The skaldic poetry of the Viking Age often uses kennings involving ravens to refer to Odin, and vice versa. Already in the sixth and seventh centuries AD – well before the beginning of the Viking Age in the late eighth century – visual depictions of Odin on helmets and jewelry frequently picture him accompanied by one or more ravens. The connection between Odin and ravens is very old and very deep. Snorri’s main source for this passage seems to be an evocative stanza in the Eddic poem Grímnismál, in which Odin says: Thus, he finds out many new things and this is why he is called ‘raven-god’ ( hrafnaguð). He sends them out in the morning to fly around the whole world, and by breakfast they are back again. Two ravens sit on his (Odin’s) shoulders and whisper all the news which they see and hear into his ear they are called Huginn and Muninn. According to the medieval Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson, Hugin and Munin (pronounced “HOO-gin” and “MOO-nin” Old Norse Huginn and Muninn, the meaning of which will be discussed below) are two ravens in Norse mythology who are helping spirits of the god Odin. Book Review: Neil Price’s The Viking Way: Magic and Mind in Late Iron Age ScandinaviaĪ warrior, likely Odin, flanked by two ravens on an Iron Age helmet from what is now Sweden.Who Were the Indo-Europeans and Why Do They Matter?.The Swastika – Its Ancient Origins and Modern (Mis)use.
But by sticking the iron exclusively down in the sunken crypts, it's made the chore far worse, and it's a chore you have to do even if you've already got all the iron you want. I appreciate that Iron Gate Studios tried to do something a bit different with iron mining-honestly, burrowing into a stone mountainside for iron ore wouldn't be especially exciting or novel, either.
At least if a troll takes a swing at me while I'm mining copper, I might get some free ore out of the deal when it smashes the rock to pieces. I kinda wish the draugrs would hack away at the obstruction from their end of the hallway and meet me halfway. Even a little muddy scrap still left on the floor or walls will stop them from approaching, except for the occasional annoying blob squirting poison through a gap. There's not even danger to use as a distraction, since crypt monsters can't get to you through a passage until it's been cleared. Now I'm in the car trunk doing homework I wasn't even assigned. Mining in a crypt is mandatory if you want iron scrap, and it's mandatory even if you don't want iron scrap. You can't get through unless you hack away at a muddy brown pile of sludge if you want to clear the crypt of monsters and raid the chests. Worse still, even if you're not on a mining mission, you have to mine if you're in a crypt, because the muddy scrap piles are blocking entire rooms and passages.