and eventually ended up with a fire giant. The last we know this dude just has it and he doesn't show up anywhere else. So another thing, it's not wrong to say it's a sword. Again, no interpretation is like wrong, but there are some that I hate. So like, cannot like it. But so it's not like, Rick was wrong with that. Rick invented that. But it was like, I was fascinated when I was like, wait, why does cert not get mentioned as

it really, cause it's not the same sword. Cause it's probably a different sword actually. And damn, if it was a different sword, we would just not have to worry about Jack not being able to be around Surt. Which would have, I like that Rick Riordan chose it. Like I think it adds a lot to the stakes and the concept of how the story works out. So those are my big frayer beats. you know what? I was gonna read the description of fray. I have it bookmarked right here. Yeah, I'll just.

Darien (39:19.862)

He looked like a Hollywood Viking. He looked more like Thor from the movies than Thor did. Blonde hair fell to his shoulders. His tan face, blue eyes, hawkish nose, and stubbly beard would have worked equally well on the red carpet or on the beaches of Malibu. He reclined on the throne of living branches, a seat draped with deer hide, across his lap lay a sort of specter, a stag's antler fitted with a leather grip. Hey, the antler! When he smiled, I saw my own self-conscious smirk, the same crooked chin. He even had the same cowlick I always got above my right ear.

This is dad. He hugs him and he smells like he smelled of campfire smoke, pine needles and toasted s'mores. Did they have s'mores in Van Hyme? And just I So I just yeah, I wanted to. Because I do like how fray or frisprayed. Like, yeah, that's great. And I think we talked about this when we talked about the Sword of Summer. But I like that Magnus just like I'm going hug my dad. I'm just going be happy to see him because.

That's those man soaps.

Darien (40:18.518)

I'm dead, so why be mad about this? This is forever now. Like, whereas Percy's like, I've got complicated feelings about my father. And it's like, yeah, Percy, course you do. You're still alive. But Magnus is like, I'm dead. I definitely did have complicated feelings about my father, but why bother now? Why, I'm just, I'm happy to see him. I'm just gonna be happy and let it all go. Good for you, Magnus, we love that for you. All right, let's talk about his aunt. DJ?

Thank

anything about Freya really stand out for it. We talked a little bit about the Golden, the tears.

Was she fashionable? I can't remember if Blitzen... was interested.

I believe she was at the very least adorned with clothes that fit her.

Darien (41:02.508)

Yes, there is the other goddess, Thor's wife, I think is more defined as being explicitly fashionable. Yeah. Because she hooks him up with the dresses. In, no. Do I come in hot right out of the gate? Should I save it?

Let's just start with how she represented...

The throne was carved from a wood as soft and buttery as light, linden wood maybe. The back was draped with a cloak of downy feathers like the underside of a falcon, and the throne set the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. She looked maybe 20 years old, surrounded by an aura of golden radiance that made me realize what Blitzen meant earlier when he said that the daylight here wasn't normal. The entire realm of Folkvagnar was warm and bright, not because of the sun, but because it basked in this woman's power. Her blonde hair fell across her shoulder in a long single plate.

Her white halter top showed off her tanned shoulders and smooth midriff. Her knee-length skirt was belted with a gold braid holding a sheathed knife and a key in a ring of keys. Around her neck was a dazzling piece of jewelry, a lacework collar of golden gems, like Rans' net in miniature, except with rubies and diamonds instead of sailor's soles and hubcaps. The woman fixed me with her sky blue eyes. When she smiled, heat traveled from the tips of my ears right down to my toes. I would have done anything to make her keep smiling at me. If she told me to jump off the World Tree into oblivion, I would have done it in a second.

Anyway, so this is Freya, who is Blitzen's mom. Because, this is a big surprise. We talked about this. It's because her, necklace that she's wearing, it's referenced that she slept with a dwarf to get it. And Blitzen talks about later how he's like, we don't really kids, we're just receipts of transactions because she.

DJ (42:45.464)

The kids also come by in like a day.

Apparently, yeah, I guess. Yeah, this is the divine gestation period. Yeah.

I forgot that Blitzen was her kid. There was a connection with Blitzen there, I know there's one. I can't remember what it is. Yeah, like fashion, I don't know.

Why are you blushing? No, that explains it, the fashion thing. No, yeah, Blitz is her kid. And Nagi's like, wait, we're cousins. And Blitz is like, no, we're not cousins. do not want to talk about that. Because it's like all of the, there's the dwarves and then there's the kind of dwarf that Blitz is.

This is think technically Dark Elf.

Darien (43:19.884)

Yeah, they're technically dark elves and they're all deemed to be like the children or descendants of Freya. Because of her penchant for, I want pretty things and I'm totally willing to sleep with you. She's a goddess of sex!

Yeah.

DJ (43:30.51)

She It almost seems like the kids are born within the hour to because it's it sounds like she walks through buying shit Letting people sleep with her and then a kid shows up

Right? that's, that's muddled. don't, doesn't spend too much time on that. Which is like, yeah, fair. We don't need to spend too much time on it. He'll tell you what the middle grade don't ever call it white. And so in this one, she, cause they were trying to get to somewhere else and Freya plucked them out because she wanted Blitz to run an errand. She's like, I need a pair of earrings to go with my necklace. I can't go shopping myself. Cause you know what happens. So I'm.

It's a YA novel, but...

You're right, it's a middle grade novel.

DJ (44:06.094)

We need you.

DJ (44:12.938)

I don't want to deal with that right now.

I don't need to deal with that right now. I, cause they won't take my money. They won't take my money. They'll take your money though. So go buy me some earrings. And we also know that she is from this one. They hiked through her world of her realm of Folkvogner, which is, as they say, I will get into this more. is half of the warriors go to Odin in Valhalla. Wow. Yeah. And then the other half go to her and then her, they go to her hall, which is the hall of many seats. She's got a lot of space.

Yeah.

She's also got cats! Big giant forest cats. They carry her chariot. Shifting over to what we know about her in the Nordic texts. Quite a bit. Like I said, much like her brother, a lot of places are named after Freya. She is very much a very well-liked goddess. The goddess of her name means lady. As her twin brothers means lord. Yep, perfect. She is the goddess of love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seetheir?

and leave.

Darien (45:13.9)

which is a magic for like seeing and influencing the future. Yeah, that element specifically comes from, we talked about this in last episode with the war of the Aesir and the Veneer, that figure who was, you may recall, killed and burned three times, but came back all three times, who the poem calls Gullvig, Gull meaning gold, as we referenced, is sometimes believed to...

Nice.

Darien (45:40.59)

actually be Freya or not actually it's not her in disguise all out like an Odin trick right it's like the same the figure is the same and and that would be why the Aesir and the kind of yeah and and she creates her name means gold and then when she comes back like she can do that kind of magic yeah that's associated with Freya for this reason and so it may be her and that might be why they went to war because when she's one of the veneer

Yeah, sometimes I just kind of...

DJ (45:52.662)

I hate Haiti's situation.

Darien (46:09.854)

except maybe if it is her then the timeline of Njord being sent to the Aesir and marrying Scotty doesn't quite line up so who's to say. But even still it may not even be like it was also her it could have been this was her at one time and then later split into other figures like they were once the same and they became separate.

