Category Archives: Norse

Slimeline

Posted on June 25, 2026 by Nathan

I’m going to look at one of my niche interests, that of timelines for fictional universes, in this case the Dragon Quest series. While there are exceptions, I get the impression that game developers don’t generally think too much about … Continue reading →

Posted in African, Authors, Christianity, Chrono Trigger, Comics, Discworld, Dragon Quest, Egyptian, Families, Final Fantasy, Greek Philosophy, J.R.R. Tolkien, Japanese, Language, lucasarts, Magic, Maps, Monsters, Mythology, Norse, Persian, Philosophy, Relationships, Religion, Roman, Terry Pratchett, Video Games, Zelda | Tagged a link to the past, aliahan, atlantis, c.m.o.t. dibbler, cecil harvey, celestria, ceodore harvey, chronology, dragon quest builders, dragon quest heroes, dragon quest ii, dragon quest iii, dragon quest iv, dragon quest ix, dragon quest monsters, dragon quest monsters the dark prince, dragon quest vi, dragon quest vii, dragon quest viii, dragon quest xi, dragons, dragovians, emblem of roto, empyrea, erdrick, escape from monkey island, final fantasy iv, final fantasy iv the after years, heirs of the mark, himiko, hyborian age, hyrule, hyrule historia, item monogatari, jipang, link, manga, mithra, mithraism, mithril, monkey island, monster monogatari, monty the monster monitor, ocarina of time, orichalcum, pioniria, plato, psaro, ragnar mcryan, ramia, robert e. howard, square enix, sword of erdrick, sword of light, swords, the mark of erdrick, time travel, timelines, tockles, torneko taloon, warriors of eden, weapons, yamata no orochi, yuji horii, zenith dragon, zenithia | Leave a comment

Uh-Oh, Better Get Mako

Posted on May 29, 2026 by Nathan

I played through part of the original Final Fantasy VII when it was still fairly new, but I never finished it. I think I remember getting to the part where the rocket was launched. So I’m playing through it again … Continue reading →

Posted in Characters, Corporations, Final Fantasy, Humor, Magic, Maps, Monsters, Music, Mythology, Names, Norse, Oz, Religion, Technology, Video Games | Tagged aerith gainsborough, barret wallace, buster sword, cait sith, cetra, chocobos, cid highwind, cloud strife, cowardly lion, cyan garamonde, don corneo, dragoons, final fantasy iv, final fantasy v, final fantasy vi, final fantasy vii, fossil fuels, gold saucer, jenova, kefka palazzo, krile mayer baldesion, magicite, mako energy, materia, midgar, midgard, monks, moogles, nibelheim, president shinra, professor hojo, red xiii, relm arrowny, rydia of mist, sephiroth, shinra electric power company, strago magus, the wizard of oz (1939), tifa lockhart, tiny bronco, white mages, yuffie kisaragi | Leave a comment

G.U.E. on Nine Zorkmids a Day

Posted on May 11, 2026 by Nathan

I recently wrote about the Zork gamebooks, but there were also a few novels published back in the day. As far as video game tie-ins go, they’re pretty good. They often feel like pretty standard fantasy with some Zorkian humor … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, Book Reviews, craig shaw gardner, Greek Mythology, Humor, infocom, Magic, Monsters, Mythology, Norse, Relationships, Video Games, zork | Tagged autoexec, brogmoids, caspar wartsworth, control character, corky crisp, dryads, duncanthrax, enchanter, festeron, franz kafka, george alec effinger, great underground empire, grues, lucien kaine, mirakles of the elastic tendon, morgrom, muses, nymphs, robin w. bailey, satchmoz the incomparable, stribel wartsworth, the lost city of zork, the zork chronicles, time travel, valhalla, violet voss, wishbringer, y'gael, zork iii | Leave a comment

Heroes for Hire

Posted on March 2, 2026 by Nathan

The Last Viking Trilogy, by Poul Anderson – Made up of three books, this work of historical fiction is about Harald Hardrada, an eleventh-century ruler of Norway who had a pretty fascinating life. He spent time in Kyiv and Constantinople, … Continue reading →

