#ulfhednar

Slay

LAMBARK & WOOLFEDNAR (Fighting) the Sheep in Wolf clothing pokemon

This sheep pokemon have evolved to use their wool as a disguise in order to resemble their predators, even becoming more aggresive than regular sheeps to match their behavior.

They are based on the expression "A wolf in sheep clothing" but I have already seen enough wolf pokemon with sheep disguises, so I decided to flip it.

LAMBARK comes from Lamb and Bark WOOLFEDNAR comes from Wool, Wolf and Ulfhednar, the norse warriors that wore wolf skins in battle and are said to have inspired the werewolf legends. In modern popular culture they are often mixed with the Berserker who wore bear skins in a similar way

“‘Til we return to human shape, fearless we shall drink blood from our enemies wounds. Together we will rage in the battlefields of corpses! The Father of War commands us. Transform your skin, brothers! Slaughter-wolves, Berserkers, become your fury!”

THE NORTHMAN (2022); dir. Robert Eggers

Arkenvale!AU:

Sonic the Vargulfr ------------------------------

Born to a small clan of northern raiders

Eldest child of a clan chief

Mother died when he was young, raised by his father

Lost his family and clan to slavers after just coming of age

Enslaved at a mill camp pulling stones

Bloodrage fueled his escape... and the massacre that followed

Self-judged outcast to his people

Weighed by the shame of failing his clan and by the blood he has spilled

Raised on the ocean but now fears the deep water

Lost control of his shifts

Shifts under the New Moon, turns feral on these nights

Adoptive older brother of Tails, a young kitsune

Works as a mercenary to care for him

Currently hunting a dragon near the Arkenvale

[View image in new tab for better detail, detailed lore under cut]

The Old Norse people worshipped their ancestors, some of which went to Valhalla, and some who were definitely heroes. But I don't think they worshipped "the warriors of Valhalla" as an archetype, or as paragons to emulate. Valhalla wasn't even viewed as a goal to aspire to. Rather, it was a consolation prize for dying far from home.

Prior to the Viking Age, the Norse people believed they rejoined their family and ancestors after they died. However, this was dependent on the fact they would be buried in the family grave or barrow.

But going a-viking meant risking death far from home, and this death would most likely happen while out at sea or during a skirmish.

In order to reconcile the question of "Where do we go if we can't be with our families?", the Norse people concluded that if they died out at sea, they went to Njord's hall, and if they died in a skirmish, they went to Odin's or Freyja's hall. This way, they had the comfort of knowing they would still be with their gods and people if they perished far from home.

It's important to keep in mind that the vikings were not exactly a warrior class; as in, "being a warrior" wasn't their job. They were pirates. And like all pirates, their goal was to retrieve goods, either by trade or by raid. Most vikings had every intention of making it home alive, and just like being a skilled sailor improved these odds, so did knowing how to put an axe through a man's skull.

Dying while going a-viking was honorable for the same reason that successfully returning home with goods was honorable; it's the fact that a person risked their life to travel very far away and gather resources for their family and community. It's an honorable deed.

But just because this death was honor-worthy doesn't mean it was a goal.

First of all, let's consider the practical aspect here: In a pre-industrial era, no one in their right mind would waste an entire ship on a crew that didn't plan to come back in it.

Secondly, "dying gloriously on the battlefield" only has widespread cultural importance in imperial nations; nations motivated by dominion, conquest, and establishing their widespread rule. Not only were the Norse societies not imperial, they didn't even have a centralized military, let alone the manpower to fight the rank-and-file wars we associate with the term "war."