Teddy

Clue 2: Named Gods

As of right now, we only have a few confirmed “Gods”:

Reisir -> Odin (Wields a spear, one eye sacrificed for wisdom, and has a hand in Ymir’s death), possibly mixed with Thor (Wields thunder)

Karvaldr -> Ymir, not exactly a god (æsir), but close enough.

Skadi -> Skaði (Unsure what her role is)

Fjodra -> Verðandi (See below)

Special mentions of Svein Od, who is blatantly a copy of Odin (wields a spear and is named Od—I wonder if he’s a reference to God of War’s Tyr), and Prett Grimr, who has 3 possible godly links (Grima, Grimnir, and Grimolfr).

There’s also Yor, Jörmungandr, aka the World Serpent, and the four duchies Austri, Vestri, Nordri, and Sudri, named after the dwarves that hold up the sky (made of Ymir’s skull).

Reisir’s case for “fighting against fate” is obvious due to his protagonist status. Same goes for Imir.

The others are more questionable, as they seem to be more manipulated by “Senna” than anything.

Clue 3: Threads

Please pay attention to Fjodra’s last name: 미드트라드

Sometimes translated as Midtrad, after some research I have found another way to translate it.

Mið, Old Norse for Mid or Middle-, the same Mid of Midgard, meaning Middle-Earth.

And þráðr, Old Norse for thread.

= Midthradr, the World of Threads.

Considering this is a fantasy webnovel, I’ll assume that it follows the trope of the royal family bearing the same name as the kingdom/land.

In that case, the threads in question could be the threads of fate that the Norns twine.

(Fjodra’s middle name, Verd (Verð), is also a reference to Verðandi, one of the three Norns. Yggdrasil, which the Norns tend to, is also in the Midthradr imperial palace.)

= Midthradr, the World of (Fate) Threads.

Clue 4: Readers

In the original «I Alone Am SSS-Ranked Einheri», a majority of the characters were killed off after readers begged for their deaths.

In that case, are the readers also “gods” that decide the fate of this world?

It could be that “Senna” is particularly pathetic and easily influenced by readers’ expectations. However, I find that hard to believe since “Senna” is built up as the main antagonist responsible for the apocalypse. Or maybe… a “Senna.”

Clue 5: “Senna”

Imir has been very blatantly rewriting fate.

So why hasn’t “Senna” killed him off yet?

If “Senna” is originally a discussion between multiple gods trying to choose this world’s fate, not including the god-like characters such as Reisir, then it would mean at least two or more authors were writing NaSE.

It would explain why “Senna” repeatedly introduced new characters only to immediately kill them off:

One author, on Reisir’s side, twines fate so that he will meet new allies. The other author, an antagonist, changes fate so that all allies are killed off.

(It could also be the influence of the blood-thirsty readers, who can overpower the favorable “Senna” through sheer strength of number.)

Now with the introduction of Imir, a new writer who can directly influence the story, the favorable “Senna” can use the probability Imir raises to more easily manipulate fate in their favor.

Clue 6: Modern elements

What about all the anachronisms? Why is the academy’s library full of Korean webnovels? Why is Reisir eating chocolate-covered Pringle chips?

All of these indicate that Midthradr is influenced by modern Korea.

(Possibly wrong—I have no recollection of other cultures being mentioned.)

Does that mean that Midthradr is a world that was birthed through a webnovel? Or was the webnovel a window into this world?

Clue 7: Imir’s novels

It’s established very early on that Imir’s novels, among many other Korean webnovels, are present in Valhalla Academy’s library.

As a reminder, here are Imir’s novels:

- A Healing Life Raised by the Protagonist. Synopsis: a reader transmigrates into the body of a child, gets picked up by the protagonist who's a hero, and becomes the protagonist's little sibling.

- The Gate in my Novel Swallowed the World. Synopsis: the protagonist, an author, realizes that their hunterverse novel is overlapping with reality.

- How the Repentant Villain Saves the World. Still in progress.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

All of these novels describe This Novel is not my Novel.

Imir transmigrates into the body of a child teenager, Karvaldr, and gets picked up befriended by the protagonist. This is a world that is tormented by Gates Demonic Realms that will eventually destroy the world. Imir as Karvaldr, initially a villain, will eventually save this world.

If these novels appear in the library, it means that Senna read them.

I believe that “Senna” was researching a way to change this world’s fate and reach a happy ending. They found Imir’s novels and realized that he was a perfect co-writer.

Leading to Imir’s transmigration.

One problem—

Clue 8: Imir’s name

Are you telling me that Ymir is a coincidence?

What the parallels between him, strangely blue-eyed, who only has a mother, and Karvaldr, strangely blue-eyed, who has everything but a mother?

Or the link between Ymir, whose skull becomes the sky, and the Austri house in which he transmigrates, who are named after the dwarf that holds up that sky?

Something for certain: Imir and Karvaldr are different people. They received different familiars (Yor vs a Black-footed cat) because their souls were different.

In short,

Senna is a genre qualifying «I Alone Am SS-Ranked Einheri», and thus its world, as a battle of words between gods.