There you know it, man.

Darien (46:36.152)

Tracking these like oral traditions and the long history of these like living religions is difficult. There is not a concrete canon. And remind me that I said that when I'm gonna go off a little later. So much like her brother mentioned a lot of different times, shows up in a lot of different places. So I'm gonna do a highlight real, real quick of some cool shit about her. She does in fact have a really kick ass necklace. It's called the Bringsgummin and that just means.

Like shining bright.

So we have Freya's neck as Spinat Odin's chair. Not the chair that you can see anything within the nine realm.

Yeah.

Darien (47:14.034)

Yes, that's the holy seat doesn't have a name. She has a chariot pulled by two cats. And this is like an important ride. She rolled up in this at Baldur's funeral. So that's like, you don't bust out the good silverware for just anything. You don't bust out the chariot pulled by cats for just anything. This is a central fit. yes. a chariot pulled I would go everywhere in my chariot pulled by cats.

Yeah.

Kelsey (47:40.094)

Maryland's or McDonald's and that thing. Yeah.

Yeah, you'd have to get extra french fries for the kiddies. She also has a boar named Hildesvinny. And once again, I am sad that we didn't get more giant boars with Magnus, or at least give him a little one, like a little teacup pig or something like that. But like an actual teacup pig, not like a, we sold you a baby pig and told you it was a teacup pig, but no, it's just a real pig. It's going to go to real pig sizes. Like give him actual teacup boar. That would have been funny. They could just live in his room.

Just a gift from his aunt. And she also possesses a cloak of falcon feathers. Nice. And the falcon feather cloak is actually referenced in the Gilfunningening in the Prose Edda in the story of, hey, that time Thor's hammer got stolen. So he disguised himself as a bride with Loki to go get it back. Yeah. That's

Right.

DJ (48:36.206)

You guys are something to spray, huh?

where that story comes from. When they realize the cloak is stolen, Loki actually goes to Freya and is like, hey, can I borrow your falcon cloak? And she's like, yeah, you can borrow my falcon cloak. So he just flies there disguised as a falcon, eavesdrop on the giant that stole it, here's what he wants, and goes back and tells Thor. And Thor's like, okay. So at this point, they go to Freya and they're like, hey, we need you to get up and dress in bridal gear and you're gonna go tell that guy you'll marry him so I can have my hammer back. And she's like, fuck you.

In fact, she gets so angry that all of the walls in the halls of the AC are shake with her rage and her neck.

My apologies. I'll do it myself

Exactly. Her necklace also falls off in that moment. So there's a mention of that necklace that has a name. The necklace that has a name, but not the chair. Or the eagle at the top of the world tree. Loki borrowing this cloak is actually, we'll get into the rest of that story later, y'all. It's super great. Loki borrowing the cloak is a super common thing. Cause in another story where the goddess Ion was kidnapped by a Jotunn who was in the form of an eagle.

Darien (49:43.584)

Loki goes to, and this is also a snorry story, but this one's in the Skaldskamparmal. I don't say that word as much as I say the gilfeningening. I've said that one so often I'm more confident in it.

I'm kind of surprised Loki returned the cloak. I like he'd be like, I'll keep this for later.

Right? But no, he's like, can I borrow it? And she said, yes. go. Skalskapalmol, yeah. And this one, which is another, which is the other story in the prose edda, when this goddess is kidnapped, Loki turns to Freya and is like, can I borrow your Falcon cloak? And she's like, yeah, you can borrow my Falcon cloak. So he borrows it and flies up and saves the goddess and brings her back. Like, it's almost kind of sad, the sudden like, heel turn we get from Loki. Cause another time.

Golds Capomo.

DJ (50:28.672)

Seems like they had good fun!

Yeah, because another time of Freya's mentioned is when a giant, a large, very strong dude rolls up and he offers to build walls for the Aesir to keep the Jotunn from ever being able to invade from Midgard. And they're like, that sounds cool. He's like, okay, I don't want to marry Freya. And they're like, that's less cool, but only if you complete it in this amount of time. And the thing about that is he had a super fast horse. We'll talk more about what happened to the super fast horse, but Loki does incise himself as a horse to distract super fast horse.

And thus stalling everything. Also Thor kills that other guy, so it's not a big deal. But then Freya doesn't have to marry the giant. So this happens a lot to Freya. And it seems like her and Loki were like, yeah, you got me. I trust you to take my cloak and you'll bring it back. But apparently one time he did just steal her necklace. And we don't have a full text of this, but we know this because the only other time the necklace is mentioned.

the

Darien (51:26.858)

is when in the, how do we decide, the scalp? The Scarce Departmental, where we reference Heindel, and with some of his descriptions, he's referred to as Loki's enemy, recoverer of Freya's necklace. And so from that, it's kind of extrapolated that Loki stole the necklace and Heindel got it back. But also it's like, he's also Loki's enemy because they kill each other in Ragnarok. So that could be totally unrelated things.

parmo.

Darien (51:57.026)

We don't really have the story of what happened with the necklace. Or if when she got mad that one time when they said you should go pretend to marry this giant so I can get my hammer back because I didn't take good care of my belongings, when it fell off her neck she didn't notice it was gone and Heindel just found it and was like, Freya I found your necklace. And she's like, my god thank you. So. But the whatever good relationship Loki and Freya had, it's long gone along with any good relationship Loki ever had with anybody fucking ever. Because.

.

DJ (52:21.986)

Yeah. Cause he killed Baldr.

He, cause he killed Baldr because he was jealous. He was just jealous of the attention. Because when we get to the flighting, Loki is insulting Frigg and Freya steps in to defend her. basically when he's like, you're not telling Frigg anything she doesn't already know, you can't hurt her. He accuses her of being Freya, of being promiscuous to the point where he says, all of the gods walked in on you fucking your brother.

you

And so, and again, I don't know why we decide that Loki must be telling the truth about all of these things, that he's totally right and not just being a dick, because that's the insult he gives to all of the goddesses. So one last thing I want to mention about Freya, because it was really cool and not something that got addressed in the Magnus books at all, is a poem called The Song of Hindala.

Ridiculous.

Darien (53:24.168)

And in this one, there is this mortal dude named Ohtar who is either like a servant or a protege or a lover of Freya. Like different sources will cite him as different things, but he's called Ohtar the simpleton. But he was super good at like building stone altars and giving great offerings to Freya. So much to the point that when he asked for her help, she's like, yeah, man, I'm going to help you. Help you with what? Well, you see, he wants to reclaim his inheritance.

Hmm.

Darien (53:51.288)

that for some reason he doesn't have right now and is about to be stolen from him. And the only way he can get it back is if he can find out more information about his ancestry to prove he is entitled to it. And this is apparently a job for Freya. So she says, sure, I can help you with that. So she turns him into a boar, rides the boar to find this seer. Sometimes she's a giantess, sometimes she's a seer. I like to think she's both, named Hindala. And just, know,

Officer Flattery calls her sister, like invites her to ride to Valhalla with her, and essentially just gets her to give them all the information they need about this dude's ancestry. And that's it! That's what he does! Great! And she just helps this guy! And I thought that was really cool! So now I'm gonna yell about Rick Riordan. Okay. We're gonna put a pin in the... Obviously I want to talk about Volkvogner, right? And that's very cool. Should I talk about that now, and should I circle back to yell about Rick later?

