The depths of Nastrond

Hello wizards today's lesson with be on a Nidhoggr or Nithogg as it's sometimes called which is a giant dragon (sometimes a serpent or both) which dwells in Nastrond gnawing at the roots of Yggdrasil.

Now in Wintertusk Nordri (whom with his kin I consider vikings or perhaps Jotunn [giants]) task the player with retrieving a tooth from Nithogg who gnaws at the roots of the great tree Grandmother Raven resides on.

It's peculiar that they decided to use this tree as the the one Nithogg gnaws on cause as the legend goes it was Yggdrasil Nithogg gnawed at which would mean Nithogg below here should be gnawing at Bartleby's roots beneath Ravenwood.

There is a connection to be made though from this pairing it involves 3 parties (technically 4) Nithogg, Ratatoskr, and Vethrfolnir.

• Ratatoskr was a squirrel which ran down the length of Yggdrasil carrying gossip to Vethrfolnir and a great eagle from Nithogg and back down to Nithogg my theory on the squirrel is it's tied to Nithogg. In all various cultures and mythologies fights and feuds rise usually at the implication of a person who wishes to see both parties fight for some cause. A perfect example of this is in Wizard101 Kol Shadowsong and The Coven in general used trickery and manipulation to pit the bear clans against the wolf clans. Usually this person will also lie, break promises, and even commit murder to see that their goals are achieved. (This is just a theory in general as such creature doesn't appear in the game)

• Nithogg who gnaws at Yggdrasil also lives in Nastrond a place of corpses, snakes, and poisonous rivers. Nastrond itself means Dead Shore Nithogg is said to reside here were he gnaws at one of the 3 roots but Nithogg also has another purpose he also devours the souls of murderers and Oath breakers. Now if you've read my theory on Ratatoskr you'll start to see the connection here. Ratatoskr is just the type of creature that Nithogg would devour. As in all cultures Murderers and Oath breakers are always promised the worse punishment also consider this Nastrond is located in or close to Helheim. Which is the Norse equivalent of the underworld

• Vethrfolnir was a hawk that sat between the eyes of a great nameless eagle who sat you guessed it atop Yggdrasil now while it quarreled with Nithogg (Mostly due to Ratatoskr's gossip) the great eagle was knowledgeable and knew many things. Theories say that this was a reference to Huginn and Muninn who were Odin's ravens who traveled the world gathering all news to Odin. Vethrfolnir is said to play a similar role delivering the world's news to the great eagle. Although Ravens aren't in this legend (other than reference; symbolism) I think it's safe to say the parallels between the knowledge of the great eagle and Grandmother Raven are quite apparent. Even the Raven race in Wizard101 is one of mysticism and cunning which Grandmother Raven is a part of.  

I think KI is getting more and more inventive with what they put in game and although this is all speculation it's so exciting to try and decipher it even though it's from my own interpretations of the mythology. I advocate all you wizards do the same as there are many secrets to discover. So far Wintertusk is my favorite update and although quest experience was low Grizzleheim was always one of my favorite worlds to play in. Certainly KI has upped their game and rekindled my interest in Norse mythology bravo KI bravo! Any thoughts and comments are appreciated I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Until next time your friend,
Alric Ravensinger

Creature Feature: Owls - Wizard's pet? Or Harbinger of Ill Omen?

Hello, wizards today I wanna discuss a cool creature that has been used for fantasy many times over from the Goblin King, Jared to the pet of the greatest wizard in recent magical history Harry Potter. Yes that's right if Gamma up there hasn't let it slip from his beak we are talking Owls!

It's hard to imagine Gamma up top or Hedwig just above as any more than a Wizard's friend but looks can be deceiving. Let's look at how Owls in their antiquity were viewed -- Let's start with  Meso-America home of my forefathers. They in particular the Hopi and Aztecs viewed Owls as omens of death, evil, and sorcery hard to imagine why but they did. Like all cultures many of them just didn't know how to attribute things to nature occurring phenomenon, so it must be supernatural? Keep in mind this is all before the Spanish (Also my forefathers) came and colonized much of the land bringing with them disease but also knowledge.

Africa also has Owls and view them much like the Hispanic cultures of The Americas -- Omens of Death. It's not everyone who believes this, it's mainly indigenous tribes like the Kikuyu of Kenya. Now although these cultures are old there is an even older culture that viewed Owls in a significantly less evil way -- Greece!
That's right our modern view of the Owl can be attributed to Ancient Greece where they saw Owls as beings of Wisdom. In fact, Owls can be seen in that culture as one of the symbols of a Goddess which one you ask? Athena, Goddess of Wisdom, Warfare, Strength, and Strategy. Who had a city named in her honor you know it as one of Greece's oldest and most influential cities -- Athens in which she was it's Patron.