Posted in amtor, Animals, Authors, Book Reviews, Byzantine Empire, carl barks, Cartoons, Christianity, Comics, Disney Afternoon, Dragon Quest, Drugs, Economics, edgar rice burroughs, England, Greek Mythology, Historical Personages, History, Humor, Magic, Middle Ages, Monsters, Mythology, Names, Norse, Religion, Roman, Television, Tom Holt, Video Games | Tagged ants, arth, beagle boys, bongo on the congo, carson napier, chugwagon derby, donald duck, duckburg, ducktales, dwarves, elves, escape on venus, fountain of youth, gladstone gander, goblins, grandma duck, gyro gearloose, harald hardrada, j. zachary pike, juan ponce de leon, king olaf of norway, macbeth, magica de spell, nicholas eames, odin, orconomics, poncey de loon, potions, Poul Anderson, ray guns, scrooge mcduck, the dark profit saga, the gold nugget boat, the golden horn, the last viking trilogy, the road of the sea horse, the sign of the raven, valhalla, venus, vikings, vulcan, william the conqueror | 3 Comments

When You’ve Had Your Fill of Fillory

Posted on February 12, 2026 by Nathan

Bera the One-Headed Troll, by Eric Orchard – This fantasy graphic novel has a Halloween-like style that the artist based partially on the illustrations of Arthur Rackham and Maurice Sendak. Bera is a troll who grows pumpkins, and lives alone except … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Art, Arthurian Legend, Authors, Babylonian, Book Reviews, British, C.S. Lewis, Celtic, Christianity, Chronicles of Narnia, Comics, Fairy Tales, German, Greek Mythology, Humor, Magic, Monsters, Mythology, Norse, Politics, Relationships, Religion | Tagged arabian nights, archaeology, arthur rackham, aslan, baba yaga, bera the one-headed troll, book of enchantments, brakebills university for magical pedagogy, cats, christopher plover, cruel sisters, curses, demons, emily wilde, emily wilde's compendium of lost tales, eric orchard, esther friesner, eugenides, fairies, fillory, frying pan of doom, ghosts, heather fawcett, hedgehogs, here be demons, lev grossman, lorelei, maurice sendak, megan whalen turner, merlin, niffin, parvahr, patricia wrede, rats, roses by moonlight, sacrifice, sirens, the enchanted forest chronicles, the lorelei, the magician's land, the princess the cat and the unicorn, the queen's thief, the sixty-two curses of caliph arenschadd, the thief, tiamat, trolls, unicorns, utensile strength, wendell bambleby, werewolves, witches | 1 Comment

Mirth and Magic

Posted on February 4, 2026 by Nathan

Celtic Mythology: The Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes Handbook, by Sorcha and Aron Hegarty – This a guide to the characters in this mythology, which provides a few pages on the key details of each one, and an lush illustration by … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Arthurian Legend, Authors, Book Reviews, British, Celtic, Christmas, craig shaw gardner, Discworld, Fairy Tales, Greek Mythology, History, Holidays, Humor, Lewis Carroll, Magic, Mario, Monsters, Mythology, Names, Norse, Pac-Man, Relationships, Sierra, space quest, Star Trek, Television, Terry Pratchett, Video Games, Zelda | Tagged a malady of magicks, aliens, amy myers, anna stead, aphrodite's new temple, aron hegarty, astro chicken, ba hubba tree bob, beatrice wankmeister, brutus of britain, carmen sandiego, celtic mythology, chris genoa, chris geona, cohen the barbarian, conan the barbarian, cornucopia agricorp, david langford, death swatch, dragons at crumbling castle, dragons at crumbling castle and other tales, elmo pug, esther friesner, fall'n into the sear, father christmas, father christmas goes to work, foop!, jack sharkey, james bibby, jeremy spear, king arthur, mabinogion, mike ashley, molly brown, monkeys, peter spear, queen of the green sun, quentin blake, richard lupoff, roald dahl, robots, roger wilco, ruella in love, seven-league boots, sludge vohaul, sorcha hegarty, space quest iii, space quest v, star generator, swineoids, sword and sorcery, tales of the carpet people, the 59a bus goes back in time, the abominable snowman, the distressing damsel, the frog prince, the mammoth book of comic fantasy, the space quest companion, through the looking-glass, time travel, troll bridge, trolls, two guys from andromeda, war of the doom zombies, witches, wizards, yeti | Leave a comment