Thanks

DJ (54:47.052)

Just to show about work right now. You're talking about Freya,

So all the stories we just shared, all the elements, those are what is about Freya in the Eddas. And obviously there are other places she's mentioned. I'm not going to cite every place where she's mentioned, because actually she's mentioned a lot of places. But you may have noticed, hey, we mentioned her necklace twice, but we never actually talked about where she got the necklace from. Or being the mother of the dark elves or sleeping with dwarves often. Well, because dear friends, that's not from the Eddas.

now

That is from a text called Sorla Fatir, which has a much longer name than I can try to do the whole thing. But it is a short narrative from a much extended saga from the Fatir book manuscript, which, and this is super important, and I want you to remember this detail. I'm going to tell you why it's important later. was written in the 14th century by two Christian priests and essentially

you

Darien (55:50.602)

There are other places, like I mentioned, the the sagas and stuff, things like that, where other deities and stories are mentioned that I don't always get into because there's a lot. Most of what is mentioned we have in the Edda's and that's what I prefer to reference as a consistency. But there are, especially with the veneer we just talked about the last episode with Freya and Freya, there is a series of texts often attributed to Snorri that is a, it's a euhimerization of the gods. And what that means is

Yeah.

Darien (56:19.726)

treating the deities as if they were real historical figures. Trying to fit that into an actual real world context. And that is not, and I have made the conscientious choice not to reference those in our podcast. Because it very much doesn't serve the same thing as the mythology we are trying to do. And anything like, it's very much like high school AU, feels like to me.

Okay.

Darien (56:48.782)

very much trying to identify these as close as we can to when they were a practice living tradition, like as a concept of mythology. And these texts try instead to grapple with them as influence of a real historical figure, which I'm not saying is wrong. And there's a bunch of study for kind of Yeah, kind of Yeah. And so I'm just I'm not I've made the conscious if you if someone listener who clocked this and notice that I never talked about it, I have made the conscious choice to not look at models and more often than not, it's just

Arthur's type.

Darien (57:18.318)

a more confusing kind of weird version of it that I'm just not super interested in. And oftentimes that's not even the version that we're going to find in any of the books we're referencing or any of the narratives we're going to talk about in modern pop culture. It's apparently this one time that Rick decided to base his entire interpretation of Freya off of this work. What happened in this, to start out, Freya is Odin's concubine, not his wife, just his

Yeah.

Darien (57:48.162)

Concubine not just but it's concubine right? Yeah And so this is a big problem when she's out for a walk and find some dwarves crafting the most beautiful necklace She has ever seen and she's like I want that necklace. I have gold. have silver I have tons of stuff of value. Like what do you I will pay what do you want for it? And they're like we have no use for money but You will give it to you if you spend one night with each of them which

She agrees to, which, okay, go off. She's a fertility goddess. She's a sex goddess. If that's how she wants you to get this really cool necklace, hell yeah. Let's go for that. Good for you. But the line of the text that when they say this is your offer, they also say that she would spend a night with him, whether she liked it better or worse, which is big fucking yikes. So she does this, gets the necklace and goes home like nothing happened.

Okay.

Little bit, little bit.

Loki finds out about it because of course Loki does. He goes and tells Odin about it. Odin is like pissed and says go take that necklace from her. So Loki disguises himself as a fly and then a flea, manages to get the necklace and steals it from Freya. When Freya finds out she's pissed and wants her necklace back and Odin says no I know you got it so you're never gonna get it back. Unless you can get two kings who themselves are in charge of 20 kings to go to war together.

Darien (59:09.778)

And in the war, every time a man dies, he pops back to life and has to keep fighting. And you do that with magic. And Freyja says, okay. And so she does that. And the only way for that to end is the arrival of Christianity, which dissolves this old curse.

Nice.

convenient.

So this wild ass thing is not entirely completely original. It actually parallels a lot of elements from other stories. There are other texts that do that euphemization of the gods. There in the Loki's coral poem, he actually accuses another goddess of having slept with someone to get her necklace. There's the reference of Loki stealing the Netflix in a different poem.

and the idea of men forced to fight and then coming back to life after they die, that is Valhalla. That is the thing of Ragnarok. And so all that in and of itself is like fine and interesting in the idea of taking these stories and reworking them to be something different and like following kind of a tradition of doing that. The reason I think it kind of sucks that Rick Riordan decided this was going to be his entire basis of what he was going to base Freyja off of not

Darien (01:00:25.336)

than when she helped that one dude. Not when she stood up to Loki to defend Frigg. Not her being a literal fucking war goddess. Just this interpretation of her sleeping with a bunch of dwarves to get a pretty necklace and being a little frivolous and a little bitsy. One that sucks. One that kind of just sucks for that to be, like, for him to have decided this was the version of.

Yeah.

DJ (01:00:44.013)

me

Darien (01:00:52.142)

Because she's a war goddess. Yeah, and I it's not that she's so similar to any of the other goddesses and She literally and that fact that she in that interpretation. We made folk Wagner this really laid-back hippie place To reflect that she has this but this interpretation he wanted to go with would make sense for it to be more warlike And in the folk Wagner thing, I promise I'll get back to that. But the reason I also think that it is fucking wild that Ryarden decided that this would be

Thank

Darien (01:01:21.92)

where he was gonna pull his interpretation of Freya, is that this text is so very much, very clearly meant to ridicule and belittle and villainize the pagan belief. These pagan figures, these stories. Like Snorri obviously was like, hey, hey, we only worship the big G God here, but I a lot of and this is my cultural tradition and I think it's important. And the Eddas are also like, they're probably written after Christianity came around.

Yeah.

Darien (01:01:50.83)

but these stories are really important. They're part of our cultural traditions. Like we want to preserve them and share them to what exists in the century, right? And this one written, the Eddas come from like the 13th century, right? We know that. And this thing was written in the 14th century. So like a hundred years later, which like in the grand scheme of history is a long time, but also a hundred years is a fucking long time. From 1924 to 2024 is a long ass time.

I might argue from 1214 to 1314 is a long time, but it's not that long of a time in terms of lot of different things.

Which is true, but also when you already are in an area where Christianity has for a long time been trying to push out these beliefs in general, 100 years later, and at this point, don't remember, the Poetic Edda disappeared. The Codex Regis, where we get the Poetic Edda, was written at the 13th century, didn't reappear until the 17th century. It was gone. just, 400 years vanished, right? So.

Even so, like I talked about with the veneer and how that one scholar was like, hey, maybe we don't have a lot about the veneer because Christianity was very specifically trying to force out these concepts that were more favorable and especially more favorable to the feminine and to women and stuff. And that didn't align with their very masculine version of this religion that they were pushing for.

Yeah.