In our world, the wizard101 one that is the main Owl we can identify is Headmaster Ambrose's pet owl -- Gamma. Besides watching the Spiral in the Headmaster's tower Gamma doesn't do much outside of this. However, in the magical world there is one owl that is pivotal and resonates with people the world over as the pet owl of "The Boy Who Lived" of course you know I am talking about Hedwig. In the magical world of Harry Potter Owls and other creatures are seen as pets, friends, and magical familiars. 

 Hedwig was Harry's Owl in the HP series and was given to him by friend and Hogwarts's Gamekeeper Rebeus Hagrid. Hedwig represented Harry's innocence as is very obvious during the earlier books of the series. Hedwig was very loyal to Harry throughout the series and was very mature even looking down on other immature owls such as Pidwigeon. Now Owls seen as Ill omens it's intriguing J.K. Rowling picked the Owl which is seen as a bad omen. Although it's only merely speculation on my behalf what if Hedwig's presence marked a doom for the whole series? I mean think about all that befell Harry? Is it not curious to think his closest friend -- one of his most well loved ties to the magical world a warning in disguise?

Honestly, I don't like the idea of that either but it's something to chew on, some food for thought. If you are a fan of the series you already know Hedwig's death in the final book symbolized the death of Harry's innocence. So in a way Hedwig was a harbinger just a symbolic harbinger although I must admit in the movie version of the final book I did like how Hedwig was killed as oppose to the book. Now obviously Hedwig dying the way she did meant the lost of innocence. But in the movie she is seen attacking a Death Eater protecting Harry and subsequently being killed by the Killing Curse. This death is also symbolic for the same reason but in a more profound way -- protecting innocence. Hedwig dies marks the end of innocence but left the impression no matter how the mirror is broken you'll try to protect it before, and after piece the shards together.That girl lived a "Great old life" indeed and if there is a Owl heaven Hedwig is definitely there.

Ok, enough with the symbolism and tears time to focus on the animal itself. Gamma and Hedwig are Snowy Owls which were believed to be a separate genus of Owl until recent DNA results show they are in fact related to the Genus Bubo, or Horned Owl family. Hedwig although a female was in the movies depicted with Male snow owls as males have the iconic white feathers -- females tend to usually have more black/brown feathers.These owls you had trouble making the connection between them and their Horned owl brethren.
But as we see on Gamma the horn "protrusions" are much more dominant showing a clear relation to the Horned Owl.

  They are also skilled but opportunistic hunters with talons made for grabbing small rodents or fish out of the surface of the water. They even during low food seasons resort to hunting other species of Owl which is pretty bad to me. It's a wide known fact Owls like Cats are natural predators that keep rodent populations down but Owl poaching threatens this I am happy to say though there are many groups like CITES helping to conserve habitats for Owls as mentioned before cause owls play a pivotal role in the food chain keeping down rodent populations while supplying other species of bird with protection from predators as owls have few to compete with.

That's it for this edition of "Creature feature" I hope you all enjoyed it and come to appreciate these creatures and how they live and captured our imaginations as birds of bad omen and friends.

Until next time your friend,
Alric Ravensinger

Harbingers of Death - Wise creatures from the Ancient past: Dragons!

 Hey readers so today after what I consider a great successful ending to my comic Fame at a Price I wanna talk to you about a creature that has captured our imagination and put fear in our hearts since the earliest ages of the world - Dragons!

 No creature that I can think of more resonates with fantasy than the dragon revered over by civilizations for it's power, intellect, and ability to appear to as a protector of mankind or the bringer of it's destruction. Let's begin with where exactly did the history of these magnificent creatures begins.

  There really isn't a exact recorded date when Dragons came into the minds of men although one can speculate that it was in the minds of Proto-European and Asian people who like the Greeks attributed the natural world to great creatures of terrible power. Now the word Dragon itself however comes mainstream in the 13th century Europe-France and it meant "Lizard, Serpent, Sea Serpent" also from Greek Drakon earlier accounts state it from the root word drekesthai meaning "one who has a deadly glance". Dragon have various other names for themselves but also for subspecies such as Wyrm, drake, serpent, wyvern, and lindworm.

 The earliest meaning one can almost say with the deadly glance that Dragons might have had similar powers to the Basilisk however that might mean the Basilisk became a separate being as time passed but if you look at the basilisk it has many traits of a wyvern or lindworm which are subspecies of dragons although the basilisk has no wings.

  In every culture they are revered and feared as powerful beings. Asian culture has a less negative view of the creatures dragons in Asian cultures are often seen as ancient primordial forces of nature and the universe. For Asian cultures the dragon is also seen as a wise being often depicted in myths as giving humans wisdom and even in some cultures the dragons taught humans to speak. They are also identified with Longevity some dragons having lived for thousands of years. They also always seem to possess magical powers but in Asian culture it's mostly associated with water/mist or even poison unlike European depiction of dragons breathing fire.