There are multiple named gods/higher beings, including Ymir who is explicitly fighting against fate.

Hints that the Norns, or something similar, exist within this world.

It’s possible that the readers of “our” world are gods.

The original Senna author could be more than one god.

Midthradr is influenced by contemporary Korea.

Senna has read Imir’s novels, which match the current story of TNINMN.

Imir has a special link to the world of NaSE, and possibly to the Austri family.

Imir ≠ Karvaldr

Where am I going with this? I don’t know T_T

Right now my theory is that TNINMN itself is Karvaldr’s method (since he has the Writer skill from sky blue ether) to overturn the fate written by Senna, so he’s writing over the NaSE written by “Senna.” (see the description for his “writing” skill in ch142 + that moment in ch311 wink) That alone would qualify both NaSE and TNINMN as senna-genre novels, but the question is why NaSE was called a senna originally.

As of right now, I have no clue who Senna could be. Since it’s someone who twines fate, could it be one of the three Norns? Or am I relying too much on the Norse mythology flavor text?????

Riolikin

Ljolikn | Ljòlíkn (리올리킨 트레믈러)

Ljòð, meaning song or poem

Líkn, meaning mercy, grace, salvation.

That was the only thing I could find that made sense. Still have absolutely no clue for his last name. Tremler? Tremlr? 😶 eh

(To note that j = y/i, so liolikn)

Prett

Prett Grímr (프레트 그리무르)

Prett, meaning lie or deceit

Grímr, meaning mask

For his fake name Hullid (훌리드), I’m not sure. Possibilities:

Hlið, meaning gateway = his fake identity is a gateway into being by the protagonist group’s side?

Huld, meaning faithful, loyal = reference to how he never sold Reisir’s information after becoming friends?

Bjorn

Bjørn Ketillson

Bjørn meaning bear

Seems to be a reference to Ketill Björnsson who is a real Norse king from the 9th century. Apparently he appears in a Vikings TV show? So author could have taken inspiration from that

Kaldrun

Kaldrún Íssvald

Kaldr meaning cold, ty again y

Rún meaning rune or secret. Unsure about this one

Íss meaning ice

Vald meaning power, authority

Guy’s so cold that it needs to be stated twice lol.

Radvisin

Radvisin Frodleikr | Ráðvísin Fróðleikr (라드비신 프로드레 이크)

This one drove me crazy a little.

Ráð, meaning advice, counsel

Víss, meaning known, wise

Vísendi, meaning science (as in a science, not 🧬 🧪 🧫 specifically)

Fróðleikr, meaning knowledge, information, and magic, witchcraft

Tridik

Tridik when I get my hands on you 💢💢

Thridik Skapti | þriðik Skapti (트리드릭 스카프티)

þriði, meaning the third. It's also the name of one of the three kings that appear in the Prose Edda, which could be a parallel to Karvaldr, Ljolikn, and Thridik being a trio???

Skapti, a conjugation of skepja, meaning to shape, to devise = how schemes to backstab Karvaldr..? I don’t know

Hardr

Harðr Austri (하르드 아우스트리)

Harðr meaning hard, stern, or severe

To note that Austri has been confirmed as this spelling because it’s a reference to the four dwarves Austri, Vestri, Norðri and Suðri

Btw I assumed he was a cold Duke of the north due to his character trope, but he’s actually from the East…? East = white hair????? Senna explain.

Ragfried

(That’s the sister.) She drove me to insanity. I don’t know.

Ragnfridr Austri | Ragnfríðr Austri (라그프리드 아우스트리)

Ragnfríðr, an Old Norse female given name, originating from regin meaning Gods, and fríðr meaning beautiful

Waltraus

(That’s the brother.)

Valtrauss Austri (발트라우스 아우스트리)

Valtr, meaning to be easily upset, unsteady. Definitely fits his character.

I have no idea what the aus part could be. Maybe it’s Valtr-lauss? Hey definitely not more unusual than his sister lol.

Yon

(Now this one’s obscure. That’s the servant who’s kind to Karvaldr at the start.)

Jón Leifson. Not much to say here, it’s just a name.

Vigdis

Her first name is easy since it comes from a myth about a transactional marriage, but her last name I still haven’t figured out.

For now I’m calling her Vigdis Svalbradi (비그디스 샬브래디)

Svalr, meaning cool: pointing at Vigdis' cold first impression?

Barði, past principle of berja, meaning to strike or beat: pointing at Vigdis' swordfighting?

Bráði, a declension of bráðr, meaning hasty, sudden, or hot-tempered. I don’t think she’s particularly hot-tempered (the opposite), but the hangul points toward bradi rather than bardi.

Varði, past indicative of verja, meaning to defend or thwart

Varði, meaning a cairn

Specifically it’s the Shar that bothers me.

and then…

Many areas of doubt still. I have no clue for that professor with the dead kid, Skadi’s last name is a complete mystery, and the same for Ljolikn’s last name. Why is Diyuf named Djup? Is he related to the sea?? I don’t know.

You can find all my research for all the character names on the wiki (still a work in progress, so don’t mind the messiness… and ⚠️ beware spoilers).