Darien (01:03:19.988)

This so very much reads as if it's just trying to trash Freya, this once very powerful, very prominent, very important fertility sex war goddess, and make her out to be a vain hussy who will send Min to this eternal death and war just to get her pretty necklace back. And also Simon saying we know it's not like Minsoo because it is like very much taking the concept of

Valhalla, the warriors fighting each other and then coming back to fight again. That what was viewed as this righteous, like this desirable death you wanted to have in this society in the North. Like we know this was the ultimate, like the fact that they got to live with Odin lets us know that this is the goal. This is how you know you were the best of the best of your culture, your people. If you go to Valhalla. turning that into a curse that needs to be lifted with Christianity.

And so this just kind of is baffling that Ryarden decided he wanted to choose this as a reference for anything in the Magnus Chase books, let alone the literal entire basis that he builds Freya around.

It's a little goofy, a little crazy.

So that's the thing. Usually I like, wish we had not gotten this like vapid version of Persephone or like not every goddess is jealous like Hera. Like usually it's those things where I'm like, eh, like whatever.

Kelsey (01:04:48.576)

This

This was outright disrespectful.

just outright disrespectful and just such a baffling decision to choose this to be the source you're gonna pull from. Because again, it's the only place where we get the story of Freya sleeping with dwarves to get her necklace, which means we know that's where he's pulling it from, this one thing that was written as a hit piece on the entire pagan belief system.

Bummer. Bummer!

Hate to see it.

Darien (01:05:12.93)

You know what she could have been? A goddamn Valkyrie. Cause now we're gonna talk about Volkvogner. Who wants to tell me about Volkvogner? I need a break.

Volkfogner is the Vanheim Valhalla where half of the dead Enherjee are.

I actually don't know if they're in Harry-y, if they're not at Valhalla.

Well, I'm gonna say it anyway. Do you have a name for this?

You're right, that's my job. My job is to tell you. Right, right, Go on, DJ, go on.

DJ (01:05:48.963)

mean that's pretty much it that's all i know kind of know about it

Apparently there's a couple dragons there that half-born just mercs.

It's okay, they'll come back. Eventually. Okay, so basically, yes, that is the wild thing about Volkvogner. Etymology kind of translates to army field or people field, which is very interesting. Field.

Eventually.

DJ (01:06:19.05)

Okay.

and it is stated, I don't wanna use the Henry Adams Bellows translation. Fuck off, where is it mentioned? I can find it, I'm gonna find it. If it's in the lay of Grimir, yeah, we're gonna sit here in silence for a hot second while Darren finds it, because I'm not ever fucking citing Bellows' translations. I'm so done with him. It's mentioned in the Poetic Edda in Grimir's sayings. Odin's doing an undercover boss thing.

And the giant he's speaking to is lifting is listing off like all of the great halls, right? And we mentioned it when we talk about where Balder lived, right? Folkvog is the ninth where Freya fixes an allocation of seats in the hall. Half of the slain she chooses every day and half Odin owns.

Who chooses first, like a draft system?

Well that's a good question, who gets to pick first?

Kelsey (01:07:14.03)

Roll for initiative. Roll for-

Rock, paper, scissors.

I imagine it's just like all right you get one I get one you get one I get I think it's just I think it's just luck at the draw it's like whoever dies goes to the next one goes to the next place

And yeah, they

just yeah and they'll just like okay you just you picked first last time i get to pick first this time okay

Kelsey (01:07:34.176)

As well as like in the books at least the Valkyries take them to... Yeah, the Valkyries only take Is there an equivalent for... There is no...

There.

We know Magnus was supposed to go to Vulkvog. He just outright was supposed to do that. Owen's like, nah.

Yes, that

Darien (01:07:51.786)

I mean, yes, because yeah, he was supposed to because he's the son of Frey and so Frey is like, I want my nephew to come here. He belongs to the veneer. I get him. But Odin told Samira to grab him because he needed to be in Asgard. Because of the way that Fulcvagnar is portrayed in the Magnus Chase books.

Magnus was not going to be going after the Sword of Summer and going on quests if he had ended up there and everything, and he wouldn't have had a long residency in Folkvogner otherwise.

And do they all go to one of those two places or do they go to Musplime or just blip out? haven't listened to your other ones because I just finished the books and I didn't want spoilers. Yes. to catch up.

Bats. my f-

Darien (01:08:35.286)

No, true, because I wanted to tell you about Baldur and you would not let me tell you about what I learned about Baldur. I'm like, this is core Norse mythology. It's not a spoiler for the books, but I respect. Yes and a no, because it's only half the slain who die in battle. as in our Helheim episode, if you die of sickness or old age, you go to hell.

but also maybe you go to hell if you were just a wicked person, but also maybe you just have to walk there. it's just the, the afterlife system of Norse is far less, what I'd maybe describe as neat than the afterlife system of group mythology or cause we don't have a Persephone. You're right. We don't have Persephone running the show. Cause we may or may not actually have hell. So the, the hard, the other hard thing is that so little

Like we have so little of it. we have mentioned like Folkvogner. I mentioned it's it's mentioned in Groomir sayings. Here it's mentioned also in the prose edda. Snorri talks about it when he talks about Freya, the gilfunding ending chapter 24, Freya and Freya. It's very short. These chapters are great. I just feel like I'm flying through them. Freya is the most splendid of the goddesses. She has a home in heaven called Folkvogner, Warriors Fields. Whenever she rides into battle, half of the slain belong to her. Odin takes the other half as it says here and it cites that stanza that I just read.

Her hall, Cessarumir, with many seats, is large and beautiful. When she travels, she drives a chariot drawn by two cats. She's easily approachable for those who want to pray to her. And from her name comes the title of honor whereby women are ranked or called forvir or ladies. She delights in love songs and is good to call on her in matters of love. So again, Freya, super important, super well liked, really liked by these people.

That fucking 14th century Christian priest very clearly just doing a hit piece on our girl. And I don't appreciate that Rye Orden elevated shows. Slander on our girl who is pretty and likes cats. And so to answer your question, that's all I know about Folkvogner. That it's a count. It's the veneer counterpart of Valhalla and Freya gets

Kelsey (01:10:32.92)

Flandre.

Darien (01:10:52.738)

half of them, which is what makes her a war god. That is how she gets that designation, because she gets half of those who die in war. Which is interesting, because as we said, the veneer are usually not very warlike, they're not quite aggressive, the things they are gods and domains over are a lot more fertility and peace and the magic of the future. And the fact that Freya is like, also, I want half these dudes who die in battle.

protection god damn it!

Also, I want the best security forces. I want the bravest warriors. I like it's also like whenever she rides to battle, half the slain belonged to her, implying that it's not always that she has to go out personally to collect him, whereas Odin has the Valkyries who do that work for him. DJ, you're making a lot of hand gestures over here.

no, I'm... Because Freya in Smite has had a complicated history. I'm so excited. By being so fucking busted that they do not know how to balance her. She's either stupid bad or stupid good. And I remembered about five, six years ago, they reworked her to like be different, right?

Okay.

DJ (01:12:04.318)

that rework made her I'm just reading through the abilities and I'm reading these and I'm like I can't believe they thought that this would ever be acceptable on any character with a pass through basic attack with a empowered basic attack with a life steal and mana steal on her basic like she was so unbelievably busted I cannot believe they let it slide she was reworked back to her original build

They were like, fuck, we fucked up. like six updates later, we're like, we're sorry. And they changed it back to how she was. That's, that's what I've been like looking common trying to find exactly what it was. And after reading, I'm like, this was fucked. This was unacceptable.