Even the very appearance of the creatures differ again one looks to European and Asia. Asian dragons seem to represent the earliest accounts of dragons in appearance often being large serpentine like creatures that aren't winged like the European dragons also said to possess only frontal limbs if any at all. European dragons however are almost always depicted with wings and 2-4 limbs with dark scaly or feathered hide. Both have been described with the aforementioned hide of scales or feathers with the exception of the Asian variant scales being like those of a fish.

Throughout history various cultures have had their take on the dragon here are some of the most popular.

Greek: Often depicted as serpentine creatures as famous example of a dragon or dragon-like creature is the Lernaean Hydra which had several heads possess a poisonous breath/bite it was killed by Hercules as his second of this twelve labors it was said to guard the waters to the entrance of the underworld it was an offspring of Typhon and Echidna who in mythology would give birth to all the worlds monsters.

Chinese: These dragons are almost exclusively seen as benevolent and a symbol of royalty as is the case of the 5 claw dragon which was a symbol for Chinese emperors. These dragons were also considered guardians, spirits, and forces of nature. They were also said to have immense longevity and take on human form.

Christian/Jewish: What? dragons? Yes although that's not how many of us particularly see them now in these ancient religions dragons were present in the form of Leviathan which means twisted or coiled was a terrible being that rose out of the ocean along Behemoth a land dragon at the end of days. Leviathan in demonology is also one of the seven princes of hell and it's gate keeper of Hell's entrance stories says that Leviathan's mouth was the entrance and was called Hellmouth.



Dragons in Popular Culture:

Most of us identify with dragons through it's modern use let's see some of them.

  J.R.R Tolkien the "father of modern fantasy" had dragons in his epics the most famous being Smaug who was a dragon that hoarded the treasure of Thorin's kin and laid waste to Dale and inhabited the Lonely mountain. He was killed by Bard the Bowman. Another famous dragon from Tolkien's legendarium was Glaurung who was have said to sired the rest of the dragon race or Uruloki which are wingless fire breathing dragons. He is the main antagonist in the Children of Hurin defeating the Noldorin Elves and it's allies he was stabbed twice once by the Dwarven king Azaghal and last by Turin Turambar which killed Glaurung.

 Harry Potter has it's share of dragons as well possessing 10 different breeds which are prominently encountered in the Goblet of Fire. Harry, Ron, and Hermoine also ride a half blind dragon being pursued by goblins and death eaters after they broke into Gringotts Bank to recover a Horcrux from Bellatrix's vault.

  Wizard 101 Dragons are prominent part of the fire school and it was the Dragon Titan that destroyed Dragonspyre. Drake army is also prominent enemies in DS as many of you wizards already know. They were also allies to the citizens of Dragonspyre as "Drake riders" in fact without the help of a Drake the player would have never been able to reach Malistaire. The fire dragon spell is inspired by modern/European depiction of dragons not to mention it's just a kick butt spell. Also Death wizards have an encounter with the drakes if only their bones but it also allows you to see the bone anatomy of our fire breathing friends.

 Pokemon the dragons of the Pokemon universe are indeed a mix of all cultures and myths. representing awesome power and legendary skill. In the games Dragon type Pokemon are considered the overall best type as it's only weakness is Dragon type while having many resistances and the only type that resist dragon moves is the Steel type. Notable dragons are Dragonite which has intellect that matches humans and flies above the world's oceans looking for humans lost at sea. Another is the super ancient dragon and Trio master Rayquaza  which is master of earth's atmosphere and the only Pokemon to be able to quell the other super ancient Pokemon Kyogre who controls the seas and oceans and Groudon who controls/creates landmasses after a climatic battle.

  Another popular culture dragon is Deathwing from the recently released World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Deathwing has believed to be dead was was actually regaining his strength in Deepholm and makes a return to Azeroth he is a Black Wyrm and was given control over the earth and it's deep places but was driven crazy by the old gods.

 Although I doubt I've done these superb creatures justice I think this overview was decent and it shows why many people including those at Kings Isle have chosen these creatures for their universes. Nothing is comparable to dragons how they are awe-inspiring yet terrible. Let's hope for a future with more of these creatures cause they are the things of fantasy and imagination which we all love. Like my friend Lance of the Indigo League in Pokemon says "...You know that dragons are mythical Pokémon! They’re hard to catch and raise, but their powers are superior! They’re virtually indestructible!..."  Lets hope they remain this way for all time superior,mythical, and indestructible in our minds.

Until next time your friend,
Alric Ravensinger