Snow Time Like the Past

Posted on January 30, 2026 by Nathan

Beth suggested writing about the history of snowmen, and a little bit of searching on the Internet brought up a few mentions of a book that sounded interesting, The Illustrated History of the Snowman, by Bob Eckstein. I’ve since bought and … Continue reading →

Posted in Advertising, Art, Authors, Book Reviews, Buddhism, Cartoons, Comics, Discworld, Fairy Tales, History, Humor, Jared Davis, Magic, Music, Mythology, Norse, Oz, Oz Authors, Prejudice, Rachel Cosgrove Payes, Religion, Ruth Plumly Thompson, Sexuality, Television, Terry Pratchett, Toys, Video Games | Tagged antisemitism, bob eckstein, bodhidharma, boogg, book of hours, citizen kane, daruma, effigy, frost giants, frosty the snowman, frozen, giants, grampa in oz, hans christian andersen, icetown, isa poso, jotun, marvel comics, michelangelo buonarroti, ozcon international, paul coker jr., piero di medici, rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, ruth burman, snowmen, snowy the traveling snowman, sourcery, ted eshbaugh, the hidden valley of oz, the illustrated history of the snowman, ymir, yukidaruma | Leave a comment

What’s Ettin You?

Posted on December 19, 2025 by Nathan

I was looking at the TV Tropes page about individual beings with multiple heads, and I must say that, while I’ve seen criticisms of the site not being a good way to engage with media, it’s quite useful when you … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, British, C.S. Lewis, Chronicles of Narnia, Etymology, Fairy Tales, Games, J.R.R. Tolkien, Language, Monsters, Mythology, Norse, Plays, Scottish, Ultima, Video Games | Tagged arador, aragorn, archenland, beholder, beowulf, dungeons and dragons, ettenmoors, ettins, ettinsmoor, gazers, giants, grendel, henrik ibsen, jack the giant killer, jotun, middle-earth, peer gynt, soria moria castle, the hobbit, the lion the witch and the wardrobe, the red ettin, trolls, tv tropes, ultima iv: quest of the avatar, xorns, zorns | Leave a comment

Baffled by Baphomet

Posted on December 4, 2025 by Nathan

Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars – Another point-and-click adventure game, this one was developed by Revolution Games and originally released in 1996, although I played the recent Reforged version. It deals with an international conspiracy based on a mysterious … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Buddhism, Catholicism, Christianity, Conspiracy Theories, Crusades, Final Fantasy, France, History, Humor, Language, lucasarts, Magic, Monsters, Mythology, Names, Norse, Prejudice, Religion, Video Games | Tagged armor, baphomet, broken sword, carmen sandiego, clowns, demons, dwarves, elves, gate rune war, george stobbart, hashashim, knights templar, kobolds, kuromi, kuromimi, milich oppenheimer, nicole collard, revolution games, sanrio, scarlet moon empire, shadow of the templars, space quest, suikoden, teo mcdohl, tir mcdohl, weapons | Leave a comment

Easy as Pie

Posted on November 7, 2025 by Nathan

Til Death Do Us Bard: A Heart-Warming Tale of Marriage, Magic, and Monster-Slaying, by Rose Black – This is largely the story of a relationship between the adventurer Logan (nicknamed “The Bear”) and his husband, the bard Pie. There are flashbacks to how they met … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Book Reviews, Christianity, Fairy Tales, Gender, Holidays, L. Frank Baum, Magic, Monsters, Mythology, Names, New Year's Day, Norse, Oz, Oz Authors, Religion, Technology | Tagged bards, clive barker, cows, dogs, elves, ghosts, hapexamendios, hjorleifur helgi stefansson, icelandic folk tales, imajica, merfolk, necromancers, pie 'oh' pah, rose black, rumplestiltskin, selkies, stephen king, the dark tower, the stand, the wizard of oz (1939), the wonderful wizard of oz, til death do us bard, trolls, undead, wizard and glass, wizard of oz, wizards, yzordderex | Leave a comment

Category Archives: Norse

Slimeline

G.U.E. on Nine Zorkmids a Day

Heroes for Hire

When You’ve Had Your Fill of Fillory

Mirth and Magic

Snow Time Like the Past

What’s Ettin You?

Baffled by Baphomet

Easy as Pie

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