Okay

Kelsey (01:12:50.862)

Thank

mean, it's ahead, but we're talking about that. There's also almost like twice when you have Freya up here in a pop culture thing, they are just using her name, but they actually mean Frigg.

Frig it if you're also gonna bring up Assassin's Creed. She's friggin Assassin's Creed She dies before the events and Freya marries Odin to for like peace reasons

That kind of falls in line. Fucking wild. Okay, okay, here's something I forgot to mention about Freya. She's married. Her husband's name is Odd. And he just mentioned that her husband's name is Odd because she was referred to as Odd's girl. But like, where is he? What does he do? Sometimes she looks for him and is sad that she can't find him. But no one knows. That's it. He just walked. He went out for a pack of smokes one day.

Frigg actually dies to Sin Mara.

DJ (01:13:38.978)

just left.

Yeah, he went on decided need to go worship Pan better. I don't fucking know. He just left.

Gotta go find that pan guy, nature's dying. The wilds are disappearing.

In Iceland! That's all we have about Falkvagnar. It is this thing that is mentioned, but like, why? We don't know. So I've got a couple scholarly quotes because I don't know, guys. I have no answer. Why are there so well- well, it's probably because it's like Odin's halls has so many doors and it's so massive, it's got to have a lot of warriors. Actually, that is one that's mentioned here. Why are there so many seats? It's literally that.

There are so many seats!

Darien (01:14:17.816)

So the scholar Britmari Nastrom said that, must ask why there are two heroic paradises in the Old Norse view of the afterlife. It might possibly be a consequence of different forms of initiation of warriors, where one part seemed to belong to Odin, or the other to Freya. These examples indicate that Freya was a war goddess, and she even appears as a Valkyrie, literally one who chooses the slain. So that thing about me yelling earlier about she could have just been a Valkyrie, leader of the...

Yeah.

Another scholar, Siegfried Anders Dobatz says that in her mythological role as a chooser of the other half of the fallen warriors for her death realm, death realm is such a good way to word that, like it just sounds more metal. It's like, yeah, for her death realm folkbogner.

The Gratis Freya, however, emerges as the mythological role model for the Valkyrie and the Dissier, which I mentioned the Dissier as like the female spirits, ghosts a little bit, sometimes benevolent, kind of more of a catch-all term for spooky lady ghosts.

And then I want to cite Hilda Ellis Davidson, who is someone who I cite a lot because this woman has a lot of thoughts on all this stuff. And it just makes me happy to see her name because I always usually agree with what she has to say. And she remarked how the Halle is well known because it plays such a large part in the images of warfare and death. And then paraphrased, yet the significance of the other halls in Norse mythology, such as Yadilir, where the god Yulrul dwells and Freyja's Volgogner have been lost. So what she means there is that

Darien (01:15:49.396)

Yeah, obviously this meant something. Obviously this was important. Obviously this wasn't just invented by Snorri and whoever was writing down this one poem. Like this probably had as deep and understood an intricate role in the the North belief system of the afterlife and the cosmology as Valhalla. It's just gone. Yeah. And maybe because the Christians specifically went after her. don't know. But that's maybe because medieval Christians were like, no.

It's gone.

DJ (01:16:15.765)

Yeah.

A warrior sex goddess? No, no, no, no, no. The only ladies allowed in this house are asexual virgins. Actually, they did a lot of that. There used to be a lot of like folk prayers to Freya for good harvest and health and childbirth. And the Christians real quick made sure you were praying to the Virgin Mary instead. So that's the argument I have about, hey, why don't we have a lot of it?

that.

Darien (01:16:37.582)

These things that get lost in time, Like, time's long, especially because it wasn't a written tradition. Like, that's something we talk about a lot with, like, Snorri and the Edes and how we have so little and why we have this. But I also need to acknowledge that sometimes it probably was an intentional and specific goal to get rid of these. To get rid of these stories, to get rid of these concepts, to rewrite these ideas because they were viewed as a threat or just not in line with the dominant religious teachings of the time. And you hate to see it.

So, that is what I've got for that. DJ, you wanna take on Smite for a little bit? Sprinkle that.

Gotta talked about it, but it's also I just Freya in smite how she is how she was before we work and how she was after they reverted the rework. She's a melee mage one of the only three. She has the ability to empower her basic attack.

That's fucking cool.

DJ (01:17:35.19)

that works in tandem with her other ability that also empowers your basic attack but instead of it just being like, your basic attack does more damage, it sends out ranged attacks. And if you only activate the ranged, it like it's a pulse, it slows and it lays like an AOE where it hits whatever enemy hits first, right. And when you empower it, it just does more damage. And it gets rid of the AOE. She has some light steel built into her kit, she has a thing where she can pops up an enemy into like a little cloud for like two seconds.

And then her ultra she flies up and she starts raining down on them with just those big pulses that do a bunch of damage. She's very fun. She's very busted. You were her rework changed it to where instead of the ranged attack kind of lasting only a certain amount of time and you would have to get as much as you can within that time, it would just be a toggle where you toggle it on it cost mana to use. And that's it.

She's very, very, yes, you.

DJ (01:18:35.124)

it's like and it passed through enemies and when I read that I'm like that's fucked that is so mean and rude I cannot believe they did that then they changed her like the way it empowers because again it would empower it for a certain amount of time it would be the next one just does massive damage and then you could stack that with another item that does the exact same thing and again I'm just reading them like that's fucked this is how do they think that this would ever pass and that was and then her passive I can't even remember what it

it originally is, but they changed it to where anytime an enemy is hit by her basic attack, she gets 6 % of her missing mana and 6 % of her missing health. And that is just I'm explaining it to you guys. You guys are probably like, don't care. It's crazy. I cannot believe they let the ship fly. was not I cannot imagine.

But you seem upset about it.

Darien (01:19:26.446)

It was like someone really liked Freya

It was already good though, they were trying to- she was already depicted as a war god.

Well, I just really wanted to lean into it.

she was already good and then they probably bounced her to make her worse so she wasn't getting picked a lot so they reworked her and then she was then crazy busted for like a while and then like we're sorry guys that didn't work out let's refer her

What about Frey? What's he like in Smite?

DJ (01:19:52.59)

He's not inspired! He's For is not as smart as Sirt is, but I already talked about him.

That's his antler! That feels cool!

I'd imagine they'd probably pick warrior.

Yeah. What does Freya look like in spite? Oh yeah. Does she have the necklace?

probably.

Darien (01:20:09.43)

Let's see. Well, did you just look that up? The two other major times that I clocked Freya in things are, as I said earlier, when they actually meant Frigg.

in

Marvel comics and the Marvel movies. Odin's wife, mother of Thor, adopted mother of Loki, is Freya, this goddess of magic and stuff. they, again, this is actually Frigg. They do mean Frigg, but they did Freya, which they also did in God of War 2018 and its sequel, where in...

You Baldur's mother who cast the spell to correct him. title her as Freya and but this is frig though.

It's not like Frigg's not in like the zeitgeist, it's Frigg in Marvel.

Darien (01:20:56.362)

It's right so it's wild sucks even on the Wikipedia page I found so I was like trying to confirm

It's not for

DJ (01:21:01.07)

Out of the movies? I thought it was friggin

Frigga, they call her Frigga. So it's like the movie is trying to bridge this. But she still. Yes, because both these characters are Frig, they're not Freya.

frig than Freya.

DJ (01:21:17.996)

I just I mean like the name. well, it's just like it's Norse, right? Because like, it could be a what is it? Jormungandr Jormungandr or Heimdall or Heimdallier right shit like that. So it's frigate could just be frig.

It's like Frasier.

Darien (01:21:35.916)

Like I don't, yeah, I don't know. It just feels like someone decided they didn't like the name Frigg, how it looked or how it sounded. And they wanted to use Freya instead as this important goddess for these pantheons. And listen, if I had a nickel for every time, piece of Western media adapted the Norse pantheon for their story and then made Frigg and called her Freya, I would have two nickels, which is not a lot, but it's weird that it's happened twice.

So in Smite, Freya actually has two forms because she was also visually reworked a couple of mites a couple seasons before hers. But here's her original design. If you scroll down and hit on the first one, you'll see her newer design.

She does kind of look like she she looks very 80s Shira. Yeah, I will definitely say I like her I Would not like her current design except that you did just show me the original one so I am forced to decide I like her It's side though. I love Aphrodite in smite and she's totally naked but Aphrodite in not smite in Hades but ever dating Hades is very clearly not design

Zero.

Darien (01:22:50.584)

to look like a cover of a porno. She's not ever positioned to be like...

Clearly you've never opened any Playboys.

Well, yes, for many reasons for being ace, but also the way that you also see like, hey, young teen straight cis boy playing this game, I'm for you. She's not posed like that, so I don't mind her not wearing a lot of clothes. Freya does feel like she is being positioned to be that. But again, she's a sex and a war goddess. So I'm like, I'm not.

All American goddess

There you go.

Darien (01:23:29.614)

So I'm not like super mad about her design like it is okay. When you remember she's both, it's not bad, but it did make me. What? Yeah. Ooh, why?

She does have a lady of the lake skin that's pretty sick.

DJ (01:23:43.848)

she wields a magic sword, I guess.

No, that's her brother!

Well, her sword is also special.

In the name.

The game had runes on it.

DJ (01:23:55.352)

Pretty sure in Norse mythology.

Did you hear me mention a sword one time? No, I'm just saying! I mentioned a necklace, I mentioned a feather cloak that makes you fly, and I mentioned a chariot pulled by cats! Where's her fucking cats, DJ?

Those were given to best at. Best at used to summon two cats for all now she sends out a big old cat to grab your enemy.

Does that start with cat cherry?

Darien (01:24:19.886)

I want Bastet to force you to perform with a Jellicle Ball. That's for me.

Hey odds in her lore

Kelsey (01:24:33.848)

See, that's right. It's odd. odd. Secretly Odin again. Maybe that's where Marvel got confused.

Here's the thing There's one thing that I meant and I didn't get to is I forgot to mention him Some scholars do think that odd is just another version of Odin

Missing a lot

my God, is odd Odin? And the reason she can't find him is because he's just secretly also just, but she would notice. I was really good at disguises. But yes, actually there is some times where they're like, is Odin also odd and coming from an earlier branch or a different one where Freya and Odin were married. It's a cute nickname. Because like I mentioned last one in the Vanir, Davidson proposes that all of the goddesses who marry the Aesir,

Maybe it's a cute nickname.

Darien (01:25:19.562)

we're from the veneer because again we don't do incest in this house so

having this deity was maybe, because also Frey is associated with its kind of foresight in magic, that is Frigg's bread and butter. Yes, it's not necessarily wrong if there was the original version where these two figures were one in the same and then split over time or what we have split them. I am hesitant to give 1960s Marvel comic writers that level of credit, that that's what they were intentionally going for. So.

Probably not. Anyway, Smite Lore. And she's one of the earlier ones, so it's going to be a little more non-involved with Smite's actual overarching lore.

That's my lore.

DJ (01:26:04.244)

Valkyries, the elite and angelic warriors of the Nordic pantheon, are as beautiful and dangerous as a midnight winter storm. Yet their queen Freya so irresistibly desirable, so uncompromising in warfare make the Valkyries seem nothing more than plain paper dolls. She's the object of desire for every god, every man, and the envy of every woman. Even the frost giants crave her for their own, often devising devious plans to trick her

or force her into marriage, but Freya is proud and strong with the cunning to escape her enemies and ruthlessly retaliate. Every rose bears thorns, but this one wields swords. Were it up to her, Freya would have little to do with blood and blades. Her name literally means the lady, and none of more worthy of the title. She adores bright flowers, pleasant company, and sweet lilt of a sad love song. She's sensual and amorous.

invoked by her worshippers seeking to bear a child or find a lover. Ruler of the realm says Ruminir, a place much like Valhalla, where the souls of dead warriors spend eternity. Freya provides comfort and bliss to the fallen. Once Freya was married to the mysterious and elusive god, Od. Immediately following their wedding, Od went on a journey to a distant inhospitable land. So long was he gone, the gods presumed him dead.

Distraught and heartbroken Freya spilled tears of gold and searched the globe for him. Finally, she discovered him shipwrecked, twisted into hideous sea monsters. my god! Melee but loyal, she stayed in comfort at him. Though one night, while she slept, a daring hunter slew the beast Odd had become. Moved Freya to utter despair, the gods agreed to allow Odd into Susrumnir, despite the fact he had not died in battle, so he and Freya could remain together forever.

Is it that Smite did a better job of Freya than Rick Riordan did?

DJ (01:28:04.824)

Crazy. I wonder if I look into it that the hunter might be like a god in smile. Might be one of the god is like.

How is it not Artemis who just came to kill a monster? And that's why she's there? I'm not I would not be mad about that so

the sea monster could very well be so

is harder this is.

A wild You know what, actually? why not?

DJ (01:28:28.686)

With how smite lore is? You know, Hades enacting Ragnarok and all.

my god, yeah

games.

Especially in their later seasons they started to definitely get more like, lore, let's do it.

Damn, a once upon a time reference in the year of Lord 2024? More likely than you think.

DJ (01:28:45.422)

You did that two episodes ago?

Okay, so I hate everything Rick Riordan did with Freya. I think I've made that clear. And then we talk about Volkvogner, it just feels like a hippie summer camp. Volkswagen, just a hippie ass summer camp. But it is another realm where the warriors who've died end up. And Kelsey, that's why you're here. You are here to tell us about

not great.

Kelsey (01:29:00.652)

Volkswagen.

Well these people still died in battle.

Kelsey (01:29:17.134)

Valheim! Valheim! What is it? about Valheim! is Uh, it's glad you asked. It's a game that's marketed as a survival game, which is kind of funny because you're already dead. It's the 10th realm. When you mentioned Vanaheim or Vanheim, I wonder if it's a portmanteau of Valhalla and Vanhem. I think Because it is. You are a fallen warrior. I think is.

of Alheim.

Darien (01:29:42.926)

us.

Quick plug because it's an amazing game, highly recommend it. It's still in beta. Has been for the past three years because they're still developing it, yeah, it just came available on Mac. It's half off on Steam right now. Amazing music. They also released a board game, which is kind of impressive for something that's still in beta and an official soundtrack, which highly recommend for D &D.

new stuff you were excited about.

Darien (01:30:05.974)

choice okay

So anyway, I've so far logged 168 hours, but I'm definitely not an expert and I will probably pronounce everything wrong, so...

pronouncing things wrong on this show? Couldn't...

Couldn't be.

Yes, my character is named Hilda which is from the Netflix animated series which also has a lot of Norse folklore which is super cool.

Darien (01:30:27.17)

Yeah, we haven't got to talk about Hilda. Nothing that we've covered has been like anything that was in Hilda yet.

You start by your loaded into this grassy field. are these megalith rocks and there's a raven that greets you. Huguen or mutant. don't remember which one. Huguen first, I think. Yeah. And then you can look, you can pull up your log at any moment and get some of the lore that they've told you. The tutorial of the game comes through Odin's Ravens. And you can see a one-eyed Odin carved into the wooden log that your message board is on.

and memory.

Kelsey (01:30:58.318)

That's cool. Nice. there are these Vegdiceer, which is like a red rune in a rock. And when you go, it does this cool scrambly thing with the runes and then it puts it in this like red letters with a warning or telling you, uh, you have to register the next of the Forsaken gods. there are a bunch What does that mean? When you first log in, Huguen greets you. Welcome to the 10th world warrior. I am Huguen, sent here to guide you in your travels. The megaliths surrounding you are the sacrificial stones. They represent the Forsaken.

which you must slay in order to ascend to Valhalla. And I'm not entirely sure if this is the original or if this is after the update. think originally it said something about gaining the favor of the gods and it was a little bit more ambiguous, but.

you in Viking purgatory?

DJ (01:31:43.66)

Oftentimes, early access games are subject to major changes like that.

yeah, favorite was the, not a lore change, but when they added fishing and all of a sudden dead fish responding on land everywhere. the dead fish? It was like a mana of fish falling from the sky and I was so sad when they fixed the bug and I had to learn how to fish, which spoiler, I have not, I refuse. no. So as you go, have to, you start with nothing until you pick up a rock, you pick up some wood, you make a hammer.

I'm trying to

Darien (01:31:56.993)

told me-

Kelsey (01:32:17.038)

or not a hammer, yeah, make an axe, you can get more, more useful things. the- survival Yeah, yeah. And the, the enemies get a little bit harder, you get better resources. Another example, one of the first tutorial notes from Huguen is, take stock of your inventory. It says most items must be crafted. However, due to your recent departure from Midgard, you will have to recall the true shape of objects. Just pick things up and it will all come back to you, I'm sure.

Wait, hold on, I'm so sorry, I'm over your shoulder. My lesser brother Munin tells me one can fashion a stone axe out of wood and so... Wow! The shade being thrown at Munin!

They're very sassy. There's another point where quite far in the future there is a land called the Mistlands. They're really dark. To see, you need to get these wisp lights, which are from fairies. So you build a fairy fountain and you have to wait till night to gather the fairies and capture them, or like the wisps. And when you're learning this tidbit of info, Huguen tells you, warrior, I am bored. Besides, it is not my job to babysit the likes of you long into the night. Just be vigilant and I'm sure you will be rewarded.

do this anymore. I'm leaving. It's like, wow. All right, Zazu.

So you start in the meadows, that's the friendliest. And you have to fight the elder, Eichthir, but it's a stag and it gives you endurance. Once you beat it, you get like a Forsaken power that you can have one active at any time. And when you activate it, you get its boost. So in the meadow biome, you've got bees. That was another, I thought we had a bug at first because we couldn't for the life of us find bees, but you can capture a queen bee, set up, start harvesting bees for honey, which you use later to make mead.

Kelsey (01:33:57.826)

The mead potions give you fire resistance, frost resistance, that kind of stuff. But you need to make a fermenter, so a lot of steps along the way to get the cooking and stuff. There's some interesting cuisine, even in Valheim. There's blood pudding, ice cream, which is like, or like ice cream, but it's spelled with like I. No! Some concerning cuisine. So that's the meadow. Next you go to the Black Forest, where you fight the Elder. It's a tree.

And I felt a little bit bad. feel like a colonial a little bit like coming in and I'm annoyed that these graylings and dwarves are attacking me. But I also realized that this is their home and I've intruded. So that doesn't feel great, but it's also kind of.

What if they're intruding and you're just a for the gods? They're they're they're they're forsaken for a reason

Exactly I'm making Odin proud.

Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

Darien (01:34:48.622)

They're doing a has-been hotel. They've overpopulated and you need to get rid of them. How many biomes are there? like...

That's true. Six, seven? Because it's still coming out, they just released Ashlands and I don't know how many more there are.

There's probably gonna be 12 since they're 12 forsaken. it seems like there's...

yeah, that would make sense. Next biome is the swamp, which is where you have to fight Bonemass, which imagine Oogie Boogie, but like 10 times grosser, uglier, like... No, it's not a fun time. He also regenerates health, which is gross. bone man. We died a bunch of times. And when you die in this game, you lose all your stuff. have a slight skill drain, so you have to start back again.

That make sense.

Darien (01:35:16.685)

like.

Darien (01:35:21.987)

coming.

DJ (01:35:26.444)

Have a good old fact.

Kelsey (01:35:32.278)

with your abilities just a little bit. You have to go retrieve your stuff. Your body just has kind of a glowing tombstone on it and then you can recover your stuff off of it. Well, that's nice. Yeah. And we kept dying a bunch and we thought, okay, let's leave the area of threat. Maybe he'll despawn and we can come back for a body. No. no. He doesn't despawn. So then, and what's worse, he followed us. The bone mass? Yeah. He left the swamp and followed us all the way back to...

That film shouldn't be allowed to do that, right?

You would think but it actually turned out to our convenience because then he got kind of like stuck in the water and could fight him from a distance What we almost did that would have been really bad was we almost went back to the swamp and thought we'll just restart it redo the sacrifice turns out it would have spawned a second one of them so Don't that don't respawn bone mass. He sucks. They the next one is mountains. It's really pretty

And then the planes, are, you've got death skeetos, which is not something you look forward to. You also have locks, which I looked up last night because I was like, it's, looks like a yak or something. Turns out it's a, a cross between a lizard and ox. I don't know if that's a thing or not. but they're also, Yoten puffs.

It's made up.

Kelsey (01:36:41.774)

which I also was pronouncing my head as like John puffs until I saw the pronunciation in the back of the Oh, those things. then we're currently my group right now is in the Mistlands, which are really dark and spooky. You've got they've added like a magic element. The boss, which we haven't fought yet, is apparently called the Queen, which is a little ominous. Oh.

Well that'll be cool.

be a queen bee.

I don't know, there's a lot of like creepy full-size bugs that I don't like in this one. So then the next one that they just added and I haven't gotten to yet is Ashlands, which I think is kind of volcanic. It's got the boiling waters, lot of flammable stuff. Meanwhile, you can also just go sailing in the ocean, which is really pretty and it's got really nice music. You can look up in the sky.

Yeah, you should absolutely be able to get on the wall.

Kelsey (01:37:28.111)

When you look up at the sky, there are clouds and the stars even during the day and then you see these veins of a giant tree.

You showed me the branches of Yedrasil. It is really cool. I think I did mention that in our Yedrasil episode because it was just really cool.

Yeah, it's just really beautiful and really well done. You can cut down little bits of Yggdrasil, which also doesn't feel great.

the dragon eating the roots and the stags tromping on its leaves and the tittering. Fine.

Yeah, I think you're it gives you powerful weapons. Yep. Exactly. I really like this game because you can go for fighting. You can go for farming and go for whatever you are. In my group, we have someone who really likes building. And so she's doing like the cabin and making our house look pretty and cool and always expanding. Yeah. And then what's home? I think we've got one.

DJ (01:37:55.32)

Doing much.

Darien (01:38:13.846)

At this point you can call it a hall. Great, call it your hall. What have you named your hall?

Kelsey (01:38:25.422)

You can also name your boars, so I'm definitely gonna have to take note of Freya's boar and Freya's boar and name them. The last couple fun things would be you can dance, which is like your classic NPC dance. You can build little Santa hats and season all, you can make a Midsummer crown. It's come a long way. It's really cool to have played it from the beginning and see the improvements.

You

DJ (01:38:46.926)

Thanks

Kelsey (01:38:51.916)

But totally solid game. wouldn't wait for it to be released because it's great. It's been great the whole time. Nice. And last but not least, the dreams every night when you go to bed. huh. It starts a new day, it saves your world, and sometimes you'll get a dream. And they're often really cryptic and kind of sad, but kind of fun. So I'll just read a couple of my favorites if that's okay. Amidst the crash of arms on the dark and glimmering plane of sleep, a face swells snarling before you.

Your shield arm hangs limp, your spear is broken. You welcome the cold blade when it comes. From a dream of death, you awaken to death itself. You dream you are lying on your back in a meadow, gazing upward at the clouds. Your name is nothing, your mind is free of thought, but there is a warm hand in yours. In the dream you are laughing, but when you awaken, you find your face damp with tears.

This one's relatable. You fall asleep planning your next day's labor and in your dreams you complete it, hewing wood, foraging for food, and hunting after swift deer. You return home exhausted but happy, only to awaken and find the day is still ahead of you. NOOOO-

Ugh, brutal.

In your dream, you walk through a hall of smiling warriors and gracious maidens. You join with their mirth until you realize that you are naked and the small bronze shield you are carrying is not enough to cover your shame. You greet the morning with gratitude. Right? There's one with Loki. Dark-eyed Loki approaches you in the dream and gifts you a ring for each hand. He tells you that as long as they stay on your fingers, you will never hear an insulting word again. You wake with your fingers in your ears.

Darien (01:40:17.665)

These are great

Kelsey (01:40:34.478)

That's such a fun-

Good detail. Wow, that's so fun.

It's really thoughtfully made and has a lot of cool lore and really cool mechanics that I think work together really well.

can say I like that way better than Ryarid and Svokvogner. Sorry, this research made me just extra salty. Like I knew I didn't like love the way Freya was portrayed, but I was like, okay, but like whatever. But like this one really and particularly made me not happy.

No.

DJ (01:41:05.26)

Yeah. That sense.

That's... I was gonna say it's fine, but it's actually not. Kelsey, thank you for sharing! Where, where, if someone wanted to play right now, what should they go do?

Yeah, thanks for listening!

I think it's only on Steam, isn't it?

yes, team.

Darien (01:41:23.298)

Yeah, that. How do they get it? They go on Steam. Perfect.

Let me see, let me make sure.

He's gonna double check! Fact check!

I believe it's Norwegian producer or it's Scandinavian. That's cool. the people working on it are from Scandinavia. Nice.

looks like it's only available on PC but nope it's on Xbox too.

Darien (01:41:49.806)

Okay, you can go check it out dear listeners you should play if you like these kind of like

Hey, if you have Game Pass, it's free to you.

Cool!

game has on Xbox! If you like that kind of survival game, go check it out. I don't, uh, my survival game ceiling is Animal Crossing New Horizons. That is the, that is the-

recommend.

Kelsey (01:42:11.958)

Is there a way to not survive animal crossing?

spiders

tarantulas and scorpions, yeah.

For me, I'm on that No Man's Sky kick. I was trying to see and then just like check my memory because they've been they have a lot of Greek names involved in it. I haven't seen any Norse names involved in it yet. So I don't think they'll get there'll be any Norse names, but you know.

Yeah, pretty.

Kelsey (01:42:39.084)

It's a big game.

Yeah. So all right. Well, that is all I think I have. Did you have any others on Frey Frey or Folklogner? All right. Kelsey, thank you so much for joining us and telling us all about Vanaheim. I've been so excited for it. Valor.

I have anything to tell you about Vinaheim.

Anaheim! All right, let's get on with the episode. Kelsey, where can the people find you?

Well, I guess I recently am trying to revive a photography account if you want to look up underscore Kelsey cam KEL se y CIM.

Darien (01:43:13.898)

It's got pictures. She recently went to Scotland. It would be wild. been like the wrong island in Europe to go research this episode.

I did, to research this episode, I'm just kidding.

Kelsey (01:43:23.81)

Just a skip and a throw from Norway. Totally! That was close. We'll fly by. Yeah, absolutely!

That's this other world works,

I did expect the third book to go to London, and so that was very... Yeah!

York yeah, they went to York and your guy was there you have been on this trip, but

No, I haven't but the train passed right through

Darien (01:43:47.598)

Nice. If you do want to hear more about Scotland or at least a made-up fantasy Scotland and also a back to the future retelling you didn't know you needed

www.saintran.com forward slash music mythology you better believe it there is a fun twisted tale re or not remith but bonus episode that we just did on the brave twisted tale fate

be changed. Y'all it's just back to the future and we will not say more here. Go give us five dollars and listen to that As well as the nine other Twisted Tale episodes. And there are 10 total. We could do a proper ranking list of them. And so those and then you could listen to the 70 plus other episodes on Bunker Nine for your listeners.

crazy.

DJ (01:44:26.894)

Let's go.

DJ (01:44:35.598)

There's a ton of content. We'd love to see you there. You also get access to our Discord.

Yeah! Kelsey has the discord!

It's pretty fun.

of fun people there and we'd to hear from you guys.

Thank all so much for listening. Kelsey, thank you again for joining us. This was lovely. We will be back in your ears on Tuesday, August 27th to talk about Jotunheim. But until then, don't be like Zeus.

DJ (01:44:56.206)

Don't forget to this video

DJ (01:45:05.432)

Tim O'Connor, The Crystal Conman, Nicholas Miller. Our music is Athens Festival by Martin Hayne and our cover art is by Audrey Miller. You can find her on Instagram at Bombshell Nutshell Art.

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